Runeblade

Porkchop roared as the nightscale broke into the open square. Bulwark’s Challenge hit the creature like a physical blow, yanking at its head so it had eyes only for the demon-faced creature of orichalchum that stood sentinel.

Mana whirled through his body, and flesh simmered and popped. Handspan by handspan, Porkchop swelled in size and might as the ghost of antlers sprouted just behind the horns of his helm. Normally, he was just over a stride taller than Kaius at the shoulder. Now, with his natural size-controlling magic relaxed, and empowered by his Skill, he stood a titan of twelve.

He charged, flagstones rippling like water beneath his feet.

The very sight of Porkchop’s furious momentum set Kaius’s heart blazing. With the link between their souls, his bloodsong was amplified by his brother’s own.

Blade held in a high-guard, he ran left. Porkchop’s Gladespirit was draining, but the strength it granted was prodigious — more than worthy of being the capstone skill of his first class. Kaius had full confidence the nightscale would have its hands full. It was a perfect chance for him to tear into its flank.

Even with a leaden limb, he felt like he was flying through his wide arc. He watched the nightscale like a hawk as it raged, glowing claws and snapping teeth wailing on his brother’s titanic form. Heavy plate clanked and bones creaked, but the flesh held — and punishment was responded to in kind. Jadecrash, Warden’s Maw, and the simple ferocity of orichalchum claws and teeth raked their enemy.

A limb bound in metallic crystal smashed the nightscales jaw with a crack, lurching its head to the side.

Away from Kaius.

It was the moment he was waiting for. Digging deep within himself, he flew into a full, wild, sprint.

Only for him to hear a ragged gasp of shock at the edge of the square far to his left.

A delving team — five men strong. It was obvious: they bore no banner or tabard of the guard, only the motley collection of shining artefacts that had been chosen by utility first. Those very same creations were ragged and battleworn, streaked with grime and blood, scuffed and torn, dented and scratched.

Kaius locked onto the leader. His bronze breastplate was dented, and the chain on his arm was torn and bloodsoaked. Brown hair had darkened to black, tainted through the night of chaos they had fought through. Kaius vaguely remembered his face. A Steel team, maybe.

Each and every one of them was staring at the clash with open awe. In the space between heartbeats, he watched the leader flick between the clash, and Kaius’s own charge. The man's jaw clenched, and his fingers tightened around the haft of his mace.

Kaius’s eyes narrowed. Bloody bastard was not thinking of trying to create a distraction to give them an opening, was he?

The reveal of Honours to the guild had made it obvious why he and his team were so unusually strong, but Kaius feared it might have led to some unrealistic expectations. In a fight like this, a single grievous wound was rarely a decisive factor.

He needed them gone. Before they made the fight even more chaotic.

“Back!” He screamed, frantically waving away the far off delvers. “Rieker’s already coming!”

At his sudden cry, one of the nightscales black eyes snapped to him. Great. The game had been given away.

It tensed, readying itself to strike as it saw him mere strides away. He gave the beast his full attention, refusing to leave himself open.

A flash of shadowy purple slashed for his throat. He couldn’t pull back, not so heavily committed.

A Father’s Gift arced through the air. Hastened by Mercurial Reversal, he caught the blow. Stolen force gleamed at the tip of his sword as a deep clang resonated through his weapon. It wasn’t enough. Not quite.

His neck was saved, but shadow-wrapped claws ripped into his side. A deluge of wet heat flowed as Kaius felt the familiar kiss of stinging agony. His armour was tough, second-tier scalemail, but it only blunted the strike — barely saving him from total evisceration.

It was still a grievous wound, a full slab of meat and gristle removed from his already boiling flesh. It barely slowed him.

Kaius dashed in, the initial deluge of blood already slowing to a trickle as his health went to work. The pool dropped notably, but he could handle dozens of wounds like that before he went dry.

Blue light banished the grim darkness of night. Lightning arced from his hand, wrapped in a firm grip. Once a bare thread, now it was a rope as thick as his wrist. The benefit of evolving Drakthar and having so much Intelligence.

Porkchop moved in conjunction with him, all but throwing himself into the nightscale with skill after skill. Shocked by the sudden ferocity, the creature wrapped its massive jaws around Porkchop and squeezed.

Orichalcum groaned. Porkchop did not; only raking his claws across the creature's throat — splitting its scales.

A welcoming opening, Kaius thought.

Stormlash snapped once, winding its way around the throat of the nightscale. The spell pulsed, seizing the creature's body.

Kaius dived in, blade trained on the scratch Porkchop had torn through the scales on its neck. A bloody aura of war and violence bloomed within the sword's smokey crystal edge — Hellblade Investiture fueling his viciousness.

That red reflected in the shining black of the nightscales eyes.. It tried to rip its head back; to writhe and yank as it extracted its jaws from around Porkchop. His brother had none of it, heavy arms wrapping around the lizard's neck as he cinched it in tight.

“Now! I’ve got him.”

A hair before Kaius ripped through its neck, it flicked, turning into a smokey shadow. Porkchop fell through its form, unable to maintain his grip as the nightscale went incorporeal.

Kaius plunged his blade into the shadowy mass anyway. He felt its flesh — that heavy drag of tough, wooden flesh against the edge of his blade. Waves of smoke wafted from the passage of his blade, a stride deep into the creature’s neck.

His sword’s enchantment, Ghost of Severance, cared not one whit for its Skill.

A broad smile split his face as the nightscale screamed, bellowing its agony to the night.

Freed from Porkchop’s grasp, it ripped itself backward. A shallow flicker snapped it back to physicality, quickly followed by a bright flash of mana.

Shadows clung to its form, granting the lizard a sinuous burst of speed.

Yet the creature's shock did not last for long. A high Silver always had pride, even if it was bestial. Fury twisted its features, and it lunged forward, raking the air with three of its limbs. Each claw cut a ragged gash in reality. Rifts of purple shadows hung in space, hovering a moment before blade-like beams of energy shot towards Kaius and Porkchop.

They were a storm. Dense and heavy, he knew it would be impossible to dodge — Sergeant’s Intuition and Moment of Flow made that plenty clear.

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Leaping to the side, Kaius heard the air sizzle as one beam cut past him. Three more hemmed him in. Trusting in his blade, he cut.

Ephemeral magic shattered against his blade. A wash of thinner energy blew over his torso, sparking against his armour and tearing at the skin and muscle beneath.

Porkchop fared worse. Unable to dispel the skill, dense blades slammed into his armour. They seemed to sink straight through the barrier, gushes of blood welling from between the plates.

He let out a roar of pain. “Armour penetrating! Went straight through.”

Kaius could only grit his teeth, enduring his own wounds as he ran out of the remnant clouds of mana.

Kenva’s voice crackled in his ear. “Need help? I doubt it’ll be able to keep that up with a few holes in its back.”

“No!” Kaius replied quickly. “It’s got an incorporeality skill — if it’s aware of you, we might never get a chance at a deciding wound.”

Kenva let out a concerned grumble. He ignored her. They could handle this themselves.

“Push it! We can’t give it room!”

A wall of shining blades separated them from their target — they charged all the same. It was reckless, but it wasn’t like they had any other options.

Burning mana washed over him again and again, every stride they moved hard won under fire. Before they could make it half way, a sudden crack stabbed him sharply. Porkchop staggered to the side in the same instant, wheezing.

A sinuous tail snapped away, gone before they could punish the sudden attack.

This wasn’t working — they were taking too much of a beating.

Unless…

Kaius grinned. It’s incorporeality! He had never seen the creature use it in conjunction with another skill. At its level, such a skill had to take immense concentration — it would give them an opening. A small one, but a moment was all they would need to get back in its face.

Racing directly towards the closest cutting arc of mana, Kaius hacked through it. Ignoring the burn, he snapped his hand up in the midst of the smog — aiming it right at the creature's eye.

Either his plan worked, or he’d leave it half blind — both options worked just fine for him.

Light burst from his hand, a precious Nail streaming trails of smog behind it as it rocketed towards the nightscale.

Kaius held his breath.

The beast flinched, flickering into a shadowy mass. It was a sudden reprieve — the only opening they needed.

In the thick of the melee once more, they brawled. Bit by bit, they hammered the creature, happily taking wounds to carve their marks in its flesh.

Kaius was conservative with his spells — but he still spent them. A Nail to foul a joint, a Lash to give Porkchop an opening to ram his Ephemeral Phalanx into its chest, and even a rare Shunt to reposition when he absolutely had to.

It still held strong. With its size, finishing the fight alone would be a battle of attrition — they’d need to fully wear out its health. That would take far too long.

Thankfully, all they needed to do was keep the creature busy until Rieker arrived. With the three of them, they’d be able to properly tie it down for his backline.

Yet inevitably, his spells all but ran out, and as the minutes passed, there was still no sign of the guild master. It felt like an eternity. He was simply too swift, all of them were — there’d been dozens of exchanges and the hourglass still hadn’t run out. One Stormlash, that was all he had left. He saved it.

“How bloody far are you, Rieker? This is like trying to pin a greased up hog!” He yelled through his communication artefact.

“Right here!” The guildmaster roared, cutting across the square.

Kaius snapped to the side of the square.

Rieker was dressed for war. His splint mail was painted heavy with blood, and each hand bore a warhammer raised high — one burning gold, the other a deep red.

He leapt. Stone splintered. The guildmaster sailed through the night.

Registering the new threat, the nightscale roared and lurched towards Rieker's descending form.

“None of that!” Porkchop growled, a Phalanx shoving the beast back as he cracked it in the jaw.

Kaius moved in conjunction, thrusting towards the creature's throat with HellbladeInvestiture. They’d give Rieker the opening he needed.

Hemmed in, the creature thrashed.

Rieker hit its back like a descending meteor. Both hammers fell, and flesh cratered. A savage crack resonated through Kaius’s chest as blood sprayed across his face.

Hissing in agony, the beast staggered. Its back two pairs of legs quivered as they struggled to hold up its weight, suddenly numb and weak. Rieker must have broken its back!

“Grab it again, Porkchop!” Kaius roared, watching the guildmaster hammer the same spot again. “Do everything you can to make it go incorporeal, we need to know if it can flicker in quick succession.”

He’d never seen the creature use it more than once every few minutes, but was that a hard limitation? For all he knew the nightscale was simply trying to avoid draining its resources, or overly straining itself.

Kaius knew Rieker would have heard, and would work towards the same goal. He didn’t know enough about the guildmaster’s abilities to ask him to do anything specific.

“Gladly.”

Porkchop lunged, wrapping his arms around its neck as he wrenched the creature's head up, baring its throat. In a repeat of his earlier move, Kaius lunged for its throat — making sure he stayed clearly in the beast’s line of sight.

The beast snapped back, sliding ephemerally out of Porkchop’s grip — though it didn’t make it far with its back limbs unresponsive. Much like every other time it had used the skill, it barely lasted a second.

It roared, fangs shining a bright white.

Rieker struck before it got the opportunity. From the flank, he dashed straight to its head — the air warping in his passage. It was a move without subtlety, one that let the nightscale see the one who had injured it so deeply was coming.

There was no flash of shadows — just a sudden, furious screech before it lunged towards Rieker with its jaws wide.

His other hammer swung up. Bone cracked; the nightscales jaw snapped shut. Rieker leapt to the side, smacking it again.

It was astounding to watch. Even preoccupied with his own assault on the creature, Kaius marveled at the guildmaster’s economy of movement, and the strength of his skills. It was plain that there was no dramatic stat difference between them any more — but Rieker had decades of experience and Skill training on them.

Another hammer blow cracked its scales.

“If it could go incorporeal quickly, it would have already.” Rieker growled.

“Pin it!” Kaius roared.

Lightning snapped forwards as he cast his final spell. The beast seized. Both of Rieker's hammers slammed into its temple with a resonant thump, a Skill dazing it further.

Porkchop pounced, his full body weight muscling its head down to the ground.

“Now, Kenva!”

“Thank the gods, my back fucking hurts from holding this.”

Gore exploded from the back of the nightscales head, chips of bone and a bloody mist ejected by a sudden expulsion of wind.

Kaius heard the sudden crack and shrill scream of its flight a moment later.

Six more shots landed, arrows punching deep into the stone surrounding the beast. Hungry tendrils ruptured from the earth, quickly finding their prey. They wrapped the nightscale tight, thorns clinging to it jealously as its legs were yanked tight to its body.

Kaius heard no ding, but he was not so green as to expect one. He rammed his blade into its eye, feeling the crunch of its orbit. The bone held, so he stuck again. As did his allies.

Far above, he saw a familiar glimmer. A burning star, drifting towards them. It was slow over such a long distance — easy to dodge.

Yet that pace belied a devastating power of destruction.

The nightscale struggled weakly, its burning vitality desperately keeping it alive despite its wounds. They hammered it, never giving it the chance to recover and break its bonds.

Ianmus’s Preeminent Halo drifted closer.

Closer.

He could feel its searing heat, building with every stride it approached.

“Back!” Kaius yelled, more for Rieker's benefit than anything else.

The spell touched home, almost gently — right on the cratered hole Kenva had left in the back of its head.

Dawn broke, even if just for a moment.

**Ding! You have slain Nightscale Elder - Level 283 Shadeborn! Experience Gained! Increased Experience for slaying a foe of significantly greater level!**

**Ding! Runeblade Helion has reached level 225 > 228!**