It wasn't like fighting Groygar, not at all. And that was about the extent of Aexilica's relief. She danced back from the giant creature as he swung for her, at first. Then her dances turned into flight, then desperate scrambling as her posture disintegrated against his speed and ferocity. Aexilica succeeded, after a moment or two, in breaking the man's weapon. Her enchanted sword started by chipping the steel of his axehead, then split it open entirely.

He didn't miss a beat, just discarded the mangled metal and sprouted claws—no, talons—from his fingertips to continue the assault. If anything, it was more intense than with a weapon. His raking slashes came from every direction, it seemed, at once. And Aexilica was hard-pressed even reacting to one blow before another had fallen. She felt talon tips carve through her shoulder, biting shallowly but still drawing a tear of blood to run down the arm. Her wounds hurt, her fatigue mounted. She was slowing down, and her enemy, it seemed, speeding up.

Vari, in the end, was who saved her. Maybe there was a lesson there about Emma and Aexilica's mercy, good turns and fate rewarding the righteous. There was certainly a much clearer lesson about the merits of fighting two-on-one when the enemy was stronger, in any case.

An offensive fighter by any measure, the Sculd took to the front of their two-person battleline and pressed the monster before them with his usual savagery. Aexilica, ever better at not being killed than she was at killing, opted to take a supportive role and give herself whatever recovery time she could with the lessened exertion.

Not as lessened as she might have hoped, of course. That would have been too convenient. With both hands covered in those damned talons, the giant lunged for Vari what felt like a dozen times each second. Aexilica halted as many of his attacks as she could. Always, one or two slipped by. Vari was taking cuts. Shallow ones, awkward ones, but Aexilica knew they would bring him down eventually.

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They'd bring their enemy down, too, of course. Vari's unrelenting aggression had the critical advantage of doling out a great deal of hits, and only most of them could be evaded even by a foe as swift as this. That their enemy also seemed to be a berserker helped quite a lot.

Except he healed, fast. Impossibly fast. Faster than Aexilica herself a hundred—even a thousand—times over. To watch him fight, with his two hands, was like seeing the claws of a whole wolf pack in motion at once. But to watch him heal was like nothing in all the world.

It didn't matter that they were marking him with scratches and skin-splitting welts, because each one closed up just as the next one landed. All of Vari's and Aexilica's remained and added up.

An explosion rung out behind Aexilica, dragging her eyes behind her for the briefest moment to fall upon Krummer and Kruger. The former was fighting his way through the remainder of the enemy soldiers, practically blasting the men apart as his magic flew through the room like thrown javelins. The latter was focusing his powers singularly upon one of the leaders, the woman Aexilica had first stumbled onto.

And it was a lot of power to be focused, she had to admit. He had exchanged his weapon for yet a new one, now spitting fire and magic so fast that each shot seemed to blend into the next. It was a struggle even for her enhanced senses to count them.

One she abandoned soon, because her fight was still ongoing.

Vari's hammer smacked cleanly into the monster's face, the finest collection he'd yet managed. With all his strength, and the weapon's magic, Aexilica knew such a blow would have caved her skull in completely—killed her. If she was lucky, perhaps left her a drooling idiot instead. Against this foe, it merely cracked something. An eyesocket collapsed, slightly, and his brow deformed. But there was no sign of impediment beyond that, and she saw the bones slowly twitching their way back into place even as he defended himself from subsequent strikes.

Bone takes longer for them to heal?

It was not a great advantage, but it was something.

And it spurred the monster on to ever greater heights. His attack grew, intensifying in pressure as he foresook defence altogether. Vari and Aexilica began stumbling away, barely able to even contest the speed of this foe.

What is happening?!

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