Rufian was an unstoppable force. As if on a victory lap, he came back to scare the slinger and give Palinus even more of an advantage in his lane. The fear of death was beginning to wash away as Palinus got caught up in his friend's intensity.

Copying the way he walked with a swagger and the fierce expression on his face, Palinus began to intimidate the slinger. The man got a face full of fire every time Palinus stepped forward, and was starting to twitch whenever he looked up.

After such a brutal defeat, the feeling of strength was divine, and Palinus found himself giggling as he reveled in the power. Standing amongst the minions and harvesting the essentia, he was able to streak ahead on levels.

When help finally came for the slinger in the form of the spearman coming back for a gank, they couldn't effectively pressure Palinus as he had his cooldowns ready, and the slinger was already half health. Simply activating his shield and lashing [Burning] on everything that moved as soon as the spearman approached meant that Palinus had a shield that regenerated faster than the slinger could damage him. Not having to fight the spearman trying to tug him out of position with his control ars the damage he could do was minimal and simply meant that Palinus could focus on whipping both opponents.

A reminder from Seline was timely as he considered channeling his Saturnine Veil to secure the kill, "The pair in the bottom lane are on the move, I suspect they are gathering for a push."

"Top lane is moving too. Do we follow?" Bruchts asked.

"I think so, let's counter if we can, then push down their middle tower," Seline responded

"Team fight!" Rufian cheered gleefully.

Pretending he wasn't aware of the situation unfolding despite the excitement he felt, Palinus chased the spearman towards the brush on the right of his lane. It led through the middle of the forest to the bottom lane and was likely where the enemy would appear from.

He started to get nervous as he approached the brush, "I am baiting them towards the bottom side. Do you think the nexus will revive me if I get caught, V?"

"I can't say for sure, it has enough essentia to do so, but they can be mercurial…" Vesuvia answered.

"That's fine, I just won't die-" Palinus was cut off by an axe emerging from the tall grass and streaking towards his face.

He instantly cast his Saturnine Veil and began to sprint towards his tower. The effect of both the slow and the buff was strange. It was as if he had the normal fast legs, but they weren't eating up the ground as quickly as they normally did. Assessing his speed as he ran, he suspected that the pace was slower than a jog, a small part of his brain tried to understand how the two effects interacted and suspected that the buff was applied first, increasing his pace by 45% to 145% but then the slow of 50% was applied to the whole total causing his speed to drop not to a normal speed but down to 72.5%.

His legs suddenly started to feel cold, and the paved stones beneath his feet became slippery as he slowed down even further. Not turning to confirm, he focused on running as he reported, "Bottom has engaged mid."

"We're right behind!" Seline replied.

Forcing himself to turn, Palinus balked at what he saw. Charging from the brush as expected, he saw the massive form of Reinvar, just as Rufian had said, the man looked fiercer now. His facial hair had grown out, and his face a rictus of savagery. Behind him, the stone witch that the others had told him about looked straight out of a scary story, draped in wolf furs and glowing runes, she leveled a staff towards him as she managed to detect him through the smoke.

As he prepared to get hit by the staff's bolt, Palinus noticed another figure emerging from the brush on the other side of the lane. An enormous man with a red beard charged out of the tall grass carrying a sword that was as long as Palinus was tall over his head.

*Thunk*

The slinger reminded Palinus he was there with a stone to the forehead.

As he regained consciousness a few moments later, Palinus cursed himself; he deserved that for not including lateral movement in his escape, and he shifted the angle of his run towards the right side of the lane, where he hoped Bruchts would be joining him.

The staff bolt struck him in the back, then another, and another. Replying with a quick cast of his ars Palinus set Revinar's beard on fire. The damage was minimal, but it felt good to do something.

Two slows stacked were making him run at a crawling pace, despite his best effort to escape, he was still a fair way out from the tower, and he could hear ragged breathing of the man with the enormous sword closing in, and a low growling noise coming from Reinvar even closer.

Turning he cast his Wick Lash ars to splash the [Burning] effect from Reinvar to hit the swordsman as well as several minions battling nearby. Turning back and barely missing a step of his incredibly slow retreat Palinus threw up his shield ars, wincing as he prepared to get hit with the biggest sword he had ever seen.

The axe blows started first as Reinvar closed the distance. He hacked away at Palinus quickly, dismantling the shielding ars in three quick blows of his axes. The sword came in from the other side, striking Palinus just under his rib and cutting into his body with enough force to knock him sideways.

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It looked like the ice on the path below him was moving, and in Palinus's pain-addled brain, he wondered where the circle he was about to run over was coming from. Another set of blows rained down on his back, and he found himself whimpering and almost hoping it would be over soon. Closing his eyes as he awaited his fate, he knew he didn't have many more health points, and he begged the nexus to revive him as the moment arrived for the sword to strike.

But it didn't come.

Not quite understanding, he just kept running.

*An Enemy has been Slain*

"What?" he said stupidly.

Turning to see what was going on, Palinus smiled as he saw his team in their element.

Rufian had saved Palinus with a lock-on that had knocked up Reinvar as he managed to engage the swordsman. His intervention forced them to stay within the massive area of effect rune that Bruchts had set, fixing both enemies in place.

The first kill had gone to Seline, who had picked off the slinger at the back of the fight. She was currently skewered on the end of the spearman's control ars, but was laughing as she shot arrows point blank into him, Vesuvia [Bolstered] her, while she too bombarded the spearman with staff bolts. The stone witch had given up on chasing Palinus and was focused on Seline, who had taken significant damage. But a quick healing ars from Vesuvia put her out of danger as they managed to finish off the spearman.

*An Enemy has been Slain*

Rufian and Bruchts had been quick to pounce on Reinvar, who was taking significant damage from the two. Realising that he was just standing there and watching, Palinus gleefully joined the fray, uncaring if a stray ability would kill his avatar. The team fight was all but won, and the rift would be quick to follow.

*An Enemy has been Slain*

He managed to take the killing blow on Reinvar, his back finally stopped itching as he wiped out the memory of the axes biting into it.

*An Enemy has been Slain*

The man with the massive sword followed, going down to a punch in the face by a fired-up Rufian.

*An Enemy has been Slain*

Vesuvia and Seline were laughing as they chased the stone witch towards her turret. Seline's root ars making it little more than target practice.

"I don't know what you all were so worried about?" Rufian said as they celebrated.

"You must have the biggest set of balls," Vesuvia replied, a contemplative look on her face, "or the tiniest brain. How can you just charge in like that with death on the line?"

"I just didn't think about it," Rufian replied with a shrug. "Also I was really pissed off…"

Palinus found himself laughing, and the team joined him, their laughter holding a hint of manic energy.

They pushed through the middle lane, knocking down the towers in their way. The enemy team skirmished against them but wisely chose not to engage as the Cinderborn dismantled the towers on their way to victory.

The Stoneman style nexus structure was a massive stone structure carved with glowing blue runes. It was as more primal than the Erulean temple style, but equally spectacular in its size.

"Should we hold off on winning and harvest essentia?" Palinus asked as they worked on the nexus tower.

"No." Seline replied, "The nexus will claim more essentia, and we will make more ground if we finish this quickly. This is a campaign rift, and we need to think about the bigger picture of trying to capture the village rather than farming the essentia for ourselves."

"I am sure the nexus will reward us with good loot if we keep it up," Vesuvia added.

As the vibrant blue nexus crystal finally collapsed in an explosion of azure light, the team cheered.

"Well done, Rufi! You were fantastic." Seline congratulated Rufian, and Palinus found himself in good company; the whole team agreed that Rufian had been incredible in this rift and showed it with harder-than-necessary slaps on the back as they jogged back to the exit portal.

Making the journey back to the overworld felt significantly different as they emerged. The cool breeze coming down off the northern mountains chilling their bodies as they returned to consciousness surrounded their legion protectors, their formation indicating they were engaged in active combat.

A whistle and thump of a projectile against the shield wall above them punctuated the situation.

"Hurry up, you lazy bones!" Rolmnus jeered at them good-naturedly.

"What is going on?" Seline questioned as she gained her feet.

"They aren't happy that you went and won the rift, is all," He laughed. "They started attacking when things went south for them in the rift."

"What are their numbers and disposition?" Seline asked, with her face serious.

"Difficult to confirm," Rolmnus scratched his head. "But there are at least half a dozen archers and some scattered slingers. We have spotted what we think is a druid or some kind of Sylvan magic user, but he hasn't acted yet. It makes little difference; we can hold as long as we need to. Let's get moving towards the next rift!"

The legion members around them were in good spirits and cheered Rolmnus's declaration.

"We've made some good ground!" Vesuvia reported cheerily, "The Rift is forming quite a way up the valley. Maybe they will get the message and won't try to contest the next rift?"

"Yeah!" Rufian agreed, " We did kick their asses pretty hard, I doubt they are itching to get back another kicking."

A part of Palinus wanted to believe that was the case, but he knew it wouldn't be that easy. They were going to have to fight for this, and if they lost their momentum, they could easily find themselves back where they had been before the last fight.

"It is highly unlikely that they don't contest the rift," Servius said. The enigmatic spy and Centurion Felusian appeared amid the formation as if a veil had been lifted off them. "Well done winning that fight!"

The man had a look of pride as he smiled at Palinus. It felt weird. Palinus didn't really know the man, and considering the man who claimed to be his father, the emotions were a confusing mass of mostly pain and resentment. He was glad Servius didn't force anything like trying to hug him.

Focused on the present situation, Felusian continued the impromptu briefing, "They are trying to plant a competing nexus beast, and they don't need to stop you to achieve their aim. It just needs to siphon enough essentia to awaken, and it will finish off the drained erulean nexus."

"It doesn't really change anything," Seline said as she considered, "but we are on a timer."

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