Kai watched the clash between his wind elemental and the mud elemental with bated breath. He had heard all that went between Amias and Leo. He knew that Amias might even be right.
Mountains preserved for eons; winds were fleeting.
What he was about to do was pure madness. Yet, he knew that should Leo fall, they would all follow.
And so, Kai made sure that Lin was defending the Queen Wasp from her own subjects and hopped on top of Battlepaws.
"If we pull through, old friend," Kai told the demonic kitten, who might or might not have murder muffins in its family tree. "Then we will rise in ranks, I am sure of it!"
Battlepaws looked at the battling elementals, then back at the sky. Yes, the promise was a good one, as promises went.
The kitten was before a dilemma. It could run away, save itself, taste freedom for the first time in five years. Which would mean no more catnip, the kitten knew.
Or it could prove that it had a heart of gold, get a couple of treats, and then a whole bag of catnip.
Battlepaws knew he had a problem. He knew that the catnip was ruining his life. Making him depended on Kai, when Battlepaws had been a proud hunter once.
Kai took out a treat, a special beef wet food with just the barest traces of chicken inside. Battlepaws ate it up, his tail waving back and forth.
The kitten knew that if the treats were given, then Kai would also give him catnip later.
This was not about companionship, Battlepaws knew, even though he wished sometimes that it was.
This was about a comfortable life and a warm gnome to snuggle up to. Everything a kitten, even a demonic one, needed from life.
The kitten began to purr to give itself bravery. Kai smiled.
It was time.
0000
Leo dodged a rock barrage, whipping his cutting winds at Amias. The mud elemental looked at his cut-off arm, shrugged, and then regrew it.
This was not a contest of strength, Leo knew. This was all about endurance.
Leo took a couple of steps to the left, for Amias was preparing himself for a combo attack.
The wind elemental took a better look at his opponent. The man was wearing armor. But why, if he could just regenerate his missing limbs?
Leo saw a kitten and his gnome overlord rushing towards Amias. He knew that they had a plan, and should they succeed, the goblins were up for grabs.
Leo blew soil and grass in all directions. Amias could be as strong as he wanted, but if he did not see where his enemies were coming from, then he couldn't react!
"Leo, what are you doing?" Amias asked, as he gathered more and more mana. It was time he sacrificed to protect his charges. His poor friends, who were judged by the color of their skin and their height alone.
Oh, Amias was sure that some goblins, somewhere, had angered the wasps. His tribe might be made up from good and hard-working people, but Amias held no illusions on what most of their species were like.
He knew of the kidnappings, of the killing, of the…
The elemental shook his head. No, he could not fix up all tribes. But the one to whom he had shown the way did not deserve to suffer.
He was doing it for the goblin children who liked to ask him to make them sand so they could build sandcastles. For Gog, who had given him a name.
For his family.
"Disperse!" Amias heard someone shout. The elemental had no chance to react. He fell, just a bunch of hardened soil left behind.
Still alive, still full of mana.
His family was doomed.
Amias could only weep.
0000
Leo looked down at the armor of his opponent. He had been a worthy foe, but not very strong. For if he had been, Kai would not have dispersed him so easily.
The wind elemental felt… strange.
He moved red fumes to the armor. His wispy fingers quickly found the elemental's core.
He could break it. Finish his mission. And yet, there was only one name going through his mind:
Leo.
Amias had given him a name, so Leo wouldn't have to go to Hell for lacking one. Had given him light.
Leo snorted at his own thoughts. No, it would be better if he just consumed the core. Amias had been strong enough, getting his power for himself was the right thing to do.
And yet…
Leo stood there; the core pressed to his lips. He could hear a heartbeat from inside. Amias was yet to give up. His hot tears warmed up the marble which made up his soul.
"Why do you persist?" Leo asked finally. He did not want to crush his foe.
Not even knowing why.
"My family has done nothing to any of you!" He heard Amias' voice come out of the marble. Growing weaker and weaker. "They deserve to live!"
Leo looked at Kai, who was petting a tired-looking kitten.
They deserved to live?
"Kai?" Leo asked, as he moved to stand before the village's gate, which had been barricaded with Amias' mana.
A barricade which was soon going to fall. The gate, a shabby wooden thing, easy to be felled by Leo's winds.
"Good job! Now we can…!" Kai began, but Leo shook his head, his miasma turning black.
"We are not going to pillage our way through this village. And I have a plan."
As Leo made the illusion around the village, informing all of the goblins through Amias' connection to them that they should flee, he felt as the marble in his hand warmed up.
Was that what a good deed felt like?
Leo smiled.
It was high time he did one, wasn't it?
0000
The flying pig was lying on the sand, not being able to move even a step further. It was tired, the cactus juice it had drunk just an hour ago doing strange things with its head.
The murder muffin was close, he knew, despite his delirious state. It was going to get it, sink its teeth in its neck.
The pig oinked, hoping Karma would hear his prayers.
It had run for so long, could even see grass in the distance, if that was not just another cruel trick of the light.
It oinked once more, hearing someone running.
"Wings! You have wings and are a pig!"
The goblin's voice made the pig shiver. No, this couldn't be happening! What had it done to deserve a goblin's rage?
"Oh, you are wounded," the goblin continued, as he gently inspected the flying pig's wing. Soon, there was a bowl pressed to the pig's snout.
"Please drink! You need water!"
The pig dared to hope that it had been rescued. It drank, falling asleep soon after.
The murder muffin went back the way it came, for it did not want to face a goblin.
Karma smiled down at the world.
So far, so good.