"Stop and give us your money!"
The red haired sorceress looked at the rough bandits with an amused expression. Never could she expect that there was a bunch of fools who dared to challenge her, on the contrary, was trying to rob her. Haven't they heard of her, Lina Inverse, the supreme sorceress? She pointed at their leader lazily. "Hey, you!" She smirked. "Now I am giving you three options to choose. The first one is I blast away with a blow and we carry on our journey. Or maybe the next one is I will let my companions to deal with you. The third one is the best. You give us all your treasures and we move on, without hurting you. So, what do you say?"
The leader stared at the strange group that he was facing now in astonishment. None of them seemed to look afraid, even the young girl who looked like 14 to 15 years old. The strange looking freak appeared to be bored and the blond swordsman was looking sluggish. The red haired girl was the one who startled him the most as she said those ridiculous words.
"By the name of justice, I will not forgive what you have done." The young girl who was wearing a white suit suddenly shouted out. "Besides, it is also very stupid of you to provoke Lina-san. Don't you hear of her, Lina Inverse, the notorious Bandit Killer?" The volume of her tone decreased as she whispered into the ear of the burly man.
"Wait, Amelia! I hear what you say." Lina screamed and gave her a smack on her head.
"Err." She coughed. "Ok, we better get back to our topics. So, what is your choice?"
"No deal! Hey, guys attacked!"
Lina smiled gleefully as she gathered a red ball of fire in her hands. "Finally, I can have some fun. FIREBALL!!!" Gourry had unsheathed his Sword of Light as the chimera and the princess of Sailoon had joined into the fight. Needless to say, it did not take much of the slayers gang time as they finished them off.
"Yare, yare." A familiar annoying voice said. "Nice job, Lina-san!"
"Xelloss." Lina groaned as she looked at the Trickster Priest, who was floating in the mid-air. "What are you doing here?" She demanded, knowing that troubles would arise whenever he appeared.
"Gee, Lina-san, I am hurt. Can't I visit you when I am free?" He smiled. "Huh?" The Mazoku Priest suddenly found himself at a painful headlock. "Arck... Lina-san! Let go ... I ... can't breathe."
"Better to cut off his air supply, Lina." Zelgadis added. "If you need help, I will be willing to volunteer."
"Zelgadis-san?" Amelia gazed at him, eyes disbelieving.
"TELL ME WHAT YOU PLANING!!" Lina growled, emphasizing on every word. "A high ranked Mazoku like you will never visit me unless something is up to your sleeves!! Xelloss!!! Are you trying to make use of me again? Stupid fruitcake!!"
"Yare, yare. Don't be so angry, Lina-san." He smiled. "I have a small favor to ask you."
"A favor?" Lina pouted as she released him. A request from a Mazoku was definitely not a good one. Her eyes narrowed as she continued. "What is that about? I hope you will not be telling me that it is secret."
"Sure, I will tell you the details afterwards. But before that, can't we find a place to settled down?" Xelloss suggested.
"It was getting dark." Zelgadis noticed.
"Lina, can't we follow his advice. Moreover, I am hungry." Gourry added.
Lina took in a deep breath. "Ok, Let's go!"
"WHAT!! You want me to help you to unseal Pandora!!" Lina shouted. "Are you crazy? What in the hell of earth do you think that I will do such a stupid stuff?"
"Lina, who is Pandora?" Gourry asked, stuffing the food into his mouth.. "Or you mean Panadol?"
"GOURRY!! I thought I have told you about that before!! Pandora, the woman that had opened the Pandora's box!!!" Lina screamed.
"Huh?"
Whack!
"Pandora, the first woman created by god Hephaestus under the request of the God Zeus. Due to her curiosity, she accidentally opened the forbidden box. Later, she tried to shut the box desperately. However, only Hope, the one good thing among many evils the box had contained, remained to comfort humanity in its misfortunes. It was believed that when the box is opened again; it would bring disasters and havoc to humanity" Xelloss explained as he sipped his cup of tea.
"Ok. I see." Gourry rubbed his head.
"So do you think that I am that stupid to do this thing?" Lina asked, glaring daggers at Xelloss. "The world being destroyed is the motive of Mazoku. But definitely not the thing we wanted as the humans."
"Yeah! It is injustice to put the humanity into danger. Xelloss-san, you better consider twice before you do this crazy stuff! "Amelia pointed her accusing finger at him.
Zelgadis nodded in agreement too.
"Yare, yare." Xelloss smiled. "I know that all of you would have his type of reaction. So, Lina-san, so I guessed that you are not accepting this request?"
"Of course I am not!" She shouted.
"Please have a look at this." Xelloss said as he passed a piece of note to Lina. "I bet you can recognize her handwriting."
"You better accept this quest and do it properly." She read it out loud and clear. However, her voice became to tremble as she continued. "Or else ... I will ... teach ... you ... a ... Good lesson."
"Who writes that letter?" Gourry asked as he noticed Lina's face grew white.
"Luna-san, the Knight of Cepheed. Lina's elder sister." Xelloss replied with a grin.
"Damn you, Xelloss!! I can't believe that my sis asked me to help you!! If it was Filia's case, I will not be shocked. But you, a Mazoku?" She cried out.
"It seemed that nobody know that Luna-san is a friend of my master!" Xelloss smiled. All of them were startled for a while, maybe with the exception of Gourry.
"The Knight of Cepheed and one of the dark lords under Shabranigdu are friends?" Amelia choked. "I can't believe that!!"
"Yare, yare."Xelloss replied. "Don't be so shock. So Lina-san, if your sis wanted you to help me, I bet that you will not reject that. Moreover, the Knight of Cepheed will not do anything that bring havoc and disaster to the humanity. Don't need to worry about that.Lina-san, where are you?"
Zelgadis pointed under the table. "She's there."
"Forgive me, sis!!"
"Gee, I have a feeling that I will never wanted to meet Lina's elder sister." Amelia said, looking at the horrified Lina.
"Me too." Zelgadis nodded.
"Forgive me, sis!!"
"Two more bottles of your best wine, Luna!" Xellas smiled, taking a seat by herself in small restaurant.
Luna Inverse looked at her friend as she took down the orders. "What's up, Xellas?"
Xellas chuckled. She knew that she could not hide anything in front of her friend. "Are you sure that Lina will help Xel to accomplish the mission? Moreover, it is a crazy quest to awake Pandora." She asked.
"Trust me, she will. I am just worried about the other one."
Xellas sighed. "I have already given Xel a warning try not to provoke her."
Lina took in a deep breath as she asked. "So what are we going to do?"
Xelloss smiled. "Aha, Lina-san. Don't be so impatient. We still to need to look for someone."
"Who?" Lina and her gang asked in unison.
Xelloss hid a smile. "The obnoxious golden dragon."
Filia sneezed. Anyway, can a dragon get a cold? "Jiras," She shouted. "It is time to feed Val."
"Ok, boss." He replied as he scrambled his way to the kitchen.
"What a good weather." She looked outside the window. "It is going be a nice day."
"Filia-chan." She turned her head over and to her horror she saw the Trickster Priest was waving to her cheerfully. "How's life?"
"NAMAGOMI!!!" She cried out. "Why are you in my shop?"
"Yare, yare, Filia-chan. Are you getting senile? Keep forgetting my name." Xelloss teased as he dodged the few attacks from her mace. "Miss!"
"Hey, Xelloss stop that!" Lina said irritably as she walked in the shop. She smiled at the golden maiden. "Hi, Filia."
"Lina-san?" She looked at them with surprise. "Why are you here?"
Lina sighed. "I guess we need a talk, Filia."
"Are you kidding, Lina-san?" Filia yelled. "You wanted me to work with that Namagomi? On the contrary, helping him to unseal Pandora?"
"I know that sounds ridiculous. But Filia, I really need your help. My sis rarely intervenes on something unless this matter is really serious." Lina explained. "Do you understand, Filia?"
"...You means Luna Inverse, the Knight of Cepheed?" Filia pondered. "What have you done to the Cepheed Knight, Xelloss?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Gee, what do you mean by that? You think that I am that stupid to go and threaten the Knight of Cepheed? I don't have to talk much to Luna-san actually. She knew the seriousness of this matter." Xelloss replied in a serious tone.
Amelia raised a question. "What is purpose of this mission actually?" Zelgadis nodded and Gourry raised his eyebrow.
Lina yelled. "Yeah! So what is the purpose, Xelloss? Don't tell me that's a secret or else I will rip your head off. "
"Luna, what will happen if the Pandora's box is opened again?" Xellas asked as she took a sip of her wine.
Luna Inverse sighed. "Isn't that a stupid question? Xellas, you should know the answer to it too."
The Beastmaster smiled. "Aha, disasters and havoc will arise.but only Hope will survive." She paused for a while. "Do you think that the kids have the ability to stop this? "
"Xellas, they are the chosen ones." Luna answered. "Don't need to worry about them. We mind about our own business first."
Xellas nodded. "Yare, yare.How about the old fossils Dragons? I doubt that they will just stand by and let them to open the forbidden box. Moreover, my fellow colleagues didn't seem to be supportive too."
"..." Luna remained silent for a while. "That will be a test for them."
"We need to find the Pandora's box, Lina-san." He finally confessed. "Pandora is the only person who knows that where is the box. Throughout the hundred years, the Ryuzoku and Mazoku are trying to find out the trace of the box. But neither of them has been successful."
"So." Lina sighed. "What we have to do when we find the box. or even open it. We will be looking for our own troubles. I wonder my sis wanted me to do this stupid quest."
Amelia nodded. "Xelloss-san, it will not benefit us if we open the box, so why we needed to do so?"
"Chaos demanded it...we need a cleansing before L-sama decided to have the world returned to its own state." Xelloss smiled. "I definitely against this idea so I am doing this stupid and crazy quest."
There was a silent for a moment as fear and astonishment gripped them.
"L-sama," Lina shouted as she fixed her ruby eyes at the Trickster Priest. "wants to have the world returned to its own state? Are you kidding, Xelloss? Our Mother wishes to destroy us? This is not the time to joke!"
"What do you mean by that, Xelloss? How do you know that She wants to destroy the world? I believed that our mother will not harm her creation regardless it is a powerful Ryuzoku or a meek human." Filia added.
"I am not in the mood of playing pranks or lying. Disasters and havoc will arrive but only Hope survives. A cleansing is required and we need to open the Pandora's box. That's our motive. Luna-san knows about it too. If L-sama intervenes, not even the Humanity will be destroyed; the Mazoku or Ryuzoku will not be able to survive too. By opening the Pandora's box, is the only way we can survive. There is no good or evil. There is only survival." Xelloss said seriously.
Lina sighed. "I bet L-sama had been influenced by the dark star or whatever.even though I am against this idea, this quest I am on! " She smiled at her companions. "So what is your idea?"
"As your protector, I will definitely support you, Lina!" Gourry smiled as Lina gave a friendly pat on his back.
"Me too!" Zelgadis said. "I haven't get my cure and the world is in the danger being destroyed? No way!"
Amelia nodded too, with a big smile on her face. "It is definitely injustice to see the world being destroyed without doing anything."
"How about you, Filia-chan?" Xelloss gave her his usual smile. "I bet that ex-miko of The Fire Dragon King was either too afraid to help or too busy babysitting the ancient dragon that didn't have damn in the world."
Filia frowned. "Shut up, Namagomi! Even though I hate to help you, this is my duty to do this." She took in a deep breath. "Lina-san, I will do it."
"How about your cute little Val?" Xelloss asked.
Filia give him a stare as she answered. "None of your business. Jiras will help me to take care of him."
"So what is our first step?" Lina asked.
"Find the four blessed blades of Cepheed." He smiled. "We will go to the Altas City first."