She screamed as she charged, trying to will energy back into her tired limbs. He parried aside the initial swing of her ax, so she kept on turning, spinning to maintain the momentum and bring the giant steel edge back in a second time. Soma closed the gap between them, his spear shifting to catch the interior handle with the shaft. The clang of metal on metal filled Stasia’s ears. The ax-head was close to the paragon’s jaw, so close, but he tilted his neck the slightest amount to spare himself.

“Impressive,” he said. “And so very good for a mere mortal. Too good.”

He shoved aside her ax, his divine strength more than she could match. Her feet danced, pushing to regain distance between them. His fist struck her side as she retreated, and overwhelming pain flared throughout her chest. Ribs had to be broken with how much it hurt to breathe. Instead of chasing her, he calmly approached.

No roar, no motion, no tell of any kind marked Mari’s attack, and yet Soma sensed it nonetheless when she leaped from the rooftops. His spear twirled above his head, the butt jamming into Mari’s belly to halt her leap. She whimpered as her paws flailed impotently.

“The soldiers here think you a monster,” Soma said. “The locals believe you the reincarnation of their god.”

He flung Mari like discarded trash. She landed on her side and rolled back to all four feet. A little bit of blood dribbled down her lips as she bared her teeth at Soma.

“They’re all wrong. I know what you are, god-whisperer.”

Stasia exploded into motion. Her ax swung high overhead. Up came the metal shaft of the spear, and it held strong as it blocked her attack. Dimly she wondered if that spear were of her father’s make, for how else might it endure such a blow?

“You talk too much,” Stasia said through clenched teeth. Try as she might, she couldn’t force her ax closer. The strain reignited the pain in her side. The rush of battle was helping her ignore it, but by all the gods and goddesses, it was going to hurt tomorrow.

“I am told that sometimes.”

He shoved the ax high, rotated his spear, and swung it for her side. She blocked it with her own weapon’s handle, kicked him in the stomach, and then brought the weapon back down. She struck dirt. The paragon twirled twice as he retreated, then uncoiled into a savage lunge that would have impaled her if not for Mari arriving in time to slap the weapon aside with her bone wings.

“A god-whisperer and a demigod.” Soma laughed. “What an intriguing pair. Are you both Miquoan? Or did shared treason lead to strange bedfellows?”