The auburn haired sorceress known as Lina Inverse looked out over the
bay she had chosen, raised her arms and started reciting, "Darkness
beyond blackest pitch.  Deeper than the deepest night...."

 Suddenly the fourteen year old girl stopped and slumped to her knees,
"What good is a more powerful spell if the being I cast it at teleports
out of the way?"

 She lay on her back and looked up at the sky.  'I need some way of
holding a Monster in place and a direct attack that doesn't create a big
explosion.  I also don't want to kill myself with a spell.  Not to
mention....'

 Lina smirked a bit as she went through the spells in her mind. 'The
Giga-Slave would be nice, but I think a Lord of Nightmare powered
versions of Rune Breaker and Bram Blazer will be a lot more useful.  At
least I won't run the risk of being consumed by darkness.'

 Lina stood up and looked at the bay with renewed vigor, as she mentally
went through the chaos words for her two new spells.

 "If these work, maybe I'll see if I can recast some of the other spells
with the Lord of Nightmares as their source.  Maybe a defensive barrier
or something."

 As she cast her first reworked spell, she felt satisfied at how it
worked.  Pulling a tome out of her cloak, she looked through it.

 "Even though I can't cast it unassisted, I'll learn the Ragna Blade."

 Lina closed the book and turned it over in her hands.  She smiled as
she looked at it.

 "The Powers of the Dark and the Light.  A book detailing the greater
powers of the four worlds and the spells that can be called from each of
them.  It's hopelessly out of date and mostly useless but still fun to
read."

 Setting the book aside, she recalled everything she read about the Lord
of Nightmares.  Lina happily went to work on her new spells and by the
time she was done, had reduced the flora and rocks in the bay to a fine
gray powder.

 Picking up her tome, Lina went back over the Giga-Slave and shook her
head.  "I will never cast this.  It's too dangerous."
------------------------------
 Lina revisited the bay where two years earlier, she had practiced her
Nightmare spells.  Instead of the fine gray powder she had expected, the
bay had blackish water that no fish would approach and the flora and
rocks were replaced by a dark gray crater.

 Staring in shock at the devastation, Lina fingered a long dagger with
an eel shaped pommel.  "What happened here?  It wasn't like this when I
left."

 To try to take her mind off of the horror she was witnessing, she held
up her dagger and stared into the eyes of the eel pommel. As she stared,
she could hear the words from when she recieved it.

 'Lina!! Take this!! The staff holds the last of my power!!'

 Breaking out of her reverie, she shook her head and thought, 'All that
was left of the staff was that eel shaped talisman that I made into a
pommel.  The Astral Dagger might not be the Sword of Light, but it has
its uses.  Using it, my Astral and White spells are increased.  Not to
mention my Nightmare spells.  My Nightmare spells.....  Could they have
caused this desolation?'

 Lina quickly left the desolated bay and shook her head, "I probably
won't need those spells anyway.  I doubt I'll be fighting anything like
Joyrock ever again.  It'll be a bit before Prince Phil goes on his
journey.  So I should see if there's any bandits on between here and
Atlas City.  I need to work off some frustration."
-----------------------------------------
 Memories flashed through Lina's mind as she stared up at the Dark Lord
Shabranigdo.  She recalled how she beat up the Dragon's Fang bandit
gang, after leaving the desolated bay where she practiced her spells.
As well as, the adventures that had occured because of the treasure she
had taken from them.  She suddenly heard a voice.

  "Lina, catch!"

  Lina looked at the Sword of Light that Gourry had just thrown at her
and looked at him.  "What am I supposed to do with this?"

 "Jut use it Lina!!!"  Gourry yelled.

 Concentrating her will, Lina caused the blade to appear.  She looked up
at the laughing Shabranidgo.

 "Even with a spell as powerful as the Dragon Slave, you can not hope to
defeat me."

 Lina closed her eyes and began reciting a spell that she never thought
she'd use again.

 "Golden lord of chaos lend your strength."
  "Imprison the foolish one with your might."
  "NIGHTMARE BREAKER!!"

  The blade on the Sword of Light flashed black and gold and then a beam
of light shot forth from it and struck the ground around Ruby-Eye. A
golden six pointed star surrounded by a circle appeared on the ground.

 In shock, Shabranigdo asked, "What's this?"

 He didn't have long to wait as gold and black lightning leapt upwards
and struck his body.  Instead of shocking him, the bolts of energy
started pulling down on Ruby-Eye's body.  The Dark Lord struggled to
stay standing.

 "So what do you think of a spell that calls upon a Dark Lord greater
than you?  The power of the Lord of Nightmares!"  Lina called out, as
she thought.  'Didn't expect it to work like that.'

 "This pitiful spell is interesting, but futile.  Soon you and the
entire world will be destroyed." Ruby-Eye replied, but a nervous twitter
crept through his voice.

 Delirious from pain, Zelgadis called out, "Rezo, will you destroy the
world you so long to see?  REZO!!"

 Shabranigdo shuddered as Zelgadis' words reached him.  The momentary
lack of concentration cost him as the lightning pulled him to the ground
face first and held him prone.

 Lina took a shaky breath and quickly thought out the reason for the
lapse.  'Rezo's soul hasn't been completely destroyed.'

 With that in mind, Lina jumped towards the prone Dark Lord and chanted
another spell.

 "Let the dreams of terror be awakened."
 "With the power to shatter a soul."
  "SOUL CLEAVER!!"

 As the now golden blade of the energy sword hit Ruby-Eye, a small piece
was cut away from him and became a glowing ball of light. Not bothering
with the ball of light, Lina dropped one hand off the Sword of Light and
gripped her dagger.

 'I'm going to need as much power as I possibly can,' Lina thought and
whispered her spell.

 "Dagger formed from a temporal splinter."
 "Let thine energies flow into my body."
 "And add thy mystic strength to my own."

 Feeling the Astral Dagger boost her powers, Lina mentally nodded and
grasped the Sword of Light with both hands. 'With that boost and the
Sword of Light, my power should be more than doubled.  We stand a
chance.'

 "Lord of the dreams that terrify."
 "Sword of cold and darkness,
      "Free yourself from the heavens' bonds."
 "Become one with my body.  One with my power."
 "And, let us walk the path of destruction together."
 "Power than can smash even the souls of the gods."
 "RAGNA BLADE!!!"

 Shabranigdo raised his head and looked up at the now black energy blade
that Lina was carrying.

 "That spell...  How?"

 Lina looked down at the prone Dark Lord.  "Your power is weakened
without Rezo and now die Dark Lord of Terror.  Black sword slice through
all."

 Lina brought the Ragna Blade down upon the body of Ruby-Eye and kept
applying pressure to cut the Dark Lord in half.  Another hand soon
joined hers.  The sudden influx of another will increased the Sword of
Light's power and helped push the blade of nightmares through the Dark
Lord.  With a sudden flash of light and shadow, Ruby-Eye collapsed into
a pile of grey ash that was quickly blown away by the wind.

 Lina slumped to her knees exhausted.  "I can't believe that we actually
did it."

 Gourry and Zelgadis quickly ran over to Lina with a mixture of shock
and awe on their faces.  Zelgadis stopped as he saw what was behind
Lina.

 Rezo the Red Priest looked down at the young sorceress and said, "Thank
you and please forgive me for what I have done."

 Shaking her head, Lina replied, "I have the feeling that it wasn't
really you who did all those horrible things, but Shabranidgo himself.
You were just a prisoner in your own body."

 "That does not excuse my actions.  An interesting way of freeing
someone from possession, slicing the souls apart and having a body be
created for the exorcised spirit."

 Lina blushed a bit.  "Well...  Please, keep it a secret.  I don't want
to have a bunch of people chasing me for my spells."

 Rezo continued his analysis of the spell.  "It does have one drawback.
It kind of scrambled my memories of when I was being taken over by
Ruby-Eye.  I can not recall the details of any of the spells I created
during that time."

 "Meaning, you don't recall how to undo what you did to me," Zelgadis
said, with a dejected look.

 "I am sorry Zelgadis, but no."

 Lina stood up and threw the Sword of Light back to Gourry.  "Well, I'd
love to stick around and chat.  But, I'm heading to Atlas City."

 Rezo asked, "Atlas City?"

 "I was heading there before this entire nonsense started.  Well, see
you," Lina replied.  'Hopefully, I won't miss Prince Philionel.  All of
this, just because I wanted to beat up some bandits?  Sheesh.'

 As she dashed off, Gourry quickly followed her.  "Hey Lina, wait for
me."

 Rezo and Zelgadis looked at each other and then towards the rapidly
receding duo.

 "Enemy of all who live.  And the one who was able to allow me to see
the world,"  Rezo mused.  "Those spells were interesting."

 "If you don't mind, I'm going to try and find a cure for my curse,"
Zelgadis said and walked quickly away from the Red Priest.

 Rezo shook his head sadly.  "I am sory Zelgadis.  If I could change you
back I would."
------------------------------------------------------
After meeting Prince Phil, Lina helped him with a certain problem that
involved his brother trying to take over the throne.  During which, she
met Phil's daughter Amelia.  Due to circumastances beyond her control,
Lina had to travel to Seyruun to get paid for helping Phil.
 Sighing heavily, Lina looked upon the city of Seyruun with relief.
'Finally, I can get paid.'

 She glanced back at her three travelling companions. Her self
proclaimed guardian Gourry was talking with Prince Phil.  Princess
Amelia was just listening to the two of them.

 "We're here," Lina said.

 "Ah, good," Prince Phil replied.  "It's good to be home.  Now don't
worry Miss Lina, you will get paid."

 Looking at the city, Gourry said, "Hey Lina, it looks like there is a
parade going on."

 "A parade?  Why would I care about a parade?"

 Amelia climbed to the top of a pole to get a better look.  "It's not a
parade.  It's a group of people standing around a priest."

 "That's weird," Phil said.  "Seyruun is the White magic capital of the
world.  One priest wouldn't cause this much disturbance."

 Lina was able to catch a glance of the priest through the crowd and
recognized him.

 "He would,"  Lina said.  "At any rate, I'd like to get paid."

 Phil nodded and led the group to the palace.

 Ameila asked Lina, "By the way Miss Lina, who was that?"

 "Him?  Oh, that was Rezo the Red Priest.  I guess he's gone back to
healing people now that he is able to see the world."

 Amelia, with stars in her eyes, said, "It is so nice that a good man
like Rezo finally got his wish fulfilled and rewarded for being so
kind."

 Lina thought, 'Kind and good had nothing to do with it.  At any rate,
he's no longer my concern.'

 "I take it you've met Rezo," Phil said.

 "Long story and I'd rather not go over it," Lina replied.  "It wasn't
pleasent.  Just like I don't want to go over my first meeting with you
that ended up with your brother's death."

 Prince Phil nodded.  "I understand."

 The four made their way into the palace.  Prince Phil took their leave
of them, as Amelia escorted Lina and Gourry to a guest room.  Lina sat
down in a cozy chair and pulled out a tome from her cloak.

 "At least the protective spells are still holding," Lina muttered, as
she opened the book and started reading.

 "Miss Lina?  What are you reading?"

 "It's something I picked up a while ago.  It's 'The Powers of the Dark
and the Light'.  There are blank pages in here that I write some of my
own personal spells down."

 "Miss Lina, how could you deface a valuable book like that?"

 Lina shook her head in exasperation.  "Amelia, that's what the creator
of this book intended it for.  As more information or spells were
gathered, he'd write them down on the blank pages.  You could say, I'm
continuing his work."

 "Oops.  I'm sorry Miss Lina.  I forgot that there were wizards like
that."

 "Nevermind, Amelia.  I'm right now just reading the book to try and
come up with something that can deal with Monsters a bit better than
Elmekia Lance."

 "Why don't you just cast Ra Tilt?"

 Lina grimaced a bit as she recalled rejecting the spell from when she
was in school.  It wasn't flashy enough and she wasn't sure if she could
put enough power behind it to make it effective.

 "I don't know Ra Tilt,"  Lina reluctantly admitted.  "My chosen
profession is to kill bandits.  How many times am I going to encounter
Monsters with a bunch of bandits?"

 "You really should know it, Miss Lina.  Maybe that can be part of your
reward, a scroll containing Ra Tilt, so you can learn it," Amelia said
firmly.

 Lina shrugged and went back to reading her book.  "That's up to your
father and the Wizard's Guild of this city."

 Amelia stood up and stated, "I'll talk to Daddy about this."

 As Amelia left, Gourry asked, "Why didn't you object to that?"

 "Learning spells cost money.  And, spells of that power require lots of
money.  This way, we get money to eat and something valuable," Lina
replied, as she turned a page.  "You wouldn't believe the hassle I had
to go through to get Rune Breaker, and that's not that great a spell."

 Looking up from her book, Lina thought, 'I thought Joyrock was the last
time I had to deal with a powerful demon.  Well, at least he's gone.  I
had to fight Shabranidgo?  That's still unbelievable.  I had better get
used to my other spells.  Well, not THAT one.  The others should be
enough.'

 Lina put her thoughts aside as Prince Phil entered.  Closing her book,
she put it back in her cloak and stood up.  She saw that Phil was
carrying a bag and a couple of scrolls.

 "Ah, Miss Lina.   My daughter told me about her idea, and I thought it
was a wonderful idea.  If nothing else, it'll keep you from blowing up
towns trying to kill demons with that Dragon Slave spell of yours."

 Taking the bag and scrolls, Lina nodded, "Thanks, Phil.  I guess I
should be going now.  It was a pleasure to meet you.  Let's go, Gourry."

 Phil asked, "By the way Miss Lina, where are you going?"

  Lina shrugged and replied, "I have no idea.  I just go in whatever
direction I feel like going for the day until I hear something that
catches my intrest."

 "Don't you worry about getting lost?"

 "Nope.  I'll wind up someplace sooner or later."

 Lina and Gourry left the Seiruun palace on their way to their next
adventure.
------------------------------------
 In a forest on Mipross Island, black and blue ribbons of energy swilred
around.  Suddenly a green hand and arm shot out of the maelstrom of
energy and a terrible voice was heard.

 "The gates of time protected me somewhat.  Inverse, I'm coming for
you."



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