The human warrior was frozen in place, her sword unable to reach my throat. Well, it’s not that she stopped moving exactly, she was stopped. It was not as though she was magically frozen at the command to stop given by the goblin Fiffil… but by dozens of glowing blue tendrils binding her body.

“Ghhh! What sorcery is this?!” The swordswoman struggled against the spectral ropes that bound around her limbs, and the young goblin didn’t understand it either. Was this the power she had been offered by the mysterious Red Queen?

After some struggle, the human swordswoman was able to free herself from the spell that bound her, the blue tendrils snapping and then dissipating. Fiffil looked on in horror as she returned to being quite doomed.

She held up her hands in a weak attempt to shield herself as a sword came slicing down at her. But the blue energy reformed around her, blocking the sword from reaching the terrified goblin. 

“Huh?” she looked wide eyed at the azure tentacles, and only now realized they were emanating from her own body. “W-W-What is this?!”  

The swordswoman leapt back, avoiding the blue tendrils of magic as they lashed out at her automatically. She looked at the goblin surrounded by a strange spell, unsure how to approach. She wasn’t the only warrior here, but the others were fighting off the remaining goblin forces.  

“Skill: Inferno Blade!” the swordswoman’s longsword erupted with flames, and she dashed forward. Her sword thrust out, trailing fire. Fiffil panicked, hastily dodging out of the way. 

The goblin ran, the intense heat of the fire sword singing the back of her neck as she scrambled to get away. But then she saw it, all around her, the friends and family she grew up with, slaughtered. The floor of the cavern ran crimson with the life of her goblin tribe. 

She was cornered by the swordswoman and her three followers, cut off from the only escape from the cave, the back crevasse. 

-

“Was I really this pathetic before you showed up?” I pondered out loud, looking at the board. Sure I was scared back then, but didn’t I actually try and fight rather than run away?

“The Joker’s brand influences one to become more aggressive, more self assured.” Beelzebub replied, sitting back in his chair with his eyes closed. None of his pieces were involved in this opening move, just non player characters, so he didn’t seem to care. “With your player’s boon, it seems there is no influence on the personality of the piece. This is you without my aid.”

It sounded like a lie, and even if it was true, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being the reason I was able to stand up for myself! Never!

-

“Hi hi, Red Queen here.” my voice, disembodied, broke through the veil of the board, speaking directly to the replica piece that looked and acted just like me. “You seem to be in a pinch, sorry I can’t be more helpful to you directly. But, instead of being skewered by all these human soldiers, I suggest fighting back. My Queen’s Authority will take on whichever form your mind pictures, so imagine a weapon and survive!”

“..!” Fiffil froze, my voice echoing through her mind. She looked down at her hands, and the azure colored energy wrapped around her left arm. From formless energy, a vaguely sword shaped object appeared.

One of the soldiers slashed at her, but his blade missed. The goblin rolled out of the way, still in a state of panicked flight. Goblin reflexes were honed to perfection for running away, but she had no choice but to fight if she wanted to escape this situation.

Metal clashed against the solidified magic blade, stopping the deadly blow inches from the goblin’s head. Above the soldier’s helmet flashed a bright red word.

COUNTER!

His guard was blown wide open with a thunderous clash of their blades. As though time had slowed down, Fiffil watched as his body became exposed to a reversal hit. Her heart beat loudly in her large pointed ears and sweat rolled down her nose as a terror gripped her. But she had to do it, it was the only way!

It felt natural to do so, so she held her sword in reverse grip, then slashed through the lower torso of the unguarded man. The azure energy sword sliced clean through his light padded armor, and he fell to the ground without any resistance. 

“Bastard!” another soldier shouted, leaping into battle against the goblin girl. But he too fell to the azure blade with a swift slice. Despite how quickly they had executed the entire village, for some reason they seemed… incredibly weak?

The third swordsman attacked, Fiffil’s blue energy blade clashing against his weapon with another Counter hit. His sword flew out of his hands, and in the time it took to clatter to the floor, the goblin had jumped into the air. Her sword stabbed through his chest, bursting out of his back and through his spine. 

The body of the soldier landed with a wet thud against the cold stone cavern floor, the lone surviving goblin still atop his body with her summoned blade still deep in his flesh. Her body was shaking, only pure instinct drove her now.

“Wha… What kind of goblin is this strong?!” The swordswoman took a step back in shock after witnessing the deaths of her subordinates. “This doesn’t make any sense, goblins are trash mobs!”

Those words shot through the goblin girl’s chest, causing a pain in her heart. She looked around, the bodies of everyone she ever knew lying motionless on the ground, their green skin stained red. Worthless, just a trash mob… goblins didn’t matter to this world, despite being sapient. This is wrong, this world is too messed up!

The azure summoned sword clashed against the soldier’s fire enhanced blade, again and again. Red and blue mixed, trying to overwhelm the other. The swordswoman was much stronger than the other soldiers, but even so, somehow… she began to lose ground. 

Fiffil’s relentless assault pushed her back, step by step. She couldn’t land a killing blow, the swordswoman’s defense was too strong, but she hadn’t seemed to realize she was losing space to maneuver. Her foot edged closer and closer, until her heel touched the edge of the gap.

You see, at the back of this village was a chasm, it was too deep and steep to be used as a real exit, and the goblins tended to avoid it due to the danger of falling in. she stopped, realizing she was unable to move back any further. 

“Fall!” Fiffil shouted, the azure sword changing shape into a ghostly fist. The energy slammed against the swordswoman’s blade, unable to break her stance. But the force of the blow made her lose her footing, and she began to fall backwards. 

“Wha! N-No! Help me!” She shouted, but the goblin girl did not react. The blue energy disappeared, and the small green girl turned her back on the pleas for mercy as the human woman slipped and fell down a deep crevasse. Her scream made the goblin girl wince a little bit, but she stuffed those feelings down and tried to ignore them.

She looked at the path leading out of her village, her cave. She was scared, but there was no choice but to move forward. There… there was nothing left for her here. She walked through the corpses of the villagers, tears welling up in her eyes at the realization of the reality she was in.

“Mom… I’m sorry.” she whispered, kneeling beside a still body. She closed her mothers eyes, a large teardrop falling onto their cold face. “I have to go… I have a duty to fulfill.”

Find the adventurer, Akira. That was her one goal now. 

Rakushi

sorry for the short chapter despite being like a month since the last one, not really feeling it again (writing, that is) so I haven't worked on much recently.

Edit: notice, putting this back on hiatus for a bit sorry