The air around the bone platform was still burning from Elara's massive nectar draw, but the heat didn't bother the thing standing inside Lucien's skin.
Morcant tilted Lucien's head, looking at his own glowing, stolen hands before letting out a smooth, honey coated laugh that echoed over the roaring abyss.
He didn't waste time with grand magical gestures.
He simply stepped forward, moving with the precise, heavy martial forms of a high tier Vane Vanguard commander, enhanced to terrifying, supernatural speed by the corrupted black fluid in his veins.
"Get behind me!" Darius roared, lunging forward with a heavy wooden scrap he'd pulled from a broken crate.
Gideon moved at the exact same time, flanking from the left.
The two veteran fighters coordinated perfectly, their movements silent and tight.
But Morcant didn't even blink.
