Lina led the group back towards where the cult's stronghold was. Unlike Zelgadis and Amelia, Lina could hear what was happening outside the Shadow Realm through the various shadows. A sudden explosion caught Lina off guard and she stopped. Zelgadis and Amelia stopped and looked at Lina.
"What the heck was that?" Lina asked.
"What was what, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked.
"There was an explosion and it looked like the cult's headquarters blew up," Lina replied.
"Evil shall always be destroyed," Amelia shouted.
"I wonder who did it," Lina said, as she looked out of one of the shadows. "Whoa. It looks like a lot of the villagers are really upset about it. If we were out there, they'd be clamoring for our heads."
"So now what?" Zelgadis asked, a bit spooked by Lina's new abilities.
"I'm not sure. Something doesn't make sense here. Krotz doesn't know of my new abilities and they have Zannifar. Wait a moment. Amelia, you said that Zannifar was called a weapon of last resort. If he was the one that fired that giant beam at us, he never tried to pursue. He might not be complete," Lina said with a shrug. 'He will be within three days.'
Amelia cried out, "If he isn't complete, then we have to smash them before Zannifar is complete."
"I don't mind the smashing part, but do you have any idea where they are, Justice Girl?" Zelgadis asked.
"I want to meet up with Gourry and..." Lina started to say and looked east. "Gourry is in that direction. I can feel the Sword of Light. We'll travel and each city we come to, we'll exit and listen for some rumors as to where the cult is."
"Miss Lina, how can you feel the Sword of Light? You didn't cast a spell," Amelia inquired.
"I'm not sure," Lina hesitantly replied. "I just do."
"Another one of those unknown abilities," Zelgadis asked.
Lina shrugged and led the group on. They picked up the supplies that Lina had stored inside the Shadow Realm and moved on. On the second day of travel, Lina finally noticed that she hadn't eaten or drank anything for three days. She shoved it aside as another of those mysterious abilities that her chimera body possessed. As they traveled, Lina started practicing with what her magical spells were now like through the chimera amplification. When they came to a small town, Lina led the other two out of the Shadow Realm and they listened. Around the fourth day, Lina decided to see what her new powers would do to Dragon Slave.
"Darkness beyond twilight. Crimson beyond blood that flows. I pledge..." Lina started chanting, while gathering spell energy.
She dropped to the ground and started coughing heavily and shuddering as hot and cold flashes wracked her body.
"Miss Lina! Are you all right?" Amelia called out in extreme worry.
"I can't do it," Lina rasped out weakly. "I can't cast Dragon Slave anymore."
"Great! That's just great," Zelgadis sarcastically said.
Still lying on the 'ground', Lina turned her head and looked at Zelgadis. "It's not the only one that's gone. Giga Slave as well. Not that that's a bad thing, but still... There had to be some price for this upgrade."
Amelia tried casting a Resurrection spell on Lina, but stopped and looked at her hands in worry as her lower lip trembled. "I lost my abilities with White Magic."
Lina propped herself up on her elbows. "You didn't lose anything. Resurrection takes the world's energy and heals the target. We're not exactly in the world at the moment. This plane of existence has its own rules, which I haven't figured out yet."
"Lina? How do you know you can't cast Giga Slave?" Zelgadis said.
"Oh that," Lina replied, still shuddering from her experience. "I mentally went through some of my stronger spells and felt the same unnaturalness that Dragon Slave has."
"Will you be all right Miss Lina?" Amelia asked.
"As long as I don't try the Dragon Slave again or try to cast the Giga Slave," Lina replied in a slightly stronger voice. "There's a stream nearby. I might not need to eat, but I could use something to settle my stomach and fish sounds good to me."
Lina wobbly stood up and led the other two out of the Shadow Realm. Once outside, Amelia happily found out that she could access White Magic and did her best to heal Lina of her little mishap. Lina nodded to Amelia. Lina frowned and looked a bit upstream. Zelgadis and Amelia did as well. They saw a single person walking towards them wearing merchant robes.
"Please tell me Krotz isn't serious about just you?" Lina asked.
"Who? Who is this Krotz?" The person asked.
"You never heard of him?" Lina asked.
The man shook his head and held out a tome. "My name is Ven Arthik. I was sent to give you this book."
"It could be a trap Miss Lina," Amelia whispered. "Those cultists worship Ruby Eye."
Lina stared Ven in the eye and took the tome. "Where is Diol?"
Ven flushed and bowed his head. "The last I saw of him, he was with our leader near Zarev. Who is this Krotz?"
"Oh, he's a guy who got a piece of the Claire Bible manuscript and has constructed a new Zannifar and intends to destroy Seyruun with it," Lina said, still staring Ven in the eye.
"What? Miss Lina, you didn't tell me that! We have to stop them right now!" Amelia shouted.
"Ven, get out of here. I'm dealing with a group of fanatics who don't care who they step on to get what they want," Lina said. "I intend to stop them."
Ven nodded and quickly ran away. Zelgadis looked at the retreating Ven and then at Lina.
"That was not like you Lina," Zelgadis said.
"I know," Lina replied in a bit of confusion. "I know he was telling the truth to me and was no threat to us. I felt something off of him that... I did get my next piece of information: the town of Zarev. At any rate, let's go catch up with Amelia."
They didn't have far to go, since Amelia had stopped and was looking around a clearing. Lina sighed, as she shook her head.
"Come on out! We know you're there!" Lina shouted.
A wolf-man and half-brass demon stepped into the clearing. Lina sighed and started chanting. A second later, the shadows from the tress launched tendrils of darkness that ensnared the two. Lina cracked her knuckles and walked up to the pair.
"All right, where's Krotz?" Lina asked.
The wolf-man and half-demon struggled in the strange net, while Amelia and Zelgadis looked on in shock. The wolf-man pointed South.
"They're in that village," the wolf-man stated.
Lina cocked her head and frowned. 'I can feel something that feels like Zannifar, but it's weaker than what I felt before. The Sword of Light is heading in that direction as well. If it's a trap, it's going to be sprung with some surprises in store for the people setting the ambush.'
"My Miss Lina, that's an interesting trick," Xellos said, as he stepped out from behind one of the trees. "Where did you pick that up from?"
"After Gilfa used Shadow Web on me and I took it over, I figured out one of my powers was over shadows," Lina replied and tapped herself on the chest. "This chimera body that I now have has come in quite handy. I still need to know what was used to make it."
Xellos nodded. "I forgot to tell you, you made my job of killing Mazenda easier when you broke the seal on your own. It was quite forceful. It knocked Mazenda for a loop and left her defenseless. By the way what are you going to do with those two?"
Lina looked at the pair she had captured and frowned. "I'm not sure. For now, I'm just going to leave them strung up and head for that town they pointed out."
Zelgadis and Amelia stared at Lina in open mouth shock.
"You broke the seal on your own?" Amelia asked. "How?"
Lina thought back to when she first found out that her spells were unsealed and then what happened right before it.
"My anger. I had just found something out that upset me and I guess I broke the seal with my anger," Lina said and then shook her head. "Let's head to that town and get some answers. By the way, we're going to be walking into an ambush."
Lina grinned at the stunned expressions on the two captives' faces and tossed them a cheery salute. With the other three following her, she headed for the town. A few hundred feet before entering town, Lina hesitated for a few moments and then led the party in.
"We're here," Lina said. "Now, we wait."
"I suggest you surrender right now," A powerful voice said.
Lina turned and saw a man with the head of a white tiger and silver eyes. He was wearing an elaborate set of armor that Lina focussed on.
'Zannifar. Zannifar Number Three,' Lina thought.
"We won't surrender to you," Zelgdais said.
"Before we fight, what is your name?" Lina asked of the tiger hybrid.
"My name is Dulcis. Why do you want to know?" the tiger man asked.
"Well Dulcis, you should know that armor your wearing is slowly eating away at your mind and body," Lina said.
Amelia, Zelgadis, and Xellos looked at Lina strangely. Lina ignored them and pressed on.
"In about ten more days you will be eaten alive by that armor and it will then go on a rampage," Lina said. 'How do I know this? Save it for Diol and who hired him.'
Dulcis chuckled. "I know wearing it would make me act different. That's what happened to Grouj when he first put on his armor."
'Zannifar Number Two,' Lina thought. 'Right now in suspension.'
"Miss Lina what are you talking about?" Amelia asked.
"That armor he's wearing is Zannifar," Lina stated. "It's sad, but we are going to have to kill Dulcis before he's completely consumed by that thing. No offense, Dulcis."
"None taken," Dulcis replied and lifted his axe. "Since we got it out of the way that you're going to do your best to kill me, we should start with the fight."
Lina held up a finger. "Wait a moment. Gourry, don't bother using the steel of your sword."
"Right Lina," Gourry said, from the other side of the square.
Gourry lit the Sword of Light, which Lina looked at with a shudder. She concentrated on feeling the sword with her new abilities and really started shuddering. Pushing that aside, Lina walked over to Xellos.
"Keep the flash down to a minimum and don't do anything more lethal than we need," Lina whispered.
"Fine," Xellos said, a bit disappointed. "I'll do it the way you want."
Lina looked at Gourry and pointed at Dulcis and turned her attention to the remaining beast men. Gourry charged Dulcis with the Sword of Light extended. Lina grimaced and used Bomb Split to attack several of the beast men as Xellos took on ten by himself. Zelgadis and Amelia broke and took on some beast men as well.
'Okay. I need to work at this,' Lina thought. 'Astral spells won't work on Dulcis, because of Zannifar sealing his mind off from the Astral Plane. I could easily shatter him with one of the Elemental Shamanism spells, since they're physical attacks, but the amount of power puts the town at risk.'
Even with Lina holding back the majority of her power, the group was easily handling the beast men. A sudden surge of movement from Gourry and the Sword of Light embedded itself in Dulcis' chest.
As the tiger-man slid to the ground, he gasped out, "What was that weapon?"
"That was the legendary Sword of Light," Lina said softly.
Dulcis gave a shuddering laugh. "I see. If Zannifar exists, so must the Sword of Light. What kind of weapon stands a chance against Light? That's not very fair."
Lina looked back towards Mane and sighed.
"Good-bye Dulcis. At least you died a clean death," Lina said.
"You're going after Krotz aren't you?" Dulcis rasped, as he fought death off for a few moments.
"Yes," Lina said. "I already know where he's at. Hopefully we can get to him, before he wakes up Grouj."
Dulcis laughed and the silver eyes dimmed as he died.
Gourry stared at Lina in surprise. "Lina? What are you wearing and what happened to you?"
"That's a long story Gourry and we'll deal with it after we deal with this group of cultists," Lina said.
"You know where the cult is, Miss Lina?" Xellos asked.
"When I caught those two with those shadow tendrils, I figured out how to sense where Zannifar was. I wanted to deal with this one before it got to much stronger," Lina replied. "Let's go. This could be tricky. Gourry, you first then Amelia and Zelgadis."
"What about me Miss Lina?" Xellos asked.
"I don't trust you," Lina said.
Xellos pouted a bit, but then smiled. "I'm sure we'll meet again."
Gourry looked at Lina in confusion. "Me first? What are you talking about?"
"Just hold on to my shoulder and not let go. You'll have to trust me," Lina said.
Gourry did as he was asked and was a bit surprised when Lina walked into the shadow of a tree and vanished into the shadow. He could still feel Lina's shoulder and kept following. He was soon inside the Shadow Realm and Lina nodded.
"I'll be right back. I've got to get Zelgadis and Amelia."
Lina left and quickly returned with the pair.
"Off to Mane and then to a lake just south of it," Lina declared.
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(Posted Mon, 29 May 2006 17:04)
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