Episode #3
"He seems suspicious
to me."
The (very sexy) voice on the other side of the door continues to Lina and Gourry, "I'm sure I must seem very suspicious to you... but for now I have no intention of hurting you." Lina agrees to let the stranger in, since both him and her have (somewhat questionable) bodyguards. And so, the hooded stranger with the lilac hair enters the room, accompanied by his bodyguard, the 'mummy man' from earlier that night. It seems that this 'mummy man', otherwise known as Zolf, is Zelgadis' (ok, you've figured that out by now, right? who he is?) henchman, and was about to swipe a treasure from the Dragon's Fang gang before Lina blew them up. - -;
Lina calmly raises the price for the trouble Zolf caused earlier. And so, they begin debating over the price of the item for which Zelgadis seeks; he won't name it, for the simple reason that if he did, Lina would most likely call an impossible price. So the stranger asks Lina to state her price on each of the items.
Sounds okay, until Lina asks 12,000,000 gold for the enchanted knife and 30,000,000 for the Orihalcon statue. Zolf, Gourry, and Zelgadis all question why Lina's charging 100 times the street value for such a statue, and she kindly cuts the price in half. - -; In any case, Zelgadis cannot afford Lina's price, but offers her 100,000, with the balance to be paid later. Lina's like, I think not. Then he asks her to join him, to which she also refuses. So they part as enemies, and Zelgadis tells them his name as he leaves.
Gourry asks Lina why she called such high prices - she answers that she couldn't have dealings with such suspicious characters. Lina shoves Gourry back to his room and tries to go to sleep. The next morning, the two hitch a ride on the back of a haywagon and go over the two items that Zelgadis tried to buy. Both of them have magical properties, and could be used as beacons, but the Orihalcon statue seems like it's made of something that could seal magic. Neither of them is worth much, but Zelgadis seemed willing to pay a lot of money for one of them.
While the two stroll through a forest, they are ambushed by a horde of Berserkers. Gourry fights off the majority, while Lina fights for a while, but eventually gives up and lets Gourry do the rest. He finds her wounded and carries her the rest of the distance to the next village. (so sweet, isn't he?)
While Lina lies in bed, a band of trolls led by an old warrior invades her room. When they open the door to her room, she hides behind it and slips out. She throws a fireball back into the room and slams the door, but apparently it doesn't kill them. They find their way out and attack. Lina and Gourry defend themselves, until the trolls and the old swordsman fall asleep.
Enter a purple-haired priest, responsible for putting everyone else out. He mentions that Zelgadis probably sent the trolls. Zelgadis, who is part human, part troll, and part demon, wants to get the Key from Lina in order to resurrect the Lord of Darkness, Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu. Or so the priest says. The priest wants Lina to give him the Key in order to keep her from being hurt, but she protests, saying that it would put him in danger.
The priest identifies himself as Rezo, and Lina recognizes him as Rezo, the Red Priest, and one of the five wise men of the present era. Gourry, of course, is oblivious to this fact or what it means. Lina insists that she will hold onto the Key, wanting to prevent the Lord of Darkness' resurrection. She plans to be the bait, so that Rezo can sweep in from behind and take Zelgadis out. Rezo agrees, and casts a spell on the fireballed room in order to clean it up. Then he leaves.
Lina doesn't feel safe sleeping in her own room, so she sleeps in Gourry's room, on the floor. Actually both of them sleep on the floor, Gourry insists that he can't sleep on a bed when a girl is sleeping on the ground. (awwwww) Lina falls asleep thinking about Rezo, the blind priest with an evil-sounding name who travels throughout the land helping people. She also thinks about Zelgadis and his plot to resurrect Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu...
Episode #4
The following morning, Lina and Gourry talk about the legend of Shabranigdu
over breakfast (and they're so busy talking that they don't fight over the food).
Lina explains that their world is flat and round, and thrust upon a staff, the
Staff of Gods. She uses and egg on a fork to show Gourry. Many eons ago, there
were two races, the Mazoku (Race of Monsters, and the Kami (Race of Gods). Cephid,
the Dragon King, led the Gods, and Shabranigdu, the Dark Lord, led the Mazoku.
Their battle lasted for ages, until finally, Cephid defeated Shabranigdu and
separated him into seven pieces. Then he (she? it?) sealed them up and cut himself
(herself? Itself?) into seven pieces and sealed the Dark Lord up.
Only he wasn't exactly dead. One thousand years ago, one of the pieces of Shabranigdu was reborn, and with the help of the Water Dragon King, one of the pieces of Cephid was able to defeat the piece of Shabranigdu, but his body was sealed into the ground as a result. The balance of nature was disrupted, and tipped towards the Mazoku; from then on came the monsters; trolls, demons, and other such riff raff.
"Are you comprehending any of this?"
"No....but I do understand that this Shabra-what's his face is the boss."
"Well, that's a pretty good accomplishment, for you," Lina notes, and then they discuss how Rezo fits into all of this. Lina admits she doesn't trust him, and they note that the legend of Rezo is very well-known (but not to Gourry) and how it would be easy to impersonate him.
Meanwhile, Zolf tries to locate the statue from Zelgadis' hideout, but in vain. Zelgadis takes off his mask, revealing the rest of his (very sexy) hard, stony face, and senses that nevertheless they are close to retrieving the statue.
Lina and Gourry hit the road again, and Lina comments that she is sick of the forest now. Then she sheepishly tells Gourry that she will be unable to cast anything more than a light spell for the next few days, which leads to a rather amusing discussion over "that time of the month" for sorceresses and priestesses. Their talk is cut short when they notice Zelgadis ahead of them.
Zelgadis is not alone, though; his follower Dilgear, who is a werewolf-troll half-breed, accidentally blurts out that they're after the statue. In any case, Lina insists on fighting by herself, shouting...
"Go get 'em, Gourry!" But then Rodimus, the old swordsman from the previous night, appears, this time brandishing a huge axe. Having cornered them and still remaining an observer, Zelgadis throws a "FLARE ARROW!" at the pair, splitting them up. While Gourry goes up against Dilgear and Rodimus, Lina takes off, with Zelgadis in hot pursuit.
When she looks back, Zelgadis sprints ahead and drives his knee into her midsection. Careening backwards into a tree, Lina, panting for breath, looks pitifully up at the victor, "Aren't you supposed to take it easy on girls?"
"So your skill is nothing but this, after all,Ħħ Zelgadis says coldly.
Not quite. Lina casts a Lighting spell right in his eyes, blinding him momentarily.
On her feet again, Lina runs into a dead end... the shoreline of a lake. Turning, she finds Zelgadis has already caught up with her. Grasping at her last straw, she throws a Flare Arrow. But it fails. Just that time of the month...
Lina tries to run again, but is caught
by Zelgadis' Shadow Snap spell. Lina casts a Light spell, which seems to be
the only thing she has the power to cast now, and her shadow disappears, letting
her free. Only Zelgadis is upon her again, and easily casts "MONO VOLT!"
to shock her unconscious. Sighing, he relieves Lina of the statue and sends
a signal to his followers. "And so, it ends."