Xellos Metallium finished the prophecy gravely, eyes closed and brow knotted with worry. Lina had blanched to a ghostly white, and Zelgadis merely stared into the horizon. Gourry looked about ready to pass out, and Ameria already had.

"So that's it, then." Zelgadis murmured. "A no-win situation. Either way, I die. One way or another, I'll never be human again."

"Don't say that!" Lina jumped up angrily. "We beat the Second Seal together, and that other you was damn certain we couldn't! We've defeated Shabranigdo before, right? C'mon, Zel, we can beat him together again!"

"Lina... Shabranigdo... Rezo died with the Dark Lord, remember?" The Shamanist shook his head. "If... When you kill him, I'll die as well."

"Then I won't kill him." She stubbornly crossed her arms.

"But Lina, he'll destroy the world if you don't, won't he?" Gourry asked, looking confused even though he was correct.

"I don't care," she stated, "I'm not going to kill Zelgadis."

"Lina, you don't have a choice." Xellos shook his head. "When the Third Seal Shatters, Shabranigdo will be released. If you defeat him, Zelgadis will die, but the world will go on. If you don't, the Dark Lord will destroy all that lives."

"The needs of the many prevail over the needs of the few." Ameria added, having since awoken. "No matter how much we care for those... few."

"Lina." Zelgadis slowly drew up to his full height, , standing close to her so his soft words would be heard only by her. "If someone has to be the one to end my life, I... I want it to be you, and only you. I wouldn't mind dying... not if you were there for me, to end my pain." He held her close, his ivory cloak wrapping around them both in a moment's worth of sentiment.

"Zel, I don't wanna have to kill you." She sobbed into his off-white shirt, allowing herself the weakness of tears. "I don't wanna ever hurt you."

"Then do what you have to, to save the world." He gently stroked her neck, whispering his words into her hair. "Nothing you do now will change the way... the way I feel about you."

"Zel..." She closed her eyes as he raised her chin to his.

"Shhh, I... I want to remember this moment..." His stone lips brushed against hers as he spoke, almost kissing, but holding back at the same time. "I want... I want to keep this as my dying memory."

"Zelgadis Greywers, don't you dare talk like that!" She wrapped her arms around him as she cried. "You won't die, I won't let it happen!"

"Lina." The Shamanist bent to kiss her on the lips, even as Xellos started from his trance-like state.

"No, wait!" He shouted, but too late. "The Third Seal... Lina lookout!"

"What?" She asked, breaking the kiss.

"The Third Sea - " Xellos was cut short as Zelgadis spun around, one eye blood red, and the other pure black. The chimera shot a lance of dark energy at the Mazoku, which solidified and impaled him.

"Zel!?!" Lina yeled as his arm held her captive against his waist.

"Fiery girl, aren't you?" He chuckled in a voice not his." I can see why the Greywers boy takes to you so." No, that wasn't Zelgadis' gentle tenor at all. The rough echoing bass of the alien voice could only have been that of Shabranigdo.

"Zelgadis, stop!" Ameria screamed, tears running down her face as her mouth traced the incantation of: "RA-TILT!"

"Heh." The possessed chimera snorted, and dispelled the blast easily. "That was pathetic. Try a FIREBOMB!" A discus of pure fire flew from his free hand, shot at the princess, and embedded itself in the ground at her feet.

"Ha! You missed!" She laughed, powering up another shamanist attack.

"Did I?" He smirked. "Perhaps I wasn't aiming direct for you."

"Wha - ?!" The ground beneath her shook, then errupted in a pillar of the destructive element.

"LIGHT COME FORTH!!!"