Alex sent fire toward a group crossing beneath the upper platform. The flames caught the front attackers and forced the ones behind to climb over them.
Dorian used the delay to bring his separated soldiers together.
Then Thepes struck Alex from the side.
Mingyue intercepted the blade, but the impact still forced her back a step. Alex turned and drove his hammer toward Thepes's chest.
Thepes blocked with his forearm. Bone cracked, and the arm bent beneath the blow. Then blood rose from the ground to wrap around it.
The bent arm began to straighten.
Alex's eyes narrowed.
Thepes had been healing throughout their fight, but his broken arm was repairing much faster than his crushed chest had.
More blood crept beneath Thepes's foot. Alex followed it back to a corpse lying half inside the pit.
The body shriveled as the blood reached Thepes. Its skin tightened over the bones, and the remaining flesh collapsed inward.
