Frozhe yelled in pain and reacted by activating his ability, hardening his skin to prevent Arden’s claws from sinking into him for a second time. Frozhe didn't question how the man who was supposed to be in prison was suddenly in front of him wielding a pair of bone claws. The Blight Walker several steps behind him gave Frozhe the answer.

  “So your sister sprung you from your cell,” he said. “And instead of running from the Starborn, you chose to fight. How admirable.”

  Stellar essence rushed into Frozhe’s axe as it came down from above his head with the weight of an anvil. With the axe's weight increase aspect and Frozhe’s skin hardening ability, he had the poise of a meteor.

  Only someone of extreme might would be able to block the attack.

  Arden was not one of these people, so he didn't even try to block it. Instead, he backed out of the attack. He wasn't an idiot.

  When the axe connected with the ground, cracks spread out the concrete floor.

  Arden gave a low whistle looking at the damage done to the floor.

  “Yeah you're definitely a Starborn,” he said.

  “Regretting your choice to fight?”

  Arden laughed.

  “Of course not. Don't you know the danger is what makes this fun?”

  Vera rushed forward with one of the swords she picked up from the Stargate. She held it just like she taught Arden to hold it, and swung it upwards.

  Frozhe backed away from the attack, but couldn’t get far enough away from Arden who continued to rush at him with his claws.

  Frozhe couldn't defend himself from both Arden and Vera’s attacks at the same time. He made a snap judgement and decided that the sword was more dangerous, or rather the woman using it was. He held his axe out in front of him, and used its superior durability to block Vera’s attacks. A Satellite, even a mere red tier one, was undoubtedly stronger than an ancient sword.

  Vera’s attacks didn't stop. Every time her sword was blocked, she would attempt another strike. Some of them were from the same angle, some of them were from different angles, but not a single one managed to get past the man’s axe.

  But she wasn't trying to at this point.

  Frozhe would be defeated here, she had no doubt in her mind. But she didn't necessarily have to be the one to deliver the killing blow.

  Arden, low to the ground, flanked Frozhe as he was trying to defend himself from Vera. His claws were sharper and stronger than Vera’s sword, so he knew that he would have to be the one to deal damage.

  As Arden closed in, he saw a smirk on Vera’s face when her sword was being held down below the axe.

  Summoning all her might, Vera was able to break through the weight of the axe, and her sword cleaved upward, throwing the hands of the rogue Starborn into the air above his head.

  The sword didn't injure Frozhe at all, but that wasn't the point. Her goal had been achieved. She created an opening.

  An opening for Arden to capitalize on.

  Arden wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. He used everything he'd learned so far to land a blow on the Starborn driven by greed. His feet were firmly planted on the concrete floor, and they generated enough power to flow all the way through his hands, as Arden performed a truly devastating swipe that would have rended flesh from bone.

  If only his target wasn't someone with a body reinforcement ability.

  Arden’s strike was still effective, but most of its lethal capability was lost in the hardening of Frozhe’s skin. Instead of his skin resembling the aftermath of a brutal fight, it only looked like someone had taken several scalpels to his side. Blood trickled down his side. It looked rough, but Arden knew it wasn’t enough.

  Arden didn't stop.

  He wasn't so arrogant to believe that a mundane could end a fight against a Starborn in a single attack. His fight against the Maverick proved that much.

  In just a second, Arden began doing what he had done to the Maverick. Using all of his aggression, he did his best to eviscerate the side of his enemy.

  But he didn't get far.

  Frozhe only let it go on for a few seconds. With his arms still in the air reeling from Vera’s attack, he channeled his stellar essence into his axe again.

  Vera’s instinct told her to fall back. That she would be unable to defend against it.

  “Get back!” She yelled to Arden.

  He didn't follow her directions. He didn't know if it was arrogance, stubbornness or greed, but he wanted to land another strike on the man before falling back.

  Yes, he could receive a grisly wound, but he had his legacy ability supporting him. He'd be fine.

  Arden’s claws reached Frozhe mere seconds before the axe reached Arden. Unlike his previous attacks, this one did much more damage.

  Frozhe’s upper chest looked like it had been mauled by a tiger. Five ghastly claw marks ran from just above his heart to just below his ribs on the opposite side of his torso.

  Arden was surprised for the moment it took before Frozhe’s axe came down upon him like a terrible hammer of judgement.

  He heard the sound of his left shoulder and everything else in his arm snapping before the pain caught up to him. With no way to stop the blow, Arden was knocked down to the ground and bounced several steps away.

  Arden looked up at the scene in front of him while tasting his own blood. Right now Vera was standing her ground expertly blocking and dodging Frozhe's heavy attacks. Only a few of her own attacks managed to connect with Frozhe, but like most of Arden’s, they weren't deep.

  He suddenly felt a kick in his side and realized Sya was standing over him with an incensed expression on her face and the Rascal’s Pocket Rocket in one of her hands.

  “You idiot! What were you thinking!?”

  “What?” Arden asked weakly.

  “Don't ‘what’ me! Why didn't you fall back when she told you to!? Have you forgotten that she's the expert here!?”

  “I'll be fine.”

  “So what!? You acted arrogantly and are paying the price for it. So is Vera! She's pulling double duty for you because you were rash! You need to think! Just because you have that joker card doesn't mean you should play it!”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The adrenaline was still rampaging inside of him, so the pain was easily overlooked. Instead, he felt more shock than anything at the moment.

  There had been one time in the past where he and Sya had been outraged at each other, but beyond that there were no feeling of anger between them. Not until now.

  Arden swallowed his distaste. It tasted of blood. Everything Sya said was right.

  “Give me a sword,” Sya said.

  Her eyes let Arden know that it wasn't a question. He didn't like arming his sister so she could go and take the fight to the guy who just kicked his ass. But…

  “I’d fight with or without the sword,” she said.

  “Fine.”

  Arden pulled one of the many swords found in the stargate out of his inventory and gave it to his sister.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” he advised.

  “Okay, pot.”

  As soon as she had the sword in her hand, she stabbed it down with as much force as she could into the ground. The force mixed with the advanced age of the sword shattered it to countless pieces of jagged metal.

  “Ammo acquired,” she said.

  “Before you do anything,” Arden said, nursing his shattered arm. “I found his weakness.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Sya said, loading a piece of shrapnel into the slingshot. “He can either reinforce his body, or increase the weight of his axe. He can’t do both at the same time.”

  Nearby, Cirai watched the interaction and was as horrified as she was shocked and interested. That was not the sort of conversation that a mundane and a Blight Walker should have. She was even more disturbed when Arden managed to pull himself to his feet with his shattered arm hanging uselessly by his side.

  “You want to keep going?” Sya asked, worry evident in her voice.

  It was enough to reinforce the notion that she got heated earlier because she was worried. Arden knew that if their roles were reversed he would have felt the same way. He stared at the walking fridge of a man currently doing battle with Vera in front of them. There was a hint of lunacy in his gaze.

  His damaged arm was throbbing in pain looking at the man with the axe. He had already attacked good people. Now, he was attacking Arden’s people.

  “Ooh,” Arden said, hunched over slightly with a pale face. “This is a new feeling. Not even Yaan was able to piss me off this much.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Sya said.

  In the short time that Arden and Sya talked, the fight had been taken further away from them, no doubt as a result of Vera keeping them safe. Arden began to run unsteadily towards them. He knew that having both arms was imperative to keeping one’s balance, but he didn’t think just having one shattered would result in his equilibrium being equally shattered.

  His unsteady flailing around made him look like a drunken fool, as he continued to overcompensate with every step he took. But he never lost his footing. The unpredictability of his movements would throw off Frozhe. At least, that was what Arden believed.

  As Arden approached, Vera couldn’t help but smile at his tenacity. Though she would definitely be giving him an earful about how stupid he was, it was nice to know that he was willing to jump back into a fight without relying on his healing.

  ‘Even though him relying on that is exactly what led to him getting injured,’ she thought.

  “Doing alright!?” she called out over the clamor of steel on steel.

  “Never better!”

  Frozhe was bleeding as heavily as he was breathing, and his breathing was heavier than the axe he dropped on the boy. He could feel his body slowing down and his reaction starting to lag.

  If he didn’t finish this quickly, he would be a goner.

  “I refuse to be taken down by mundanes!” Frozhe yelled.

  “So you admit we’re mudanes then?” Arden asked, throwing himself below another swing of the axe.

  Frozhe was about to swing his axe down on Arden. Just like before, he had gotten too close. This time, Frozhe would be sure to sever the boy’s arm, if not his head.

  His wrist twitched as the axe took aim at Arden again.

  This time, Vera didn’t warn Arden to back off. Instead, she joined in. She stabbed upwards towards the axe.

  ‘What a stupid move!’ Frozhe thought.

  It likely would have been a stupid move if he didn't suddenly feel a sharp pain in his hand that was holding the axe. There was a splash of red as a piece of jagged metal cut through one of his fingers.

  “Agh!” he yelled in pain.

  “Bullseye, baby!” Sya shouted.

  She didn’t expect to be getting so much mileage out of a simple slingshot with an accuracy aspect. Of course, she didn't expect to even use a Satellite at all, either.

  Vera attempted to cut off his hand at the wrist with this opening, but unfortunately, her sword gave out on her at that moment. His hand strengthened, and the sword shattered.

  With manic desperation, Frozhe took aim at the ranger lingering some distance away from the fight. He could kill her with a single throw of his axe. He would be down his weapon, but that meant he could focus everything on defense. And without the ranger, his opponents’ job would get much harder without cover fire.

  He extended his arm to throw the axe.

  Arden saw Frozhe’s plan and moved faster than he ever had to prevent the outcome that the rogue wanted. His mind was moving a mile a minute.

  “Not a fucking chance!” he yelled.

  On instinct, Arden leapt up, wrapping himself around Frozhe’s axe wielding arm. He grabbed Frozhe’s wrists with his claws, and wrapped his legs around Frozhe’s upper arm.

  “Let go of me!” Frozhe yelled.

  Arden felt his broken arm break even further as he tightened his hold on the Starborn. Unnatural cracking sounds resounded as his wrists tightened around Frozhe’s. Arden frantically began to claw at the rogue’s arm and hand. Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing much because Frozhe was fully focused on defense now.

  “Drop the axe! Drop it!”

  But Frozhe now had another weapon. The shattering of Vera’s blade provided him with one. His free hand tightened around one of the elongated shards of ancient metal and stabbed it into one of Arden’s legs, causing him to scream out in pain.

  Vera’s second sword finally manifested after what felt like a lifetime when it had only been a few moments. But moments were what settled fights.

  She went to strike, but stopped the swing at the last moment when Frozhe held out his arm to block the attack, with Arden still hanging from it.

  A faint whisper echoed in the back of her mind with a feminine voice. It was the same voice she heard the night of the cascade.

  “Protect him.”

  That moment of hesitation was enough for Frozhe to slash across her stomach with his jagged edge.

  Vera locked eyes with Arden for a single moment as she fell backward to the ground. Reflected in his eyes were fear, pain, shock, and worry. She particularly liked seeing that last one.

  Arden began to tremble as he tightened his hold on Frozhe. Arm be damned, he was going to bring this Starborn down. He thought that he was mad when he began to attack Frozhe the second time. His fury then was nothing on this.

  An idea to pierce Frozhe’s natural armor came to mind. He needed a different weapon. A bigger weapon. He was going to kill Frozhe.

  “Bring him down, Sya!”

  Sya didn’t know what Arden was planning, but she was sure that he had a plan. She moved backwards as she fired shard after shard of metal into Frozhe’s lower body as he tried to move to her. He stumbled plenty of times but never fell. She needed a bigger weapon as well.

  “Take this!” Cirai shouted, throwing one of her daggers to Sya.

  As soon as she grabbed the blade, she fired it from the slingshot.

  The difference in firepower was astounding.

  The power of two satellites combined was enough to bore a hole through Frozhe’s left ankle. That was enough to bring him down to the ground with his balance disrupted. He fell on his back, just like Vera.

  ‘Just like Vera,’ Arden thought.

  Arden finally let go and fell to the floor without ceremony. But he wasn’t done. He stood up and dismissed his Bone Talons as he looked down on the exhausted Frozhe staring up at him resentfully.

  “You can’t kill me,” Frozhe said. “You won’t. You don’t have it in you to be a murd-”

  Arden leapt into the air with his hands held out above him. Red sparks formed an elongated rod with a tangled mess of roots just below a large blade. Arden was still unable to lift it into the air, but he could certainly fall with it.

  Frozhe could only watch as the Maverick’s great spear pierced his skin and his heart.

  He looked up at Arden with fear in his eyes.

  Arden twisted the shaft of Rogier’s Tree, silencing him.

  You have slain red-tier protostar Starborn, Frozhe.