Slayers: Alive
Episode 117: Mercy! Choices and Consequences
Filia, Xellos, Elena and Kally had infiltrated Prisoner Island, where Jillas was being held hostage by the Dragon Slayers. They had swiftly defeated the zombies that were the first line of defense for the enemy and now faced off against the Dragon Slayers. "Freeze Arrow!" The group of ninja simultaneously shot out arrows of ice, which were countered by fire, leaving the room immersed in steam.
"Kalio, go!" Ryoushi decided to send Kalio into battle earlier than planned after witnessing how easily the Dragon Slayer's initial attack was countered. The troops were not exactly well fed and rested, plus their energy had also begun to be drained away. "Dragon Slayers, fight harder! Do you not wish to honor the great Gaia?"
"What's the point?" One of the people in ninja gear spoke up. "It doesn't look like we'll last long enough to see the new world after all."
"Is that so?" Ryoushi growled in disappointment. "Well then, step aside and observe, you shall serve a different purpose soon enough."
Kalio's sword collided with Filia's mace. "He's stronger than a human should be!"
"He's not holding back, he's fighting so hard he'll tear himself apart," Kally cried out in desperation. "Kalio, please wake up, come back to your senses. You have to stop this, don't let Ryoushi use you!"
All words were lost on Kalio, as he could not take hold of reality any more. With a swift and sudden motion, he broke his sword free of its position against Filia's mace and took a swing at her head. The attack was stopped by Xellos' Freeze Arrow. It took a lot of effort, but as long as the spell wasn't too big, like the Dragon Slave, it could still be casted. Kalio stepped back with his arms frozen holding his sword. He forced the ice to break and went on the attack, this time against Xellos. Elena shot a fireball at him from Jillas' flame gun, which made him change course and run toward her. Filia, who had begun to pursue Kalio when he started towards Xellos, took the opportunity to attack with her mace and knocked him several feet away. Kalio forced himself to his feet despite his injury and went on the attack again.
Ryoushi watched the battle displeased. The Dragon Slayers had lost the will to fight and the berserker had lost the will to live. Kalio wasn't fighting as well as he had in the past, perhaps breaking him like that took away his power. He was no longer desperately trying to defend someone important to him, he was just fighting. 'At this rate I'll have to resort to using the hostage...' Ryoushi thought in disappointment, then he felt something inside him awaken. 'The blessing of Gaia, it's finally ready!' His joy was short lived, as he was soon overcome by pain. The Dragon Slayers that stood around him backed away when they saw Ryoushi surrounded by an odd green glow. Numerous thorn covered vines tore through Ryoushi's skin, ripping his body apart and quickly surrounding the gray stone structure of the prison. The vines originated from a seed that had been hiding in Ryoushi, feeding off the energy around him, waiting to awaken. The vines entrapped the ninja, draining them of their life, attacking even Kalio and leaving him as a deformed dried up corpse.
"Jillas!" Elena tried to make her way closer to him, but the vines granted her no passage. She shot as many as she could with the flame gun until it ran out of power.
"I'll get him, Xellos, keep everyone safe," Filia charged forward, shooting laser breaths at all the vines that got in her way. Kally followed her with an inexplicable determination.
"Stupid dragon, playing the hero doesn't fit me," Xellos complained, but went on the attack anyway.
Filia had to slow her pace to clear the way, she was out of breath from all the lasers she shot and was fearing she wouldn't make it to Jillas on time. Kally ran past her jumping between several of the vines and reaching Jillas. She focused fire in her hands as if to cast a fireball spell, but didn't release it, instead using the heat to weaken the chains and cuffs that entrapped Jillas enough to break them. This was not without consequences, as Kally badly burned herself in the process, but she didn't seem to care.
"Jillas, Kally!" Filia managed to get to them, urging them to follow her to regroup. "We'd best stay together, let's go!"
"Retreat as far as you can," Kally's voice was distant and empty, tears streaming down her face, apparently without her notice.
"What do you plan to do?" Filia questioned in worry.
"I'm going to end this, give me some space," Kally urgently insisted.
"Filia, stop being stubborn and get over here, stupid dragon!" The flame gun had run out of power and the vines moved so quickly that it was nearly impossible to hit them with bullets. That left Xellos to shoot the more wide range Flame Arrows at all the offending vines and the task kept him pretty busy.
"Alright!" Filia snapped as she opened a path to return to where Xellos and Elena were in the center of the room, with Jillas following her. As soon as they had regrouped, she looked back at Kally expectantly, wondering what she had in mind.
Kally retrieved a small bottle from her pocket and drank the liquid, which caused her to begin to glow red. "Whatever you do, don't touch the vines now!" She threw herself into the wall which was covered in the living thorny vines.
"Kally!" Filia screamed in agony as she helplessly watched the scene unfold. Kally's body was surrounded in flames that consumed the vines around her, spreading to the source seed and from there to the rest of the vines. It was a powerful suicidal attack that the Dragon Slayers developed, which turned the one who drank the potion into a living flame. A single sacrifice would not be enough to kill an adult dragon, but it would certainly serve to weaken the target.
The vines were soon reduced to ashes and the flames died down on their own, not even leaving a speck of dust behind as proof of Kally's existence. The seed that had been growing in Ryoushi, which was the source of the thorny vines, fell on the floor. It had been initially green, but now it was brown and its outer shell was cracked as if it was about to fall apart. "She's... gone..." Jillas gasped in disbelief.
"It's not fair, she didn't have to sacrifice herself! We could have beaten those things together!" Filia cried out in sadness.
The brown outer shell of the seed crumbled and revealed a bright light from within it. The light took everyone by surprised, shielding the area with astral energy to prevent their escape. The core of the seed had the appearance of a golden marble, surrounded by a green energy shield. It floated above them, in the middle of the chamber, powering the astral shield. The astral energy dome became smaller around the group in semi-transparent swirling colors. Xellos hesitantly reached out to touch the astral energy dome and quickly withdrew his hand. "This thing is going to drain us of our very life if we touch it! That seed needs to be destroyed!" He attempted to take care of the task himself with a Flame Arrow, but the energy shield around the seed only absorbed the magic and the astral dome glowed in response.
"If magic won't work, maybe this will!" Filia levitated towards the seed and tried to hit it with her mace. As the weapon collided with the seed, a massive wave of electricity shocked her painfully and knocked her down from the air.
Xellos caught Filia, it looked like she had been shocked pretty badly, as she was still twitching from it. "You're so clumsy, stupid dragon!"
The astral energy dome continued becoming smaller; significantly reducing the room they had to move around. "There has to be a way to beat that thing!" Elena tried shooting at it, but the bullet collided against the shield in a burst of electricity and fell to the floor without any effect.
"We can't give up!" Filia shot a stream of laser breaths into the seed, but the energy shield around it absorbed them all, with the dome becoming further empowered.
"I'm so sorry, everyone," Jillas spoke in sadness, guilt and regret. "All of this happened because you came to rescue me. It's all my fault!"
"That's not true," Filia argued, "this all happened because of me. I can't allow another life to be lost!" She shot another series of lasers, but the lack of effect was the same as before.
Xellos remembered their past encounter with Ryoushi. He wanted to get rid of the Dragon Slayers permanently, but Filia insisted on proving that dragons were not evil by letting them go. Xellos tried to warn her that it was a bad idea, but she refused to listen and held on to her choice. Thus the Dragon Slayers were allowed to live thanks to Filia's mercy and ended up causing trouble again. "You're right, it is your fault, stupid dragon, but we can talk about that later. I noticed something when you shot the lasers at the seed. It looked like the energy shield around it got a little thinner. With enough magic power, an attack should go through before it is completely absorbed."
Filia certainly wasn't expecting Xellos to console her. She knew that kind words were not really his forte and his remarks were exactly what she expected them to be. That didn't matter at the moment though, there would be time to regret the past later, now was the time to focus on the present. "I'll do it." Determined, Filia took in a deep breath and shot a beam of laser at the seed, managing to keep it constant for a while. After some time, she stopped, breathless and looked at the seed, which was undamaged.
The astral energy dome kept getting smaller, as if this whole scenario had been purposely arranged to make them suffer. "Give up..." A voice echoed from the seed, though it was not Ryoushi's voice, it was an ambiguous ominous echo.
"The Stillness!" Filia gasped.
"Give up, it's useless to struggle. This seed cannot be destroyed. Every attempt will end in bitter disappointment. Suffer as you witness the approach of your inevitable doom!" The foreboding voice of the Stillness echoed.
"We can't give up... we just can't..." Elena voiced, though she had no idea what else they could do.
"That's right, the boss has gotten out of tight spots before, we can still make it!" Jillas agreed.
"Let's try fire," Xellos suggested. He and Filia unleashed a series of Fireball attacks, but it looked like they would drain all their energy before they accomplished anything. "This isn't working."
"Don't stop! We can't stop, not now!" Filia tried again, shooting many Flame Arrows one after another, at the same time that she used her laser breath. Xellos joined her, adding more fire, but it still wasn't enough.
"There is one more spell we can try..." Xellos wasn't sure if this would work, but he might as well attempt it. Zelas Brid was a spell that a human would normally be unable to cast without a bucket capacity amplification device. As much as Xellos didn't want to admit it, despite all his power as a monster, while he was in human form, Lina probably had a larger pool capacity than him. That explained why his hair turned white more easily when he drained his magical energy reserves. However, he was pretty sure a human wasn't supposed to so easily force the last drops of magic out to that point, unless said human had an unusually large bucket capacity. Xellos was pretty sure that was the case with him because of his particular circumstances. Besides, some said that one's bucket capacity didn't often vary through life, perhaps his never really changed, even when his pool capacity was noticeably reduced. Nonetheless, he wouldn't be able to keep this up on his own for too long. "Filia, cast Recovery on me."
"What are you going to do?" Filia prepared to do her part, hoping that this would be a successful plan.
"I may not be able to call upon Lord Ruby Eyes' power, but I can still call Lord Beast Master's power." Xellos began to cast the spell, focusing on calling Zelas' energy to him. Her power responded swiftly, surrounding him in familiar energy. "Zelas Brid!" The beam of light collided with the seed and Xellos maintained it constant and steady. Filia continuously healed him to make sure he could keep the spell going.
Finally, it looked like the shield around the seed was being overwhelmed, until the beam of light passed through and reached the golden marble in the center, but didn't destroy it, instead empowering it. The golden marble glowed brighter and the dome of energy around them continued becoming dangerously small. There was not a lot of time left to escape. "Why won't it work?" Filia exclaimed in stressed out frustration.
"How should I know? Stupid dragon!" Xellos snapped back. He really thought this would be enough.
"Make it work, raw garbage!" Filia desperately argued.
"Don't stop yet!" Elena suddenly spoke up, "Jillas, your gun!"
"What can I do with this, if not even the magic of the boss' husband will work?" Jillas took the weapon and looked at the golden marble that resisted the constant magical assault.
"If magic doesn't work, maybe a bullet will. It's worth trying; we have to do everything we can!" Elena insisted.
"Alright, here goes..." Jillas stood next to Xellos and took aim. Of course, if he shot the golden marble at the same time as the Zelas Brid was being casted, the light would disintegrate the bullet before it hit. "Ready!" Xellos released the spell and the light ceased. Before the shield could mend completely, Jillas shot a bullet that flew in through the opening in the glowing green shield and hit the golden marble, causing it to shatter instantly.
The dome of astral energy that surrounded them disappeared, finally setting them free of the impending deadly danger. "It worked!" Elena cheered.
"It looks like the core of the seed was immune to all magic after all, but not to physical attacks..." Xellos reasoned.
Jillas let out a breath of relief. "I knew I only had one chance and I was so worried about missing!"
"It's okay; we're safe now, aren't we?" Elena finally breathed easy. This was a lot more action than she was used to.
"Everyone came here for me," Jillas cried tears of joy, "I'm so happy to have such wonderful people who I can count on."
Xellos was about to sarcastically point out that he should not be included in that statement, but Filia spoke first, continuing her earlier self guilt trip. "This was my fault; it was a consequence of my choice. Because of my decision, Kally, Kalio and Medusa are dead. All so that I could try to uselessly make peace with a group of villains that were a lost cause."
"What are you talking about, boss?" Jillas inquired in confusion.
"Ryoushi and the Dragon Slayers," Filia cried, "I was the one who made Xellos let them go when they attacked us earlier. I was hoping that they could learn that dragons aren't evil, but letting them go only caused a lot of trouble. Because of my poor judgment, they were free to attack Kalio, to torture him with the pain of Medusa's death and make him lose himself. They were free to take you prisoner and all of that led to the death of Kally and Kalio. It led to all your lives being in danger. I'm so sorry!"
"I agree," Xellos gave Filia an amused grin. "You really are a stupid overly forgiving dragon."
"I won't deny it, I am a stupid dragon!" Filia cried loudly, letting the tears run freely down her face.
"Xellos! You're the boss' husband, you're supposed to be cheering her up, not making her cry more!" Jillas scolded, not that Xellos was actually listening to him.
"Please don't blame yourself," Elena tried to console Filia. "You showed mercy because you have a kind heart and many good things have come as a result of your kindness. Jillas told me that you saved his life even if he was supposed to be your enemy back then. If you didn't show such mercy, he wouldn't be here right now. You should never regret good intentions, what happened wasn't your fault!"
Filia sniffled and tried to look at the situation from Elena's perspective. She was certainly glad she helped Jillas back then, but this was different. "Xellos tried to warn me that time when I let the Dragon Slayers go. I didn't listen..."
"Oh yes, the world would be a much better place if everyone would do everything I say." Xellos sarcastically remarked, but by this point no one seemed to be listening to him anymore.
"Boss, I'm eternally grateful to you and I know your kindness has helped many," Jillas encouraged. "What happened here was in no way your fault and I know that Kally and Kalio would agree. I'm certain no one would blame you."
"Hey, stupid dragon," Xellos interrupted. "Are you going to keep crying like a pathetic idiot or are you going to transform and fly us out of here?" Xellos asked dismissively. "Unless you want me to call Galathia for transportation, but I rather not listen to her lack of fan service whining again. I know you're terribly irresponsible, so you couldn't care less, but I have a mission and I intend to accomplish it as soon as possible. I really don't think my copy is going to come looking for me here in the middle of nowhere and we need to interrogate him for a way to get close enough to the Stillness to actually fight it... preferably before it kills the planet."
"That's right..." Filia dried her tears. "The world is still in danger and there are still many people that can be saved. We need to build a peaceful world for Val to live in and I won't help accomplish that by pitying myself."
Jillas and Elena watched the scene with puzzlement. Xellos sounded like he was criticizing Filia, but he somehow cheered her up. "Sometimes it feels like those two speak a whole different language from us," Jillas whispered. He had seen some of their interactions before, when Xellos stayed over at the Maces and Vases shop for a while, soon after Val hatched, but he was still just as perplexed as ever by their strange behavior towards each other. Jillas understood that 'stupid dragon' and 'raw garbage' were their peculiar loving nicknames for each other, but how insults and sarcasm could be interpreted as compliments and encouragement, that he was far from figuring out.
"Alright, let's get off this island!" Filia ran towards the exit of the jail building and a golden light flashed as soon as she was outside. She called, now in her much larger dragon form. "C'mon everyone, we have a world to save!" Without wasting another second, Xellos, Jillas and Elena climbed aboard Filia, who took off into the dark night skies, heading in the direction of Seyruun.
To be Continued
The end of this saga is close and then there's only one more arc to go! Reviews are very welcomed and appreciated!