Dolores
As the beastly creature swatted, it found that, in its moment of its diversion — its shift of focus-in-instinct — that it had been attacked from behind. Its leg buckled as the searing flames of incredible force collide one-after-another, three in total, searing the surface of its root-rotten skin and bringing it into a moment of disruption, its hand falling short to directly strike Cumhall, whether or not he, himself, would take efforts to dodge or not.

 As it had been revealed by its most troublesome, pained screams in the past, the entity that was the Thorn-Crown could, indeed, *Feel pain.* There would be no way for a groan or a scream to rouse from its mouth, sewn shut by the root, however; the beast, instead, furled its hands tight into fists, the atmosphere about itself slightly shocked by the mere tensening of its monstrously-girthy muscular structure. On one knee, the creature slammed its left fist into the ground with a frightening ***RUMBLE***, yet only in part reminiscent of the strength that it had demonstrated earlier. With its free right hand, it clasped tight the handle of the greatsword, and forcefully ripped, *One-handedly,* The monstrous hunk of iron from the ground, hoisting it over its shoulder without so much as breaking a sweat. Its ease-of-handling of the two-and-a-half-meter long blade was a horrifying testament to its strength, and as the likely several-hundred-kilogram weight pushed down on it, it stood with only slight burden back to its two feet.

Its *Instinct* Had begun to warn it that these two were much likely more a threat than their simple status as bemused intruders would seem to suggest.
_ _

The creature would shift its weight to subtly turn at an angle that its face would half-face Cumhall and half-face Kuouo, fully-facing neither, and yet allowing it to control the two intruder's attacks without being sandwiched from two angles that it otherwise could not simultaneously control. The beast would prepare for another attack, and yet—

***`One of them began to run for the tower.`***

The trailing footsteps it felt pace towards the tower would not initially register to the mindless instinct of the beast. It was not a direct threat to itself, and so the borrowed intellect of its multi-faceted directive would not drive it to perform any action. That was, until, the frightful, searing hum of the orange-glowing runework inscribed into the roots that burrowed throughout its mind glowed, effulgently, alight. 

***```asciidoc
[ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄. ]```***

There could almost be heard, again, the screams of pain from within its bound mouth and throat. But as the glow of the runes grew, so too did that notion, and all that was left to be heard would be the frightful sound of a ***SLAM.***

***SLAM.***
_ _

***SLAM.***

__***SLAM.***__

Those sounds, were indeed, the sounds of footsteps, each individually like the impact of an elephant's stomp against the brittle ground below the beast. **Once its directive had been affirmed, the beast ripped forth with monstrous strength and speed, barreling towards the bandit with an unhindered intent to kill.** Its strides were not exceptionally rapid, yet the immense length of its legs and the sheer *Force* It was putting into each step projectiled the beast forth in a frightening burst of speed, matching Kuouo's pace if not well outpacing him in his approach toward the base of the `Ascent to the Second Floor.` 

The orange glow of the runes which granted it direction burned with the fury of a roused flame, and so it could not conjure any other intent but to snuff Kuouo's life in a single instance. Damning any thought of that which was behind it — destroyed road, village, enemies, Cumhall, and all — it *Pursued,* And once it had grown close enough to do so, **Utilized the full of its forwards momentum to bring its sword down in an overhead arc, slamming up-to-down so as to split the bandit in half.**

*Were it to collide, split him in half it certainly would.*

With or without him there, the blade would collide with the ground with tremendous force, sending a circular reverberation in terrible, upwardsly-eruptive force as it once had before, sending a small, but potently forceful shockwave about a **Meter in diameter.** Getting hit by either the blade, itself, or the shockwave that followed it, was *Not an option.* The shockwave would obviously possess less strength than the blade itself, yet still would be harmful enough to likely fracture Kuouo's legs.
Robin
*Instinct,* A culmination of all five senses into something beyond - The *Sixth sense.* Beasts and prey have walked the earth for eons on end with an intrinsic catch-all that lead them through their lives - That is, until beings of higher-thought became capable of going even beyond *Instinct,* Casting it aside as their main state of being and utilizing it as an *Aid* To their survival. Those beings — Those with a conscience — Would climb to be the apex being of the world.

Kuouo, sans the complexity of it all, noticed two simple things: The Root-Crown functioned completely on instinct; furthermore, despite the beast's terrifying, overwhelming power, he possessed the capability to outthink and outmove the guardian's patterned movements. 

**It was with this in mind, Kuouo enacted Plan B, striving to return the Root-Crown to a being of higher-thought once more.**

Right on cue, the root-rotted beast, burning with a sun-orange glow coursing through their roots, grasped the hilt of their enormous greatsword and tore it from the ground before noticing the pitt-patt of vibrations reverberating from the bandit dashing towards the tower they desperately needed to protect. Despite the approaching stomps that quaked the ground, Kuouo couldn't help but crack a smirk slightly marred with an uncertain tone. *``'Really wish it was that human playing bait instead.'``* He thought before a feeling of dread pierced his chest with the stunning realization that this *Enormous guardian* Was catching up. The Root-Crown's immense strength was a problem in itself, but the bandit had to be weary of their mighty greatsword's length too. After all, with their deadly instinct, the bandit knew its usage would be akin to using the mighty blade as an *Extension of their own body.*

```fix
"Hhhooly shit-"```

Kuouo broke another sweat, catching the half-second the Root-Crown utilized to prepare the arc of their overhead swing. He finally snapped his head forward, eyes locking onto the tower a meter ahead of him and gazing upwards. For just this moment, he clenched his eyes, shutting them tightly as the last of his mana pooled at the bottom of his feet.

*Plan B. It all relied on a semi-successful trick the bandit had not done since he was nineteen years old. Should he not succeed, he knew that the instant moment the sword struck him, he'd instantaneously explode into a cloud of dust. He took the leap of faith, jumping above the doorway to the ascent.*

**This was his Hail Mary, starving and low on mana, he knew that this was his only possible chance of defeating the Root-Crown.**

. . . 

**``Pit,``**
*Floosh!*

**``Pat,``**
*Floosh!*

**``Pit,``**
*Floosh!*

**``Pat,``**
*Floosh!*

The bandit peeked one eye open, never happier to see the aquarium green sky not get closer to him, but rather, him get closer to *It!* Plan B not taken another step forward, but upward as the bandit's teenaged parlor trick succeeded at full force. Using powerful bursts of fire, he was able to *Run* Up the tower. With Kuouo's quick speed, he was able to run five meters upward, defying not only gravity, but the apex of the Root-Crown's swing. As the greatsword heavily swooshed downwards from its peak, Kuo used the last of his upwards momentum to catch both of his paws onto the wall, bending his knees and using the last of his mana to spring himself over the Root-Crown, beautiful ribbons of passionate fire stringing behind the cloaked hero's trail.

. . .

The bandit peeked one eye open, never happier to see the aquarium green sky not get closer to him, but rather, him get closer to *It!* Plan B not taken another step forward, but upward as the bandit's teenaged parlor trick succeeded at full force. Using powerful bursts of fire, he was able to *Run* Up the tower. With Kuouo's quick speed, he was able to run five meters upward, defying not only gravity, but the apex of the Root-Crown's swing. As the greatsword heavily swooshed downwards from its peak, Kuo used the last of his upwards momentum to catch both of his paws onto the wall, bending his knees and using the last of his mana to spring himself over the Root-Crown, beautiful ribbons of passionate fire stringing behind the cloaked hero's trail.

. . . 

**FWOOM**

__***CRASH.***___

``. . .``

The bandit, grasping the needle tightly in his right palm, had prepared to land a meter behind the guardian, but made.

*One.*

**Crucial.**

***Mistake.***

The bandit's eyes widened a millisecond before the fact - He had positioned himself to settle on the earth safely, but the ground he had planned to land on bubbled with ferocity, shattering with the Root-Crown's sheer force. Just centimeters from the ground, Kuo felt the *Immense* Shockwave blow him backwards. He was quick to think, perhaps, too quick, as his right leg touched down, braking the bandit's momentum backwards before making multiple fracture shattered about his femur. 

Everything stops for a moment, Kuouo's heart pumped frantically, ringing took over his ears, he took three quick shallow breaths before-

He howled, fluids rushing within his wounded leg as every sense became nullified to only focus with himself. His vision began to waver, he heard his SOUL beating in his ears, he both smelled and tasted the dust rising up in his mouth, but *Beyond* The sweat and dirt he felt sticking his fur together, *Beyond* Exhaustion of mana he felt in his lungs, ***Beyond*** The immense pain flooding his entire body...

He felt a teensy bit of liquid seep through the vial, barely wetting the pads on his right paw. Upon unreleasing his tight grasp, he held it and looked down, being filled with something *Beyond* Rage, something *Beyond* Dread, it was...

**Self-Preservation.**

It all happened in a blur. The bandit looked down and discovered a crack in the vial and in that moment his body, fueled with a certain adrenaline, acted on *Instinct.* With his left leg, he sprung forward with the opportunity left open by the Root-Crown's recovery time. With Plan B still in effect, he uses Infernium one last time, darting it through the air with an underhanded thrust-throw towards the back of their left knee in order to counteract the Root-Crown dropping their sword and reaching behind them. 

***Hoping Infernium could offset the Root-Crown in anyway, that left Kuo, who dove through the air with the intent to drive the needle through the King's right calf.***
Keri
As he reached the apex of his leap and the beast prepared to strike him he could do nothing, posessing no way to alter his course mid air the momentum continued to carry him straight forward and it seemed there was no avoiding the assault.
But just then the bandit struck out and the beast buckled, collapsing to the ground. Rather than collide with it Cumhall flew straight over, his feet hit the ground but skidded and fumbled and he rolled and came to a rather ungraceful stop, but the serum still coursed through his veins and he would be unphased.
```diff
- "Urgh, Cunt" -
```
He pulled himself up from the dirt, his muscles ached but the pain would not stop him, not even bothering to dust his suit as his head snapped to the scene that was about to unfold.
It all happened faster than he could comprehend, the bandit went up and then he came back down, and then he went down.
```diff
- "Jesus christ allmighty in heaven above" -
```
He knew what was coming, and he had one shot, if they didnt deal with the beast now then death was sure to follow, he had one shot, and it needed to count.
Constricting the beast was not possible, he would have to draw its ire and as the bandit demonstrated that would be rather simple.
```diff
- "The tower.." -
```
He smirked at the hasty semblence of a plan that had formed in his mind and he broke into a sprint, closing the distance in but a short second his feet skidded against the ground sending up great clouds of dust as he came to a halt and then-
``` BOOM ```
So sudden was the leap and so powerful the thrust the air split, a great mushroom cloud of dust shot up obscuring him until he reached the apex of his enormous leap.
Dolores
In this moment, even the thoughtless beast, devoid of intellect and of thought as it was, was forced into a dilemma.
There is a fraction-of-a-moment of hesitation, as the creature paused, and moved not a centimeter as Kuouo, injured, dashed in
 self-preservation, seeking to incapacitate its leg.
There is a fraction-of-a-moment of hesitation, as shock rouses throughout its empty, weary mind, as Cumhall struck the tower directly. His fist would do no damage to the tower, for the material which it was made of was nearly indestructable, and yet...

There is a fraction-of-a-moment of hesitation, as it is forced to witness, through the sense of *Touch*—
*That which is supposed to be guarding, scaled, trampled upon, used as no more than a springboard—*
*The defiler, recovering, seeking to take its leg—*
And above all,
*One who laid their hands on the Ascent to the Second Rise, itself.*

There is, after all, one order, one imperative, one duty, for the creature, so terribly bound in thought and in mind by the orange runework that twice-corrupted the azure glow of the parasitic root that grew throughout its skull and mind. One command, from the godlike entity that oversaw all within the *Vektet* — the revered *CXXVII,* The *`Taae Cheit Ezer.`*

***```asciidoc
[ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄. ]```***

The runework glows alight, and an unhinged frenzy the likes of which the Branded Exile would never once imagine his mind to cascade into overtakes the entirety of his body. He is reduced to no more than a beast; his feral nature is compounded to the utmost, and so it lost all sense of false-thought as brought about by the facets of its directive. There is no more attention to be given to the motion of the intruder at its leg. There is no more mercy in hesitation to be granted to the intruders, and there is, for a moment, no more *`██████`* Within the Root-Crown.
_ _

Cumhall sought to create a distraction which the beast could not ignore. *He succeeded, greatly.*

|

The Root-Crown abandons its greatsword, and, as the ground beneath it seems to ripple like water, its body shifts into a haze. As if magical—

*No.*

***This was physical prowess.***

*In a single step that quite literally tore apart the lower-muscular structure of the beast, employing well-over three times the force which its body could healthily sustain,*
***The ground beneath it rippled, its feet projecting it forth before the air could even have time to be shocked.***

Its appearance hazed, its lower body went limp, and the creature shattered the road upon which it once stood. All to bring it *Forwards.* To, in less than a quarter of a second, close the distance between itself and Cumhall. And, in that moment, to use its own body to **Exterminate him.** *Backed by the momentum of the utterly-unrealistic leap employing and abusing of its tremendous physical nature, **It swung its fist with dizzying speed towards the intruder, seeking to strike him square in the chest and render him no more than a red splatter on the wall.***

As it intended, so it would be, if Cumhall were to be hit. *Even a graze would kill him.*