Violet let the greatsword slip out of her hands as she dropped down to her knees, crying. The other three are now crying too, with Engie kneeling over the fallen Asurans.

"I should have came up here with them," Engie said. "Protected them."

The mourning is causing Charsi to be in more internal pain than before. She is losing control.

"Charsi, keep it together!" Kira told her.

"We must hurry." She is even struggling just to speak. A repeating alarm echoed from the palace. UHoT is on their way.

Engie stood and got Violet back up to her feet. "We can come back for them later. Got to go!"

Leaving the greatsword behind, Violet pulled out her secondary twin one-handed swords. Without saying a word, led the charge towards the palace room.

Tesla spotted them with a portable telescope from a high window. "It's the Vidells! They are heading this way!"

She turned off the alarm before she and the rest of UHoT quickly assumed combat positions, surrounding the throne, readying their gear and setting up ranged equipment. The corrupted fighters have never been on the defensive before. They waited for the doors to be busted down and Vidells pouring in to their would-be demise.

They waited. And then waited a little longer.

"Thought you said they were coming," Zura said out loud to Tesla.

Tesla didn't understand it either. "I saw them."

"Quiet, both of you!" Selene commanded.

After some pause, Tesla got Selene's attention. "I wasn't hallucinating!"

A faint rumble could be felt from the entire room. It was growing louder and stronger by the second, shaking everyone and everything inside.

"What in Lyssa's demented name is going on?" Kasmeer said.

The roof of the palace began to crack and drop minor debris to the ground below. Giant monster-like claws penetrated the sides of the roof's base and lifted it upward. It was then that UHoT witnessed in shocked fright what those fingers are connected to.

It is the Shadow Behemoth.

The monster's removal of the roof also collapsed the front door of the room. It threw the roof aside like it was nothing and then turned towards UHoT with a demonic howl. At the base of the creature sat Charsi on her knees. Somehow, she had made the behemoth into a summonable minion and has full control of its movements. She can also see through its eyes. The sweat on her body is more heavy as the level of control needed is greater than she thought it would be. There wasn't much time so she had to act now.

Violet, Engie and Kira charged through where the door once stood with a battle cry. Behemoth extended its right hand down and cast the spell Deathly Swarm, targeting all of UHoT except Selene, Zura and Azelia. Selene has taken cover under a debris piece of the roof. Zura briefly retreated, taking her turrent with her, and waited for a chance to set up again to strike. As for Azelia, she was nowhere to be found. Did she show her true colors and run away in fear?

"Selene is mine! Get that other one!" Violet ordered, not knowing who Zura is. Engie and Kira ran off after her.

Charsi is able to channel her skills through SB, which is quite incredible. They are basically fighting as one being. The insect swarm had a field day on the ones it had locked on to. Charsi-SB then raised the left hand and, targeting the same people, cast Life Siphon. In this merged form, the spell has an even greater effect, draining all of the life force essence from their bodies, turning them into shriveled corpses.

Selene and Violet - one on one - for the first time in recent memory, the Vidells have a major advantage. Coming out from underneath the debris, Selene unleashed a rapid fire volley of arrows at her, backing up as she does so. The Sylvari mesmer masterfully deflected all incoming arrows with the twin swords. Seeing that a ranged attack was pointless, she tossed her longbow aside and pulled out a sword of her own. But before swords would clash, Selene stumbled on a piece of debris and fell backward.

Zura got up a small set of spiral stairs and arrived at a balcony of sorts. "This looks like a good place as any." She quickly started setting up her Mortar cannon. The duo made their way up to the top as well. Engie spots her first, pulls out a couple grenades and tosses them right under the cannon. By the time Zura even noticed the grenades were there, it was too late.

Boom.

The cannon fell down from the balcony, mostly destroyed. As for Zura, she was flown back against a nearby wall. Still alive but seriously injured. She struggled to roll over on her back but couldn't do it. Kira appeared out of nowhere from stealth mode, standing right over Zura at the waist level. With her fiery dragon sword held in both hands, she thrust it downward through the Norn's head and the wooden floor beneath.

Kira took a step back to admire her handiwork, leaving the sword in Zura. Engie approached her from the side. "Yes! Things are finally going our way for a change!" They embraced while laughing in victory. It didn't last.

From out of nowhere, a large burst of yellow energy struck them both and sent them crashing through another nearby wall. Unfortunately, it was a long way down from their position. Their bodies hit the ground at an awkward angle, resulting in a fatal neck injury.

Azelia charged from the shadows before Violet could deliver a final blow. Violet jumped over Selene and spear tackled her nemesis back. Selene got to her feet, only to witness the gaze of the Shadow Behemoth looking down on her.

"Spirits of the wild, save me..."

Suddenly, Charsi-SB's attention was diverted to someone up high and behind Selene on the opposite side of the room. A woman with soft glowing yellow eyes, possibly a guardian, judging from the outline shape of her armor. She pointed her hand at the behemoth and fired a stream of pulsing yellow energy from it, striking the chest. Both it and Charsi screamed in torturous pain.

Violet and Azelia stopped their personal struggle to turn and see the assault for themselves. The roar was near deafening. The mystery woman then made a much stronger short burst of power flow through the energy stream. Upon hitting the behemoth, it was instantly destroyed. The pulse then stopped. At the same time, Charsi's upper chest and heart literally exploded.

The three ceased their own attacks to look up at who did that. The woman vanished from sight, only to reappear between Violet and Azelia, with her back to Violet. Selene is standing behind Azelia. Violet was the only one who couldn't see the woman's face but the body was immediately recognizable.

"Azeena!" Violet said out loud. Were her eyes deceiving her?

However, from the other side, it wasn't exactly true. The body may be Azeena's but the face is that of... the Avatar of the Pale Tree.

"Mother!" Azelia said. "But... but... you're dead!"

The Avatar began to speak in an omninous tone, sounding like both women together at the same time. "You have disappointed me. Why didn't you save me when I needed you the most? As far as I'm concerned, you are no longer my child."

Violet was relieved on what was going on. "Azelia, you have no one to blame but yourself. It didn't have to be like this."

Avatar-Azeena didn't move but what she said next was a shocking surprise. "I was referring to you... Violet!"