"Whoa!" Lina yelled, furiously hitting the table as Xellos had done earlier. "Stop the carriage and explain yourselves! You first, fruitcake." Xellos only fumed, so she hit him with a fireball.
"What?" he growled.
"You wanna try and explain what's going on around here?" She glared right back, not in the least bit intimidated by his foul mood. "What's the deal with the Blood Runes, and why'd he call you Sollex?"
"Sollex was the first head of the Lamina Clan, long before the War." Korongar said. "Sollex was also responsible for the first death of the Runecaster... one of the holders of the Blood Runes."
"Before I became Mazoku, I was Sollex Noddegamra, Leader of the Lamina clan and Slayer of the Runecaster" Xellos nodded.
"Noddegamra?!" Lina and Kwah expressed their surprise loudly. "But that means - "
"Sollex disappeared about 50 years before the Kouma War, leaving his sister, my ancestor, to lead in his place." Korongar filled in. "Apparently, his reversed name suited the Beast Master just fine, due to the similarity to her own."
"Xellos, you I'm gonna hurt, but first, what the Hell is so special about these 'Blood Runes' that you want to kill Zelgadis over?" Lina's promise of pain did nothing to help cheer the Mazoku.
"The Blood Runes were the most powerful set of Runes ever created, one of the 25 sets that actually had a sentient Rune ruling the set. This particular set is controlled by Wyrd, which should have been the only sentient Rune in that set. However, the destruction of the other Runestone sets caused whatever spirits inhabiting the ruling stones of those sets to flee to the one set that remained; the Blood Runes. I suppose because it now has all the spirits and powers of all 25 sets, it's indestructible..."
"So it's a powerful and indestructible object, big deal! I don't remember Gourry's Hikari no Ken causing this much of an uproar.... Well, not regularly!" Lina objected.
"Hikari no Ken is by no means sentient," the Mazoku snorted. "Not only are these Runestones a powerful key to a forbidden magic, but they are quite insane."
"Beg pardon?" Lina blinked.
"The Runes, originally, were created as the ultimate defensive magic, seeing as how they can halt even the most powerful of mortal's attacks." Korongar's eyes narrowed. "However, their Casters became corrupted over time, and started using the power of Runes for offensive purposes. Some of the richest families in the world fell to the greed of Runecasters. Eventually, because their Casters were corrupt, the Runes themselves became corrupt."
"Corrupt?" The red-head felt her stomach turn.
"Being sentient, the Runes became embittered by their misuse, and began to use their Casters to take revenge on human kind. When Sollex killed the first Rune Mage and rejected the Runes' attempt to make him their Caster, Runecasters around the world went crazy, and then were silenced." The dangerous glint in Korongar's mulberry-hued eyes made Lina more uneasy than ever. "In order to protect this world, we hunted down and destroyed the Runes. I thought we had destroyed them all... but how that set escaped... It's beyond me..."
"Now that Zelgadis has accepted the Runes, and their corruption, he, too, will eventually be corrupted." Xellos patted Lina on the shoulder in condolence. "I'm sorry, Lina-chan, we're going to have to kill him."
"Now..." Her stunned gaze bore holes into Korongar's heart. "I won't allow it! I am Lina Inverse, genius sorceress, and I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO KILL MY FRIENDS!" She jumped to her feet, the raw power for a Dragon Slave gathering in her hands. Korongar and Kwah shifted into defensive stances, but Xellos materialized behind Lina and pinned her arms to her side.
"If they don't kill him, Lina-chan, I will." The Mazoku purred. "Zelgadis has to die. I owe this to my clan, and to my master."
"Two of our finest are already at the peak of Suivusev, awaiting the Runecaster's arrival." The Leader of the Lamina sighed. "You don't have to worry, Inverse-san. Yarat 'Nam and Tenroh will make sure he doesn't suffer."
A blast of heat seared Zelgadis' face, causing him to stumble back a step. Finally, he had reached the top of Suivusev. He would know the truth about the ancient volcano at last. His elation, however, was cut short by a painful jolt to his back. He glanced down and saw, to his great horror, the bloody pike that impaled his stomach. He tried to breathe, but only ended up coughing up blood. Sigel was screaming in his mind, urging him to pull the spear out so it could heal his wound, but his strength was gone.
"Got 'im!" A man's voice came from behind him. Zelgadis wanted to turn around to see who had dealt the blow, but the cold numbness that was quickly overcoming him prevented movement. The man behind him pulled the spear out roughly, and Sigel rushed to heal him.
"Yarat 'Nam!" Another man, probably just out of childhood by the tone of his voice, alerted the first to the Rune's activity.
"Damn!" The first one hissed, and once again the pike was plunged into his flesh. This time, however, the blade that went through his chest punctured his aorta. Zelgadis' eyes opened a bit wider, and blood fell from his slightly agape lips.
No... he thought, loosing the strength to stand, and stumbling forward. The person behind him let go of his weapon to keep Sigel from healing the Runecaster.
NO! He saw the edge of the mountain coming closer as he fell...
A flash of gold raced through his eyes, and as he fell into the open mouth of the volcano, he realized that with the heat licking his skin, his own blood had become gold...