"You outsiders refuse to die easily," Agnizzar said as he drew an axe off his back. He let the weapon's head fall to the floor, dragging it along and leaving a groove in the earth behind him. "I am impressed. And annoyed."

"You think that's impressive, you haven't seen anything yet," List said, tightening her grip on her weapon.

Valerie thought back to their last fight with Agnizzar. They had better visibility this time, they were all awake from the start, and they had a four to one numbers advantage. But they were hurt, tired, and most importantly, they didn't have Arden. The priest had personally represented a significant portion of their strength as a group. Without him, even with all four of them, Valerie didn't like their odds.

She liked them even less if the fight descended into the uncoordinated messes their previous one had, and as she had in the fight with the dragon statue, she did the only thing she could think to stem that tide, and threw out the first plan she could form.

"Kaleb, List, frontline," Valerie said. "Keep him engaged, but don't overcommit. Give me time and space to shoot, and I'll try to hit him with something big enough to drop him."

In terms of physical injuries, Valerie was fine, but she still felt drained from her earlier use of the blackfire crossbolts. She knew she'd need their power for even a chance at bringing down Agnizzar, but she also knew using it would leave her vulnerable, if she didn't just outright pass out again.

She hated to ask Kaleb and List to go head to head with Agnizzar so soon after getting back on their feet, but they didn't have much choice. And if either of them had a problem with it, neither voiced it as they both charged.

"And me?" Xigbar asked.

Valerie blinked, surprised that he was still standing next to her. Not that she was complaining. "Look for an opening, but keep your approach on an offset angle from my line of fire."

Xigbar nodded without taking his eyes off the Axe of the Chosen. "Fair warning, this might involve you getting another look at my bare ass. Try to save the ogling for after."

The good will Xigbar had been starting to build up with Valerie drained away. "Shut up and fight."

Xigbar darted off, and Valerie began loosing her first salvo of crossbolts.

Agnizzar let out a low growl before swinging his axe upward, kicking up a wall of dirt and rock into List and Kaleb. List drew up short, but Kaleb barreled straight through it. He came out the other side, shield raised just as Agnizzar brought the axe back down.

Kaleb's shield rang like a gong, Agnizzar's axe bit into the metal face, and his knees buckled. But, bracing his other arm behind the shield and keeping his center of gravity low, Kaleb was able to stay standing, even as his entire skeleton screamed in protest.

List came in a second later, halberd swinging, but had to abort her attack to dodge Agnizzar's next swing. His tail lashed out at the same time, keeping Kaleb from exploiting any gap in the elite's pressure. Every attack Agnizzar made flowed seamlessly into the next, and he never stopped moving. A downward chop became a horizontal slash, was covered by a jab with his tail that led into a wild spin of his axe and body at once.

He was a rampaging monster of black iron and crimson death, kicking up geysers of earth each time he brought his weapon down and tearing the ground apart with his explosive bursts of speed and power. Most of their time was spent avoiding him rather than attack, and the attacks they managed had little effect.

What few attacks Kaleb and List actually made were either turned aside, or crashed ineffectually against his armor and rigid stance. Valerie's crossbolts either pinged off of the armor embedded harmlessly in the plates, none of them drawing blood. Xigbar came in for a sneak attack once, but a swipe from Agnizzar's tail forced him to dodge and threw off his aim. His dagger scratched harmlessly across the elite's armor instead of sinking into a joint.

Less than a minute in, and they were already getting tired. List was getting slower, hanging back longer after each attempted assault, and Kaleb's stance was buckling more with every blow he took on the shield.

It was now or never. Valerie had given herself as much time to prepare as she could.

She drew in a deep breath, and reached out. With every successful attempt at calling on the power, she found it easier and easier to draw it out. To recognize that yawning emptiness buried in her, and stoke it to action. She didn't even need to close her eyes this time as she felt her mouth go dry, her stomach tighten, and at last, her crossbolt burst into black flames.

List had already gotten used to fighting around Valerie's line of fire, and Xigbar followed instructions well. Valerie only had Kaleb to worry about when lining up her shot, and when Agnizzar landed a blow that sent him skidding backward, she had her opening.

Valerie's loosed the blackfire bolt straight into Agnizzar's chest. He hadn't needed to dodge the others, and he didn't try to dodge this one either. It struck, blossoming into a billowing rose of onyx flames that spread out across the elite's chest, and he roared in pain.

Valerie felt her head spin, and staggered to stay upright. The emptiness inside grew into an endless abyss, and she felt utterly drained. And bitterly, painfully thirsty. She wasn't sure she could speak, her throat felt so dry.

But the black flames raged across Agnizzar, and the others held back, catching their breath while the elite thrashed in pain. Also, none of them wanted to go anywhere near the black fire. For a moment, they drank the respite in. But soon, the blackfire on Agnizzar's body began to gutter out. And he was still standing.

He slapped at his chest with a free hand, swatting out the flames even as he still growled with ongoing agony. The blackfire hadn't been enough.

Since that had been the extent of Valerie's plan, panic shot through her. Her only other thought was to fire another one, but so soon after the number she'd unleashed in the canyon, she was certain another bolt would wring her dry of whatever fueled the flames. She still didn't even know what that was, but given running low sometimes made her pass out, she was hesitant to use it all.

List was the first one to act, but Kaleb was right behind her. She rushed in, her own red lighting playing off the stolen weapon's existing crimson glow until the weapon was a storm of blood red power. Agnizzar swung at her with his axe, which should have forced her to give up the attack to dodge, but she didn't divert an inch off course.

Kaleb came in, knocking the incoming axe askew with his shield. List struck with her halberd at the same time that Kaleb landed a kick, each of them striking in the same spot. Armor tore and buckled under their combined attack, and blood gushed from the wound they inflicted.

Agnizzar's roar was deafening, and his counter came out too swift for either of them to react. His axe flashed out, catching Kaleb around the neck in its crook and flinging him away. His tail snapped out at the same time, launching List off her feet and into a tree.

"Hey!"

Xigbar rushed the elite head on, and threw a knife so far off target it hit the ground somewhere near Agnizzar's feet. The elite swung to take off the animaborn's head.

For a blink, he thought he did, as Xigbar's head vanished just as Agnizzar's axe passed through where his neck should have been. But there was no spray of blood, and as the swing continued, Xigbar's clothes fell to the ground in a heap, sans the boy who'd been wearing them.

A blue and silver snake slithered out of Xigbar's pant leg, transforming back into Xigbar went it was directly between Agnizzar's legs. Xigbar flashed a fanged grin as he reached out ot snatch the dagger he'd already thrown at Agnizzar's feet, and then, lying stark naked in the dirt, he stabbed the Axe of the Chosen right in the taint.

Xigbar turned back into a snake as the Chosen doubled over in pain and roared again. But this time, the draconic jaws of his helmet unhinged. When Agnizzar lifted his head, he unleashed a liquid smooth jet of flames from his mouth, aimed at the first outsider he could find.

Kaleb took the blast on his shield, and screamed. He fell to the ground, frantically tossing it aside. The metal had gone white hot, and smoke was curling off of Kaleb's shield arm. Agnizzar kept the flames going as he swept his head in a circle, scything through everything around him with the breath of a dragon.

List had to duck to avoid having her hair incinerated, and then had to roll as the trees around her fell. Valerie dove out of the way, but the tails of her coat caught, and she had to throw the whole thing away as the flames spread impossibly fast. As a snake, Xigbar started out trying to slither away, but ended up having to curl back into a tight coil as his path of escape was cut off by a sweep of the flames.

As the attack finally subsided, and they all scrambled to find safety and brace for Agnizzar's wrath, Valerie felt an odd sense of bitterness amongst the terror and desperation. In spite of everything, she'd really thought they had a chance here. But apparently, not enough of one.

A beam of golden light thick as a man's leg tore through the forest, striking Agnizzar dead in the chest, taking him off his feet and sending him flying backward.

Fifty feet away, leaning on Kiva for support, sweating and looking pale as a ghost, was Arden. His hand held out in front of him was shaking, and after only a breath, he half collapsed in the dragonblood girl, only staying upright with her help. Valerie had never been so happy to see him.

"Come on!" Kiva yelled. "We have to go, now!"

Kaleb hauled List to her feet, and Xigbar turned back into a humanoid form to scoop up his clothes. Valerie did not ogle, already running. Kiva half supported, half dragged Arden, their pace agonizingly slow. Behind them, Agnizzar was staggering to his feet.

When they reached Kiva, Kaleb didn't say anything, just took Arden from her and threw him over his shoulders. He moved considerably faster.

"Where are we going?" Valerie shouted.

"Up and over that hill!" Kiva shouted back, pointing ahead of them. Jose's head, still sporting his impossibly broad hat, poked over the crest of the hill in question.

"Hurry my friends!"

They scrambled over the hill and slid down it just as another bar of flames tore after them, taking a chunk out of the hilltop. At the bottom, an unusually smooth hole was waiting at the base of the hill. It was a perfectly circular opening in the side of the hill, slightly wider than a kobold was tall. The hole was unnaturally dark, making it impossible to see more than a foot inside. Kiva pointed to it.

"Inside! Go!" she ordered.

Jose dove in without hesitation, and Xigbar was right behind him. Kaleb went in next, dragging Arden's now unconscious form in behind him. Valerie shoved in List before the hellborn could protest, and then Kiva.

The last one left, Valerie was just positioning herself at the entrance when Agnizzar crested the hill. Despite the furious pounding in her chest, Valerie found herself frozen as her gaze locked with that of the elite's visor. Flames billowed from his jaws, and his axe was hefted onto his shoulder as he stared down at her like a towering avatar of fiery death. And something Valerie hadn't expected ran through her veins.

Ice cold anger.

She ducked into the hole, and though the world became swallowed in darkness, that anger seared the image of Agnizzar on that hill into her mind's eye.

That monster of a man had attacked her allies. Her family. On behalf of the Chosen, he had hunted them down, and even now, they were running from him like foxes from hounds, right down to scurrying into a hole. She had been driven to the brink of exhaustion, made to feel weak, made to feel like she might lose the people she loved.

Valerie swore to herself, then and there, that she was not going to let this go. Agnizzar would pay for this. The Chosen would pay for this.

She'd make sure of it.