And here are the original baddies. These are the guys who stumped, almost killed, or just annoyed the hell out of Lina-tachi. Of course, most of them died in the end - but death really isn't that great of an obstacle for most people (::cough:: Vrummy ::cough::), and there's always a spare Kopii running around somewhere...

Rezo the Red Priest

Motivation: Born blind at birth, all he wanted was sight. Shabranigdo promised to give it to him if he resurrected the Dark Lord.

Special Ability: Rezo is one of the Five Wise Men of the land, and he's mastered practically all schools of magic.

Random Fact: While blind, he seems to be able to find where he's going pretty well, and he has an almost supernatural ability to know when things are about to hit him (like a Lina missile).

First Appearance: rescuing Lina from Zelgadis' henchmen in the first episodes

Death: When Shabranigdo died, he took Rezo's soul with him.

Information: Rezo's one obsession was gaining eyesight. Frustratingly, he found that he could cure others of their blindness, but never his own, no matter how he tried. Finally, Shabranigdo promised Rezo to return his eyesight if he resurrected the Dark Lord. While he was aware what a stupid idea it was, Rezo agreed to the pact, but he also took precautions so he could kill the Dark Lord after he was summoned. Rezo needed the Philosopher's Stone to increase his powers enough to resurrect the Dark Lord, and he tricked Lina into giving it to him. He resurrected Shabranigdo, who kept his promise, but unfortunately, the reason why Rezo couldn't see was because Shabranigdo was sealed in his eyes. Rezo later redeemed himself by stopping Shabranigdo from resisting Lina's Giga Slave.

Ruby-Eye Shabranidgo

Motivation: Just the typical "I'm a Mazoku" destroy the world syndrome

Special Ability: After the Lord of Nightmares, he's the most powerful force in the world.

Random Fact: He has the amazing misfortune to be split into seven pieces and sealed in seven humans.

First Appearance: when Rezo resurrected him in the eighth episode

Death: This shard was killed by Lina's Giga Slave and Rezo

Information: The Shabranidgo who appeared in the anime is actually the second piece to be awakened. He bestowed the honor of his death upon Lina Inverse, who used the Giga Slave and the Sword of Light to kill him. For more information on him and his other shards, click here.

Eris

Motivation: She believed Lina Inverse killed Rezo, whom she loved

Special Ability: She can create copies and has gems to help her control people.

Random Fact: She went from a nice, well-dressed, young girl to a bitch in black leather once Rezo was gone.

First Appearance: after Rezo died in the first season

Death: Her own creation, Kopii Rezo, killed her.

Information: Eris studied magic under Rezo for a time, and like most men, he didn't notice that Eris was in love with him. He abruptly left her one day (to pursue the Philosopher's Stone). Naturally, she was crushed, and then she heard her dear Rezo had been killed by Lina-tachi. So she decided to get revenge and used a clone of Rezo and a wizard named Vrumugun to help her. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell her why Rezo had to die. Her downfall was Kopii Rezo, who killed her right before she got Rezo's Legacy - the key to her revenge on Lina Inverse. Her last words were "Where have you gone, Rezo-sama?"

Kopii Rezo

Motivation: His obsession is to prove that he is more powerful than the original Rezo - to the point that he wants Lina Inverse to cast Giga Slave on him

Special Ability: He controls the Beast Zanaffar and inherited Rezo's Legacy.

Random Fact: Unlike the original, Kopii Rezo can see. His right eye is green and his left eye is gold.

First Appearance: after the original died in the first season

Death: Lina pinned him against the Sacred Tree of Flagoon with the Bless Blade to kill Zanaffar.

Information: Kopii Rezo was activated by Eris because she missed the original and tried to use him to get her revenge on Lina Inverse. Unfortunately for Eris, Kopii Rezo had his own will and didn't like her plan. He killed Eris after they awoke Zanaffar, whom Kopii Rezo controlled. He was killed by Lina Inverse with the Bless Blade.

Vrumugun

Motivation: He really doesn't have any besides being used by Eris to do her bidding.

Special Ability: Apparent resurrection due to the astounding number of clones Eris made of him.

Random Fact: He has a bald spot on the back of his head like some monks do.

First Appearance: with Zangulus and before Eris and Kopii Rezo in the first season

Death: Which time?

Information: Vrumugun uses water shamanism a lot, but apparently he's quite powerful in other magic as well. He was hired with Zangulus to bring Lina Inverse to Sairaag. He's quite a nuisance since every time he dies, another one comes and tries to kill Lina again (this actually happened). Eris uses a HUGE red stone to control the copies, and she apparently made a whole lot of them. Unfortunately, they're all killed by Lina-tachi. Then Eris dies, and she obviously can't make any more copies, so Vrumugun is quite dead. No one knows what happened to the original, but he may have shown up in the last episode of Next.

Chaos Dragon Gaav

Motivation: Nothing too major: he only wants to overthrow Shabranigdo. His personal problem with Lina Inverse? She's key to Phibrizzo's plan, whatever it is.

Special Ability: He's good at pulling the "I'm dead, but I come back just as the heroes start to relax" trick.

Random Fact: He was Shabranigdo's most trusted general before he turned against the Mazoku.

First Appearance: attacking Lina-tachi in one of the Claire Bible manuscripts in Next

Death: The poor thing was killed by Phibrizzo at Dragon's Peak.

Information: At the end of the War of the Monster's Fall, Gaav was sealed into a human soul by the Water Dragon King. After centuries of being human, Gaav decided to turn against the Mazoku and made it his goal to overthrow Shabranigdo and take his place. He rallied many Mazoku to his side, including Seigram (a former servant to Beastmaster), and tried to take several key cities under his control. Phibrizzo used Lina Inverse to lure Gaav out, and he killed Gaav at Dragon's Peak. Click here for more information on him.

Hellmaster Phibrizzo

Motivation: Nothing too grand for a Mazoku: the complete return of the world to chaos by use of Lina Inverse and an out of control Giga Slave.

Special Ability: As Hellmaster, he has control over the souls of humans - living or dead - and as such, he can kill a human by smashing his or her soul orb.

Random Fact: Before his unfortunate death, he was the most powerful and the leader of the five Mazoku generals.

First Appearance: running into Lina Inverse (literally) in the town at the foot of Dragon's Peak in the later episodes of Next

Death: just moments after he foolishly attacked the Lord of Nightmares.

Information: Phibrizzo is probably the Mazoku who got the closest to his race's goal: returning the world to chaos. His plan was to leave Lina Inverse with no choice but to cast Giga Slave, hoping that she'd lose control of the spell and let the Lord of Nightmares' power run free. If she didn't lose control, he was going to destroy her body, gaining the same effect. Lina did lose control of the spell, but instead of losing chaos upon the world, the Lord of Nightmares possessed her. With his plans foiled by his own "mother", Phibrizzo lost it and attacked the Lord of Nightmares in order to free her from the "vessel [that was] too small for [her]." Being god, the Lord of Nightmares was unharmed by the attack and granted Phibrizzo's wish to be destroyed. To learn more, click here.

Xelloss

Motivation: As Xelloss would say, "Sore wa himitsu desu!" (Now that is a secret!)

Special Ability: He can get people to do what he wants with little to no effort - except for Valgaav.

Random Fact: He was given the most power of all Mazoku under the five generals of Shabranigdo, making him the most powerful non-Dark Lord.

First Appearance: suddenly introducing himself as the "Trickster Priest" in the second episode of Next

Death: not yet - though Lina Inverse might get fed up with him some day

Information: It's Xelloss! What can you know about him? His motivations are his own and they're known only by himself and Beastmaster. For an in-depth look at Xelloss sama, click here.

Almayce

Motivation: The thing that made him enemy to Lina-tachi was his need to summon Dark Star to their world - and then he neglected to tell them why it was necessary.

Special Ability: Because he is from another staff, he is unharmed by magic, but he's vulnerable to physical attacks.

Random Fact: He is servant to Volfied, the god of his staff. In other words, he's like the dragons of this staff.

First Appearance: first episodes of Try telling Valgaav to be patient in his revenge on Lina Inverse

Death: Elrogos killed him in the Ancient Dragon temple.

Information: Though he appeared to be a bad guy in the beginning, Almayce wanted nothing more than protection of his world, but not at the expense of others. In order to destroy Dark Star, he had to summon the Dark Lord to Lina's world and use the five Dark Star weapons to kill him. Unfortunately, he was killed before he saw his plan carried out.

Valgaav

Motivation: He wanted revenge on Lina Inverse for the death of Gaav because he believed she killed him - too bad nobody told him she was only a bystander.

Special Ability: Valgaav is an Ancient Dragon fused with Mazoku blood. According to a doujinshi, Valgaav is very powerful for such a young dragon and Gaav gave him much of his power. Add that to the power Dark Star gave him and Valgaav is someone you don't want to mess with.

Random Fact: He is the last of the Ancient Dragons, who were killed by the Golden Dragons serving the Fire Dragon king.

First Appearance: trying to kill Lina in a desert in the "new" world in the third episode of Try

Death: If you can call it that, it was at the end of Try when Dark Star was defeated; Valgaav was reborn as a baby Ancient Dragon as a result of this.

Information: Poor Valgaav. His race was killed by the followers of the Fire Dragon King because they feared the Ancient Dragons' power; Valgaav was the only survivor, but he was mortally wounded. Before the Golden Dragons could finish him off, Gaav showed up and offered to make Valgaav a Mazoku. Why? "For survival. Just the thing to really annoy our enemies," as Gaav put it. So Valgaav agreed. Gaav killed the young dragon, then named Valtier, and renamed the reborn dragon Valgaav. Valgaav served him faithfully afterward until Gaav's death. He heard that Lina Inverse was responsible for the Dark Lord's death and set out to kill her, but in the end, the only thing he truly wanted was to be killed himself. He summoned Dark Star, who was to wipe the world clean so they could start anew without the ongoing conflict between the Gods and the Mazoku, but Valgaav realized later that he didn't want that either. When Dark Star was defeated, Valgaav, who had been absorbed into Dark Star/Volfied, was reborn as a baby Ancient Dragon. He is now cared for by Filia, Grabos, and Jiras.

Dark Star

Motivation: He and Volfied just want to wipe the slate clean and start over again. Unfortunately, he didn't ask Lina Inverse for permission first.

Special Ability: He absorbed Volfied or vice versa, so now the Dark Lord and the God of the other staff are now one and really damn powerful!

Random Fact: Secretly, I think Dark Star and Volfied are pissed at the Lord of Nightmares and that's why they want to restart the world leaving out the gods and the Mazoku.

First Appearance: after Valgaav summoned him around the middle of Try

Death: I don't think he was killed, but he was defeated at the end of Try.

Information: Unlike in the Slayers staff, the war between Dark Star and Volfied never died down, and they waged war for eons. Growing tired of the conflict, Dark Star fused with Volfied and they decided to destroy their staff together. Volfied's followers, of course, protested and managed to seal Dark Star/Volfied away at great cost, but they wanted to kill him. In order to kill Dark Star, he had to be summoned to Lina Inverse's world, where he was defeated by his own weapons, Xelloss, Filia, and Lina Inverse.