Slayers - Volume 7 - Chapter 3

3: Adrift, the Golden Lord of Darkness

“All right... what do you want?” the golden dragon, Milgazia, asked Xellos grudgingly.

His discomfort was understandable. The aforementioned Incarnation War had, according to legend, pitted the dragons against the demons... meaning he and Xellos would have been enemies then. The fact that he was willing to talk to Xellos now suggested he wasn’t one to hold a grudge. Well, either that, or...

“The truth is, we have a need to access the Claire Bible,” Xellos answered.

“You demons do?” Milgazia replied suspiciously.

“Oh, most certainly not. I was hoping this human girl might use it.”

“Human?” The golden dragon elder stared at me for a time before asking Xellos, “What are you plotting, Priest?”

“It’s not my plotting, but Lord Hellmaster’s. Though I fear he didn’t tell me the nature of his plot... You see, I’m only doing as I’m told. A grudging errand boy, if you will.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I’ll simply have to find another way to get what I’m after,” Xellos said, as cool as could be.

Milgazia gazed at him pointedly for a while. “Very well,” he sighed at last. “We cannot stop you from seeking it. Do as you wish.”

“Your cooperation is most appreciated.”

“However... I shall accompany you there.”

And with that, the golden dragon elder let out a howl toward the heavens. His form then began to flicker. His body became a golden mist, which abruptly condensed... And Milgazia now stood before us as a blond, rather handsome middle-aged human dressed in loose-fitting blue clothing.

Aha... That howl must have been the incantation for his transformation spell.

“I’ll show you the way. Come along,” said the human-presenting Milgazia.

The six of us—four humans and two lookalikes—were now walking up the stone mountain road. We’d spent the entire time in silence. I was sure we were all brimming with questions, but the atmosphere wasn’t exactly conducive to conversation.

The dragons were watching us, almost fearfully, from atop cliffs and behind distant rocks. Milgazia led the way without saying a word and without looking back, but his dissatisfaction was rather clear. He almost seemed to be radiating hostility in our direction. His body language was practically screaming, “Nyah, nyah! You dummy humans working for a demon better not try and talk to me!”

That intensity put a real damper on the confab, but...

Argh! I just can’t take it anymore!

There was just too much I wanted to ask. And, more than that, I didn’t know how far the walk to the Claire Bible would be. The thought of spending the entire time in silence was driving me batty.

Thick as it was, I had to break the ice! But if I addressed the old man out of nowhere, he might just give me the cold shoulder—or even snap back. I wondered if maybe I should take baby steps and try to talk to someone else first.

Yet just as I was thinking that...

“Hey, Xellos,” piped up Gourry out of the blue.

Wait, you’re gonna talk to Xellos first?!

Gourry’s voice triggered a visible twitch in Milgazia’s shoulders. He was probably outraged, thinking, Did you just try to strike up a conversation behind me?!

“What is it?” Xellos responded, strikingly laid-back by comparison.

“Are you, like, super old or something?” Gourry asked casually.

Splat! Amelia, Xellos—the one on blast here—and I all took a group faceplant.

“Where... Where did that come from?” Xellos asked as he heaved himself up.

Gourry simply scratched his head thoughtfully as he replied, “Well... that dragon guy said something about the Incarnation War, and it seemed to me I’d heard about that somewhere before. So I’ve been thinking... That was a long time ago, right?”

“Er... one-thousand-and-twelve years, to be precise.”

“Right? So that makes you over one-thousand-and-twelve years old. I get that you don’t want to tell people your real age, but you probably don’t need to be so self-conscious about it. You don’t look a day over a thousand! If you’d asked me, I would’ve said you were in your twenties.”

What Gourry was saying was beyond preposterous. Demons’ appearances didn’t change as they aged, and it was highly questionable that the way Xellos appeared to us was the “real” him in the first place.

“Well... thank you very much,” Xellos said blankly, understandably at a loss for how to respond.

The next thing I knew, Milgazia had stopped, turning to stare at Gourry in disbelief.

Yes! Now’s my chance to talk to him!

“Don’t let it bother you, sir. He’s just, you know... like that.”

“Ah... yes,” the dragon responded vaguely before he began walking again.

“But if I might ask... how do you and all these dragons survive here? What do you eat?” I said, trying to sound as breezy as possible as I inquired about what I’d been wondering all this time.

I mean, Dragons’ Peak was basically a big, bald rock. There was little in the way of soil or sizable trees. Sure, there were probably berries you could pick and small animals you could hunt, but it was hard to imagine a clan of dragons surviving on that alone.

“We don’t require much food to begin with,” he responded.

Okay, color me surprised. I was half expecting him to hiss that it was none of my business... Granted, his tone did still have a bit of an edge to it.

“Dragon children need to eat as much as any other being, but as we mature, we learn how to sate ourselves on wind and sunlight. We do eventually need to eat, but it’s easy to go without food for a month or two. Consider—If all the world’s dragons constantly consumed in proportion to our size, we’d have rendered the land barren long ago, correct?”

“I see... That does make sense.”

“Now, a question for you, human girl.”

“I’ll try my best to answer.”

“You know that Xellos is a demon, and that he’s plotting something. Yet you cooperate. Why?”

“Well... it’s the only way for me to stay alive right now. I don’t know what Xellos and Hellmaster Fibrizo are planning, but there’s another faction that also doesn’t know what they’re planning... and they want to kill me in order to stop whatever it is. I know Hellmaster’s plan likely won’t be about achieving world peace or showing love for all living things—and in that sense, the people trying to kill me might be completely justified—but I’m afraid I’m not an enlightened enough being to just roll over and die for something I don’t yet understand.”

“Living things will try to keep living—that’s the law of nature. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Milgazia said. His tone was offhand and he still didn’t deign to look at me, but... was that a newfound gentleness I sensed in his voice?

“I don’t intend to remain a pawn forever,” I clarified. “But... if I quit playing along now, I’ll never understand what’s going on. I doubt my would-be assassins will stop trying to kill me if I back off, either... They’ll keep coming ‘just in case’ and, sooner or later, they’ll succeed. Besides, there’s no guarantee that my death will put a stop to Hellmaster’s plans. Which means walking away without ever learning the truth would just mean getting offed for nothing.”

“Are you certain you should be saying this in his presence?” Milgazia asked, indicating Xellos with his eyes as he finally turned to face me.

“Oh, don’t mind me. I know Miss Lina well enough to presume she’s thought that much through,” Xellos responded airily.

“Hmm...” The golden dragon elder pondered for a while. “My concern is... Lina, was it? Human girl, are you one of the seven parts of Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu?”

“What?!” I squealed in shock.

Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, AKA the Dark Lord of our world... Legend held that he was sealed away in seven fragments eons ago after a deathmatch with the god of our world, Flare Dragon Ceifeed. Ceifeed was grievously injured in the battle, and left behind four avatars before disappearing. Meanwhile, the Dark Lord’s minions were scattered across the globe.

As for the fragments, one was believed to have revived a thousand years ago during the Incarnation War. That was in the Kataart Mountains, where it destroyed Ceifeed’s avatar Aqualord, protector of the North. And then, a little over a year ago, I personally witnessed the unsealing of a second fragment. That still left five out there... Could I really be one of them?!

“What... What are you saying?” I asked hoarsely after a long pause.

“You humans know that Ruby-Eye was divided into seven parts and sealed away, don’t you?”

“Well... it’s a famous story, yes.”

“It appears Ceifeed sealed Shabranigdu into human souls. When one human host dies, the Dark Lord fragment moves to another. The seals might have been hardier within dragons or elves, but I believe Ceifeed chose humans specifically for their brief lifespans. The repeated reincarnation should gradually purify the Dark Lord fragments and, in time, destroy them.

“Yet... because humans are such fragile creatures, certain things can weaken a seal. And when that happens... Hellmaster, who has the ability to perceive the cycle of reincarnation, will see it immediately. He might well take action to undo it completely.

“In truth, a thousand years ago during the Incarnation War, he was the one who unsealed the fragment in the Kataart Mountains. So if he has some new plan in the works now... Well, you can see why one might wonder.”

“You think... the Claire Bible could be the key to unlocking the seals?” I asked, still muted.

But Milgazia replied with a slow shake of his head, “No... the Claire Bible is merely a font of knowledge from another world. If, hypothetically, you are one of the Dark Lord’s fragments, then the mere act of perceiving it wouldn’t break the seal... though it might serve as a step in that direction. Of course, it’s also possible that Hellmaster’s plan has nothing to do with this.”

“Either way, we won’t know what’s in the box until we open the lid...”

“Indeed. But fret not. If you determine what to do and when—and believe in yourself—you shall find your way out of anything. Ah, here we are,” Milgazia said, coming to a stop at a seemingly unremarkable spot.

We’d been walking up a rather wide slope. To our right was a sheer cliff, and to our left a grove of trees backed by another hill so steep it might as well have been a cliff.

“Where... exactly?” I asked, looking around in confusion.

“Our destination,” the golden dragon elder responded calmly. Then, without a sound, he vanished halfway into the sheer rock wall to our right. “The Claire Bible is through here. It may look solid, but you can pass through it. Come with me, human girl Lina. The rest of you should wait here.”

At this, the group exchanged looks.

“Why just Lina?” Amelia asked.

Milgazia reappeared fully on our side of the wall and explained, “I promised the Priest that I would take this girl to the Claire Bible. I have no wish to guide any other humans there. You may follow me if you so desire, but I will take no responsibility should you get separated.”

“Separated? Is it like a maze in there or something?” Gourry asked this time.

“An infinity of paths, one might say. I only know the way there and back myself. But while the path is perceptible to demons and dragons, a human might lose their way, never to return.”

Gourry, Zel, and Amelia looked at each other a little while longer.

“Okay, Lina, we’ll wait here.”

“Take care.”

“Bring back souvenirs!”

C-C’mon, you guys... Well, okay, I guess going as a big group wouldn’t really help things...

“Xellos, please remain here and see that they don’t change their minds,” Milgazia instructed.

“Very well,” Xellos agreed lightly.

“W-Wait, Xellos, you’re staying behind? What am I supposed to do when I get to the Claire Bible?”

“Really now... my only duty was to see you safely here. I’ve fulfilled that role to the letter, so it hardly matters to me what you do next,” Xellos responded bluntly and breezily.

Darn it, he really was just a grudging errand boy... Fine. I’d see this through myself then.

“All right. Let’s proceed, human girl Lina,” Milgazia invited.

I nodded and took his hand.

The moment I passed through the rock wall, I was seized by a strange sensation. I don’t know how to describe it. It was like my body was no longer my own... No, that wasn’t quite it. The right words elude me. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

“What is this place?” I asked as I followed Milgazia through the strange space.

It was just as hard for me to understand as it was to describe. One moment it was a rocky cave, but if I let my mind wander or looked away for a second, it became a sparkling crystal passageway, a featureless metal corridor, the intestines of a great beast...

“Don’t let it bother you,” said the golden dragon elder, suddenly inverted before my eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was really upside down, or if it was an optical illusion.

“Easier said than done...” I blinked to find Milgazia right side up again—but instead of right in front of me, he was now so far ahead that he looked to be ant-sized. Yet in spite of that, I could still feel his hand firmly in mine. It was kinda hard not to be bothered.

“Trust in the feeling of your hand. Your other senses will deceive you,” he said.

With that, I looked at my left hand. I followed his arm with my eyes, up to his shoulder, and then... he seemed to be right in front of me again.

“This space appeared with the Claire Bible a thousand years ago, right around the time of the Incarnation War,” he said. “It was most likely formed by distortions in spacetime caused by the power clash between Ruby-Eye and Aqualord. It is fundamentally similar to the astral plane.”

“How so?”

“It’s not your eyes and ears that perceive it, but your spirit. Feelings of fear can turn paradise into the very vision of hell, and soft breezes into the screams of the damned. Feelings of hostility can kill their targets, and self-directed despair can bring your body to ruin.”

Right... In short, it was a world where those with the strongest wills survived.

“Of course, it’s only similar. Even a demon of insufficient power could find themselves lost here forever. The same is true of dragons...”

“Um... please don’t get lost?”

“I’m afraid it’s too late.”

“Whaaaaaaaat?!”

“Just kidding.”

You, you... You old rascal!

“Well, forgive me for being an old rascal.”

Ah... He read my mind. I guess I’d better not think anything too weird, like that golden dragons can go [BLEEP] themselves or that they’re all just a bunch of [BLEEPS]...

“Do you want me to leave you here?”

“Just kidding. Anyway, how much farther to the Claire Bible?”

“Not far. But... what is it you seek to do with the otherworldly knowledge you gain from it?”

“Well... like I said, I don’t want to be Hellmaster’s or Xellos’s puppet forever. That means I’ll probably have to fight them someday, so I’d like to have a nice trick up my sleeve for when the time comes.”

“It likely won’t help,” the golden dragon elder said wearily.

“Not fair to say that before I even try...”

“Even if you acquire such knowledge, there are hard limits to the power a human can bring to bear. You could not defeat Xellos, let alone Hellmaster, in any kind of direct clash.”

“Well, I understand that Xellos is pretty strong, but—”

“You do not understand.” Milgazia let out a truly long sigh. “Why do you think I acquiesced to his request to bring you here so readily?”

“I’m betting it’s not because you’re old friends, is it?”

“It’s because I fear him.”

Wait...

“Huh?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. An elder of the golden dragons—of the dragon lords—afraid?!

“A thousand years ago, the one who drove the dragons to the brink of annihilation... It was Xellos, acting entirely on his own.”

I couldn’t speak. What Milgazia was saying had me gobsmacked.

“Had I refused him, he likely would have guided you to the Claire Bible himself, slaying every golden and black dragon on this peak in his search for the path... It would not have been easy, I daresay, but he likely would have succeeded. And as I have no wish to see my kin die in the name of a pointless resistance, I acceded.”

That was... preposterous. I’d heard stories about a single demon overwhelming the dragons during the Incarnation War... but I’d always assumed that was an exaggeration. To find out it was true, much less that it was him...

I mean, I knew Xellos was strong, but... that strong?

“Your bravery is admirable, but you could not beat them in a fight. Outwitting them, however... that may be possible, depending on your methods.”

“...I’ll try my best...” I responded, disheartened.

We fell into silence for a time. Not long after, Milgazia came to a stop.

“Now... here it is,” he said.

I stopped too, but as I glanced around, I couldn’t see anything that looked like a bible. The bizarre, incomprehensible space around us seemed completely empty.

“Er... where, might I ask?”

“Here,” he said lightly, pointing.

Nope, still not seeing it!

“Um...” I said uncertainly.

The golden dragon elder thought for a moment, then said, “Hmm... human eyes can’t perceive it, then? In that case... Ah, yes, try to ‘feel’ for it. See if you can sense its presence.”

“Uh-huh...” I responded vaguely, then turned back in the indicated direction. “Feel” for what, exactly?

Milgazia said that I wouldn’t be able to see it, so as silly as this all seemed, I tried closing my eyes, and...

There it was.

I quickly opened my eyes again. As before, the space was empty. I still couldn’t see it per se... but this time I could feel something there for sure. It was an orb just big enough to fit in both my hands.

“This... orb?” I whispered, gently touching it with my open right hand.

Just then...

“This is no mere orb. It is the epicenter of a spacetime disruption through which a torrent of otherworldly information flows. It is what you call the Claire Bible,” replied a voice, barely audible.

“Huh?” Reflexively, I released the orb and turned back toward Milgazia. “Did you just say something?”

“No. You may have heard the voice of the Claire Bible. I didn’t hear anything,” he said simply enough.

“Huh...”

So we had ourselves some kind of talking trivia orb, did we? Except if Milgazia hadn’t heard its “voice,” that meant it was speaking directly into my mind or my spirit.

I reached out again with my right hand... But I waited, and the orb said nothing this time.

Darn it... What’s got your tongue now, punk?

“You’re not trying to learn anything,” the erstwhile silent voice replied immediately.

“Gwuh?!” I shouted out in surprise. “Ah... you startled me. Does this mean you—if you count as a ‘you’—will answer the questions I ask?”

“Correct.”

“I see, I see...” I said, nodding quickly.

I was betting I looked pretty silly to Milgazia, who couldn’t hear the Claire Bible’s voice, but I couldn’t get hung up on appearances right now. I knew I could probably just ask the orb questions in my head, but talking out loud helped me to better channel my thoughts.

“Okay, then let’s do this... First, do you know what Hellmaster is planning?”

“No,” it responded bluntly. (To be fair, I hadn’t gotten my hopes up on that one.) “I cannot convey to you the thoughts and feelings of other beings. I can only convey knowledge.”

“Figured as much. In that case...” I paused for a minute, then asked my biggest request mentally. Tell me everything you know about the Lord of Nightmares.

This was it—my main reason for wanting to find the Claire Bible. It could be my ace in the hole against Hellmaster, Xellos... all of them.

Milgazia’s tale, combined with my own experience, made it very clear that even a series of Dragon Slaves wouldn’t so much as scratch a being of Xellos’s caliber. But if I could safely and reliably call upon the Lord of Nightmares, greatest of all dark lords, who I’d first learned of in Gyria City... that might just be enough to turn the tables.

In order to make the spell more stable, however, I needed to know more about the Lord of Nightmares itself. The generational recitation of a Claire Bible manuscript I’d overheard in Gyria wasn’t to be trusted. To be fair, I’d already been able to use the spell twice with it... so it was either a really good recitation, or the Lord of Nightmares was just that capricious.

Fortunately, the real Claire Bible here should be able to give me some genuine answers.

“Its existence is too massive to comprehend. Even I, what you call the Claire Bible, grasp only a sliver. But I will tell you what I know. It is—

“The mother of all darkness—the true sovereign of demons—that which seeks a return to old—blacker than darkness—deeper than night—Sea of Chaos—gold adrift—all-consuming emptiness...” the Claire Bible continued, now speaking in fragments. “The source of all chaos—Its name—the Lord of Nightmares.”

And then... the voice went quiet. This didn’t feel right. I couldn’t figure it out. I felt like I’d committed some kind of fundamental misunderstanding.

Once more, please... Tell me about the Lord of Nightmares.

In response to my mental prompting, the orb once again recited the same string of fragments, in the same order... Huh?

Only then did it hit me.

Once more! From the beginning!

The voice repeated the same words over in my mind, concluding once again, “Its name—the Lord of Nightmares.”

No way... I felt my mouth go dry. The fragments the orb spoke began to coalesce around a certain image in my mind. Could the Lord of Nightmares be...

“Correct,” the Claire Bible responded, reading the last words of my thoughts.

You’re kidding... I could feel my legs quaking beneath me. I’d been casually casting spells from the power of that?!

Everything suddenly made sense. Why Sylphiel, a cleric we’d traveled with once, had forbade me from using Giga Slave. Why a demon of Xellos’s power feared the Lord of Nightmares’ very name.

This was definitely enough to do what I needed. That much, I was sure of. But...

“What is it? What happened?”

I snapped back to my senses when I felt someone shaking my shoulder. I turned back to see Milgazia standing behind me.

“What is it? What were you told?” he asked.

“Oh, I... er...” I hemmed, forcing a smile.

“Are you all right? You don’t look well...”

“To be honest, I don’t feel well... but I can keep going,” I said, reaching back for the unseen orb.

Now that that was off the table, it was time to look for another key to my demon-slaying puzzle. I also wanted to ask how to restore Zel’s humanity. This was no time to space out in shock over what I’d just learned.

First, the demon-fighting...

“Is there a way to surpass the power of demons?” I inquired aloud.

“To surpass the power of a demon, you must wield a power greater than theirs,” it answered in tautological fashion.

Yeah, shame on me for asking...

“Is there any way for a mortal human to possess power sufficient to defeat a demon?” I tried to clarify.

“Only by using tools and spells that pull from God, or a more highly-ranked demon than the one you face. But there are limits, even then. And because divine power does not reach this land, you cannot use spells that pull from God.”

“Divine power doesn’t reach here? Why not?”

“During the Incarnation War, in order to destroy Aqualord, the revived Dark Lord of the North placed Hellmaster, Deep Sea, Greater Beast, and Dynast at the Desert of Destruction, the Demon Sea, Wolfpack Isle, and the Northern Pole to create a barrier seal. That is how Aqualord was destroyed, and why the other Lords’ powers cannot reach this land.”

I had no idea...

“Okay, in that case... is there a way for a human to use the Sword of Light to defeat a powerful demon?”

“The Sword of Light is your name for Gorun Nova. Should you draw out all of its power, then—”

The voice suddenly cut off as Milgazia snatched my hand away from the orb.

“What are you—” I started to ask, but I immediately realized why he’d done it. As my body fell backward, I felt something invisible brush just past my chest—right through where I’d been standing a moment ago.

“Why did you save her, golden dragon elder?” came a voice I recognized from literally nowhere.

“Raltark?!” I shouted into the void.

As if in answer, a vague mist appeared a little to my right, taking a humanoid shape.

“What a curious space this is. It took me some doing to find you,” said the fuzzy image of Raltark before me.

I didn’t know if this was his true form, or if he just looked that way because of this weird place. He’d probably realized that we were after the Claire Bible, and had come to find it from another direction.

“You should know, golden dragon elder, that there’s a chance this girl is serving Hellmaster’s interests. I really should dispose of her now, just in case. Do you mind?” the demon asked as casually as if he were putting in a dinner request.

If Milgazia agreed to this, I was toast. But...

“Before I give you my answer, one thing,” he said. “If this girl chooses to defy Hellmaster and Xellos... you wouldn’t have to kill her anymore, would you?”

“I’m afraid I still would. Until I know the nature of Hellmaster’s plot, or what role the girl plays in it, she remains a potential threat whose continued existence I cannot allow. After all, your suggestion itself might yet be a part of his plan.”

“Hmm, I see...” Milgazia thought for a moment before nonchalantly refusing, “Then I cannot let you have her.”

Yeah! Score!

“Oh... can’t you? And why is that? Don’t tell me that you, too, plan to side with Hellmaster and Xellos.”

“No. But Xellos is on Dragons’ Peak at the entrance to this place as we speak. Should anything happen to the girl, there’s no telling what he might do. He might slay all of my brethren to punish me.”

“Make an excuse, then. Tell him that I, Priest of the Dragon, spirited her away before you could act.”

“There are other reasons for my refusal.”

“Oh?”

“It’s your methods... killing this girl ‘just in case,’ without knowing the true situation.”

“You think we’re wrong to do so?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t appreciate it. Your comrade, General Rashart, approached us with an offer. ‘Fight Ruby-Eye with us in Kataart,’ he said. For a time, I thought that if we—the dragons, the elves, the humans, and you—joined forces, such a thing might indeed be possible.

“But this incident has clarified things for me. The fact that you would so happily take another life ‘just in case’ tells me that even if we did fight the Dark Lord of the North together, you’d merely be using us as shields. That is why I don’t appreciate it, and why I cannot indulge your request.”

“We would never use the dragons as shields, although the humans are a different story.”

“They’re equally condemnable.”

“Hmm...” Raltark seemed troubled by Milgazia’s words. “I truly don’t understand... To fight together means to combine our strengths. And humans, with their numbers and their inability to harm demons, naturally make the best choice as shields. What does it matter to you how we treat humans, anyway?”

“The real problem is how you can say such things without the slightest remorse. Even if your quarrel now is with Ruby-Eye, it tells me that you demons are still our enemy. Beings with hearts, and those without... Those that strive for a continuation of existence, and those that strive to end it... We’re simply incompatible. That is also the greatest reason I cannot kill this girl—because she’s trying to stay alive.”

“Hmm... you leave me no choice,” Raltark said. He then declared with perfect confidence, “I shall simply have to kill her without your permission. For all your claims, you don’t actually have a way to stop me, do you? Even if you sacrificed your own life...”

But the golden dragon elder countered with equal confidence, “Not so. There’s always a way—a ray of hope—no matter how faint it might be.”

“Oh? Now you have me curious.”

“It won’t be a very interesting show, I’m afraid. I’m just going to do... this,” Milgazia said, releasing my hand and giving me a shove.

“Huh?” I stumbled a few steps, then looked back...

But the Claire Bible, Milgazia, and Raltark were gone.

“Um...” For a second, I just stood there, uncertain of what had happened. The golden dragon elder pushed me, and then everyone was... “Oh, I see.”

It finally hit me. They weren’t the ones to disappear; I was. Milgazia had cast me out into the infinite labyrinth that even demons struggled to navigate in order to keep me out of Raltark’s grasp—at least for now—and avoid an ensuing fight.

Pretty clever. Now, that just left me to... uh... do what, exactly?

Milgazia himself only knew the way in and the way out, which meant he wasn’t going to be able to find me either. And then he’d said, “There’s always a way—a ray of hope—no matter how faint it might be...”

H-Hold on! He wasn’t telling me to find my way back on my own, was he?! What was I supposed to do in a place that baffled even demons, where I couldn’t even tell ahead from behind?!

Or... maybe Milgazia was planning to get back to Xellos and ask him to find me. That would be better than counting on me to wander my way out, at least...

But in that case, it was a race against time. Would Milgazia make it back, explain everything, and get Xellos to find me first? Or would Raltark discover me before then? Xellos was much more powerful, although Raltark had a considerable lead on him.

And while I was thinking about all that...

“This way,” came Xellos’s voice, seemingly from nowhere.

“Huh?”

I quickly looked all around, but saw nothing. Even when I closed my eyes, I felt nothing in the area. And yet... for some reason, I could tell exactly where the voice was coming from.

It seemed a little too soon for Xellos to have found me, but I couldn’t trust my sense of time in this bizarre place. Maybe what felt like only a few seconds for me had actually been hours or even days.

“Is that you, Xellos?” I called.

“This way,” the voice repeated, not responding to my question.

I hesitated. That was definitely Xellos’s voice, but how was I to know it wasn’t another demon mimicking him? It was possible I’d follow it only to find a grinning Raltark waiting for me.

On the other hand, it could legitimately be Xellos. You don’t get very far in life if you’re afraid to take a little risk... But on the other other hand, my neck was on the line here, you know?

I turned the matter over in my head a little while longer. Nah, better go for it, I concluded at last.

“This way.”

I started walking, following the intermittent voice. My surroundings, seemingly rock when I was with Milgazia, were now made of some material I couldn’t quite identify. How long would I have to walk through all this?

Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand.

“Good. Well done,” said a figure in black as he appeared in front of me—trademark smile and all.

“That was fast, Xellos.”

“I came just as soon as Master Milgazia told me. I’m just glad you’re all right. Now, where is Raltark?”

“I don’t know. He might still be around, or he might have run off...”

“Either way, let us return to the others.”

“You don’t have to take me back to the Claire Bible?”

“I don’t think so... I already delivered you once as ordered, and I’ve received no further instructions. So I’m sure it’s fine.”

Boy... what a slacker.

“There’s more I wanted to ask it, though...”

I hadn’t gotten a full explanation on the Sword of Light, and I also hadn’t gotten around to asking about how to restore Zelgadis’s humanity.

“But if Raltark and Rashart were to appear here together, I’m not entirely confident I could protect you. Under normal conditions, I would send you to safety while I fought them... but if we’re separated here, it’s very possible that one of the two could break away in time to find you before I do.”

“Ah... good point.” There was still so much I wanted to learn, but the risk was too high if Raltark was still hanging around. “Okay. Let’s head back for now.”

“Very well.”

Xellos led me by the hand and I followed passively behind him.

Eventually, after a bit more walking... I felt a faint sense of vertigo, and the scenery opened up before my eyes. I was back on the stone mountain path, surrounded by familiar faces.

“Hey. I’m back...” I said as I waved.

“You’re safe, Lina?!” Gourry asked first.

“Seems so, thanks to Milgazia and Xellos,” I responded with a smile. “Unfortunately, Raltark showed up and cut my session short... But, hey, the Claire Bible’s not going anywhere! Once things have calmed down a little, maybe—”

“Get down!” Gourry cried out suddenly, tackling me to the ground!

Just then—Fwoom!—a huge explosion erupted from within the rock wall that led to the Claire Bible. But before any shrapnel could hit us, it was deflected in random directions. Xellos must have erected a barrier.

As the echoes of the explosion died down, a figure slowly approached, emerging from the dust.

“You’re really...” I coughed, “persistent this time... Raltark!”

“Indeed... it appears that I have little time to lose,” he responded, but there was none of the usual confidence on his face. “I think we ought to finish this now... Don’t you agree, Sir Xellos?”

“Why, certainly, Master Raltark... and Master Rashart.”

“You seem rather assured of your chances,” called a new voice from behind us.

I turned back to find General Rashart standing there. He was armed with his silver sword and decked in his dragon armor.

“But I’ve recovered from what you did to me. We’re evenly matched now,” he said before turning to Milgazia, who’d returned at some point. “You won’t be interfering, will you?”

“I have no intention of doing so,” the golden dragon elder replied calmly. “It’s one thing to intervene in the slaughter of the powerless, but I see no need to take sides in a battle between demons.”

Hang on a sec. Did that mean he saved me back at the Claire Bible because he thought I was powerless? Fair enough, I guess... Compared to someone like Raltark, I was.

“I’d have preferred not to harm the rest of you, but...” Raltark said, looking over the group. “Just so you know, after we finish off Xellos, you’ll be the next to die. You’ve aided him and hindered Sir Rashart and myself far too often. But with your permission, I’d like to offer you this while we finish our business with him.”

With that, Raltark held his right hand straight out, palm facing downward. A yawning black hole formed in the rocky ground just beneath. Two large spheres, each with a circumference of about a human arm span, slowly emerged. One was pale gray, the other dazzling red. They rose up to about Raltark’s chest height, where they bobbed unsteadily in the air. The hole in the ground then closed behind them.

They just looked like large globes, but I knew precisely what they really were.

“More demons, huh?”

“Not much to look at, I know... But more powerful than Guduza and Duguld, I assure you. I’d love it if you could introduce yourselves... but I’m afraid you’ll find mutual communication beyond you.”

“Fine by me... We won’t know each other long either way.”

“Indeed you won’t... Now, let us begin,” Raltark called.

Those words were the signal for the commencement of hostilities.