Guessing the ap liked having a defense shifter to help with wand gathering. Wasn't me though.

Also if you were new he's not really losing much by not killing you.

Nexus inners and village inner seem comparable to me. For tsalantha the nexus inners had more variability than the village inner. Ie village I could always take without resting if it was undefended. Nexus I would sometimes get easily and sometimes need to rest. I remember 1 time I had 2 nexuns in my pk who didn't defend and the inners took me down to less than 200 hp before I walked off with the key.