Slayers: Chaos

Chaos 15

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 015: Hope! The Long Road To Recovery

The air was thick but still, in fact, the area was so still it was eerie. Any wild animals that might have been near by had long since ran for their lives at the first sign of the commencement of the battle. Not a single sound pierced the atmosphere except for the ragged breathing coming from the bottom of the crater.

There in the center of a crater lay Filia, her energy having been pulled back into her and thrown into an almost dormant state. She reasoned that she would recover, that she would be able to bring out her power enough to project herself in the material world properly after some time of rest. Yet in the deepest reaches of her mind, she feared that she would be ruined, not simply banned from interacting with physical beings, but truly destroyed, dead. The monster tilted her head to the side to the source of the breathing sound next to her. She did not have the energy left in her to emulate such functions as that of the respiratory system, even if they came so naturally, so automatically before, that they were almost truly involuntary.

Fortunately for Xellos, the monster power that flowed into him, albeit very strong, was not pure. It had mixed with his own dragon energy and the energy he borrowed from Ceifeed, creating fusion magic. The pressure caused by it as it entered his body was enough to cover him in cuts and bruises, but due to the rebirth-like effect that fusion magic took, symbolizing the balance of destruction and creation, he had no internal injuries, which would have otherwise resulted to be fatal. He looked at the monster beside him. He weakly lifted his hand towards her, shaking and with difficulty. "Source of all souls which dwell in eternal and infinite..."

'I failed...' Filia thought. 'I failed Beast Master... Now that I think about it, how did I get injured before? How did I get in over my head? I can't remember, but it must have been a fierce battle. How did I end up like this again? I failed and now I'll be finished by a dragon. At least I know he doesn't have the strength left to cast Ra-Tilt without repercussions. He'll fall along with me. Forgive me Lord Beast Master, forgive me, monster race...'

"Everlasting flame of blue..." Xellos paused in his chanting and allowed the spell to dissipate, letting his hand fall back by his side. "You still don't give me any credit."

"Hmm..." Why was that dragon stopping? Was he not willing to sacrifice his life to take her down?

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself and blame me." Xellos tried to snap at her, but he didn't have the strength to do so. Instead his voice came out calmer than it was meant, due to exhaustion.

A blurry image came into Filia's head; there was a human town in ruins. The image skipped and blurred further, changing into something else. She was embarrassed, something about being naked in front of many people. Someone said something about bringing out her true power. She was feeling sorry for herself, she was ashamed, but then she was angry. What happened wasn't her fault; it was someone else's fault. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she should blame him. Everything was his fault, she wanted to hurt him. She was bigger, she shot beams of energy from her mouth, why did she do that? He dodged, he always dodged. She called his name in fury, 'Xellos! Grr! Xellos!' His hair... his hair wasn't blonde, it was purple. What strange manner of awake dream was this? It was... It had to be a nonsensical vision of delirium.

"Filia," Xellos could feel his senses fading, he was about to pass out. Hopefully at some point in the immediate future, Lina would find him and heal him before he bled to death. He was a dragon, he was strong, he would last until she found him, he couldn't doubt himself now.

Filia closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest, though she pushed away any odd dreams or visions that came her way. "Shut up, raw garbage."

It was the same degrading little nickname she had given him before, but there was something in her tone, something in the way she said it that was different. He was an enemy, a rival, not an inferior being, he was being acknowledged and it pleased him more than it should. He smiled, "stupid monster..."