Fiery heart pumping, the half-naked Luckner turned away for a momentary retreat. He stopped, faced around, and examined the alley itself. He quickly noticed a convenient stack of pallets against the corner of the fence.

Luckner shot forward like an arrow. He was light on his feet. He was moving faster than ever before. His confidence seemed to soar beyond his body, leaving Luckner to fill-in the gap with the physical will to Jackie Chan his way to the other side.

He hopped up onto the pallets. He skipped off of his impromptu platform and sent it clattering beneath him. Then his foot found purchase against the wall and threw him up far enough to grab the top of the fence. He vaulted over easily from there.

The goblins looked up at his falling form, their eyes widening with shock. At that moment, Luckner imagined he could say a cheesy line.

Maybe call himself Batman.

He dropped an elbow on the male that took his clothes instead, selecting to speak through violence.

They tumbled around across the grimy, gritty alley ground. Luckner got to his feet first; the goblin stayed down in a daze.

He spun around in time to get a shrieking female goblin clawing for his face. Without preamble, Luckner decked her full-force with a counter punch. His arm-length overcame her; it snapped her head back and sent her packing away.

The other male goblin rushed Luckner’s leg. At the same time, the other female drew out a little razor blade.

Luckner continued to make use of his lengthy, more powerful build. He skipped back and danced around the male’s charge. When the female came at him with the blade, he decided to take a risk to beat her with something offensive.

He put his foot to her chin. Yeah, she nicked him on the shin with her blade. But he damn near kicked her head off like a soccer ball. She went down, leaving the last goblin.

“You’re not so cocky now, huh?” Luckner growled. “Yeah, I know, it’s scary when someone decides to fight back.”

Luckner stalked the little goblin who was retreating on shaky legs. Luckner imagined if the goblin tried to flee, he would be able to run the goblin down.

It was hard to think of anything else. Luckner was hyped up to the absolute extreme, now, because of these little bastards. His whole body burned for the finish. This was beyond adrenaline⁠—this was beyond drugs. Something magical juiced him up and lit his ass on fire. And he wanted to give this new part of himself the controls, so he could fully enjoy the rage-punk ride.

Luckner grinned down at the goblin. “Just one punch, okay? One hard, nose-breaking punch and we’re even. Cool?”

The goblin gibbered unintelligibly. The fear in his eyes told it all. Then he covered his head with his arms and cowered.

Luckner cocked his fist back. He held it there for a second. Then a few more seconds passed without Luckner resulting in cruel violence.

The heat was cooling inside of him suddenly. His fire was starting to dim. Luckner found himself a little less eager. When he looked down at the pathetic goblin, it did not stir his flaming heart enough to beat the goblin into submission like he thought he would.

It would be lame.

Not thrilling.

His fire couldn't burn off this.

With that in mind, Luckner’s [Zeal] simmered down.

He blinked. His mind whirring around the phrase [Zeal]. It felt very special to him for some reason. He would have to figure out why when he got back to his apartment.

For now, Luckner smacked the last goblin over the head resoundingly and started to recollect his stuff. The goblins he had beaten down slowly got to their feet.

“Let this be a lesson,” Luckner said. “Don't take the clothes off a man even if he looks dead. You’re all wild for that.”

The goblins bowed their heads shamefully. Even though he couldn’t understand them, they seemed to understand him. Maybe there was a way he could learn more about them and how goblins, or any monster, appeared on Earth. Last he checked, they belonged to fantasy books or role-playing games. But here they were, a gang of green-skinned miscreants standing a little over four feet.

He would have to dig a little further after he got his pants back on. Thankfully, he tended to shop from the big and tall section at the outlet stores. His sudden growth in muscles and girth shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

He would’ve been accomplished pants-wise if he wasn’t interrupted by another goblin. This one fell in from above, dropping into a crouch.

He was one leg in, skipping about when the nimble goblin female rose to her full height. The others scuttled back; their heads lowered in deference to this new goblin girl.

He paused a little when he noticed this one was higher on the attractive spectrum. She was only a few inches shorter than five feet, too, which was way taller than the other goblins. And she was dressed in more put-together clothing. It was children’s clothes, sure, such as a pink T-shirt with 'Princess' bedazzled over the chest, but it fit her very well.

“What are you to them, a well-fed gobbo girl?” Luckner asked, shimmying his pants down rather than up. It would be faster that way.

“The leader,” she said in guttural English. Then she pulled out a bowie knife from behind her bedazzled jean shorts.

Luckner barely got his pants down before the goblin gang leader attacked.