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"But Xander," declared Buffy. "That guy beat the stuffing out of me last night! You can't fight it!"
Xander cast a critical eye up and down the Slayer's form, taking in the bandages on her thigh, the taped ribs under her sports bra, and the cast on her left arm. "Yeah, mainly 'cause you couldn't hurt him. He's all offense, no defense. Even let you get in the first shot, didn't he?"
Giles shook his head. "And that's exactly why you can't fight him, as brave as you are. Buffy, with all her power, did little more than leave a faint mark with the broadsword. Remember, 'Neither Demon, nor Vampire, nor Man or Woman Born may harm him,' as you yourself discovered in the Codex."
Willow piped up. "Umm, Giles, I think Xander's right this time. He actually CAN fight this guy."
"What? Willow, this is our Xander-shaped friend. He'll get killed!" howled Buffy, then winced as her ribs creaked with her volume.
"Simple, Buffster. I may be a man, but I wasn't born," replied Xander.
"Preposterous!" snorted Giles.
"G-man, G-man, G-man. I'm surprised at you. You should have figured it all out by now," chided Xander with a smile.
"Yep," said Willow, nodding and smiling herself. "Bad Giles, forgotten what you learned at Oxford!"
"Then would you care to explain?" demanded the Watcher.
Xander shouldered his favorite ax. "Only one thing to say, Buffster, G-Man. And that's Macbeth, Act Five, Scene Eight. 'Despair thy charm, And let the angel whom thou still hast served ...' " And with that, he walked out.
Buffy tried to stand to go after him, but was still to weak and too slow to get to the door of the library before it closed in her face. She wrestled it open, but he was gone. "Okay, Giles, what the hell was that about?"
Giles, however, looked hopeful. "It's the answer, Buffy. And, yes, of all of us only Xander can stop this foe."
"But why?"
"To finish his quote - 'MacDuff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped.' " He looked at the door, ignoring the confused Slayer and smirking witch, and half-whispered to himself, " ' And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!' ' "
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A/N: The phrase "was from his mother's womb untimely ripped" means he was born via C-section. Thus, he is neither demon, nor vampire, nor man or woman born. Just like MacDuff was 'of no woman born', and could stop Macbeth..