I glared down at him for a long, satisfying moment, enjoying seeing the arrogant prick humbled. But now really wasn't the time to savor petty revenge.
Dropping to one knee beside him, I grabbed the silver dagger's handle, meeting Riser's fearful gaze evenly. "This is going to hurt like a motherfucker," I warned bluntly.
"Just do it!" Riser snapped furiously, sweat pouring down his temples.
I yanked the blade sharply from his flesh in one quick motion. Riser howled in agony once again, thrashing and screaming curses loud enough to echo through the ruined village streets.
I tossed the bloody silver dagger aside and watched as golden flames finally began slowly closing Riser's injury, though the flesh still sizzled horribly from silver burns.
"Congratulations," I said sarcastically, rising smoothly to my feet and staring down at his crumpled, shaking form. "You managed to survive a single goblin attack. Maybe next time, bring some fucking guards."
Riser simply moaned weakly in response, glaring at me through watery, hate-filled eyes.
Only seconds after I'd tossed aside the bloody dagger, doors splintered, windows shattered, and bodies surged out of the abandoned homes that lined both sides of the street. More goblins, fully armored from head to toe, came rushing out like a fucking army.
Even more of these disgusting creatures erupted from beneath the ground itself-burrowing up through the dirt and rubble, spraying debris everywhere, making it clear they'd laid this ambush perfectly. Dozens quickly surrounded us in seconds.
One goblin stood out from the rest-his armor heavier, ornate runes glowing dully across its metal surface. He stepped forward confidently, his beady red eyes fixed eagerly on Riser Phenex.
"There he is-a member of the Phenex clan! Ha! I fucking told you fools attacking this worthless village would lure one of those arrogant chickens out here eventually!" His followers laughed harshly, nodding eagerly as their leader continued speaking in that grating voice. "Capture him alive-he'll make a perfect hostage! Once we have him, his noble family will have no choice but to meet our demands! Our nation will reclaim our place in the underworld, starting with this territory!"
Another goblin beside him squinted suspiciously, pointing at me with his curved silver sword. "Wait, who's this other one? He wasn't part of the plan."
The leader snorted. "Who gives a fuck? Kill the useless bastard! He's worthless-it's the Phenex we need alive. The other one's nothing but an obstacle-get rid of him quickly!"
"You disgusting, filthy insects," Riser spat furiously, his voice trembling with barely-restrained hatred. He slowly pushed himself up from the ground, his golden flames finally licking away the last traces of injury. "How dare you lowly vermin even dream of laying your filthy hands upon a noble member of the Phenex clan?" He paused, eyes briefly flicking over in my direction, clearly annoyed to even acknowledge my existence. "And-begrudgingly, Riser must admit-how dare you threaten the Sitri clan as well..."
I rolled my eyes at his tone-he'd obviously only included me because our parents were political allies, not out of any genuine concern for my safety.
The goblin leader sneered again, clearly unimpressed. "Oh? And what exactly are you going to do, Phenex brat? Our weapons and armor are specifically enchanted to resist fire magic. Your pathetic flames won't harm us!"
Riser narrowed his eyes sharply and a cold smirk spread slowly across his lips. Without another word, he extended one palm outward, manifesting a detailed golden spell circle directly in front of him before a massive torrent of blazing golden fire exploded violently outward toward the assembled goblins.
The goblins confidently braced themselves against the incoming flames. Their sneering leader even laughed mockingly, his shrill voice dripping with disdain. "Ha! See, fools? These noble devils are one trick ponies! Just as I said, his pathetic fire magic can never penetrate our fire-resistant enchanted armor!"
But his subordinate's arrogant smirks quickly turned into expressions of pure horror as the scorching flames engulfed their armored bodies completely. Initially, their protective equipment indeed seemed to hold up quite well against the fierce inferno-glowing brightly beneath the onslaught but never actually melting or breaking apart.
Unfortunately for the goblins, while their armor remained intact, the soft, vulnerable flesh beneath most certainly did not.
Within seconds, agonized screams filled the air, cutting sharply through the roar of the flames. The goblins trapped within their own armor began thrashing desperately, shrieking in pure agony as Riser's relentless fire rapidly superheated the metal encasing their bodies. Skin blistered, muscle cooked, blood boiled-each armored goblin collapsed onto the muddy ground in screaming, writhing heaps of agony, roasted alive inside their very own armor.
Enraged, the remaining goblins roared furiously around us. Their previously smug confidence shattered instantly, replaced by desperate rage and fear.
"He killed our kin! Fuck the plan! Kill them! Fucking kill both of those filthy devils!" several goblins screamed at once. "Don't let either of them leave here alive!"
Riser calmly turned his arrogant gaze back toward me, entirely unbothered by the dozens of armed goblins barreling toward us. "Try not to embarrass yourself too much, Sitri," he sneered. "Riser would rather not explain to Lady Leviathan how her precious little boy ended up skewered by these worthless insects."
"Shut your fucking mouth, Phenex. You were the idiot who just got stabbed. Maybe I should let them take your sorry ass hostage after all."
Riser merely scoffed disdainfully, golden flames flickering ominously across his fingertips. "We'll see who ends up saving who in the end, half-breed."
"Fuck off, Riser," I growled irritably, as the two of us stood back-to-back.
The first group rushed us, loud and sloppy. I lifted my hand and pulled moisture from the air and ruptured pipes under the street. The water was already there, so I might as well save some magic and use it. That was a good lesson Sona and Serafall both taught me since conjuring our own demonic water used up our magical reserves a lot faster.
Water surged around my forearm in a sharp cone formation. I clenched my fist. The cone snapped into a high-pressure jet. It hit the closest goblin dead center. His breastplate dented, then folded and punctured, and the jet of high pressure water punched through him explosively.
Riser dumped a fan of golden fire across the front ranks to my right. It washed over their armor. Screams came a second later. They toppled, limbs jerking, cooked inside their own shells. The ones behind them tried to pull them clear and slipped on the boiling fat slicking the stones.
A spear point lunged for my ribs. I let the jet die and pivoted. The shaft scraped my forearm. I grabbed it, twisted, and yanked. The goblin stumbled forward. I slammed my palm under his visor and blasted. His neck snapped back. He went down hard.
Another came from my left with a hooked blade aimed at my ankle. I stepped back and kicked. My heel met his jaw. I brought the water back up as a whip and cut low. The water line hacked through the tendon behind an armored knee. The little bastard collapsed. I stamped the side of his helmet until it dented and stopped moving.
"Behind you," Riser snapped.
I spun. A goblin burst up from a fresh hole at my back, swinging a silver hatchet. I threw a flat sheet of water straight down into the hole. Dirt slumped in instantly, swallowing the next climbers and wedging the current one halfway out. He screeched, stuck at the hips. I gripped the embedded hatchet, ripped it from his hand, and buried it into his visor. He went limp.
To my right, Riser took three quick steps forward and drove his fist into a shield wall. Golden flames rolled across his knuckles, then jetted from his forearm in a tight lance that broke the wall and the goblins hiding behind it.
More goblins came at me and I smashed them away with the water whip in my hand, but I missed that they were a distraction.
A silver dagger caught me clean across the thigh through the open edge of my robe. The pain detonated up my leg, like acid poured straight into my nerves. My vision blurred for a second, and bile rose in my throat.
I stumbled and swore, "Fuck-holy shit." The goblin lunged to finish me, blade high for my throat. I met him with a hard water jet under his chin. His head snapped back at a wrong angle. He fell in a heap.
I grabbed my thigh and gritted my teeth. The flesh sizzled where the silver had touched.
"Are you hit?" Riser called out.
"Just a graze," I lied.
"Don't get sloppy now, Sitri. There's still more of them popping up..."
"Watch your own ass," I shot back, and I went forward again.
The goblin leader barked orders from behind the line of his men, waving a silver longsword and pointing at Riser. "We can win this! The plan is back on! Take the phoenix alive! Kill the half-breed, drown him in knives!"
They rushed faster and tried to swamp my front. I reformed my water whip and then split my water whip into two thinner lines. I sent the right line straight for the closest goblin's weapon hand. I looped his wrist, yanked tight, and snapped the line. His hand came off at the gauntlet. His sword dropped and spun across the stones. With the left line, I struck the next goblin's knee joint. The cut hit the leather strap behind the plate and the joint failed. He fell forward. I stepped in, drove my shoulder into his chest to put him flat, and fired a short jet through his visor slit. His head kicked once. His armor went still.
I needed space. I pulled up more water from burst pipes and the gutter and blasted a wide fan into the cobbles in front of me. The sheet slapped the ground and kicked back into the mob as a solid wall. I dumped a quick burst of heat into it and turned the wall into steam. The fog rose to my waist, hot and thick. Their line lost sight of me and they tripped over each other.
I pushed the steam sideways with my palm, hard to the left, right into a wing of goblins who were climbing in from a broken doorway. They lost footing. I condensed a strip of that steam into a slick sheet of water right under their boots and froze it in place. Their feet stuck for a heartbeat. I cut ankles with fast whip passes and shoved bodies over. I kept it simple, not trying to burn quickly through my demonic reserves, because these beasts just kept coming in waves.
On my right, a silver spear punched clean through Riser's shoulder. He screamed high and ragged. Flames flared around the wound and then sputtered out where the silver touched. Phoenix healing tried to kick in and got shut down by the metal. He grabbed the spear shaft with both hands, snapped it in the middle, and dragged the broken length through his shoulder and out the other side. He screamed again. He seized the goblin who had stabbed him, jammed the jagged spear butt into the visor slit, and shoved until it punched out the back of the helmet.
Riser staggered and sucked air through his teeth. "Fuck that hurts!"
I glanced over my shoulder and scowled deeply. "You know," I growled irritably toward Riser, "I was just about to suggest we take to the air and attack these ugly little fuckers from above-but that's obviously out of the question now."
Riser, still breathing heavily as golden flames flickered along his injured shoulder, turned and followed my gaze. His expression darkened visibly, his voice dripping with barely-contained disgust. "Yes, unfortunately, Riser noticed it too. There's an entire damned line of goblin archers back there, each one holding bows carved completely from silver." He spat onto the blood-soaked ground. "These pathetic creatures clearly planned every detail of this ambush thoroughly. It seems they truly came prepared."
"No shit," I muttered irritably. I slowly turned in a full circle, surveying the carnage and chaos surrounding us. "And to make matters worse," I continued darkly, "it looks like their numbers have somehow doubled or tripled from what we started with. What began as just a few dozen filthy goblins has turned into close to a hundred-maybe even more. They're pouring out of those tunnels beneath the streets like fucking cockroaches."
Riser glanced around grimly, finally nodding stiffly in reluctant agreement. "Indeed," he said with a heavy sigh. "They're practically swarming us now. More of them every second."
"Listen, Sitri," he said bluntly. "Everyone in this village is clearly already dead-we haven't found a single survivor anywhere. At this point, holding back serves no purpose."
"So, you're suggesting we go big and just flatten this entire town completely?" I asked, making sure I understood him correctly.
"This village falls within Phenex territory anyway-my family can easily afford to rebuild it afterward. Destroying it now won't be an issue. These worthless creatures need to be eradicated immediately, before they spread further into our land."
"Fine, Phenex. Let's fucking do this," I said firmly.
I stepped slightly to the side, turning deliberately to face toward the left side of town. Riser immediately mirrored my movements, positioning himself to aim toward the right. We stood back-to-back again as both of us began slowly pulling together every ounce of magical power remaining.
The goblin leader suddenly realized exactly what we intended. His eyes widened sharply with panic, his shrill voice rising desperately as he waved his silver longsword frantically in the air. "STOP THEM, YOU FOOLS!" he screamed frantically. "Don't let them unleash their full magic! Charge them now, quickly!"
But he was already far too late.
We'd been holding back significantly throughout the entire fight-cautiously reserving our strength in the slim hope there might still be survivors hidden somewhere within the ruined town. But with the goblin forces clearly overwhelming us now, that obviously wasn't the case anymore.
Time to stop fucking around.
I released all restraints on my magic, allowing the full raw force of my demonic power to surge rapidly outward from deep inside me. Before I was using the water around me to conserve magic, but now I was summoning my own demonic water. My power quickly gathered into an enormous, towering wall of water directly ahead of me. It swelled rapidly into an absolutely massive tidal wave-easily several stories high-looming over the scrambling goblins.
Beside me, Riser's own magic flared violently to life. A large wall of fire that matched my own towering wave.
