Before Hirrus could react, Orlina leapt off the surface of the river. Her straight-edged sword slashed at Hirrus as she went. Hirrus fell back rather than accepting the blow, allowing an opportunity to cross weapons pass by on purpose. He felt like it was a mistake to let her return to even footing, but his instincts warned him that she would be prepared for opposition.

Stepping up to contest her returning to the street was a trap.

Orlina sneered and adjusted her footing. It was like a taunt. She thought him scared of her Arcana.

Hirrus lunged in and swept his axe at her in an overhead swing. She took the blow and despite her confidence, it slammed into her for five thousand eight hundred and fifty-four damage.

Orlina didn’t miss a beat, however. She grabbed the haft of the axe with her free hand. With a single yank she tested her strength against his, drawing him forward a step.

He was grateful then for staying his hand a moment earlier. If he was swinging down at her from the edge of the road, she’d have had gravity on her side. The fight would have ended with her dragging him down into the river.

While he was distracted, her blade came up deliberately at him, snaking forward at his face.

He easily kept ahead of the lazy strike, but Orlina kept coming. She slashed at the air. Every move was dramatically over exaggerated.

She was trying to scare him with the flashy Arcana she’d employed. With the red and blue glows on her shoulders, and her confident movements... he had to admit that it was working.

Hirrus swept his axe up at her left hip, and her blade moved to parry the blow. The weapons clanged together and the scraping noise of steel on ice filled the air for a moment before the blades parted. He swept the axe around at her other side, going high to smash into her shoulder. Orlina ducked low, letting the blow fly over her head.

While he was recovering from the overcommitment to the strike, the chisel tip of her sword found a gap in the leather lamellae of his chest armor, lancing a few inches into his gut.

The effect of her Arcana was immediately made apparent.

She didn’t chip a paltry few hundred hit points off of him this time.

The blow chunked into his health for six thousand five hundred and twenty-four damage.

Hirrus staggered back, putting a hand to stem the spray of blood that followed the blade out of his belly.

Surprisingly, Orlina let him go, swinging her blade sharply to fling the blood off the steel. “What’s wrong?” she asked with a sneer. “Did you lose your fight?”

Hirrus growled in response.

She’d hit him as hard as he’d hit adventurers. Perhaps even harder.

Whatever she’d done made her stronger than he was.

Was he about to die?

Orlina made a sudden move, stomping forward, and Hirrus darted back and to the left, anticipating a strike.

But it was a feint.

Less than that.

She was just trying to spook him.

Orlina let loose a satisfied chuckle at seeing him jump. “Come on.” Orlina’s voice took on a teasing, sing-song quality. “Come show me how you want to avenge your precious Yenon!”

As much as Hirrus feared that Orlina’s newfound power might be the end of him, her words ignited his anger. It roared up through his chest and he felt himself giving in. Instead of snapping back at her for her blatant overconfidence, he let out a bellow of fury. He couldn’t give in to the beast in the literal sense - he still had a long duration left on the Inoculation effect - but figuratively he felt logic coming in second to violence in his mind.

He smashed his awareness across his Arcana. Many of them were on cooldown, but those that were available rushed up and down his arms.

If Orlina wanted a fight, he found himself intensely eager to give it to her.

He stepped up and swept his axe in a wide horizontal slash at waist height - too low for her to duck under this time - and ignored her blade as it lanced out at him in turn. The single edge of her shortsword cut across his cheek and down his chin, and the heat of his blood on his skin matched the heat of his rage roiling beneath it. Meanwhile, his blow cut a huge gash in her leather armor, and physically hurled her away, sending her staggering.

The traded blows were nearly equal, each hitting the other for seven thousand two hundred damage. Hirrus, however, had the advantage of Iron Typhoon, and another five thousand, four hundred damage followed on the double strike hit.

Despite her brazen confidence, Orlina snarled. Her cocky expression only vanished for a moment before she shot a grin across at him.

“A bold move,” she said. “You’re better than I expected. I might actually feel good about this victory afterwards.”

“I’d say the same to you,” Hirrus spat, “but it would be a lie.”

Hirrus didn’t wait for her to activate her healing Arcana again. He lunged in and swept his axe down in a diagonal slash. She ducked to the left and let the weapon sweep past before lashing out with her own blade. The speed imparted to his arms by Iron Tempest let him whip the blade back up to deflect her strike, and a sharp sound of metal ringing filled the air at the impact.

Hirrus pressed forward, hacking the blade of the icy greataxe at her shoulder, and she fell back, dancing out of reach. Orlina let out a cackle as she skittered out of his reach, but it didn’t fool Hirrus. There was a blossom of fear in her eyes at his sudden ferocity, and he had to bite back his own laughter at the sight of it. He knew he was riding a careful line - she could kill him just as easily as he could her - but her confidence was eroding.

The glowing blue greataxe arced across the front of her in a vicious backhand, too fast for her to keep ahead of. There was a ring of ice on steel again as she parried the strike, redirecting it upwards. Her blade snaked out at him, lancing into his shoulder.

It hurt.

A lot.

More than seven thousand six hundred points were stripped away from his health.

Her attacks brought him lower than he’d ever been at the hands of an adventurer, even against the group in Orlina’s home. Hirrus had under twenty thousand hit points left. He was as close to death as she was, and despite the Iron Typhoon bonus, she was still fast enough to slip in an attack or two between her dodges.

But he lunged.

Not with his weapon, but with his shoulder.

He impaled himself on the chisel tip of her weapon and gritted his teeth at the sharp pain that ripped through his entire body, centered around the spot where steel slid against his clavicle.

“What are you-”

Hirrus let his actions respond for him.

He turned his body with a single violent motion.

The hilt of her blade was ripped from her hands as he turned. It stuck out of his shoulder still, and her attempt to hold to its hilt drew her off-balance, just as her yanking on the haft of his axe had.

His weapon came down.

When the head of his axe reached the street it was coated in red, dripping and steaming in the early morning air.

Shortly after, Orlina hit the street in similar condition. Her head rolled away, freed from the bitter neck that it had been bound to for so long.

Hirrus slumped down, taking a deep breath as his rage was rapidly replaced with satisfaction.

He’d done it.

Snatched from the jaws of defeat, his victory here was sweet indeed.

Orlina was dead.

One of the core members of Last of the Strong - the first one to take credit as an active participant in the destruction of Yenon - lay dead at his feet.

He dropped to his knees, leaning on his weapon for support. This fight had taken much out of him, though it wasn’t without its rewards. With this kill, he was awarded Level 6, with the nominal increase in stats that entailed. He also acquired three new Arcana, and as he reached for Orlina’s gear, he found that they included an explanation for her sudden strength.

Ancestor’s Pledge

+8 GLE, +130 Double Strike Rating

Utility

Cast time: 0.25 seconds

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Effect: Heal yourself for 2xATT + 3xRES. Only usable when you haven’t taken damage for four seconds.

Vacuous One’s Buoyancy

+5 TEN, +32 Cooldown Reduction Rating

Utility

Cast time: Instant

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Effect: Gain the ability to walk and stand on water for 40 seconds.

X’rhun’s Balance

+10 ATT, +29 Cast Speed Rating

Utility

Cast time: 2 seconds

Cooldown: 120 seconds

Effect: Swap your ATT and BUR stats for 60 seconds. Swap your RES and SUP stats for 60 seconds. This includes temporary bonuses.

That wasn’t a full explanation, but as he started to peel her gear from her, it came into focus.

Orlina’s gear was versatile between the four major stats, and she had two legendary pieces at item level 70. One of them, the gloves, didn’t have an extra effect. They instead had three secondary attributes instead of just two. But her pants were the conclusion to the story that X’rhun’s Balance began.

While on her body, they matched her other gear, but like Clive’s gear, as he retrieved it from her, it changed form. It went from dark black tight-fitting slacks to bulky brown-and-blue pantaloons, with an inner protective layer of iron chainmail between two layers of cloth.

Wise Man’s Braconi

Legs

Ilvl 70 (Legendary)

+350 BUR

+350 TEN

+700 Cast Speed Rating

+700 Cleave Rating

Special: Performing any weapon attack grants a stacking 3% buff to ATT and RES for 15 seconds. Maximum 100 stacks.

Processing this interaction was all Hirrus had time for, though. Before he could put the pants - or any of Orlina’s gear - into his own inventory a hand clapped around his wrist.

“Alright,” a gruff voice said as he was dragged bodily to his feet. “I know this is a cliche, but I’m gonna say it anyway.”

Hirrus tried to rip his hand away from the assailant, but found the grip was hard as iron and unyielding as a mountain. He suddenly recognized the voice.

“Game over, man,” GM Dave intoned somberly. “Game over.”