Slayers: Alive

Slayers: Alive 47

"That's not true!" Palou yelled back. "It's all a lie, he didn't hurt anyone!" His mother hugged him, trying to comfort the child. "Why do they say such mean things? We were all together the whole time, why won't they believe us?" The young fox boy hugged his mother in frustration and innocent confusion.

"Palou, honey... Sometimes when people face hardships they jump to conclusions. They're taking their anger out on someone innocent and that's wrong, but they don't know any better in their sadness." Though she kept a sweet tone for Palou's sake as she held him and gently caressed the fur atop his head, it was evident that Elena had enough of this. There was a fire of anger and frustration in her eyes that the calm fox lady had never shown before.

"Open the door!" Without waiting for any further replies, the door was forced open, left hanging off one of its hinges as it had already been weakened from the earlier earthquakes. An angry mob formed by the townspeople stood at the door, maces on hand. "We knew we couldn't trust you," a young man accused. "In times like this is when you beasts start to show your true nature."

"Those maces..." Filia gasped. "How dare you wield the maces I crafted against Jillas? He was the one who sold them to you, wasn't he?"

"That was before he committed his crime," the leader of the mob accused. "It's ironic that the terrible beasts will be slain by their own weapons. This is what you deserve, death for the beastman and for the dragon! The so called protectors of the world are nothing but falsehood!" He went on the attack, attempting to hit Filia with the mace.

"Watch out, boss!" Jillas urgently warned, but it wasn't really necessary.

Filia easily caught the mace and held it in place. The man pulled it back, trying to loosen the weapon from her grip, but a dragon's strength was simply far too superior to the strength of a human. "I don't know what has made you throw false accusations at Jillas and the dragons, but I won't tolerate you hurting my family and with my own weapons no less." It was like insult upon attempted injury.

The rest of the mob readied their weapons as well. "So you finally show your true colors, Filia," Sasha accused. "You're a wild beast just like the others, I never liked you anyway."

Fed up with the situation, Xellos began to quietly chant a spell. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..."

Sasha was joined by her fellow hypocritical gossiper Anna. "Defending that murderer makes you an accomplice. The dragons may act all high and mighty but they couldn't care less about humanity!"

"Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows..." Something was off, Shabranigdu's power wasn't responding to Xellos.

Manna threw out a theory that fueled the angry mob's wrath even more. "Now that the land produces no food, I bet the dragons and beasts are returning to their terrible primal instincts. No doubt about it, they intend to feed on us humans!"

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand, before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands..." Mighty gift? The small traces of power that Xellos managed to get out of Shabranigdu were anything but mighty. It was as if Ruby Eyes was being drained so strongly in a different direction that his power could no longer be called upon for a spell.

Furious murmurs filled the angry mob, they were convinced they would be slaughtered, so they determined that they had no choice but to act first, kill or be killed. Despite that, Filia wasn't exactly comfortable with blowing up all the townspeople, not to mention that they were currently in her shop and her family was dangerously close by. "Xellos, you can't use the Dragon Slave now!"

"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess, Dragon Slave!" Nothing happened. "It seems that Lord Ruby Eyes in his frozen state is terribly exposed to fall victim to the Stillness. I don't think I'll be able to use that spell anymore, at least not until this war is over," which meant that their forces had suffered an unexpected reduction of power.