The sharp crack of his voice echoed louder than the pebble.
The goblin below froze, its head snapping directly towards Sunny's hiding spot. Those black, beady eyes widened slightly, and it let out a piercing, high-pitched shriek that cut through the forest quiet.
'Oh, crap.'
Immediately, answering shrieks erupted from the trees nearby. Two more green shapes burst from the undergrowth, converging on their comrade's position, jagged knives flashing.
So much for separation.
"Run!" He screamed, scrambling backward off the rock, stumbling as his bare feet hit the uneven mossy ground below.
[Seriously?! You had ONE job! Lure ONE! Not yell hello to the whole welcoming committee! MOVE!]
He didn't need telling. He bolted, legs pumping, terror lending him speed he didn't know he possessed. Behind him, the sharp, guttural chittering of three excited goblins spurred him on. Branches whipped his face again, the sting barely registering over the adrenaline.
'Stupid Sys! Power job? This is worse than a power job! Level six? Feeding frenzy? What kind of garbage intel is that?!' He dodged around a thick tree trunk, risked a glance back.
They were gaining. Smaller legs, maybe, but they scurried unnervingly fast through the woods they knew.
A sharp tingle suddenly ran up his arm from the hand holding the Divine Coin. It wasn't the usual gentle warmth; it felt… active. Buzzing.
"Hey, Sys!" he gasped between ragged breaths. "This mana… the juice… can I use it? Like, inside me? For strength or something?"
[What? Internal reinforcement? Are you nuts? That requires precise control, established mana pathways! You try that now, you'll blow yourself up from the inside out! Stick to the 'Force' push, idiot! And maybe try aiming this time!]
He glanced down at the gleaming coin clutched in his fist. Sys said no. Too advanced and dangerous. But the tingling felt… like an invitation. Like the power wanted to flow into him. He just knew, somehow, deep in his gut – that same stupid instinct that made him help the girl, that made him run towards the scream – he felt he could do it.
'Is that so?' Screw Sys. Screw the rules. He needed an edge, now.
He focused, not on pushing outwards, but pulling inwards. Willing that warm, buzzing energy from the coin, through his hand, into his arm.
He felt it move. A trickle at first, then a surge. It wasn't smooth. It felt like forcing thick syrup through a clogged pipe. Then—
Pain. White-hot, blinding agony exploded behind his ribs, radiating outwards. It felt like his insides were being ripped apart. His vision swam. His legs buckled. He crashed face-first into the dirt, skidding through mud and leaves.
"Agh! What the hell?" he choked out, clutching his stomach. It felt like he'd swallowed broken glass.
[I TOLD YOU! Didn't I just tell you?! That's advanced mana circulation! Your pathways aren't developed! Dammit, you moron! Now you're caught!]
He heard them before he saw them. The triumphant chittering, the scrabbling footsteps. He pushed himself up weakly, vision still blurry.
Too late.
A goblin launched itself onto his back, sharp claws digging into his shoulders. Another kicked him hard in the ribs, sending a fresh wave of agony through him. He cried out, collapsing again. They swarmed him, kicking, biting, tearing at his tunic with long, filthy nails that ripped shallow cuts across his skin.
Pain flared everywhere. Panic surged, thick and choking. He blindly swung the hand holding the coin. "Force!"
A ripple of energy knocked one goblin back a step, giving him a precious second. He scrambled, trying to get his feet under him, trying to run again. But the internal agony flared, his muscles screamed in protest, and he stumbled, falling hard onto his side.
'Crap. This is it. I'm going to die. Again.' The thought landed with dull finality. He saw the alley again, the cold rain, the spreading stain. Now it was mud and leaves, needle teeth and greedy claws. Different setting, same ending.
He thought of his life before. Had he ever truly fought for anything? Even his own survival? 'I fought to survive,' he told himself weakly. But did he? Really? No… that was just an excuse. Hiding in alleys, scrounging scraps… that wasn't fighting. That was just… waiting to disappear. Truth was, he hadn't wanted a new life if it meant being alone, without the family he barely remembered.
Being alone sucked more than anything.
But the Goddess… she gave him a chance. A real chance. Sunny. A name. A body that worked. A coin full of… juice.
He'd run from the man in the alley. He'd run from the vendor. He'd run from these goblins.
'No more.'
He was damned if he was going to waste this. Be forgotten again. Die like trash again.
Ignoring the searing pain in his gut, ignoring the claws tearing at him, ignoring Sys's frantic text warnings flashing like emergency lights ([STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO DESTROY YOUR CORE! ABORT! ABORT!]), he focused again. He gripped the coin until his knuckles turned white and pulled.
Not a trickle this time. A flood. He screamed, a raw sound torn from his throat, not just from the goblins' attacks, but from the fire ripping through his insides. It felt like every nerve ending was being simultaneously overloaded and shredded.
[SUNNY, STOP IT! YOU'LL—]
"Never again!" he roared, the words unintelligible through the pain and fury. "My life… isn't yours, isn't anyone's to throw away!"
He pushed through the agony. Pushed through the tearing sensation. Pushed until something inside him snapped. Not broke, but… opened. Like a dam bursting. The pain didn't vanish, but it shifted, overshadowed by a torrent of pure, raw energy flooding his limbs, his senses, his very being.
Warmth spread through him, chasing away the cold terror, replacing it with white-hot rage. Strength, real strength, surged into muscles that felt seconds ago like wet paper. And with the power came… knowledge. An instinctive understanding of how to wield it.
He moved. Fast.
His hand shot out, faster than thought, clamping around the throat of the goblin directly on top of him. Its frantic scratching stopped abruptly, replaced by choked gurgles. Its beady eyes widened in shock, maybe even fear.
Sunny locked eyes with it. His own eyes, usually filled with fear or dull resignation, now burned with a terrifying intensity.
"You like hurting people?" he snarled, his voice low and guttural, barely recognizable as his own. "Hm? Let's see how you like it."
His fingers tightened, fueled by the raw mana coursing through him. There was a sickening crunch of bone and cartilage. He didn't just snap its neck. He kept pulling. Gripping harder. Rage poured through him, cold and absolute.
Slowly, deliberately, ignoring the wet tearing sounds, he ripped its head clean off its shoulders.
Greenish-black ichor sprayed across his face and tunic. He let the body drop, still holding the severed head by its greasy hair.
The other two goblins froze mid-attack, staring first at their decapitated companion, then at Sunny, dripping and panting, the head dangling from his fist. Their primitive brains struggled to process the sudden, brutal shift in power dynamics.
[Woah,] Sys's text appeared, hanging starkly against the carnage. [What the hell.]