I stared down at the twitching goblins as their bodies began knitting back together.

  The leader, the scarred goblin woman with the twin swords, was the first to pull herself together. When her eyes opened, she sat up, spat out a thick glob of blood, and glared at me with pure hatred. "You're gonna die for that, human."

  The others gasped and croaked as they came back to life next.

  "Shit..." One of the women grabbed at her neck. "Never thought I'd know what that felt like."

  "Dark Father's knees," a goblin man said, grabbing at his regenerated throat. "I thought I was a goner."

  "He's tough," another of the women breathed as she wobbled to her feet. "But we've got this, yeah?" She bared her little fangs as her red eyes locked onto me.

  "We've fought tougher," yet another goblin said as he locked ranks with her.

  In all, it couldn't have been more than five seconds from death to resurrection. Those potions were insane. "Who's next?" I repeated, trying and failing to sound as tough as I'd felt a moment ago.

  "He's just one guy!" one of the goblins shouted as his body finished growing back together. "Ain't no way he'll put us all down."

  "Some of us will die, though," a smaller male mumbled.

  "That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, Tarsk." The leader smirked, stalking past him. "Come on, man. Don't be a baby."

  "Yeah," Tarsk said dumbly. "You're right, boss."

  As he spoke, the rest of the goblins glowered at me, their red eyes feral and teeth bared.

  "Of course I'm right." The leader stepped forward, her sabers bouncing on her shoulders. Then, her face twisted, and she screamed, "Get him!"

  All at once, the goblins howled and charged me.

  I leapt backward. A breath later, I stabbed, then pivoted, slicing into the nearest goblin's hand before he could strike. He shrieked and grabbed at his hand as his club fell to the ground. I swept my blade in a downward arc, hacking through his throat. Then, with what was left of my sword's false edge, I slashed horizontally, cleaving arc in an effort to keep the others at bay.

  The maneuver sent most of the goblins backpedaling, but the leader, who was far faster than the others, ducked under the attack and entered my space. Before I could recover, her saber slashed my leg.

  I felt her blade connect, heard metal screech on metal. Then there was a sharp pain above my knee. I swung my shield at her head, but before it could connect, she jumped, kicked off my breastplate, and backflipped out of my range. Before she landed, I felt something hot dripping down my face. She was good. She'd gotten me in that split second.

  "Not bad," I offered before stepping backward.

  "Keep it up, gang," she grinned as her crew closed in around her. "We've got him, now."

  I backpedaled into the street and away from the goblins. When I was far enough, I reached up and touched the wound. Luckily, it wasn't too bad. Still, I needed to get my helmet back on my head, or I was going to die. With a glance over my shoulder, I found the thing lying in front of a ruined door. Turning on my heel, I rushed for it, snatched it off the ground, and planted it onto my head in one fluid movement.

  Something slammed into the side of my head, and my whole world became stars. Stumbling and mostly blind, I half-ran, half-wobbled until I found a wall. Putting my back to the stone, I held my shield low and tried to blink away the stars.

  There were footsteps to my left.

  "Now, while the fucker's stupid!"

  Still unable to see anything, I spun my blade around and stabbed downward.

  "Pirk!" One of the women shouted.

  Just as my vision came back, my jagged sword entered a goblin's collarbone and sank to the hilt. A wet gurgle escaped Pirk's lips as my blade ruined his organs.

  "How..." His eyes rolled back, and he died on his feet.

  With a twist, I ripped the sword out of his torso, hoping that the extra damage would slow his regeneration. Maybe it was enough damage to keep him down? One could hope.

  The leader barked at her crew. "Marza, left flank! Gretch, when you're up, go right! Kol, Tora, center with me!"

  "Shit." I wanted to keep this skill for later, but after almost getting brained by an arrow, now was the time.

  [Second Wind]

  My veins ignited. As my fighter power washed over me, the dizziness disappeared, and I was left with a burning fury in my belly. Looking everywhere at once, I saw the strategy the goblins were using. They were trying to fan out and keep me pinned down. At my feet, there was an arrow coated in a brownish tar, its fletching a spiral of vulture feathers.

  A second arrow slammed into my breastplate, throwing me back a step.

  A third hit my pauldron. The strap tore, leaving it dangling around my tricep.

  I had to move!

  I charged the goblin to my left—Marza, apparently—as she rushed toward me. My broken sword wasn't much more than a jagged piece of metal now, but it was still sharp. As she lifted her axe, I drove my ruined sword into her chest and felt it punch through ribs and lung.

  With a rattling gasp, she fell.

  But the others were already on me.

  A club struck my shoulder from behind.

  [Unbreakable]

  The bones shattered, then fused back together.

  I spun, bringing my shield up, but another goblin was already there, his blade scraping along my breastplate. I kicked him back and swung at the one who'd clubbed me, but she danced away from my ruined blade.

  Another arrow hit the side of my helmet. This time, my ears rang as if I'd put my head in a church bell. Reaching up, I just barely managed to keep the thing from flying off my head as I stumbled another couple of steps to the right, earning a few clubbings in the process.

  "Tora, now!" the leader shouted.

  From my left, a goblin with a wicked-looking mace charged in. I blocked with my shield, but the impact drove me backward, and I collided with the wall behind me. Before I could counter, she was already retreating, and someone else was coming at me.

  "Damn it!" They were using hit-and-run tactics. And it was working.

  Just then, I heard the snap of a bowstring off in the distance.

  I threw myself to the side on instinct. An arrow struck where my head had been a second before, embedding itself in the stone wall with enough force to crack the stone.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Fucking sniper!" I shouted.

  "We got him pinned!" one of the goblins crowed as the two I'd put down shambled back to their feet.

  Kipping up onto my feet, I tried to advance, but another snap of the bowstring in the distance had me raising my shield instead.

  The arrow struck my pitted, ruined shield and punched through the other side a good four inches before stopping.

  Another arrow struck my shield and buried itself deep. And another.

  I tried to move, but the sniper had me locked down. At the same time, the goblins swarmed in to land blows on my legs and torso.

  A club struck my knee. A blade scraped across my back. Another club caught me in the ribs.

  Luckily, the bronze armor Khadrel had gifted to me for my last fight in the Pit was holding, but it was literally the only thing keeping me alive. I was being overwhelmed.

  "Behind you, human!" A voice shouted behind me.

  I spun, bringing my sword up in an arc, but his club caught me in the side of the head before I hit anything.

  I stumbled forward, nearly dropping my broken sword.

  An arrow hit the back of my head. Through the stars, I saw my helmet flying away from me for the second time.

  I dove for it.

  As I flew, arrows pelted my body. One struck my shoulder. Another grazed my thigh. A third, my hand.

  Hitting the ground in a roll, I snatched up my helmet and barely got it back onto my head before a club would have caved my skull in.

  But they were on me now.

  All of them.

  I fought back as best I could, parrying hits and dodging arrows with everything I had, but when my broken sword caught in one of the goblin's swordbreakers, he twisted, and I felt the steel give, shattering completely.

  "Shit!" I screamed as I pulled my fist back.

  [Stoneshatter]

  My glowing fist crumpled that goblin's face, causing his skull to explode in a spray of gore and bone. Shaking him off my wrist, I twisted so that I was facing a different goblin. If I moved fast enough, I could kill two before I had to reset. Without hesitation, I pulled back and activated the skill again.

  [Stoneshatter]

  Before I could follow up and kill the goblin beside him, an arrow struck my breastplate, driving the air from my lungs and forcing me back yet again.

  The other goblins pressed their advantage, pelting me with hits as I struggled to stand.

  This wasn't working.

  I was strong, yeah. Fast, too. But without my sword, I could only kill one goblin at a time, and only at close range. And with that sniper pinning me down from wherever the fuck they were, I couldn't fight efficiently.

  I'd also done almost no real damage.

  Even when I did manage to put one down, they came back to life just as fast as I killed them. None of them had even died for good, yet. And I couldn't get away. I was still sluggish and heavy from the other two cages in my inventory, weighing me down.

  Quite simply, I was fucked.

  That voice... I hadn't heard it in months.

  The black blade.

  Without a single conscious thought, my hand disappeared into my inventory, and my fingers brushed the hilt of my black blade. The moment I touched it, I felt its spirit connect to mine.

  It was eager.

  Hungry.

  And I knew something then. Something deep in my soul.

  With a single movement, I ripped the black blade out of the void.

  The sword screamed as it materialized, high-pitched and wrong, like metal scraping against metal. The blade was darker than I remembered, so black it seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

  [Lesser Flamewreath]

  Flames—purple-black flames that sputtered and crackled in the light—ignited along the blade's length.

  Feed me, the blade whispered in my mind, its voice like silk and poison. Let me feast. Let me DRINK.

  The goblins stopped dead in their tracks.

  "Holy shit," Marza breathed.

  "It's just like that bitch's sword!"

  "But his looks like shit!"

  They all eyed the blade warily.

  Interesting. The goblins knew what it was.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, my voice cold. "Not so eager to fight now?"

  One of the goblins, Tarsk, if I remembered right, stared at the blade, his face pale. "Where'd you get that?"

  I pointed it at him. "Does it matter?"

  "T-that's a—" He swallowed.

  "A soul drinker," the leader finished.

  "You think he's one of them?" Another goblin asked.

  "Yeah," the leader replied. "Who the fuck else carries a blade like that?"

  "But it's all old and shitty looking."

  "That's worse, dumb ass!" The leader's voice was shaking. "That means he knows how to use it!"

  "He's been toying with us!"

  "You remember what happened to Britz, right?!" One of the men shouted, his voice even more shaky. "You remember what she did to him!"

  The leader nodded. "I'll never forget it."

  A bowstring snapped high above us.

  [Ability Boost]

  I felt the darkness pouring from the blade, filling me, giving me strength. My vision sharpened. My muscles became tempered steel. Moving far faster than I had been, I slashed the air, and the sniper's arrow burned away before it could touch me, its ashes coating the little creatures standing beneath me.

  With a grin I didn't care to hide, I stepped toward them and felt joy fill me as they backed away from me. "What? Are you afraid of me now?" I took another step, then slashed the air to the left, destroying another arrow. "Weren't you all so confident a moment ago?"

  One of the goblin women, a plain-looking redhead with pock marks covering her face, threw her weapon away and fell onto her knees in a dramatic bow. "I surrender!"

  I sneered. What a coward. She was nothing compared to my Vral. "And your friends?" I cocked an eyebrow and set my shoulders. "What about them?"

  For a moment, they all stared. Then, with a single animal's shriek, a black-haired female rushed at me, her club held high.

  It was simple enough to parry her attack. She was nothing, after all. All I had to do was twist and pivot. Her club skittered away, and—oop! Her hands were still attached!

  Her eyes went wide as she looked down at the charred, smoking stumps that had been her hands. "W-w-w-wait!"

  "It's fun, isn't it? Being so outmatched?" I lunged, sending the black blade deep into her chest. With a flick of my wrist, I twisted the blade and savored the sounds of her ribs shattering.

  Her red eyes met mine, and her lips worked, but there were no sounds, only flames. As her lips blistered and peeled back, the purple-black flames spread across her body, burning her from the inside out. Her skin blackened. Her eyes turned to ash. Her sinews ignited. Even her bones cracked and burned.

  In seconds, she was nothing but dust.

  I flicked my wrist, sending the cremated remains flying at the remaining goblins. As I did, a piece of the black blade flaked away, crumbling like burned paper in the light.

  Why?

  With a glance, I noticed that the crystals in the area were all growing far more brightly than they had been before. Were they feeding on the blade's power?

  Disgusting.

  Aside from the kneeling redhead, the remaining goblins backed away, the terror plain on their faces. One by one, their backs found the outside of the house across the street, and they threw their weapons to the ground.

  Well, all but one.

  That one tried to run.

  [Shield Throw]

  My shield cut through the air and broke his spine in two.

  I laughed at the display, then stepped forward until I was towering over the little kneeling creature before me. "You surrender, do you?" Lowering the flaming sword until its point hovered over her skull, I growled, "And you think I should just accept the promises of filth like you, hmm?" I lowered the blade to her head, savoring the hissing sound as my flames licked across her green skin.

  She hissed. "Please..."

  "Does it hurt?"

  "Yes..."

  "Good."

  An arrow struck the side of my helmet. I watched my vision swim and felt... felt... something. What was I doing right now?

  Did I care?

  No.

  All that arrow did was piss me off.

  Turning, I focused on the buildings in the direction the arrows had been flying from. And there, high above, standing next to an old bell in an ancient, crystal-covered tower, was a little goblin woman, one who was holding a bow that was as tall as she was.

  "I found you," I whispered. "You're next."

  Up in the tower, the sniper knocked another arrow, but she didn't draw her bowstring this time. Instead, all she did was watch.

  "Please!" The goblin woman shrieked under me. "Please! I'll do anything! Just don't eat my soul!"

  "Eat your soul?" All at once, it was like a veil lifted from my eyes. Looking down, I saw the goblin's skin. The little creature was shivering and sobbing into the cobblestones. The skin on the back of her neck had bubbled up and split, and some of her hair had burned away. Lifting my blade away from her neck, I took a step backward and watched as the little woman scrambled toward her friends.

  Looking down, I saw that my blade's flames had grown, but something was wrong. While intense, the flames were crackling the way wet wood crackled when it was placed into a fire. What was more, the blade was rapidly degrading in a way that it never had down in the Depths.

  "Enough." With a final glance at the black blade, I slipped it into my inventory. "This fight is done."

  Collectively, the goblins sank until each was seated on the cobblestones.

  "We surrender," the leader said as she pulled the burnt goblin close.

  "That easy, huh?" I shook my head. "I thought you'd have more pride than that."

  The leader's eyes fell. "Mercy. Please."

  Even without the influence of the blade, I felt my blood boil. "The same mercy you were going to show Vral?" I couldn't help but snarl. "What was it again? Were you going to cut off her arms and make her a pet?" Half of the goblins looked at the ground. "Or were you going to hang her head on the wall?" The remaining goblins looked away. "Is that what you call mercy?"

  One of the men murmured, "We were just having a little fun, is all."

  "Fun? Fun?!" I shouted. I felt the pressure build behind my eyes. "You think that's fun?!"

  The leader's head snapped up. She met my eyes. "Do you think Vral hasn't done worse? Hah! If you think any of what we said was bad, you should have seen the shit she used to pull. She was ruthless."

  Her words tamed my fire, if only a little. I knew Vral was ruthless, but she was always efficient in her work. I couldn't imagine her doing things like that. "What's your name?"

  "Urik." The woman's eyes fell again.

  "And the sniper up in the tower?"

  "Berik."

  I looked up at the tower. The sniper still hadn't moved. "Call her off."

  Slowly, Urik asked, "If we do what you want, will you let us go?" She kicked one of her sabers. It skidded to a stop at my feet. "If not, cut me down with that. I don't want to die to that cursed blade of yours."

  With a deep growl, I said, "You might just live, if and only if you do everything I tell you. Now call her off."

  Urik hesitated before lifting her fingers to her lips. Then, after giving a sharp whistle, her hand fell into her lap, and her forehead fell to her knees.

  The rest of her gang let out a collective breath and followed suit.