Nix rolled to his feet, stowing his blades as a dozen emerald flames strands extended from his hands and wrapped around Barrot's legs. A quick-thinking Morti slammed both paws into his chest, knocking the Ice Giant to the ground.

"Bear Stomp!" The Titan cub jumped up and down on the fallen foe, causing the ground to shake with the impact of several tons of bone and muscle.

Nix pulled back on the strands, his heels digging into the ice as Barrot struggled to escape the girth that is Morti. A vicious tug-of-war took place, highlighted by a sudden cringeworthy snapping of bone and rending of flesh. The Titan fell backward, landing on his enormous butt with a muscular blue arm still clamped in his vice-like jaws.

A deafening howl echoed filled the night sky; Nix dropped his flame strands and clamped both hands over his ears.

Morti is immune to stun.

Nix has resisted stun.

Chiba has resisted stun.

Beta: has been stunned.

Rabi has resisted stun.

Wind has resisted stun.

Semmi has been stunned.

A tiny demon flashed in just as Barrot climbed to his feet. Rabi's void daggers blurred with successive attacks.

[Quartered][Backstab][Pickpocket]

Barrot's movements have been slowed by thirty percent.

Rabi has landed a critical strike.

Rabi has stolen the [Ice Palace Key].

Wind has activated a [Qi Family Trait: Sudden Switch]

[First Strike][Backstab]

Combination Successful.

Wind has landed a critical strike. [x 2]

Chiba has activated [Dual Chain].

[Master Strike][Dual Thrust]

Combination Successful.

Chiba has followed up Wind's attack with a critical strike. [x2]

The Ice Giant dropped an item onto the ground; immediately, he was surrounded by a sphere of transparent ice.

Barrot has activated [Ice Sphere].

Ice Sphere will remain in place for one minute or until Barrot uses another skill.

Pon has cast [Balefire: Hex].

The Ice Sphere is immune to all damage.

Barrot has activated his bloodline [Final Form: Demicron].

Enormous ice wings formed on Barrot's back, deep blue ice that radiated cold. The Ice Sphere shattered instantly as most of Inferno was pushed back by the gale winds caused by the first flap.

"Nope!" Morti raised up on his hind legs, extending his body upward as he jumped, his powerful jaws puncturing Barrot's boots as he gave the Ice Creature a Titan cub anchor.

/Inferno: Nix: Fey!

An Instant later, the Drakon flapped her wings and bathed Barrot in silver flames. Nix pushed Emerald Flames into his bone hilts and sprang onto his Spirit Companion's trailing tail, four quick strides, and he leaped from Fey's head with his blades pointed downward. Barrot never saw the strike coming. He shielded his face from the flames just as the Emerald blades pierced through the top of his skull.

Barrot's eyes rolled back in his head as his body went limp and crashed into the ground. Morti and Fey dodged safely away, but Nix was tossed onto the ice, where he skidded several meters before stopping.

Nix has slain Barrot.

[Colonial System Message: A Regional Lord has been defeated.]

New Quest Available.

Quest Updated.

[Defeat the Planar Boss]

Objective: Defeat General Mizo Arcane.

Description: The path to the Planar Demi-God goes through four Regional Lords. This planar event requires the minimal participation of one thousand Heroes. Once the battle for the Plane starts, General Arcane must be defeated, or he will resummon his Lords and return to his fortress.

1) Barrot. (Defeated)

2) Chenzo.

3) Lessard.

4) Parux.

The Deep Winter's grip on Colonial has loosened slightly.

Nix sat up slowly, smiling at his approaching Sword Master. He accepted the old woman's hand up. "One down."

Chiba's wrinkled face creased in her signature creepy grin. "Seems like we have some fans."

"Hmm?" Nix turned toward the ice ridge, where hundreds of mid-tier players were cheering and chanting 'Inferno' in unison. He threw an arm around Chiba's shoulders. "What did you think of that last move?"

"Very impressive... Why didn't you just use your Archon form?"

Nix frowned at the old woman; the truth was he had completely forgotten about it since he hadn't used it regularly in months. "Because I don't need wings to kill that lightweight."

Chiba froze in place, her eyes lighting up as she stared at the blood-stained ice. "Mine!"

Nix watched as she picked up the severed arm of the Ice Giant. "The hell do you want with that?"

Chiba grinned at him. "Can you petrify this for me? Later is fine, I'll stop by the house."

Jun Li was already looting the corpse by the time he returned to the body. Fey had morphed back into her Mage form and talking very animately with the Titan cub.

"Did so!" Morti huffed loudly, sending Fey's silver hair in all directions.

Fey slammed the butt of her staff onto the ice. "Jumping into the air is not flying!"

Morti spotted Nix approaching, and turned his focus onto the Guild Leader. "Did you see? Tell her what I did!"

"Gonna call that a flight, nearly a meter." Nix kept his expression carefully neutral.

"Nice landing, too," Ducky added.

Fey glanced from Morti to Nix and then to Ducky, who had climbed up on the Titan cub's back. The silver mage carefully fixed her hair and stepped away from the trio.

[Create Breach: Safarza, Haven]

A silver breach formed in the air directly in front of them. Without saying anything further, she stepped through with her nose in the air.

Nix stared at the empty space for a moment, then glanced around to see if Mtui or Leva were present.

[Whisper: Ducky to Nix] Did Fey create that Breach?

[Whisper: Nix to Ducky] Sure looks that way.

/Inferno: Jun Li: Five pieces of gear dropped; two of them are bound by contribution.

/Inferno: Pon: What's that mean? Link them!

/Inferno: Jun Li: Take a look.

[Unidentified Bone Fragment]

Contribution Award: Nix

Tautius's Battle Harness [Primal]

+ 200 to All Stats.

+ 30,000 to Armor Class.

Increased Mitigation

Increased Health Regeneration

Increased Magic Resistance

Contribution Award: Mortimer

/Inferno: Ronnie: If Sharl were here, she'd pee her pants.

/Inferno: Pon: Heh... Nix got the bone! HAHAHA... Now that's funny.

/Inferno: Jun Li: Here's the rest.

[The Lost Temple of Earth]

Temple Deed: Earth Elemental.

[Allied Masses]

Grants the Nature Healing Spell: Allied Masses.

Natures Path only.

[Nether Blood]

A fusion of Nether and Dragon blood. May only

be consumed by someone of demonic or draconian descent.

/Inferno: Jun Li: Good job everyone! Send me a whisper if you want one of the items.

An unidentified bone fragment has been placed in your inventory.

Mortimer has received Tautius's Battle Harness.

Rabi has received [Nether Blood].

/Inferno: Nix: In three days, we'll start clearing out the Central Kingdom. Lessard is our next target.

Morti pushed his big nose into Nix's face. "Will you be able to enchant this harness?"

Nix nodded. "I'll take a look at it and let you know tomorrow after lunch."

/Inferno: Nix: Save that healing spell for Wylie. She's the only one in Inferno that has Nature's Path.

[Whisper: Jun Li to Nix] What about the Earth Temple deed? We could give it to Fajii.

[Whisper: Nix to Jun Li] She already has the Scorched Earth temple. It would be a bit of a waste.

[Whisper: Jun Li: to Nix] Any ideas?

[Whisper: Nix to Jun Li] Yes, Tai'Qui.

[Whisper: Jun Li to Nix] Is that even possible? Sending it to you now.

****************

Dawn came to Haven, throwing sunlight onto the windows of the Turtle House. Slowly the sun rose into the sky as the day advanced by minutes and hours. It was nearly overhead before the first stirring occurred within the house.

Nix nudged the sleeping Orion off of his feet and opened his eyes. "Finally, some uninterrupted sleep."

The Orion's blue eyes stared at him without comment.

Nix sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. "My face is wet. Were you licking my face again?"

Del licked the padded bottom of one paw before showing all of her teeth in a wide yawn. "Probably."

"Sleeping till noon feels kinda nice." Nix rolled out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. "Going to take a shower. Anything going on that I should know about?"

"Inferno disbanded, all of your women have decided to marry Pon, and Khione has given up her quest for world domination."

"All that?" Nix paused at the door. "What's the Ice Goddess doing instead?"

"She opened up a bakery in Glory City."

An hour later, Nix sat at the kitchen island setting up a crafting queue. He promised Morti that he'd try to add a shapeshifter attribute to his battle harness. Wylie also needed better armor.

"You do a lot of work for your friends."

Nix nodded and displayed the first crafting queue. "What do you think?"

[Mortimer][Item: Tautius's Battle Harness][Base Overlay Material: Camouflage Fabric V]

[Enhancement: Ring of the Winter Sparrow][Lamia Leather]

Do you wish to craft this item?

"Yes."

Mortimer's Black Sparrow Battle Harness [Primal X]

Description: This is an Emperor level, [Black Sparrow]

Shapeshifter set.

All ambient sound

within one meter of the wearer is

completely suppressed.

+ 200 to All Stats.

+ 30,000 to Armor Class.

Increased Mitigation

Increased Health Regeneration

Increased Magic Resistance

+ 200 Poison Resistance

+200 to Lightning Resistance.

Enhancement: Complete Camouflage

is activated at will.

Enhancement: A poison counter is added to

each successful attack.

Bonus: Wearer is Immune to Fire Damage

"You gave stealth and sound suppression to an 18-foot Titan Cub?" Del's voice was filled with humor.

"Of course," Nix nodded. "I'm his best friend; just ask him."

[Wylie] [Item: Pants, Shirt set][Base Material: Camouflage Fabric V] [Enhancement: Dire Wolf] [Enhancement: Lamia Leather][Enhancement: Dragon Scale]

"That's for Captain Wylie? The Ice Temple Champion?"

"Hard to be a champion without a temple, but yes, this is for Wylie."

"She's beautiful."

Nix shrugged. "Wylie does look better with the darker hair. The whole silver/white hair look with pale features has never really been my thing."

"You just described the entire Ain'Dhassi race."

Nix gave her a deadpan look. "Did I?"

The Orion watched as he tried a few different enchantments. "Where's that Oracle ball? I'm bored."

Nix handed her Enigma and continued working.

Del pinned it beneath one paw while rubbing it with the other. "Does Nix like me?"

[No.]

Nix laughed aloud and snatched Enigma from the Orion. "Stop messing around, or I'll leave you in that dragon egg."

Dire Wolf Queen: Shape Shifter Set

Description: This outfit is a [Dire Wolf] Shape

Shifting Set. [Custom: Wylie only]

Become predator of the frozen tundra.

All ambient sound

within one meter of the wearer is

completely suppressed.

+ 2000 to Armor Class

+100 to Nature

+ 50 to all Base Stats.

+30 to Speed.

+ 200 Poison Resistance

+200 to Lightning Resistance.

Enhancement: Complete Camouflage

is activated at will.

Enhancement: A poison counter is added to

each successful attack.

Bonus: Wearer is Immune to Fire Damage