Sonjia shrugged. "The only thing I can think of is physical attacks. The spell only blocks direct energy, like magic, but not indirect energy, like a physical blow. But he's still a Mazoku, which means physical attacks wouldn't hurt him anyway."

"How about my sword?" Gourry asked. "What would you call it? Physical or magic?"

"Uh, swords are physical," Sonjia replied, thinking that Gourry must be extremely dense to have to ask a question like that.

"No, I mean this sword," he said, pulling out the hilt, revealing that it had no blade. Before Sonjia could ask, he held the hilt out and shouted, "Light come forth!" A beam of white light erupted from the hilt, flowing out to a point, like that of a sword.

Sonjia stared at it, amazed. "Eeeeh?! How on earth did you get a weapon like that?"

Gourry scratched his head. "Uh, the Sword of Light's been passed down through my family for years. I don't really know where they first got it, though. But, anyway, would this work?"

Sonjia examined it thoughtfully. "I… don't really know. I don't know that much about the Gorn Nova and the other light weapons." She looked up at the wall she was leaning against. "Try hitting this wall with it and see if it does anything."

"Uh, what would that do?" Gourry asked.

Sonjia got up and moved away. "Just do it."

"Okay…" Gourry raised his sword and slashed across the wall with it. But as soon as it hit the wall, the part of the light blade touching it disappeared. After he completed his swing, the wall was completely unscathed.

"Just as I thought," said Sonjia, sighing. "The blade is pure energy, strengthened by the will of the holder. Even though it doesn't appear to be pure magical energy, it's still direct energy, so it won't work against him."

All Gourry could understand of that was the "it won't work" part. "Oh," he said, sheathing his sword. "So, what else can we do?"

"Well, there is something else," said Sonjia. "Since the shield would disable his magical abilities, he would lose any power associated with being a Mazoku. So, he probably wouldn't be able to heal himself if he got hurt physically. But I think he knows that, so he won't be too careless if we try…" She was interrupted by a brick falling on her head. Everyone looked up and saw a dark figure floating overhead.

"Aaah! The Mazoku came after us!" Amelia shouted. "What did you do to Lina-san and Zelgadis-san?"

The Mazoku floated downwards, thinking. "Well, nothing recently. Or are you referring to the numerous other times I've played games with them?"

Amelia sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just Xellos-san… What are you doing here?"

Xellos landed and pointed his staff at Sonjia. "It appears that I've found a god, an enemy of my people. So, I suppose I should destroy her."

Sonjia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, nice to see you too. And it's 'goddess', not 'god'. Keep those straight, Smirk Boy."

Xellos shook his head and clicked his tongue. "My my, resorting to petty name-calling is a little drastic, isn't it? I'm sure we can resolve this in a less vulgar manner."

"Resolve what? There's no reason for me to be at odds with you," Sonjia countered.

"Oh, but of course there is, my dear! You are a god, I am a Mazoku. We are natural enemies, you know."

Sonjia huffed. "No, I don't know! And I'm a godDESS!! Mazoku and gods are simply opposite ends of the spectrum. You got that? Opposites, not enemies."

"That kind of talk won't save you," said Xellos, building up a ball of dark energy. He threw it at Sonjia, who just sighed.

"Oh, enough already!" she groaned as she placed her hand against the wall, letting the energy ball evaporate as it hit her. She looked at Xellos and raised an eyebrow. Removing her hand from the wall for a moment, she looked at him again before putting her hand back. "Wait a minute, you are a Mazoku, right?"

Xellos scratched his chin. "Last time I checked."

Sonjia removed and replaced her hand on the wall again, all while still scrutinizing him. "Then why do I see you as a human whether I can see through magic or not? Did you used to be human? Is that your true form?"

And to that, Xellos's reply was so painfully obvious that I won't even bother repeating it here.

"Ah, figures," said Sonjia, sulking. "Anyway, don't worry about defeating me. Your Mazoku friend should probably be higher on your eradicate list than I should."

"Actually, while I was gone, I found out something interesting about him," said Xellos. "But I'm afraid that it's a secret."

Amelia sweatdropped. "Then why did you even bother bringing it up?"

Xellos grinned. "Oh, just to keep you curious."

"Oh, what's the harm in telling that one little secret, Xellos-kun?" Jadarin called from atop a nearby roof. "I'm sure they would find it rather interesting!"

"See?" said Sonjia, pointing up towards Jadarin. "Get him, not me. He's annoying." She looked up at the cat Mazoku, then choked. "What the…?" She looked behind her and realized her hand was still pressed against the wall. Tentatively, she removed it and looked back up at him. "Mazoku…" she whispered to herself, then put her hand back on the wall. The image in front of her shifted slightly, showing everything as it truly was, unaffected by magic. "No… It… it can't be!"

Jadarin shifted his weight and smiled. "Well, looks like two of you understand now. Would the rest of you care to try?"

"Care to try what?" asked Gourry.

"I dunno, touching the wall maybe," said Amelia, placing her hand against it and looking back up at Jadarin. "Hey, he looks different!" she observed. "He's got feathered wings now!" She looked at Sonjia. "But, I don't understand what the big deal is about--ack!" Amelia blinked and gasped, realizing what she was seeing. "Sonjia-san…! Is that… is that your true form?" she asked. She looked up at Jadarin, then back down at Sonjia. "Ano, you two look a lot alike…"

Sonjia's shoulders were shaking. "'The Mazoku got him', huh? Sis, why didn't you tell me?"

"Your revelations are all very touching, but in the end, it really makes no difference," Jadarin called to them. He leapt down from the roof and grabbed Sonjia roughly by the wrist. "Jeez, I can't take my eyes off you for a second, and you go off and mess things up."

Sonjia didn't try to fight back. "I'd say just about everything's messed up by now."

"True, but I'd rather have as little interference as possible," Jadarin replied. He snapped his fingers and produced a silver thread. "Ah, wonderful. It works again."

"So, you're going to kill me with that to make sure I don't mess things up again?" said Sonjia. "Why? You were as opposed to the use of that spell as the rest of us."

Jadarin laughed. "Oh, heavens no! If I were to kill you, it wouldn't be with this little thing. However," he said, turning to Amelia, Gourry, and Xellos, "I won't spare such liberties with the likes of them."

Sonjia's eyes widened as she realized what he was planning to do. Without even thinking, she reached out and snatched the string from his fingertips. Her thought process caught up with her about a second later. And then realization slammed into her like a brick wall.

"I am such an idiot," she whispered to herself as she looked down at her hand and watched the silver thread absorb into her skin. She cringed, waiting for what she assumed would be immense pain-the pain of having her very essence ripped from her. And being a creature of magic, there was quite a bit to rip away. She waited to feel the strands multiply and engulf her body, to penetrate every piece of her until there was nothing left.

Oddly, nothing ever happened. After a moment, she gingerly opened one eye and noticed she still existed, and none the worse for wear.

"Why?" she whispered, flexing her hand. "Why didn't it do anything to me?" She looked up at Jadarin. "What did you do to counter that spell?"

Jadarin chuckled. "I did nothing. But like I said, if I wished to kill you, it wouldn't be with that."

"Then why?" Sonjia demanded, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "Why the hell didn't it work on me?"

Jadarin held up a warning finger. "Watch your mouth, young lady. Enough questions for now." With that, he pinned both of Sonjia's arms behind her back and levitated into the air with her. "Perhaps I should find something more suitable for you to do." He then teleported away, Sonjia in tow.

"Sonjia-san!" Amelia shouted. "What's he going to do to her?"

"Pardon me for asking, but what is so important about that little silver string of his?" Xellos asked.

Amelia blinked, then realized that Xellos hadn't been there when Sonjia explained the Magic Lock. "Um, it's a killer shield," Amelia tried to explain. "It sucks up magic, I think."

"Oh, didn't she say some things about how it makes you see weird stuff?" said Gourry. "And there was that part about not being able to swim or something." He scratched his head. "And don't you lock stuff up with it? And then there was all that stuff with the rocks and the circle. I didn't get that."

Xellos realized that the two had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. No surprise there, really. But if they couldn't remember it, it couldn't have been that important.

So, after deciding that, Xellos took off on his own after the two. He was powerful enough to take them on, and wouldn't lose to the likes of Jadarin again.

Zelgadis searched the town frantically for any sign of Amelia or Gourry. He would call for them, but he was afraid the Mazoku might hear him. The lack of response probably meant that Sonjia had killed them, or talked them into going off to some dangerous place. Those idiots. Lina wouldn't last much longer in her condition.

A sound caught his attention. As he listened, it sounded almost like… bickering. He followed the sound until he rounded a corner and saw Amelia and Gourry arguing with each other.

"Didn't the spell have to do with eating?" Gourry asked. "She talked about being hungry."

"Gourry-san, that was something else completely! It's more like a magnet!" Amelia retorted.

"Wasn't there something about it giving you gas, though?" said Gourry.

"What? No, but maybe it was about choking on something," Amelia said.

"What are you two talking about?" Zelgadis asked, laying Lina on the ground.

"You know, I can't even remember," said Gourry. He then noticed Lina. "Lina! What happened to her?"

"It was the Mazoku," said Zelgadis. "He attacked us, completely intent on killing her."

"Really?" said Amelia. "He was just here a few minutes ago. How did you two get away?"

"I don't know," Zelgadis replied. "He was about to finish us off, then left for some reason. Anyway, Amelia, get to work on Lina. She needs a healing spell fast."

"Right." Amelia immediately got to work casting a recovery spell on Lina. "But I don't think I have enough power to give her a full recovery. I've got enough to get rid of any life-threatening injuries, but I can't get rid of all of them. Maybe Sonjia-san could, since she's a goddess."

Zelgadis looked around. "Where is she, anyway?"

Gourry pointed at the sky. "That Mazoku thing took her. He showed up and pulled out one of those little silver string things, but then Sonjia grabbed it and was all scared of him. And then she kept yelling at him about why it didn't work or something."

Zel sat there a moment, trying to piece all that together. All he could really think of was, "So, are you saying that the Mazoku used his silver spell on Sonjia, but it didn't do anything to her?"

Gourry thought. "Yeah, I guess so."

Zelgadis smirked. "Hmph, I thought she was exaggerating it quite a bit. Looks like it can't kill everything and anything."

Lina coughed and tried to speak. "You've got to fight without magic…"

"Lina-san! You're okay!" said Amelia. "Yeah, Sonjia-san already told us to fight the Mazoku physically instead of with magic."

Lina opened her eyes and looked around. "I couldn't really hear all of what you were saying," she groaned. "What was that about the silver spell and Sonjia?"

Amelia scratched her head. "Um, as far as I can tell, it didn't work on her. She grabbed the string, and it went into her hand, and it didn't do anything. And then the Mazoku took her away, and Xellos followed them."

Lina's brow furrowed. "Why wouldn't it work? That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know," Amelia said. "Where do you suppose he took her? He said he wanted to make her do something more productive right before he left. What did that mean?"

"Well, if we believe everything she said," Zel said, "the only thing I can think of is that he's going to have a face-off with the Gold Dragons for control of the spell."

Amelia thought about that. "Oh, that's right. We thought that the Gold Dragons killed her sister and took the power for the spell. But I still think it was a little careless of her sister to just wander around with power like that when anyone could kill her and take it."

Zelgadis shook his head. "Well, what exactly could anyone do about that, Amelia?"

Amelia shrugged. "I dunno. Secretly transfer the control power to someone else and seal them up somewhere where no one would find them, maybe?"

Lina coughed a little more harshly and tried to sit up. "What?!"

Amelia tried to get Lina to lie back down. "Lina-san, you shouldn't be moving!"

Lina pushed her away, and tried to stand up. "No time! We have to find Sonjia fast!"

Zel was taken aback by this. "What? Why?"

"Because," said Lina, "Jadarin's gonna kill her."