The juggernaut's roar hit like a shockwave, rattling the stone platforms and sending loose rubble skittering like terrified interns. It slammed its shield down—BOOM—and the shock cracked the floor into spiderweb fissures.
Vex didn't slow.
It accelerated.
Its runes blazed white-hot, flaring off its body like the world's most hostile rave. Each step left scorch-marks shaped suspiciously like exclamation points. Aria's heart was galloping somewhere north of sanity.
"Vex, no—strategy first!" she shouted.
"STRATEGY IS YES," Vex scrawled midair as it vaulted off a fallen pillar.
The juggernaut swung its titanic shield like a battering ram made of ancient bad decisions.
Vex didn't dodge.
Vex parried.
The shield hit like a collapsing cathedral—and stopped dead. The sound was like the concept of thunder being personally offended. Runes shrieked across Vex's arms as the impact wave shredded the arena floor in a circle.
Laxin screamed like a backup vocalist in a horror opera.
