| Slayers |
| Episode 18: Return! The Red Priest is Back! |
| The scene zooms in on an area towered over by a huge clump of trees, the houses mere dots in comparison. The sunny day shows Lina, Gourry, and Amelia hitching a ride in a haywagon. "Wow, is that Flagoon, the Holy Tree of Sairaag?" Amelia asked in awe. They had finally gotten to their destination. Lina happily goes into the explanation. "They say that long ago, when the Swordsman of Light slew the Demon Beast Zanafar here in Sairaag, its body began to give off a miasma of infinite evil"- here an image of the described evil is seen -"that polluted everythinhg around it." Lina then explained that to get rid of this evil, the Swordsman had planted the seed of a holy tree, which eventually grew into the huge tree that towered over all of Sairaag. "I see..." Gourry muttered, though it was pretty obvious he wasn't really listening. Lina sweatdropped in response, throwing Gourry a disapproving side glance. "You're the descendant of the Swordsman of Light!" The scene pans to Gourry, next to Lina. "I vaguely recall hearing that story a lot, when I was a kid... but I NEVER paid attention!" he finished happily. "You never pay attention to anything!" Lina yelled at him, causing Amelia to tell them both to be quiet (they were still hiding under the hay). "They sure do have a lot of guards," commented Amelia, as the wanted posters of Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis were shown decorating the walls. Lina crossly noted that the security also seemed to be pretty high. "Looks like we'll have to wait till dark and sneak into the city," muttered Amelia. Gourry decided to go to sleep, and the others obliged, simply dropping asleep inside the haywagon until later. The moon is high in the night sky later, and Flagoon is shown towering over Sairaag as usual. The three travellers have already finished resting, and Lina and Amelia cast Levitation spells on themselves, carrying Gourry between them as they fly over Sairaag's gate and past the oblivious guards. Amelia and Lina land neatly on the other side of one of the buildings, and Gourry lands undramatically in a heap, not very happy. "Couldn't you hang onto me until we landed?!" he demanded. Gourry suddenly stops talking, as the three of them realize something is approaching. They dash to a small alleyway between buildings, and lean against the sides. Lina decides that "all we can do is grab whoever's nearby, and pump them for information". Gourry tells them to stop, saying that they're just going to get hurt by a bounty hunter, but fails in his attempts. "It's not like we're going to kill and eat them," comments Amelia. Gourry gives her a disbelieving look. "You're starting to think like Lina..." he says. This gets him in trouble. Amelia takes it as the most terrible insult of all, and Lina barrages him from the other end, asking him "what's wrong with how I think?" All of a sudden, everyone stops when a female voice gets their attention. Lina and Amelia immediately stop attacking Gourry, trying to look innocent. The newcomer has long black hair, and a shrine maiden's outfit, though the outfit also looks sort of royal, with the purple top and skirt, and the red jewels that match it. She's also wearing pale purple gloves and a dark green cape, and has a kind smile on her face. She surprises everyone, including Gourry, when she asks, "Is that you, Gourry dear?" Lina and Amelia have dumbfounded expressions on their faces, but Gourry looks like a deer caught in headlights; he clearly has no idea what's going on. Gourry doesn't recognize this person at all, and begins, "Who are...?" It seems that his puzzlement is well-known with this young woman, for she joyously says, "It IS you!" and embraces him. "I'm so happy to see you again!" Gourry seems like now he has some faint inkling of who this person could possibly be, but she "fills in the blank" by reminding him that her name is Sylphiel. She's indeed a shrine maiden from a nearby shrine, and they'd apparently met each other before Gourry had met Lina. "Sylphiel! Oh, THAT Sylphiel!" Gourry suddenly exclaims with recognition, as if he knew more than one Sylphiel. "I've been so worried since I heard that there was a bounty on you!" she mentions with worry. The three of them are invited back into her rather large house. The Slayers are next seen talking in the library, with Amelia questioning Gourry about his past relationships with Sylphiel. Gourry explained that he'd had an "accident" some time ago, and that she'd helped him out. "She's a really great cook!" he mentions, smiling. "That's how you remember things?!" Amelia asked in disbelief. "Figured it was something like that," added an unsurprised Lina. Sylphiel walks in with her father, who was glad that Gourry had made it there safely. "Oh, and who are they?" he asked, referring to Lina and Amelia. Lina gets up from her seat. "Hi there! I'm Lina!" she introduces herself cheerfully. "And I'm Amelia!" Amelia adds. Sylphiel's father gets no reaction from Amelia, as expected, but he certainly starts at Lina's name. "Lina?! As in Lina Inverse?!" "Why do I always get that reaction?!" Lina thinks, frustrated by the presumed lack of approval. "Well, I do have a price on my head..." The man continues: "Is it true that you look young but you're really 90 years old?" Lina falls over. "90 YEARS OLD?!" she exclaimed. "Figures", comments Amelia. "I never realized," Gourry mutters with a completely dumbfounded expression. Lina demands to know where the "stupid story" came from, and he replies that the rumor came from the person who had put the price on their heads in the first place, someone named Eris. "Eris... So, she's the one who framed me," Lina comments. Sylphiel explained that Eris had arrived about a month ago, spinning the stories about how Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis were terrible villains. "What? So some weird girl just comes into town...?" Lina asks in disbelief. Clearly, this was no basis for the wanted posters being put up everywhere. "I didn't believe Master Gourry would do anything like that," Sylphiel's father puts in, explaining his reason, "but she said that he was under control of the evil sorceress, Lina Inverse." "Someone's really out to ruin my name," states Lina bluntly. Sylphiel's father further went on to explain that Eris was a girl with "impeccable references". "There's a great man staying in this town. It seems that she's very close to Rezo, the Red Priest." "Rezo!" exclaimed Lina and Gourry. Lina has a quick flashback. "Rezo, the legendary Red Priest. And the man who resurrected the Dark Lord, Shabranigdo..." Zolf and Rodimus are seen in the flashback, as well as the insane Rezo as he was possessed by Shabranigdo and taken over. "... and very nearly destroyed the entire world!" Amelia's very happy about this, not believing that Lina and Gourry actually knew the Red Priest. "A wise man like him must have done so much to further the cause of justice!" exclaimed Amelia joyfully, while Lina looks like she's getting goosebumps at now naive Amelia was being. Gourry throws Lina a serious glance. "Lina! About Rezo..." he begins. Lina gives a curt nod.... "Who is he?" he asks, puzzled. Lina falls over, overcome by exasperation at Gourry's stupidity. "I know I'vce heard the name somewhere before..." he continues, as everyone stares at him. "... but I don't remember. It's right on the tip of my brain..." Lina suddenly gets up and grabs Gourry fiercely by the collar. "DON'T YOU DARE FORGET HIM!!!" she yells furiously. "C'mon, Rezo, the Red Priest?!" "Which one?" "The ONLY one! The guy nearly killed you, remember?!" Lina prompted again. "Uh............." Gourry thought. "You really don't remember, do you?! You moldy-brained zombie!" "Gourry dear, what's going on?" Sylphiel asked, getting back to the present bounty situation. "Oh, we don't know either," replied Gourry. Sylphiel admits that she'd been feeling that something horrible was about to happen in Sairaag. Gourry tells her not to worry about it, and Lina reassures everyone by saying that all they needed to do was get revenge on Eris. "So, where can we find Eris?" asked Amelia. "She's in a large mansion nearby," Sylphiel responded. The scene cuts to right at the doorway outside Sylphiel's house - the Slayers are getting ready to go. "Sorry to have imposed on you like this," Gourry apologized, but Sylphiel and her dad responded that it was no trouble at all. "Gourry dear, please be careful," warned Sylphiel, and thus the three of them left for Eris's mansion. One of the towers of the mansion was illuminated by eerie lighting, looking like a page right out of a horror movie. "I'd say we've found the bad guys' hideout," Lina comments crisply. "Let's go!" Lina picks a random spot on the tower near the ground, saying "I think we should go in here," to Amelia's disbelief. Gourry strikes once, making a perfect circle entrance, and the dumbfounded Amelia saw for the first time how great a swordsman Gourry really was. The three of them entered inside, and immediately found themselves in some kind of bizarre mad scientist laboratory environment. It was being used to research something, but they didn't know what. Amelia looked at one of the tubes filled with liquid, peering to see what was inside, and was disgusted and astounded when a one-eyed creature inside swam up to the edge of the glass to look at her. "This place is creeping me out," Gourry said. "Looks like nothing but chimeras in here," Lina agreed. Amelia asked what a chimera was, and Lina explained that they were combination life forms, created by combining parts of different creatures. "You can do that?" Gourry asked. Lina nodded, and then explained that if a person had enough power, they could even combine people with parts of other creatures... "No one should play with another person's life like that!" Amelia protested. Lina explained that the magic world was split in the ethics of that, but that she personally wasn't interested. Shifting back to their main purpose for coming, they continued through the laboratory until they came to the main "lobby", branching out to other rooms. Lifting his lantern as they went up the stairs, Gourry saw a huge portrait of Rezo. "Having that portrait here proves that the owner was connected to Rezo somehow..." Lina draws the conclusion. "Or to be more precise..." a voice says. They all look up at the source of the voice, and a woman is seen there clad with a black skirt and top, a black and red cape, and spikes on her shoulders. She looks pretty tough, overall. "This is just one of Rezo's mansions," she explained, and two familiar enemies showed themselves as well... "Zangulus!" Gourry exclaimed. "Vrumugun!" added Amelia. "So, you've finally showed yourself!" Lina says with an unusually confident expression, pointing towards the woman. "You're the one who's behind all this!" "Exactly! The one who put the price on your heads... and also sent Zangulus and Vrumugun after you... was I! Lina Inverse!" Lina's puzzled though, as to why this total stranger would bother to put a price on their heads. "Who are you?!" demanded Gourry. "My name is Eris," Eris responded. "I live to serve Rezo, the Red Priest!" Eris explained that the bounty was put up to lure them to Sairaag, where she wanted them. "That's why I stayed around here." "And why did you need to lure us here?" Amelia asked. "Yeah, what're you after?" Lina asked. Eris smiled. "One, to get the Sword of Light." Gourry's hands flung to his sword instinctively, protesting. "Oh, that's mine!" Lina says, as if that expained everything. She and Gourry then get into a big argument about who the Sword really belonged to, but with Lina having the last word. Eris doesn't say any more of her "plans". "If you won't give it to me, I'll just have to take it by force!" she declares, sending Zangulus and Vrumugun down to fight them. "It's time to end this," Vrumugun says, with Zangulus agreeing. Zangulus and Gourry immediately get into a swordfight as usual, while Lina and Vrumugun start a long duel with Flare Arrows and Freeze Arrows. "So, you're working for her, huh?" Gourry taunts. "Even if I have to be a servant, it doesn't matter now!" shot back Zangulus, still fighting. Amelia leapt up onto the pier where Eris was standing, challenging her to a fight. Unfortunately, she doesn't get it. "I'm afraid the one you get to fight will be this!" Eris says, as a completely hideous chimera comes out from the shadows behind her. "But... it's so..." Amelia starts to protest. Zangjulus brought up his sword in the signified gesture, and then brings it down with brute force, sending a huge shockwave at Gourry that knocks him off his feet. "Forgot you had that thing..." he mutteres helplessly. "Nothing can break the Demonic Howling Sword..." Zangulus says confidently. "which Rezo, the Red Priest, created for me!" "We'll see about that!" Gourry challenges, letting go of his normal sword and drawing the Sword of Light. "We'll see if the Sword of Light can break your sword!" Gourry says. "Icicle Lance!" Vrumugun says, doing the appropriate gestures. Lina barely has time to duck, and then the statue behind her turned to ice from the powerful attack. "You'll be next," stated Vrumugun. "Like hell I will! I'm not letting you turn me to ice!" Lina shot back. "Time for the big stuff!" She starts the incantation: "Dragon of Darkness which sleeps in the Inferno, Let your roar burn my enemy to ashes! Gaav..." "Not this time," Vrumugun interrupted, already casting his Icicle Lance quickly, freezing Lina into position. Amelia doesn't even want to fight her chimera; she's merely cowering in the corner. Also, Gourry seems to be struggling frantically to dodge the blasts of the Howling Sword. Finally, Lina breaks free of her hold of ice, and draws her sword. "You think you can beat magic with a sword?" asks Vrumugun tauntingly. He casts some spells, injuring Lina slightly. However, she still gets the best of him when she seems to teleport behind him. Surprising him, she slices through him everywhere, finally chopping in a downward slash that made Vrumugun vanish painfully in flashes of light. "Never underestimate Lina Inverse the swordswoman!" she finishes triumphantly. Suddenly, the ceiling caves in, and Lina barely has time to duck out of the way as both Amelia and the chimera land on the ground. With fear in her eyes, Amelia mutters, "B-B-B-Blam Blazer!" The spell instantly destroys the beast, making the horrible creature turn to ash. Amelia is left trembling. Only one battle is left. As Zangulus raises his sword for the finishing strike, Gourry does a quick slash, sealing the outcome of the battle. Zangulus is thrown against a pole from the force, and Gourry puts the point of the Sword of Light to Zangulus's neck. The battle is finally won. Lina puts her hands on her hips. "We've got a ton of questions to ask you-" and she's suddenly cut off as Vrumugun's arms grab her in a deathlock hold. "No, you don't!" Vrumugun says, wearing a slightly smug smile for once. "Vru-Vrumugun!" Lina manages to exclaim. Ice arrows shoot through the air at her from a different direction, and she throws Vrumugun into them, turning him to ice. Even as he falls to the ground, defeated, another Vrumugun appears out of thin air. "Impossible!" Lina exclaims. Even as they speak, yet another Vrumugun appears, and the truth begins to dawn on Lina. "You're copies, aren't you?" she asks. "The same magic for making those chimeras before can let you use someone's blood to make as many copies as you want." Gourry looked horrified. "So if someone wanted to, they could make dozens of you, Lina?" "Exactly," she replied. Gourry's mind is filled with horrible images of chibi-Linas running everywhere eating, yelling, and complaining. "Oh, the horror!" he exclaimed. "It could mean the end of the world!" Amelia cried. "Hey, wait, you guys..." muttered Lina unhappily. "You are correct. We are copies," one of the Vrumuguns said. "No one wonder you never seemed to mind all the times I killed you!" Lina said. "Care to try to kill us again?" one asked. "If you do, more of me will only take our place," said the other. "You cannot escape!" they said as one of them shifted behind them. They both charged up spells to attack, and the Slayers looked frantically around for something they could do. Suddenly, the window broke open, and a familiar-looking figure clad in tannish clothing and a hood entered. With a few strikes, he killed off one of the copies. "Don't be fooled. She's the one controlling them!" he said, meaning Eris. Eris, angry, looked out at the four from the place she was taking cover. "Who are you?!" she demanded. The figure removed his hood, and the light glistened on his golem face. "What? This isn't like you," Zelgadis said, smiling at his companions' reactions. "Zelgadis!" Lina exclaimed. "It's been a while," Gourry said. "Zelgadis! You're trying to ruin the plans?!" Eris asked angrily. "We've had a sort of relationship, and as much as I'd prefer otherwise, suddenly meeting like this shows it's an unbreakable one," Zelgadis explained. He powered up a spell that incinerated the other Vrumugun copy. "First you turn against Lord Rezo, and now you turn against me, Zelgadis?!" "I owe loyalty to neither you nor to Rezo," Zelgadis explained, walking up to the base of the stairs. "Especially since I imagine you helped him create this body for me!" Eris grimaced at this. "Hold it, you mean you used to know her?!" Lina asked in disbelief. Zelgadis nodded. "Yes, she's-" but he was cut off. By an all too familiar sounding resonating voice. "That's correct!" Next, came a creepy, familiar ringing sound that confirmed the nightmare that was coming back. The sounds echoed as they came, and then stopped..... as Rezo himself appeared in the doorway. His eyes were closed as always, and a circlet now was around his forehead. "Eris and Zelgadis were both my followers," the Red Priest stated. Eris didn't look the least bit surprised. She merely satisfied herself by standing at Rezo's side. "It... It can't be.. It can't be!" Zelgadis stammered. "The man in the portrait..." Amelia said, eyes wide. "Rezo the Red Priest...?" Lina gasped. Rezo had returned from the dead. |
| Overall Episode: 18 |
| Episode 1 of Video 6 |
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