Elder

"L-let them go."

Was it the Goddess? I stomped on her allies, my gargoyle rampaging in the middle of their village, and she was just standing there, asking me in a shaky voice. Yes, she wasn't a big deal.

"Last time, you caught me by surprise, but I'm not going to lose to you now," I claimed, throwing the helpless Lambert to the ground. As expected, he couldn't put up a fight at all. Well, the element of surprise was on my side. Slipping away in the chaos of battle was the right call, since I ordered my soldiers to retreat from here, these fools thought they had already won. They fell straight for my bait. "You stay there, and watch."

I sharpened my palms and punched a hole clear through the chest of the orc brute. I ripped his heart out. Oh, I wanted to do this for so long, that I even considered reanimating him for a moment. It would have been hilarious to see them struggle against their former comrade.

"Hana!" One of the onlookers yelled in desperation. They were already on the ground, looking harmless. But I didn't have the magicules to waste on such things, nor the time. I had to make do with holding his still-beating heart in my hands. The life left his massive body, the beating getting more and more faint in my palm. "You bastard."

I heard cries from every direction. They really must have loved this brute. It was music to my ears, but they couldn't do anything against me. The only opponent I had my eyes on wouldn't even move. The black-haired Goddess was just standing there, staring at the heart, her tail was between her legs, and she didn't even move until it finally stopped.

"I so wanted to do this. Last time he made me break a sweat, but I could have killed him, if you didn't attack me from behind." I claimed, laughing. I felt so much better. When the bastard shot me with that weird weapon, I thought I would die. I could still feel the pain, but it was only fuelling my madness. "The revenge is mine, and you are the next in line. Not such a big brave girl now, that you have to face me directly, huh? I can't believe I was worried about you."

I threw away the heart of the dead orc, and slowly raised my arm towards her. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. She seemed so weak, so pathetic, I wanted to crush her right here and now, take her place as the only deity on the continent.

But I needed to hear what she was saying first. I was curious, it drove me crazy. She cried, as pathetic as she was, tears rolled down her face. She mumbled something quietly, instead of taking her revenge. Why? What was her deal? Now the least I could do was to listen to it. I held back on my attacking spell and waved at my gargoyle to quiet down that rampaging mount. He froze up in place.

"What is it?" I looked around. It already neutralized everyone nearby, who could harm me. The golems only took a moment to be torn apart, they weren't made to fight and were worn out too.

The others couldn't be called warriors. The troublesome ones were happy to leave this place and rushed to aid their comrades, the fools.

"What are you saying? I can't hear you." I taunted the cat girl. No answer. She was still mumbling something. "Are you really this pathetic?"

Was it preparation for a spell? She sure took her time.

"I just killed your friend, aren't you going to avenge him?" I asked, trying my best to insult her. Kick her, while she was already down. Like life did to me all those years ago. Yes, my time has finally come. "He was a decent warrior at least, but you? A Goddess, huh?"

I glanced around but still no movement.

"The only time you did something was when I turned my back on you," I claimed, not like I wouldn't have done the same, given the chance. But I was best at manipulating people. I wanted to make her feel her worst before I killed her, after having her watch that. "He didn't think twice before attacking me and wasn't even a sorcerer."

"It's them..." I finally caught a few words, but I couldn't make sense of it. I had to walk even closer. Nobody else was able to move in the courtyard now, the big orc woman was unconscious, and everyone with a weapon was knocked out. I kept an eye on Lambert just in case.

"What was it? I still can't hear you. Speak up. What kind of god are you, damn it?" I shouted, now almost at arm's length. She looked at me with those hazel eyes, full of tears. Her face was distorted.

"Don't refer to them as a man!" She suddenly yelled. I recoiled, but she wasn't attacking. What the hell? What was she talking about? She shouted again. "It's she, or them. If you respect them, you should respect their feelings too. It was their decision."

"Huh? What are you..." I took my mind off of my defensive barrier just for a split second. Her yapping confused me, and I was sure not expecting her to strike after all this time. I couldn't believe she surprised me, face to face, after only standing there for this long.

The twin beams that emerged from her eyes burned my flesh just as badly as last time, but even if she caught me off guard, I was prepared for this kind of attack and threw myself to the side. My barrier was back again and distorted the beams that kept following me. I couldn't even see them, only the air vibrating around the immense heat, but they dug deep into me. After being shot again, this was more than enough for me to consider retreating. But I couldn't simply leave it at this.

"You little..." I didn't stop myself and concentrated all my strength on a lightning attack. The air wasn't that dry around here there was a little stream running behind my back, but I gathered enough static electricity to strike her with. Except it never hit her.

The bolt changed direction before impact, and hit one of those weapons on the ground instead, sending it flying across the courtyard. It was certainly not her doing, she was not casting a spell. Her eyes were closed and looked all red after firing those invisible beams at me.

I turned to see Lambert reaching out towards us. Maybe the bastard wasn't completely useless, but why did he defend the Goddess? Why did she even need to be defended? What was her deal? The confusion and frustration almost drove me crazy. I could barely concentrate on the spells and decided to fire the next one at the court wizard himself.

"You stay down, dog!" I yelled, my voice sounding hoarse. Almost all of the charge was gone from the air now. It was only enough for one more bolt. Enough to knock him unconscious though. "I have plans for you, little bastard. Don't make me kill you now."

It was a mistake, taking my eyes off the cat girl again. She suddenly reached out for my hand, and… She simply grabbed it. Just what the hell was she doing? Was this really that famous wizard? The Goddess of Luck, that made the emperor fall head over heels? That drove all the nobles crazy not just with her looks, but her proficient spell casting too.

"Unhand me, you weakling." I taunted her, curious what she would do. Was she the first of the Lesser Races who learned how to cast magic? On her own, by sneaking into the libraries? She was weak and slow, she had one strong spell, but that's it. What was she hoping for by grabbing my arm like that? She wasn't even strong enough to fight me in hand-to-hand combat. I realized too late, that she didn't even want to.

"This is for Hana." I heard it at the same time as the bolt hit me. It came from behind, the same thing that the huge bastard shot me with earlier, albeit a little weaker, but striking from behind, when I was not expecting it, it went straight through my lungs. I glanced to see, who shot me, but could only spot the large orc woman fall to the ground again.

Since I waved the gargoyle to remain silent, it no longer guarded my back. I wanted to scream, but my lungs were torn open. I ripped off my arm from the hands of the Goddess and slapped her face with the same motion. It was enough to knock her over, yet I was practically defeated. I kept falling for her tricks because nothing she did made sense to me. I couldn't even end this now the way I wanted.

"Run, she can't fight now." Someone yelled, and the Goddess dragged herself towards the big building behind her. Some other people started to move too, but I had to focus my remaining power to heal my lungs. Otherwise, I would have collapsed in a minute at best. I gave a telepathic command to that damn stone bird to finally move again, but I had to retreat now. It was shameful, it was enraging me, I could have ended it all so easily. I should have. But the Goddess crawled inside the building, and out of my sight. So close, yet so far.

I couldn't even talk now. The best I could do was wheezing while trying to heal myself and retreat. In the end, I calmed myself with the thought, that as things were standing now, she was probably easy to kill, a snap of a finger. If I weren't that afraid of her at first and didn't underestimate her later, she didn't have anything on me.

A simple slap sent her to the ground, but I didn't make the same mistake as to turn my back on her again. She was behind that door, safe from me momentarily, but I bet she was only waiting for me to lower my guard again. People were running all over the place, trying to escape the rampaging gargoyle, so they couldn't oppose me dragging myself towards it either. I finally managed to patch my lungs up, but I was seriously hurt, and low on mana too. I came for Lambert, and I got him.

"Screw this place." I coughed, once I was able to talk again. Yes, he was in the talons of my magical mount. I didn't want to fight the Goddess to begin with. I could put this out for later if she were such a weakling.

But I had to look out for those damned weapons. Nothing I have seen so far could penetrate my barrier, and this thing repeatedly punched through it. If I had just a little bit of mana left over and had to choose, I'd rather burn those things than strike down that pathetic Goddess with it. But I was almost completely out and still had to fly that beast home. I was too weak to initiate a draining spell.

I needed one day, maybe a week to regain my strength, then I could burn this place to the ground. From a distance, their weapons couldn't reach. That's how I tried to calm myself, as my gargoyle took to the sky. I had Lambert at least, my favorite toy was back where it belonged.