“Do. Not. Move,”

 

The quiet voice surprised him, as if reading his contemplation of leaving the house before the surreal being noticed him. In his state of shock, the thought of saving his neighbour flew out of Leeteuk’s head. He quickly scanned the trashed room and noticed a girl staring intently at him. Lying on her sides, the girl was pinned by a cupboard which had fallen on her.

 

Her long black hair fell around her, the crimson blood running down the side of her face forming a stark contrast against her fair skin. Throwing constant cautious looks at the large creature which was still looking around, the girl tried to pull herself loose with minimum movement. Leeteuk's anxiety level rose as the creature seemed to notice the trapped girl and began taking steps towards her.

 

"Just stay still and stop moving! It can only track movement!"

 

Astonished by Leeteuk’s sudden movement, Raven yelled out at him while eyeing the creature wearily. The oily black creature was a tier-three demon. Much stronger than the one she had sent back to hell a couple of weeks ago in a cemetery. She tried to pull herself loose from the cupboard once again but was helplessly pinned to the ground. With a of luck, she did not suffer any major injuries from having the bookcase fall onto her. The fight with the demon however, left a deep cut near her temple, causing her to bleed.

 

"I-Is it really fine for you to talk right now? It's almost onto you!"

 

"It is deaf. It can't hear anything. It can only see moving objects as it has terrible eyesight. It's back facing you right? Just get out. You'll be safe,"

 

"But-But what about you?"

 

"Why do you care what happens to me? You don't even know me. Just get out and keep your nose to yourself in the future,"

 

"Hey! I'm not one to leave others in trouble! What is this thing anyway?"

 

"It has nothing to do with you. Just leave my residence! You're trespassing!"

 

"I'm just trying to help!"

 

"You can do so by helping yourself out of my house right now!"

 

"Why must you be so ungrateful?"

 

“I am trying to save your unappreciative !”

 

“No, I’M the one who is trying to save you!”

 

Who is this nosy idiot? He's going to get himself killed! Save me? Does he even know what he is dealing with?

 

"You want to save me? Do you even know what this thing is?"

 

"It doesn't matter! Getting you out of there should be priority! Don't worry! I'll distract it!"

 

"No! Don't do anything stupid! This thing is out of your league! Out your world! Just stay away!"

 

"What do you mean out of the world?"

 

"Are you for real? Have you ever seen such a thing before?"

 

"No...But I’m sure there a perfectly logical explanation to this!"

 

Great... Now I'm not only stuck with this demon, I’m also stuck with an airhead!

 

Raven winced as the demon took another step towards her, its foot crashing half of the cupboard Raven was trapped under in the process. Missing being crushed to death by mere inches, Raven realised that she was now able to lift the cupboard slightly due to its reduction in weight. She glanced up quietly at the demon above her, where the demon's head now was.

 

Grimacing as a huge glob of slime dripped off the creature's chin and landed on her chest, Raven cursed the fact that she was only wearing a tube top. The goo slid easily down her smooth skin and onto the ground, leaving a trail of glistening stickiness in its wake. The demon was still fervently scanning the room for her, its beady little eyes looking out for any signs of movement.

 

Where is my sword? If I had my sword, I can cut its head off and send it back to hell. It’s not on its rack! All this thrashing around must have knocked it off?

 

“Hey! You!”

 

Jumping in surprise as Raven yelled at him, Leeteuk snapped out of his trance. He was staring blankly at the black creature, his head unable to comprehend its existence. He turned his attention to the black-haired woman.

 

“Ye-Yeah?”

 

“Do you see a sword?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“A sword! A silver sword!”

 

“What silver sword?”

 

“A sword that is silver in colour! You know, a sword like a long piece of metal that cuts people into half?”

 

“I know what a sword is! But why are you asking me about a sword at this point in time?”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry… Should I be asking you if you want to have dinner? How about fried demon with a side of a nosy human being?!”

 

“Silver sword? Okay… I-I’ll trying looking under all these trashed furniture…”

 

“NO! Do not move! How many times must I tell you to not move? Don’t move your arms, don’t move your legs, and don’t even move your eyeballs! Just stand there like a statue until I send this thing back to where it came from! Then you go back to where you came from and keep your nose to yourself in the future!”

 

“Then you shouldn’t have asked me to find your sword!”

 

“I asked if you saw it, I didn’t ask you to look for it!”

 

Annoyed, Raven started scanning the room for a glimpse of the silver weapon. However, her efforts proved futile as her sword was nowhere to be found. While it was dangerous to alert the demon of her location when she did not have any weapons to defend herself by, she would get crushed to death by the demon's giant foot if she stayed in her current position.

 

All right… I have no choice! Come on, Raven… I know you can do this… If you can’t even kill this tier three idiot, all those fiends you killed will be laughing at you from the underworld!

 

In one single motion, Raven gathered up her focus and rolled out from the cupboard, lifting herself into an upright position at the same time. Unfortunately, she did not place enough distance between herself and the slimy fiend. The demon managed to grab her just as she righted herself.

 

Slamming her against a nearby wall, the demon tightened its hands around her neck. Raven struggled hard against its hold, using her legs to kick out at its body and her hands to claw at its hands around her neck. She had already expended most of her energy earlier on, and did not have enough strength to pry its hands away. She soon found herself gasping desperately for air as her body grew weaker and weaker.

 

Is this the end? Me, the greatest huntress of the supernatural world, is going to perish at the hands of a tier three demon? I always imagined my end to be more dramatic, involving the Devil himself or at least something of the same calibre... Oh my... I hope this doesn't get out... I'll be laughed at all the way into the afterlife...

 

All of a sudden, a loud crash rang out above the demon's loud grunt. Raven fell onto the ground in a heap as the hands around her neck suddenly loosened. She gasped violently for air, choking unintentionally as the rush of air hit her. A few long breaths later, she was finally able to think clearly.

 

The first thing she noticed when she looked up were the shattered pieces of porcelain in front of her. A half broken neck piece proved that the pieces came from a vase. She then heard a loud groan of pain and found Leeteuk lying on his front a little further than where he was initially standing. Between them, the demon was snarling angrily as it held its hand up against an open wound on the back of its head.

 

"Hey! Hey are you all right?"

 

"Uh... I think I might have broken a bone... Ouch... All of them..."

 

"Didn't I tell you to not move? What did you do?!"

 

"I was trying to help you! Th-That thing was killing you!"

 

"Why aren't you scared? You should be running in the opposite direction, screaming!"

 

"I AM scared! But I can't just... Just leave you like this!"

 

"This has nothing to do with you! You... You shouldn't eve-"

 

Raven bit off the rest of her sentence in shock as the demon suddenly raised its head and roared angrily.

 

"You! You dare!"

 

"Oh my god! I-It's talking! It speaks human?! I thought you said it was deaf and blind!"

 

“It was! Until you smashed that vase on his head! Of all the vases in the room, why did you have to choose that vase?!”

 

“It was the nearest thing I could find! Does it matter which vase I used?!”

 

“Of course it mattered! That is made from volcanic ash of Mt. Nyiragongo! Putting aside how much it is worth, you have just administered a healing potion on that damn demon!”

 

“ENOUGH!”

 

Leeteuk was completely mortified when the black being he had just injured turned its angry gaze upon him and yelled. Its deep, echoey voice was like nothing he had ever heard before. It was as if a thousand voices were talking at the same time in unison, and sent shivers down Leeteuk's spine. It was only then that Leeteuk managed to get a good look at the creature. It was at least 6 feet tall and covered in oily black slime. The slime was dripping off constantly from its body, leaving black stains on the ground as it landed.

"A vase? You dare to smash a vase onto my head? This is an insult! Of all the things that you could have used to hurt me! How dare you use such a lowly object on my worthy head!"

"Urm, sorry to interrupt... Actually, I think that was an urn. Quite worthy of your undeadly state, if you ask me,"

Slowly climbing onto her feet, Raven snubbed the raging demon who was extremely indignant at being smashed by what it presumed to be a common vase. Demons were proud creatures, always thinking of themselves as above mortals. It was a reasonable pride, seeing that one undead spirit will have to devour many other undead spirits to earn the label of a demon. She almost burst out laughing at the comical look of childish anger that crossed the demon face as it focus its attention at her instead. If it were more earthly, it would probably be stamping its foot on the ground in a fit.

"You think it's funny, Realms Walker?"

"I think it's hilarious. You, my dear Labal, all tall and mighty, is a disgrace to all Labals. Blind and deaf? You should be glad this idiot here accidently smashed the vase made from Mt. Nyiragongo’S volcanic ash onto you. You would still be deaf and blind otherwise. No wonder you are desperate enough to come for the Eye,"

"How did you think I grew to this height? Small stones can make a mountains..."

"Ooh... Classy... And here I was thinking you must have taken some steroids with your last meal,"

"And you're too small for such a big name... All those legendary fights.... Did you make them up? If not for this meddlesome human here, I would have already had snapped your neck into half just now,"

"Taunting me? Am I supposed to cry in shame at this? I was simply giving you an opportunity to hone your skills. You might need them after I send you back to where you came from. You'll have to start from the bottom again, won't you?"

Roaring in anger at Raven’s deliberate taunting, the Labal swept its spiky tail hard, sending the overturned couch in her direction. Raven was already prepared this time, and leaped over the couch gracefully as it passed her.  Using the couch as a boost, Raven lunged in the direction of the demon, splashing the vial of holy water she had hidden in her hands directly at its eyes.

 

The holy water sizzled against its slimy skin, instantly burning its eyes. As the Labal thrashed around with its hands over its eyes in agony, Raven took the chance to look for Leeteuk. She breathed a sigh of relief when she couldn’t find him anywhere in sight. Believing that Leeteuk had already ran away in fright, she turned her full focus back to the Labal in front of her.

 

That nosy fellow finally got it into that thick skull of his that this is too much for him to handle. Good riddance… Now I need to find my sword and send this demon back to the hellhole where he came from.

 

Unknown to Raven, Leeteuk had not left the house at all. With the demon distracted by Raven, Leeteuk took the chance and ducked into a nearby room in seek of a hiding place. The adrenaline rush he was experiencing from the shock of the day’s event was making him lightheaded. As he crashed to the ground, he noticed a long wooden case sitting in front of the opened window.

 

The case was positioned such that the soft moonlight streaming in from the opened window bathed it completely. The wooden case must had been made from a reflective material as Leeteuk thought he saw it glistened and shimmered.

 

Yah, Leeteuk! Don’t be silly! How can wood shimmer? Your eyes must be playing tricks on you! But then… I’ve already seen nightmare stuff tonight… Who’s to say this night wouldn’t be taking an even darker turn?

 

Before he knew it, his legs had already carried him across the room to stand in front of the case. Even though his head was screaming that he had no reasons to touch others’ belongings, his hands, in its own accords, hesitantly reached out for the case. It was a simple wooden case in the colour of rosewood. Many strange symbols had been carved into the wood, forming a border. These strange symbols were similar to those which Leeteuk had previously noticed on the door frame.

 

Just as his fingertips were inches away from the touching the case, it suddenly began shaking. He withdraw his hands in surprise and the vibrations stopped immediately. Puzzled, he began reaching for the box again. Sure enough, the shakings began once his fingers got close. Certain that a living creature had been trapped in the box, Leeteuk immediately unclasped the metal clutch holding the box shut.

 

Raising his hands to protect his face as the box sprung opened, Leeteuk squeezed his eyes shut and prepared himself for the trapped creature to jump out of the box. However, all that followed was only silence. He lowered his hands slowly as he opened his eyes to peek at the contents of the case. His eyes widened in surprise when he only found a long silver sword staring quietly back at him.

 

That’s it? Then what was causing all those shaking?

 

Bending over the case, Leeteuk took a closer look at the silver sword. Just like the door and the case, many strange symbols lined its edges as well. He reached down cautiously and closed his right hand over the leather grip, watching the pommel glow faintly with a bluish light. Curious, Leeteuk ran his finger down the blade. He was surprised when his fingers came into contact with warmth, instead of the usual coldness of metal.

 

This must be the sword that woman was talking about just now! What kind of technology does this thing possess? Why is the pommel glowing? Battery maybe?

 

Leeteuk shook his head clear of his questions as he began making his way towards the door, wanting to hand the sword to Raven. However, as soon as he stepped through the door, he was lifted off his feet as the sword soared upwards on its own. His screams soon attracted the attention of both Raven and the demon.

 

’Arh! Help me! Why is this thing flying on its own?!”

 

“What the he- What are you doing?!”

 

“I was trying to get you your sword! But as soon as I step through that door…”

 

“Take your filthy hands off my sword! Do you know how sacred my sword is? It is not for the hands of mortals!”

 

“Turn it off! Turn off the flying mode! I can’t let go! I’ll fall!”

 

“What do you think it is? A toy? There is no flying mode! Just let go of the grip! Its only one or two metre in the air! You won’t die from the fall!”

 

"Help me! Arh! I'm gonna crash!"

 

"Just let go of my sword an- On hindsight, keep holding on the grip! Don’t let go or the demon will have your head!”

 

Think Raven! What can you do to buy some time? Think…Think… Oh! I know! It is risky… But I have to try it… If not both this fool and I are going to be devoured by this Labal!

 

Changing her mind when she noticed the Labal lumbering in Leeteuk's direction, Raven reckoned that Leeteuk will be safer flying around above their heads rather than back on the ground. The idea that she had come up with was risky because it might not work on a tier three demon. Especially since she had yet to recover from her fight to retrieve the Eye.

 

Okay Raven… It’s your reputation on the line… I AM RAVEN THE REALMS WALKER! I WILL SEND YOU BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!