Gourry was a bit scared of Lina by now. She hadn't been happy for several days, and not even food had satiated her anger. Much. The two walked along in silence, and Gourry's mind, left with nothing else, began to do a very dangerous thing : think.
Gourry touched Lina's shoulder and said to her in a very sincere tone 'Lina'... she looked up at him with almost Sailor Moon-esque eyes and responded in the same dreamy voice, 'Gourry....'.
She then proceeded to grow into a giant version of herself, somehow turning the backdrop to fire in her transformation and, in a great thunderous voice, started yelling at Gourrry, "How dare you tap me on the shoulder!! You, infidel, shall now pay for your sins! I am hungry!!! Fetch me food!" "Hai, hai!", was Gourry's reply as he ran off and fetched mountains of food for her.
"THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! NOW I SHALL PUNISH YOU!!!", was her angry reply, as she reached down and picked Gourry up by the leg and started to chew on him like a drumstick.
"That tickles! Oh wa ha ha ha ha ha! Ha chi! Ha chi!", Gourry started to belt out. Lina looked at him strangely and whacked him over the head. It was odd to her.. he had looked for one second like he was going to tap her shoulder, then his eyes glazed over and he started acting funny.
Lina was still angry. She'd not seen a bandit gang in days, and knew that news must have gotten around that she was angry. Bandit gangs seemed to avoid her then. All she wanted was a fight.
Suddenly a man came thundering down the road past them, bumping into Lina. Lina grabbed his flapping cape (how handy it was that nearly everyone had a cape!) and roped him in. He was obviously terrified, but she wasn't in the mood to care. She needed to vent, and he was the unlucky person that she had decided to vent upon.
"P-please don't kill me!", the man sputtered out. "P-please, let me go, whoever you are!" "I'm Lina Inverse! Lina Inverse, got that?! And I am the WRONG person to bump into on the road!" "Lina Inverse?! Banditkiller Lina Inverse?! Bane of all things, living and dead?! Demon boss, Lina Inverse?! The Lina Inverse tha-" "SHUT UUUUUP!!!!!"
"Please, you have to help me." Gourry edged over to their new visitor and whispered to him, "Now isn't the best time to ask her for favors.. she's had a really bad day and, between you and me, I think it's that time of the mon-" "I HEARD THAT, GOURRY!!!"
Then they heard a monstrous rumbling behind them.
"Please, be quieter, Ms. Inverse.... it heard you."
Ameria was depressed. Zelgadiss had ignored her the entire time he'd been in the city. He kept on asking people whether anybody was waiting for him here. Everyone had answered no, but Ameria knew that there was somebody.. that she was always waiting for him.
"Then why did Bastard send me here.....?", thought Zelgadiss.
From his tree's viewpoint, Xelloss smiled. Everything was going according to plan.
It wasn't a very large Mazoku. In fact, compared to Zanaffar and Shabranigdo, it was rather puny. However, it was still a Mazoku, and it was still a problem.
After the first few seconds of fighting, Lina had surmised its fighting style. It relied mainly on speed - it could move so fast as to dodge even the most potent spells. However, it's only offense was a fireball it could spew only when it came to a complete stop. Gourry had kept it busy for awhile with constant slashing to where it couldn't do anything but dodge, but he was getting tired. It was time for Lina to make a stand.
It WAS a fast Mazoku, for it's credit. It dodged all of Lina's Dug Hauts, and still evaded Gourry. However, what it had in speed, it lacked in cleverness, for it didn't realize until it was too late that it was boxed in by her Dug Hauts. It was cramped, but still evading Gourry. She was just about to polish it off when the envoy jumped down on it and ran it through with his staff. Normally, she would've yelled at him for his awesome stupidity in relying on a melee weapon, but since the staff started glowing, and the Mazoku soon screamed and faded into nothingness, she decided not to.
The envoy introduced himself as Kyvin, and apologized for his rash behavior. Lina, having taken out only 50 percent of her frustrations, grabbed him and started shaking him.
"What's the big idea, sending us up against Mazoku?!"
"I'm sorry, but it was after me, and I couldn't kill it alone."
"Why was it after you in the first place?"
"That's information strictly for my allies."
"And we're not?"
"Not the way you're treating me..."
Gourry interjected, "She treats everyone like this."
"Look, I'll tell you the information only if you escort me to Sailune."
"You're going there to-GWA!", said Gourry before (and during) being abused by Lina.
"We're not going to hang around anybody who smells like Mazoku food. We're outta here."
"But wait... what if I were to offer a reward?"
"Start talking."
"Well, Sailune is kind enough to offer reward for my services, so you can have it, as long as I get there in relatively good shape."
"I remember the last time we got a reward at Sailune.. no thanks."
"Plus there is the matter of the two thousand gold pieces I have on hand."
"Two... thousand..."
"And I'll pay expenses."
"You got yourself a deal!!! Let's go!!"
"Hey, where are we going?"
"To the nearest town, to eat! You're paying! You hear that, Gourry? We finally get to eat all we want!"
"Oh yeah!"
"I think I've gotten myself into something very bad..."
In the trees, Xelloss smiled.
"Awwww... he looks so lonely..", thought Ameria as she viewed Zel in his obligatory awesome pose on the gates of the city. "Maybe I'll go cheer him up."
"Hiiii!! Mr. Zelgadiss!!!", Ameria crooned in her ever-so-cute little voice. He didn't turn around. "Oh, what's wrong? You look so sad!" No reaction. "Don't worry, whatever problem it is, you can share it with me!" Suddenly Zelgadiss sprang to his feet. "Ameria.."
Inside Ameria, fireworks were going off. Zelgadiss, the coolest man on the planet, had decided to talk to her! To confide in her! He had said her name!! Oh.. how was she to react? What was she to do?!
"Ameria? Ameria?", Zel inquired, waving his hand slowly in front of her face. "Hai!", she enthusiiastically responded. Oh, this was it, he was going to open up to her, after all this time!! "The envoy has arrived. You might want to go down and greet it." With that, the stony-faced man lifted up his veil and walked downstairs. Ameria stood there, still sorting through her dream and reality, and five minutes later, rushed in the same direction Zelgadiss had exited.
"I demand to speak with Prince Philionel!", said Kyvin authoritatively. Lina stood by his side, and Gourry had run off for yet more snacks. "Let me in to see him! It is of the utmost urgency!" The dim-witted palace guards slowly processed his request.. every obvious thought running through their face as they came across it. Eventually, the palace doors opened and they were admitted indoors. Near the end of the long hallway to Phil's room, they met Xelloss.
"And what are you doing here, Xelloss?" "It's a secret." "Isn't it always...", Lina mused, as the doors to Phil's room opened and Kyvin rushed in.
"Call everyone! This news is important!"
Awhile later, Phil, Kyvin, Ameria, Zelgadiss, Xelloss, and Lina sat there attentively. Gourry sat beside Lina, not-so-attentively. Lina opened the discussion up with the age-old question, "So what's the big deal?"
"Well, as you all know, I am the lone survivor of the envoy from Morond. Morond is an ancient country, entrusted with the wisdom of a thousand ancient scrolls. I was a priest for its temples for a very long time, but suddenly I was invited by our king to dine with him. During the dinner, he offered me a position in government as his royal priest. I was honored, and accepted. Over time I got more and more used to the palace, until it truly felt like my home.
Then one day I saw a mysterious man in our halls. I followed him carefully, but he disappeared into a wall. Upon closer inspection of this wall, I found that there was a secret door in it! The door opened up onto a flight of stairs going down into an extensive library. I found many ancient books there, and one with a seal on it that said in an ancient tongue 'Mazoku'.
I brought it to our king and we opened it. However, it was in a tongue we didn't know much of, and we couldn't translate most of. We did understand that it was about a lot of Mazoku secrets, though. But ever since we broke the seal, our kingdom has been attacked by Mazoku wanting the scroll. We couldn't hold them off any more, so we brought it here."
"And...", he said, searching through his robes, "here... uhm.. here.. uh.. here, it.. ah.. is. Uhm. where is it?" Lina looked thoughtful for a moment, and commented, "Well, if your entire kingdom couldn't, I don't feel so bad that I couldn't read it..", and promptly made it appear on a table. They unrolled it and looked at it. They all murmured in concordance and great awe, and then unanimously agreed that they couldn't read it. "But whatever it is, it's important!", they said.
Xelloss snatched it up for a second and started reading it out loud. "The Lord of Nightmares, who shines like gold upon a sea of chaos, is the most powerful of the Mazoku. So powerful is she, in fact, that she only has one weakness, and that is...."
"Xelloss, you can read that?!"
"No."
"Then what were you just doing?"
"Nothing."
"Where did you learn to read that language?"
"It's a secret."
"Bastard, don't play games with me."
"Xelloss, come on, be a pal, read some more of it for us!", wheedled Gourry.
"Oh. Okay, Gourry-kun! Here, where's a good place.. uhm.. lets see here. 'To cure the chimaeric condition of one-third golem, one-third demon, and one-third human, you must-..."
"What?! WHAT?!"
"I can't read the next part."
"Yes you can! Stop being a smart ass!"
"Oh wait, I can! Oh. Oh! OH!!"
"What? What does it say?!"
"I don't care. It's boring. Down here, they've got a good pickle recipe.."
"WHAT DOES IT SAY, BASTARD?!!!!"
"First, the wife must cut the vegetables, and then, with the husband-"
"CUT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!!! READ THE PART ABOUT THE CHIMERA TRANSFORMATION!!!!"
"But I lost my place."
"WELL, FIND IT!"
"Can't do it now."
"WHY NOT?!"
"I'm tired."
"NO YOU'RE NOT!!"
"Oh. Do you want the truth, then?"
"Yes!"
"I forgot how to read."
At this point, everyone in the room was so fed up with Xelloss that they all had to go outside and relax. So, being the kind person she is, Lina and Zel blew a hole through the side of the tower with fireballs. (at the same time, no less) When the dust cleared, one thing was evident - Xelloss was gone, and so was the scroll.
"I swear, that guy is the most incredibly annoying person in the world!", Lina screamed. Zel agreed with her, even including Ameria. The group, taking advantage of being together again, decided to go after the Eye of Siefied together, wherever it might be.
Zelgadiss, not fond of sitting around in a town with his head covered up, left early, with the others supposed to catch up with him. As he left the town, he was greeted by the same smiling face which had pissed him off not too long ago. After a brief struggle, Zel finally started to listen to Xelloss.
"Oh, the scroll? Oh yeah, sure, you can have it... it won't be of any use to you, but you can have it."
"Why did you bother appearing, Bastard? You only appear when you have something annoying to say."
"Oh, I thought I would do my good deed for the day.. maybe earn myself a merit badge. You want to be human again, correct?"
"Shut up!!!!", Zel screamed as he hurled yet another Flare Arrow into Xelloss's shield.
"Oh, no.. I think it's a very worthy task, and I greatly applaud you for taking it on! In fact, I've decided to help you!"
"I've had about enough of your help."
"Oh no, this time, for real! I'll make you human again!"
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because you've got nothing better to do."
"That's your reason for living, isn't it?"
"Well?"
"No. I won't trust you."
"Oh, posh. This is something you're never going to be able to do yourself.. unless you let me help you, you'll never be human."
"I'd rather be this way than be your ally."
"Such harsh words, my, my.... here... will this do as a peace offering?", Xelloss said, as he pulled out a large crystalline eyeball from within the folds of his cloak.
"The Eye of Siefied..."
"I'll let you have it, too! But only if you'll let me help you."
"This is too suspicious.. you're going to expend your energy on me just so you can expend more energy on me? That isn't the way you work, Bastard."
"Then your answer is no?"
"I...I... I'll think about it."
"That's fine by me.", Xelloss said, grinning in his poor lighting. "I'll get your answer in the morning, then..", and with that, he disappeared.
"I hate that bastard...."
Chapter Three : WHAT? Don't believe his lies!