Search for the Darkstar - You Want Power? I'll Show You Power!

Author: DQBunny Title: Search for the Darkstar - You Want Power? I'll Show You Power!

Search for Darkstar
Chapter 2: Strange Things You See Under a Woman's Skirts ← Chapter 3: You Want Power? I'll Show You Power! → Chapter 4: The One Way to Blackmail Lina Inverse

Chapter Index

Disclaimer: "Slayers" isn't mine, but belongs to Kanzaka Hajime, Araizumi Rui and those who represent them. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while and will return them intact. Except for Gourry. He might be squished just a little. This story is set after the manga arc "Knight of Aqualord" and is an alternate take on the TRY season of the anime.
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Chapter 3: You Want Power? I'll Show You Power!
After breakfast, they returned once more to the scene of the explosion. This time, Lina told the others to remain on the roof while she and Gourry inspected the site for themselves.
He paced the edge of the circle, then started to push some of the rubble away. She stood behind him. "What do you see?"
"Some of the dirt's looser here." He tossed rubble aside, then tapped at the ground. "Here is solid ground, other than where the floor was." Then he scooped up a handful of dirt from a spot a few inches to the right. "The dirt here's looser, and there's also a vague imprint if you look at it from this angle. Something was buried here."
Understanding started to dawn on Lina. "I see. So, whoever set off this explosion was searching for something. Can you tell how big the hole is?"
"Move this stuff, and I can take a stab at it."
Together, they cleared away more of the rubble and scooped up enough of the dirt to be able to tell the size of the hole. It was rectangular-shaped and was several feet long. Lina straightened and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her glove.
"Whatever was in here is long and thin. A weapon maybe?" Her mind raced with possibilities. It had to be some sort of treasure - something valuable enough to destroy the entire guild and a good chunk of the city along with it.
Lina wanted that treasure. Badly.
They returned to the others, relayed what they found. "Unfortunately, though, there's not much more we can go on regarding this," she said. "We have little to go on at this point, and even our own best guesses are just that - guesses. Not that I doubt your eye," she directed that at Gourry, "but there's nothing concrete there. The one thing we know for sure is that Tarim the Violet's dead."
Amelia cupped her chin in her hand. "I wonder if we'll see Filia-san again?"
"I'm right here."
They turned, saw the priestess standing before them in much the same manner as she had the day before. A little warily, Gourry edged himself behind Lina, placed a hand on her shoulder. She grunted. "Chicken," she muttered under her breath, then glanced at the bottom of Filia's skirts. She saw no tail and frowned. "I thought you said there was a tail," she whispered.
"I swear, I saw one yesterday!" Gourry insisted.
They both knew the consequences of Gourry lying to Lina, so she was convinced he was telling the truth. "I believe you."
Filia stared at the ground, found the dust that streaked over her white boots immensely fascinating. "Umm...I left something here yesterday," she said in a voice just slightly above a whisper. "Is it possible that you might have found it?"
"You mean this?" Lyos slung Filia's mace off his shoulder and presented it to her.
She accepted it as she would a baby, cradling it close and nuzzling her cheek against the sharp edges. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" She hastily thrust the mace behind her back. "Umm...perhaps we can continue with our business from yesterday?"
"That's fine." Lina stepped forward. "You say you have a mission for us that will pay an extraordinary large amount of money?"
Filia nodded. "That's right. It is a most noble mission."
This touched Amelia's justice-filled heart. "Let's do it, Lina-san! If it's a noble mission, then surely we are being asked to deliver justice somewhere to a downtrodden people!"
Lina rolled her eyes. "How remarkably naive of you, Amelia."
"Before we can proceed any further though, I have to test your powers," Filia continued and bowed to them. She lifted her arms out and dissipated into the sky, effectively cutting the negotiations short.
Lina gasped while the rest of the group reared back. "What was that?"
"What a strange girl," Shizuri commented. "I thought we were leaving the weirdos behind when we agreed to travel to your world, Lina."
"No, you're just going to encounter bigger weirdoes here." Lina dragged a hand through her hair. "Am I the only one who doesn't think this makes any sense whatsoever?"
"It makes no sense to me!" Gourry informed her cheerfully.
"Not much does make sense to you at times!" Lina threw her arms in the air and started back toward the edge of the roof, prepared to Raywing back down to the street. "I'm thinking this is a bogus job. Let's go grab some lun..."
The rest of Lina's sentence was cut off by a collective scream coming from the street. The group looked up to see a large golden dragon making its way toward them, energy rays shooting out of its mouth into the rubble of the town square.
"Watch out!" Lina grabbed Shizuri, the closest person to her, and they hit the roof just barely missing the dragon's claws.
"Lina!"
Her head snapped up at the sound of Gourry's yell as a large crack split down the middle of the roof. The half that Gourry, Lyos and Amelia were on crumbled away.
"Gourry! Amelia! Lyos!" Lina scrambled her feet, knowing she wasn't going to make it in time.
Protective instincts taking over, Gourry grabbed hold of Amelia and pressed her against his chest, angling to take the brunt of the blow caused by hitting the ground. Amelia stuck out her hands on either side of him and shouted out the Raywing spell, providing an air cushion for them as they hit the ground. Amelia rolled out of his lap, shot the spell upwards and caught Lyos right before he hit the ground as well.
"What the hell is that thing?" Lyos drew Banisher and shifted into a fighting stance.
"A golden dragon," Amelia replied. "They mainly live in the mountains to the northeast of here. But, the ones we encountered a few years ago were kind!"
"Here it comes again!" Gourry drew his own sword and leapt to the side as it swooped down over the three.
"Elmekia Lance!" Amelia called out, sending the spell at the dragon. It faded about halfway there. "Too far away!"
Gourry caught a flash out of the corner of his eye. He pivoted and spotted a familiar-looking man standing some feet away.
"Hey, that's...," he started to call out, then the man took off running. Gourry immediately pursued.
Amelia whirled around, saw him running off. "What are you doing? Hey, wait, Gourry-san!" she took off after him.
"Hey, I can't fight this thing alone! Get back here!" Lyos hefted Banisher over his shoulder and followed her.
Amelia uttered hasty apologies as she pushed past people, trying to keep Gourry in sight. She was grateful that he was so tall and his hair was of a bright color. It was the only way that she couldn't lose him. He rounded a corner and she grabbed Lyos' hand. "Levitation," she called out, lifting both of them into the air.
Gourry ran into the middle of a plaza and came to a stop, scanned the area. He swore he had seen him, and his mind wasn't playing tricks on him either. He turned to meet Amelia and Lyos as Amelia touched down to the ground.
"You idiot, don't go running off like that," Lyos yelled.
"I wasn't just running off. I saw him. That Mazoku guy we traveled with for awhile. Umm..." Gourry frowned and tried to remember his name. "Pellas? No, Zailas? No..."
"Xelloss-san?" Amelia reared back slightly.
Gourry snapped his fingers. "Yeah, that's it! Xelloss!"
"Who the hell is Xelloss?" Lyos demanded.
"The priest for the Greater Beast Zelas Mettalium," Amelia explained. "He's one of the most powerful Mazoku you'll ever meet, even more so than Rikufalso. Deep Sea Dolphin created a general and a priest. Zelas Mettalium only created a priest. The result is Xelloss-san. He single-handedly wiped out an entire tribe of golden dragons during the Kouma Sensou."
"My, my, Amelia-san. You do flatter me with your words."
They pivoted. Xelloss stood some feet away, dressed in similar garb to the last time they had seen him. His violet hair hung to his shoulders and he wore the clothing of a priest. He lifted a finger and smiled. "Imagine, seeing my friends back here. The last I heard, you were off having a bit of fun in one of Aqualord's domains."
"Xelloss-san!" Amelia approached him. "What are you doing here?"
He rubbed the back of his head and laughed a little. "Just a little bit of government business that has to be addressed. But, I've come across a bit of information that would be of particular interest to you, Gourry-san."
"Gourry-san?" Amelia blinked in surprise. Other than the time when the swordsman revealed that he had known about Xelloss' true nature before any of them, Xelloss hardly gave Gourry a second glance.
"Where's Lina, is she okay?" Gourry demanded.
"We only had our backs turned a minute!" Amelia replied.
"Oh no, Lina-san's quite healthy." Xelloss pointed his staff at the sky and they noticed the golden dragon still circling the city, a small red blur chasing after it. "I imagine that's Lina-san and...Shizuri-san, do I have that right? No, this has to do with the Sword of Light."
That grabbed their attention. Gourry and Amelia stared at Xelloss in shock. "Do you know where my sword is?" Gourry asked.
Xelloss lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug. "Unfortunately, I don't. But, there is a rumor that it possibly returned to the site of your battle with Hellmaster Phibrizzo 18 months ago. There has been some rumors of strange things lately."
The last Gourry remembered of his sword, it had been swallowed up in the blackness that was the Sea of Cay-os...no, no, that big black area where Lina had disappeared to after she turned all golden from being possessed by the Lord of Nightmares. His eyes met Amelia's and reflected the confusion that he felt. It'd been gone for awhile. Why was it back now?
"Anyhow, I figured I'd inform you of that bit of news," Xelloss continued with a bland smile. "I'm in the middle of a search myself, and unfortunately don't have much time to spend with you. Please, give my regards to Lina-san."
"What sort of search?" Amelia wondered aloud.
Xelloss made the jump back to the Astral plane, but projected his voice so they could still hear him. "That, Amelia-san, is a secret."
-----
Lina peered over the side of the roof, sighed in relief when she noticed her friends on the ground, relatively unharmed. Her attention quickly shifted as she noticed the golden dragon sweeping down toward her and Shizuri. She heard Lyos' shout and the drawing of swords and knew he, Gourry and Amelia could take care of themselves for the moment.
"Lina!" Shizuri shot a spell a pile of nearby rubble, shifting it into a replica of Lina. She grabbed Lina's arm, pulling them both out of the dragon's line of sight. They winced as the energy ray hit near the rubble. "We've got to get out of here! That thing's going to destroy the city! What about your Dragon Slave? You said you have all of your power here, right?"
"I can't," Lina told her. "I cast it now, the rest of the city will be destroyed!" She eyed the dragon, then weighed her options. "I can use the Airlord's power, but there's too many people around here."
"Don't," Shizuri protested. "You lose control of it and you're done for!"
"If only we could catch up to Lyos, he could use the Banisher on it." An idea crossed her mind. That wasn't the only sword at their disposal. Lina grabbed Shizuri's hand and cast the Airlord's wind shield around them. They raced toward the dragon. "I've got one more spell I can try. I haven't used it in a year. I've got a few pieces of the dark lord fang left, perhaps it could work."
They landed on a cliff and Lina snatched a fang piece from her cloak. "Let's hope this works," she muttered and fisted it tightly. "You, who is a part of the Lord of Nightmares..."
Lord of Nightmares? Shizuri stared at Lina in shock. She had heard of such a being from Zasu-sama before, but she wasn't quite sure that if it was the truth or not. There really was such a being out there?
"You, who is released from the universe, a freezing black blade of darkness." Lina held her hands apart, the fang suspended in the space between them as it began to strengthen her power. Swirls of black magic enveloped it and began to elongate.
"Be my power, be my arm. Together, we walk on the path of destruction, crashing down the soul of gods! Ragna Blade!"
Shizuri backed up a step as the fang piece shattered and the darkness elongated into a huge sword that towered over both of them. Lina grunted and struggled to control the blade. She eyed the dragon, then leaped into the air, swinging the sword as she started to descend to the ground. The dragon evaded the move. It broke apart in Lina's hands as she plummeted to the ground.
"Levitation," she yelled, swinging back into the sky toward Shizuri.
"What the hell was that spell?" Shizuri demanded as Lina touched back down.
"No time! You, who are darker than twilight...," Lina grabbed another piece of the fang and launched into a rapid-fire delivery of the Dragon Slave spell. She no longer needed the fang to activate this spell, she was at full power here. But it could give her the boost she needed, like the demon's blood tailsmen used to. "...and no one will escape from us! Dragon Slave!"
She launched the spell at the dragon as it sped away from the city. The magic enveloped the dragon, and when it died away, it was gone.
Lina sank to the ground, exhausted. "Thank goodness. We were running out of options there."
Shizuri knelt by her side. "Lina, there's streaks of white in your hair. Are you okay?"
"Huh?" She absently touched her head, then laughed. "Oh, I'll be fine. I used too many high-powered spells at once. The shield that got us here, the Ragna Blade and the amplified Dragon Slave."
She sat back, drew in several full lungfuls of air. She only had two other options beside those spells. The first, and most preferably, was to use the power of Airlord. The second was the Giga Slave. That one was definitely out of the question unless they was no other way around it. It was funny, she thought, that two of the four most powerful spells in her arsenal used powers that were directly opposite of each other.
She thought back to Valwyn and how he told her that using too much of a god's power would have its aftereffects. She drew out a lock of hair and studied the white lines streaked through it before letting it drop. She forced herself back to her feet. "Let's get off of here and find the others."
-----
Lina blinked open her eyes, saw sunlight crawling across the ceiling. She felt like she'd taken a blast from one of her own spells, and it didn't feel so hot. When had she gotten back to her own room? The last thing she clearly remembered was using the Airlord's power to get herself and Shizuri back to Atlas City, despite the illusionist's protests.
"Morning, sunshine."
She craned her head, noticed Gourry sitting in a chair next to the bed. "Where are we?"
"Your room. An extra one came open and Shizuri and Amelia moved into it so you could get some sleep. You've been out for 14 hours."
"Only 14?" With a laugh, Lina pushed herself up. "Remember when I cast the Giga Slave against Shabranigdu? No, you probably don't. I slept for a full day at a time for three days, and I think the only reason I got up was that I had to go to the bathroom."
"And eat. You ate more than usual."
She chuckled. "You surprise me, you know? Speakings of food, I'm famished! Let's eat!" She sprang out of bed, her legs immediately giving out. Gourry managed to grab her right before she hit the ground and laid her back on the bed.
"Okay, so I'm not quite up to snuff yet." Lina bunched up the pillow behind her so she could sit up, smiled at his concerned expression. "Don't look so worried. I'm fine! I just learned that maybe it's not wise to cast three...no four very high-level spells all in a row. Let's see, first I used Airlord's power, then the Ragna Blade, then an amplified Dragon Slave and finally Airlord's power again."
She was amused when Gourry's face turned chalk white. "But, I'm fit as a fiddle!"
"Yeah, right," he muttered under his breath. "I'll go get some food."
"That's the ticket!" Lina cheered him. Once he left the room, she got to her feet again. She wobbled, but remained upright long enough to wash up and change from her clothes into pajamas. She tossed her clothes in the laundry basket and got back in bed just as Gourry walked back in, Amelia on his heels.
"Where's Lyos and Shizuri? Pancakes!" Lina snatched a plate and tore into the food.
Amelia kept quiet as Lina plowed her way through one plate of food and started on a second. Gourry joined in with his unusual gusto, and their matching appetites was enough to either make someone want to join in the fray, or to run for the toilet gagging. Lina's hair had darkened back to its normal color, with no signs that she had started to dip into the lowest reserves of her magic. Not even during the fight with Hellmaster Fibrizo had this happen to her.
When she first met her, Amelia idolized Lina. Not because of her sense of justice. That was dubious. It was because nothing fazed her at all. She took what life threw at her with a smile and returned it with a fireball. It was that sort of strength Amelia longed to have, especially after seeing both her father and older sister fall apart after the death of her mother. Despite her bad qualities, she couldn't had asked for a better friend than Lina. When it came right down to it, the sorceress didn't care that Amelia was a princess. Yes, it had its perks, but Lina liked Amelia for herself. At least, that's what Amelia thought.
She clapped her hands together. "Gourry-san, did you tell Lina-san what you heard yet?" She frowned and sighed. "Gourry-san! Stop eating and tell Lina-san!"
Amelia gauged her chances of snatching Gourry's plate from him and actually emerging unscathed when Lina decided to do it for her. He protested, she promptly inhaled the food and reclined, sated. "Ah, that was good," she said, patting her stomach. "What news do you have, Gourry?"
His eyes lit up as the events came back to him. "We saw Xelloss!"
"Xelloss?" Lina shot up, upsetting the tray. The dishes landed on the ground with a loud crash. "You saw Xelloss and you didn't tell me? Gourry! Amelia!"
"You were out of it, Lina-san." Amelia sat on the foot of the bed. "Shizuri-san all but dragged you in here."
Lina considered a biting retort, then decided that Amelia was right. She didn't even remember getting back to the inn with Shizuri. "All right. You saw Xelloss. What did he have to say?"
"He said that my sword possibly survived the battle we had with Fibrizo and that it's where we last left it." Gourry got up from the table and sat on the bed next to Lina.
"It's in Sairaag?" The thought of having to go back to that city didn't settle to well with Lina. It seemed that every time they went there, something catastrophic happened. "It's the only place where it could be."
"Are we going to go after it, Lina-san?" Amelia asked.
Lina's eyes met Gourry's. "It's your sword. Do you want to go for it?"
"It's my family's. They may not care for it, but I do. If it's possible to get it back, I'd like to do so. But if not, I'm content with that as well."
He had given up the sword in the pursuit to save her, swallowed into the darkness that was the Sea of Chaos as part of his sacrifice to win her back. Lina knew what that meant - he considered her to be more important than his family heirloom. He never complained about losing it, because of what he gained in return. It was because of that knowledge that she slid her hand across the bed, laid it on his. "Then we'll go get it back."

Chapter 2: Strange Things You See Under a Woman's Skirts ← Chapter 3: You Want Power? I'll Show You Power! → Chapter 4: The One Way to Blackmail Lina Inverse

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