Episode #25
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
Lina, Sylpheel, and Zangulus run on into the temple. After a while, they find
themselves on the edge of a ledge, looking down a tall circular shaft. They
can't see the bottom, so they leap down the shaft, using levitation spells to
slow their fall. A long descent through darkness eventually reveals a giant
crystal... closer inspection shows that there are actually hundreds of people
trapped inside, among them Sylpheel's father!
Fibrizo, the Hellmaster, looks up at the group with a bemused grin. "You came after all... " he says, approaching them. Sylpheel seems surprised that the infamous Hellmaster is but a little boy. The little boy, proud of his new toy, asks the group if they are impressed by his collection: all the humans of Sairaag. "They now augment my power, I can use them as my puppets. "
He then turns to Lina, noting what a good job Xelloss did in bringing her to him unharmed. Lina's just about had enough of this talking, and demands to know where Gourry is. The Hellmaster complies, and with a snap of his finger summons Gourry, encased in a hexagonal prismatic crystal like the others. He says that he can use Gourry's Life Energy towards his own ends, and wonders if Lina would like to try and save him?
By this time, Zangulus seems to have grown weary of talking as well, and hurls a blast from his Howling Sword at the Hellmaster. The Hellmaster smiles quietly as the blast dispels around him, and calmly asks for Zangulus to show him the technique again.
Meanwhile, much to the delight of certain mailing-list admins, Amelia gets clocked upside the head with a club. Zelgadiss and Martina, too, grow weary of battle, and Zelgadiss decides that it's time for an escape. Taking Amelia in his arms, he casts Befis Bring, which blows a hole in the ground and takes the group underground, where there is a tunnel. They head on, presumably to the temple...
Zangulus swings another blast at Fibrizo, who seems to be having a good ol' time repelling it. Lina decides to try her hand against the Hellmaster, as does Sylpheel. Lina hurls the Dragu-Slave at an all-too-amused, and all-too-unscathed, Hellmaster... but then another voice can be heard repeating the Dragu-Slave's chant. Sylpheel unleashes another burst of Dragu-Slave at Fibrizo, the combined attack blowing him away!
Lina turns to Sylpheel, stunned, and scolds her out for getting into Black Magic since Sylpheel seemed to be primarily a white mage. Sylpheel replies that once she saw what Lina could do, she wanted to learn the Dragu Slave so that she would be able to compete with Lina's talent for blowing things up. (And thus, compete for Gourry.) [Special thanks to Ann Oyama for the translation of this part!!]
Lina and Sylpheel quit bickering, and run over to the crystals. It's odd, Sylpheel thinks, that Gourry and the others are still encased in the crystals; they should have been freed once Fibrizo was eliminated. Therein lies the problem - Fibrizo wasn't eliminated. He explains that he escaped, letting a shadow of himself take the brunt of the blast. In return for amusing him with the attack, he offers to punish Lina's friends.
That's not exactly a fair trade-off, one might think, but suddenly Zelgadiss, Amelia, and Martina appear in front of them, whisked away from their battle with the townspeople. "Now I'll punish your friends right before your very eyes, " Fibrizo says. He summons five golden spheres, then demonstrates their usefulness by crushing one in his fingers, like a years-old Christmas ornament. Suddenly, Amelia keels over in excruciating pain... then, after a few moments, seems to be near death.
"Cast the Giga Slave, or else I'll take them out, one by one, " Fibrizo offers. Sylpheel resists, starting to cast the useless Dragu Slave again, but Fibrizo crushes another sphere, and Sylpheel collapses. Zelgadiss becomes overcome with rage, but he falls as well with another sphere. Martina rushes over to Lina, hysterically demanding that Lina take action. Lina, frozen with fear of the Hellmaster and the threat of the Giga Slave, makes no sound... but then Zangulus steps forth. He bows before Fibrizo.
Then he leaps forth and slashes at Fibrizo. Fibrizo, all too amused, simply snaps another sphere and watches Zangulus fall as well. Martina kneels by Zangulus' side; Zangulus hands Martina the sword and cautions her to be careful. Determined, she slashes the sword at Fibrizo, sending forth wave after wave of Howling energy, but Fibrizo disposes of the final sphere once he gets his kicks out of the useless attack.
Martina's last words to Lina are for her to continue on and to save Gourry and the others... but then she, like the others, becomes petrified with unconsciousness.
Amused to the last, Fibrizo asks Lina, "So, can you now show me the beauty of the Giga Slave? I promise to release them, once you cast it..." Fibrizo crystallizes the five fallen friends, bringing them over to join Gourry's crystal, and awaits Lina's decision. Left with nothing else, Lina finds herself beginning the chant.
A vortex forms, spinning a dark web of negative energy which engulfs the surrounding environment. The whirling maelstrom grows larger, forming a giant sphere; the crystals begin raining red energy into the Giga Slave vortex. Growing in size, the sphere eventuall engulfs Lina as well... and suddenly shrinks in a giant shockwave! The sphere, by this point, is nothing more than a shotput in Lina's hand... though Lina herself is gleaming with golden energy. Quietly, she speaks in a new voice to the Hellmaster, before smacking him with a blast of energy.
Fibrizo cowers from the blast, scrambling into his crystals to hide, but the transformed Lina yanks him out with an invisible hand. "You wanted all of the control. I have all the control. I am the Lord of Nightmares.
Episode #26
(taken from Slayers
Universe)
Fibrizo stares into the face of Lina, still gleaming golden, and begs for mercy.
He calls her his mother, and starts laughing in her face, demanding to know
why she made the trip out to see him. She will not listen to him, though, and
is hardly moved by his words, so he enlarges his magic aura and attacks her.
But she returns the attack, tenfold. In fact, she utterly destroys him.
Sylpheel has awoken, and after a wave of energy, the others are awake as well. The torn and battered Fibrizo staggers out of the energy-sphere surrounding Lina's body, and is ripped apart just after doing so. The energy fades slightly, revealing Lina once again, but her impassive look betrays that she is not truly herself. Xelloss appears and confirms this fact, revealing that she has become one with the Lord of Nightmares, and that there is little if any hope of Lina ever coming back to the world of the living.
The tacit incarnation of the Lord of Nightmares speaks, saying that (I think) the one who was destroyed, Fibrizo, was done so for betraying the Lord's will. The incarnation turns to Xelloss, who kneels to her in service. The Lina-incarnation then turns away, despite vivid protests from Zelgadiss and Amelia, and even Martina and Zangulus. But Gourry is the one who steps forth... nay, LEAPS forth after the departing incarnation, and chases her all the way back up to the realm of darkness left in the wake of the Giga Slave.
As Gourry leaps across the rising boulders towards the realm, Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Sylpheel follow suit, leaving the flightless Zangulus and Martina behind. Zangulus tells Martina that they should depend on Zoamel Gustav for his protection. But, only Gourry makes it within the realm whenever it finally closes, dropping everything else back into 'real' space. Within that realm, Lina's form can again be seen, but she is within another sphere. The Sword of Light finds its way to the sphere and is sucked within it, allowing Gourry passage. He reaches inside and grabs Lina's arm, but the tacit shell of Lina just stares blankly back at him. The shell fades away, leaving Gourry holding nothing.
But, for some reason, droplets of energy appear, after a few moments. They coalesce into the form of Lina... the real one, not the glowing one. She wakes up, and they find themselves in a loving embrace. But it seems they are still locked inside the alternate realm, even if the Lord of Nightmares has returned home.
Sylpheel and the others mourn the loss of Lina, Gourry, and everything, from the wrecked remains of Sairaag. Sylpheel thinks she hears something, though, and they look to the pediment of a ruined building... where Lina and Gourry fade back into existence, still in their embrace. Amelia and Sylpheel are patently surprised to see this, and, apparently, so is Lina, for she smacks the hell out of Gourry as soon as she realizes he's hugging her.
Lina explains that she doesn't remember a single thing after she cast the Giga Slave, when she was possessed by the Lord of Nightmares. Amelia wonders if Gourry remembers anything, but he doesn't give a straight answer. Just then, Martina and Zangulus, who the others thought had perished, enter, and they invite the foursome to a wedding. Theirs. Martina nudges Lina a bit, asking when her wedding will be, to which Lina just looks at Gourry and blushes. (She didn't hit Martina, which I guess is a good sign.)
Martina seems to enjoy the wedding and Zangulus at her side, but he seems like he'd rather disappear than be in front of so many people. Though the wedding is not as... grandiose as one might hope, as the whole castle falls down on top of them like a cheap movie set. In fact, it IS a cheap movie set.
Lina tugs Gourry aside and says that she's going on another adventure. Gourry says that he needs a new sword, and, lo and behold, one appears in front of him. Actually, Xelloss is there with Gourry's Sword of Light. He says that he has other matters to attend to, so Lina and Gourry run off somewhere else. Where? "I don't know!" says Lina. So they run off into the distance, with Amelia, Zelgadiss, and Sylpheel following behind...