Runeblade

It was so nice to cut loose; to feel that marrow deep thrill as his world collapsed to just him and his target.

The nightscale was a vicious creature, no doubt about it. Nothing that large should be able to turn invisible — it was patently ridiculous. Yet now that he had ripped a person-sized hole in its back, the high Silver creature abandoned that stealth. The ever present shimmer that tried and failed to hide from his Truesight vanished with a faint crackle of sparks. In that same moment the shadows that spilled across the street were sucked in. Like oozing pitch, they coagulated over the nightscale's claws.

Kaius narrowed his eyes at the sudden switch. Why disable its stealth? He might have been able to breach it, but it was still an advantage — unless it had to. Did the invisibility interfere with using its other abilities?

That was something he could use.

Flesh rumbled beneath him as the nightscale growled. It burst into motion. Rearing up, it hooked its claws into Porkchop. A sudden heave sent Porkchop flying, heavy plate clanking as he crashed through the facade of a building across the street.

Kaius tensed at the sudden surge of violence. Not just a weak ambush predator then, it had some real might on its bones.

His brother growled, shaking himself loose from the rubble.

“Wait! Catch it off guard when its focused on me!” Kaius pushed through their bond.

Porkchop’s muzzle pulled back into a snarl, but he held — despite the need for violence that flooded their connection.

It didn’t surprise Kaius in the slightest when the nightscale came for him next. Moment of Flow Cut a sphere of danger through the air, a line that arced straight through his heart. From his crouch, Kaius exploded into a dive. Ripping his blade free, he threw himself from the nightscale's back — right as it contorted to swipe at him with burning claws.

They slashed through where he had been only moments before, missing him by a hairs breadth. Black dripped from each of the crescents, a searing aura that washed over his scalemail. Stabbing cold gnawed at his ribs, an agony that tore a gasp from his throat.

He didn’t recognise the affinity — shadow, darkness or something similar was his best guess. Regardless, he had no resistance to it. Not yet at least.

Touching down, Kaius kicked off and raced straight back to the beast’s side. He had to keep the pressure on; they’d only just gotten its attention.

Another claw arced to him. It was fast and agile, despite the fact the creature had not fully turned on him. His eyes soaked in every movement, Skills dragging his attention to how best to turn the blow.

There was an opportunity here, a chance to cripple one of the beast’s six legs.

He snapped his blade up, Mercurial Reversal accelerating his parry into a blur. Catching the blow edge to edge, his Skill drank deep of the nightscale's strength, sapping its energy. Even lessened, the creature was a giant monstrosity. Kaius allowed himself to slide across the cobble, knowing he had no chance of fully negating the force of the attack.

A Father’s Gift shone like a new dawn, stolen power glinting on its tip. Feeling the burning potential, Kaius listened to the urging of Sergeant's Insight. The Skill directed him to the beast's shoulder, where its obsidian scales grew thin and small. It was practically an open door to its shoulder joint.

Diving under another hissing swipe, he raced in.

In that same moment Porkchop surged out from the shattered shopface, the ground rumbling with every step. Dropping his shoulder, he threw himself at the reptile's chest. Mana flared, and a ghostly shieldwall burst into existence — spears levelled at his target.

The Ethereal Phalanx charged forward, spearpoints crushing through obsidian scales. It was glorious, a unified charge that rocked the beast back and left it growling in fury.

“By the matriarchs, it’s so much easier when I can see the damn thing!” Porkchop said, laying into the nightscale with consecutive uses of his Jadecrash.

“Stay focused! Its still got other skills!” Kaius replied, still feeling his side burn from the close brush with the creature's pitch coated claws.

Meat and scale tore open as he slammed his blade home into the creature's leg. Mana surged through him and into his blade, a stinging tingle building in his hands as arcane energy coated his weapon. The thin wire of energy warped, detonating in a staccato that ripped apart the creature's flesh.

He saw the glint of bone, a perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, nothing came easy in life. Ignoring the grievous tear in its leg, the night scale swiped. Kaius felt a flare of dread. He tried his best to sidestep away from the strike, only to put his bad leg down into a puddle of blood.

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It was barely a slip, a slight imbalancing that he corrected in a moment. It was enough.

The nightscale’s hand smashed into his chest. Layered cracks rolled through his chest as his ribs ignited into a burning fire.

It was like being punched in the mouth by a drunk ogre.

Then all he heard was broken glass. He came to a rapid stop, splintering wood erupting around him as his breath was knocked free.

Helmet ringing like a bell, Kaius shook himself. What the fuck? Where was he?

The shattered remnants of a cabinet fell from his body as he stumbled to his feet. Every movement made bone grind on bone, five hotspots on his chest, two in his spine. Other than the breaks, he was…pretty good? He had his sword, his armour was mostly undamaged.

Outside, the battle still raged in earnest. The nightscale was working itself into a frenzy, infuriated at Porkchop’s stoic disregard of its claws and bite. Every wound was paid for in blood as Porkchop mauled everything he could get his claws on.

He laughed, leaping through the shattered window as he rushed back to the battle. Just a bit more, he knew it. No way it could keep letting them attack its side uncontested. Any more and they’d be digging a tunnel into its chest.

As he ran, a soul deep itch settled into his wounds as Greater Regeneration splinted broken bone and rewove it whole.

Flashing to the creatures side, he spent his resources like water — Investiture, Rend, and Mercurial Reversal brightening the night in tones of red and blue as he struck as often as he could.

Gradually, the wounds he opened widened — a cavern of flesh that sprayed its lifeblood.

It was too much for the beast. Rearing up, the nightscale clawed at the nearest roof, desperate to heave its body round to face the threat that constantly attacked its chest and sides. The building buckled, burying the creature in rubble.

Kaius swore he could see the frustration boil over — embedded and trapped, the nightscale thrashed. Shattered beams and debris exploded like an alchemical bomb had been detonated.

Moment of Flow gave him the warnings he needed. He stepped to the side, avoiding a phantasmal line the skill painted through the air a heartbeat before a wooden beam was hurled in his direction.

“Back up,” Kaius said. “Give it a moment to work itself deeper.”

“Just keep an eye on that tail.”

Kaius nodded, it was a fair call. Long and sinuous, the reptile's tail was flexible and wrapped in strong muscle. One good whack from that would snap him in half.

The dust settled, revealing a small mountain of rubble that had collapsed over the nightscale. It wasn’t completely pinned, but it would be slowed — a good opportunity for a crippling blow.

“I’ll keep it busy while you go for its leg!” Porkchop said enthusiastically, another Bulwarks Challenge roaring free of his throat.

A low rattle rippled through the beast’s chest — a thin glow of mana surging in its throat. Some sort of breath weapon? He didn’t know, but he trusted his brother.

He raced in.

Moving at full speed, he planted his lead foot. Every scrap of momentum he had was driven through his hips as he brought his blade from high to low. Crystal warped through the air, a brutal cleave that ripped open the slowly sealing wound on its shoulder.

The nightscale jerked, the mana in its throat dying as Porkchop cracked its jaw. Before Kaius could capitalise on the opening, an earsplitting crack rang from behind him, heralding a spike of danger that rammed down his spine.

“Tail!”

He detonated a shunt, the rolling wave of force blasting him back. Just in time, the thin, boney tip of its tail whipped through the air almost faster than he could blink. Broken wood and tile were kicked up in a spray.

Gods’ damnit, that was his second to last cast of that spell. No matter, he could still see the gleaming pink of its bones.

Before his angle was ruined, Kaius thrust out his hand — a spinning Nail ripping towards his target.

Steel met bone. Steel won, shattering the joint as hooked wires wound themselves through the bleeding wreckage.

The fire in Kaius’s belly roared, elated at successfully executing his plan.

Now he just needed to repeat it enough times to immobilise the creature for good.

That warmth died when the nightscale shuddered. Mana burst from its core, seeping into every facet of its being. For a moment, he didn’t know what to make of what he was seeing — everything he got from Truesight was disjointed. It was like he was looking at the creature through a prism, his perspective wrong in some ineffable way.

Reality blinked as the beast became its own shadow. Rubble fell through the creature.

As did his Nail, the gnarled tangle of steel sliding through the creature’s illusory flesh to hit the ground with a dull clank.

“Hells! Back up!” Kaius yelled, racing away from the creature.

Porkchop didn’t need to be told twice — retreating down the street in an instant, they watched it snap back to physicality. Growling deeply, the nightscale turned.

Cold, black eyes burned with a fury.

Rotten roots, if it had an incorporeal ability, there was no way they could keep it pinned. Still, they had succeeded at something. The beast didn’t even make so much as a twitch towards the city centre.

Oh no, it wanted them dead. A problem, considering it had been able to hammer them when it was half pinned and they were hitting its flank. Gods, he wished Ianmus and Kenva were here — they’d already made plenty of openings his back line could have exploited.

They weren’t though, so he’d just have to manage without.

Kaius leapt on Porkchops back. “Pull it back to the wall while we figure out a better plan?”

“Lets.”

Porkchop spun, charging down the street. The provocation was too much for the nightscale. Predatory instincts took over, and it raced after them.