Ragna Blade, also Laguna Blade (Japanese: 神滅斬, Kanji translation: God-Destroying Slash, Romaji: raguna burēdo)[1][2] is a spell that calls upon the power of the Lord of Nightmares. It is neither a black magic, nor a holy magic spell, as the Lord of Nightmares herself isn't shinzoku or mazoku. Both Encyclopedia Slayers and Slayers Reading list it under black magic, though this may be simply to give it a category, being in this case black magic the logical choice.
The spells calls forth crackling black energy which roughly takes the form of a sword in the caster's hands. Because of this it can only be used in close combat.
Only surpassed in power by the Giga Slave, the Ragna Blade's destructive force is enormous. Its effect extends to the Astral Plane, and no being, not even the Sword of Light or a ma-ō, can deflect it, although the stronger mazoku have astral bodies too big to be destroyed by a single swipe. It puts a likewise huge strain on the caster as well; it requires great bucket capacity to be cast (hence it requires amplification for a human caster), and the mere act of keeping the spell active drains the caster's strength tremendously.
It isn't known when and where Lina Inverse, the only known caster of this spell, gained knowledge of the Ragna Blade, but it can be assumed that it isn't her original creation, as she mentions it as "the spell I read about".
In the anime, Lina learns of the spell when she comes across a Claire Bible manuscript (Episodes 10 and 11 in Slayers NEXT). However, she does not learn to fully control the spell until after learning the true nature of the Lord of Nightmares from the original Claire Bible.
Incantation[]
Incomplete version[]
Lina first used a version of the spell with the knowledge she already had.
天空のいましめ解き放たれし
凍れる黒き虚無の刃よ
我が力 我が身となりて
共に滅びの道を歩まん
神々の魂すらも打ち砕き
Sora no imashime tokihanatareshi
kooreru kuroki utsuro no yaiba yo
Waga chikara waga mi to narite
tomo ni horobi no michi o ayuman
Kamigami no tamashii sura mo uchikudaki
Lord of the Dreams that Terrify,
Sword of Cold and Darkness, free yourself from the heaven´s bonds,
Become one with my power, one with my body
And let us walk the path of destruction together!
Power that can smash even the souls of Gods,
Blade forged of the freezing black void
Be released under heaven's seal
Become mine, become part of me
Let us mete destruction as one
Smash even the souls of the Gods...
Complete version[]
Later, with the knowledge obtained from the Claire Bible, Lina alters the chant to create a completed and more powerful version of the spell.
悪夢の王の一片よ
世界のいましめ解き放たれし
凍れる黒き虚無の刃よ
我が力 我が身となりて
共に滅びの道を歩まん
神々の魂すらも打ち砕き
Akumu no ou no hitokake yo
Sora no imashime tokihanatareshi
kooreru kuroki utsuro no yaiba yo
Waga chikara waga mi to narite
tomo ni horobi no michi o ayuman
Kamigami no tamashii sura mo uchikudaki
O, a piece of the Lord of Nightmares,
Free thine self from heavens bonds, O blade from the cold, dark void,
Become one with my power, one with my body,
And let us walk this path of destruction together,
Shattering the souls of the Gods!
Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares,
Release thy heavenly retribution
Blade of cold, black nothingness
Become my power, become my body
Together, let us walk the path of destruction
And smash even the souls of the Gods
Fragment of the Lord of Nightmares,
Blade forged of the freezing black void
Be released from thy worldly seal
Become mine, become part of me
Let us mete destruction as one
Smash even the souls of the Gods...
Trivia[]
Examples of use[]
- Lina Inverse used the Ragna Blade in EP13 of Slayers NEXT on Kanzel and managed to destroy him in one blow, although he retreated into the Astral Plane.
- She later used it on Seigram with aid from Xelloss and also on Chaos Dragon Garv, though the single blow she managed to deal was not powerful enough to kill him.
- In episode 8 of Slayers TRY Lina uses it against Armace.
- In episode 10 of Slayers REVOLUTION, Lina Inverse uses the Ragna Blade to fight Zuuma.
- In episode 13 of Slayers REVOLUTION, Lina Inverse combines it with the Sword Of Light to slice Zannafar, then finishes it off with Dragon Slave.
- Lina uses it to destroy the hybrid of Zuuma and Seigram in novel 6.
In other languages[]
- Espada Ragna (Spanish, lit. Ragna Sword)
- Lancia di Tenebra (Italian, lit. Lance of Darkness)
- Laguna Schwert (German, lit. Laguna Sword)
- Végzet Villámai (Hungarian, lit. Lightnings of Destiny)
- Ostrze Nicości (Polish, lit. The Blade of Nothingness)
- Čepel Ragna (Czech, . lit. Blade Ragna )
- Рагна Блэйд (Russian, transliteration of the English version)
References[]
- ↑ Encyclopedia Slayers, page 234
- ↑ Slayers Reading, page 199