Editing Slayers (section)

===Magic Schools===

[[File:Volume_3_-_Mega_Brand.png|200px|thumb|left|roll:20]]

'''Black Magic''' draws its powers from the dark, destructive, negative energies embodied by demons. It is an offensive style, most useful for delivering powerful magical attacks with a side in curses. It is the most useful anti-demon school known on the continent of Lina and her crew, because it tends to attack physical and astral bodies at the same time. However, that makes it very subject to nerfing; if the demon you're blasting is stronger than the demon you're drawing energy from, then that spell's not going to do anything. Likewise, spells drawn from a particular demon will do all of jack squat if you cast them ''on'' that very same demon. If a demon is ever permanently destroyed, all black magic spells drawn from them will never work again.

'''Holy Magic''' is the polar opposite of Black Magic, drawing its power from the positive energies embodied by the gods. The characters know very little about this kind of magic because it's been lost on their continent for generations thanks to the Mazoku Barrier. In the Outer Realms magic itself has dwindled, becoming virtually a lost art. Almost every magically skilled individual was drafted for the ancient war that created the Mazoku Barrier, leaving all the mages stuck inside and the non-mages stuck outside. It presumably has similar abilities to White Magic, but with vastly more potent demon-killing spells.

'''White Magic''' is a lesser form of Holy Magic mixed with aspects of Astral Shamanism. It focuses on curative and protective spells, healing injuries and trying to keep people safe. Amusingly, the various temples don't know White Magic on their own. Instead they have to request spellcasters from the Sorcerers' Guild to teach their acolytes how to perform Healing and Exorcism. The temples are the biggest donors to the Guild of any business.

[[File:Volume_1_-_Refining_Gemstones.png|200px|thumb|left|Magic can also be used for alteration and transmutation.]]

'''Shamanism''' is a form of [[elementalism]] that draws its power from the five elements; Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit. It's the most well-rounded and utilitarian of schools, with lots of spells for attack, defense, and general purposes. Earth Shamanism focuses on manipulating earth and metal, such as throwing giant rocks at people, causing spontaneous eruptions under them, or creating protective walls. Air Shamanism grants flight, razor sharp wind projectiles, lightning bolts and protective barriers. Fire Shamanism burns the shit out of things. Water Shamanism can manipulate water or hurl icy blasts, and is useful for countering Fire Shamanism. Spirit Shamanism is more commonly referred to as Astral Shamanism, as A: all shamanism spells call upon spirits, and B: its spells focus on manipulating the Astral Plane. This makes it the only branch of Shamanism that can hope to affect demons, with its Ra Tilt spell being considered as powerful as the Dragon Slave. It should be noted that while Astral Shamanism cannot physically harm a human, it does directly assault their spirit. While a Ra Tilt cannot kill a person, it will leave them unconscious for quite some time.

'''Chaos Magic''' is an unexplored and given name to two of Lina's spells, the "Ragna Blade" and the "Giga Slave". No real research has been done on this school - as far as history can tell only Lina herself has ever cast these spells. In the anime, however, a race of dragons created something similar by combining black magic with holy magic. Unlike other Black Magic, these spells draw upon the power of the Lord of Nightmares Herself; if She gets annoyed by the caster, She may wind up [[Lamentations of the Flame Princess|''wiping out the entire campaign world'']]. Lina learned Giga Slave after reading a partial Claire Bible manuscript, and figured it was only a more-powerful version of the Dragon Slave. The first time she cast it, it killed everything inside of a lake and polluted its waters. She developed the Ragna Blade by studying the complete Claire Bible, creating it to have a less dangerous "super spell" to rely on after she learned how dangerous the Giga Slave was. Regardless, she has had too many life-threatening adventures to be able to pause and study this theoretical field.