Luminous light flared around Nikoletta as Potilia swung a thundering blow with her kanabo. Nikoletta blocked the attack with her glowing mace. The mender's knees buckled under the sudden assault.

Any lingering humor left Nikoletta's silver eyes. They narrowed, focusing in on Siora as the berserker roared.

The War Cry passed over Siora, not leaving any debuff. Its effects were clear on Nikoletta as the next mace swing was slightly slower and weak in comparison.

Siora skidded and slashed with her glowing sword. A luminous blast erupted from Nikoletta's frog-like fingers and scorched Siora's face. She tumbled back, landed on her feet, and charged right back in.

Potilia stumbled back a step with a tear through her leather jacket sleeve. Luminous magic burned at the fringes. She lifted a foot.

"Fuck." Siora leapt into the air.

Nikoletta took her eyes off the berserker, instead looking up at Siora. The mender expected an attack, and how stupid she was for watching Siora.

Potilia's foot smashed into the marble floor. Battlefield Quake shattered the lobby of Void Nexus. In a single, simple step, Potilia had destroyed an incomprehensible fortune of marble.

Nikoletta beat her wings to try to stay upright as the ground fell apart underneath her. Luminous light flared, and a rift of yellow light formed behind her.

Siora lifted her sword over her head as her jump hit its arc. She chopped with the blade Ernie had reforged for her. Nikoletta stumbled back, noticed Siora, and covered herself in a wing.

The Rilokos Blade melted and sliced through cathkabel feathers, shearing Nikoletta's left wing in half. Horrible screams came from Nikoletta, and the rift opened wider, becoming a full portal to Elysium.

Potilia used Bull Rush and smashed the kanabo directly into Nikoletta's face. Blood gushed from her mouth in a red flash.

Luminous light swirled like a tornado, sending both Siora and Potilia sprawling back. They both landed on the shattered ground, but before Siora could run back in, pallid, frog-like hands reached through the portal. Three separate cathkabel crawled out at once, fighting for room through the thin portal.

"Po, I—"

Potilia was back in the fight, carried by rage. She swung wildly and ignored the battering of luminous light on her skin. Despite a shard advantage, Nikoletta was on the defensive. She clearly didn't know how to fight a true berserker. If Siora hadn't gone through the Subterranean with Potilia, she wouldn't have had the slightest idea either.

Siora's skin already hurt from the luminous magic, so she needed to keep her distance until whatever ability Nikoletta was using faded. That gave her the perfect excuse to go after the newly summoned cathkabel instead.

Siora took a deep breath, fixed her stance, and readied the Rilokos Blade.

Unique God Magical Item

The Rilokos Blade

Reforged in the luminous fires of the Forge of Divine Light, the Rilokos Blade is a sword of unparalleled might. In its original form, the weapon held an ember of the sun, burning with unbelievable brilliance. Reforged in the Subterranean Dungeon, the ember was bathed in the most pure luminous magic flowing from peaks of Elysium until it held the power of the sun and the cathkabel themselves.

Luminous against luminous. The power of the sun.

She had made plenty of mistakes in her life. No longer. No more.

Siora sprinted straight at the three tall, lanky, horrifying cathkabel. They all wore identical skintight silver suits with bulky boots and gauntlets. Each had a different headdress and weapon. And all three were ready for Siora.

Dodge let her slip past a spearhead without slowing herself down. Resist lessened the damage and Endure allowed her to ignore the pain of dagger tip she couldn't avoid. Parry pushed a club aside, allowing her to attack. The Rilokos Blade melted through the cathkabel's protective skin suit, and slipped through its neck. She pivoted and tore the blade free, letting the cathkabel's head roll.

Siora ducked behind the blade and activated Reinforce. The spear smashed against the blade of her burning blade. With the added defense, she didn't move at all. Instead, the spearhead twisted and melted against the superheated blade.

A cry of pain pulled Siora's attention away. Potilia fell to her knees. Something in her shoulder had obviously been broken in a mace strike. Nikoletta lifted her weapon high.

Distraction.

Siora felt the searing pain of a cathkabel knife in her side.

Nikoletta turned, silver eyes locked on Siora.

Potilia was back on her feet. She gripped the kanabo in one hand and swung up. Thundering Strike hit Nikoletta in the jaw. Power reverberated through the broken lobby as the mender flew into the air.

Endure was still activated, letting Siora ignore most of the pain from the wound in her side. She grabbed the cathkabel's wrist and activated Lesser Pierce. She likely didn't even need the ability with her burning sword. The cathkabel collapsed in two, bisected horizontally.

Instant Strike allowed Siora to fully surprise the spear-wielding cathkabel, even while she was injured. The attack cut through the silver suit and into the flesh underneath, though it was sturdier than the others. Up close, it had no utility with the spear and only tried to smack her with the wooden shaft.

Vital Strike brought the Rilokos Blade perfectly against the cathkabel's arteries and sliced. Silver blood spurted into the air while the cathkabel collapsed to its knees and cradled the massive, burning wound on its neck.

Nikoletta landed near the counter and flashed with luminous light. All injuries, except the missing section of the wing, closed. She stuck both arms out, letting her mace head glow like the sun. Her massive silver eyes vanished under the glow of Luminous Surge. Part of her jaw, even healed, was now deformed after Potilia's last strike. That made Siora smile, just a bit. Potilia was still raging, and looked to be barely constraining herself from sprinting in again.

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"Over here," Siora said.

Potilia stalked over. Her breaths were fast and ragged, like a dog panting.

"She can keep healing. We need decisive hits. I'm not quite as fast as you, so I need an opening so I can use Greater Pierce or Vital Strike."

The tip of Potilia's kanabo hit the ground like it weighed a million pounds. "Don't touch the portals," she said through clenched teeth. She was fighting the rage.

"Give in. I'm at your side."

Potilia blinked. Tears ran down her cheeks. "Stay safe." She lifted a foot.

Siora tensed. She really didn't know how to defend herself from aura attacks, especially when they were from an ally.

Potilia's foot hit the ground, and the world went silent. Rifts opened all through the shattered lobby. Nikoletta tried sending blasts of luminous light, only for them to end up in other sections of the room.

Potilia stalked forward. Each rift she touched sent a blast of energy at Nikoletta. She used what remained of her wings as protection. White feathers burned from the Rift Aura blasts.

It was a weird opening. It was hardly an opening at all. But it kept Nikoletta in one place and it kept her attention on Potilia. Siora ducked low and ran as fast as she was able to in such an odd position. She weaved around rifts, sometimes slowing to step over lower ones.

As Potilia continued nearing, Nikoletta flashed with buff after buff. Partial portals to Elysium opened and sent whips of light that undoubtedly empowered her. It was two shards against one. Unless Siora could get close enough fast enough, the battle was going to eventually lean in Nikoletta's favor. The mender was too powerful with her fusion and extra shard. Potilia's surprise only gained her so much ground.

The last rifts nearest Nikoletta sent blasts as Potilia neared. The berserker stayed behind a few rifts, keeping herself protected. Rage still radiated from her, but she didn't charge. She had given in, but some instincts and her unnaturally high intelligence shaped the way she approached the fight. She didn't just sprint and attack like many berserkers. There was thought. There was strategy.

Potilia took a deep breath. Another burst of red passed over her body, though this was darker. She had changed her Untethered Rage for Unrestrained Rage. Siora didn't know the difference, but she knew Untethered was given at level 20 and Unrestrained was a level 75 ability.

Another warcry rumbled through the lobby. The sound staggered Nikolleta.

The rifts vanished.

All three burst into motion at once.

***

Owin made it part way up the hill, away from the riverbank, when Veph appeared. At first, it was a bolt of lightning hitting nearby that made Owin slide away, then the gold-clad woman skidded into view and sent a Fireball right at Owin's face.

He easily dodged the spell and sent a useless Bolt back. Veph cut through the weak spell with her crystal sword.

"I've been too easy on you, it seems." She stepped back, crouched, and readied herself. "I'll end it now."

She was simply too fast for Owin to escape. Chorsay had been right about his safety. She wouldn't kill the old man. In fact, his presence was probably stopping her from using spells that would just wipe Owin off the floor.

If escape wasn't going to be an option, he had to fight. After everything else he had done, everything he had gone through, he wouldn't die with his back turned. Not to Veph. Not to anyone.

Flames climbed the Incandescent Blade.

This was his only chance.

Owin dashed forward and made it look like he would jump. Veph brought the sword high, but stuck her right hand out and sent bolts of lightning low. Instead of chopping at her legs, he was forced into the air to avoid the spell. He spun and smashed the burning sword against Veph's crystal one, but both unique weapons were unbreakable.

His strength pushed her back. He landed and stabbed. She stepped back, avoiding the very edge of the blade. As she chopped overhead, Owin opened his index and used Simple Teleport. The spell brought him to the other side of Veph. He turned, tried to orient himself, then moved to attack again. She adapted faster to the teleport than Owin did. An explosion on his sword sent him tumbling away.

A single crab claw helped him back to his feet. His chitin armor was cracking and damaged, though it was taking far more damage than it had in the past.

Veph pointed at the ground beneath Owin's feet and flicked up.

He instinctively moved as the ground erupted and sent a jet of flames into the air.

The ground thundered as Chorsay neared. He tossed the dead familiar aside, though it would just be able to be resummoned later.

"Stop this!"

Veph pointed her sword at Shade, who jogged behind Chorsay. The skeleton vanished and reappeared beside Owin.

"What's happening?"

"I'm trying to fight. She's too fast."

Shade stuck out Isotelus and froze the blade just as a thick lightning bolt appeared. It smashed into the sword and caused Shade to slide a few feet back.

"Too fast and too strong. We're a little low on options here."

"Chorsay needs to fight," Owin whispered.

Shade didn't say anything. He coated Isotelus in purple flames and stood in front of Owin. "Do what you can."

"I'm not good with these umbra abilities."

"Then don't use them. Let me be bait. You get the hits." Shade shifted his feet into one of Suta's stances. "Ready?"

Chorsay had approached Veph slowly. She had barely even glanced in the old man's direction.

"He's dying today," she said.

Chorsay managed to get himself between Veph and Owin. Shade stayed right in front like he was going to somehow protect Owin from the 5 Shard attacks.

Chorsay said something in a calm, soft voice. Owin couldn't hear it, especially not over the sound of his heart hammering.

"Can you teleport me over there?" Owin whispered.

Shade's index opened. "I'm not experienced with this all either, but I should get you closer. Simple Teleport is on cooldown. Be ready for some bullshit specter stuff. Vondaire will be proud."

Owin readied himself.

He poofed away and was immediately right beside Veph. She reacted quickly, trying to turn to face him. At the current angle, she couldn't get a full swing or a hand pointed to launch a spell. Owin chopped right through her hip. His burning sword slowed on the golden fabric, but with shards active and his unusually high strength, Owin was able to tear it free, sending blood and burning bits flying.

Veph sent Chain Lightning out, pouring electricity into Chorsay's body before it arced to Owin and to Shade, where it fizzled and died. The spell locked Owin in place as his body convulsed. Chorsay, despite suffering the same thing, reached out and locked his hand around Veph's wrist. She tried to pull it free to stab Owin, but he wouldn't budge.

Shade ran past Chorsay and chopped with Isotelus. The ice sword burned with Hone, enhancing the blade's damage. Veph brought her prosthetic arm up and blocked. Ice screeched against metal as it dug inside. The delayed attack from Hone hit a moment later, pushing the sword deeper until strings of mana glowed brightly inside. Just a little more and the arm would be useless.

Owin broke free of the shock and chopped at her leg. His burning sword hit more metal as it cut through her golden pants. He had no idea she had a prosthetic leg, and even with firing burning, the Incandescent Blade failed to cut all the way through.

"A fucking joke," Veph said. "Against 2 Shard Heroes." Her metal right forearm and hand twisted, then fell to dust. "Stormcaller's Avatar."

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