Liora's spirit fire intensity was different from the spirit fire at advantageous operational intensity; it didn't just purify, it pressured the corruption that was holding the mutants' forced development together, finding the instabilities that the accelerated process had left in the system and widening them.
The Gold 3 mutants that took a direct hit from the spirit fire didn't simply take damage; their new structure began destabilizing in a way that accelerated the damage they were already carrying.
Ren matched it with everything the Mantis had at this rank. The cutting power of the wind at Gold 1 shouldn't be sufficient to end a Gold 3 mutant quickly on its own, but the huge extra % buffs and in combination with Liora's destabilizing fire, the wind worked like a hot knife on butter on targets that were already having structural failures and extending them.
The guards held the perimeter with everything they had.
