“Who are you? What do you know about becoming blessed?” Arek growled, pressing back against the battle rage to force the words out.

“You may call me Vint,” he replied, thrusting his sword towards Arek’s chest. The orc knocked the strike away with the hilt of his guandao. Vint hopped back to avoid the brutal swing that Arek retaliated with. The heavy weapon thundered into the floor, putting a large hole through the wood.

The two of them circled around each other, their weapons at the ready. Arek adjusted his grip on the guandao, shifting it to one hand and raising the other before him.

“What do you have to gain from this? Why are you at Red Mount?”

“Power and food, in that order,” Vint replied.

Arek paused. Vint took that moment to slash his sword through the air. An arc of energy ripped free from the weapon, carving through the space between them. It clashed with Arek’s armor with a loud hiss.

The energy created a large crack in his chest plate, but it dissipated before it could do any damage to the orc. Arek bared his teeth behind his faceplate. His foot crashed into the ground and he blurred forward, striking Vint with his open palm.

Vint staggered back and Arek brought the hilt of the guandao upwards, driving it straight between the man’s legs. His eyes widened and he doubled over, but he turned the motion into a roll. Instead of taking the strike to his head, the blade of the weapon cut a thin line across Vint’s arm. The air with the sound of metal on metal. Instead of blood, green light shimmered beneath Vint’s skin. It looked like some sort of armor.

“This is stupid,” Arek growled. “We don’t have time to fight each other. The city is being destroyed at our feet.”

“Walk away first, then,” Vint hissed. “I’d like to see you try. Such is the price of our power.”

He was right. Despite his words, Arek’s battle rage had a target, and it had no plans of releasing him. The desire to drive his blade through Vint’s chest thrummed through Arek’s body like an irresistible command. It was all he could do just to talk. There was no way he could turn around and leave. Whatever the green energy was – it had both of them firmly in their grip.

“Then we’ll need to finish this quickly,” Arek said, adjusting his stance to hold the guandao with both hands. One handed blows clearly wouldn’t be strong enough to break through whatever Vint had beneath his skin. “The city needs at least one of us. I assume you’ll do your part to protect it if you win?”

“I’ll kill any monsters in my way,” Vint replied. The hilt of his sword expanded and he shifted his own stance, grabbing the weapon with both hands.

They leapt at each other. A shockwave of green energy rang out when their weapons connected, tossing both of them backwards several steps. Arek reared back and hurled the guandao towards Vint. The man’s sword flicked up, knocking it to the side.

Arek yanked the weapon back. Vint leapt at him at the same time. The orc raised an arm, catching the sword strike on his armored shoulder while he grabbed the guandao with his other hand. He twisted, tossing Vint to the side and swinging his weapon at the other Blessed.

Vint spun midair, ripping his weapon free of Arek’s shoulder just in time to block the heavy weapon. The force of the strike sent him flying into the dining table. Arek glanced at his shoulder, but it didn’t look like Vint’s attack had penetrated his defenses.

A loud screech split the air. Arek turned just as a wyvern crashed through the hole he’d made in the house’s walls with a spray of debris. It lashed out, snapping at Arek. The orc leapt back, then slammed a fist into the creature’s nose as hard as he could.

It let out an aggravated hiss and pulled back, but the beast was so large that it took up half of the room. There wasn’t much area for it to retreat to.

Vint rolled to his feet, his sword flashing as it carved through the wyvern’s extended wing. It let out a scream of pain, turning to look at him. Arek brought his guandao down across the monster’s long neck, severing its head.

It crumpled to the floor. The two of them turned, raising their weapons and eyeing each other now that the distraction had been removed.

Arek stomped the ground as hard as he could. The wood crumbled beneath the force of the strike and he fell to the floor before, directly on top of a wyrm that had forced its way into the house. He offed the monster with a strike from his glowing weapon, then jumped out of the way as Vint’s sword flickered past him.

Vint dropped down an instant later, pulling his weapon free of the ground before taking several hops back to put distance between himself and Arek.

“You threw your weapon,” Arek observed.

Vint just grunted. He flicked his sword, sending an arc of glowing energy flying at Arek. The orc threw himself to the side as the green blade sliced through the wall of the house and into the wyrms behind it.

Several of the creatures burst through the wall, salivating at the sight of the two targets before them.

“Get out of my way,” Vint snarled. He dashed forwards, his sword turning one of them into mincemeat. Arek drove the tip of his guandao through the front of another’s chest, puncturing its heart before ripping it free in a spray of blood.

“Not the ideal location to try to kill each other,” Arek said, a chuckle escaping the grip of his battle rage.

The wall shuddered as the horde pressed in on them. Vint grunted in agreement with Arek’s statement.