| Incantations |
| Creativity and Incantations |
| Gestures |
| Interaction of Multiple Magic Spells |
| Mazoku Can TOO Cast Magic! |
All of the incantations listed were taken directly from the novels, games, or anime. Note that specific examples may have slight variations, where the same spell was cast with two different incantations; however, we have chosen to regard these as minor variations and to only list the dominant incantation. An exception is made for the Dynast Breath spell. Additionally, one may want to look at the spell incantations for Mono Volt and Dig Volt, as they are both used to describe the Dig Volt spell in the anime at various times.
If you have found an incantation that is present in the source material but not listed, please let us know! We will be glad to include it.
You might ask, "If it is forbidden to teach the Lock, Unlock, and Sleeping spells, how did anybody learn them?" Obviously, these spells would be dangerous to teach to just anybody, as they are extremely useful for larceny and take next to no magical power to cast! However, if somebody is sufficiently motivated to learn these spells, they can duplicate the spell themselves. This requires a great deal of study of the theory of the spell and the various elemental incantations. In fact, when a magician in Slayers sees somebody cast one of these spells, then it follows that the magician has excellent technical skills, sufficient to make up one of these simple spells from scratch.
Along the same vein, any magician must have at least a basic understanding of the theory of the spell before they attempt to cast it. (What, you think that the Clare Bible manuscript that Lina looked through in Slayers Next took a hundred pages to teach her the gestures and chant?) Familiarity with the correct incantation is, therefore, not the only requirement for mastery of a spell. For example, Sylpheel has extreme trouble casting Flare Arrow at the end of the first seson of Slayers. The problem isn't that she's a shrine maiden and can't cast attack magic; after all, so is Ameria! Instead, Sylpheel has a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of offensive magic, which limits her ability to use any of those spells.
Spells almost always have an associated gesture. By using this gesture, the caster temporarily increases his magical power, making the spell easier to cast. The gesture usually isn't mandatory, however; a caster that can't move his hands can cast a Flare Arrow despite not being able to assume a pose for it. However, the resulting spell will be weaker. When casting the most powerful spells, the caster may not have the option of omitting the gesture, especially if he or she is near the edge of his power; he may NEED that extra power to make the spell work at all!
The gesture requirement is important, because it's hard to defend yourself from a sword to the belly if you have to keep your hands over your head. While magicians in the middle of casting a spell are protected by a "spell barrier", the protection isn't very strong - enough to keep an orc off of you, but not good if your opponent is powerful or well-equipped. So, to fight with magic, the caster either needs to keep his distance from his opponents, or employ big and dumb swordsmen to keep the enemy busy while he waves his hands and chants.
Sometimes, magical spells of opposite polarity hit each other and cancel out. Sometimes. Here is a list of some interesting spell interactions.
| + | Freeze Brid | = | Attract each other and cancel out. | |
| + | Freeze Arrow | = | Cancel each other, but only if they strike each other. | |
| + | Vice Freeze | = | Produces a loud noise and a thick fog, but no destructive effect. | |
| + | Burst Flare | = | Multiply each other. | |
| + | Bomb Di Win | = | When cast inside the same barrier, thebarrier is broken. |
If you see other examples of spell interaction, please let us know!
Usually, Mazoku prefer to use their own natural abilities, rather than using human magic. However, that doesn't mean that they are incapable of using human magic... just inclined otherwise. When a Mazoku is posing as a human, however, sometimes it can't be helped. It's not without its own problems, though. When a Mazoku casts a spell, it suffers a certain amount of damage. For an astral, spirit-based creature, using the "other" power of magic is tantamount to admitting that the Mazoku's own power is insufficient. For a creature that depends on its ego for its continued well-being, this can be dangerous! The very loss of self-esteem is enough to damage the Mazoku physically.
Lesser demons use arrows of fire that are similar to the Flare Arrow of human magic, but they aren't made from the power of a spirit of fire. Those demons create arrows of fire with its own power, being unharmed to create them.