Slayers Next (Season 2)
As the second Slayers series opens, the party has gone their separate ways, and Lina and Gourry have been traveling around for several months, looking for holy or powerful relics. They reach the kingdom of Xoana, hoping to get a glimpse of their holy book, which may be a piece of a manuscript for the legendary Clair Bible, which is said to have been written by the fire dragon king Ceiphied before his death in the War of the Monster's Fall, and to contain every possible secret about the monster race.
The book turns out to be an instruction manual for mechanical golems, but they do run into Amelia on a peace mission for her father, and Zelgadis as a hired mercenary. The kingdom is destroyed by a Dragon Slave, but the psychotic princess Martina survives to pursue her devotion to the monstrous Zoelmaguster, a god of her own devising.
The others agree to help Zelgadis continue his quest for the Clair Bible, which may contain a counter for the spell that gave him his body. They meet a mysterious priest named Xellos, who also claims to be looking for the bible, and who manipulates them into acquiring a piece of a manuscript for him. He disappears with a promise to meet them all again.
The group eventually winds up in Atlas City, where they get hired by competing sorcerers who are after the top spot in the Sorcerer's Guild. Both of them are framed by a third, outcast sorcerer, Halcyform, who has made a contract with the monster Saygram in order to find the secret to immortality. Saygram offers to let Lina join the monster race, but she refuses, and the party destroys the immortal Halcyform, all under the hidden, watchful eyes of Xellos.
After a couple of encounters with the vengeful Martina, they arrive in Seyruun, where Amelia immediately goes to see her father, only to find that he was assassinated. Phil turns out to be alive, but his faked death brought to light the two monsters that were trying to kill him. Lina chases off the two monsters alone, but in the process has all of her magic powers sealed off.
She decides to travel alone to see a magical doctor, and on the way encounters Martina, who has hooked up with the enigmatic Xellos. These three proceed to doctor Ruun, who turns out to be a five-year-old girl. Ruun makes a remedy, but Martina meddles and destroys the medicine and most of the house. While they are recovering, a lower level monster attacks them until Xellos strikes back for the first time and completely destroys an entire swarm. Lina witnesses the exchange and notices that the monster, like several others before, seem to know Xellos, but she is too absorbed in trying to buy the magic amplifying talismans that Xellos carries. After the sale, Martina finds a piece of a Clair Bible manuscript in the wreckage of the house, from which Lina learns of a new spell that draws power from the Lord of Nightmares, but in a more restrained fashion - the Ragna Blade.
Armed with the talismans and the new spell, Lina quickly returns to Seyruun where she destroys the two monsters that continue to plague the royal family. During the battle, they learn that the force behind everything is none other than the Demon Dragon King Gaav, one of the five monster lords who served under Shabranigdo. The party is reunited, and Xellos joins them for the next leg of the journey, to a place where he claims a complete manuscript of the Clair Bible is kept.
They get sidetracked constantly, but eventually they reach the site, where the manuscript is kept in a pocket dimension guarded by a friendly old woman named Aqua. Lina tells her that they need a spell that can destroy any monster, and Aqua agrees to guide them to the right spot. After getting to know Lina, she shows her the truth that the only sure-fire spell is the Giga Slave, and the devastating effects it could have if abused.
As Lina is reeling from these revelations, Gaav appears to confront her, and proves to be much more powerful than she can handle. Xellos appears to help her, and his own actions reveal several secrets. Xellos is one of the most powerful monsters, and was ordered by Hellmaster Phibrizzo to track Gaav and stop him from rebelling against the monster race, using any means necessary.
However, even with Xellos' help, Gaav, aided by Saygram, is too powerful, and they are forced to flee. While they are retreating, Martina appears, and swears to protect her 'precious' Xellos. Everyone is amazed when Martina's protective call to Zoamelgustar actually works, and they use her as cover to withdraw. Eventually the shield breaks, and the are rescued once again by Aqua, who tells them where to find the original Clair Bible before sacrificing herself to let them get away.
On their way to Dragon Valley, they meet and hire a young child as a guide. When they reach their destination, Lina is given the chance to see the bible, and finally have some of her questions answered. Meanwhile, Saygram attacks the rest of the party waiting outside. They each make progress against him, and he is finally killed, but Gaav seizes the opportunity and attack the Clair Bible itself.
Lina is barely able to hold him back, with the aid of the Golden Dragon Milgrasia, and Xellos reappears to score several hits, but Gaav rallies, and inflicts a mortal wound on Xellos, who teleports away. Gaav continues to win, but as he is about to finish them off, the young guide suddenly appears and fires an energy blast that kills him instantly.
The guide turns out to be Phibrizzo, who decides to challenge Lina by kidnapping Gourry and inviting her to the holy city of Sairaag. Naturally Lina gets ready to go, and Zelgadis and Amelia join her. Martina decides to go as well, feeling disillusioned with Xellos and wanting to do her part to help. Along the way, they encounter Sylphiel and Zangulus, both of whom volunteer to help recover Gourry.
To Sylphiel's horror, the city of Sairaag exists as if nothing had ever happened, except that a huge dome has replaced the holy tree. Her father reveals that Phibrizzo has stolen the spirits of the entire city, and that the dome is his temple. After several attempts to get in, they finally confront Phibrizzo, who is the most powerful opponent yet, but as he destroys them one by one, he reveals that his plan is not to kill Lina, but to get her to use the Giga Slave, so that he can cause it to misfire and destroy everything.
Lina does eventually cast the spell, and once again everything is not what it seemed. The Giga Slave is actually a spell to summon the Lord of Nightmares, who possesses Lina's body and eliminates Phibrizzo and the false Sairaag. A fully healed Xellos appears as she reveals the nature of her role in chaos and creation to the others and tells them that Lina is gone. She then disappears into a sea of chaos, into which a desperate and weaponless Gourry follows. The Lord of Nightmares decides to grant Gourry his wish and allow Lina to return.
The series finishes with the wedding of Martina and Zangulus, after which Xellos returns the Sword of Light to Gourry. He disappears again, reassuring them that they will meet again soon. Lina and her followers run off yet again towards another adventure.
Side note: in Slayers Next, Xellos, Gaav and Phibrizzo all know and refer to Gourry's Sword of Light as "Gorun Nova." This is an incidental point in Slayers Next, but the true origin and identity of the sword play a major part in the third season.