The four wreaked havoc. How each respective duo worked together in a deadly dance of battle was uncanny. As if one knew the other's move before they even thought of it. In a sea of weak enemies, they ripped and tore apart the endless wave. While at first, Kenan mainly used his sword, oftentimes he switched to fang and claw. While Dion used strategic magic at other instances. Each drawing more and more upon the connection. Oz and Ozzy were no different in unplanned moments of complete unity. Either it was a natural connection of siblings, or they had a bond of their own. One brother would inflict damage, while the other protected. Then they would switch in the next moment. Oftentimes, they even shifted weapons mid-fight. If Oz got his ax stuck in a skull, Ozzy would throw his hammer at him. Vice versa depending on the situation.

The guards, soldiers, and other low adventures in the troop that followed fed off the energy. Striking with unrestrained movement. It wasn’t that they had a complete lack of fear, but more rather supplied with enough courage to shake the building apprehension that they had. If four could do the damage they were doing, imagine what sixteen could do.

Kenan sidestepped left. A maw of a rabid wolf flew past his face. He was about to make a killing blow when a pike’s point jettisoned out of the canine’s cranium. Noctis looked back to see a young soldier shakily holding the weapon. Noctis simply nodded. A moment's thought went into how that man was still older than himself.

A large squirrel the size of a beaver flew at his neck. Kenan ducked, and once it was overhead, he popped back up. His sizable fangs fell into its arties and his mouth filled with blood. He forced its life out with a shake, then spit the carcass and blood out from his mouth. Vatr and his invading dire wolf conscience forced him to ignore the specifics of that encounter.

A wave of arrows laid waste to multiple of the mutated nearby. Doco struck with surgical precision. Kenan understood his uncle was powerful, but what he was doing begged some questions. For later.

Dion came face to face with a smaller creature. Four legged and a large slinking tail. Ears that merged into the body. slim nose, pointed eyes, scaled, and a very long tongue. Ooze dripped from its mouth and hissed on the ground. The dirus growled and it was returned in a strange low screech. They charged in for a battle. Instead of engaging head on, Dion went to the side. Brought his claws and raked the side of its neck. The dirus was surprised with the difficulty of the cut. Still, the lizard-dog creature had a large chunk of fleshing missing.

Dion was even more surprised when he saw it was still living, vines trying to stitch the wound together. Flame burst from his back appendage. Like a whip, Dion flicked his tail. A large, already cauterized laceration appeared on its side. The damage was enough to fell the beast.

The dirus quickly sent information to his master. Kenan understood. They were getting stronger.

Kenan shared his power with his sword. It lit with a thousand white dots. A strange horse shaped creature with a maw that opened vertically as well as horizontally charged at him. Noctis threw his sword, hitting it in the chest and the blade sinking deep. It nayed. Kenan ran up, ripped out his blade, and swiped up, decapitating the beast easily. As the beast fell, he saw a break in the sea of monsters.

Arrows flew, creating a window between the vine infested creatures. “Push!” Kenan yelled. It was echoed by two other voices. The rest followed the command as the pace was picked up. As they reached the pinnacle of the separation, Ozzy backed into the troop, coming dead center. Previously invisible runes lit up on his Warhammer, and then separated themselves from the weapon. Suddenly, energy exploded and a yellow dome of mana was formed, cutting multiple creatures in half. Oz, Dion and Kenan all made short work of the animals who made it into the protection.

“You didn’t tell me Ozzy could do that.” Noctis said, flicking green blood from his blade.

Oz shrugged. “Unexpected respites always seem to do more than promised ones.” The Goliath turned to the hard breathing soldiers. “Listen up! You get 15 minutes. From this point on, we will separate. Strategize among yourselves.”

Noctis shrugged off Vatr. He worked on scrubbing off the blood caking his body. “She has a trick up her sleeve.” He said while rubbing his cheeks of green ichor.

Ozzy stopped next to his brother and grunted. “Agreed.” Oz said. “They should already be way harder to kill. Considering the amount of them. What do you think it is?”

Dion barked. Kenan looked at him, and almost like a dog, cocked his head. Then he took the information, and considered it. “What's missing? In the horde”

“What do you mean?” Oz said. Ozzy grunted. “Oh. That's… that could not be good.”

“We’ll just have to keep an eye out, and rely on uncle and the rest of the archers. At least, having them give us enough time to react properly. Depending on what happens. Either another surge, or one big bad, fuck you.” Noctis said.

“Well put.” Oz dropped to the ground. Ax strewn to the side while he had his hands on the back of his head.

“Let’s just hope it’s not a roc.”

“What's that?”

“Lets hope you don’t have to find out.”

Kenan shrugged. He stepped back about 5 yards. Then he sat down, blade in lap and Dion lying adjacent. He watched as a hundred creatures futilely crushed themselves against the wall. Some even killed themselves. Anger rose.

Just like Roshu, Shell subjected creatures to her will. Something Kenan thought vehemently of. He wished he could save these animals without killing them. A notion set over him and was quickly squashed. That would be unwise, and lead to unneeded death. Even if Shell was probably unguarded at the moment.

For the rest of the allotted time, Kenan simply focused on his breathing. He felt that this was just the beginning of the usage his blade was going to see today.