Deadly crimson-colored power shot out from the dragon’s clawed hands directly at the five adventurers below. But an invisible, half-spherical barrier had formed around them, and it intercepted the blast. Flaming red energy crashed against the shield, washing over it like water and finally splashing against the ground. The rocks ringing the domed barrier were pulverized into powder and blown away, creating a small circular trench just outside it. The roaring sound created by the breaking rocks and the energy striking the shield was deafening.

Gourry, Zel, and Ameria ran up to Lina, who lay on her side, their mouths hanging open in shock. "What’s happening?" Gourry shouted over the din.

Lina shook her head in disbelief as she picked herself up. "I don’t know! All of a sudden, the princess just shoved me aside and did this!" she said, gesturing ahead with one hand.

"I thought she didn’t know magic!" Ameria protested.

Zel narrowed his eyes at the princess. "She said she didn’t. It appears we’ve been deceived," he said coolly.

Suddenly, tiny red bolts started poking their way through the barrier. They struck the ground around the group with little piffs, throwing up small clouds of dust. Her eyes widening in realization of what the dragon had done, the princess glanced over her shoulder and yelled to everyone behind her, "I could use some help! This attack is now part magical!"

"You mean it wasn’t before?" Ameria asked, running to Princess Erika’s side.

The other girl shook her head. "No! Now hurry! Reinforce this barrier with one of your spells!"

Ameria sent a questioning glance to Zelgadiss, who stepped forward dubiously. The two thrust their hands forward, shouting simultaneously, "Balus Wall!" A glowing half-sphere formed just inside Princess Erika’s shield, and the red energy leaks immediately stopped.

"Now tell us what is going on!" Lina yelled, stomping up to the princess, Gourry right behind her.

Princess Erika shook her head, her arms still outstretched in front of her. "It’s a long story, so I’ll explain later! That dragon is unlike anything you’ve encountered before. It may be somewhat immune to the effects of magical spells!"

"What do you mean by that?" Lina asked sharply.

Before she could answer Lina’s question, the dragon’s mighty attack suddenly stopped. The princess, who had been leaning all her weight into the invisible barrier, pitched forward and fell to her knees with a startled cry. Zel and Ameria quickly cancelled their shields.

"Erika-hime!" Ameria exclaimed, and knelt down at the princess’s side.

Princess Erika lifted her head and flipped her long hair away from her face with her right arm. She sat back on her heels, her stained and dirty pink skirt pooled around her. She opened her mouth to speak, but caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and instead gasped and pointed to her left. "Golems!" she shrieked.

Several yards away, the rocks that lay scattered across the ground began to move of their own accord. They quickly piled on top of themselves to form a man-shaped creature, which lumbered toward the group on unsteady stone legs. More rock monsters immediately joined it. One stepped toward Lina and brought its club-like fist down, intending to crush her under it. Gourry had other ideas, however, and slashed through the rock with his sword. The golem fell apart, and the stones that had made up its body clattered to the ground, only to join with other stones to form another golem. "Lina! We’ve got to get rid of these things!" Gourry shouted.

Zel dodged another golem’s attack and blasted it with a Fireball, shattering it. "What about the dragon?" he shouted back.

"It’s not doing anything!" Ameria replied.

Princess Erika eyed a golem that had lumbered up to her, at the same time sensing that there was one behind her as well. They brought their fists back, each of them readying a fatal punch, and thrust them forward. She jumped out of the way just in time, and the two golems smashed each other apart. Once they were destroyed, Princess Erika eyed the dragon suspiciously for a few moments, then narrowed her eyes and nodded. "I see," she whispered. "The dragon can’t do anything while these things are around!" she shouted to everyone else.

"How do you know?" Ameria called out, just before casting a Burst Rondo on an approaching attacker.

"And why should we trust you?" Zel growled just before he threw another spell at the attacking monsters.

"Don’t you think it would have taken advantage of the situation and attacked us by now if it could?" she yelled back in exasperation.

Indeed, the white dragon was simply staying where it was, sniffing the air uncertainly, its tail flicking gently against the earth and its arms waving lazily.

Gourry sliced cleanly through a golem’s neck, then turned and regarded Lina questioningly. "What are we going to do?"

Lina narrowed her eyes at the dragon, then jumped out of the way as another golem tried to smash her under its fist. "If that’s the way we’ve got to play it..." she murmured, and her voice trailed off. "Get the golems first, or we’ll all be crushed!" she directed. "We’ll deal with the dragon once we get rid of everything else!"

Their hands glowing with magical energy, Lina, Ameria, and Zelgadiss charged outward and away from each other’s blast zones. Gourry stayed close to Lina, however, battle senses heightened in anticipation. Princess Erika glanced up at the dragon, then raced forward to meet a group of attacking golems midway between Zel and Ameria. There were probably fifty of them by now, with new ones forming as old ones were destroyed.

Ameria darted around, dodging the golems’ attacks and blasting them back with fire spells. "There’s so many of them!" she cried. She shrieked as another golem sneaked up behind her and tried to crush her. "Vis Frank!" she yelled as she jumped, turned, and punched through it with her glowing right fist.

"Just keep attacking them!" Zel shouted back. He cast Freeze Arrow, and threw the resulting ice spear at a group of three rock-men. It split into thirds at the last minute, each smaller spear striking a target. The golems were immediately encased in ice, and they immediately shattered. More golems rose up from the ground to challenge him. Zel considered his options; he could try to take them out with his sword, but he had a better idea. He stepped back from the approaching group of more than a half-dozen and yelled, "Diem Wind!" The spell sent the golems in its path flying backward through the air. They landed with a crash not far away, reduced to pebbles on impact. Zel gave a small, satisfied smirk, but turned when he heard a noise several feet to his right.

He turned just in time to see another monster sneak up behind Princess Erika, its fist poised to crush her. He was about to yell a warning when the golem’s fist came down, slicing through the air in the space that she had previously occupied. Zel blinked his eyes in disbelief. Had she really just disappeared, then reappeared behind her opponent?

The princess quickly knocked the rock-man away with a concentrated burst of energy from her hand, and turned to see Zelgadiss gaping at her. She sweatdropped and put her hand behind her head, laughing nervously. "I’ll…ummm…explain this all later," she said sheepishly. Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she pointed behind Zelgadiss. "Watch out!" she cried.

Zel glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a newly-formed golem’s fist smash into the side of his head. After that, all he saw was a blast of stars as he flew toward the princess, skidding along the ground and tearing half his cloak off in the process. His sword slid out of its scabbard when he stopped moving.

"Zelgadiss!" the princess exclaimed. She ran to his side, picked up the sword where it lay, and regarded the golem with cold, narrowed eyes, as the blade of the sword began to glow. With a yell, she ran toward it, holding the sword ready. She dodged its fists and sliced upward, then sideways, cutting off its arm and head with one stroke. It fell apart around her.

Zel, who had blacked out for a second when he was hit, came to with a start. He sat up immediately, but regretted that movement when a bolt of pain lanced through his head. He quickly cast a healing spell, holding a hand to his injury, and finally noticed what was going on. He watched in amazement as the princess cut down the golem that had attacked him, wielding his heavy broadsword as easily as if it were a knife; a woman of her size wouldn’t normally be able to even heft it with one hand, much less use it as she just had.

Once the golem was taken care of, the princess turned and raced back to Zelgadiss. She stood over him, looking him over carefully for injuries, relieved that he seemed relatively unhurt. "You really should be more careful. These things are popping up all over the place. Are you all right?" she asked. He grunted in reply and picked himself up wordlessly, then gave her a hard, suspicious look. Her dress was now torn across the bottom, the hem hanging in tatters, and she was missing half a sleeve. Her face was smudged with dirt and fixed with a determined expression, making her look quite different than he had seen her before. He glanced down to his sword, which was still in her hand. "Oh, this," she said, noting the direction of his gaze. "Mind if I borrow it? Mine’s back at the castle."

Zel was about to demand an explanation for her newly-discovered swordsmanship when he noticed that the rocks behind her were starting to move. Within seconds, a golem rose up, ready to attack her from behind. Zel yelled a warning, grabbed the princess’s shoulder, and pulled her toward him so quickly she slammed into his chest with a yelp of protest. He thrust his hand out over her and blasted the golem with a Fireball at close range. She closed her eyes and shielded her face with her hand as it shattered, its composite pieces shooting out in all directions. When the stone settled a few seconds later, Zel tilted his head downward and said quietly, "These things are popping up all over the place. You should take a little of your own advice, Princess."

Princess Erika quickly took a long step backward and out of his reach, her cheeks colored with embarrassment. "Y-yes, I should say so," she stammered.

Zel afforded her a smug glance just before he turned to another attacking group of golems. The princess briefly considered his reaction, then shook her head and turned as well, expertly brandishing the sword she still held in her hand against her opponents.

Lina and Gourry, meanwhile, were fighting like a well-oiled machine, guarding each other’s backs while using the weapons they were each best at. Gourry wielded his sword against anything that came near him, chopping off golems’ arms or heads as if they were made of butter instead of stone. Lina was flinging magic left and right, alternately blasting golems with fire spells and blowing them away with wind spells. She and Gourry dodged and turned with perfect timing, reading each other’s thoughts, fighting alongside each other in a way only longstanding companions could.

"Hey, Lina," Gourry said as he finished off another opponent, "Couldn’t you attack the dragon while we fight off the golems?"

"One second, Gourry," Lina replied. She threw one hand forward and yelled "Flare Arrow!" Immediately three golems were destroyed, and the rocks that had formed their bodies began to pile up into more rock-men. She glanced over her shoulder and asked, "What did you say?"

"If the dragon can’t do anything to us now, then why don’t you attack it when it’s vulnerable, and we’ll watch your back?" he asked.

Lina grinned. "I was just about to suggest that, Gourry." She ducked low to avoid a golem’s fist and Gourry’s ensuing sword slash. The arm clattered to the ground in front of her. She glanced upward at Gourry, who beamed at her and extended a hand to help her up, which she accepted. She glanced up at the dragon, which was still watching the scene below it curiously. "I think I may have an idea," she said.

By this time, Ameria had unknowingly been pushed farther away from her friends, so that she was now more than fifty feet away from Zelgadiss. She smashed through golems’ bodies with her Vis Frank spell and blew rocks away from her with Diem Wind mechanically, not able to even stop to catch her breath. Three golems attacked at the same time, and she leapt around, assisted by a Levitation spell, dodging their fists. She landed and stepped backward so she could cast another Diem Wind, but didn’t see the fist-sized rock by her heel, and tripped over it with a scream, sprawling on the ground on her back, her head connecting with a rock with a sickening crack. The three golems quickly advanced upon her and raised their feet to stomp on her. Her eyes widened in fear; she was too stunned to cast a spell. All she could think to do was scream, "Help!"

Zelgadiss ducked to avoid a golem’s fist and turned in the direction of her cry. He blew the monster away without even looking at it and raced toward Ameria, concern in his aqua green eyes. "Ameria!" he yelled.

At the same time, Princess Erika saw all this happen from her position several yards away from Zelgadiss. He was too far away to get to Ameria in time, and he couldn’t risk casting a spell, for fear that it would hurt her as well, she thought with dread. The princess caught her breath and closed her eyes, then disappeared.

Zelgadiss didn’t know what was happening while it happened. All he knew was that he felt a hand on his back while he was running to Ameria, and everything went black for a split-second. The next thing he knew, he was no more than a few feet away from the three golems lined up in front of a still-stunned Ameria, their feet poised to crush her. He didn’t question it; instead, he ran shoulder-first into one of the golems, slamming it into the second, and grabbed Ameria’s arm as he sped past, pulling her out of the way of the third. He skidded to a halt, threw a hand out, and shouted, "Bomb di WIND!"

The remaining golem took the full brunt of the spell and crumbled into pebbles, no more of a threat than the other two that Zel had body-checked into pieces. Zel quickly knelt down next to Ameria. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Ameria moaned. "I hit my head," she said weakly.

Zel barely even noticed that Princess Erika had materialized opposite him and also knelt by Ameria’s side. She put down his sword and gently lifted Ameria’s head off the ground just enough to slide her fingers underneath, searching for a wound. She felt something sticky in Ameria’s hair, and pulled her hand away to reveal a red stain on her fingers. "You’d better heal her with your magic," she directed.

Zel nodded grimly and slipped his hand in the space the princess had created between Ameria’s head and the ground, feeling for the wound. He gently brushed strands of dark hair away from her forehead with his other hand and rested his palm there in a comforting gesture. "You’ll be all right," he murmured. Ameria looked up at him gratefully.

Princess Erika picked up Zel’s sword and rose to her feet. "I’ll cover you two," she said calmly, eyeing a few golems that had formed not far away, her fists glowing. Zel nodded, and she threw bolts of white energy at them.

Once Zel finished the healing spell, he helped Ameria to her feet and held her steady until she regained her strength. "Thank you," she whispered.

He shook his head. "Don’t mention it," he replied. He glanced around quickly, and noticed Lina and Gourry about fifty feet away, still slashing and blasting through crowds of stone monsters. Lina caught his gaze and quickly waved, indicating that she wanted them to rejoin her. "Lina has a plan," he called to the princess, who had just destroyed the last golem that had attacked her. He looked down at Ameria. "Can you run?" She nodded.

"Then let’s go," the princess said. The three took off in Lina and Gourry’s direction, Ameria running a little ahead of Zel and Princess Erika.

"I won’t ask how you got me over there--yet," Zel said quietly to the princess as they ran. "But I guess I owe you one."

She shook her head. "It was nothing."

"Ameria!" Lina called as they ran up. "We saw what happened! Are you all right?" she asked as she blew up a few golems with a large Fireball.

"I’m fine, thanks to Zelgadiss-san and Erika-hime!" Ameria called back.

"That’s good," Gourry said, "because we still have golems on our hands, and this fight is starting to get old!"

"And we still have to get rid of that!" Lina added, pointing up to the white beast that still loomed over them, watching them with its red eyes. She glanced around at the rock-men that were still lumbering toward them. "Let’s kill all these golems with one fell swoop. Zel," she said, turning to the chimera, "try a Van Rehl to freeze them as they get close, and I’ll attack the dragon." She looked over at Princess Erika. "Maybe it didn’t like a Dragon Slave, but I’d bet it’d feel differently about a Laguna Blade. Ameria, Gourry, Princess, stay alert in case it does something unexpected."

Everyone nodded. "Start chanting," Zel said.

Lina nodded back and stepped into position so that she was facing the dragon. It regarded her curiously, faint tendrils of smoke rising up out of its mouth and floating lazily into the sky. She held her hands in position, ready to cast the boosting spell that would activate the Demon’s Blood Amulets on her wrists, belt, and neck.

"Hurry! Those golems are coming closer!" Gourry yelled.

While Lina murmured the chant for the Boost spell under her breath, Zel held out his hands in front of him and yelled, "Van Rehl!" Instantly, water vapor from the air around them coalesced into tiny strands, which thickened with more water, then froze into place. The strands overlapped each other randomly, forming a net-like pattern of ice in front of him and his companions.

The approaching golems didn’t have time to stop; instead, they crashed into the web and shattered into ice-coated pebbles. The second wave of golems mindlessly continued forward, as if they were confident that they’d be able to break through the icy strands.

"Amazing," Princess Erika breathed, stepping forward toward the ice web, her eyes wide and inquisitive.

Ameria caught her arm quickly, her voice filled with alarm. "Don’t touch it!"

"Why?" the princess asked, her hand already resting against the intersection between one icy strand and another. Ice immediately coated her fingers down to her knuckles, but receded as soon as it touched her. She rubbed her fingers together and looked at them curiously. Not even a drop of water remained on her skin.

Ameria stared at her hand incredulously. "That spell usually encases in ice anything that touches it."

"You have a lot of explaining to do later," Zel added gruffly. The princess simply smiled sheepishly.

"Akumu no ou no kake yo / Sora no imashime toki hanatareshi," Lina chanted, lifting her hands up in front of her. "Koureru kuroki utsuru no yabia / Waga chikara, waga mitonari te…"

"I think that’s the last of the golems," Gourry said as another rock-man crashed into the web and fell apart.

"I’m canceling the spell," Zel said quickly. Within an instant, the icy barrier disappeared and everyone ran several paces back and away from Lina.

Lina’s hair and cape flapped around her, but she didn’t feel it; her body was numb to everything but the dark energy that was gathering in her small hands. "Tomoni horobi no michi o ayuman / Kamigami no tamashii suramo uchi kudaki!" The air itself crackled as pure chaos coalesced into the form of a twelve foot-long sword, which Lina held out in front of her, a deadly gleam in her eye. She took off in a sprint, gathering momentum, holding toward the dark blade, which was sizzling as the air struck it, to the side. "LAGUNA BLADE!!" she yelled, and leapt high in the air toward her target.

The onlookers below watched as Lina hurtled herself toward the dragon, her blade posed to cleave it in two from its midsection down. The white beast roared when the chaotic power made contact with its skin, the sound mingling with Lina’s determined yell. There was a dazzling blast of light, which forced everyone to look away.

"It worked!" Ameria cheered.

Gourry simply shielded his eyes and waited for Lina to return, the worried expression on his face unmistakable.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling scream ripped through the air. Shocked, everyone instinctively peered into the now fading light, searching for Lina. "There!" Zel shouted, pointing to a figure that was soaring toward them and away from the dragon.

"It’s Lina!" Princess Erika exclaimed.

Gourry raced forward. "Lina!" he yelled. She flew through the air headfirst, the chaotic blade winking out of existence. Gourry gauged the distance between them expertly, and took a running leap into the air. Everyone else unconsciously held their breath, Zel half-chanting a Ray Wing spell to use in case Gourry missed. He didn’t however, and he plucked Lina out of the air, pulling her into his arms. He landed roughly, cradling her against his body, and cushioning the shock with his strong legs.

"Help!" Gourry shouted as he ran back toward them. "She’s hurt!" He skidded to a halt in front of Zel and Ameria, and held an injured Lina out to them. Her head rolled back limply, her eyes were closed, and her breathing was shallow.

"Lay her on the ground, quickly!" Ameria ordered, hastily appraising Lina’s injuries, noting a broken arm and burnt palms. Gourry did as he was told, and Ameria held her hands over the bleeding wounds in Lina’s head. "Resurrection!" she called.

"Is she going to be all right?" Gourry asked Ameria tensely, his expression filled with worry.

Ameria squeezed her eyes shut in concentration. "I hope so."

Zel knelt down by Lina and gingerly straightened her broken arm. "What happened over there?"

"It repelled the spell," Princess Erika said flatly. She was still standing, her eyes narrowed angrily. The dragon stared at her with its red eyes, its body perfectly intact, despite that it had just been attacked with a blade of pure chaos. "I didn’t think it would--I didn’t think it would be able to withstand that kind of power."

Zel rose and stood next to Gourry, who looked both furious and terrified for Lina. "What now?" Zel asked quietly, clenching a fist in anger.

Princess Erika adjusted her grip on Zelgadiss’s sword and tore her gaze away from the dragon. "What’s clear to me is this: we can’t cut it with a sword," she said, ticking off a list on her fingers, "and we can’t use magic against it. None of my attacks are powerful enough…" Her voice trailed off and her expression changed. "Wait…maybe…just maybe…" She took a few steps forward, staring up at the white dragon, which was flailing its arms again, looking at her as if it were challenging her. Her lips tightened and she took a deep breath. "I can do something," she half-whispered.

"What do you mean?" Zel said quickly.

The princess turned to the others behind her. "Stay here," she said calmly. She glanced at Ameria. "Whatever happens, don’t stop healing Lina," she directed.

Gourry caught her arm. "What are you going to do?"

She turned and sidestepped, gently pulling her arm away from him. "What I have to do," she replied. She took a few quick steps forward and turned, holding out her free hand. "And I’m afraid you won’t be able to help." With that, a small, half-spherical shield flared into existence around the group of four. It quickly faded so that it was transparent, but when Gourry and Zel rushed forward and crashed into it, they realized that it was indeed still there.

"What’s she doing?" Ameria wailed. "She can’t get herself hurt!"

"Just keep healing Lina," Zel ordered.

"Right." Ameria acknowledged worriedly.

Gourry gave Lina a heart-rending look, then turned back to the shield with Zel. They shoved against it a few times, then stepped back from it, realizing that it was futile. "What kind of magic is this, anyway?!" Zel exclaimed, kicking the barrier with his foot.

"Better yet, what is she doing?" Gourry said, and gestured ahead.

Zel looked up as Princess Erika held his sword aloft, then rotated it in her hands so that its tip was pointed to the ground. The sky had darkened and the wind had picked up, which caused her torn dress to flap against her legs as she stood still for a moment. Then, she held the sword to the side and ran forward with a yell. A few seconds later, she simply disappeared while Gourry and Zelgadiss watched in disbelief.

A split-second later, Princess Erika materialized in the air just above the dragon’s white head. She dropped down onto the top of its skull and crouched, the dragon’s stiff, prickly fur stabbing into her legs like pine needles. She could feel its head move as it searched for her, and hoped that it wouldn’t suddenly decide to look up. The wind was blowing in short gusts, whipping her long, blond hair around her head and into her eyes. She pushed it out of her face and gathered Zel’s sword in both hands, feeding it power until the blade glowed brilliantly. She held it aloft, but, without warning, the dragon’s head jerked, and she was thrown to the side. She screamed and slid along the oily fur almost to the edge of the beast’s flat head, almost dropping Zel’s sword, but she managed to grab some hair and pull herself away from danger with her free hand. She half-crawled toward the middle of the head, all the while fighting increasingly strong gusts of wind. Still on her knees, the princess held the sword up, the glowing blade pointed downward, and thrust it straight down into the dragon’s skull.

The giant white beast let out a scream of pain and thrashed violently, throwing its head around, waving its arms helplessly and pounding its tail against the ground mightily. Its belly glowed an angry red, and as it roared, flames shot out in all directions. Zelgadiss and Gourry instinctively crouched so that they wouldn’t be knocked off their feet by the shifting of the ground. Fire splashed against the princess’s barrier and was deflected to either side, much as Lina’s reflected Dragon Slave was diverted not long before.

"What could she have done to it?" Gourry yelled.

Zel shook his head. "I have no idea what kind of power she’s using!"

"Zelgadiss-san! Gourry-san!" Ameria called. She was kneeling by Lina’s side, holding her hands over the injured sorceress’s body. "I need your help!" Zel tore his eyes away from what lay beyond the barrier and crouched by Lina’s side. "Hold her arm steady," Ameria directed him. "Gourry-san, make sure her head doesn’t move." They nodded in acknowledgement.

Gourry knelt down and gently slipped his calloused hands under Lina’s head, cradling it from the shock of the trembling earth. "Will she be all right?"

Ameria nodded. "I think I’ll be able to heal her, as long as you keep holding her steady," she said, smiling reassuredly at Gourry.

Meanwhile, the dragon’s roaring increased in intensity, spewing more fire in all directions. Its arms waved weakly, and its double-layered eyelids drooped. The skin under its scaly body was beginning to turn from white to translucent as Princess Erika drained its life energy into the sword embedded in its skull. In desperation, the beast threw its chin back, tilting its head upward. The princess screamed and slammed against it with a thud. She held on tightly to the sword, sickened by the wrenching feeling in her arms as she struggled to keep herself from falling to the ground hundreds of feet below. Droplets of green blood dripped onto her face and down her arms, eating at her skin and threatening to blind her if any got into her eyes. Despite this, she concentrated even harder on the blade, and it began to glow red-hot.

Gourry was the first to notice that the dragon’s tail had stopped pounding. He looked up through the barrier and eyed the white beast suspiciously through the smoke that lingered from its fiery breath. "Whatever she did worked; it looks like it’s going to fall over," he observed.

Ameria sat back, finally finished with her healing spell, and wiped her forehead in exhaustion. "Lina-san should wake up in a few minutes. She was really hurt badly," she said.

Zel threw a complimentary glance at Ameria. She beamed back, despite her weariness. Turning to Gourry, he directed, "Pick her up and get ready to run if this thing starts to fall. I’m going to try to figure out a way to break out of this barrier so we can make a run for it if we have to." Gourry nodded, gathered Lina into his arms, and held her to his breastplate defensively. Zel stood up and placed a hand against the barrier, trying to figure out just how it had been created so that he could find a way to break past it.

Meanwhile, the dragon leveled its chin once again, and Princess Erika scrambled to her knees while still holding on to the hilt of Zel’s sword. She tilted her head so she could brush dragon blood off her cheeks with her shoulders and smiled grimly. The beast was almost completely drained of its life force; it was time for her to go on the offensive. She took a deep breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and mentally shoved the energy in the sword through the link between the dragon and its controller. "Take that," she whispered smugly.

Her confident expression quickly faded, however, when she noticed that, instead of cooling off, the blade was glowing yellow and the hilt of the sword was now getting hotter. She hissed as it burned the skin of her palms. "What?" she exclaimed in shock.

The next thing Princess Erika knew, the energy backfired through the sword and shot up her arms. She cried out as every nerve in her body exploded in pain.

Zelgadiss took several steps backward, and motioned for Ameria and Gourry to stand back. He raced forward until he smashed against the shield shoulder-first. It didn’t budge. He continued shoving against it, digging his heels into the dirt for leverage. Suddenly, he felt the invisible barrier disappear, but he didn’t even have time to react--he stumbled and fell, facedown, with a startled grunt. Ameria and Gourry simply sweatdropped. Zel scrambled to his feet, but quickly forgot his embarrassment when he looked up and saw the dragon pitch forward, its eyes closed. "Run!" he yelled.

Ameria immediately cast Levitation and shot away from the falling dragon, keeping close to the ground. Gourry held Lina to him and ran for all he was worth, with Zel right next to him. "What about the princess?" Ameria shouted as she flew.

Zel shook his head and kept running. "There’s nothing we can do about her now!"

The ground rumbled and shook as the dragon slumped bonelessly to the ground behind them. Gourry fought the urge to glance over his shoulder and gauge the distance they had to run before they would be clear of the falling beast’s body--he had been a warrior long enough to know that good runners never looked behind them. He skidded to a halt only after he heard an earth-shattering crash behind him as the dragon’s head, tilted so that its snout pointed up and away from its body at an unnatural angle, finally collapsed to the ground. He nearly stumbled and fell from the force of the impact against the ground, but managed to keep his balance. Rocks and dust were thrown up many feet into the air, making it impossible, at first, for anyone to see anything.

Gourry whirled around, coughing, and blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the dust out of them. He peered out into the silent haze, searching for signs of life. "Anyone see Princess Erika?" he called out to his friends.

Ameria, who had landed between him and Zelgadiss, choked on the thick dust in the air and felt her eyes water. She rubbed them and silently prayed that the princess had somehow made it through the impact alive. Not even daring to breathe, she squinted through the haze as the air cleared and more of the dragon’s lifeless head came into view. Suddenly, she gasped in shock.

Zelgadiss’s sword sprouted out of the center of its head, its blade embedded in the skull almost all the way. Two white hands clung to the hilt, hands that belonged to the battered and bruised princess of Chorion. She dangled from the hilt of the sword, eyes closed, her arms and face dotted with dried green blood. Without warning, her eyes flew open. She made a sort of strangled choking sound, and immediately started pushing against the head with her feet, trying desperately to dislodge the sword from the massive skull.

It was at that moment when Lina finally awoke. She moaned softly and held a hand to her head, then looked up sharply at Gourry. "Lina!" he exclaimed, relief showing plainly on his face.

Instead of berating him for holding her, however, she paused and looked around suspiciously. "Gourry...someone’s watching us," she said softly. "I can feel it, just like I did when we were attacked before we reached the castle a week or so ago. What’s happening?" she asked as Gourry set her down on her feet, and held on to her until her legs stopped wobbling.

"The princess killed the dragon," Zel explained to Lina quickly. "I don’t know how, but she did."

With a final grunt, Princess Erika finally dislodged the sword and, with a yelp of surprise, fell to the ground onto her side. She scrambled to her feet quickly, then stood still for a few moments, her head bowed and her hair hiding her face. Both hands still gripped the sword’s hilt tightly. Her shoulders were shaking with silent sobs, and she was gasping for air.

"Erika-hime!" Ameria yelled. "Erika-hime, are you all right?" She was about to rush to the princess’s side when Zel’s sword suddenly blazed with light, the blade glowing blue with heat. Princess Erika screamed, and held the sword at arm’s length. Before it could burn her hands any longer, she twisted her shoulders and bent at the waist, and thrust the point of the sword into the soil.

All the pent-up energy contained within the sword instantaneously dissipated into the ground, like ink diffusing into water. A shock wave shot out in a circle from the point of impact, and everyone felt the earth roll under their feet as it passed under them. Princess Erika released the hilt, leaving Zel’s sword still stuck into the rocky ground. She wearily stumbled to her knees, catching herself at the last minute with her forearms before she fell face-first to the ground.

"Princess?" Lina called uncertainly.

"Is she all right?" Gourry asked.

"Erika-hime…?" Ameria murmured, and took a step closer.

Zelgadiss looked around uneasily. "Lina, I’m starting to think there’s someone watching us, too…"

Suddenly, Princess Erika leapt to her feet and whirled around. "Uncle!" she hissed. She yanked Zel's sword out of the ground and gripped it with both burnt hands, her pain temporarily forgotten, holding herself in a ready stance. Her narrowed eyes frantically searched the area around them. Ameria jumped back, startled, and looked around uncertainly.

The sound of someone slowly clapping echoed through the atmosphere. "Well met, Princess," came a disembodied voice. "Well met," it repeated dryly, amusement tainting its tone.

"Not well enough if you’re still alive," the princess bit back, her green-blue eyes ablaze with anger.

With a flash, a tall, bony, robed man appeared several feet to the side and away from both Princess Erika and Ameria, Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadiss. His long, thin face and the crown on his head indicated who he was to even Zelgadiss and Ameria, who had only heard Lina talk about him while traveling. Gourry squinted at him, then exclaimed, "Hey, it’s some guy!"

"Some guy?!" Lina exclaimed incredulously, while everyone else sweatdropped. "It's King Rolard!!"

Gourry furrowed his brow and rubbed his chin. "Have we met him before? His face looks kind of familiar..."

Lina rapped him on his skull. "Of course we have! He's the one who sent us here, remember?!" she screeched.

The king, ignoring the commotion from the princess’s confused comrades, turned and regarded her with feigned shock. "Why, Erika, dear," he drawled, wagging a finger at her, "you show such hostility toward me! That's not the way your parents taught you to behave, now, is it?"

"That's what you think," she sneered through gritted teeth, adjusting her grip on the sword, struggling to ignore the terrible pain she felt in her burnt hands.

He pretended to pout. "Well, it appears you've deceived us all." He gestured to his right at Lina, Gourry, Zelgadiss, and Ameria.

The princess’s eyes flicked from her puzzled friends to her uncle quickly. "My father was a wise man," she began calmly, her eyes betraying her fury. "And my mother always knew there was something that wasn't right about you. They told me to hide my power from you. I deceived everyone into thinking I was weak and powerless, so that you would underestimate me," she said softly and bitterly. She thrust Zel’s sword forward, one tear trickling down her cheek as she half-sobbed, half-shouted, "Because you killed my honored parents!!" She paused to take a breath and added slowly and shakily, "And I plan to avenge them, if I have to kill you to do it."

The king regarded Princess Erika coldly, his jaw muscles working as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. "Yes, I did kill Richard and Lia, your parents. But if you think you can extract revenge from me, you are sadly mistaken." He raised his hand, which was now glowing with power.

"Your Majesty," Lina interrupted. The king looked to his right and lifted an eyebrow at the little sorceress, who was standing next to Ameria and in front of Zel and Gourry, her hands on her hips and a determined smirk on her face. "We don’t quite know what’s going on here," she began, gesturing to her friends, "but it seems to me that we never should have trusted you when you sent us on this mission. Believe me, we won’t make the same mistake again, not after what you did to me when I attacked your dragon." Her eyes held a deadly gleam. "Or was that beast just a façade? A way for you to attack us without being direct about it, so you wouldn’t have to take responsibility for killing the crown princess of Chorion, as well as the rest of us?" she asked, her tone indicating that she already knew the answer.

"Well, then, does that mean you’re going to oppose me?" the king asked lightly, ignoring her questions, amusement tugging at the corners of his thin lips.

"Of course we are!" Ameria shouted. "You just admitted to murdering the king and queen, Erika-hime’s parents!" She punctuated her words by pointing at him dramatically, her eyes blazing with righteous anger. "As the princess of Saillune and an ally of the princess of Chorion, I won’t allow you to hurt her! Your crimes must be punished!"

"You hurt Lina," Gourry said simply, his jaw set and his expression steeled. "And I won’t let you hurt her again."

"Your power may be different from ours," Zel began, "but it won’t do you any good now that you provoked us. No one attacks any of us without retribution. And that includes the princess."

Princess Erika looked at each of them gratefully, then turned to her uncle with a feral grin. "So, now what, Uncle? You don’t stand a chance against all of us," she said evenly.

King Rolard grinned as well, and raised his glowing hand. "I wouldn’t be so confident, little princess. I’m not as weak as you think I am!" With that, he jumped back and thrust his hands forward. Small balls of glowing energy ripped through the air toward Princess Erika. She quickly teleported several feet away, dodging the attack, and putting more distance between herself and her friends. He quickly turned to Lina’s group. A red ball appeared above his extended palm, and he yelled, "Fireball!"

"Look out!" Zel shouted, and the four scattered to avoid the magical attack.

Gourry dove to the side and rolled, then quickly jumped to his feet. He started to run forward, sword drawn and ready, but was thrown backward by a forceful blast of air.

Ameria picked herself up off the ground where she had fallen, and threw her hands forward. "Blam Blazer!" she yelled.

The king simply stood still. The spell hit him full-force, then dissipated instantly. To Ameria’s shock, the king stood unharmed. He smirked and threw a burst of energy at her, which she dodged quickly. Lina was immediately at her side and ready to counterattack, yelling "Rune Flare!!"

King Rolard held out a hand, and the spell crashed against it harmlessly. He turned, just in time to see Zelgadiss and Princess Erika come toward him from either side, Zel chanting a spell, the princess brandishing her borrowed sword. He threw a bolt of energy at Zel, knocking him away with a yelp of surprise, and drew a hidden knife out of the sleeve of his robe. He took the princess’s charge with his knees bent and the blade of the knife flush against his right forearm. The two steel blades clashed against each other, the hilt of the sword locking with the jeweled handle of the knife. "Foolish girl!" he bellowed in her face. "How do you expect to beat me, the one who defeated your parents so long ago?"

She never got a chance to answer, however; at that moment, Ameria threw out her hands and called "Diem Wind!"

The king quickly neutralized the effect of the spell with a nod of his head. He glared at Ameria and Lina, and sent a bolt of power in their direction with a flick of his free wrist. They split apart, dodging it easily. Erika put all her weight behind her blade, pressing against her uncle’s small dagger, but he held her in place with a strength that seemed beyond his frail form.

Lina paused and eyed the king appraisingly. "You're pretty good," she acknowledged. "You modified the curse that was already in place so that the dragon could resist my Laguna Blade. And now you’re using some kind of power like the princess’s to counter the effects of our spells" she trailed off, then shook her head and grinned at him. "Pretty clever."

The king knocked Erika away with a swing of his arm and a blast of energy. He turned to regard Lina and gave her a tight-lipped smile. "I appreciate the compliments, Inverse-san. To have figured all of that out, you must be as insightful as the rumors say you are." His smile faded and his eyes narrowed. "However, I'm afraid I can't let a sorceress of your caliber live for very much longer." He sighed. "It's a terrible waste of talent, I admit, but you are simply too much of a liability."

Lina lifted an eyebrow. "I--"

Gourry interrupted her, a serious and protective expression on his face. "You won't touch her," he snarled.

"Gourry, you don't have to get all chivalrous," Lina murmured.

"What's that mean?" Gourry whispered back to her, his eyes still locked on his opponent.

Lina sweatdropped. "I'll tell you later."

"Okay."

Zelgadiss, who had recovered from the king’s earlier attack, cleared his throat. "And if you're out to kill Lina, where do the rest of us fit into your plan?" He glanced back and forth between the king and his niece nearby, who was still holding his sword, looking angry, yet exhausted. She was in no condition to fight a powerful opponent like the king at this point, despite any strange powers she possessed.

The king laughed. "Oh, I plan to kill all of you," he said casually. He waved a hand, and the dead dragon not far behind him disappeared in a flash of light. "I had figured that that beast would have been enough to kill you all, and it would have been, too," he snarled, "if it weren't for my upstart niece. This dragon was completely resistant to your magic and swords, I assure you." He grinned savagely. "I would have enjoyed watching it slaughter all of you."

Ameria's mouth dropped in shock at his unabashed bloodlust. "You...you're an evil man!" she exclaimed.

King Rolard nodded and gave a short, sinister laugh. "That I am, my dear, that I am." He looked at Princess Erika, catching her breath not far from Zelgadiss. "It truly is a shame, Erika, that you don’t have more energy than you do now. Fighting my dragon took a lot out of you, didn’t it?" he asked with mock gentleness. He grinned smugly and lifted a hand in front of him. The air around it crackled with power. "It's too bad, because now you won't be able to defend yourself or your friends against me. Ah well, I let you live far too long, anyway," he said nonchalantly. His eyes narrowed and his bony face twisted into a cruel expression as he prepared a blast that would kill the five people in front of him.

Princess Erika looked into his eyes, her anger showing plainly. It was true, she couldn't defend them all against a powerful attack like the one he was readying. She closed her eyes and silently prayed.

It was at that moment that the earth heaved yet again, throwing everyone off their feet. The blast of energy from the king's hand sliced through the air above everyone's heads, sparing them all from certain death.

"Again?!" Lina exclaimed as she bounced against the violently shaking ground.

"This earthquake is even worse than the one before!" Gourry shouted.

"What could be causing it this time?!" Ameria cried.

King Rolard levitated himself a few inches off the ground and snarled. "Stupid girl!" he bellowed at Princess Erika, who was also hovering above the ground. "All the energy you channeled into the earth made it unstable! This quake will continue until that energy is spent!"

Princess Erika managed a satisfied grin. "Anything to disrupt your plans, Uncle," she acknowledged smugly.

Suddenly, a crack in the ground ripped open with an ear-splitting roar. The fissure traveled quickly, splitting the earth right under Zelgadiss and Gourry's feet. They leapt to either side, so that Zel, Lina, Princess Erika, and the King were on one side of the growing chasm and Ameria and Gourry were on the other.

King Rolard wasted no time. He swooped forward, heading straight for the princess, who readied her sword for a direct attack. Just before he reached her, however, he teleported to the other side of the chasm and grabbed Gourry's collar in one hand and wrapped his other arm around Ameria's waist. He quickly lifted them, kicking and struggling, up into the air. "Nobody move, or I’ll kill them both!" he shouted down to the three below.

"Gourry! Ameria!" Lina and Zel shouted, magic already blazing brightly in their hands as they struggled to stay on their feet.

To prove his point, the king sent small bolts of electricity into his captors’ bodies. Ameria and Gourry jerked and cried out in pain. "Lina!" Gourry shouted, his hand clawing at his collar to keep from choking.

"That’s enough, Uncle!" Princess Erika shouted frantically. "You can take me, but let them go!"

The king let out a maniacal laugh, and tightened his grip on the two people he had captured. "Too little, too late, my dear!" He glanced over his shoulder at Achek’s Tower; its surface was beginning to crumble under the strain of the shaking ground. "That Tower is what I’m after, and, since no one can go in there until this earthquake calms down, I'll just take a few hostages to make sure you don’t mess up my plans further! But don’t worry, you’ll get them back when I enter the Tower and use what’s inside to take my rightful place as ruler of the world!" With that, the king of Chorion disappeared with Ameria and Gourry.

"Ameria!" Zel shouted.

"Gourry! Gourry!" Lina screamed, and ran forward so that she was right under the place where the king and his captors had previously been. Her eyes scanned the skies wildly, and she didn’t notice that the ground below her had split. She fell into the narrow chasm with a scream, catching herself at the last minute, both hands clawing at the lip of the crack.

"Lina!" the princess and Zelgadiss exclaimed simultaneously. They ran to her and each took one of her hands, and together pulled her to safety.

By now the ground was rolling under their feet and cracking apart, unable to withstand the immense amount of power the princess had shoved into it when she killed the dragon. Achek’s Tower wobbled, and rocks separated from its surface and tumbled to the ground below at an alarming rate. "We have to save Gourry and Ameria!" Lina shouted over the noise of breaking rocks.

The princess, still holding Lina’s hand, tossed Zel’s sword to him and grabbed his free hand in hers. "They’re gone, Lina. We’ve got to get out of here, or we’ll be either swallowed up or crushed under the Tower, if it falls."

"But--" both protested simultaneously.

"We can’t save them now! We have to get to someplace safe!" she shouted back. "There’s no discussion in this matter! I’m getting us out of here!"

Zelgadiss opened his mouth to say something, but was never able to finish his thought, because at that moment, all three disappeared, leaving behind a violently shaking landscape and a tall, narrow mountain, ready to collapse from the tremors.