Naga sat by herself in the bar room; the Bar Keep was making his round collecting tankards from stoned out customers. It was well past the midnight hour but she didn't feel the least bit sleepy and so decided to come to the bar to get a drink. Currently she was ten bottles down and still going strong. Pouring her cup to the rim again, she paused for a moment as she stared blankly at the reflection on the surface, before downing it.
"That's good," she sighed to herself slamming the cup down.
"Quite late isn't it?"
Naga paused a bit as she leaned her head back to look at the person that was addressing her as she blinked a bit to clear her hazy eyes.
"Oh hi, Val." She waved as Val walked around and took a seat next to her, "So what brings the Ancient Dragon to this humble servant of the Church?"
"You're drunk aren't you?" Val commented examining some of the bottles.
"Yup," Naga chuckled to herself.
Val shook his head as he watched Naga continue to drink more of the stuff, she seemed to handle this stuff pretty well. In fact, one of the bottles that she finished had enough alcohol in it to lay low a small dragon. Now of course, this lady seemed to have just downed two bottles of that stuff and showed no sign of stopping any time now.
"I was wondering if you could answer a few question for me?" Val inquired as he placed the empty bottle back next to the others. "I was just curious about a few things."
"Fire away," Naga suggested.
"Who were you sent here to find?"
Pausing for a moment to think, Naga stammered, "Lord Vista, he's a no good former bandit that moved into to underground supplier after an unfortunate encounter of some kind. Pretty slippery guy, but I managed to track him all the way here."
"So I take it, it was him that was using the Bone Golem," Val inquired as Naga bobbed her head up and down. "But why would the church send you, surely someone of lower rank could have gone?" Val concluded as Naga smirked at the question.
"I needed to go, because Lord Vista did a really nasty thing that is going to get him in trouble with the Church when they get their hands on him," Naga wagged her finger at Val. "Dealt in forbidden relics, wanted to retire easily."
"What kind of forbidden relic?" Val asked.
"Can't tell you, Church orders." Naga reminded.
"You can tell me," Val assured her, "I'm just wondering if his coming here might have something to do with all the attacks earlier in the day."
"Attacks?" Naga exclaimed blinking surprise. "What attacks?"
"There were a series of attack on this port earlier in the day, but my group managed to take care of each of the attackers. A few of them managed to escape and I'm short on possible suspects that could have been involved with them." Val explained.
Absorbing what the Ryuzoku had said, Naga frowned, "Well, it is possible that those people could be connected with the buyers of the good that Vista was bringing."
"Could be," Val agreed solemnly.
"A stone coffin."
"What?" Val remarked as he just barely caught what Naga had muttered as she finished the last of her drink.
"I said 'A stone coffin', that was what Vista got his hands on and brought here," Naga restated herself as she looked dejectedly at all of the empty bottles. "The church sent me in order to stop him from trading that thing away."
"I can't believe that another managed to show up," Val commented.
"Things get worse, after I split from you to check up on Vista, I found out someone already beat me to the punch," Naga grumbled as she slumped her head against the table.
"He's dead," Val guessed as Naga nodded her head. Thinking of the implication, he gasped, "So someone out there already has his or her hand on it!"
"Worse, they opened it," Naga responded as Val paled.
Silence passed between the two of them as the candle on the table flickered before Val remarked, "So they released the Mazoku that was sealed by contract into it."
"And by releasing that Mazoku, they can make one request of the Mazoku by the binding of the contract," Naga continued. "That was why the Church hated those Stone Coffins, the power it granted over the Mazoku sealed within by whoever released it."
"But what is that Mazoku doing then?" Val rubbed his chin in thought.
"How should I know?" Naga groaned trying to cover her ears. "I just want to go and take a nice long nap now," she sighed as she stood up slowly.
"You can go on, I need to think a bit." Val gestured as Naga waved as she stumbled out of the bar. Watching her go, Val muttered, "A Mazoku running loose in the city? There is no telling where it could be or what it is going to strike."
His contemplation was quickly resolved when an explosion shook the foundation of the bar sending several bottles flying from the table. Shattering as they came crashing to the ground, Val managed to lean on his crutch for stabilization till the shuddering was over. A few quiet seconds past afterwards as he slowly got his bearings back.
"That was from the direction of the Inn," Val realized suddenly.
The shattered ruin that was part of the front of the Inn that Lina and the gang was staying at was in partial ruins. Lina for her part was just sleeping soundly before the massive explosion turned her second story room into a pile of rubble. Having avoided any serious injuries, she looked around the area for any sign of the attackers.
She didn't have to look far as her sight fell on a rather suspicious character standing upon one of the few supporting beams that were sticking straight up from the destruction. The tattered cloak that the figure had wrapped around himself, along with the badly bandaged hands, made this person very suspicious. The glowing eye beneath the mask of clay was also pretty suspicious as well.
Good thing after all the excitement earlier this night, Lina hadn't bothered to change out of her clothes when she went to bed. The last thing she needed was to go around fighting in her night robe around the city.
"So you survived. Very good," the figure commented as he spotted Lina.
"What is the big deal?" Lina demanded putting her hands on her hip. "First we got a bunch of weirdos attacking in the morning, then later at night, I get stomped on and dealt with a giant Bone Golem. Now this!" she exclaimed in frustration.
"Quite a day," a slightly singed Gourry agreed behind her.
Lina responded with an elbow in his gut, before she turned to the attacker and responded, "So what is it that you want?"
"Me?" the masked figure chuckled as he raised his arms up. "Just to kill you, Lina Inverse!" it proclaimed as several lesser demons came tearing out of the rubble around it.
"That isn't good," Lina muttered sheepishly.
"I'm sure that these lesser demons should be more then enough to tear a pathetic human like you apart," it gestured as the lesser demons all charged at Lina.
"Not good," Lina cursed as she started to chant a spell.
Before she was even halfway there, Gourry came running by her. With one pass he pulled his blade and slashed every single one of the lesser demons. The Lesser Demons all froze in their paths for a bit before their forms collapsed apart into nothing. Lina's mouth hit the ground at that little display of swordsmanship.
"His sword actually cut them," Lina stuttered in shock.
Even the cloaked stranger was slightly taken aback by this turn of events. Gourry took advantage of this as he leaped straight toward the figure. Cursing at the swordsman, the figure managed to catch Gourry's blade in its hand inches from its face.
"This blade may have killed them, but it will not hurt me." It spoke as it tossed Gourry aside.
"Well, how about this then?" Lina offered up as Gourry was out of the way, "Blast Ash!"
"What the?"
The figure's screams were cut off as it was enveloped in a massive wave of darkness that encompassed a large area before fading away. Lina was panting from the exertion as she looked in shock as the figure materialized in front of her and seized her by the neck.
"You managed to shift planes?" Lina choked as the figure lifted her up.
"Humph."
"You're a Mazoku!" Lina managed as she could almost hear it laughing.
"Very good, Lina Inverse. I am Zeigram the Faceless." It declared chuckling. "It's been so long since I've felt such emotion from you humans, rage, despair, and fear. Those centuries sealed away in that infernal coffin are finally over. Once I kill you, I'll be able to take my revenge on those who so kindly freed me."
Freed him, Lina choked to herself as the Mazoku was tightening its grip on her neck. She couldn't manage a spell in this condition, and there was nothing else that she could do to stop it. Her vision was starting to get blurry as she ran out of air.
"Die, Lina Inverse." Zeigram laughed.
"That can not be allowed."
"What!" Zeigram turned before he felt a slight disturbance along the astral plane. His arm that was holding Lina suddenly filled with pain as it suddenly blew apart sending Lina falling to the ground. "Who did this?" Zeigram screamed clutching his disintegrated arm.
"Lina," Gourry cried as he checked up the girl.
"That fighter, no it couldn't be him." Zeigram choked as he tried to reform his arm. "I'll kill them all," he promised them as it limped toward Gourry.
"Stay away!" Gourry warned holding his blade up toward Zeigram.
Cursing at the swordsman's stupidity, Zeigram declared, "Your blade can't harm me."
Suddenly, Gourry's blade lit up in a bright flash as the metal exterior of the blade started to crack as energy seeped out of it. In a brilliant flair of light that burned Zeigram's form the metal exterior shattered off the sword completely. As the light died down, a completely different blade gleamed where the old one used to be.
Trembling a bit at what blade stood before him, Zeigram roared, "The Legendary Blast Sword here?"
"Grandpa," Gourry muttered look at the blade with recognition.
"Fool, even with that sword I won't lose to a human!" Zeigram interrupted as he tossed an orb of energy at Gourry and Lina.
Shaking off his nostalgia, Gourry gripped the recently unsealed Blast Sword and with one simple stroke cleaved the blast in half letting it dissipate away uselessly. Zeigram was taking aback by the power as Gourry lunged toward the Mazoku and slash the blade across the creature. The Mazoku roared as the clay mask it wore split in half and fell to the ground.
"To lose to human after all those years of imprisonment. How humiliating." Zeigram choked as his body split in half and melted away into darkness. "That vampire set me up for this."
Lina's ear perked at the last remark as she muttered, "Vice?"
Gourry stood staring where the Mazoku had stood as he noticed that there was a sharp cut along the ground from the sheer force of the edge of his attack. Staring back at the sword the Mazoku had proclaimed to being the Blast Sword, Gourry's thoughts wandered back. This blade was exceptionally powerful to kill that Mazoku with one hit, but why was it hidden behind another blade. Also, why did it suddenly break out all of a sudden?
"Hiya Gourry," Jedah proclaimed popping out of a pile of rubble.
Gourry leaped back in shock as he fumbled with his sword a bit, before dropping it blade end first straight to the ground. The blade cut through the ground like cheese, and the only thing that stopped it from going deeper was the handle hitting the surface of the ground.
Jedah and Gourry both looked in disbelief at the blade.
"Whoa that thing is sharp," Jedah exclaimed as Gourry pulled the blade out of the stone ground. "Cool, does this make you a king or something?" he asked.
"Huh?"
"Never mind," Jedah sighed as he dusted himself off. "So what in the world happened? One minute I was sleeping and the next the roof falls on me." He asked.
"It was a Mazoku," Lina remarked as she rubbed her neck as she got up.
"Whoa, so they finally showed themselves." Jedah cried. "And I missed seeing it," he moaned as tears streamed down his eyes.
"That's not something to be crying over," Lina remarked looking at Jedah. Is that kid really crying for real, she wondered to herself. "So, what's with the blade?" Lina inquired turning instead to Gourry.
"Not sure," Gourry said as he examined it. "I got this blade from my Grandfather and it was in my family for a very long time before that." He replied as Lina was getting impatient.
"Well the Mazoku called it the Blast Sword, you know what that means?" Lina asked as Gourry shook his head as Lina sighed. "That means the sword you are holding is one of the few legendary lost blades of Legends!" Lina yelled through Gourry's ear.
"Lost? But I have it right now?" Gourry pointed out holding the blade up.
Bopping Gourry on the head, Lina growled, "That's just a term we are using since everyone else doesn't know it was there. The Blast Sword by legend is a powerful blade that can cut through anything that it is swung against."
"Truly a powerful blade to use against the Mazoku who are pretty resistant to most attack." Jedah added scratching his chin.
"Definitely powerful," Lina nodded. "I'll give you five hundred for it," Lina beamed holding out her hand to show Gourry the number five.
Gourry face faulted, being careful not to land on the blade.
"What are you talking about?" Gourry demanded as he snapped back up.
"I'm willing to pay you five hundred gold pieces for that sword." Lina replied back cupping her hands together.
"Do you even know how to use a sword?" Gourry questionrf as he held his sword back protectively away from Lina.
"No, but I can learn." She pointed out. "A sword that powerful is something that I would most definitely be willing to train to use." She stated as Gourry sweatdropped.
"It's a very important to me," Gourry retorted as Lina frowned.
"Oh don't be such a wuss and give it to me," Lina demanded as they got into a little tug-o-war with the blade's handle.
"Is that such a wise things to do?" Jedah questioned as he turned to notice Val coming up from the stretch of the street. "Val-san, we are over here!" he waved enthusiastically as the Ryuzoku approached him.
"What happened here?" Val asked noticing the wreckage and then looking at the struggling Lina and Gourry added, "And what are those two doing?"
"Well you see, I was sleeping peacefully in my bed when all of sudden there was a huge explosion that dropped the floor from beneath me and the ceiling on me. After I got out of the rubble, Gourry was standing there with a different version of his sword and Lina was ranting that they were attacked by a Mazoku. It seems that Gourry's new version of his sword is the legendary Blast Sword and that Gourry used that sword to kill the mean old Mazoku. Then Lina said that she wanted to buy the sword for five hundred and Gourry refused to sell it to her. So now those two are tugging it out for the sword and why do you smell like alcohol?" Jedah exclaimed in a single breath.
Sweatdropping Val merely scratched his head at Jedah's little exposition. Turning to look at the Blast Sword that Gourry was holding and struggling to keep Lina from taking, a smile crept to his lips. That blade had finally shown its true form, things were proceeding better then expected.
Jedah merely blinked a bit at everything.
Also watching this whole scene unfold with great interest as well, Vormav stood on top of a neighboring building opposite of the ruins, a suitcase at his side. His left gloved palm was open as a small orb hovered above the palm silently. Vormav's face was sneering as he looked down at the blade that had just recently revealed itself to the world after quite an absence.
"That blade..." he hissed, "soon I will bury you and your wielder."
"Don't cross them yet."
"I know, Master." Vormav remarked silently. "I have already set the bait. Now we must merely wait for them to bite. The girl will come to you."
"She has to. She has no other choice."
Turning away from the wreckage, Vormav asked, "What about the boy?"
"His power is great, but Lina will eclipse him when she accepts what is offered to her. He will be unable to pose a threat to my plans."
"As you wish," Vormav said as he cut off his line of communication. "Come," he ordered.
A staggering figure walked out of the darkness clumsily, as the figure of Lord Vista with his neck still snapped in an odd direction came stumbling out. The suitcase next to Vormav opened up revealing numerous depressions along both sides for something to be placed in it. With a slight flexing of a finger, Lord Vista rose up as the body disassembled into different wooden parts. Hovering in the air for a moment, they all darted over to the suitcase and placed themselves into their correct slots before the case shut itself.
Picking it up with one hand, Vormav stated, "Your Grandfather should have been the last, but now other will suffer for that mistake Gourry Gabriev."
"This isn't fair!" Lina complained.
"Oh be quiet," Jedah moaned as he placed a cushion over his head to drone out Lina's complaints. "This was the only place that was still available so don't complain," he stated as he tried to get some sleep.
After Gourry finally managed to pull his sword out of Lina's grip, there came to be the small problem about where they were going to stay for the night. Val managed to get the Mayer Christopher to loan him the guestroom for the night. Unfortunately, that left Lina, Gourry, and Jedah sleeping it out in the stable. With all of the other horses and their business.
"I hate this," Lina yelled in disgust. "This has been one really bad day."
Jedah droned her complaining out as Lina finally gave up in exhaustion and tried to get herself comfortable on the haystack she was on. Trying her best to ignore the horses that were slumbering in the nearby stalls.
Then it started.
Gourry's snoring.
Lina silently screamed in disgust, while outside in the distance the sun started to peak over the horizon.