The soldiers were finding it difficult to quell the disturbances that Decorum was causing. They evacuated civilians while trapping the goblins in place, preventing them from moving to other places to wreak havoc. Koniko stood on top of a building and drew her bow. Flaming arrows manifested around her. She unleashed a torrent of fire that engulfed goblins, their screams echoing through the streets as they burned alive. The others realized they were being attacked by a sniper and quickly located her, hitting her with their own magic attacks. She jumped off the building she was on and summoned waves of flame that crashed against goblins, reducing them to smoldering ashes. She landed in front of the soldiers.
"Don't worry, I'll deal with the goblins. You focus on keeping the people safe," she said. A horde of goblins came running at them, snarling and weapons raised. With a flick of her wrist, she sent fireballs hurtling through the air, obliterating goblin squads without looking at them. The soldiers were too stunned by her sudden appearance to speak.
"Do you think she's single?" One of them asked his colleague, only to get elbowed. Koniko just smiled and ran off to fight the remaining foes.
On the other side of the city, Sharone's blood magic ripped through the battlefield like a scythe, tearing goblins apart with tendrils of dark energy. She conjured geysers of blood that shot into the air, raining blood shards down on her enemies like a grisly hail. Her magic flayed goblins alive, their skin stripped from their bones as they shrieked in agony. She swung her weapon, tearing through them like paper as she pressed forward, so easily eliminating them in seconds. The goblins found their numbers dwindling to nothing in the blink of an eye as a red blur flashed through their ranks, leaving mutilated corpses in its wake. She stopped, noticing some explosions in the distance.
Bodies lay everywhere as Sol stood tall, whip in hand, as he defended his property from the goblins. He stood elegantly as always, his subtle makeup, perfectly toned skin, and rings on his manicured hands made him very easy to spot as he stood out from his surroundings that were either broken down or scorched. His shop, however, had not a single blemish as he was determined to protect it at all costs. The goblins closed in. He lashed out with his whip, which a burly goblin caught and pulled away. With a snarl, it attempted to bisect his head with a downward slash of its axe, but Sol stopped it with his foot.
"I was going to go easy on you, but it seems the only language you brutes understand is violence," he said, putting his hands into his pockets. With a swift kick, he sent the first goblin flying into a nearby wall, its crude weapon clattering to the ground. The second goblin lunged with a scream, but he dodged and countered with a knee to the chin that sent it flying and crashing into a nearby market stall, destroying the vendor's wares.
The goblins swarmed, but Sol moved swiftly, striking true time and again. Jumping to avoid the fire attacks the goblins used against him. He swung his feet, creating energy arcs that sent goblins flying into nearby buildings; flames engulfed a nearby cart, and energy blades sliced through armor and into the stone pavement. The man leapt and spun, runes on the soles of his shoes glowing bright, as he wove a complex pattern of attacks.
The goblins stumbled back.
"Oh no, you don't," he said, jumping and spinning in midair, landing on the furthest one, slamming his head into the pavement.
"If you darlings leave now without paying for damages, it wouldn't be fair, now would it?" he said, raising his leg, blood dripping from it, and a sinister smile playing on his lips. He moved so fast the goblins couldn't follow his movements. He kicked one goblin in the chest so hard it crushed his ribcage and sent him flying into a nearby fountain; another tried to attack him with a fire spell from behind, but he vanished, appearing behind him and taking his head off with a spinning kick, the head crashing into a stack of crates and catching fire. The remaining decided to come at him at once. Sol saw through their plan and sighed. They simultaneously launched massive fireballs capable of destroying that part of the city. He raised his leg and stomped on the ground so hard that the ground under him cracked, and the ensuing shockwave redirected the fire back on the attackers, causing an explosion as their bodies went up in flames. Sol smiled, glancing at his shop, looked away, and looked again. He saw a crack on one of his windows and rushed to inspect it when out of nowhere, a goblin with a mace raised was about to strike him down. Several blood spears impaled it.
"These insolent... how dare they ruin my beautiful shop!" Sol cried. Sharone walked around the body and stood behind him.
"I knew you were hiding something, but I never knew you were this strong a fighter."
"I don't like violence unless I'm compelled to. It's not pretty, and I'd rather not get my hands dirty," he replied.
Sharone looked at the blood dripping from his feet. From the first time she had seen him, she sensed something was off. It wasn't that he had a significant amount of Arcana, but the fact that he was stealthily concealing his energy without leaking even an iota of his power.
"I have some questions to ask when this is over," she said as Sol got to his feet. She surrounded his shop with a barrier.
"I will avenge you," Sol said, running his hand through his hair.
Elsewhere, Lin's wind magic tore through the city like a hurricane, lifting goblins into the air and sending them crashing into buildings. She summoned maelstroms of debris that swirled through the streets, shredding goblin flesh and bone. Her magic shattered windows, uprooted trees, and sent roofs crashing down on top of her enemies. Along the line, she ran into Yukio, who was trying to save a group of trapped civilians and, taking advantage of the stormcloud above the city, redirected lightning, which fried all the goblins in their way. The holy knights evacuated the people as Lin joined up with Yuki. Together, they defended the people who were taking shelter in the church.
Sasha's spatial magic warped reality itself, teleporting goblins into the walls of buildings or flinging them into the air like ragdolls. She created singularities that caused them to implode under pressure. She created localized singularities that sucked goblins into oblivion, their screams silenced as they disappeared into the void.
"This is the best," she said as she brutally massacred the foes who weren't lucky enough to get killed by her magic. She laughed menacingly as she tore them apart. Her magic distorted the fabric of space-time, creating illusions that confused and disoriented her enemies, who tried to counterattack only for them to be ripped to shreds.
The battle raged on, with the four heroines unleashing their full fury upon the goblin army. Their magics clashed in a spectacular display of violence and mastery, leaving destruction and death in their wake.
By morning, the disturbances had been quelled. Some members of Decorum had been captured for questioning, while others had escaped. Sharone and the others met up in the castle and found Adriana in no better condition than they were. They hugged each other.
"Okay, before anything, I think it would be best if we took a bath," Koniko smelled herself and held back the urge to puke.
"Agreed," she said.
"Don't mind if I join you," Yuki said as she had accompanied Lin to the castle to check on the state of things.
"Yes, that'd be the best," Sasha said, looking at her chest. Yuki began to have second thoughts, but Sasha put her hands on her shoulder and led her to the bathroom as the others followed behind.