Wed, 9 Jun 1999 
Some spelling and grammar fixes and one scene added to the first
quater of the fic.

HALF A SORCERESS

Chapter 3: Fight! Showdown in the Amazon Village!

written by: Jussi Nikander

Ranma 1/2 is a copyright by Rumiko Takahashi.
Slayers is copyright by Hajime Kanzaka, Rui Araizumi, TV
Tokyo, SOFTX, Egg Films
Not used under authorisation, but since I don't get any
money from this, don't sue me, okay?

I'd like to thank Barry Cadwgan for prereading this.

previous chapters can be found at

http://www.users.fl.net.au/~bcadwgan/Anime.htm

Confused by the spells? Look at authors notes at the end
of this chapter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lina flexed her arms and stood up, looking around in the
valley.

<Ranma? Are you there?>

For a few moments there was silence.

<Yeah,> Ranma finally said. <I think I am. This is really
weird, you know. It feels like... feels like you're watching
somebody else's life or something...>

Lina grimaced a little. She knew well how Ranma was
feeling. <I know. Been there, remember?>

<Yeah. Now, when we know you can control the body too,
how about giving it back?>

<What? Are you expecting me just sit in the back of your
head all the time?> Lina asked, walking to the near-by
stream.

<Hey! It's my body!>

Lina scooped up a handful of water and turned female before
answering. <May have been, but I'm in it now too!>

<Hey! It ain't like you can just march in and take over my life
you crazy chick!!>

<And I'm not going to just stand in the back of your head for
the rest of my life you moron!!>

                        * * *

In about a hour or so, after much arguing, some reasoning
and a couple of half-hearted apologies Lina and Ranma
finally reached a tentative agreement. Each would have the
control of the body every other day, except in an emergency
where the other's skills were needed.

Whether the young martial artist and sorceress liked each
other or not, they'd just have to get along. This fight had
proved that.

Suddenly Lina stopped near a largeish boulder, eyeing it
speculatively. This was as good a time as any to see if the
Mazoku were still around and if she could still cast any
powerful magic at all.

<What are you doing, Lina?> Ranma asked.

<I have to try something.> Lina answered as she closed her
eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Lina cleared her mind of distractions.
What she was going to try was a fairly simple spell, for her
anyway, but she had been extremely weak before. While she
did feel perfectly all right now, it was still best to be careful.
Lina opened her eyes and started chanting.

"Dragon of Darkness which sleeps in the inferno!
Let your roar burn my enemy to ashes!
GAAV FLARE!"

A small red sphere formed in Lina's hands, and shot towards
the boulder. The spell, however, dissipated halfway to its
target.

Ranma was speechless. The girl really was a sorceress.

For a while Lina was quiet. Nothing had happened. She
hadn't felt Gaav the Chaos Dragon giving her any power.
She hadn't felt Gaav at all, the Mazoku simply wasn't there.
And if Gaav wasn't around...

"Okay, lets try something else then," Lina whispered.

<Uhh, try what?>

<Try another method to see if the Mazoku are still around;
this is the quickest way.>

<Mazoku? You mean those monster guys?>

<Yes. Anyway, the most powerful of the spells of black magic
get power from the Mazoku. So, if I can't cast them, the
Mazoku aren't there. Gaav wasn't around, that last spell
confirmed it, so lets see if Shabranigdo is still alive.>

If Ranma had had control of the body, he would have
bigsweated. Granted, he didn't know much about magic, but
that didn't sound like a good idea. <Uhh... Are you sure it's
wise?>

Lina blinked. <What do you mean?>

<...Like, if this Shabri-whatshisname guy's around and you
mooch off his power for this... spell, then wouldn't he realize
you're around? You told me that you beat him once, so he
might be a little angry or something.>

Lina snickered. <Don't worry. If Shabranigdo was awake, we
wouldn't be here having this conversation. If he's still alive,
he's... well, sleeping is as good a term as any. He won't be
able to harm us. Now...>

Lina closed her eyes once more began chanting. If this
worked, she'd create the light show of the century...

"Darkness beyond twilight,
crimson beyond blood that flows,
buried in the flow of time..."

                        * * *

Lina's shoulders slumped after she had released the spell.
Her Dragon Slave had turned out to be quite a
dissapointment. It had reached the rock, but hadn't been
strong enough to even torch the moss that grew on it.

<Okay,> Lina mused. <I think we can conclude that black
magic won't be of any use. Now one more test...> Waving her
hand, Lina caused a spehere of warm water materialize over
her, turning her into a guy in short order.

<Why did you do that?> Ranma asked.

<I have to know how your body reacts to magic,> Lina
answered before taking a stance that suggested that she was
holding an invisible bow and arrows in her hands.

"Source of all power..." Lina wrinkled her forehead in
concentration. "Wind which blows to the east..."
For a few moments Lina held the stance, while nothing
happened. Finally, she relaxed and sat down.

"Hoo, boy... I never though I'd have this problem..." she
muttered in annoyance.

<What do you mean?> a confused Ranma asked.

Lina sighed. <It seems that the internal mana flows in your
body are completely shut down.>

<Huh?>

<I mean, you, or I in your body, can't do magic.>

<I can't?>

<Nope. Even back in my days there were a few people who
couldn't do single spell. I guess...>

<Why?>

<You mean why you can't do magic?>

<Yeah.>

Lina shrugged. <Some people are born that way. Magic
works OK on them, they can use magical tools and weapons,
but learing to cast spells is impossible for them. I never
bothered to find out why. Wasn't my problem, you know.>

<Oh.>
                        * * *

Lina was deep in thought as she walked back to the
Saotome's camp. Shabranigdo hadn't been there. And
without him to give power to her Dragon Slave, all the spell
had accomplished was to drain her already low reserves
even more.

Shabranigdo wasn't  there any more, which probably meant
that the rest of the Mazoku were also gone. Lina had a mixed
feelings the monsters' disappearence. Certainly, the world
was a better place without the Mazoku.

Even if the monsters had powered Lina's most potent spells,
she didn't like them one bit. But, with the Mazoku gone, her
magical powers were greatly diminished. Until she found an
alternate source of energy, black magic wasn't an option.

Well, she could do one hell of a mean fireball, so it wasn't
_that_ bad...

"There you are, err... son," Genma said when he saw Ranma.
If he hadn't known it, he would never had guessed that the
young girl walking to the camp was his son. Ranma's girl-
form - Genma winced at the thought - was completely unlike
his real body. The small, petite body, the carrot-coloured hair
and bright red eyes, round face and pale skin were
completely unlike Ranma's manly features. Genma thanked
all gods he knew that the curse wasn't irreversible. "Where
have you been?" he finally continued. "We're ready to move
on."

Lina flipped an errant strand of hair off her face. "Nowhere in
particular, pops. I had some things to figure out."

"Ah, yes, yes," Genma said, laughing a little. Why did that
comment unnerve him? "Now, just wait here and I'll bring you
some hot water." Genma turned to fetch the kettle, not even
bothering to wait for his son's answer.

Lina smirked at Genma's turned back and muttered a small
spell under her breath. For a second, a soft white glow
surrounded her. The old man was in for a surprise.

The Guide looked at Mr... er, Miss customer a little
perplexed. Had she been glowing for a second? It was none
of his business, of course, he was just a guide, but still...
Quickly, the Guide fastened the last strap of his own
backpack and settled down to watch. This might become
interesting.

After fumbling around a little, Genma was able to lift the hot
kettle off the fire. Unmindful of the temperature of the water,
he walked back to his son.

<Uhh, Lina, that kettle looks hot...>

Lina's smirk widened. <Yup! It doesn't look like it's bothering
your pop, though.>

<Yeah, well...>

<Don't worry. This won't hurt a bit.>

Quickly, Genma poured the boiling contents of the kettle on
his son. On the last moment, he realised that he could have
waited a while for the water to cool down, but it was too
late now. No matter, a little pain would just build Ranma's
character.

"WHAAAAAT!!!" The kettle fell from Genma's numb fingers,
his jaw almost hit the ground, and overall, every part of the
elder Saotome's body showed his total, complete, and utter
surprise. Ranma was standing there, in a cloud of quickly
dissipating steam, completely unhurt, grinning, dry, and still
female.

<H-h-how!??> Ranma couldn't believe it. The water hadn't
touched him, uh, her, no, Lina. <What did you do!?!?>

<Oh, relax. It was a simple umbrella spell. I just created a
weak forcefield around myself that repelled the water.>

"Well, pops..." Lina said, still smirking. "I guess I lied to you a
little. I'm not Ranma. My name is Lina Inverse, I'm the girl
who drowned in that spring." Lina offered Genma her hand.
"Nice to meet you."

Genma was still in shock. He looked at the hand, then at Lina
and again at the hand. A small part of his brain recognised
the gaijin form of greeting he had seen in TV so many times,
but the rest paid it no mind. Not Ranma? Drowned in the
spring? Lina Inverse?

Lina kept her hand there for a few seconds, but when it came
apparent that Genma wasn't going to take it, she lowered it
and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you don't have to if you
don't want to." Lina walked past Genma to pack her
backpack.

The guide lit his pipe. Indeed, this journey was very
interesting. He would have to tell Plum all about it when he
got home.

For a few minutes all was quiet at the camping place. Lina
packed her things (or actually Ranma's, but since they
shared the same body, they were her's too, right?), the Guide
smoked his pipe, and Genma was frozen in place, trying to
digest what had just happened.

Then, slowly, carefully, Genma turned around, and crept
towards Ranma. No, scratch that, it wasn't Ranma right now,
but that Lina girl. She had apparently taken over his son's
body again, stealing Ranma of his rightful body and form.
The last time, Ranma had come back when the girl had lost
consciousness. Surely, it would work again. As Genma crept
forward, he pictured in his mind how his son would thank him
for saving him.

Lina was completely unaware of Genma's actions, packing
her pack had occasionally asking or commenting about
some of Ranma's things, until she heard an ear-splitting kiai
behind her. Lina turned her head just in time to see a fist
coming at her face. Using reflexes she didn't know she had
(and indeed, in her previous life didn't have) Lina moved her
head to the side, just in time for Genma's fist to miss, and
rolled away, coming to her feet a meter and half from the
older man.

Shouting another kiai, Genma rushed at the girl, intent on
saving his son. Unfortunately, she was somehow able to
dodge again and jump away. So the girl knew how to fight? It
mattered not, she could not defeat a master of Anything-
goes.

Lina's eyes narrowed. <What the hell does your pop think
he's doing!?>

<I dunno. Maybe it's one of his surprise training sessions.>
Ranma didn't really believe in what he said himself. Neither
did Lina.

The next blow wasn't any wild swing, designed to surprise an
unskilled opponent, but a well-calculated attack of a martial
arts master that Lina had no chance of dodging. She was hit
by a fist, then foot, elbow and another fist in a rapid
combination that threw her back and left her head ringing. It
hurt.

Shaking her head to clear it, Lina stood up. "Now I'm mad."
the young sorceress muttered. Genma stood a few meters
away, ready to attack again. Lina wasn't going to give him a
chance.

There was no time for finesse, to prepare the spell properly.
But, it being one of Lina's favourite spells, she knew this
particular one extremely well.

"DILL BRANDO!!!"

Genma didn't have time to do anything, as the ground around
him suddenly exploded, throwing him high up into the air.

The Guide almost dropped his pipe. He had never seen
anything like this before.

                        * * *

Genma came around slowly. What had happened? He had a
vague memory of attacking Ranma, and then nothing. No,
wait, it wasn't Ranma he had attacked, but Lina. Somehow
the girl had usurped his son's body, and being the loving
father he was, Genma had tried to free his son. It had gone
well, until... the girl had made ground explode around him?

"Ah! Mr. Customer is awake?" Genma suddenly heard the
Guide's voice.

"Well, it was about time." Another voice. The girl, Lina.

Genma sat up slowly, grateful to notice that he seemed to be
alive and well, and looked around. The Guide was sitting
next to him, a somewhat concerned look on his face. The girl
was sitting a little ways off, looking pretty angry. Genma
swallowed hard. "Wh... What have you done to my son?"

"Oh, was that all it was about?" Lina asked. It had to be one
of the most ridiculous reasons she had ever been
attacked. "Ranma's fine, it's just my turn to be in control
today."

"Your... turn?"

Lina nodded. "We made a deal. I get to be in control every
other day."

"Oh..." Genma gingerly stood up. "Uhh... What did you do to
me?"

Lina's face darkened a little. "I blasted you." At Genma's
incredulous look she continued. "I'm a sorceress, I blasted
you with a spell." She created a small ball of energy in her
hand. "Now, if this ever happens again..."

Fast as lightning, Genma thought of his options. The girl said
she was a sorceress, a claim backed up by the ball of energy
she had created. Sure, it could be ki, but that would mean
she had incredible control over it. Either way, Genma was in
trouble. What should he do? Quickly, he fell to his knees,
and bowed down to the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry..."

Looking at the grovelling man, Lina couldn't help but sigh.
<You know, Ranma, your dad isn't just stupid. He's
completely spineless.>

                        * * *

Lina wiped sweat off her brow and looked ahead. She,
Genma and the Guide had been travelling across the
Chinese countryside for several hours now, and Lina was
getting hungry. Her new body, shared with Ranma, was much
better conditioned than her old one, so she wasn't very tired
from carrying the over forty pound backpack. But still...
"Hey, old man! When are we going to stop to eat? I'm
hungry!" Lina called out.

<You're hungry again?> Ranma asked. Even he didn't have
that big an appetite.

<Oh, shut up.>

Genma turned to look at Lina. "Not just yet son. A true martial
artist shouldn't complain about such small matters as food."

Inside her head, Lina heard Ranma snort.

"Well, pops," Lina began, marching towards Genma. The
man seemed to have a really lousy memory. "In case you
failed to notice it the last time, let me say it again: I'm not
your son." She let the magical energies gather into her hand
created a miniature storm cloud over Genma's head. He
immediately turned into a panda. Ranma snickered.

The panda visibly sweated, even as it was drenched in
rain, and held up a sign, saying: "I'm sorry Lina-san. Could
you turn off the cloud?" He flipped the sign over. "Please?"

"When do we eat?" Lina asked, a slight menace in her
voice. Genma started to sweat even more.

"You no worry, Miss Customer." The Guide said, smoking his
pipe while he walked on. "Soon we come to the
Joketsuzoku village. I sure you can buy food there."

Lina's mood brightened immediately at the mentioning of a
village. She ran to the Guide. "A village?" The excited
sorceress asked. "Where? Where??"

At just that moment the trio came to a crest of a hill. There
was a large, lush valley ahead of them, and in the middle of
the valley was a small village. Even from the top of the hill
they could see some kind of commotion going on the
central square of the village.

"Ah, Mr Customer, Miss Customer. You come here at very
good moment," The Guide said, walking towards the village.
"The village womans have a fighting contest right now."

Genma held up a sign, "A fighting contest?" while Lina just
raised an eyebrow. Inside her head she could feel Ranma's
curiosity rising.

The Chinese man nodded. "Yes. This village has many
womans, they all very good fighting and every year they have
a contest to see who best fighter."

"Does this mean that there's nobody selling food there right
now?" Lina asked.

<Is that everything you're thinking about, Lina?> Ranma
asked inside her head.

<I'm hungry, okay?>

Lina could feel Ranma mentally rolling his eyes. <You ate
just a few hours ago.>

<I like to eat! Besides, sorcery takes a lot of energy!>

"Miss Customer?" the Guide asked. It seemed like Miss
Customer ignoring him again. Probably talking with Mr
Customer who was now living in her head. It was a very weird
situation. The Chinese man wondered if the elders of the
Amazon village could help the two in their problem.

"Huh?" Lina blinked a few times and looked at the Guide.
"What did you say?"

"I say: I sure there are people selling food there, since it a
very big event. I sure you can get food once we in the
village."

Lina smiled. "So what are we waiting for here?" She sped
into the valley at top speed, leaving Genma and the Guide
behind.

"Ah, Miss Customer sure have healthy appetite. Is that not
so, Mr Customer?" The Guide asked, looking at the dust
could left behind by Lina.

"Indeed," read in the sign Genma held up.

                        * * *

Lina was an extremely fast runner, when needed to be, so it
took her less than a minute to reach the village.

<Geez, you really are hungry, aren't you?> Ranma
commented. Lina's left eyebrow started twitching while she
looked around.

<I told you sorcery takes a lot of energy! And your appetite
isn't that small either, remember.>

<At least I don't have to eat once every hour,> Ranma
retorted.

<Oh, shut up!> Just then Lina saw a _large_ buffet table
sitting on the edge of the huge village square. Even if all the
villagers seemed to have gathered on the square, the table
was still full of all sorts of food. Losing no more time the
young sorceress headed for the feast.

A huge array of exotic foods, was laid on the table. Meat,
vegetables, fruits, buns, food of every sort. It was a heaven
for Lina Inverse. She started inhaling the food.

After a minute or two of heavy-duty eating Lina felt well
enough to look at whatever was happening on the square. In
the middle of the square there was a great log, held in mid-
air by a pair of ropes tied into four wooden pillars. On the log
two women were fighting. One of them was a huge giant of a
human and was using a large poleaxe as her weapon. Her
opponent was a young, maybe sixteen year old, girl who had
a purple hair and was using a pair of sperical mace. All the
other villagers had gathered around the log to watch the
fight.

<She's good, you know,> Ranma commented.

<Who?> Lina asked, stuffing a pair of rice buns in her mouth.
She was quite happy that she didn't have to have her mouth
empty to talk to Ranma. It made things easier.

<The purple-haired girl. She's gonna win.> Since Ranma
wasn't in control of the body, and thus didn't have to worry
about things like hunger, he could direct his full attention to
the fight. When Lina was looking at the fight, that is.
Unfortunately for the young boy, she seemed more interested
in food than battle.

<Well, you're the martial arts expert.> Lina said, turning her
attention back to the feast. In the back of her head a small
warning voice asked her why nobody else was eating at the
buffet, but the voice was drowned under the two much more
insistent ones. One was begging for some pork, while the
other wanted more rice buns.

<Lina, could you watch the fight more than the table!? I
wanna see what happens!> Ranma asked, slightly irritated at
how much more attention Lina paid to the food than to the
match. He never wanted to miss a martial arts show.

<Umm.. Just a moment.> Lina quickly decided that pork was
better than rice balls, grabbed a huge piece of the fried meat
that was on the table and looked up at the fight.

The huge woman jumped high into the air, bellowing a
equally huge battlecry and swiped repeatedly at the smaller
girl when coming down. The purple-haired girl calmly blocked
all the larger woman's attacks, and kicked the giant towards
horizon just before the large woman touched down on the
log.  All around the log people started cheering for the
winner.

"Aiyah! Miss Customer! Why you eating the first prize??"
Came a surprised voice behind Lina. The young sorceress
turned around to look at the horrified Guide and impassive-
looking panda who had just arrived. At the same time a
complete silence fell to the square, and Lina felt that all eyes
were on her. Slowly, carefully, she turned around, just in time
to see one of the purple-haired girl's mace imbed itself to the
ground beside her. The owner of the said mace was standing
behind it, looking mightily pissed off. Angrily, the girl said
something to Lina in Chinese.

Guide rushed to Miss Customer's side. The situation was
bad, really, really, really bad. Miss Customer had already
eaten more than a half of the grand prize of the Amazon
village's fighting contest. Now the winner of the contest was
demanding to know what had happened, and since the Guide
knew that Miss Customer didn't speak Chinese and that most
amazons didn't speak Japanese he would have to translate.
Which meant that the amazon would clearly see that he was
with Miss Customer. Which might mean that if they decided
to punish Miss Customer, they might punish him too. It was a
really, really, really bad situation.

Coming to Miss Customer's side, the guide started to
translate. "Why you eat my grand prize, she say," he said,
pointing at the purple-haired amazon.

Lina looked at the buffet table, at the angry young amazon
before her, then at the guide. Finally, she blinked. "Grand
prize?"

After a brief discussion in Chinese the amazon again said
something to Lina in an angry tone and the Guide translated.
"Every year in this village is a fighting contest. I, Shampoo,
the winner. Feast is grand prize. Why you eat grand prize.
She say," the Guide said, still pointing at the amazon.

Suddenly Lina realised just what she had done, dropped the
food she was still holding and started laughing nervously.
"Ehehehe... I..." She turned to look at the Guide. "Uhh...
Well... say to her that I didn't know that it was the grand
prize."

<Oh, great. Look at what you've done now,> Ranma said,
despairing.

<Shut up! I was hungry! How could I have know that it
wasn't a buffet but a prize! I don't speak Chinese!>

<You could have waited for the Guide to come you know.>

<Shut _up_!>

<We wouldn't be in this situation if you just had...>

<SHUT UP!! This ain't the time to argue!>

After a brief discussion with the amazon, the Guide started
translating again. "She say that she no care if you no know
that it the grand prize. She say that you offend her honor and
that her honour must be restored. That what she say."

Lina took a step back from the glaring amazon. <Uh-oh.
What do we do now? I don't want to fight the whole village.>

<You figure it out, you got us into this mess.>

Lina suddenly blinked. The solution was so easy. <It's a
prize! I can win it!>

Lina's confused and somewhat frightened look suddenly
turned into the one of utter confidence that she normally
wore. Lina smiled. "Tell her that I challenge her for the prize.
If I win it's mine, right?" she asked the Guide.

The Chinese man started sweating. "Err...You sure, Miss
Customer?" Lina nodded.

The Guide turned to the amazon and said something to her
in Chinese. The girl nodded and marched back towards the
log with Lina following her. Around the square everybody
started talking at once, and the whole place exploded with
noise.

<Okay, now let me out,> Ranma said, mentally smaking a fist
against his other palm.

<Huh? What do you mean?> Lina asked.

<So I can beat her.>

<I can easily beat her with my magic, Ranma,> Lina
reassured Ranma and jumped to the log.

<Uhh... I guess... But still, it'd be...>

<I'm all right. Trust me.>

<Like you trusted me in the fight with Ryouga?> Ranma
asked.

<Oh, leave that be already!>

<Well...> Ranma went silent as Lina jumped to the log.

Cologne frowned. There was something weird about girl. She
had an extremely powerful aura. Cologne hoped that her
great-granddaughter knew what she was doing.

Lina took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and stood
there, ready to cast her magic.

Shampoo's eyes narrowed in anger. The stranger wasn't
readying herself for a fight. She merely stood there, legs
slightly apart. It was nowhere near any kind of ready stance.
As the referee shouted "Begin!", Shampoo charged, lifting
her maces.

Lina smiled slightly. Her opponent charged recklessly. A
stupid thing to do, but it suited her fine. "DIEM WING!!"

A strong gust of wind knocked Shampoo backwards and
slammed her against the battle log's support pillars. Dazed,
the young amazon fell off the log with a thud and puff of dust.
Around the square people gasped in surprise.

Cologne narrowed her eyes. That was unlike any chi attack
she had ever witnessed. It had effects somewhat similar to
Hiryuu Shoten Ha, but felt completely different, as if it wasn't
powered by chi, but something else.

Lina jumped off the log. The referee of the match came to
her, spoke a few words in Chinese and lifted her arm. Lina
started smiling widely, all that food was hers now. She looked
at the Amazon girl, who seemed to be quite upset. The
Amazon stomped to Lina, took her chin to her hand, and
gave the young sorceress a kiss on the cheek. Around the
square, an new wave of gasps was heard. Lina looked at the
girl, confused, and rubber her chin. <Wha..Wha...Why did
she do _that_??>

There was no reply from Ranma. Suddenly, the obviously
scared Guide grabbed Lina's hand and started running away
from the village.

"Huh? Hey?? What are you doing!!" Lina screamed. What
was going on? She still had her victory feast to eat.

"This is very bad miss Customer!" the Guide explained while
running. "The Amazon girl give you a kiss of death!"

"A What?"

<Huh?>

"The Kiss of Death. The Amazon womans have a law..."

                        * * *

Cologne entered the large house that held the library of the
Joketsuzoku Amazons. The more she thought about it, the
more confident she was that whatever that outsider girl had
used, it wasn't a chi- attack. Taking out a particularly old
volume that discussed ancient and esoteric techniques,
Cologne settled down to read.

Several hours and few books later she was no closer to an
answer. While she had found descriptions of many
techniques that formed a wind of one kind or another, none
had described anything that was even close to that "Diem
Wing" the outsider had used.

Sighing, Cologne closed yet another book and hopped back
to the shelves. One of the younger Amazons had informed
her an hour ago that Shampoo had left to fulfil the Kiss of
Death. She hoped that her great-granddaughter would be
all right. Cologne reshelved the book and started to look for
another one. There were books about herb lore,
acupuncture, exotic martial arts techniques and many, many
other things, but there weren't many books in the library that
could help her in her search. Finally, Cologne's gaze landed
on a seldom-read book. Seldom-read, since there were
nobody alive who could really understand what was said
inside. Still, it might shed some light to the situation. Wiping
the dust off the book Cologne put it down to the table. There
was a six-pointed star in the cover of the book and a title:
"The Oulun Bible of Magic. By Zelgadis Greywers and
Amelia Wil Tesla Sailoon."

Twenty minutes later Cologne slammed the book shut and
quickly made her way out of the library building. Her great-
granddaughter might be in great danger.

end of chapter 3.

authors notes.

Not everybody has seen Slayers, and even those who have
seen it probably won't remember all the spells (not to mention
I'm be making up new spells when it suits my purposes), so
I'll try to tell a little about the spells used in this fic when they
first appear.

Gaav Flare: One of the more powerful spells of Black Magic.
The canonical Gaav Flare might or might not draw power
from the Mazoku Gaav; in this fic it does. Well, the
incantation would suggest it draws.

Dragon Slave: Being the magical equvalent of a tac-nuke, the
Dragon Slave is usually said to be the most powerful spell of
Black Magic. (there is at least one more powerful spell, the
Giga Slave, but that's not common knowledge in the world of
Slayers.) This spell is really, really powerful, capable of
wiping out whole cities and turning mountains into smoking
craters.

The full incantation for the Dragon Slave goes:

Darkness beyond twilight,
crimson beyond blood that flows,
buried in the flow of time.
In thy great name
I pledge myself to darkness.
Let all the fools
who stand in our way
be destroyed
by the power you and I posses.
DRAGON SLAVE!

Fireball: One of the more common spells of the world of
Slayers, the power of the fireball-spell can be adjusted from
'a half-hearthed slap' to 'let's blow up the house.' Probably
Lina's most favourite spell.

the umbrella spell: based on the Umbrella spell of
GURPS:Magic.

Dill Brando: This spell causes a circular area of earth to be
blown upwards, taking whoever and whatever is standing on
the target area with it. Also one of Lina's favourite spells.

That cloud-making spell: I made it up.

Diem Wing: This spell creates a powerful torrent of wind that
knocks the target backwards. It can also be used to drop
people or things into more convenient locations.
----------
Jussi Nikander
Jussi.Nikander@alien.nixu.fi
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