Morning came more as a habit of waking, rather than the sounds of birds chirping and the light of the sun burning against closed eyelids. The little group shook off the last vestiges of sleep, and began packing up to continue on into the laboratory.
        None of them knew how quickly the laboratory would become Hell.

        Breakfast was a hushed event, eaten on the go, because Zelgadis had insisted they move quickly. So it was more waybread, and Lina for once, didn’t complain.

        They came to an ornate door, and much to Lina’s irritation, it refused to budge. She was about to blast it when Zelgadis reached out and touched the door.
        “It’s one of Rezo’s spells.” There was a moment when the door glowed with a dull red haze, and then the light faded and the door opened. Zelgadis looked to Lina, and she smirked at him. With a slight shrug, he stepped into the room.

        Before Lina could get into the room after Zelgadis, the flare of a powerful spell blinded her and she stepped back in shock. But Zelgadis had just gone into the room… As Lina stood there, the brilliance faded, and she could see into the room.
        Surprise quickly gave way to anger, and she stalked through the door. “Zelgadis?!”
        As the others followed, Vrumugun’s voice was heard in the dim room. “Oh… we don’t have to worry about him anymore. That’s the thing with humans. They’re just so incredibly weak…”
        For a moment, Lina could feel her anger and despair feeding both the Mazoku before her and the Mazoku behind her. But it also taught her a very quick lesson: by keeping herself attuned to the emotion, she could track the Mazoku. Namely, she knew where Vrumugun was.
        She wasted little time in focusing that anger and pain, tracing the line to Vrumugun almost as if she could see it glittering in the darkness. She was only barely aware of the others spreading out in the room, looking for the Mazoku hidden in plain sight as she began to cast the spell.
        “How impressive of you to think that you can find me in here, Lina Inverse. It will be interesting to see just precisely what you hit.” Vrumugun’s voice drifted through the room.
        Sylphiel heard a voice at her ear, accompanied by a white glove pointing over her shoulder. In a low tone, the Trickster Priest informed her that a Dragon Slave aimed right over there would do quite nicely.
        Sylphiel could be called too trusting at times, except that she saw the direction that he was pointing was the same direction that Lina was aiming for. She clasped her hands.

        An Elmekia Lance fired out from Lina’s hands, cutting across the darkness and making impact with what she knew to be Vrumugun.
        A Dragon Slave shot past a startled Gourry, dissipating in the same place that Lina’s spell had, Sylphiel bravely hoping that she’d hit the right thing as she apologized to Gourry dear for casting the Dragon Slave so close to him.

        Amelia felt herself be grabbed from behind, and suddenly she was in the air above the chimera as an Elmekia Flame tore through where she had just been standing. Not to be outdone, as some part of her registered that she was being supported by Xellos, her own quick-and-dirty Elmekia Lance fired out and into the sphere of magical brilliance.

        The resulting magical concussion was enough to throw those of them on the ground completely off of their feet.

        Amelia was placed lightly on her feet, and heard the Trickster Priest’s words, but couldn’t see him. “Well… that went well. Even broke the pledge stone. I’m impressed. Don’t mind me, I’ll be along shortly.”
        She had the distinct feeling that he was gone, so she started to cast a light spell. When it rose above her head, she looked around and saw the others slowly looking around. Except…

        Lina stood and walked over to the remnants of the human who had made the Pact with the Mazoku. It stood as the ultimate testimony to her as to what would happen when the pact was forcibly broken. She’d watched Halciform shrivel before her eyes, and Vrumugun was much the same. Shaking her head, she turned away just as she heard Amelia’s horrified cry.
        She looked over, seeing Sylphiel and Eris dart over to Amelia and the still figure of Zelgadis on the floor. A chill hit her stomach as she moved across the room to look at the three girls and the chimera.
        As Sylphiel frantically cast spell after spell, Amelia looked at Lina with tears in her eyes. “Miss Lina…” She couldn’t get the words out, but Lina knew.
        Somehow Lina gathered the reserves to whisper. “Stop, Sylphiel. You can’t follow him. You can’t go there.”
        The silence that fell broke more than just one heart.