Chapter E13: X ∞

(Effinshia's POV)

In the middle of a forest, far away from any civilization, I crushed the last of the Arachne Statues that I could find. A total of seven statues. Including the three statues that I destroyed in Luth E’ll and one statue in Cezza, that brings the total to eleven statues. Whatever these bad guys are doing, they are doing it en masse. I need to redouble my efforts and get to Makaran.

But first things first.

“Come out. I know you’ve been following me.” I shouted to the two presence that was behind me.

What came out were the two Ak’hims that I met in the cave. The self-proclaimed demon lords, the lovers,  Artemyst and Gordiron. The white-skinned Artemyst carrying her bow with her toes while the Red-Skinned Gordiron carrying Artemyst while floating on a red cloud. I was wondering where these two people went. This was quite a distance away from their cave.

“So? What do you guys want with me? I thought we made a deal that you won’t come after me if I won.”

“No. It is you who must uphold your end of the bargain, Human. We are here to seek the end of our pact.” Artemyst voice came out of Gordiron’s mouth.

“Upholding my end of the bargain? What?”

“The pact was that you beat us with two tries.” They responded.

“Yeah, and I beat both of you fair and square. I don’t see what I must uphold here.”

“The word ‘with’ was used, not within. You’ve only won once. Twice must you beat us. This is the part of the deal. Part of the bargain. The pact.” They said. Their voices interlaced with each other.

Did I really say that? I did a mental facepalm as I tried to remember the words I said to them. Still, to twist the meaning like that. How far are they willing to go?

I let out a sigh before saying to the two demons:- “Look here. I don’t really have the mood nor the time to do this. Can we just do a raincheck for another day or can we just all agree that I won this fight?”

“Impermissible. We will fight. We will uphold the pact.” Their voice resonated even further.

“What does it matter? Not long has passed since our previous fight. I’ve beaten you before, I will beat you now. What makes you think you can defeat me?” I tried taunting them.

*Schwaff

Artemyst immediately launched an arrow at me. As fast as lightning, I drew out Kirin to cut down the arrow before immediately launching my own ranged attack towards her. A blue crescent blade.

In a way, I kind of expected a repeat from last time where Gordiron will shift position and protect Artemyst.

However, Gordiron didn’t block the arrow. Instead, a large burst of magic came out of them and they were enveloped by a large red and black pillar which blocked my attack. They stayed in this position for a while when suddenly another arrow came from my sides.

My sides? How can it be? Artemyst is in the pillar and she can’t shoot curve arrows.

I used Kirin to cut down the arrow before launching more crescent blades at the pillar. But it was ineffective. I was tempted to use a stronger attack when the pillar suddenly dispersed. What came out of it was two Ak’hims. Gordiron and Artemyst. Artemyst now holding her bow with her hands and crouched low in an attack pose, her tail pointed at me like a scorpion’s stinger. Gordiron was towering over Artemyst's flank, his large body ready to charge at me, his horns directed at me like some sort of bull.

They were in their full bodies. No longer handicapped.

It didn’t take long for them to launch their assault at me. Artemyst did an acrobatic manoeuvre and shot an arrow ninety degrees of her position. In a split second, the arrow then made one large curve before flying directly towards my head. 

A curved arrow.

I tilted my head back and the arrow barely missed me. All of a sudden, Gordiron appeared in front of me and tried to slam me down with both his fist. I made a large backstep before doing a backflip to avoid the shockwaves from his blow, landing a slight distance away from them.

*Schwaff *Schwaff  *Schwaff *Schwaff

Four arrows came onto me on my landing spot. One at my legs, one at my right hand, one at my head and one arrow behind me. Probably to prevent me from taking another backstep. At the same time, Gordiron was charging right onto me. Using Kirin, I did one slight swing and a small whirlwind appeared on my location deflecting every arrow. I then land a big swing towards the charging bull.

*Clang! *Boom!

The clash between Kirin and Gordiron caused a mini-explosion and blew both of us backwards, away from each other. Immediately after regaining my posture, I swung Kirin to my right side to block an attack from Artemyst who used her tail as a whip to attack me from the back. Seeing as the attack failed, she shot a few arrows towards me which I easily cut down. I then took a step sideways to avoid the charging Gordiron behind me.

*Shing!

I landed a strike on Gordiron as he charged past me. But his scales made my attack ineffective.

The two demons took a second to get back into position. Artemyst biting her lips while Gordiron restless legs keep churning the ground. It seemed that they looked a bit irritated. Probably because I’m easily deflecting their attacks. Can’t be helped. I come to expect these kinds of tactics from them after all. Attacking someone from the back when they are preoccupied is a common tactic after all. Their teamwork made them predictable in a way. 

Sure, they were powerful once separated and in their true forms, they can do much more. I’m just glad they weren’t that much stronger. It wasn’t enough to completely overwhelm me. Continue at this rate and I should take the victory eventually.

Suddenly, their bodies flared up with mana. Gordiron then charged at me. But unlike the previous one where he just charges in like a dumb bull, he was charging at me while his hands grabbed the earth below. His footsteps burned the grass beneath him in a large path of fire. I dodged to the left only for Gordiron to throw the earth that he grabbed onto my evade path. The piece of earth split into smaller pieces, but still big enough to do significant damage to me, causing me to spend more energy dodging the attack. 

“Artemyst Wrath!” Artemyst yelled out. 

I quickly turned to see a large white arrow being launched towards me. 

“Flash step,” I muttered as I dashed out of there, leaving behind an afterimage of myself which then got blown into oblivion by the skill. The attack never stopped however, it went on and on… Destroying a large chunk of the forest. Trees were falling down and birds started to fly away from the scene. Artemyst and Gordiron then positioned themselves with me in between them. Artemyst on my left and Gordiron on my right.

“You aren’t the only one hiding your true powers human. Behold our true strength. Now uphold the end of your bargain and fight us. We demand a true battle!” Both of them said at the same time as if united. They both then flared up with mana again and charged forth right at me.

Alright, I take back what say… This is troublesome indeed...

 

*****

 

Come to think of it. In a way, Korva died because of their actions. Because they stayed in that cave and killed anyone who comes by. That’s why Vidya couldn’t obtain those leaves in time. I wasn’t mad or anything. It was just a thought that came to my mind as I’m getting my ass kicked by the two Ak’hims. 

*Bam!

A punch hit me on the abdomen and I was sent flying back several meters. Feeling the crushing pain and difficulty in breathing, I tumbled to the ground from the impact. Even when I’m down, I was assaulted by arrows from many different directions. Holding my breath, I then grabbed the dirt from the floor and threw it upwards. Electrical sparks could be seen within the dust clouds.

The grade five skill. Kinetic Dampener.

Every single arrow that entered the dust cloud quickly lose energy before dropping to the ground harmlessly. I took this time to stand up, only for Gordiron to throw another punch at me. Something that I easily avoid before throwing a swing towards him. Gordiron was sent back from the blast when suddenly Artemyst came up to me. Using her tail as a stinger to strike me, her bow used as some sort of melee weapon where she would strike me in locations that I dodged to when I avoid the tail strike.

Unable to find an opening in her assault, I backed away only to find that Gordiron has recovered and launched an attack towards my face.

*Pow!

I took flight with my face as the focal point before slamming into a tree. Their attacks seemed to have stopped for a while. Didn’t know why, but I took the chance to fix my jaws back into position and spit out the blood that gathered in my mouth. It was then that I finally got a proper look at them. They were breathing rather raggedly and fumes could be seen coming out of their pores.

As I expected, they can’t maintain this form for long. It seems that I still win the endurance phase huh. Taking an attack pose I rushed towards Gordiron before landing a blow towards him. He guarded the attack easily, but it’s just a faint. I used my momentum to blindside him before launching the skill ‘Full Force’ at his back. The very same skill that I knew could penetrate his defence.

*Clang

Gordiron turned around and grabbed my sword mid-swing with great precision. What surprised me wasn’t the fact that Gordiron blocked it. But the fact that he blocked it without even knowing where the sword will hit him. Even like this, they still share senses huh...

Tsk.

Pumping a chunk of my mana into Kirin, my partner soon let out an eerie screeching sound that grew louder before culminating in a bright blue flash and an explosion. With my sword now free, I climbed onto Gordiron before swinging down my sword at his neck only for Artemyst to strike me off of him using her whip-like tail. I fell down to the ground again before immediately standing up to cut down several arrows.

Unlike the first time I fought these guys, their arrows weren’t limited in use. Artemyst being able to move around fast around the battlefield meant that she could pick up fallen arrows and re-use them. Which is why I am actively cutting down the arrows so she may not use them again. Still, there was a large amount of still functioning arrows left on the battlefield.

*Schwaff! *Shing! *Schwaff! *Shing!

Artemyst ran across the battlefield to picking up fallen arrows and shooting them at me. Her tail grabbing the arrows before nocking and shooting them. All sorts of shots. Straight shots, curve shots, arrow rain, explosive arrows, and sometimes even splintered arrows. All which I cut down without much difficulty.

Their movements have started to slow down.  Gordiron would usually have started attacking me by now. 

Taking this opportunity, I sent a quick crescent blade towards Gordiron and another crescent blade towards Artemyst. Gordiron blocked it as usual, but Artemyst wasn’t so durable and got hit by it. It was then that I noticed that Gordiron flinched from the attack as well, despite it hitting Artemyst.

Hmm…

Quickly taking this opportunity, I charged Kirin and send out a special type of crescent blade.

“Mangetsu Blade!”

The full moon blade flew towards Artemyst who was still recovering from the previous attack.

*Boom!

An explosion occurred as the skill was about to hit her, signifying me that something was off. 

This particular skill doesn’t cause any explosions.

I waited for the smoke to clear out only to see Gordiron in front of Artemyst. His back facing towards me, red spikes appearing from the back of his body. I turned around the other way to confirm that Gordiron did indeed somehow, or someway reached Artemyst’s position during that short moment. Either some sort of teleportation magic or some summoning magic.

The fumes that were being released from their bodies got even more intense. They should be at their limits now. Taking this chance, I pushed onwards and did a full force attack onto Gordiron.

Urk...

Only to be pushed back by a burst of mana. A pillar forming on their location.

What in the…?

Not about to let them do whatever it is that they were doing, I charged Kirin with magic power and let loose a strong grade six skill, the “Sonic Thrust”. Or I would have if an arrow didn’t knock the sword during my skill sequence. Disrupting the whole skill.  

Tsk.

The pillar then burst opened and Gordiron clad in red aura charged right forth at me. Fumes no longer coming out of his pores. I dodged the attack, but Gordiron wasn’t done just yet. With renewed vigour, he slammed the ground.

*Grumble…

*Crash! *Crash! *Crash!

The ground shook and gigantic pillars of rock appeared from underneath me. I rolled away from the first few and saw that more pillars were appearing from the ground. The pillars surrounded the immediate area around me. Looking closely, I could see a shadowy figure jumping across the tall pillars.

*Schwaff!

An arrow came from behind me, despite the shadow’s location. I turned around to cut the arrow down only to find that that Artemyst had come down from behind to swipe at me with her tail.

*Clang!

I rebounded the attack, but Artemyst used this momentum to land on a pillar and started to jump around again. Shooting arrows at me from above. Her arrows defy logic, they come from all sorts of directions, not corresponding with her location at all. When I would strike the arrows down, she would strike me at my back before bouncing off into the pillars again.

*Bam!

As I was dealing with Artemyst, Gordiron managed to land a lariat onto me, sending me flying once again. Smashing several pillars along the way. The shock reverberating throughout my body. 

Not giving me any time to recover, Gordiron slammed hist fists onto me. Repeatedly beating me to the ground before grabbing me and throwing me up to the skies. Artemyst then landed a piercing blow towards me. Stabbing me with her tail before tossing me back to the ground. Their assaults never ending as they slam the body.

.. ..

.. ..

.. ..

 

Looks like they haven’t noticed the decoy. I thought to myself as I hid behind one of the pillars, hiding my presence. I took this chance to take a deep breath before thinking of my next move.

These guys are good. Damn good. I won’t be able to win at this rate. I thought I could just hold on until they ran out of fumes, but that’s not happening. That pillar thingy seemed to have regenerated their energy somewhat. Their teamwork was top notch as well. I’m finding little to no openings in their assault here. If they weren't before, they were clearly living up to their names as Demon Lords now.

Need to change up my tactic here. I could use Armageddon to give me an opening to strike one of them down. There was also the other trump card I could use. No… It makes no difference no matter how many openings I make if I can’t take them down or deal significant damage. I need something stronger.

Could it be that it is time for me to bring out the big guns? Must I kill them to be able to defeat them? Maybe I should just bail and run away? 

Non non non, I can’t do that. The deal will come undone. More innocents are going to die if I leave now.

I bit my lips thinking of the fact that I must resort to murder to deal with these guys. Calming myself and accepting my situation, I pulled over my left hand to my most powerful weapon. Justicar.

“I don’t think you are a monster Miss Effinshia...” Ride’s words rang out in my mind as I was about to pull Justicar out of its holster.

.. ..
.. ..
.. ..

No… I haven’t lost. Not yet. I can still make it happen.

I took a look at my glorified glow stick. My other-self. Kirin. 

“Sorry Kirin, I know you don’t like doing this. But I need a favour.” I asked the blade.

“I do not mind. Are you sure about this?” I could hear a disembodied voice appearing inside my head.

Yeah, I don’t mind.

“Very well.”

Sorry, Justicar. It’s not time for you shine just yet.

 

*****

 

Magic is just the term used when one breaks the laws of reality. The laws of the universe. It’s like going to a shop to buy an effect. Magic powers that allows one to bend reality. Different people have different shops, different things they can purchase at different prices. It’s what the people usually call affinity. Of course, it’s not as simple as that. There are things like magic manipulation, magic shaping, magic regeneration rate, and magic consumption rate. Many other things are involved when using magic, but in its simplest terms, you just trade a certain currency to buy the effect you need. The currency to buy these things? Mana of course. 

However, mana isn’t the only currency that a person can use to exchange for magic. Sure, It’s one of the more effective catalysts for magic, but there are other more powerful currencies out there. One of these currencies is one’s life force. 

Life force can take shape in many different ways and can be extracted from the body through careful application. Though the most common form of life force is one that everyone should know. One’s own blood.

Blood Magic.

I stood in front of a red and black pillar. I took a deep breath as I drew out my sword and put it over my left arm. The pillar dispersed and what came out of it was Gordiron and Artemyst in ready stance. Beneath their feet was a clump of earth that has trace elements of my face on it.

“Clever trick, but this battle ends now. You should have run away while you could Human,” Gordiron and Artemyst said to me. Their lips and voice overlapped with each other.

*Slash!

Using Kirin, I sliced my arm open, leaving a deep but not fatal cut on my left arm. Blood flowed down and onto the ground. I then took a battle stance in the battlefield of rock pillars. Kirin glowed blue and red, mixing into a bright purple glow.

“Have the human lost her mind? Gahahaha.” Gordiron said and let out a laugh.
“Indeed my love, I think her mind may no longer be here,” Artemyst replied before moving in to attack stance.

“Resonance,” I said in a quick cold voice.

“Resonance? My my, the human has indeed lost it my—” 

Artemyst couldn’t finish her sentence when suddenly a burst of energy came out from my location. The same kind of energy burst that the demons have been using against me. Gordiron and Artemyst gave me a look of shock.

“You aren’t the only ones who can do that,” I said as my body blurred.

I charged right onto their locations. The demons gave out their own burst and tried to either defend themselves or intercept me. I didn’t know. I couldn’t see nor did I care about it. The place that I was aiming for was something else, their location. More specifically the ground beneath them.

I just kept running, dragging Kirin on the ground beneath me, leaving large singed marks on it. Once I reached a certain distance, I took a half-circle turn before charging forth at the two again. Noticing what I was trying to do, Gordiron attempted to halt my movement by throwing a strong punch at me. 

*Clang!

The punch landed on my body, but the impact was negated by Armageddon which hardens just in time. Like an immovable object, I passed through Gordiron and send him flying into the air. Artemyst wanted to shoot some arrows at me but flinched when Gordiron was blasted away, grasping her chest in pain.

Again I made another half circle once I reached a certain distance. Arriving at my exact starting position. The singed ground forming a lemniscate before glowing bright purple. Confirming that the preparation was completed, I backed away from the immediate vicinity, throwing purple crescent blades at Artemyst to prevent the demons from escaping the area.

I didn’t bother aiming at Gordiron. I focused my all into Artemyst and as I expected, Gordiron arrived to protect her, hugging onto her with all his might. The ground appeared brighter and brighter until it reached the point where just looking at it was blinding.

 

Are you seeing this Korva? This is one of the coolest skills I have. The grade eight skill.

“Cross Infinity!”

It was as if the forest erupted and a bright purple light in the shape of a lemniscate shot up to the skies, clearing the clouds above. I could feel the waves of heat from the blast hitting my face as I stared at the large blinding column of light. Incoherent screams of Artemyst and Gordiron could be heard mixed within the large roaring sound of the skill alongside the crumbling pillars and the sound of all the animals in the forest crying in fear.

The column of light stayed there for a good ten seconds before dispersing into nothing. My eyes took a while to re-adjust to the light and what entered them was the sight of blackened land. Artemyst and Gordiron holding each other, their backs, their outer skin charred. They soon fall down to the floor, their limbs evaporating until they are left with a more recognizable form. 

Handicapped Demon Lords.

They were barely breathing and was merely taking solace in each other’s presence. Not exactly dead, but close to it. They wouldn’t be moving nor recovering anytime soon.

“This is my victory,” I said as I moved closer to them. Sheathing Kirin before clutching the self-made wound on my left arm to stop the bleeding.

…

“Incredible…” Gordiron spoke. His own voice from his mouth.

…

“Before you finish the deed. May we know the name of the one who bested us twice?” Artemyst said this time. Through Gordiron’s mouth.

I took a moment of silence before telling them my name:- “...Effinshia.”

“Effinshia… we admit your strength. I Artemysterialeonara Cunning.” Artemyst said before being replaced with Gordiron’s voice. “And I Gordironinramus Warrior.” 

“Hereby announce that you pass our trial. The trial of Supremes. Of gods.” Both of their voices resonated with each other.

Trial…?

Again, they proclaimed themselves as Supremes.

“Ya know. Call me busybody or dumb. But do you both truly think yourselves as supremes?” I asked. Genuinely curious.

“We may not be now. However, we will be one, one day. When the day comes, we will take what rightfully belongs to us.”

“I see… Well, whatever… Since this is my victory,  I expect you two to keep your end of the bargain. Also, please learn common sense and stop killing innocents without warning. This kind of shit goes a long way.” I said to them before moving away. North towards Makaran.

….
….
….

“Aren’t you going to extinguish our life force?” They asked me after I moved a considerable distance.

I should, shouldn’t I? 

*sigh.

“No more senseless killing and I let you guys go scot-free. Got it?”

“...Understood.”

Something tells me that I’m going to regret this action one day. But I’ll leave that to future me.

I walked onwards north. Blood dripping down to the ground beneath me. Walking all the way urghhh... All of this because that stupid tiger didn’t want to transform.