Disruptor wrote:

 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?"

What made her so thoughtful?

 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....'

Why use the word Monster, instead of Mazoku?

 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.'

Right.  Instead, you run the risk of destroying the entire world.  Much
safer.

 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."

Or better yet, an L-sama powered healing spell.  Maybe something like
that would cure Zelgadis?  True, she hasn't met him yet, but an uber
healing spell would be deadly against mazoku.  The only question is,
would it be faster than Resurrection, and what side-effects would there
be?

 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.

s/at how it worked/at the results/

 "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  It's hopelessly out of date and mostly useless but still fun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."

If it contains the Giga-slave, how "mostly useless" is it?

 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."

In the original, it was casting the Giga-Slave that killed everything in
the bay.  In your version, everything there is still dead, but from
smaller uses of chaos magic.

 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.

Why hasn't the blackish water spread into the ocean?

Previously, the rocks were merely destroyed -- why are there now
craters, holes in the ground?  Did something (that gray dust?) etch away
at the earth where the rocks had sat?

 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."

This is never answered.  So, why did it happen?

 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

If she knows of the Sword of Light, then she's met Gourry, right?

So, why hasn't he commented on how everything in the bay and surrounding
area is dead?

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.

Heh, maybe true -- though if it does, it won't be him that destroys the
world, but L-sama... *if* Lina loses control of the spell.

 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.

How many spells can she keep going at once?  Won't the Breaker spell
dissapate when she starts on this one?

 "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.

This, spell, too is happening while the Breaker spell is active.

 "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,

And it's not so ephemeral a spell as soul-clever, as the Astral Dagger
remains in effect for some time.  So she's maintaining *two* spells
simultaneously; Nightmare Breaker and Astral Dagger.

Oh, and casting a spell *uses* magical power; presumably, Astral Dagger
increases her spiritual strength, giving her greater control over the
sword of light (it's controlled by one's will, after all), and making it
more difficult for spirits (like mazoku) to hurt her by "physical"
contact, but it doesn't give her more magic.

If it *did* give the caster more magic -- what would keep someone from
casting it again and again and again?

I would suggest that you have Zelgadis cast this on her.

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.'

Now she's casting *another* spell, while she has *two* spells active.

How much magical strength does she have?

 "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."

Only villians explain themselves and what they're about to do.

The heros just do it, and explain to the audience afterwards why what
they did worked.

 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."

s/have/had/.

And *why* did she have that feeling?

A much more reasonable explanation was that Shabranidgo's evil was
slowly, gradually, corrupting Rezo.  In short, it *was* Rezo's own
actions, and he wasn't a prisoner in his body -- it just wasn't the way
he would normally have acted.  (If a person does something under the
influence of drugs, is it "someone else" in control, or themselves in
control but in an altered state of mind?)

 "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."

When/where did she create a body?

Also, that sounds like a run-on sentence.

 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."

How often does one have to free people of possession?  Not to mention,
she would only need to teach *one* person, and then tell anyone chasing
her to go ask that one person.

OTOH, the Nightmare spells should be kept a secret.

 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."

Isn't it fortunate that he still has the skills and knowledge that those
spells were based on, so that he can attempt to recreate them?

 "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."

, but I can try and do research and figure them out.  Want to go back to
being my research assistant?

 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."

Then why doesn't he offer to try and figure out how?

------------------------------------------------------
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.'

, so I can eat as much as I want to.

 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."

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

 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."

That works, too, but why wouldn't she just say it was Rezo as soon as
she saw who it was?  Especially with Phil wondering who would draw such
a crowd.

 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."

Were I in her place, I don't think I would even mention that first
meeting.

 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."

s/that I write/that I have been writing down/
s/ 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."

Perhaps:  "The book is enchanted so that as the blank pages at the back
are filled in, more blank pages appear.  It's author *intended* for them
to be written on."

 "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.

If she can put enough power in to make it work at all, then it will be
enough to destroy most mazoku.

 "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?"

s/Monsters/Mazoku/

 "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.

It's too bad that she doesn't know a spell for copying books.

 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.

Why?  Is parchment all that expensive that she can't just hire a
scivener to copy a book containing it?  Or do magic spells need to be
taught by another mage?  In which case, owning the book "The Powers of
the Dark and the Light" is fairly useless without someone to teach the
spells.

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."

Hassle isn't the same thing as cost.  If the owner of a book doesn't
*allow* you to copy it, that's hassle.  Hiring a scrivener to copy a
book is cost; hiring a mage to teach you is cost; paying the owner of
the book to allow you to copy it is cost.

Hiring a scrivener shouldn't be too costly -- or if you're really
cheap... well, if you can read, you can write, so just copy the book
yourself (binding it can be a problem, but you could just keep the pages
loose in a book-shaped box).

If you have the goodwill of the ruler of the city, you can certainly
avoid paying the book's owner to allow you to copy it.

Only if you *must* be taught by a knowledgeble mage, is there an
especially high cost for learning spells.  Political influence might get
you a discount, but not likely free teaching time.

 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.'

s/Joyrock was/Joyrock would be/

 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."

In her shoes, I would reply that I would stop by the merchant's guild,
and ask which roads/towns had bandits, and head that direction.

 "Don't you worry about getting lost?"

Only if she decides to hike cross-country, instead of following roads.

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

Unless you end up going in circles.

 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.

Yes, after XXX years trapped in time, Rowdy has this horrible cough and
his voice sounds really bad.  No? :)

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

-- 
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|=(1<<21)}""=~$.;qw(Just another Perl hacker,\n);

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