Smite

Cinder floated over the city, and the sky around her burned. Her lips curled in distaste. These mortals disgusted her. The gods had gifted them with so much, and yet these mortals had turned their backs on them over and over again. Instead of worshipping the gods who had given them life and reason, they instead worshipped the Grimm, foul creatures from beyond the ordered light of Creation.

For almost a century, the kinder gods had succeeded in interceding on their behalf. Now, at last, the tide had turned. The gods had tolerated their heresy long enough. This city and all of its people would be destroyed, a lesson for all those who would consort with the Grimm.

And as the Goddess of Ruin and Devastation, it would be her great pleasure to do it.

"You are unworthy!" Cinder cried, and her voice echoed in the ears of every mortal in the city. "And ungrateful. You owe your very existence to the gods, yet you have defied our laws brazenly and consorted with the Grimm. In our great mercy, we have granted you a century to repent and change your ways, yet you have only fallen into further corruption."

The flames that filled the sky roared, and an endless ocean of fire stretched from horizon to horizon. Embers and ash began to fall like rain, and Cinder's eyes blazed with divine might.

"Today, you suffer the consequences of your transgression. Today, you are judged, and you are found wanting. You are unworthy of the life we have given you and ungrateful for the blessings you have received." Cinder stretched one arm out toward the city and clenched her fist. The earth beneath the city buckled and tore. "Today, you will be taught the error of your –"

"Face the wrath of… NORAAAAAA!"

Cinder blinked as a hammer wreathed in lightning crashed down from the heavens and struck the city. It tore through several buildings and then smashed into the ground. An explosion rocked the area, and a vast plume of dust filled the air. When the dust cleared, there was a crater almost a mile wide in the middle of the city. Scores of buildings had been destroyed, and the city's inhabitants had gone from listening to Cinder's speech to running around like headless chickens.

Cinder's eye twitched, and she reached out with one hand to grab the red-haired goddess racing past her. Nora screeched to a halt in mid-air, and Cinder glared.

"What are you doing?" Cinder hissed.

Nora squirmed and called for her hammer. The weapon flew back to her hands, and she rounded on Cinder. "What do you mean? These people tried to hurt my Ren, so they need to pay!"

Cinder took a deep breath. "Nora… I'm the one who was assigned to destroy this city. You can't just barge in and start slaughtering people when I'm the one who is supposed to smite it."

"Wait…" Nora looked around, noticing the burning skies and shattered earth for the first time. "You were about to smite this city?"

"I was in the middle of giving my pre-smite speech before you threw your hammer." Cinder's jaw clenched. "Now look at them." She pointed at the mortals. They were screaming and running around, and a few of them had even dropped to their knees and were busy praying to the gods for mercy. "There's no point in trying to finish my speech now. They're not going to be listening."

"Oh." Nora scratched the back of her head. "Um… some of them tried to capture my Ren and sacrifice him to the Grimm, so I kind of thought I'd just, you know, smite them."

"You can't just smite an entire city without approval first!" Cinder's eyes narrowed. "And you certainly can't smite one that someone else is supposed to smite."

"But they were going to sacrifice my Ren," Nora whined. "I have to smite them!"

"No, you don't. I have to smite them." Cinder covered her face with one hand. "I had this great speech planned out. And then I was going to rain fire from the sky and turn the land into glass. Do you know how incredible that would have looked? Mortals would have spoken of it for millennia. And now what am I supposed to do? There's a giant crater in the middle of the city because of your hammer. The only thing mortals are going to talk about is how you started smiting them."

"Oops."

A pool of infinite darkness appeared in the air beside the pair of goddesses, and Death emerged.

"What's going on?" Death asked. "Wasn't this city scheduled for a smiting? I was supposed to start collecting souls five minutes ago. What's the hold up? I'm already busy with that big plague going on in the south. I can't afford to fall behind schedule."

"Ask her," Cinder growled, pointing at Nora.

Death's silver eyes gleamed. "Nora… what did you do?"

"I might have…" Nora took a deep breath. "Interruptedsomeoneelse'ssmitingbecausethepeopleinthiscitytriedtosacrificemyRentotheGrimm."

"…" Death scowled. "Nora, talking faster won't stop me from understanding what you said. Just because someone tried to sacrifice your Ren to the Grimm doesn't mean that you can interrupt a scheduled smiting, especially not for an entire city."

"But…"

"Cinder," Death said. "Can you just get on with it?" She hefted her scythe. "Because we're really starting to cut it close schedule-wise."

"Fine." Cinder sighed and pointed at the city. Fire began to rain down from the sky. Buildings were blown apart, people were set ablaze, and soon the entire city was a vast pool of molten rock. "Happy?"

"It'll do." Death patted Cinder on the back. "And I heard the start of your speech. It sounded really good. I'm sure you'll get a chance to use it later. There are plenty of mortals around now, and there's always at least one city of them doing something so stupid or evil that we have to smite it."

"I can only hope it won't take too long."

"You know," Nora said. "Since you're just raining fire down on them… do you think I could help?"

"By all means." Cinder gestured at the city. "It's not like it matters now."

A moment later, lightning began to pummel the city. Anyone who wasn't set on fire, melted, or buried under debris was electrocuted.

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own RWBY. I'm not making any money off of this either.

It's tough being a goddess sometimes. Cinder has such high standards. Sadly, Nora interrupted before she could really get the smiting of the city going. Oh well. Death (Ruby) is right. There's always somebody who needs a smiting. Cinder will get her chance to show off soon enough.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.