Slayers: Chaos

Chaos 57 to 59

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 057: Outmatched! The Hidden Power Remains Elusive

After the Great Beast jumped to light speed, Raily leaned back in his chair and let out a breath. "Just as Kain said, the main AI of the Great Beast is stubborn and proud. She won't accept help from us, just as she insisted on going off on her own and cutting communications with the Swordbreaker for now."

"But wasn't that done so that they wouldn't stand out?" Nina inquired curiously.

"That was the logical explanation," Raily agreed, "but not the whole story. Zelas wants to do as much as she can on her own. She doesn't want to be saved by a lord of light from another world. She had enough of that during her first encounter with Darkstar. It's probably more than enough for her to have to rely on humans from her world."

"I get it," Nina smiled. "Then giving her that hint was the best thing you could do to help her."

"Yes," Raily nodded, "I told her about the greatest weakness of the enemy and herself. I just hope she knows that it won't work on Dugradigdu, because of that Stillness business."

"The effect on Darkstar's allies is also reduced because of their connection to him, isn't it?" Nina remembered hearing something like that from Canal the last time they called the Swordbreaker. Nina was often catalogued as a scatterbrain, but it wasn't that she was entirely dumb, she was just a little clumsy, as proven by the tea stains on Raily's uniform.

"That's right," Raily confirmed. "That code can be their trump card, especially since it needs to be spoken by a human and the Darkstar's lost ships don't currently have captains inside them as far as we know. Besides, even if they got captains to boost their power, feeding off their negative energy, they would probably be trapped in an unconscious nightmare and both unwilling and unable to utter the phrase against the Great Beast. Yet they can't rely on that trump card too much, because after it's been used once, it won't be effective again for several hours, which is more than enough time to finish a battle."

xoxox xox xoxox

As the Great Beast continued its travels in relative calm, suddenly, the radars lit up, alerts flared and Zelas' relaxed posture turned fierce. "It's Bodigar!" She announced in alarm. "I was planning to face Bodigar and the others after I obtained the White Materia, for now let's jump to light speed!" The crew of the Great Beast braced themselves for the jump that came and went in a flash.

Yet after a few more hours of travel, the radars lit up on the screen again and Bodigar sent a transmission. There was no image to go along with it, only the sound of his voice. "Go ahead and waste your energy jumping if you want. I'll be right behind you. Even fake IDs can be tracked if you know what to look for. There are communication signals all around, surely you feel them, you must feel the digital plane."

"So you've found a way to track me," Zelas glared. "Thanks for explaining it," she mocked sarcastically. "I'll make sure to change my IDs after every stop from now on."

"You won't have any more stops, your rebellion ends here!" Bodigar threatened.

"Forget the plan, I'm taking him out right now," Zelas grinned confidently and for a moment she wondered if Raily had actually given her a free hint. He didn't even try to open fire after he spoke that paralyzing phrase. Either way, she didn't have time to think about that now. "Lina, say it!"

"With pleasure!" Lina took a deep breath and spoke with absolute confidence. "The one who arose from Darkstar, bows down in the name of Chaos!"

The effect was immediate; Bodigar cut the communication channel with a pained groan, as electricity surged through his dark green and black metal.