Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Search for the Darkstar ❯ Fusion Magic and the Fourth Weapon ( Chapter 14 )

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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Search for the Darkstar

Chapter 13: Fusion Magic and the Fourth Weapon

 

"I can not believe the lot of you! You assured me that you would catch the thief! You come into this library, boasting of your abilities to capture the thief and instead, more of our artifacts were stolen!"

 

Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Filia, Shizuri and Lyos stood shoulder to shoulder, flinching as Nikea yelled at them. As the librarian's voice grew louder, various shopkeepers paused in setting up displays for the day to take in the show.

 

Lina forced her body to remain upright, despite the fatigue that seeped through every limb. Righteous anger had kept her awake through most of the night - a good deal of it at Jillas and a healthy dose at Amelia as well. Since someone else had done the job of opening the door to the artifacts room for her, Lina figured that it wouldn't be so bad to go in, rummage through the remaining weapons and see if the Darkstar weapon happened to be there. Then they could get out of Shrigan City and dedicate time to looking for more weapons instead of cleaning up this mess that wasn't even their fault to begin with!

 

But, no. Little Miss Champion of Justice had immediately guessed what Lina wanted to do and had firmly planted herself in front of the broken-down door. In a stern voice that would had made her father proud, Amelia had spent the better part of an hour informing Lina why she wouldn't be entering that artifacts room and how it would only make things worse. Lina had also taken a considerable amount of time to yell back at Amelia.

 

After all, no one wanted to receive a justice speech at 1 a.m.

 

Amelia had taken over the negotiations, simply because Nikea refused to listen to anyone else but her. "I'm really very sorry, Nikea-san..."

 

"Sorry doesn't even begin to describe the mess that you have caused!"

 

Lyos didn't bother to hide his disgust. "Wasn't your library in this state before we even arrived here?"

 

"I hired the lot of you to rectify the situation!" Nikea's face had turned an interesting shade of purple and for a moment Lina wondered if the woman was going to keel over in front of them. She hoped not. Then Nikea would either be gravely ill or dead and they'd be blamed for that as well.

 

"It wasn't a total loss, Nikea-san," Lina pointed out, then jerked a thumb at Jillas. The fox was tied to a chair in the corner of the room, simpering at the rest of them as they discussed what had happened during the night. "We caught one thief. You didn't specify that there was more than one thief lurking around here."

 

"I keep telling you! I was tailing your group, not stealing stuff from this place the other nights!"

 

Amelia approached Jillas. "But, you were sneaking in, intending to search for and steal one of the weapons last night, Jillas-san, that's right?"

 

"Yeah," he spat at her. "But, not the other times. You can't pin those on me."

 

"Can you prove it?"

 

Something akin to a leer spread over Jillas' face at Filia's question and a chill ran up Lina's spine. She had a feeling that whatever his answer was, she wasn't going to like it at all.

 

"Yeah, I can prove it. I saw all you camping out night before last, on that really big bluff about half a day's walk from this city. I also saw her," Jillas jerked his head in Lina's direction, "making out with blondie over there for quite awhile as well."

 

Everyone fell silent, then turned to see Lina's reaction. Her head was bowed, hands curled into fists. Her entire body vibrated from rage.

 

"Lina..."

 

"Don't touch me, Gourry." Her voice was in a low, dangerous whisper that caused him to immediately back up, nearly plowing over Shizuri and Amelia in the process.

 

Before any of them could try to calm Lina down, she was across the room, hands wrapped around Jillas' neck. She screamed at him in language so harsh that even Lyos winced. "I didn't realize that her vocabulary was that colorful."

 

"Neither did we," Amelia and a pale-faced Gourry replied together.

 

Filia bit her lip. "Do you think it's a bad time to mention that we saw the two of you kissing as well, Gourry-san?"

 

"Not just kissing, the two of you were going at it pretty hot and heavy," Shizuri added with a smirk. She shot Gourry a knowing look. "We actually had a pretty sizable betting pool as to when and/or if you were going to start tearing each other's clothes off. Though, you were doing a good job getting under Lina's to begin with."

 

Gourry's face was redder than Lina's hair. "Umm...I thought we had gone far enough away from the camp."

 

"There's a nice view through the trees if you're looking just right."

 

"Oh." He didn't say anything for a moment. "Who won the bet?"

 

"The princess. She figured that you would come to your senses after 30 minutes. The rest of us had you only lasting 20 or less and well...adding to our little show."

 

"Oh." Gourry looked very much like a small child who'd been caught trying to sneak candy. He pressed his index fingers together and watched, fascinated, as he made a little V-shape with them. "I don't think it'd be a very good idea to tell Lina all of that."

 

Shizuri eyed the senseless violence being done to Jillas and nodded sagely. "Yes, I think that is a very good idea indeed."

 

-----

 

Five hours later

Shrigan City - Black Rose Inn and Tavern

 

Zelgadiss slipped into the inn, a hand unconsciously touching the side of his hood to make sure that the covering was still in place. It was lunch and most people were either fixated on their meals or their companions, which suited him just fine.

 

He signaled to a girl dressed in brown cotton, who escorted him to a small table near the window. She set a tin cup before him full of a brownish sludge that he guessed was coffee. Shrigan City was not known for its culinary achievements, as Lina had once said when deciding where they should travel next. Zelgadiss picked up the mud, took a sip and winced. She'd been right. 

 

"Blech. This stuff tastes like cow shit," the boy at the table beside him suddenly exclaimed. Zelgadiss smiled slightly. It was an apt description. Still, I've had worse. You were lucky to survive one of Rodimus' pots of coffee.

 

"And just how do you know what that tastes like," his companion commented. She had her back turned to Zelgadiss, but he could see the boy roll his eyes at her.

 

"One of Ma's cows kicked me once and I landed in a pile of it. Foul stuff."

 

"I'm sure Lina would love hearing that story."

 

Zelgadiss slowly lowered his cup. Surely she doesn't mean...

 

"Where is she anyhow?" The woman glanced around the room. "There's still food, which means neither she or Gourry have passed through the place."

 

Zelgadiss' cup hit the table with a loud clatter. 

 

"He was still passed out when I woke up." The boy poured what seemed to be a good amount of sugar in the coffee. "Guy sucks the paint off the walls. Why do I have to room with the blond buffoon again?"

 

"My dear Lyos. Need I remind you of the birds and the bees?"

 

"Then give me my own room!"

 

"Oh, that'll go over really well with Filia. Of course, we could always swap Lina out for you. I'm sure neither of them would object to that agreement, not after that Jillas fellow revealed their little show they'd given us in the woods the other night."

 

Zelgadiss wasn't quite sure how to process that particular piece of information. Lina and Gourry... No. Not going there. My appetite's nearly ruined to begin with. I'm not sure if I want to say that it's about time or if I should be very very scared.

 

"Say, what're they going to do with him anyhow, Shizuri?" The serving girl set down a plate of food in front of Lyos and he dug into it enthusiastically.

 

"Your guess is as good as mine. Lina wants us to keep hold of him because he's a link back to Valgaav. We can badger the information about his location out of him and go get that weapon once we're done here.”

 

Zelgadiss ignored the plate of food that was placed before him. At the table next to him, Shizuri and Lyos also received their meals and quickly began to eat as much as possible. They didn't say much beyond that, but what they had said was enough to get the gears in his brain moving.

 

There had to be some sort of coincidence behind all of this. Xelloss was far from benevolent. He wanted Zelgadiss to perform a particular task for him and that was to get the weapon that matched the one he had. He was going to find that weapon, mainly to keep Xelloss from getting his hands on it. The weapon he had resembled the Sword of Light regarding how the weapon worked. It would make sense for Lina and Gourry to be looking for one as well if they had heard about it.

 

After leaving Xelloss, Zelgadiss had done his best to try to find out the exact nature of the weapon he had so he could find others like it. He knew that Shrigan City had an excellent library and that the librarian had dealt with him before. She would probably be able to tell him more about the staff if he happened to catch her in a good mood.

 

Zelgadiss considered the weapon he had concealed beneath his cloak. Gourry had lost his sword saving Lina from the Sea of Chaos. It would make sense to hand this weapon over to him, but this was more of a staff than a sword. He sighed and picked up his fork. It was probably all just a coincidence that they happened to be in the same city he was in. Zelgadiss speared some vegetables and frowned at them. No, this couldn't be a coincidence. If he had learned anything by traveling with Lina Inverse, it was that a coincidental situation was just a cover for something else.

 

——-

 

Lina was not in a good mood.

 

She didn't like being yelled at. She didn't like being made to look like a fool in front of her friends. She most certainly didn't like being blamed for something that clearly wasn't her fault. This mess? Wasn't her fault, not at all. She had done the job she'd been charged to do, and that was capture whoever was sneaking into Shrigan's library. She had done just that. Nikea didn't need to blame her for her shoddy security. Apparently, one could make quite a career out of capturing people who wanted to steal the artifacts. Lina didn't really care. She wanted to see if one of the Darkstar weapons was in that room and get the hell out of town. End of discussion.

 

"At least we're getting a second chance, Lina-san," Filia commented as the group proceeded to devour about half of the food in Shrigan for an early dinner before they headed out for their second night of thief-hunting.

 

"That's because our princess knows how to sweet talk her way into stuff like this," Shizuri shot Amelia a grin.

 

Amelia snatched the last roll from the basket just as Gourry started for it. "It's the art of diplomacy. Nikea-san should give us another chance because we did catch someone sneaking in."

 

"And, if that fails, we're breaking in ourselves," Lina declared.

 

"No!" Amelia glared at Lina. "We're not going to do that, Lina-san! We're going to do this legally this time."

 

"We seem to get further when we do stuff illegally!"

 

"That's not an attitude that a heroine of justice should take!"

 

"Since when did I ever claim to be a heroine of justice?" Lina rolled her eyes at her. "Amelia, how many years have we known each other again?"

 

Amelia fell silent and Lina grinned for the first time in several hours. "Relax. Look, we'll try it this way for one more night. If that fails, we'll sneak in. Since we're guarding the library ourselves, we'll know the best way to do it. Besides, knowing that woman, she'll make good on her threat and we'll be banned from every library anyhow."

 

"I told you, I can override the ban, Lina-san!"

 

"I just think Lina wants to cause trouble," Lyos muttered into his plate of chicken. He was promptly rewarded by Lina pelting him with her roll.

 

-----

 

Five hours later

Shrigan Library - Interior

 

"This was a good idea, princess," Shizuri commented as she emerged from the stacks, a thick volume in her hands. "Having Lina, Gourry and Filia be outside would keep any potential damage down to a bare miniumn if case she loses it. Again."

 

"I just thought you suggested it because Lina would try to break into the room herself," Lyos commented.

 

"Well, there's that too," Amelia conceded. "If the circumstances were different, I wouldn't had minded us sneaking into the library. It's certainly nothing new."

 

Shizuri frowned at the worry in Amelia's eyes. She threw herself down in a chair next to her. "What's on your mind, princess?"

 

Amelia didn't say anything for awhile. Shizuri and Lyos exchanged a look, then shrugged. Shizuri started to read through her book while Lyos kicked back in his chair and dozed off.

 

"I'm just worried," Amelia finally said and Shizuri looked up. "I don't want to get into trouble with Nikea-san, because I think she can help us with something else. It's a nagging feeling that I have regarding a friend of ours and if we keep on her good side, we can get her to help us find him."

 

"This Zelgadiss guy, huh?" Shizuri smiled when Amelia's cheeks pinked slightly. "You've got a crush on the guy."

 

"Well, Zelgadiss-san is very cool." Amelia straightened and grinned. "He's a very good friend and a loyal comrade who's gone through a lot of pain and suffering. It felt a bit weird at times, traveling in your country with Lina-san and Gourry-san and not have Zelgadiss-san be around."

 

"Lina and Gourry talk about him as well, but I don't really know who he is."

 

"Oh." Amelia's eyes lit up and she proceeded to tell Shizuri about Zelgadiss' past and how he was turned into a chimera by his grandfather.

 

Shizuri's jaw fell when Rezo's name entered the conversation. "I've heard of Rezo.Not much information was passed through the barrier when it was erected, but even we knew of the Five Great Sages. A piece of Shabranigdu was inside of Rezo and Lina defeated it?"

 

Amelia nodded. "This was not long before I met Lina-san, but I met her because of it. Rezo had created other chimeras and one of them set out to capture Lina-san, Gourry-san and Zelgadiss-san because of their roles in defeating the original Rezo."

 

Shizuri leaned back in her chair. "How very strange. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised by the stuff your group gets into now. I take it then that you four traveled together for awhile."

 

"For the better part of two years, yes." Amelia hesitated, knowing she had come up to the part of the story that involved the Claire Bible.

 

"So...is that when Lina defeated Hellmaster Phibrizzo?" She smiled at the shock that passed across Amelia's face. "I've been piecing stuff together. Little bits and pieces dropped by various people over the past few months. Lina's little nightmare-ish display outside of Sairaag was pretty revealing. She was yelling about the Hellmaster then. Valgaav said that she killed Demon Dragon King Gaav."

 

"He got that one wrong. Phibrizzo killed Gaav and Lina-san killed Phibrizzo. Or, she did in a way." Amelia jumped to her feet and started pacing. When she made her first circuit of the area, she saw that Lyos was now awake, listening to her story as well. She stopped and worried her lip. "I don't think this is my story to tell, but the two people involved don't remember a lot of it."

 

"Lina and Gourry?" Lyos guessed.

 

Amelia nodded. "Lina-san remembers more of it than Gourry-san, and this time it's not because of his brain. Have you ever heard of the Lord of Nightmares?"

 

-----

 

Shrigan Library - Exterior

 

"I don't believe this." Lina fought the urge to bury her head in her hands. She was more inclined to give into her secondary urge and throttle Gourry and Filia, who were sitting around a table made from a makeshift rock near the entrance to the library. Filia had spread a tablecloth over it and produced a full tea service and a plate of cookies and a cake from somewhere in her robes. "We're on guard duty, not having a tea party."

 

Filia shot Lina a cryptic look over the rim of her delicate china cup. "In times of great stress, taking the time to relax with a cup of tea helps to keep your mind centered and your abilities focused."

 

"Plus, it's good too! Did you get a cookie, Lina?"

 

Lina snarled at Gourry, but snatched his cookie all the same. "Look, I'm thinking we just go get a look at the artifacts ourselves and get the hell out of here. This place is too messed up and who'd believe the old crone anyhow?"

 

"I have yet to be the recipient of one of Amelia-san's justice speeches and I will be very upset with you if you cause me to have my first experience." Filia calmly took a sip of tea. "I just might have to pen some letters to Zefielia if that sort of thing happens."

 

The color drained from Lina's face and she quickly turned her back on them. "See if I care!" she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

 

"That's pretty low," Gourry whispered to Filia.

 

"You should know when to take advantage of an opponent's weak spot, Gourry-san."

 

"I do know that. But, still..."

 

"I can hear you two, you know," Lina muttered through clenched teeth. She whirled around, jabbing a finger at Filia as she did so. "Go ahead! Tell my sister everything, you tattletale!"

 

"I am not a tattletale!"

 

"Are too!"

 

"Are not!"

 

Oh, great. Gourry winced as Lina and Filia proceeded to behave like five year olds, shouting childish insults and sticking their tongues out at each other. Oh, well. There was a bright side to this one. He helped himself to the rest of the cookies on the plate and tuned out the arguing women as he enjoyed the rich combination of chocolate and sugar. Lina and Filia were growing so loud that he almost missed a slight rustle in the bushes. Gourry straightened, narrowing his eyes at the leaves.

 

"Little Miss Pink Froo-Froo!"

 

"Oh, yes? Didn't I hear that one man yesterday call you Lina the Pink?"

 

"That's it! Mega..."

 

"Be quiet!" Gourry yelled, startling both Lina and Filia into silence. They stared incredulously at him, but he ignored them as he jumped to his feet and drew the Sword of Light.

 

Lina immediately sidled up to him, staring hard at the same place he was. She could see it as well, a slight movement in the bushes and something brown that glittered slightly in the moonlight. She motioned to Gourry to cover Filia, then crept forward as silently as possible. She lifted her hands, started to chant a spell under her breath, then stopped. No, she wanted to approach this one another way.

 

She stepped back to them. "How about some more tea, Filia?"

 

Filia gave her a confused look. "Tea?"

 

"Yeah! I'm sure there was at least half a pot left." Lina grabbed Filia's elbow and steered her back toward the makeshift table. "Play along," she hissed beneath her breath. "I want to see if he'll make a move."

 

"Is it the real thief?" Filia cast a quick glance over her shoulder and Lina quickly jabbed her arm to keep her focus away from the bushes.

 

"I'm willing to stake my reputation on it. Follow my lead." Lina dropped down in front of the table and reached for the teapot. "Say, Gourry, you've drank an awful lot of tea."

 

"I have?" Gourry stared blankly at Lina. She narrowed her eyes, growled slightly and he suddenly got what she wanted him to do. "Oh, I have! Yeah, I think I need to go find the bathroom."

 

"Don't take too long. Better use the one close to Nikea-san's office. That one's a whole hell of a lot cleaner than the one by the stacks and artifacts room." Lina dismissed Gourry with a wave of her hand. "I've got a handle on things here. I don't think anyone's gonna come tonight."

 

"Right." Gourry got to his feet and quickly retreated into the building. He found the bathroom, took his time washing his hands and slipped back out into the hall with his sword drawn. He kept to the shadows, moving as silently as possible through the halls back toward the artifacts room. He cautiously peered around the corner and saw a figure bent over the door, muttering something under his breath.

 

Gourry paused and studied the shadows on the other side the door as they lengthened. He waited, then saw a flash of red hair as Lina slid into position. She waited a moment and he figured that her eyes were getting used to the darkness. Then, she flicked a glance at him.

 

"Lighting!" Lina leaped out of the shadows, one hand extended toward the door. The figure immediately cowered when he was hit with the blinding light. Gourry sprang out of his corner and brought the flat of the sword down on the figure's back. The figure, a man, hit the ground and rolled to his back, only to meet the point of Gourry's sword. His eyes bulged and he gave a half-scream. The front of his pants darkened as he lost control of his bladder, its contents pooling onto the floor around Gourry's feet.

 

"Ew." Lina suspended the mage light in the air above them and got into the man's face. "Who'd thunk it? A lighting spell causes you to piss your pants? That'll be one to tell the boys at the Sorcerer's Guild, Gridai."

 

"I didn't....It's a mistake!" Gridai babbled, then began to sob. "Please, don't kill me!"

 

"Awww, shall we show him mercy, Gourry?"

 

"Only if he pays to have my boots cleaned." Gourry made a face at the mess he stood in. "You could had warned me, Lina."

 

"How did I know that Gridai would lose it like that? Ah, Amelia!" Lina waved to Amelia, Shizuri and Lyos as they ran out of the stacks. "We caught our man. The real one this time."

 

"And made a mess in the process. I do not envy you at the moment, Gourry-san," Shizuri wrinkled her nose.

 

"Come on," Gourry grabbed Gridai's arm and hauled him to his feet.

 

With the sword point now away from most vital parts on his body, Gridai bared his teeth at Lina. "Little bitch. How'd you know?"

 

"Nikea-san placed seals on the door. Magical seals. Jillas is an idiot. He doesn't know how to use magic. Once I put two and two together, I realized that it had to be you. Come on, pal. Let's go wake up Nikea-san so I can get my reward and we can get out of this town." Lina grabbed Gridai's other arm and started to drag him toward the door.

 

——-

 

He had heard everything.

 

Once he had gotten to the library and found out about the restriction on the artifacts room, Zelgadiss quickly decided that it was worth hiding out and completing his research at night. Besides, if the artifacts room did contain the weapon, he could still sneak in and get it. His years of being an errand boy for Rezo had served him well.

 

He had taken a number of books and was perusing them when he heard the sound of voices as people came into the room. His eyes widened with shock when he saw the two people from earlier that day from the inn walk in with Amelia. That confirmed it. This wasn't just a coincidence. He gleamed more information through their conversation, blushing when it turned to him and Shizuri's guess of Amelia's feelings toward him. He would definitely have to correct Amelia's rather skewed opinion of him one day.

 

Then the story had turned to a recounting of the past few years and Zelgadiss quickly guessed that Shizuri and Lyos were from lands outside of the Mazoku barrier based on their reaction and some of the comments that he made. If this was the case, it would make sense why there had been no new stories of Dramata-induced disasters upon their part of the world for at least a year. During his last trip through Saillune, he'd been on his way to visit the royal palace when he heard that the kingdom had sent an ambassadorial expedition to the lands beyond the barrier and that Amelia was part of it. It had sounded like her - to take justice to unknown lands.

 

When the three had fled the stacks, Zelgadiss remained behind, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Lina, Gourry and Amelia had gone overseas and were now back, apparently searching for weapons. They were also hunting for someone named Valgaav that had ties to Gaav. If a Mazoku tied to Gaav was involved, that meant that Xelloss was most definitely part of this. Zelgadiss pulled out the weapon he had. He suspected for awhile that Xelloss hadn't told him everything and this felt like the missing piece of the puzzle. Xelloss didn't want them teaming up.

 

Zelgadiss grinned. We'll just see about that.

 

He slipped into the hall and saw that Lina and the others had exited the building. It didn't give him much time. He headed for the artifacts room.

 

——-

 

The next morning

Shrigan Library

 

“I thank you for the hard work that you did to capture Gridai,” Nikea said as she led the group to the artifacts room. “All but one of the artifacts have been accounted for. He claims not to have taken it, but my guess is that he pawned it off to a seller already and does not want to own up to it.”

 

“Which artifact?” Lina wondered as they entered the room.

 

Nikea gestured to the wall opposite the entrance. Lina frowned. She could see the hooks on the wall where a weapon had rested. At first, she thought that it had been the large sword that had been stolen during the first night, but that had been restored to its original position. The empty space where the missing weapon had been was directly beneath the large sword.

 

As Nikea started showing them around the room, Lina stared hard at that wall, forcing herself to remember what it looked like. She hadn't paid much attention to it, because it seemed like a gnarled piece of wood that resembled a staff. That weapon was there when we looked, but Jillas didn't have it. He never even got in the room. Gridai took the big sword and that and the other things he stole was recovered. I remember seeing that wooden weapon when we found out he stole the sword. Gridai never got into the room last night, the seals weren't disturbed. That means…

 

Lina swung around and, swearing to herself. She placed a hand to her forehead and concentrated hard on that staff-like weapon. It seemed almost like a piece of driftwood, but the harder she thought about it, that staff kind of resembled…

 

“Lina-san?”

 

Lina jumped, nearly knocking over a display of china plates. She bared her teeth at Filia. “What?”

 

“You look troubled. Is everything all right?”

 

“Fine. Just dandy.” As dandy as things are going to get when you've just realized that there had possibly been a Darkstar weapon in this room and it just waltzed out of here by some unknown thief. Lina stomped over to the rest of the group, who were gathered around a display. She pushed between Gourry and Amelia so she could see what they were looking at.

 

“These are the pride and joy of the library and were just received from the kingdoms of Alto and Baritone,” Nikea was saying. She tapped the case. Inside the glass lay two halves of an urn - one black and one white. Lina could see where they fitted together. The surfaces were covered in rune writing.

 

Filia peered over Lina's shoulder and frowned. “I've seen this writing before,” she whispered to Lina.

 

“Rune language,” Lina confirmed, recognizing it as well.

 

“There is a saying about these urns that when they are brought together, they can produce a phenomena known as fusion magic.”

 

Amelia's eyes lit up. “I've heard of fusion magic. It was mentioned in a book I read when working as a shrine maiden in Saillune's temples. It's where you can channel white and black magic together into a conductor and it produces a magical attack that is extremely powerful. They say that when Holy magic and Chaotic magic is used, the resulting attack is probably even more power than the Giga…,” Her words cut off as Lina grounded her foot on top of Amelia's.

 

Nikea never noticed. “That is correct, Amelia-sama,” she said, pleased to find someone that educated in magical arts. “It has been documented in books, but no devices of this nature have been produced since before the Kouma Sensou.”

 

That's because humans probably didn't produce these things. Lina cupped her chin in her hand. If Filia's reaction and my interpretation of these runes are correct, then the dragon races produced these. Why combine white and black magic together when the resulting power would only be around the level of a Dragon Slave? Does it purify and destroy at the same time, but on a higher level than a standard purity spell? It's something worth investigating. Lina sighed. It would be worth investigating after they were done looking for the Darkstar weapons and defeating Valgaav. She'd put it on her to-do list. Maybe she'd get to it within the next five years.

 

——-

 

“Well, what now?” Shizuri asked as they headed down the road away from Shrigan City. “That was a complete bust. Nice little tidbit of information regarding fusion magic, I think Zasu-sama will be intrigued by it. But, no weapon.”

 

“At least we've got some money for our trouble,” Filia said, relieved that they had some supplement to their rapidly depleting budget.

 

“You've been quiet, Lina-san,” Amelia observed, falling in step next to her. “Is everything okay?”

 

Lina didn't say anything for a moment. She had a very strong gut feeling that the missing weapon was the one that they were looking for and she was mentally kicking herself for not noticing it to begin with. In her mind, they were looking for something that appeared to be like the Sword of Light. That staff looked more like the weapon Xelloss used that wound up in Valgaav's hands. There was not much they could do at the moment. If it was the weapon, whoever got it would come looking for them. It could had been the person who broke Jillas out of jail.

 

That was the other thing that really put Lina in a bad mood. They had turned Jillas over to Shrigan authorities to hold alongside Gridai. After they had finished their tour of the artifacts room and Nikea was in the process of paying them, they had heard an explosion come from the center of town. By the time they got there, they discovered Gridai tied up in bedsheet, a hole in the back wall of the jail and Jillas gone.

 

Amelia didn't say anything for awhile, instead watched Lina stew in her own anger. She started to say something, then hesitated. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. It feels like we're being watched.

 

Lina slowed. On her other side, she saw Gourry rest his hand on his sword hilt out of the corner of her eye. She tensed, noticed that Amelia had also detected something. The women exchanged a nod and together they pivoted, hands raised to cast simultaneous fireballs, then froze, mouthes gaping.

 

Zelgadiss stood on the road behind them, giving them a cryptic smile. In each hand, he held a staff-like weapon. “Hello, Lina.”

 

Lina let her hands fall, then placed them on her hips. “Well, I'll be damned.”

 

-----

 

Author's Note: Welcome to the party, Zelgadiss! He kept wanting to join the action earlier and earlier and the initial draft of this chapter had Amelia catching Zel in the act of taking the fourth weapon. I think this version is a bit more in character and by adding him in at this point, I'm able to take the story in a different direction in several ways. For those trying to figure out where we are in the TRY storyline, this is the rewrite of what happened with the Alto and Bartione storyline but now we have four weapons accounted for instead of two. Within the next two-three chapters, we'll be setting up for a round of "hide and go seek" with the weapons.