Stasia and Mari assaulted the paragon simultaneously, in coordination few alive could match. They were sisters, born and raised amid rebellion after rebellion. There was no one else Stasia trusted to keep her safe when the paragon’s spear thrust for her side at an angle she could not block. No one else could read her movements, accompanying them with a slash of her claws or bite of her teeth so the paragon could not retake the offensive. They circled around him, giving no quarter, Stasia’s entire world becoming one of snarls, whirling axes, and the striking of steel.

It wasn’t enough. Stasia couldn’t overwhelm his strength like she could most foes. His speed was faster. His spear moved with mastery that baffled her. There was no positioning it wrong. No feint proved successful. Stasia had fought paragons before, even killed a few prior to arriving in Thanet. She had never fought anyone like Soma. If anyone was a god, it was him, not her.

“Is this it?” he asked as they battled. “Is this the best a broken Thanet may offer? Your priests, your paladins, your champions… I have found them all wanting. What a pitiful fate. Endarius and Lycaena made you weak. The land is far better with their deaths.”

And then, as if to prove it, he retook the offensive. No more parrying. No more dodging. His spear hit Stasia’s hip, and a scream tore from her lungs as she collapsed. His elbow bashed Mari across the nose. Blood splashed across his armor. Another elbow, then a thrust with his spear. It hit one of her bone plates, breaking the plate in half. Mari roared in pain, and yet when her wings thrust in retaliation, he twirled his spear to bat them aside with ease.

Stasia staggered forward, determined to help her sister even to the death. She swung her ax in an upward arc, hoping to cut him in half from the crotch up. The paragon sidestepped it. A flick of his wrist, and the butt of his spear clacked the underside of her chin. Her head whipped backward, and her stomach heaved as the awkward motion reignited brand-new waves of pain from her already injured ribs. Mari attempted to protect her, and in reward, Soma barreled into her with his shoulder. His fist pumped twice, blasting the wind out from her lungs. She staggered, and amid her weakness, he bashed the bone plate armor upon her forehead, cracking it down the middle.

Mari collapsed before him. Soma towered over her, his spear twirling with such speed, it was but a blur.

“Nothing can describe my pleasure in killing Endarius,” he told her. “Thank you, god-whisperer, for the gift of experiencing it twice.”