“Are you insane?! That thing could rip you apart!” From the row behind, Jimbo admonished her like the idiot she was. “I’m pretty sure he plans to. Look, he doesn’t even have a weapon.”

The alpha goblin cracked its knuckles into one palm and looked at Cira like a bug about to be squashed—or ripped apart. That’s probably the first step to eating someone, isn’t it? It definitely was.

“Don’t worry, boys.” She flashed them a confident grin, “I’m sure you will find this gentleman to be a fair employer in the event I should lose this duel.”

Then she turned her back to them and approached her opponent. The two squared off and sized each other up.

“You better not lose, stupid child.” Kuja lambasted her one last time before things got serious.

Taking this moment of rapport as an opportunity, the goblin lunged forward with a quick jab to the gut, which Cira deftly sidestepped. I admit, he is fast. This is really a job for two legs rather than one.

“Coward!” The onyx swung back to her left as the butt end sliced through the air on a path to the goblin’s collar. A quick snap of the neck would end the fight quickly, but the staff found only air.

“GYEHH!!” In response to Cira’s name-calling, it only offered a guttural cry. The goblin’s furious shriek was deafening from this close, and it brought one leg up to deliver a kick into Cira’s ribs. She quickly slammed her staff into the ground before throwing her leg out to prop it in place—but there was only a wooden peg.

Shit! “Gah, stupid legs!” This is going to hurt—

Cira’s gripped tightened around the staff and she groaned in pain as the goblin’s leg came at her like a fallen mast, but she had to stay focused. The goblin was also in pain after kicking the staff at full force. It must have expected the ominous stick to break easily, but what couldn’t be seen across its dark exterior were all the reinforcement glyphs that served to protect it from snapping.

As an aside, artificers hated the dark element. The glyphs were black, of course, and so too were the best materials. It was impossible to see what one was doing. Would the goblin even know what glyphs are? It seems smarter than the rest, but maybe I’m giving it too much credit.

While the goblin reeled back and yowled from the sweltering bruise on his shin, Cira knew this was her chance. Despite the pain which engulfed her injured leg, Cira leaned into it so she could bring the onyx down decisively.

At the last second, the goblin seemed to flex all his muscles and pivot a hair’s breadth out of the way. He chose to take the black gem to the shoulder instead of the forehead and lost his footing in the process. Cira was honestly surprised because the staff didn’t travel far enough to hit as hard as she wanted. The sorcerer was yet frail.

Still, the goblin winced while his arm hung limp for a just brief moment. After a second, his foot finally touched the ground from the kick Cira rejected with a slam and he let out an impassioned cry. The strained voice carried all the anger and bloodlust she’d come to know since entering this floor of Archaeum and within moments, the crowd surrounding them joined in as if to cheer in support. The smaller goblins snarled and shook their fists in the air, glaring daggers at Cira and her crew.

Her opponent hit his fists together and threw one more primal shout in her face and it is honestly intimidating. Cira had stood before many beasts and despite this one’s human-like stature, it stood before her a giant. The goblin seemed to snap his arm back and flexed undaunted.

“Hey screw that guy!” Skipper had been timid and silent for most of the descent, but it seemed the goblins’ cheers had left him incensed, “Kick his ass!”

“Yeah, whoop the little bastard!” The rest of the crew all started to cheer her on in an attempt to… Well, perhaps they were just excited. It’s difficult to say, but Jimbo and some of the more dedicated pirates began to flip the goblins off and insult their mothers.

“I’ll piss on this heretics grave!” Her paladin defender spat in the challenger’s direction.

This whole sequence was a staring contest between Cira and her adversary. She had pushed all unnecessary thoughts from her head and paid the smallest amount of attention possible to her crew’s charming words of encouragement—and good thing too as her opponent waited for an opening and tried to catch her distracted.

Why is he being cautious now? Maybe I should go after all. As soon as her mind was made up, Cira swung wide and cleaved through with the top of her staff. A broad hit to his body would suffice if afforded the chance, but the goblin was quicker than that. It backstepped just a couple inches to clear the onyx, but luckily, her first strike was a feint.

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Cira had already begun to twirl the staff back around and launched the haft right into his side, but to her surprise, he just took it. The goblin didn’t stumble back or even seem pained. Contrary to the first hit, this felt more like hitting a barrier than muscle. With the amount of untamed dark mana spilling out of him to the point where even she could feel it, she should have known. If only I had my damn aura—

“Guh!” The air evacuated her lungs as a blunt force barreled through her stomach like it were made of flan. Cira was pushed back before she even knew what happened and pain shot throughout her abdomen. Alarm bells started going off and she didn’t even have time to consider them before a heavy fist plowed into her face. The terrible left hook sent her to the ground and stars drifted in from the darkness while her consciousness flickered.

Don’t pass out, that’s as good as death here. Cira grit her teeth and pushed off the ground. She ignored the sensation of warmth flowing from the place where she hit her head on the way down and desperately pulled the dark staff up in front of her. Cira’s green eyes wavered as they slowly came into focus, the goblin was already moving to stomp her out.

To really seal the deal, he hopped into the air and positioned to slam down on her head with both clawed feet. A ruthless and effective attack—Cira realized to be squashed like a bug would be a sorry way to go. Not five seconds ago she was on her feet and on the offensive. I really am weak. One blow is all it took, and I knocked senseless. It didn’t help that her opponent responded to her feint by taking a hit he knew he could withstand. It was something that only came with extensive combat experience.

The goblin’s murderous leap gave her just enough space to fit the staff and she propped it into the ground again. He reached the apex of his jump and fell straight onto the onyx. It caught him right in the stomach and Cira felt almost none of the resistance she expected. Its wretched blood and spit fell over Cira like rain as it writhed atop the staff, and she had to bear it, straining her arms with all her might.

Oh? I see what’s happening now. Cira didn’t want him to roll right off and onto her, so she tilted the staff to the side and rode out his momentum until he slammed into the ground with a grunt. Her body ached all over, but there was no way out of this problem except straight through. With fists clenched in frustration, she crawled up to her feet again. Well, you know. On the second stride, Cira’s real foot flew seamlessly into the goblin’s face.

Teeth scattered in trails of dark blood and Cira’s onyx battered him again, this time in the chest. She felt a crunch and he wheezed beneath the staff, a wild glint in his eyes—that of a wounded animal backed into a corner. “Don’t like this onyx, is that it?” As a stone enchanted to absorb dark mana, it reaped the goblin’s defenses and voraciously tore into his aura with each impact.

While Cira had mixed feelings, her supporters were riled up with this development, “Yeah, get him! Don’t let up!”

“She’s got him on the ropes now!”

“Rip his stupid head off!”

Her opponent was splayed on the floor and fought to gulp down air through raspy breaths. While it clawed at the ground to push itself up, it seemed delirious. The goblin’s eyes spun and couldn’t seem to focus on Cira while it growled through each gurgled breath.

“Come on, kill the bastard!” Jimbo shouted. “What are you waiting for?”

“This sucks.” I got the shit kicked out of me and now I’m cheating my way to victory. This wasn’t a test of strength at all. It wasn’t skill which allowed me to surpass him, but gods damned sorcery again. While she had a serious handicap against a foe that outmatched her physically several times over, it could be argued that a little bit of sorcery was fair game, but she didn’t feel accomplished at all. “I have to, now.”

She could see it in the beast’s eyes. This one yearned only to quench his thirst for blood, quite literally. Nothing short of incapacitation would stop it from fighting her until one of them was dead. Even if she cut off his legs, the goblin would claw its way back, gnawing at her feet—not that she considered that option. It was unclear if the rest would jump in once this was over, but only one thing could be done now.

The onyx fell one last time and a loud crack cut off his final pained garbles. The once overbearing goblin twitched for a moment then went completely still. Then the ruckus from the horde turned sharply. Gasps and frightened screams rang out among the crowd. They all looked at Cira with scorn, yet none of them broke away from the crowd.

“Lady Saint!” This guy… “Don’t worry, I’ll heal you now!”

She didn’t have the energy to complain and focused on catching her breath. To stay on her feet was a battle in its own rite. That fight took everything she had, and Cira couldn’t remember the last time she had felt that much physical pain. Not counting recoil from larger sorceries, this one may take the cake. The goblin’s blows had an unreasonable amount of weight behind them and hit like a freight ship.

How long did the fight even last? Twenty seconds? Thirty at most? I thought I was ready to trade blows to some degree, but I don’t know if I could have taken another and stayed conscious. Just what was going on with that goblin? There were surely books that could answer that question, but the thought slipped her mind as the throbbing in her head began to slow.

She started to glow a saintly gold and noticed all four of her paladins worked together to heal her. Most of the crew seemed in a daze and one loud noise away from charging the goblins when Kuja approached with concern in her eyes, “Child, are you alright?”

Cira still had to deal with the matter at hand herself though. She only replied with a brief nod and broke through the healers to stare down the goblin masses. They fell quiet as her eyes grazed over them. With one sleeve, she wiped the blood off her face and let them watch her busted lip and black eye heal in seconds as she lit up like a holy beacon.

“Well?!” Cira held her arms out in challenge and the goblin horde was silenced. They all looked away to avoid her gaze and withered under her cold eyes. She glared at them for a minute while their old boss bled at her feet before deciding that none would approach. “Go on then! Get the hell out of my sight!”