Chapter 6. The Demon King's Decision - Part 3.

"Jane-san, do you have a minute?"

The girl was about to head into one of the tents set up among the forest trees when she heard her name and spun around, surprised.

"Oh, of course. Err… Miss Filia, right?" she addressed the slightly taller priestess in white.

"Yes. I'm sorry to bother you, but I've been told you two know each other." She pointed towards one of the refugees who sat on a wooden log a couple of yards away. The blond woman's posture was as straight as an arrow, her hands folded gracefully in her lap – but she sat there entirely unmoving, her expression lacking any and all emotions.

Jane's face fell immediately. "That's… correct. She's Mrs. Nilian Henton, she lived in the Black Dragon Inn near Sairaag. We spent a day or two together before…" She could not help but avert her eyes. "When the dragons and mazoku attacked… her husband died. We were barely able to escape after Mr. Xelloss drove them away."

"Oh Ceiphied, that's horrible." Filia sadly shook her head. "To tell the truth, I'm really worried about her. Most people here are scared, but don't want to give up. She, on the other hand… she does not even eat her food."

The other girl gave a deep, bitter sigh. She kept her eyes to the ground, but the dragoness could see her lips move, as if she was talking to herself:

"…I've already tried… she doesn't listen to me…" Filia could only make out fragments of what she was saying.

"Jane-san?"

"…You're right, I suppose it can't hurt to try again." The girl straightened and approached Nilian with nervous steps.

The blond noblewoman did not react to her arrival; the way she kept staring into space made it doubtful whether she even recognized her presence.

"Mrs. Henton…" No response. "Nilian… Are you… are you really fine with just throwing in the towel? Miss Lina and everyone else are doing all they can. Is it acceptable for you to simply wither away here…?"

The priestess, who watched her from a few steps away, blinked in confusion. As she leaned closer to Nilian, Jane's expression suddenly, inexplicably changed, as if she became a different person altogether.

"Tell me!" she demanded in a quiet but harsh voice. "Don't you want to take revenge on the bastards who took the one you loved away?!"

Nilian's form shuddered, her lips shining red as she bit them so hard it drew blood. With slow, shaky movements, she reached for the bowl of porridge next to her on the wooden log, but Jane was faster and put it into her hands with a small smile.

Filia beckoned the young girl closer and offered a small bow of gratitude.

"Thank you. I hope she'll be better now." She looked torn for a moment. "That said, Jane-san… Honestly, I don't think promising revenge is the best way… to…"

She trailed off as she noticed the shadows cast by the forest growing unnaturally long around them; they receded almost immediately, but by that time there was one more person standing next to her.

"Our enemies have destroyed five more human settlements." Zellas, once again in her long silver-haired form, was looking at them with her arms folded. "My servants have moved the residents along with anything they deemed valuable to half a mile east from here."

A second or two passed before Filia realized she should say something. "Um… Right, thank you for your… help. We'll tend to them right away." She tried to go for a friendly expression, but the end result was more strained than anything. To make things worse, the mazoku lord kept staring at them for some reason, like she was still waiting for something. "Err, is there anything else we can do for you?"

The Beastmaster frowned, as if the question she was about to ask was somehow an admission of defeat. "I suppose you haven't heard any news of Lina Inverse either?"

"N-No, we haven't." Filia answered without thinking, simply glad that the conversation was at least going somewhere. "Why, how long do you think it should take Lina-san and Xelloss to finish whatever they're supposed to be doing?"

The mazoku lord's frown deepened as she turned away from them, a smoking pipe appearing in her hand. "Hours, at most. Certainly not over a day."

"But…" Jane piped up, sounding confused. "But they've been away for well over a day now."

The priestess' eyes darted towards her, her smile even more forced than before. "Well, haha, I believe that is exactly what she is concerned about as well." Her voice turned into a frantic whisper. "Just let her leave! Please!"

"Err, about that…" Jane whispered back, pointing a nervous finger at the person now standing in front of the Greater Beast.

Filia turned her head back and blanched.

"I am Nilian Henton, from the Nythar family of Gasshik. You are one of the mazoku leaders, I presume?" With a resolute expression, the woman looked the Beastmaster, more than a head taller than her, in the eye.

Zellas raised a questioning eyebrow as she put the pipe to her mouth and took a quick sip. "It would be unseemly of me to boast, but that is one way of putting it, yes," she replied, matching Nilian's formal speech in an amused tone. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Her eyes narrowed. "My husband died. Your subordinates are the ones responsible."

"Wait, Nilian, it wasn't her who—" Jane tried to interject, but the shadows cast by the locks on her forehead took on a life of their own and covered her mouth, rendering her unable to speak.

"Silence." The Greater Beast shot a look of warning towards Filia as well, then turned back to the person in front of her. "I believe you were trying to make a point?"

Nilian spoke with a voice as cold as ice. "Know this: I won't rest until I've made every single one of you pay for what you have done."

"I see." Zellas gave a quick, plain nod. "So if I understand correctly, this is your private declaration of war on the mazoku race?" Receiving nothing but a glare in response, she let out a deep breath, blowing smoke into the noblewoman's face. "It is almost charming how unaware you are of your own insignificance. Almost."

The shadows around the Beastmaster's form stirred – and a giant black mace hit the ground threateningly next to her feet.

"Goodness, and here I thought at least the Supreme Elder of Flarelord would have proper manners." The mazoku lord sighed, then drew from her pipe once again. "You surely realize I was not about to kill her. I simply wanted to teach her a valuable lesson regarding proper self-worth."

"And I tried to keep things civil, but I guess I was wasting my time," Filia growled. "If you want to keep this truce in place, Zellas, then as long as I'm here you're not going to teach anyone about anything, do you understand?"

"L-Let's just make an attempt to get along, okay?" Jane added in a tiny voice, then promptly fled behind the priestess when the Greater Beast's surprised gaze fell on her.

"You broke my spell. Interesting." Gesturing towards the young girl and the dragoness, she faced Nilian, who was still glaring daggers at her, one more time. "If you want to be seen as anything other than laughing stock, I suggest you take notes."

With that, Zellas' form began to merge back into the shadows… but stopped halfway.

"Get back! Now!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with alarm.

Two quick flashes of gold later Filia had gotten Nilian and Jane out of the Beastmaster's immediate vicinity – just before the ground around the mazoku lord was blown to bits, with a pair of nearby trees torn to shreds like they were mere toothpicks.

Once the dust settled, three figures could be seen standing in the shallow hole the explosion created. Zellas returned to the less elaborate form of a blond-haired traveler, and regarded the other two with unmasked displeasure. To her right, a woman with long, flowing black hair stood, her intricately decorated blue dress easily putting the Greater Beast's previous silky attire to shame. To her left stood a tall man wearing shining plate armor. It was hard to tell whether he wore a helmet on his head or not; the metallic glint and the pair of horns sprouting from above his nape seemed to suggest as much, but if it truly was a helmet, it covered the front side so tightly that it seemed to have melted onto his face – only his cold silver eyes remained uncovered.

"I'm afraid your luck has run out, my darling Zellas," the black haired woman said with an apologetic smile.

In the same moment, a greatsword appeared in the armored figure's hands. He used only one arm to effortlessly point the blade at the Greater Beast, and spoke with a deep, gruff voice.

"The time has come for you to meet your end."

"What the heck was that?!" Garen backed away towards the cave entrance as the huge cloud of snow and vapor approaching from below covered everything in his field of vision.

When it finally dissipated, he staggered further back with a look of horror: about half of the mountain below them had simply ceased to exist. What used to be a relatively steep but still climbable slope had turned into an almost vertical stone wall, its surface glowing red hot in places after some enormous magical force had nearly melted the rock itself.

"Hey there." A woman's disembodied voice sounded from behind him.

His ghostly form shuddering, Garen spun around and saw Lina materialize out of nowhere, cutting him off from his companion, who stood further back in the cave.

"So… " the sorceress spoke in a sweet voice, but her gaze with the strange, catlike pupils lacked any kind of warmth. "You told us we can thank you later, right?" She raised her free hand and flicked her index finger towards him. "Well, now's later."

An unimaginably strong force took hold of Garen's supposedly incorporeal fur coat, whirled him around several times in the air like a whip, then finally smashed him against the icy slab holding Riksfalto's unmoving form with such power that it cracked.

While the apparition's body and clothes showed no signs of damage, his anguished expression made it clear that the attack did not leave him unhurt. Seeing the sorceress approach him with slow, even steps, Garen tried to get to his feet in panic, but it looked as if half of the mountain's weight was pinning him down.

"Here's a fun piece of trivia for you, Mr. Game Master." The same unseen force now raised the spirit ten feet above the slab… "Did you know that human souls are pretty much immortal?" …and smashed him right back into it. "Destroy a mazoku's astral body, and they're gone. But do the same thing to a human, and all you've accomplished is sending their essence to the beyond. Well, under normal circumstances at least, since ghosts are kinda stuck here instead."

"Damn… you…" Garen seethed, as his body was hoisted back into the air.

"You know what I'm getting at, right?" the sorceress asked in a sing-song voice. "I cannot kill you, well, not again anyway – but I can hurt you. Many…"

Thud.

"…many…"

Thud.

"…many times."

After each of those last words, Garen was thrown against the ice over and over again until it finally burst apart, releasing Riksfalto's body – and a ball of fire exploded against Lina's head.

Although she made no effort to evade or shield herself, the sorceress was not even singed by the blast. With a look of surprise, she glanced to the side, and saw the female spirit writhing on the ground at the cave entrance. She had somehow managed to cast a spell, but the backlash of the curse had taken hold of her immediately.

"Ah, sorry, I almost forgot about you," Lina said with clear amusement, and raised the ghost from the ground with another gesture.

"No, stop‼ Don't hurt her! Don't you dare, do you hear me?!" While his limbs were bent in odd angles inside the remains of the frozen slab, Garen still managed to scream at her at the top of his lungs.

"Oh really?" The sorceress leaned forward to stare directly into his face, her eyes widening menacingly. "You didn't say 'please'."

She reached out with her mind towards the other helpless ghost, although there was no real need: even from such a distance, behind the semi-transparent woman's blank expression she could clearly feel the fear, anguish and guilt radiating in huge waves – painful emotions that haunted the spirit despite her inability to express them.

Lina's grip tightened around her staff in anticipation, as she considered how to make those emotions even stronger…

W-Wait… What…?!

The female apparition fell back to the ground. The sorceress froze in mid-step, her features lined with shock.

No… This…. This isn't right! I'm not…

Her hand tearing into her hair, she struggled against the bloodlust that, she realized, took hold of her the moment she blasted the shades apart – and has only been growing worse since.

The power she wielded – it gained form through her will, assisted by another will hiding at the edge of her consciousness, which she thought likely belonged to Xelloss – but it did not originate from either of them. It lurked somewhere far deeper, in the lowest reaches of their souls, carrying with it an incredible urge to hurt, to destroy, to annihilate everything in their path. It was like some twisted sort of hunger: the more she used the power, the more overwhelming the urge became – in fact, the urge was the power itself.

She could barely retain enough of her sanity to realize that she was being affected; struggling against it seemed like a lost cause. Unless…

Lina angrily threw her staff to the side and held her head with both hands, her eyes clenched shut.

She reached into her own astral form, and before her mind's eye, glimpsed a fire opal gem with an inner radiance that was barely visible under the dark, purplish piece of fabric covering it. She grabbed the veil – the material felt silky to the touch and slipped through her fingers at first, but then as if realizing what she wanted, yielded itself obediently into her hands. With all the power she could gather the sorceress began to pull, trying to tear the fabric off, but it seemed to have been glued to the surface of the gem somehow.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled even harder. Get… the heck… out of my head‼

Something tore itself free from her mental grasp as everything turned white around her, and a second later she found herself panting on all fours in the cold snow, drenched with sweat. In front of her, Xelloss' projection sprang back into reality in a similar position, with a look of discomfort on his face.

"Okay… let's not do this ever again," she spat between ragged breaths. "What on earth was this anyway…?"

By that time the priest was already on his feet, straightening his clothes. Looking at him, Lina realized that their cloaks had been swapped back, probably around the time her 'transformation' ended.

"Well… 'possession' is what Dolphin-sama's servants call this technique, I believe," he explained, wincing slightly. "It involves using the form of another being instead of our own to manifest our powers, although normally the mazoku is the one in control…" He shook his head, as if chasing an annoying thought away. "And I do share your sentiments, Lina-san. Most higher ranking members of my race scoff at this method, and… let's just say recent events did not convince me otherwise. At least on the upside," his staff appeared in his hand out of nowhere, drawing a smile to his lips, "its effects seems to have reversed the curse for the time being. If we're quick about it, we should be able to complete our mission and leave this place without any further inconvenience."

The sorceress was about to respond when a pained voice reached her ears.

"Sis… hey… are you alright?"

She glanced behind her, and saw Garen kneeling next to the other ghost, who was still lying motionless on the ground.

"And of course we also have to figure out what to do with them," Xelloss added, turning the same way with his eyes open. "Believe it or not, our wonderful game hosts were in fact behind most of our tribulations here."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Lina sighed, taking a couple of steps forward to look at the pair more closely; Garen stared at her from the ground with pure hatred in his eyes. "The armor you're wearing… isn't that from the Kingdom of Dilse?"

"What do you care, you… goddamn…" The man's outburst quickly lost its momentum, and he lowered his gaze to the snow in resignation. "I… don't know. I don't remember." He reached into his coat, pulled out a ghostly replica of the dagger they saw at the bottom of the pool, and flung it into the snow near the sorceress' feet. "The only reason I think I know who I am… or who she is… is because of this."

She quickly noticed the inscription on the blade, etched with fancy letters; very likely a mage's handiwork.

"To Garen – May this protect you on the battlefield when I cannot – Sis"

"Weirdly enough, this is starting to make sense." Lina turned her gaze to the cave entrance in contemplation. "Here's what I think: you two probably came here with the army of King Dilse the Second, trying to defeat the Demon King of the North. Somehow you survived the shades' attack and fled here, seeking refuge in this cave where they would not chase after you. I suspect you tried to follow the light you saw in the tunnels, just like we did; and to reach it, your sister used a spell to clear the way to the pool chamber above." She closed her eyes with a frown. "You didn't know how dangerous the water was, so… you fell into it. The cursed ice still surrounds your remains, and looks like it's strong enough that even in death, it doesn't want to leave the two of you alone."

She looked at Garen expectantly as she finished her theory, but the man kept his eyes on the ground without a word. Xelloss, on the other hand, looked very much intrigued.

"That would explain a number of other things as well," he added. "After the chamber became connected to the outside, Dynast-sama probably noticed the curse spreading into his domain, and ordered a magic seal to be placed inside the cave. A seal that I'd wager remained in place until very recently… until he and all his servants left, to be exact, and he needed something in addition to the shades to guard Ruby Eye-sama in his absence."

"And that's how, after many years, you two were able to go outside," Lina concluded. "You probably thought we were working for the demons and that's why you attacked us, right?"

Garen finally raised his head to stare incredulously at her, pointing a finger at the priest. "What? Are ya seriously trying to tell me that he isn't a demon?"

The sorceress blinked. "Err… That's a fair point."

"Doesn't matter either way." The man reached towards his companion, trying to touch her face, but even his ghostly hand went through her immaterial form. His expression turned from grim to bitter. "Thanks to the mazoku, we're stuck here for good. Even if we've played right into the hands of the one responsible for our demise… what difference does it make at this point?"

"Well, a lot, if you ask me." Lina turned away, her frown deepening. After everything he put them through, she had little sympathy left for the man. But as she regarded the remains of Riksfalto's frozen prison (the body of the mazoku general had mysteriously disappeared since), she could feel a tiny tinge of phantom pain in the back of her head, where the Fireball spell struck her a minute ago – like it tried to remind her of something.

If I'm not a mazoku… then I shouldn't act like one. Or like a vengeful old hag, for that matter.

"Say," she spoke again without turning around. "I never saw it in writing, but I remember Filia using a holy spell the could liberate the undead and send them to the afterlife. Know anything about it?"

It took Xelloss a moment to notice that the question was directed at him. He stared at the sorceress' back with a bewildered expression. "With all due respect, Lina-san, even if I happen to know that spell… Give me one good reason why I should subject myself to even more damage by using it on these two – the same ones who proved themselves to be our enemies every step of the way today."

"That's not totally true, but… it's not the point, either." She turned her head back to look at him, her frown melting away. "I know something like this doesn't come easy to you, but that's one of my reasons for asking. I'd like to owe you one… as before." She gently extended her open palm towards the priest, as if wanting to take his hand. "Come on, Xel… Let me be in your debt once more."

The mazoku froze, his demonic eyes opening again to gaze at her, filled with some intense emotion that was very hard to place. Only the wind howled for a while - then he slowly, carefully lifted his arm and put his hand in hers.

"Very well, if you insist." With a tiny wink, he pointed his staff at the pair of ghosts on the ground. Immediately, a reddish gold circle of magic energy rose from the snow, surrounding them. "HOLY RESIST."

The air within the circle started to vibrate, as if the wind inside had begun to blow upwards, making even incorporeal clothing fly. After that, the spell took effect almost immediately: the form of both ghosts lost most of its transparency as the woman's eyes snapped open. Garen watched with incredulous joy as she sat up, entwined her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry," the woman whispered, her words hiding tears unseen. "It's my fault for opening that passage… for touching the pool, even though you warned me… I was such a fool…"

"No, it… wasn't your fault, Yvette… I… It was me who…" Garen's voice became so overcome with emotion that he could not continue.

"Yeah, from where I'm standing, he definitely takes most of the blame here." Lina tried to joke, but even her own voice wavered a bit. The magic energy of the circle started to pulsate – the spell was almost complete. "And anyway… you tried helping us during the second round of that 'game', right? Thanks for that… Yvette, was it? Garen should praise the gods to have a sister like you."

Yvette laughed . "I'm actually his wife! We were…" She trailed off, shooting a questioning look at her husband. "Wait, you used to tell me you don't have any brothers or sisters!"

Garen suddenly became quite nervous. "Err… you see… I can explain… That dagger is—"

With a golden flash, the circle of light and the two ghosts disappeared.

"Well, that's one awkward conversation I'm happy not to take part in." Lina gazed at the empty spot with a look of amusement – until suddenly a hand grabbed the edge of her left shoulder guard. Looking somewhat unsteady on his feet, the priest tried to keep himself from falling over. "Whoa there, is everything okay?"

"I'm as well as I can be considering the circumstances. This has been… a long day, I must say." Xelloss blinked a few times and slowly regained his balance. He gestured towards the path leading further up the mountain. "I see that Riksfalto-san has already gone ahead without us. Perhaps we should follow her example, don't you agree?"

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice; I'm really itching for a warm fireplace and some hot stew right now." The sorceress cheerfully followed the mazoku's lead. "Let's go meet your boss."

The path was not too steep, and just wide enough for two people to walk comfortably next to each other, but to say that they were nearing their destination was, in Lina's opinion, quite a stretch; even though the weather was now relatively clear, she still couldn't glimpse the top of the mountain at all.

"No need to worry, we should be there in an hour at most," said Xelloss as if he could read her thoughts. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me what's on your mind? It seems to me that something is still bothering you."

The sorceress gave a small sigh. Did I really make it so obvious?

"Fine… It's actually none of my business, so say it's a secret and all if you want, but…" She turned away from the path to look at her companion, her voice uncharacteristically small. "That deep well of malign, destructive fury I felt when we were merged or whatever… that's the source of your mazoku powers, right? Just how… how on earth can you live with that thing inside you every single day and not go completely bonkers?"

For a blink, the priest looked completely stumped by the question. "You, being interested in demon psychology, Lina-san? That's rare."

"I guess there's no better way to get someone interested than first-hand experience." She rolled her eyes. "So humor me. If you want, anyway."

After a few seconds of contemplation, Xelloss' expression became whimsical. "Honestly, I could ask the same thing. It has always fascinated me how humans, who possess such intense and varied emotions, can survive without being torn apart by them. Yet they do, somehow, and I suppose their way of doing so is mostly similar to ours." He summoned an orb of energy into his free hand, shining vivid red. "Yes, Ruby Eye-sama's presence is in each of us, and is indeed the source of our power. But we are mazoku, creatures of chaos: we would never be satisfied with being nothing more than soulless, dime a dozen reflections of our creator." The orb's light slowly changed to a more familiar, dark purple hue. "So we learn to make the power, and everything that comes with it, our own. It's not that difficult, actually; should not take more than… maybe a century or two."

Just a century or two. Wow, that's reassuring.

"Talk about a long and violent childhood you guys have," the sorceress said with a pained smile. "Not to mention that, if you don't mind me saying, a lot of you never actually manage to grow out of the 'kill everything that moves' phase at all."

"I figured you would say that," the priest beamed, apparently not bothered in the slightest. "But you still managed to surprise me, Lina-san." He added another wink. "I was under the impression that you already wrote me off as being 'completely bonkers' a good while ago."

She crossed her arms, feigning annoyance. "Hmph, you're right about that one! Anyone who dares to call a beautiful, smart lady like me 'loud' has to be one hundred percent off his rocker!"

Xelloss' grin turned devilish. "Then what should I say about the human amnesiac who calls a mazoku she's barely met 'Spookster'? Is that what your race calls 'smart' these days?"

"Well, I'll have you know… hey, hold it right there…" Lina's eyes widened with realization. "That reminds me of something: even with the curse messing with my head, I could still recall that we had met. I still vaguely remembered about you." She leaned closer to the priest. "So when we were talking about all that had happened… did you have any idea of who I was? 'Cause I have to say, you were being almost surprisingly helpful."

For a moment, Xelloss started to look very uncomfortable, with his free hand reaching behind his head – but only for a moment.

"Now that is a secret."

As the explosion rocked the forest, almost everyone nearby assumed the most likely reason, namely that they had been attacked. Panic quickly began to spread, but the situation had one saving grace: no civilians remained anywhere close to Filia and Jane, or to the three mazoku who stared each other down a bit further away.

"Dolphin, Dynast." Zellas gave a curt nod to each; the gesture seemed like a mere act of formality without an ounce of actual respect. "You found me faster than I expected."

"I'm not surprised," the armored demon snorted. "You've always underestimated my abilities."

The Greater Beast seemed to have ignored his boast, and turned to the woman in blue instead. "So how's the weather in the Kataart Mountains these days?"

"As cold as ever, I assume. Sadly for you, I haven't received any reports from that area during the past day or two." She shrugged nonchalantly. "I know you have always enjoyed playing fast and loose, but this time you really should have been more careful. But too late for regrets now, I suppose."

"That still remains to be seen," Zellas smirked.

At the edge of the shallow hole created by the two mazoku lords' arrival, Jane peeked out from behind Filia's white cloak. "So… what are we going to do now?"

"Why not let them kill each other?" Nilian offered, staring at the scene with hateful eyes. Before anyone could respond, another man in a white robe appeared next to them with a flash of gold.

"Whatever you do, do not interfere." Milgazia also regarded the three mazoku, his expression grim. "We stand absolutely no chance against them."

"W-What about all those demons Zellas brought here before?" Jane turned to the newcomer with a perplexed look. "Shouldn't they be coming to her aid right now?"

"They are staying away for the very same reason," the older dragon answered. "Even if they attacked all at once, or even if Xelloss were here and used all his power, it would be little more than a nuisance for these two. Of course, in a battle of equals, even a nuisance can turn the tide, but this is two against one – it would be nothing but a pointless massacre."

Filia gazed at the ground. Small cracks began to appear in the earth, spreading out from the hole, as a near-tangible feeling of tension blanketed the air. "Milgazia-sama… You know that if they destroy Zellas, Dolphin and Dynast won't stop there," she commented. "We're going to be next."

"That is why I've already ordered everyone to take the refugees and scatter." The elder glanced briefly behind his back. In a short span of time, the forest around them had become dead silent. "They are unlikely to go after us in person, and should they send their servants to pursue, a few of us may still manage to escape this way."

The priestess closed her eyes, looking as if a nagging feeling simply refused to let her be. "I understand, but… Something tells me Lina-san wouldn't approve of this plan."

"I concur!" Jane folded her arms with a huff – although she remained hidden behind the dragoness' back.

Milgazia sighed, the same concern showing on his face as well. "Be that as it may… she is not here."

"Achoo!"

To her chagrin, Lina had to witness first-hand that being near the top of one of the highest mountains of Kataart meant that the weather also became colder than ever.

"And this is not even the curse kicking in again, that's still to come. Just hilarious." She wiped her running nose with a handkerchief. "I know I'm going to sound like a kid who's bored out of her mind, Xel, but are we there yet?"

"It's just a matter of minutes," the priest replied, pointing upwards with his staff. In the distance, the summit finally came into view. "Having said that, this is unfortunately as far as I can go, Lina-san. Feel free to use a flight spell from this point onwards."

"Oh," the sorceress blinked, "so that's why you didn't want to fly. If you use more of your power or go any closer than this, he'll sense your presence, right?" She glanced up in the same direction. "Well, guess I'm about to find out why none of you guys seem to be keen on paying good old Ruby Eye a visit."

As if to confirm her suspicions, Xelloss did seem slightly nervous behind his usual smile as he paced around in the snow. "One last piece of advice, if I may: it's true that you have already met two awakened shards of Ruby Eye-sama in the past, but do not expect him to be anything like you remember. Preconceptions may prove very dangerous in this case."

"Um, okay. Not sure what to make of that, but thanks, I guess?" Lina scratched the top of her head with a puzzled look, then set her sights on the glint of red in the snow she had noticed near the top of the mountain. "Alright, I'll be right back. Wish me luck! RAY WING!"

The wind bubble shot straight up into the sky. The priest watched her disappear into the distance with a troubled expression. "Good luck, Lina-san. I fear you're going to need it."

It seemed like her companion was right: it really did not take the sorceress more than a minute or two to reach the spot she has been aiming at. The small red dot kept growing bigger and bigger as she approached, and she soon realized that at least half of the mountaintop was made from the same material: somewhat foggy ice which could easily be mistaken for a ruby, glowing with an intense inner radiance.

She landed on a smaller cliff next to the sizable chunk of mysterious crystal. The first thing she noticed was how unnaturally still her surroundings became; not only did the wind stop blowing, but the few clouds moving through the sky also disappeared somewhere, leaving an empty blue dome above her head. Even the snow below her feet felt rock solid, without a trace of icy vapor floating in the air.

Still, I half expected Shabranigdu's huge and ever-so-friendly face to gaze up at me from the depths of some elaborate magical prison… This looks almost tame in comparison.

She cleared her throat. "Um… I've come to seek an audience with the… great and powerful Ruby Eye Shabranigdu!" While the sorceress expected her voice to reverberate across the summit, it felt more like she was shouting inside a small, cramped room. "The future of the mazoku race is at stake!"

All remained still and silent.

"Anyone here? Hello!" It felt as if the unmoving air killed off her words as soon as they left her mouth, wearing down the sorceress' patience. "Okay, sorry to be blunt, but after all the crap I've been through just to get here, pretending you're not even around is plain rude! Say something!"

At last, a sound reached her ears. It was only a low rumble at first, like layers of rock grinding over one another, coming from the direction of the red ice. It grew louder ever so slowly though, and while she was not entirely sure, Lina felt as if she could make out words spoken by a frightening, alien voice.

"You… How dare you come here… How dare you set foot in this place…"

Lina slapped her forehead. This is starting off so well…

"Look, I can understand that you're less than thrilled to find a human at your doorstep, and so help me Ceiphied I did not come to reminisce about the good old times either," she said, taking a deep breath. "But we really need to talk. Things have gotten pretty serious out there."

"We have nothing to discuss, human… Your very presence, your very existence offends me... and I shall put an end to it!" The rumble turned into a cacophonic roar. "Riksfalto! Trying to hide on the Astral Plane is useless! I command you to show yourself!"

Next to the sorceress, the mazoku general's form appeared in mid-air, then unceremoniously fell to the ground. Riksfalto still seemed to be very much under the influence of the curse: her movements were stiff and weak, the look in her eyes distant and her armor covered by a thin layer of rime.

"Ruby Eye-sama…" she murmured, slowly raising her head from the snow. "I am sorry for… for…"

"I have no interest in your excuses!" The voice was now so loud that Lina couldn't help but cringe. "Erase the astral form of this human from my sight, right now! Let nothing remain!"

Say what?!

Her arm trembling, the general lifted her weapon, which looked like the hybrid of a sword and a trident, off the ground. Her gaze met Lina's – and the sorceress could have sworn that she saw clear fear in her eyes.

"But… Ruby Eye-sama…" she whimpered. "She's just a human… an attack like that… it… it doesn't…"

It doesn't make sense! Lina gritted her teeth. A mazoku would never attack a human directly from the Astral Plane! It's like admitting that you can't win unless you cheat – thinking like that can get them killed!

Now she understood why Riksfalto was so afraid. Every fiber of her being likely protested against the order she was given, but even so, her arm was still moving to obey.

Mazoku usually have to do the bidding of their superiors, whether they want to or not… yet even then, there are lines both master and servant would loathe to cross. But this… This is something else. He's controlling her like a puppet on a string!

"Shabranigdu, this is low even for you! If you want to get rid of me so much, why don't you try it yourself?!" Her words were drowned out by the furious roar, now strong enough to be almost unbearable.

"What are you waiting for?! Do it‼"

The three-pronged weapon was now pointing in Lina's direction, and while the mazoku general had a look of utter despair on her face, it did not seem like she could stop.

Left without other options, the sorceress took a defensive stance, cursing under her breath. Wind barriers are guaranteed to be useless, but does it even make sense to try to jump out of the way? I'm not sure I'll be able to see the attack to begin with—

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a man wearing a dark cloak in front of her. While he had his back to Lina, she could still see him twist his staff in the air – whether that was him parrying the astral attack or something else, she could not tell.

The suffocating stillness and silence enveloped the summit once more, momentarily, and when the voice could be heard again, its tone had considerably changed. Gone was the rage and impatience, with subtle pique and glee taking its place.

"Xelloss… How nice of you to finally join us."

"Ruby Eye-sama." After a deep bow, the priest descended to one knee. The sorceress could not see his face from where she was standing, but something in his voice told her he was not happy.

The bastard! This whole scene he made was just a trick to force Xelloss to come here!

"I see you no longer possess the talismans I've given you," the voice mused. "I have to wonder, what could possibly have happened to them?"

You know very well what, damn it! You were there when I destroyed them! Lina did a double take. Wait a sec…

The priest simply bowed his head one more time. "My deepest apologies for mishandling your gifts, Ruby Eye-sama."

"Oh, do not flatter yourself. It was anything but a gift."

Wow, now he's just being a jerk for the hell of it.

"Well, no matter. I suppose now that my unruly children have gathered, we can move on to the more important concerns at hand," the voice was now unabashedly sarcastic. "So go on, human. Tell me what you have to say."

The sorceress saw Xelloss move his head a tiny bit towards her to the side, one open eye glancing at her expectantly. She offered a small, apologetic smile in his direction, put her hands on her hips and said,

"No. Forget it."

The two mazoku retainers turned around completely to stare at her with equal amounts of bewilderment and horror.

"…No…?" For the first time, the voice was also confused.

Lina stepped closer to the mass of reddish ice. "It's just really hard to have a meaningful conversation, you know, if the other party is not only having a field day, but is actually pretending to be someone else." She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to penetrate the foggy crystal with her gaze. "Isn't that right, Lei Magnus?"

"…What nonsense! That mortal is long gone! All that remains is—"

"Oh, cut it out! You had me fooled at first, I admit, but the jig is up!" the sorceress snapped. Amazingly, the voice fell silent. "Even if he's the first and strongest of them all, Ruby Eye is still a mazoku; he wouldn't ask his subordinates to do things a demon would never do!" She gestured towards Xelloss. "That's not even the most obvious clue though. You also brought up the talismans, and it made me remember: when I fought Luke, he and Shabranigdu were in perfect agreement about battling Gourry and me to decide the fate of the world. But the Demon King of the North disagreed! He used whatever influence he had to keep me from even meeting Luke! I already know that the shards of Ruby Eye share the same consciousness – so why would Shabranigdu go against his own decision? Why would the Shabranigdu trapped in this mountain act so differently from all the other shards that even Xelloss warned me about it? I'll tell you why: because he's not the only one calling the shots around here!"

A second or two of stunned silence followed – and when the voice spoke again, while it retained its alien, disturbing tone, it nonetheless sounded more real somehow, as if everything that came earlier was a mere illusion or imitation. Not to mention that it did something it had not before: erupted in laughter.

"Hahahahaha…! Well done, sorceress, well done!"

The inner light of the ruby-colored ice slowly died away and with it, the fogginess of the crystal also disappeared. It became almost transparent, with just a slight crimson hue remaining, and within Lina saw a familiar face: a thirty-something man with long black hair and dark red eyes, wearing lengthy sorcerer's robes and multi-layered, elaborate shoulder guards. He held a tall, grotesque-looking staff in his hand, which she quickly recognized as the Staff of Bones, the weapon of Ruby Eye from the legends.

"The human here has always doubted your abilities," Shabrangidu's true voice commented, the echo of a chuckle still lingering. "It pleases me to see him proven wrong."

Lina could not help but stare dumbstruck at the man she only knew from myths, but was now right in front of her – and alive, no less. He really is just like Luke… When Ruby Eye took over Rezo's body against his will, he mutated it into a demonic monstrosity, but Lei… he also let the mazoku awaken of his own accord. And his human body is still there, frozen in the ice, even after a thousand years…

Her shock increased even further; without the light that had obscured Lei Magnus' form, the reddish crystals themselves started looking all too familiar to her as well…

"Wait… this ice… could it be that… you two are actually the source of the curse?" she stammered.

His frozen prison did not allow him the luxury of changing his facial expression, but the new, more humanlike voice that joined Ruby Eye's – raspy, but more withdrawn than threatening – still managed to convey the man's clear displeasure. "That is hardly the case. What you call the 'curse' is the very same power that has been keeping us here for centuries: a spell of the late Aqualord Ragradia."

Aqualord's…?!

"But that small lake of cursed water we saw within the mountain," Lina asked with some confusion, "how is that connected to you?"

"It seems you haven't realized where that pool resides: it is near the top, almost exactly below us," Lei Magnus replied in an even tone. "Our power slowly deteriorates the spell, melting the ice, and whatever is left of the magic substance gathers within the caves. Apparently, it retains an amount of its potency still, so lesser beings may fall victim to it."

"Lesser beings"? "Our power"? The sorceress struggled to keep a straight face. Not one to brag, are you?

"Most of the seal remains intact; it will take many more years, millennia even, for us to free ourselves. But we have already regained enough of our senses to detect the Beast Priest's presence when the two of you reached the upmost part of the cavern complex. If it weren't for that, he might have escaped our notice completely," the voice of the Great Sage turned cold. "Do you wish to provide any explanation for your behavior, Xelloss?"

The priest bowed curtly for the third time; Lina started to seriously doubt there was any sincerity behind the gesture. "I have been following the orders I was given, as is expected of me," he stated, his words devoid of emotion. "If, while doing so, I have committed any error, I am fully prepared to suffer the consequences for it."

"Evasive as always," Lei Magnus commented dryly. "But I suppose there is no point in forcing the truth out of you, since we already know the reason for your 'orders' all too well."

While she was not pleased by the thought, the sorcerers found herself agreeing with him; all it took was a glance at the two mazoku to understand that they were suffering simply from being here. Riksfalto, the boisterous general who always said what was on her mind and could never remain still, was lying flat on the ground and visibly tried her best not to be noticed by anyone. Xelloss' usual cheerful self had evaporated as well; he simply knelt there, unmoving, his open eyes kept down, not speaking unless spoken to.

Only now did Lina realize: when the priest was talking about how he had made the source of his power his own, there was a strong undercurrent of pride in his voice. But here, in the mere presence of Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, it all came undone – his pride, his individuality, his semblance of control, all stripped away.

"All the more entertaining it is to see their desperation, as they are forced to seek us out regardless." The Demon King's voice roused her from her thoughts. "Sorceress, do tell us why they have sent you here. Amuse me more."

With a sigh, Lina pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, let's get this over with. How much do you know about what's happening in the world right now?"

"We know the basics," Lei Magnus said; the sorceress was convinced he was trying to feign disinterest. "While we cannot feel the presence of individuals from any greater distance, the overall picture is clear: starting from the western coast, humans are being eradicated or driven from their homes across the peninsula by a force that seems to be a combination of dragons, gods and mazoku. If I had to guess, I'd say the shinzoku have finally lost their nerve regarding the shards, and some of the mazoku are assisting them in hopes of getting to a shard before they do."

Lina could not help but give a nod of respect. This guy might be many things, but he's definitely not dumb.

"Others such as Zellas and Dolphin apparently disagree, however, and are trying to use our authority to force their views on the rest of their race." While nothing changed about the figure frozen in ice, the sorceress felt as if a mocking gaze had swept across the cliff, first resting on Riksfalto and Xelloss, then finally moving to her. "From what I've heard about you, I thought you'd be smarter than this. Do you truly believe these mazoku will save humanity? And even if they would, what makes you think I'd give such an absurd order? There are few things I desire more than to see all humans suffer. Tell me, Lina Inverse – what is that you hope for?"

Frustrated by her inability to meet the unseen pair of eyes, the sorceress opted to clench her own shut.

He makes a good point. To most, asking a being that has been trying to destroy the world since the dawn of time to, just this once, save them instead is plain stupid. Or maybe desperate.

Still… there's more to this than he lets on. He's not Shabranigdu – he's not just Shabranigdu. I saw it myself: even before Lei became Ruby Eye, he already distrusted the gods. He already hated the mazoku. Did all of that old enmity get swept away, just so he can have his revenge on humans for some reason…?

Her eyes snapped open.

Let's find out.

"What I hoped for, I guess, was to find someone on this mountain, anyone, who is at least a tiny bit reasonable," she answered in a playful tone. "You do seem like that kind of guy, Lei Magnus, so how about I ask you a rhetorical question." She swept her arm across the innumerable mountains stretching into the distance behind them. "Do you like it here? No one around to disturb you, just you and Ruby Eye, best friends, together forever. Is that okay by you?" She cocked her head to the side. "Well, no offense, but… I don't think so. I mean, Shabranigdu's surely got a whole lot of stories to tell, but even he will run out of conversation topics eventually. You know what I think? I think this isn't what you signed up for. At all."

The Great Sage said nothing in response. I'll take that as a good sign.

"And if that's the case, then I have some bad news for you: this will only get worse." She pointed southwards. "As you said, right now, somewhere over there, mazoku and gods fight hand in hand and sing songs about everlasting friendship while they set human cities on fire. You mentioned absurd orders – well, if that's not absurd, I don't know what is! So why do you think the demons play along? Because they think those absurd orders came from you, that's why!"

It was almost unnoticeable, but the sorceress could feel the earth vibrate briefly below her. This time Lei Magnus did speak up, and his voice was filled with barely suppressed anger.

"…Dynast."

"That's right, 10 points! You'd win the 'Curse of Icy Doom' in no time!" Lina nodded cheerfully, but her smile disappeared immediately after. "So here's what's really bad about this: if you don't make a move right now, if you don't put your foot down, it's over. Maybe the humans will survive, maybe they won't, but who will even care about Shabranigdu's real opinion on anything after this, if they can simply make stuff up?" She threw a flat glance towards the general and the priest. "These two servants of yours will leave, happy to avoid having to see you again, and guess what? You really won't see them, or anyone else for a long-long while. Until a new shard awakens, or until you finally manage to break Aqualord's spell, Ruby Eye Shabranigdu will cease to exist." She shrugged. "Or maybe he'll be called Dynast Grausherra from here on."

With that, the sorceress crossed her arms, set her eyes on the block of ice and waited.

The thoughtful voice of the Great Sage came after a bit of delay. "You make a surprisingly solid argument, that I will not deny. Perhaps we should intervene. However," he added with a sneer, "you never said anything about why this intervention should benefit the humans in any way."

I knew you'd bring that up.

Lina raised her eyebrows as high as she could, trying to look as surprised as possible. "Of course I didn't say that, why would I? I'm not here as the representative of the human race, you know; I was actually forced to come here against my will, believe it or not." One of her hands absent-mindedly moved behind her head. "As for what you should be doing, well, I thought that was obvious. Didn't you tell me you wanted people to suffer?"

She rolled her eyes as if dismissing an inaudible argument. "I know, I know, the humans getting slaughtered technically counts as suffering, but really, are we even trying here? Ask Ruby Eye if you don't believe me, he is the undisputed expert on the topic; death sucks, but if you really want to hurt people, you don't kill them – you make them wish they were dead. And I'll say this: it's going to do absolute wonders to human society when they discover that the gods they've venerated for countless generations not only fail to give a damn, but have been trying pretty hard to make them go extinct! So don't give them death, I say – give them despair. The only thing they need for that is maybe a year or two; the rest will come on its own."

She raised her index finger into the air. "But hey, why stop there? What about the gods, then? They're no strangers to genocide, but since they did a thorough job last time, you won't find too many ancient dragons sullying their good name as champions of righteousness and protectors of peace. History is written by the victors – so this time, why not let them lose? Why not let them suffer not only the shame of defeat, but a stigma that will never be washed away?"

With a conspiratorial look, the sorceress put her finger to her lips as if she was about to reveal a great secret, then smiled an evil smile that would have made any villain proud. "And I saved the best for last: don't tell me you wouldn't want the mazoku to suffer? They claim to respect you, yet not only do they ignore you, but now try to act in your name, without your consent… Why let them get away with it? And, well, I'm seriously open to ideas here, but I cannot possibly imagine a greater humiliation for any mazoku than to be a hero. Not even by choice, as if that would happen, but by force. So let them save the day – and teach them a lesson they won't soon forget!"

Her words died away in the unnatural silence – and the sound of a slow clap from an unseen pair of hands filled the air, coming from the direction of the ice.

"He was right, you really are… interesting," Lei Magnus murmured. "Listening to what you just said, you almost made me believe you don't care about what happens to the human race at all. Of course, most of your words were little more than sugar-coated half-truths, but…" He hesitated for a moment. "…you are indeed right about one thing: among those few I despise more than humans, the gods and the mazoku have definitely earned their place."

And here comes the part when he says "buuut"…

"That said, I do have one question for you," he added in an unnerving tone. "Tell me, Lina Inverse, what should I be doing if I wanted you to suffer?"

Sometimes I hate being right. The sorceress grimaced. "Guess I'm not off the naughty list either, huh?"

She expected some kind of a patronizing response, but the Great Sage's answer came in a low voice, laced with genuine sadness.

"The tower of holy magic… The Demon's Blood Talismans… I'm sure you remember them both. They were among my life's greatest achievements… and now they're all gone." The sadness disappeared, as if it was never there. "But don't worry, I have already figured out a fitting punishment… if we ever get to that. You did not forget, I hope? That I'm not the only one you have to convince?"

Oh, don't remind me. This was just the warm-up, wasn't it?

"There is no need," Shabranigdu interjected, much to the surprise of both parties. "I have already made my decision. After all, there is little reason for me to doubt the words of one of my most trusted servants."

…Your trusted what?

The sorceress pointed an uncertain finger at the frozen figure. "Err… He means you, right?"

"Unfortunately no, not at all," came Lei Magnus' slightly exasperated reply.

Eek.

"Well, I'm… happy you feel that way, Ruby Eye," Lina scratched her cheek, looking uncomfortable, "but unless I misread the small print somewhere… I don't remember signing up to your cause, and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Shabranigdu's words came as a deep, pleased rumble, and she was now certain that every single syllable moved the mountain slightly below her feet.

"You forget… I am the embodiment of destruction. The end of all: gods, dragons, humans, mazoku… even myself. You may not have been in this world long, sorceress, but you have already wrought destruction on a scale that puts many of my own subordinates to shame. And I have no doubt that I will be witnessing great things from you still."

Struck speechless, Lina merely scowled at the red crystal as the rumble slowly gained strength again, ultimately manifesting as a storm of sound more powerful than ever before, which crushed the spell of silence and reverberated through the mountain range. Xelloss looked up, and even Riksfalto raised her head from the ground, both listening to their creator's voice with a mixture of fear and awe.

"So let it be known: I will not allow my pieces to fall into the gods' hands, and I will only let humanity perish on my own terms. Until the shinzoku have given up on their goal to exterminate these mortals, I hereby order all mazoku alive to do everything in their power to thwart their plans!"

"…with one condition," the Great Sage's quiet words instantly quelled the thunder.

"Hah, by all means, human," Ruby Eye laughed once again.

Lei Magnus stated his terms – and the sorceress let out a long, frustrated breath.

"Enough of this foolishness!" Dynast exclaimed, the ground trembling at his words. "I know you are simply trying to buy time, Zellas! Let us end this!"

He gripped his sword with both hands, but the Beastmaster looked unfazed, amused even. "You truly accuse me of stalling for time? Do you think I haven't noticed the astral seal Dolphin has been trying to build up around me to keep me in place while you make an attempt to finish me off? You have some nerve!"

"Looks like I was found out. You were always hard to fool." The black-haired woman gave a small chuckle. "Of course, it's one thing to see the trap, but can you actually escape it, I wonder?... Zellas?" Her cheerful mood deflated a bit. "Zellas, are you listening to me…?"

The Greater Beast was indeed not looking at her, but at the human who had descended into the hole and was now heading towards them: Nilian.

"The last thing we needed: even more insignificant pests," Dynast grumbled.

Zellas regarded the noblewoman with a weird look. "Perhaps I was overthinking things earlier. You're simply suicidal, aren't you?"

Nilian stopped halfway between the three demons. "Which one of you was responsible for the attack on the Black Dragon Inn?" She spoke with the same simplicity as if she were asking for directions. "I've been told it wasn't the troops of Zellas Metallium."

The mazoku lords just stared at her.

"…What?" Dolphin finally uttered a single word of total confusion.

"I… believe she is asking about one of the human settlements you destroyed." The Beastmaster managed to recover first from the incredulity of the situation. "Surely you know which one of your subordinates was in charge back then."

"Why would I even care about a human inn?" the armored mazoku fumed. "Suffice to say, I've never heard of anything called the 'Black Dragon'. What about you?"

"Was that… in the village near Rygrien, maybe?" Dolphin muttered.

"Rygrien was abandoned a thousand years ago, my dear," Zellas shot her down. "You really don't go out much these days. The Black Dragon Inn was on the western side of the Miasma Forest, right next to Sairaag, I believe."

A few seconds of silence followed.

"…And where is this 'Sairaag'?" the woman in blue blurted out. "Wait… Wasn't that town destroyed already?"

The Beastmaster nodded patiently. "Oh, that's right. Several times, in fact."

"But why would the humans build an inn next to a ruined city? That makes no sense!"

"Listen Dolphin, you're letting yourself get sidetracked!" Dynast waved his sword around in anger.

"True, I apologize for that as well." Zellas held up her hands. "We weren't actually discussing the location, but the destruction of the inn, right?"

"No, what we were 'discussing' was your death‼" he bellowed. A steel foot smashed into the ground; the resulting earthquake was now big enough to fell a couple of trees.

Nilian simply stood there in the middle of the chaos, unmoving like a statue.

The Greater Beast likewise wasn't intimidated. "Come now, you're surely joking. Or are you trying to tell me that you two know so little about the movements of your own troops that you can't even answer a question as simple as that…?"

Dynast looked taken aback for a moment. "What?! No… No, of course not! Let me think… Dolphin, didn't we agree that the main attack force would be led by your subordinates? Weren't they the ones who first confronted Lina Inverse?"

The black-haired woman's eyes lit up. "You're right! The one who led them was my priest, Huraker." She turned to the noblewoman with a triumphant look. "There you go, human, consider that our parting gift before we send you to the afterlife. Are you satisfied now?"

Nilian said nothing. She took a step forward – and slapped Deep Sea Dolphin across the face.

"Why… you…!" The mazoku lord's eyes widened with rage. So did Dynast's, but for an entirely different reason.

"Dolphin, focus! You're letting your astral seal dissipa—" He had to abandon the sentence and jump back; in the next moment, Zellas' bare fist bore into the ground where he had been standing. Several brief shadowy flashes, likely attacks on the Astral Plane, followed shortly; the shockwave created by the strikes was so powerful that it dislodged the terrain in a two mile radius, sending trees and shrubbery flying high into the air all around.

"Where's the human? Where is she?!" Dolphin screamed, whirling around. Then her head snapped up; about a hundred feet above, she noticed Nilian on the back of a large golden dragon. "You think you can simply leave?!"

She thrust her arm upwards, causing several dark blue waves of energy to erupt from the ground. They quickly closed in on the dragon – but then veered off-target, turning multiple times in random directions until they hit Dynast's armored form squarely in the back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He was knocked off balance just enough to be helpless against the Greater Beast's next attack. Her kick hit him in the stomach, and blasted him away into the sky with such speed that he immediately disappeared from view.

Dolphin stared at her own hands. "What… happened?"

"Zellas, what are you waiting for? Run!" the dragon carrying Nilian roared.

"Believe me, I would if I could, but…" She held her arms up just as Dynast reappeared above her out of nowhere and struck with his sword. She caught his blade with both hands, but the momentum still drove her waist-deep into the ground. "…he's nothing if not persistent!"

She used the grabbed weapon as a whip to clobber the armored mazoku into the earth as well. The ensuing tremors destroyed the last remains of the hills around them: for several miles, nothing was left of the scenery but a giant bowl of mud, with pieces of vegetation scattered about, broken and deformed beyond recognition.

"I've realized I'm actually grateful to you, Zellas! I very much prefer this to cleanly finishing you off!" Dynast disintegrated the earth around him with a gesture, tearing his sword out of the Beastmaster's hands. "It's been too long since I fought a real battle!" He thrust his blade forward; a grayish bolt of miasma sprang forth, barely missing his opponent, and hit a mountain near the edge of the horizon instead. A blinding flash later the mountain was no longer there. "No playing games with the mortals! No restrictions! Just raw power and skill!"

Zellas readied a fierce looking right hook; but given the distance between them, it seemed like she was about to strike nothing but air. "Well then, at least one of us is having fun." Her right arm melded into the darkness enveloping her form, only to rematerialize next to her unsuspecting opponent and punch him in the face, driving him into the ground once more. Flickering shadows signaled the astral attacks that followed, resulting in a large tear on Dynast's breastplate.

The Greater Beast lunged forward. "But if you want no restrictions – I can give you that!"

She let out a distinctly animalistic roar, and her body began to grow to almost twice her previous size. Her humanlike features distorted, becoming more and more monstrous and slowly solidifying into a new form: a ten-foot-tall wolf-like creature with white leathery wings and glowing yellow eyes, wearing a metal circlet with two long spikes that sprouted from it just above the eyebrows.

Meanwhile, a distraught-looking Dolphin tried to launch another volley of bluish blasts at Nilian and the dragon, but they never reached their target either; it seemed as if the waves of energy lost all sense of direction halfway, and rained down haphazardly on the ruined surface instead.

"I see now. Something… no, someone is trying to manipulate my abilities." Her eyes darted around the ruined landscape, then stopped at a spot on the ground no more than half a dozen yards away. She angrily extended one arm forward in the same direction, her fingers half-flexed like she was trying to grab onto something.

The mazoku lord started lifting her arm – and a spherical magic barrier shining brilliant gold rose from the loose earth. Inside, Filia stood with her arms spread wide, in deep concentration to keep the protective magic in place, while Jane, down on her knees, was looking straight at Dolphin, her arm extended towards her in a gesture that almost mirrored her own.

"Another insolent human, it seems," she hissed. Her entire body began to glow, like it had burst into bright green flames. The fire-like aura kept expanding, and it was not long before it reached the barrier as well, but inexplicably seemed to shy away from touching it. Jane's hand trembled with effort, the same green aura faintly radiating from her own form as well.

Dolphin's scowl deepened further. "I suppose being able to tap into my powers without me even noticing is a feat worthy of praise – but can you handle all of it, I wonder?!"

Her emerald flames abruptly tripled in size, blanketing the entire area. Jane cried out in pain – while the barrier was still untouched, the green fire was now springing forth from her eyes, mouth and limbs, her human body and soul simply incapable of channeling the amount of power the mazoku lord was pouring into her. The golden barrier faded away as the scream broke Filia's concentration; her eyes snapping open, she assessed the situation with a distressed glance, hit Jane's neck with the back of her hand, knocking her unconscious – and the magical fire enveloped them both.

The Greater Beast did not even flinch when the flames touched her; a blinding light flared up within her open mouth, and in the next moment she released a cone of energy surrounded by crackling electricity, large enough to easily swallow a house. Dynast made no move to evade the attack; his sword split the blast in half in front of him, creating a pair of deep chasms on both sides.

"Such a waste of energy!" he yelled. "I can't decide whether you're trying to flaunt your abilities… or you're simply this desperate!"

His blade began to vibrate, extruding the same grayish miasma as before, but this time it looked more like a spear that slowly edged forward through the weaker points of the electric maelstrom, approaching Zellas. The closer it got, the fiercer the collision of the two energies became, at first only producing resounding claps of thunder, but then also hurricane-level winds that emanated from the two demons.

The gale quickly quenched the sea of green fire, revealing Filia with her cloak and robes almost completely burned away from trying to shield Jane with her body from the agonizing flames. She was badly hurt, but still had the strength to raise her head and glare at the black-haired woman in front of her.

"Do not worry, I won't let you die yet. Not when you make such excellent bait." The moment those words left her mouth, Dolphin's form was skewered from the side by a white ray of light, the golden dragons' laser breath, which entered at her shoulder and exited through her hip. Completely ignoring the vibrant energy burning through her, she glanced lazily to the side, towards her attacker who came swooping through the air. "Don't think I have forgotten about you!"

A blue flash tore the approaching golden dragon from the sky, forcing him to crash into the ground right next to the priestess. Nilian barely managed to climb out from under his left arm, her entire body covered with blood; some her own, some the dragon's.

Filia extended her aching hand towards the tip of the golden scaled wings, now tinted with red, but as her arm trembled with pain, her healing spell fizzled uselessly.

"Milgazia-sama," she spoke softly. "What do you think Lina-san would say about us now?"

"I think…" The dragon elder coughed up even more blood. "I believe she would call us 'complete idiots'."

A weak giggle escaped her lips. "I think so too…"

Anything else she might have wanted to say could no longer be heard; a pulse of power from the direction of Dynast and the Greater Beast erased all sound and sight for several seconds, and by the time it dissipated, the direction of the wind had reversed; the might of the two opposing attacks had reached such immense heights that they disintegrated all physical matter in their vicinity, creating a sphere of vacuum around the two mazoku lords that slowly expanded, annihilating everything in its path.

"Such a pity. After all you did, I was hoping to play around with you a little longer." Dolphin regarded the approaching void with a look of disappointment. As she turned back towards Filia and the others, however, her expression became oddly serene. "But what am I saying? In the end, someone of my stature should not be so vexed by the petty mischief of mortals. So as my token of goodwill…" Her form began to glow with a greenish light once again as her lips curved into a malevolent smile. "…let me guide you all to your death."

The emerald light intensified – then blinked out in confusion, as a brown-haired woman wearing monochromatic clothing appeared out of thin air in front of her.

"How about no?!" Lina seethed.

"Y-You?!"

"Dolphin-sama, please stop!" Riksfalto's form materialized in mid-bow next to them, a hand brought to her chest in a gesture of respect.

In the same moment, the air trembled at the edge of the sphere-shaped vacuum and Xelloss came into view; the incredible winds immediately tore his cloak to shreds. The gem on top of his new staff lit up, and with a dark purple barrier forming around his body he slowly pushed himself into the void.

"Mistress! Dynast-sama! We bring urgent news!" he shouted, his voice somehow overpowering the acoustic chaos. "I beseech you both to stand down!"

The sphere lost its integrity and burst apart; Xelloss immediately teleported next to Lina and expanded his barrier to include everyone around him, as innumerable bits of raw magic energy erupted from the direction of the two mazoku lords and exploded with the power of a volcano as soon as they touched any solid matter.

While she could not see a thing aside from blinding white light, the sorceress could still feel herself descending in a rapid, if controlled manner, even though she had been standing on the surface mere seconds ago.

When she could finally open her eyes, Lina found herself in the midst of a giant circular pit around five miles in diameter, but with the bottom so deep within the earth that the towering walls at the edge seemed to be of at least the same height, blocking out the light of the sun completely. Powerful gusts of wind tore through the barren landscape, carrying clouds of fine ash.

A figure fell from the sky, bounced off the rocky ground and whirled around several times uncontrollably before coming to a halt. Zellas' wolf-like form was barely recognizable, with most of her fur burned off, her eyes gone, her limbs no more than blackened stumps. Instead of blood, an oil-like miasma oozed from her mouth and the gaping wounds on her torso.

Dynast's armored form materialized next to her with one steel foot set against the Greater Beast's head.

"It's a shame you lost your nerve by the end. But at least it was good while it lasted." He pointed a finger at his fallen opponent. "Any last words before you join your fellow traitor Garv in oblivion?"

The Beastmaster's mouth did not move; her faint voice came from thin air. "I have but one regret… the lamentable fact that you're deaf, apparently… "

"Dynast-sama, just one moment of your time, please…" Xelloss approached them with swift steps, but all it took was an angry look from the armored figure and he was blasted all to way back to the sorceress' feet.

"Wait for your turn, priest," he growled, and moved to raise his sword – but found the weapon missing from his hands. "What?!"

"I think we can spare a moment." With a tired expression, Dolphin held the blade out to the side using only two fingers, like she had to hold onto something disgusting.

"But—"

"Dynast!" she snapped, then quickly forced herself to quiet down. "I'm having a horrible day today, and you are partly to blame for it. Do not make me repeat myself. Riksfalto, report!"

"Right away, Dolphin-sama." The general took a step forward and saluted, still looking uncharacteristically nervous. "As you asked, I've been following Lina Inverse through the Kataart Mountains. Things… didn't really go according to plan, but she did make it to the you-know-which summit eventually, and… um…" She gulped. "Well, after talking with her, Ruby Eye-sama ordered me to deliver his will to you all. Please listen."

Her body trembled, and suddenly her voice was no longer hers. With the exact same rumbling pitch and intonation, followed by the wide-eyed stares of the demons around her, Shabranigdu spoke from her mouth, repeating his thundering orders of war against the shinzoku.

"This… this is…" Dolphin mumbled, but found herself at a loss for words.

Shaking with anger, Dynast faced no such difficulties. "Ridiculous! This is… absolutely ridiculous‼ After everything I've done, you expect me to… to… No!" he cried out, grabbed his sword from the other mazoku lord's hand and disappeared.

"W-Wait! Where are you going?" The black-haired woman stared at the empty spot where he had been standing.

"Leave him alone for now. It's not easy to see one's plans crumble right before their own eyes," an amused voice said from the ground. Her wolf form gone, Zellas sat there cross-legged with her pipe in her mouth. She appeared almost unhurt at first glance, but a closer look revealed her silver hair and clothing a disheveled mess while her movements seemed slow and stiff.

"Err… Dolphin-sama…" Riksfalto edged closer to the pair.

Her mistress' expression went from tired to exhausted. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, sorry… I'm not actually finished yet," the general said with a flustered look. "There is one more thing Ruby Eye-sama ordered me to tell you."

A few yards behind them, the sorceress, in the middle of casting a Recovery spell on Nilian, slapped her face with a palm in advance.

Riksfalto cleared her throat. "He decreed that the war against the gods must be led by, um, none other than… the human, Lina Inverse." She tried to look anywhere but at the two incredulous lords. "We are to obey her… as if she were Ruby Eye Shabranigdu-sama himself in person."

All demonic eyes turned to the sorceress amidst a very uncomfortable silence, with the only noise being the faint hum of white magic as, after Nilian's and Jane's, the most life-threatening of Milgazia's wounds began to close up as well.

"That's as much as I can do, we'll need Resurrection for the rest," Lina said as she crouched down to look over the older dragon's injuries one more time, before turning to the priestess who lay on the ground next to him. "Sorry Filia, those burns will also need an expert; I'm afraid my healing magic would only make things worse."

"I'll be fine, Lina-san," Filia spoke in a tired but grateful voice. "I know the right spells, I just… need a minute to catch my breath."

"You make it sound like you touched a hot stove by accident, not took on one of the mazoku lords. You're all complete idiots, you know that?" the sorceress tried to sound annoyed, but a smile still found its way to her lips. "Well, you're my kind of idiots at least… W-What? Why are you laughing?" Her mouth hung open in confusion, as Milgazia's weak laughter joined the priestess'. "Hey! Mind telling me what's so darn funny?"

"In due time, Lina. But before that, why don't you turn around?" the dragon elder said, his tone friendly but firm. "I know you'd prefer to ignore it, but the stares of the mazoku will bore holes into your back before long."

The sorceress ran a hand through her hair in irritation. "Eh, I guess you're right…"

But man, I so don't want to deal with this.

She stood and faced the group of demons. Xelloss seemed to have his best poker face on, whereas Riksfalto's perplexed expression made no secret of how out of her element she felt during the entirety of these proceedings, but especially now. Dolphin likewise looked like she would prefer to be anywhere but here, although in her case it was more about utter disbelief and plain outrage than simple confusion. Zellas, once again in contrast, seemed relatively calm, but behind her smoking pipe she was still eyeing the sorceress with a dark, contemplative look.

Lina knew that most of them were more than eager to say something to her; to protest, insult, to admonish or threaten her, to comment on the ridiculousness of the situation perhaps – it did not matter which, since those final orders made addressing her next to impossible without tremendous embarrassment. For the mazoku, a human can hardly be respected, much less revered. And she was a human, not the Demon King, even if they were told to treat her as such – unless Flarelord's prophecy was true, of course, and she had to admit that this newest twist could have caused many to reconsider their stance on those claims.

Either way, it was up to her; she had to break the ice first, and she was all too aware that every single word she said would have far-reaching consequences.

Geez Lei, you sneaky bastard…

"So I guess I'm expected to give the orders around here, huh?" she spoke cheerfully, unable to resist gauging their reactions. Right on cue, one of the black-haired woman's eyebrows began to twitch uncontrollably, making Lina chuckle. "Relax. I might have pretended to be Ruby Eye once before, but even that joke gets old after a while. You know how big of a fan I am of the prophecy that's all the rage nowadays, right? So let's make this clear: if I catch any of you throwing some weird name or honorific my way that has anything to do with the color red, I'm going to go ballistic. Got it?"

It was truly a rare sight to see someone become so offended and at the same time so obviously relieved by the same couple of sentences, yet that is exactly what Deep Sea Dolphin's face looked like at that moment.

"With that out of the way, let's move on to what's actually important," Lina continued. "There is only one thing I want to see, and if that sounds too much like an order to you, well, it isn't. It's common sense." One hand pointing at the demons, she extended the other towards the dragons behind her. "Cliché line or not… I want to have everyone work together. Yeah, you heard me: humans, mazoku, ryuzoku – everyone. That's our only chance to win. We don't have to love each other; we all have our reasons why we cannot let the gods succeed, and that should be more than enough. When this is over, feel free to hatch plans of revenge for all the indignity you've suffered, for all the verbal jabs I've made at your expense and so on and so forth, I won't mind. But for now, let's put our war on hold – and make sure our enemies think twice before continuing theirs."

The strands of smoke drew intricate patterns into the air as Zellas flicked her pipe away, letting it meld back into the surrounding shadows.

"I find those terms… acceptable," she stated simply, shooting a questioning glance in Dolphin's direction. If looks could talk, this most likely would have said 'I told you so'.

The woman in blue did not share her enthusiasm. "A host of other words come to mind, but… I don't see much of a point in arguing. I'll play along with your plans for now, Lina Inverse."

"That's great!" came a much more eager reply. To everyone's surprise, it was actually Riksfalto who pumped a fist into the air. "Uh, I mean, I'm glad that's finally over and done with… um…" She shrank back under Dolphin's flat stare, but still looked more like her usual self with each passing second. "I-I think I'll go tell Huraker the big news then! She's going to be sooo mad…"

"We should excuse ourselves as well, my dear," Zellas said as the general's form blinked out of existence. "I do believe the two of us have much to discuss."

"As long as we go somewhere devoid of all mortal life," the black-haired woman muttered with disgust, glancing towards Nilian's unconscious form. "Humans especially."

"The bottom of an ocean trench?" the Greater Beast offered.

Dolphin's eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. "Perfect."

Not a second later the two mazoku lords were likewise gone.

Good riddance.

Lina finally released the breath she felt like she had been holding for an eternity. "Man, I really hope I won't have to make a habit of these huge speeches. I'd rather face an army of slugs any day of the week," she grumbled. "Anyway, now that we're all one big happy family, Xel, how about we find some of Milgazia's dragons so they can help with treating the… Hey, Xelloss?"

She found the priest kneeling next to Filia, his open palm briefly bathing her in bright ivory glow.

"There. These burns do not require a lot of healing magic as long as one knows where to direct it," he explained with a smile. "All better?"

The dragoness sat up, looking at her body with astonishment. "Yes, the pain's just… gone. T-Thank you," she mumbled, the tip of her elven ears reddening. The realization of this very fact on the other hand set her mouth into a frown. "A-Are you doing this just to embarrass me, or do you have some other ulterior motive?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely: I would like you to take care of Milgazia-san and the others," Xelloss replied without skipping a beat. "Before she resumes her role as the glorious leader of our perhaps less glorious alliance, I wish to have a word with Lina-san. Preferably alone."

"…Oh." Filia looked unsure what to say at first, but then, to the priest's bewilderment, put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Okay, leave it to me," she nodded encouragingly. "And good luck."

A golden flash later, Lina and Xelloss were the only ones remaining in the middle of the barren expanse.

"Thanks for helping out," the sorceress said with a grateful smile as she stepped up beside him. "So, what's this about? I'm all ears."

The priest stared off into space for a bit, as if searching for the right words.

"Lina-san, it's safe to say that this isn't the first or even the fifth time, but… I'm honestly baffled by your decision," he finally spoke, his cheerful expression becoming half-hearted. "You chose to practically negate the final part of Ruby Eye-sama's orders – and in doing so managed to put together what amounts to, in my view, a shaky truce at best. Are you certain this was the right call? It is not exactly commonplace for a human to be offered leadership of the mazoku race. Weren't you at least tempted? Did it never occur to you to simply… play along?"

"And by playing along, also play right into the hands of Flarelord and Lei Magnus?" The sorceress gave a light shrug. "This is exactly what Mr. Icy Pants wanted, you know, to put me into the same impossible situation he's in. Sure, Zellas and the others could not have disobeyed me directly. But they could still take all of my orders literally, out of context or some other way to make my life a living hell – and that would have been the best case scenario. I needed allies, not servants trying desperately to stab me in the back." Her expression hardened. "Also, call it a matter of principle if you want. I don't care what the prophecy says, I don't care if Shabranigdu considers me his best buddy… I am not him. I'll never be him, if I have anything to say about it. And after today… I don't even feel like pretending otherwise, consequences be damned."

Xelloss regarded the gem on top of his staff thoughtfully, as if it were a crystal ball that could show him the events of recent past. "A lot of things happened today, no doubt. But which part left such a strong impression, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't mind… but maybe you would." After some hesitation, Lina cast a look of genuine worry at the mazoku. "Xel, I'm not sure how aware you've been of the fact, but you looked horrible back there. Seeing you like that again is… well, not something I'd look forward to. Frankly, it pissed me off so much that it got me thinking about how to get back at Lord Ruby Ice Block for the number he did on you just by being there. Not just in my own name, but a bit in yours as well."

The priest's eyes opened slightly. "You mean what you told Ruby Eye-sama about how to exact his revenge was…"

"Yeah, I stole that from you," she admitted with a faint smile. "Back in the day, I tried to appeal to Luke's better nature, but… I guess people who awaken Shabranigdu in their souls by choice are simply too far gone to listen. So this time I thought I'd try the other option: what a certain mazoku, a most silver-tongued mazoku at that, would say to Lei Magnus if he had the chance. And the results are in: he'd have him wrapped around his little finger!"

With a wink, she regarded Xelloss expectantly, but he simply stared back at her with a blank look, seemingly unsure how to react. "I… appreciate the thought, Lina-san… but I don't think I'd want to, khm, wrap Ruby Eye-sama around my little finger. That's just…"

"Of course, boundless respect and all that," the sorceress cut him off with a sigh. "Consider it the whim of a girl too sentimental for her own good then." She raised a hand with an open palm above her head. "Still, it did help us succeed, you know, so… here's to teamwork?"

The priest's usual cheer returned in a heartbeat. "Oh, I will not deny that for a second." He moved his own hand to meet hers. "To teamwork."

The moment their palms met, however, the sorceress intertwined her fingers with his, while her other hand pulled Xelloss into a fierce hug.

"…Lina-san?"

"Yeah-yeah. I know," Lina muttered as she buried her face into the front of his cloak. "Way too sentimental. But what can I do? I've been angry at you, I've been angry at myself for feeling this way – in the end, it is what it is. Maybe I'm too old, naïve, gushy or all of the above, but damn it, 'Spookster'…" She pulled him even closer. "…I'm so happy that you're still around."

A gust of wind blew a cloud of dust through the devastated landscape, obscuring the pair from view – and by the time it passed, they were nowhere to be found.

The dark walls of the Royal Palace of Saillune loomed threateningly in front of the night sky. The numerous members of the Royal Guards, all dressed in black plate armor, patrolled the palace grounds all day and night; still, there was one place most of them were loathe to visit, despite the harsh penalties they were threatened with should they be found shirking their duties.

It was a large, unusually empty spot almost in the middle of the building complex; the palace has been renovated or even completely rebuilt several times during the past hundred years, but it was still apparent that there were supposed to be several structures standing there, instead of the plain ceramic tiles that covered the vast area.

This oddity became less surprising, however, once one learned about the notoriety of the place: even the simple act of laying said tiles had claimed numerous lives. Workers had collapsed without warning, only to be found with deadly internal injuries that seemed eerily similar to those caused by lighting strikes – except in this case, the lightning had appeared within them.

Still, the palace could not be simply moved elsewhere, so the spot had been left empty and avoided by all, with countless myths springing to life of a terrifying curse that claimed the place its own. Even in the middle of that hot summer night, there was not a soul around; no one could thus bear witness to the events that unfolded.

It started innocuously enough: a layer of thick fog rose from the earth, covering the area in white haze. Then a single arc of lightning ran through the mist, followed by another. And another. The arcs of electricity struck more and more frequently, developing into a true lightning storm in the span of a mere few seconds. But just before the noise would have become loud enough for the residents to notice, a silent, blinding flash erased both the lightning and the mist – and left three figures standing on the ground tiles in its wake.

"—we might as well start writing our epitaphs!" a fair-haired man finished a sentence which, little did he know, started almost a century ago. Only then did he become aware of their surroundings. "Wait, what…?!"

The taller of the two women glanced around. "Maybe my barrier reacted with the magic circles and teleported us here?" She put a hand to her mouth. "Sometimes I even amaze myself! Ooohohoho!"

"But where are we?" The other, slightly younger girl sounded quite worried. "We need to get back to Saillune as fast as we can! We have no idea what happened to Father, Lina-san and the others…"

"Amelia…" the man started in a hoarse voice, but his reply got stuck in his throat. He let out an angry cough. "Sorry, but… I think we're in Saillune right now."

"What are you talking about?" the taller girl huffed. "Look at the walls, the buildings, all black! This place has too much sense of style to be Saillune!"

"I know, Gracia, but check the walls again," the man insisted, even though it seemed like he himself could barely believe what he was saying. "The buildings are entirely different, but these are still the walls of the Royal Palace, no matter the color." He regarded his companions with a grave look. "The question is not where we are, like it or not… it's when."

Lina bolted from her bedding with a cry, breaking out in cold sweat. One of her hands reached for the short sword near the bedroll as she glanced nervously around the army tent where she had been resting.

"Xelloss! Hey!" Her other hand grabbed the priest by the shoulder. "Were we attacked just now? Was this a spell maybe? Or what?!"

With a flick, the mazoku summoned a ball of light to the ceiling. "There are no enemies nearby, of that I am sure." Despite his words, he did not sound convinced at all. "But something… definitely changed around us…"

"Yeah, I don't think I was dreaming either," Lina started putting her boots on at a frenzied pace. "Don't want to sound overdramatic, but it felt like… something tore out part of my soul, damn it! We need to check what's going on out there."

Just when she was ready, an upset-looking Filia appeared at the entrance.

"Lina-san, something huge has happe—" With the same momentum, she dove straight out of the tent. "Xelloss, for the gods' sake, put some clothes on‼"

"Ah, yes." The priest smiled innocently, his human projection becoming hazy for a moment. "I humbly apologize for the fact that you forgot to knock, Filia-san."

Instead of the priestess, however, it was Milgazia who entered their quarters next. "There's no need to be alarmed. At least not right this moment," he stated; as usual, the true emotion behind his words was hard to discern. "But as you've heard, something of great importance occurred just now."

"Right, and you two got the crowd here all excited, so how about you spill the beans?" the sorceress asked impatiently.

"To put it simply: the gods have revoked their power from the world," the dragon elder spoke as Filia re-entered the tent as well with a nod. "Just as it was before the fall of the mazoku barrier, all holy magic has become nonfunctional. The only ones able to draw upon the might of the shinzoku from here on are those they have granted such an ability directly. Needless to say, such beings are few and far between, but the human Officius is definitely among them."

"And that's not all," the priestess continued before Lina had a chance to respond. "I heard from Zellas just now that both she and Deep Sea Dolphin lost all contact with Dynast Grausherra and his underlings. They seem to have disappeared without a trace."

A shadow passing over her face, the sorceress glanced at Xelloss. "So I'm going to state the obvious here, but… that doesn't sound like they're giving up."

"Indeed," the priest replied, his open eyes reflecting her look of concern. "It seems the war is far from over. It has only just begun."

To be continued…

-o-

Author's Notes

I actually can't believe I've managed to finish this chapter. It's been over eight years. Eight! This was the single hardest piece of... well, anything I ever had to write, work included. Thus, I hope that anyone still interested in the fic enjoyed reading it at least a little. :)

I'd like to offer some huge thanks to my beta reader for this chapter, NaioKiara, and all the people on the Slayers Discord channel. You guys are awesome, and inspired me to try again after not writing a single word for about two years. Thank you so much!

Obviously, after a hiatus like this making any kind of promises for the next chapter would just make me look stupid. XD Still, I do promise to give it my best shot. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I hope we'll be able to meet again!

See you then!