"Gods, Zel, what did you guys do to this place?" Sylph jumped onto a toppled column and scanned the ruined ancient battlefield. Nope, no watering holes in which to have a quick bath. Damn. She didn’t think she could take being gooey and smelly for very much longer. Best to find the spell fragment fast and hop back in their personal dimensional pocket so she could return to Marrigan for a scrub.
        Zelgadis poked through the rubble on the other side of the platform from Sylph, a disgusted look on his face. "We didn’t do it, Darkstar did. Gigantic lords of destruction tend to lay waste to everything in their path. We weren’t exactly thinking about preserving a historic site at the time."
        Sylph rolled her eyes. "I was kidding. Find anything yet?"
        "No," Zelgadis replied. "Any luck over there?"
        "Nope."
        Pause.
        "You are looking for my spell fragment, not a place to take a bath, right?"
        "Jerk," Sylph muttered. "I can do both at the same time, you know." She hopped down from the column to investigate a neighboring chunk of rubble. Darkstar had left very few big pieces in his wake when he’d burst free of the void and entered this world. Sylph was able to count the really substantial chunks on the fingers of one hand.
        Zelgadis pretended not to have heard her call him a jerk. "What’s that, Sylph? I don’t think I heard you."
        Sylph, however, had found something more interesting than arguing with a misanthropic chimera. She squatted down in front of one of the larger blocks and rubbed its surface. There was writing on it…very familiar writing. "Hey, Zelly! I think I found something! Come look!"
        Zel all but ran to her side of the battlefield to see what it was. He squatted down next to her and peered at the familiar glyphs Sylph’s rubbing had uncovered…and almost fainted with joy. "Those are…"
        "L-Sama’s ancient runes!" Sylph finished for him excitedly and gave him a big hug. "We found it! We found it! I can’t believe it was this easy!"
        Warning bells immediately went off in Zelgadis’ head, his usual cynicism getting through the queasiness Sylph’s joy induced. Nothing was easy, nothing was right there where he could find it. There was a catch to it. Maybe it wasn’t his spell fragment. Maybe it was just something leftover from that ancient time when Seified fought Shabranigdo on this spot.
        Sylph noticed his expression, and her elation evaporated. "Zel? What is it? What’s wrong? Don’t you think this is the spell fragment? What else could it be?"
        "Something that was here when the gods fought? It could be ancient, Sylph, not put here in the last week, just for me. Anyway, if it is my spell fragment, how are we supposed to get it onto its scroll in Marrigan? Melfinius didn’t mention any kind of spell I needed to cast to make the transfer, he just said the fragments would go onto the scrolls when I found them."
        "Did you ask him if there was a transfer spell?"
        "Um…no…"
        Sylph gave him a withering look. "Duh, Zel."
        "So I’ll ask him now!" Zelgadis stomped over to his pack on the other side of the platform to fish up his crystal ball and call Melfinius, all the while muttering invectives against women in general and Sylph in particular.
        Sylph made a disgusted noise then went back to rubbing dust away to expose more hieroglyphs. The more she uncovered, the more glyphs there seemed to be. Soon she’d rubbed as far as she could reach on her tiptoes and had to wait for Zelgadis to finish calling Melfinius to complete the job. So she stood back to have a look at the thing and think about how to get it off the rock and onto the scroll in Marrigan. Of course there had to be a transfer spell! She couldn’t believe Zelgadis hadn’t thought of that when he was talking to Melfinius in the first place…or even when they were in the dimensional pocket. Honestly, that boy could be so flaky sometimes. Zelgadis made that furious grunting noise that indicated things weren’t going his way, and Sylph cocked an ear backwards to better hear what was going on.
        "Curse him! Where is he when I need him? Why doesn’t he answer his crystal?"
        Sylph jumped from rubble to rubble until she was at his side. "Can’t you reach him?"
        "That’s what I’ve been saying!" Zel shot back. "The freaky little bastard won’t answer his crystal! He’s doing this on purpose, I know it. He’s tormenting me."
        "Maybe he doesn’t have his crystal handy," Sylph offered. "It’s possible. He could be in the privy, too. I mean would you want to talk to him in there? That’s more of Mel than I’d want to see."
        Zelgadis was in no mood for her jokes. "I don’t bloody care if he’s got his thing in one hand and his crystal in the other, Sylph, I need an answer NOW!"
        The kitsune’s ears flattened against her skull, and she bared her fangs at him with an angry growl. "A few minutes won’t make a difference!"
        Zel matched her growl for growl as he spun to face her with his fists balled at his sides, one hand still clutching the crystal ball. "It does to me! You go back to Marrigan, find the purple freak and ask him if there’s a transfer spell!"
        "Won’t that take longer than if you just keep bugging him on the crystal?" Sylph snarled back. "And he won’t tell me, anyway, so what’s the point?"
        They locked furious glares for a while then Zel backed down. "Right. Whatever. How much of that fragment did you uncover?"
        "Far as I could reach."
        Sigh. Zel dropped the crystal ball onto his pack, dragged Sylph by the hand back to the boulder with the glyphs on it and looked up to see how far she’d been able to reach. "Ok, stand on my shoulders. You should be able to get the rest of it that way."
        "Or you could just levitate yourself up there, couldn’t you?"
        Still angry? Good. "So could you."
        "I’m too weak from fighting Beast Master," she huffed and jerked her hand out of his. "And gooey and smelly and disgusting! I’m going to find a pond or something. You can finish rubbing off the dust. Maybe Melfinius will be available by the time you’re done, or maybe the fragment will just send itself back to Marrigan." With that, she turned into a fox and galloped away over rocks and under toppled columns until she disappeared over the edge of the platform.
        Zel watched her fluffy tail disappear in disbelief then remembered there was nothing but a very long drop under the platform and ran to stop her. "Sylph, wait!" He got to the edge of the platform and looked over it, down, down, down to the clouds floating below, and bits of blasted land peaking out between them. "SYLPH!" He got on his belly and looked over the edge, then under it. No fox. He checked the local bits of rubble. Still no fox. Where did she go? "This isn’t funny, Sylph! Where are you?"
        A dangerous tingling in the back of his mind froze him in place. Evil… The air rippled with it, burned with it, teased his mind, which found itself torn between pleasure and fear…kinship and enmity. "Mazoku…" Zelgadis got onto one knee and turned slowly around to face the source of the sensation. Not Xellos…not even like him…but then, who was? And Xellos wouldn’t sneak up on him, he’d announce himself, try to startle Zel into falling over the edge of the platform, or something like that.
        Zel gaped in astonishment. There was nothing behind him. But he could clearly feel a powerful evil force coming from the vicinity of the glyph boulder! Sylph would have to wait. He hoped she’d just transported herself somewhere to take a bath, if she really was so badly weakened from fighting Beast Master, as she’d said. And just why didn’t Xellos appear when he could actually use his help? Zelgadis frantically searched the platform but saw nothing but rubble and his backpack. He closed his eyes and tried to find the whatever-it-was with his sixth sense. Yes, it was there, right by the boulder with his spell fragment on it. All of a sudden Zelgadis had a terrible thought: What if the whatsit harmed the fragment? He had to get it away from that boulder somehow…but how could he when he couldn’t even see it? Well, Zelgadis assumed it could see him, so he tried moving toward his pack, always keeping his senses keyed on that smoldering patch of evil by the spell fragment. It didn’t move. Huh. Was it coming from the spell fragment, itself? But why would his cure spell, even a part of it, emanate such potent evil?
        The air in front of the stone rippled, like rising heat, then began to take shape. At first it was just a tall, amoeba-like form, then it sprouted limbs and a sort of bump atop the place where shoulders should be. It continued to change, becoming more and more human in shape until it was human. The newcomer was tall, with lean muscles, long pale blonde hair, cobalt blue eyes with thick lashes, a perfect pale complexion, and an elegant nose. He wore tight, dark blue velvet leggings (what the leggings showed was almost indecent); a loose-fitting white shirt that hung open almost to his waist; and knee-high boots in soft leather, dyed to match the leggings. He posed with one hand on his hip and his other arm upraised. In his hand, hanging by her tail, squirmed a familiar red fox.
        "No…Sylph…"
        Zel’s mind clamored for a way to free her, some attack that would hurt the pretty boy but not harm the fox in his hand, but every idea was a dead end. He couldn’t use an attack spell and wasn’t so sure his sword would be a safer option. Who in the hell was this guy and who did he serve? His aura was pure malice. He had to serve some Mazoku lord, they all did, even the oh-so-powerful and annoying Xellos answered to somebody.
        "Who are you?" He called. "Identify yourself! I am Zelgadis Greywers, cold-hearted, magic-using swordsman!" He’d always liked that moniker and having acquired an even colder heart thanks to Xellos he figured he could use it when identifying himself to his opponents. This opponent didn’t move, though Sylph continued to struggle in his grasp.
        "Zelgadis! Help me!"
        Zel’s jaw tightened. "You have something of mine! Give it back, and I won’t destroy you. I’ve made quite the career lately out of destroying Mazoko and their Lords." He gestured about the battlefield. "Here is where I first fought Darkstar! Do you know that name?"
        "Funny, you don’t look like Lina Inverse," the monster said. If he didn’t look so male, Zel wouldn’t have been able to tell the monster’s gender by listening to his voice. "But I just love that conceit in your voice. I know who you are and I know who she is. She’ll make a tasty treat after I skin her and roast her with herbs and a nice red wine sauce."
        "ZEL!!"
        "Let her go!" Zelgadis took up a fighting stance.
    The monster was amused. "No." He went to peer at the glyphs, holding Sylph at arms length to avoid her swinging claws. "These look familiar."
        Zelgadis bit his lip against telling him to leave those alone, too. Maybe if he acted like they weren’t important, Pretty Boy would lose interest. "Really? I wouldn’t know."
        "Wouldn’t you?"
        "Haven’t been a Mazoku long enough, I guess." Zel smirked and shifted his grip on his sword. "You still haven’t told me who you are," he added. "Or who you serve."
        "What? Do you think I should identify myself to you out of some kind of chivalrous rule?"
        "No, I just want to know who you are so I can tell your master I was the one who destroyed you."
        The stranger busted out laughing at that. "Oh, Zelgadis, you are so amusing! Very well, I’ll tell you who I am, if it will make you happy. I am called…" He paused for drama then suddenly giggled. "Hm, you know I haven’t actually picked a name to use on this plane. I was stalling while I thought of one. Isn’t that silly? Not having a name handy at a time like this?"
        Zelgadis almost dropped his sword. "WHAT?!"
        The monster blushed prettily, holding an embarrassed hand to his perfect, pink lips. "No, really. It’s embarrassing. I just wanted a name you’d like, Zelgadis, something you’d find fearsome and intimidating. I considered Zomulgustar, since no--"
        "Zomulgustar doesn’t exist!" Zel retorted. "Princess Martina made him up. Even she says he’s a figment of her imagination."
        "That’s exactly what I was about to say! I was going to use it since no real person was, but it’s such a silly name, don’t you think?"
        "Very."
        "Then I thought I could just use part of that name, something much more attractive." Sylph twisted up and tried to bite his wrist, but he gave her a few good, hard shakes until she wilted.
        "Let her go, now!" Zelgadis brought up his sword and was just preparing to cast an Astral Vine spell on it when his opponent lifted Sylph over his mouth and opened wide…really, really wide. Wide enough to actually swallow a fox whole. "No!"
        Zel charged, but the monster disappeared out of his path then reappeared behind him with Sylph’s madly swishing tail sticking out of his mouth. Zel spun on him, saw the tail and froze.
        "Let her go!"
        "Don’t you want to know who I serve, Zelgadis?" Said the monster’s voice in Zel’s head. The monster, himself, just stood there grinning at Zel with Sylph’s tail moving more and more slowly as she suffocated in his craw.
        Zel lowered his sword and asked carefully: "Alright, who do you serve? What Lord?"
        "Why the darkest dark Lord of them all!"
        "Shabranigdo?!"
        Pause. "Well, alright, not quite that dark, but a good, deep shade of gray at the very least!"
        Zel’s sword came up again. "Who…is…it?"
        "I serve…"
        "I’m waiting…"
        "I serve…LORD ZELGADIS GREYWERS!"
        Zel’s eyes bugged. "ME?!"
        "You."
        Zel chipped a chunk out of his ass, falling onto a bit of broken stone in astonishment. Then his eyes narrowed, and his sword came up again. "That wasn’t funny!
        "It wasn’t meant to be," the monster replied indignantly. "I serve Zelgadis Greywers…you, you big, blue, cold-hearted, magic-using swordsman, you!"
        "Ok, Xellos, joke’s over. Knock it off and let Sylph go." Zel used his sword to push himself to his feet and started toward his enemy.
        The monster was deeply offended. "Xellos! Zelgadis…*sniffle* how could you?! Calling me Xellos! How cruel! Oh…you’re so vicious! I love it! Hurt me some more! Please?!"
        Zelgadis started to throw his sword at him in a rage, then remembered Sylph and stayed his hand. "Ok…ok…" his mind ticked over as his mouth worked. So this guy served him, did he? Ok, fine. So he could give him orders, right? Seemed logical. "If you serve me, then obey my command and release Sylph immediately."
        Pout. "But she’s yummy!"
        "She’s my friend!"
        Pause. "You have…friends?"
        "Yes. I have friends. Now let her go. That’s an order."
        "Oh, fine!" He spit Sylph out with enough force to send her flying into Zelgadis’ chest.
        Zelgadis dropped his sword and fell to his knees, frantically shaking the unconscious fox. Sylph, however, neither moved nor breathed. "SYLPH, WAKE UP!" He shook her harder, then laid her on her back on the ground and began the most powerful healing spell he knew. "You better not be dead, furball, ‘cause I don’t know any spells to wake the dead."
        The nameless monster moved closer to Zelgadis and asked with forced casualness: "When you say ‘friends’, do you mean friends-friends, or lovers-friends?"
        That took a moment to reach Zel’s brain as he waited for his spell to take effect on Sylph. "What are you talking about?"
        "You said she was your ‘friend’," he replied. "I want to know how you define ‘friend’ in this context. That’s all. No big deal."
        Zelgadis just glared at him. "What’s it to you?"
        He gasped and bit his knuckles, tears streaming from his eyes. "You think I’m ugly, don’t you? I worked so hard to choose this form, and you don’t even like it!"
        "What?" How did he make the leap from ‘friends’ to ‘ugly’? And speaking of ugly, this guy didn’t look a thing like Martina’s hideous effigy of Zomulgustar. Zel decided to use that angle to catch the monster in its lie. "You know, Princess Martina made an effigy of Zomalgustar that she kept with her as an amulet…and it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen."
        "I don’t care what Martina thinks! And I told you I didn’t choose that name! Hmph! I suppose Martina is another one of your ‘friends’?"
        "Yeah, I have a harem full of them," Zel grumbled. "Women love a guy who’s always hard."
        It took a moment…then the monster giggled, tossing his shining gold hair and holding the back of his hand over his mouth, for all the world like Naga. "Oh, that’s a good one! You’re such a wit, Zelgadis! Always hard! Heeheehee!"
        Sylph’s eyes fluttered open just then, but Zel didn’t notice since he was too busy getting steamed over having to deal with his latest big frustration. She coughed a little and rolled onto her belly. Getting up onto her paws proved to be too taxing, so she lay down again…then realized the monster who’d swallowed her was still there and chatting it up with Zelgadis. Suddenly her legs had all the strength in the world, and she dashed up into Zelgadis’ hood where she trembled and peered hatefully out at the creature. "Kill him, Zel! Kill him now! He’s evil!"
        'I know he’s evil, Sylph, he’s a Mazoku," Zelgadis replied, "and he says I’m his master. That’s why you’re out here and not the main course; I ordered him to spit you out."
        "Mazoku aren’t that pretty."
        "You think he’s pretty?" Zel gave Sylph a sidelong glare. "He tried to eat you! And you just told me to kill him!"
        "I still want you to kill him," Sylph retorted, "I was just observing that he’s unusually attractive for a Mazoku."
        Zel looked his unnamed minion over again and had to admit he was pretty…in a wussy-boy sort of way. "I think he looks like a girl."
        The monster dropped to his knees with a cry of pure horror. "You…you think I look like a girl?!" And burst into hysterical tears.
        Sylph gave Zel a playful smack in the ear. "Aw, now look what you’ve done, Zelly. You’ve made the widdle monster-wonster cry! How mean! So what’s his name, anyway? Did you ever get that out of him?"
        "*sniffle* I’m still thinking of one! So just shut up you fleabitten little ball of fluff!"
        "’Fleabitten’?!" Sylph’s claws dug into Zel’s shoulder, but she stayed firmly in the safety of his hood. "How dare you call me ‘fleabitten’?!"
        "Because you are!"
        "Am not!"
        "Are too!"
        "KNOCK IT OFF, BOTH OF YOU!"
        They shut up abruptly. Sylph slunk down into Zel’s hood to pout, while the nameless Mazoku did his pouting in his Zelgadis’ face. "She’s a dirty animal, Zelgadis, I can’t believe you can bear to have her on your person."
        Zel’s dark expression silenced the monster even if it didn’t exactly end his snit. "She’s my friend. Now, I believe you were going to make up some kind of a name to give me. Why don’t you work on that while I make a crystal call?"
        The monster cocked his head curiously. "You’re not going to try to call that git Melfinius again, are you?"
        Zel glared at him out of the side of his eyes. "Why? Did you block my transmission last time?"
        "I had to!" The monster said as he strode over to Zelgadis and made a grab for the crystal ball. Zel snatched it out of reach. "If you talk to him, he’ll tell you how to put the fragment on the scroll, then you’ll find your cure and…and…*sniffle*…become human! Then we can never be together, Zelgadis! I simply cannot allow it!"
        "We can never be…?" Zel blinked at him uncomprehendingly for a while, then his jaw dropped. "You don’t mean…you’re not…you and me…" he shook his head in disbelief and backed away. "No…no way…I’m not like that…"
        He knew there had to be a catch somewhere when he’d found that glyph stone so easily. When things were going too right for him, there always was a catch, usually a big one. This catch just happened to be a snappy dresser and have a big crush on him. Oh well, at least it was something new. Zelgadis heaved a weary sigh. "Look, you want me to be happy, right?"
        "And Mazoku."
        "I can’t be happy if I’m Mazoku."
        "Of course you can!" He made another try for the crystal ball and missed, "accidentally" brushing his hand against Zel’s chest. Zel growled and jumped back. "You just haven’t given it a chance!"
        "I don’t want to!"
        Grab, brush, jump.
        "Don’t touch me like that."
        "Like what, Master? Like this?" He rubbed his hand across Zelgadis’ chest.
        Zelgadis turned green and took a swing at the monster who easy dodged it. "I told you, I’m not that way! Why can’t you respect that?"
        "Fooey, Zelgadis," The lovely monster pouted sexily. "You just haven’t met the right man!"
        "Oh yeah?" Zel jumped away again. "Maybe you just haven’t met the right woman!"
        The monster stopped long enough to give him a disgusted glare. "Oh fine, you win this time. But I still can’t let you talk to Melfinius."
        "I’m the Master, I give the orders!" Zelgadis held up the crystal ball and cast the communication spell on it. Nothing happened. "If you really do serve me, you’ll obey my orders and let me talk to Melfinius!"
        No-name shook his head, causing his glorious mane to sparkle in the sunshine. Even Zelgadis was transfixed for a second. "I’m sorry, Zelgadis, I simply can’t do that."
        Zel shrugged. "Then I guess I’ll just have to kill you."
        "You can’t," The monster huffed. "You’re not Lina Inverse, or the Lord of Nightmares. Even with part of Xellos in you, you aren’t powerful enough to destroy someone like me."
        "I thought you were my servant? And you still haven’t told me your name—and don’t give me anymore of that bullshit about not having come up with one yet. I know you have one, you just don’t want to tell me!"
        The monster shook his head then turned a fond, yet condescending look upon Zelgadis. He ignored the question of his name completely. "Zelgadis, don’t you know how to judge a monster’s power by the form it can take on this plane?"
        When Zelgadis hesitated, Sylph replied. "The better a Mazoku is able to hold a human form, the more powerful that Mazoku is. Like Xellos, who can easily pass for human and keep that form, even when damaged."
        Zelgadis’ heart raced. Even Lina hadn’t been completely sure who and what Xellos really was until Garv had revealed it to them in the temple of the Claire Bible. His human guise was that good. And hadn’t Xellos almost annihilated the Gold Dragons single-handedly? He looked up at his so-called minion, and his mouth went dry. He had a perfect human form. In fact, almost too perfect, too beautiful. Well, that bit about serving him was definitely a lie. He wasn’t a Lord and no longer in any danger of becoming one, thanks to the Lord of Nightmares. This had to be some kind of a major trick, but if it was, what was this guy after? Zel didn’t buy his story about going through all this trouble because he was in love with him. That really sounded fishy. Well, no matter what, he had to know how to transfer that fragment, even if it meant fighting a high-level Mazoku to get the directions from Melfinius. Damn you, Xellos, where are you when I actually need you? "I will send that fragment to Marrigan even if I have to fight you to do it."
        The monster raised one elegant eyebrow, then his eyes lit up with happy sparkles. "Oh, Zelgadis, you don’t know how I’ve looked forward to tasting your power! Ever since I first noticed you, when you were becoming the most horrifying Dark Lord in history." His expression turned sour. "Before The Lord of Nightmares ruined you." He then struck an eerily Amelia-like pose, with his hands clasped under his chin, his eyes closed, and his head turned dramatically away from his audience. "I thought all was lost as I watched breathlessly while you fought for a second chance at life! Then that bitch goddess put you into the body of a woman! And not even a very sexy one, even though she is a Princess, so you’d think she’d have glamour to spare, but I digress." He cleared his throat then bit his knuckles with a gasp. "I thought all was lost, that my beloved would make a copy body devoid of all the things I most loved…then Xellos saved you! I couldn’t believe that fruitcake could be the one to save me from an eternity of heartbreak! It’s just so not like him. But now here you are, becoming more and more Mazoku with every passing moment! Oh, Zelgadis, you have no idea how glorious you are!"
        From Zel’s hood a little voice yipped: "’Glorious’?"
        Zel chose to ignore her. "So you’re telling me you left the Astral Plan to serve me because you’re in love with me?"
        "Oh, Zelgadis, you do understand!"
        "Not really…"
        The monster waved off his comment with a deliriously happy giggle. "Never mind that! If you stay as you are, we can always be together, Zelgadis! We’ll be unstoppable!"
        Zel shook his head and brought up his sword. "I don’t want to be unstoppable. I want to be human, and you’re in my way, whoever you are. So either get out of my way, or prepare to die."
        The monster assumed a defensive stance and smiled a perfect smile. "I guess we must fight, then. How delicious! You may have the first attack. Show yourself to be worthy of my devotion!"
        "I don’t want your bloody devotion!" Zelgadis reached into his hood and lifted Sylph out. He pressed the crystal ball against her paws. "Take care of this, Sylph, and stay out of the way. You’re still weak from fighting Beast Master and being eaten by this guy."
        Their eyes met for a long moment, then Sylph nodded, and Zelgadis tossed her up toward the top of the fragment stone. She changed form in mid-flight and landed delicately on one foot. She sat down to watch the fight, holding the crystal ball in her lap. She had a plan, if Zelgadis could distract his opponent enough for the block on the crystal ball to loosen. If it did, then she might be able to get a message through to Melfinius, or…better still under the circumstances…Zhara. Urlich was too busy in Rratsnek, and Jessica was busy in Seyruun, though in a pinch, Sylph thought she might try for her sister. If anyone could hold her own against such a high-level monster it was the ancient kitsune Queen. Still, Jessica wasn’t the warrior that Zhara was, so Zhara seemed the better bet. Of course, Mr. No Name seemed to put great weight on glamour in others, in which case, Jessica was the best choice because she had glamour in spades. But what would happen to Zelgadis if he drew on his new Mazoku powers to fight this unnamed monster? Would he be able to control them, or would they control him? That had to be what the monster was hoping for! For Zel to lose control of his Mazoku powers and be overcome by them! If that happened, Zel wouldn’t care about his cure anymore and be fair game for any Mazoku to recruit!
        Hey, wait a second…wasn’t recruiting Zelgadis what Xellos wanted? Sylph was sure he wouldn’t want some no-name pretty boy horning in on his territory (unless this guy was actually working for Xellos, or was Xellos in some new disguise…oh, it was all too complicated!) At any rate, Zel couldn’t allow himself to be controlled by his Mazoku parts.
        "Don’t lose control of yourself, Zel!" She called just as the beginnings of a Asher Dist formed in Zelgadis’ hands, raising the stones around him and sending them swirling about the platform. Sylph’s eyes widened when she realized the monster was between Zel and the glyph stone. If Zel let loose, the stone would be destroyed! "NO, ZEL! THE STONE!!"
        Too late, Zel finished the spell and released it. His opponent disappeared out of its path, letting it through, en route to the glyph stone. Sylph shrieked and jumped off the stone, putting herself between it and the spell. As she threw up a shield spell and realized it was too weak, she sensed something different in Zelgadis’ spell…something more powerful that she’d never felt before. No time to think about that! But just as the spell was about to smash into her barrier, a blue blur snatched her away and threw her across the platform. Zel’s crystal ball flew from her hands and shattered in the rubble. Sylph only barely managed to land on all fours, unhurt, still in her human form. Her eyes flashed to the glyph stone, sure she was going to see it explode, ruining Zel’s hope for a cure, but it didn’t. The spell splashed over some kind of barrier, a barrier that felt very Mazoku to Sylph, then faded away. And what was that strange flavor to Zel’s Asher Dist? When the dust cleared, Zelgadis stood before the stone, his eyes glowing like embers, and a blood red aura crackling about his body like tongues of flame. The pretty monster reappeared a few feet away from Zelgadis and laughed with delight.
        "Zelgadis! That was spectacular!"
        Zelgadis didn’t reply. He just stood there with his aura sizzling, and his eyes on fire, his expression telling Sylph he was straining for control. "Oh no…he’s losing it…" Sylph struggled to her feet, not sure what she could do to keep Zelgadis from losing control. The barrier he’d put up had been created of the purest Black Magic, drawing on the power of Shabranigdo, but not in the way that Lina Inverse did it, not drawing from something outside of the sorcerer. Zelgadis had drawn from within.
        Pretty Boy gave Sylph a victorious look, pointing to Zelgadis with an elegant hand flip. "I win."
        "Not…yet…"
        The monster’s superior smirk evaporated abruptly and he turned a disbelieving look on Zelgadis. The chimera’s jaw was still set as he fought against the dark force inside of him, but his red aura was changing to blue, even as No Name and Sylph watched. Now it was Sylph’s turn to be smug. "No, he wins! Go, Zel! Yeah!"
        Finally, Zel’s aura faded, and he slumped to his knees, leaning on his sword to stay upright. "You…failed. I won’t be controlled by…my Mazoku part." He shook his head and wiped sweat from his face. "I will kill you…whoever you are…"
        The monster tossed his head with a conceited snort. "I haven’t made my attack yet, Zelgadis. Prepare yourself to witness the full extent of my power!" He let loose a maniacal laugh worthy of Phribrizzo himself. "I think you’ll like this spell. It’s one of my favorites!" Golden light formed in the monster’s hand, growing and swirling like a small sun, then, much to Zelgadis’ horror, he aimed it at Sylph. "APOCALYPSE!"
        "NO!" Zelgadis ran but wasn’t up to his usual speed. He tried to cast an Almekia Lance to hit the monster and throw off his aim but was too weak from battling his inner demon. "Run, Sylph!" There was a massive explosion and a burst of light, and Zelgadis was thrown to the ground. The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Sylph’s agonized scream.       

Chapter 32