"Hello." I whisper to the armored woman below me.
Her left leg is shattered from the knee down, the metal contorted like puddy, yet she doesn't scream. Her teeth are clenched and her eyes burn, eyes that meet my own without flinching.
Eyes that I cannot read.
Elation fills me for reasons I cannot explain. This woman below me, enduring such agonizing pain, has the ability to block her thoughts from my power. I am stunned at the prospect, what power does this woman have?
Not even the other gods could hide their mind from me. I should be furious, I should be concerned.
Instead I am... happy.
Finally a challenge! At last there is an enemy who has some measure of resistance to me. Some power alien to my knowledge cloaks this girl and gifts her this ability.
I'm torn from my thoughts by the grating squelch of metal on flesh.
I forgot about that.
She growls primally as she yanks the blade back and forth, enlarging the hole in my body. I watch with amusement as she struggles to figure out why I am not gushing blood. Her movements slow, then stop as she grows too weak to continue. The darkened earth has spread around the entire tree.
Her breaths come in ragged, shallow gasps. I watch as blood loss takes its toll, a strange emotion broiling in my heart.
Or maybe that's the steel.
I pull myself off the motionless blade, her half-open eyes track me as the wound closes immediately. Not even a rent in the fabric remains. I stare down at her, another foe laid low without any real effort on my part. Another fallen hero.
Anger blazes through me. This woman with the curious power is going to die and I didn't even attack her directly. No confrontation, no heroic monologues that entertain me so. Even the angel in my ceiling spouted retribution for the first half century.
Without a conscious thought, I mend her leg and restore her strength. She let's out an unconscious moan and opens her eyes. I watch while she remembers where she is.
"Esmerelda!" she screams and leaps to her feet. Determination sets fire to her emerald gaze. She swings wildly at me, stumbling as the blade passes through me harmlessly. In her rage, she swings again and again. Swipe after swipe I watch her exhaust herself fruitlessly.
"Was that the name of the foolish woman who attempted to stab me in the back? Quite unheroic if you ask me." I say leisurely as she takes one last weak swing.
Her breaths come raggedly and her sword arm drops, the metal clanging against her newly mended leg.
"You... killed... my... friend!" she huffs, her arms shake as she tries to lift the sword again. She manages to raise it fully and deliver a swing that was more like a guided fall. I let the metal bite into my shoulder again, pinning it.
"Was she now?"
"You monster!" she tugs feebly at the weapon, refusing to release it.
"A monster am I?"
She tugs harder, bracing one foot on my hip.
I bite back a smile and instead scowl at her, detonating the metal plate covering her leg. She flings her arm over her eyes, dropping the sword. Red blood beads from the small cuts on her face.
"Don't be rude. I am not a tree for you to brace yourself on." Effortless power teleports the sword back into her hand, again she barely blinks.
"Does anything surprise you?" I ask ruefully.
"Your death would." she snipes back.
"It would surprise me as well."
She snarls and swings again, aiming for my head. Annoyed, I catch her arm and destroy the rest of her armor. Her shocked expression fled almost before it could take place. She pulles a knife from behind her and sinks it into my chest.
"Did you really think it would work this time?" I release her arm with a push, planting her on her ass. Annoyed, I glance at the blade occupying my flesh, and watch as the meat explodes outward.
"ESMERELDA!"