“PlayaSlaya!” Werner shouted again, then in a panic, threw the grenade at Zelda.
“Zelda! Look out!” Kaiden shouted but Thorne was already in motion. She stepped into the path of the grenade and tanked the damage from the ensuing explosion – and her base damage increased by another fifteen percent.
Ability: Gravity Sledge
You channel a massive amount of charge into your hammer. Your next attack deals 250% base damage and on a successful hit knocks the target into the air. They take fall damage on landing.
“You’re a criminal and a murderer,” Thorne growled, then swung her axe into Werner’s chest with a rising blow. A shockwave burst out at the impact and he was flung into the ceiling. He slammed into the rock there then thudded back down to the floor. From the attack and the fall damage combined, his health dropped down to forty percent – and Kaiden hadn’t even thrown a blow yet.
“I’ve been waiting to beat you down for a long time, Werner,” Thorne said, advancing on the stunned man. The expression on his face said he was totally out of his depth.
He scrambled to his feet, then retreated across the room, back toward the door he’d come in through.
“Let me in!” he shouted as he ran toward it.
Kaiden burst into motion and ran him down with his increased dexterity.
With no charge yet, he led with a hammer strike to Werner’s back, then raised his weapon to attack again.
Werner spun and fired a quick Improved Scatter Shot into Kaiden’s chest, but Intangible Defense nullified any damage from the shot.
“I’ve got this under control,” Thorne’s voice came from behind. It was calm but seething, like a fire that’d burned down to coals but when disturbed revealed a far more intense heat beneath. And then she flew past him, launched into the air with Heroic Leap. She landed between Werner and the door with a shockwave that crashed into Werner.
He stopped dead in his tracks, seemingly frozen.
“You’re right,” Thorne said, advancing toward him slowly. “Blast wardens do deal the most DPS of the warden classes – when at range. Power wardens, though,” she said, looking down at her hammer, “are specialists in close quarters.”
Ability: Hammer Sweep
Werner’s health dropped further.
“And blast wardens are pretty shit up close. Something you would have known if you’d actually leveled your class. Actually cared about this game. But you didn’t. It was just a means to an end for you, wasn’t it? Just a way to keep working your way up the corrupt ladder of the Party.”
“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he growled. “In the real world. Not in this child’s game.”
“There are a lot of things you should have done, Werner. But instead you made me party to your corrupt investigation into Zelda’s parents. Instead you killed innocent civilians then blamed it on the resistance. Instead you lied and you cheated. You abused your power and lorded over the world like it was your plaything.” Thorne clipped him with a hammer strike. Not enough to kill him. Just a wounding blow.
“You thought you were untouchable. Thought you were safe in your corrupt power. How do you feel now, little man? Do you feel powerful?” She hit him again and he cursed.
“If I ever see you again, I will end you,” he snarled.
“Oh, we’ll meet again,” Thorne said. “Once the Party is in ruins and justice comes calling. And you better believe, Werner. Deep down in your blackened little heart, you better believe I’ll be there. I’ll be the one who brings you in.”
With that, she wound up for one last attack. Werner didn’t even try to resist.
“Damn you,” he snarled.
“You first,” she said.
Ability: Gravity Sledge
The blow connected and Werner flew clear across the room. He was dead before he hit the ground and rolled to a stop.
Blast Warden Werner10 assisted kill - 8,000 EXP gained!
“You, uh, handled that,” Kaiden said, still in awe at the onslaught.
Thorne shook out her shoulders and her hammer hand, then smiled.
“That felt good.” She craned her neck to one side, then the other. “I needed that.”
An explosion from behind caught his attention and Kaiden spun to see Zelda firing away at PlayaSlaya. Titus’ shield was overloaded but Nando had PlayaSlaya thoroughly occupied, the two of them near the exit and trading a brutal flurry of blows back and forth.
Abilities fired off one after another with no thought for defense, the cybernetic knight and brawler duking it out in a straight damage race.
Ability: Mano A Mano
A ‘trap and scrap’ ability, Mano A Mano locks the user and one target together for three seconds plus X, where X is 1% of the user’s total strength stat.
Nando activated the ability and the chains around him unwound, then lashed forward and caught PlayaSlaya tightly.
The guild leader retorted with Wind-Up Swing, a slow but powerful attack that would have knocked Nando back had the two not been chained together. Nonetheless, the blow connected with an explosion of force so strong it shattered the floor beneath their feet.
Nando’s health dropped into the red but he seemed unconcerned as he replied with a Frenzied Barrage. The attacks fell in rapid succession, each dealing more damage than the last as Nando’s blazing fists punched through his opponent’s armor.
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” PlayaSlaya growled, then broke away with his own health in the red as Mano A Mano ended. “You ruined it. Ruined it all. We could have had everything we’ve ever wanted!” PlayaSlaya shouted.
“Everything you ever wanted,” Nando said back, slow and sad. “And think of the cost. How could anyone live with that?”
“Damn you!” PlayaSlaya screamed and sprung forward. He reared back with his axe
