Finding my Parents in Another World-Chapter 62: (Raorka) Multiple Lambs

The initial flurry was too fast for Raorka to follow. Artemis was the one who initiated it, running straight ahead immediately after her fiery words. Her spear was angled straight towards the Demon. The latter swung her whips in circles, building up momentum, seemingly unfazed by the fast approaching elf.

Right before Artemis struck with her spear though, the Demon moved, her whips cracking through the air with venomous speed and force. And then it became a whirl of golden and purple lights interspersed together. Raorka could scarcely see anything beyond flashes when the Demon’s whips struck against Artemis’ Spear.

"How...how can we even hope to help? This is a battle between monsters." Jareth stood beside him, with Drisnen leaning on him for support. After the initial gusto of enthusiasm and courage caused by the elf’s magik, it seemed they had come to realize just how unmatched they were against the truly powerful.

Raorka turned his eyes back towards the battle. He felt a different emotion. Certainly he was intimidated by the rapid movements, by the power in each exchanged blow between the two fighting up above, but more than that he felt excitement.

This is a high level magik duel. This is how achieving the pinnacle of your power feels like.

He looked back at his hands. Would he be able to feel this way one day?

Raorka looked up, straining his eyes. No, he wouldn’t let this be a one-on-one battle between two monsters. No he would help, he would contribute, he would fight against the Demon as well. And to do that, the first thing he needed was to be able to see that battle raging on in front of him.

It was two blurs clashing against each other at rapid speed. At first, Raorka could barely make out Artemis and the Demon. But he persisted, straining his eyes to their limits, feeling a bit of his magik seeping into them. Strengthening them, bettering them. And then he was able to finally distinguish between the two forms.

But that wasn’t really it. He wasn’t seeing their bodies, rather what he was seeing was more akin to the energy being emanated from them as they moved. Artemis emanated a golden aura, while the Demon emanated a purple aura. And that aura seemed to seep through their surroundings, sometimes even before they themselves reached there.

Finally Raorka was able to follow the fight. He was able to see each blow of the Demon’s whip being expertly parried away by Artemis’ Spear. He could see bolts of light shooting out of her Spear, which were deflected away either by the Demon’s tail or her whips. It was like a deadly rhythm game being played between the two people, each attack being preceded by multiple feints, each blow designed to kill.

Raorka raised his sword, to the surprise of Jareth next to him.

"Don’t be a fool!" He whispered. "If you join that fight, you’ll be killed."

"No, I can see."

"See what?"

"See them."

Jareth looked dumbstruck at Raorka, and then at the whizzing energies above him.

"Are you mad?"

"No. He is for real." Drisnen stood up coughing next to him. He was looking up as well, and Raorka detected the faint trace of magik around his eyes. "I can see as well."

Jareth looked from Drisnen to Raorka, as if trying to decide which one of them was madder before sighing.

"You guys have got to be joking." Even as he said that, he nodded encouragingly towards Raorka. It seemed he had chosen to believe them after all.

Raorka nodded once at him in acknowledgement and then blasted off, waves of water propelling him skyward. His goal was simple, to intercept the Demon during one of the deadly dances, creating just enough opportunity for Artemis’ Spear to fatally strike her.

As he came closer to the battle, Raorka could feel the energy pulses emanating from the brutal clashes in front of him. But now he was able to see, able to distinguish. Artemis was closer to him for now, weaving in between the erratic whips of the Demon while continuously shooting volleys of light from the tip of her Spear.

Now concentrate.

Raorka knew that a momentary lapse of concentration about his destination would mean crashing into the elf, surely resulting in both their deaths. Raorka focused all of his magik, and time seemed to slow down around him. His senses were heightened and he could see the twirl of Artemis’ Spear, betraying the direction of her next movement.

To the left.

Raorka banked hard right, whizzing past the elf straight towards the monster on the other side. Raising his sword he sent a few quick slashes of water in front, where the monster stood.

There was a momentary look of surprise on the Demon’s face, which quickly deformed into something more primal as she snarled and brought her whips back. Raorka felt the whips coming in from behind him and ducked at the last moment, as he felt the air above him crackle with the aftermath of the passing of the whips.

The Demon effortlessly cut off the initial salvo aimed at her, but her whips were ill positioned for close combat after that. Taking advantage, Raorka pounced. This time he coated his sword with water, hardening and strengthening each hit, before striking straight through the gaps in between the whips. The Demon snarled, but didn’t attempt to dodge. Instead she came forward, allowing the sword to pierce through her shoulder, but ensuring she came close to the unprepared Raorka that way.

"Bye bye lamb." She snarled and punched him in the stomach. Raorka twisted around, but still took the bulk of the force in his stomach and felt himself rocketed backwards through the air. All the wind had been instantly knocked out of him, and that high up in the air, he wasn’t even able to cough out the blood stuck in his lungs.

As he flew past, he went past Artemis whose entire attention was focused solely on the now exposed Demon.

Go get her!

Artemis did, swinging around her Spear in an arc in front of her. Desperately the Demon blocked the first strike with her tail, but with a savage pull Artemis tore the tail from her body eliciting a shout of pain. As the Demon stumbled back, pulling on her whips, Artemis was upon her like a flash.

She swung her Spear once, in a simple arc. The head of the Demon lopped off, and a spray of blood squirted out from the neck stump.

As Raorka fell down towards the ground, he made note of the anguished expression on the decapitated head with a measure of satisfaction.

.XX. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

It was Jareth who caught him. The large man’ Inito could be used for purposes other than a machine gun of bullets. He raised his hand, and a platform of wood rose up from the ground towards the falling Raorka. It cushioned his fall, and like a slide gently deposited him on the ground.

"Are you all right?" Drisnen asked as he came down on the ground.

Raorka sat up, and winced. A deep blue bruise was already forming on his stomach. He coughed now, and looked at the blood patch on his palm.

"Yeah, but could be better." He said with a smile as he deactivated his Inito finally. A huge weight seemed to lift off his shoulders, but at the same time he was assaulted with pain on multiple other body parts. It seemed his Inito was also supplying him with adrenaline.

"I’m sorry, I couldn’t help you." Artemis said as she slowly glided down, looking as graceful as ever. As Raorka saw, she was also injured in the fight, with blood streaming down her left arm, which hung limply at her side.

Raorka shook his head. "No, you did what was necessary. In fact the sole reason I joined your fight was to help you defeat that monster."

Artemis nodded gratefully. "And if you hadn’t then I don’t think I could have won. But how did you...?"

"Manage to follow your fight? Honestly I don’t know. It felt like my magik was concentrated around my eyes and it automatically helped me to detect things I otherwise would never have been able to detect. It made me see the essence of energy flowing about, the aura about the two of you."

Artemis nodded, even though her eyebrows were scrunched in a frown. "Yes magikal enhancement of body parts is quite an advanced Incantation. Since I haven’t taught you, I just wondered how you were able to do it. In fact I don’t know anyone who was able to do it so intuitively like you." She was still frowning, but this time as if she was thinking of something.

"Told you Artemis, Raorka here is a genius at magik." Drisnen said with a weak smile, winking at Raorka.

Raorka laughed, and for a moment everything seemed all right. Everything seemed headed back to normal.

And then Raorka felt the ominous, suffocating pressure. He looked up horrified at the spot where the Demon of Lust’s decapitated body fell.

Except it was no longer decapitated.

"Celebrating something?" The Demon of Lust asked with a smile, her head back on her body with nary a blemish on it.