What Grace found when she arrived made her heart jump. There was Grizt standing over two injured goblins. Shritoo was currently trying to drag an unconscious Oaguz away. Grizt had a blade in hand and was preparing to strike. It was clear something was far worse than before. This wasn't right at all. The angelic knight dropped Stranbrai unceremoniously as she went into a full on charge. As she ran she cried out," STOP THIS NOW!"
The violet goblin froze and looked to the side. Her brow knitted as her gaze fell upon the charging figure. She grunted in anger before making a swipe at the newcomer as she jumped at of the way of the tackle. The blade simply bounced off of the armor.
"How many of you are going to come out of the wood works ta bug me!" the strange goblin screamed in frustration. She tried for another strike at the wings this time to no avail. The blade was deflected by the white feathers of her wings with a metallic clang. It may not have hurt, but it most certainly caught Grace off guard as she fell back. It was clear that what ever happened to her had made her power. However, she wasn't a fighter and had no idea what she was doing in this conflict. She had always been weak due to her health.
Grizt leapt at the interloper and climbed up her as she struggled. Upon reaching the mysterious one's shoulders, she took the blade out once more and place it at the throat of her new foe. Just as she was about to draw blood, a rock managed to hit her in the face. Grizt tumbled down as she grabbed her face in pain. She also felt wrong after the blow. She looked over at the source to see Shritoo smirking as she palmed another stone from her pocket.
"Dammit!", Grizt muttered as she felt the large enemy tackle her. Everything was starting to feel wrong for her once more as she found her strength ebbing away.
"Strike the base of the neck!" Another voice called out. It was that that a woman revealed herself from around a corner. Grizt didn't know what she meant, but she knew that she couldn't allow her. Soon she felt the blow as it was supplied by a frowning Shritoo holding yet another rock. It was the last thing she saw before her body froze and her mind slipped away from her.
Karita was now hobbling quickly over to the downed goblin. She had to thank the stranger for the help later. She was a little curious about the wings, but she figured they were some well made decoration based on the clash with the blade. It was all an interesting sight to be sure. It was rare to see such craftsmanship. She had to guess that it was some project put together by R&D or something special ordered by a noble who wanted to play at knight in shining armor. The reason was simple. The knight was unarmed and showed very little skill in hand to hand. It wasn't like there weren't any weapons either. Every movement showed a certain level of clumsiness that betrayed the very image of a knight in shining armor. Whatever the case, Karita was thankful she could finally put an end to this mess as she got within reach of the trouble making creature. She let go of the halberd she was using like a crutch and fell to one knee. She felt a shudder of pain from her injured ankle. She grit her teeth and ignored it as she began to manually remove the core from the goblin's prosthesis. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked down upon her precious core.~Surely with this mess, that foolish princess wouldn't take it from me!~
Grace was recovering from the rather anticlimactic showdown with the rogue goblin. She let out a sigh of relief. It was then that she started to here distant footsteps. They were rhythmic and heavy. At was at that time she saw Jade again.
~Grace, we have to go now! They have everything settled here, but you need to leave or it could mean more trouble!~ Jade's voice rang in the depths of her mind. The princess entertained the idea of staying for a moment.~Trust me. If you stay, you'll be in far greater danger!~
She didn't know why that was. She could be like this and be the strong leader her people desired. She cou-
~You can't! I'll explain why soon. Just GO!~
With this last urging came an odd sense. It was almost like a command as she felt something else enter her mind. It told her of how she could make the quickest escape. She spread her wings and took flight as magic built up within.
Jerich didn't know what to expect when he arrived upon the scene, but it didn't include the sight before him. He and his men arrived to see all of the goblins more or less detained. The violet one being worked over by a mage. However, that was not the part that shocked him. He saw an angel in full armor say for a helmet. She was strong and beautiful. At least from what he could see as he only caught the briefest of glimpses before the angel spread her wings with the chiming of bells and took flight. As she ascended, the wings shined brightly as a circle formed in the sky. A circle the angel vanished through. It was odd to see as he couldn't quite describe the circle beyond that it was a circle. The was no color or lack of a color. It just was for that moment and then gone with the angel. The message was clear. These goblins had posed a threat great enough for Minerva herself to send divine intervention. Despite his orders, his instincts screamed to him to kill them. He reached for his sword for a second before reconsidering. The goddess has wisdom beyond him or any other. She also is no pacifist as her many sanctioned wars could attest. Then, the question was why had she spared these goblins.
The answer seemed simple enough. They held some purpose to her people that required they live. She spared them by her wisdom. The knight felt his calling in that moment. He noticed some of the others were already approaching with unsheathed blade. They too had come to his first conclusion.
"There will be no need for that!" He called to his comrades who stopped to look at him," They live by Minerva's will. To kill them now would be to tread upon our goddess's miracle!"
Some of the men and women stopped at this. Still others looked to their blades and to the goblins. They reconciled the fact that their goddess had deemed they live. It was undeniable that an angel had been sent to stop them. It was also a fact that the angel had not killed them.
Over the next few minutes, more and more of the knights sheathed their weapons. In the meantime, Jerich had already begun the process of placing shackles on the goblins and having them taken into royal custody. It had been the Empress's orders after all.
Grace found herself back in an alley next to Weye. The goblin jumped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of Grace. Just as sudden, Grace was back to her old self once more as Jade seemed to leap from her forehead. It landed upon the now toppled Weye before leaping once more to the ground and hopping to Grace's feet.
"Now what was that all about Jade," She demanded of her former per.
~Well for starters, that form will cause a lot of misunderstandings. I am a servant of Minerva Grace. That means that when I grant someone like you access to my power, you'll take the form of a servant to her as well. In other words, you were an angel of Minerva for a short time and anyone that saw you and realized this fact is going to make quite a few misunderstandings... Or the right ones from time to time, but still. The fact is that form causes problem when it's seen. Worse yet, you are a princess and if the people recognized you as being divinely touched, there will be no end to the complications from church to politicians. Fanatics and the ambitious never go well together.~
The princess seemed a little confused as her eyes glazed over. It was clear that the strain of this way of speech had been a little much. This is why it was better to keep it as short bursts. Jade internally groaned at this.
~I'll just leave a full written explanation later. Just know that some people would do crazy things for you and some would go crazy to kill you.~
At this the princess nodded timidly before picking up Jade in one arm and offering a hand to Weye.
"Well then, let's be off to settle this," Grace stated with a strained smile. This was going to be a mess.