Leon moved before anyone could speak further.
The space between him and the guild masters vanished. He appeared in front of Varek, a man with the silver crest as he aimed his lightning coated fist at his chest.
Varek tried to block him by raising his hammer, hastily erecting an unfinished earthen barrier, but Leon’s blow smashed through the barrier. His fists crushed Varek’s guard as he was sent flying to a stone pillar.
The pillar burst apart, and he hit the wall behind it. There was a moment of silence as only a sound of coughing blood came from the guild master.
Leon had already turned to the next target. "Outside!" Serik shouted.
They moved outside together, to battle more openly as the building would not survive the battle of harmonized convergence warriors.
They teleported or tore through the windows and streaked out over the streets, and Leon followed behind them, giving them no time to regroup.
They landed across the rooftops or open space in the air. Their pressure alone shattered nearby windows, and cracked the walls. People in the nearby streets froze for a second, staring and trying to figure out, then they ran for their lives.
Leon crossed the distance to Odran and swung. A curved blade of spiritual essence emerged from his hand, carrying a current of wind.
Odran dodged by twisting aside, but the attack carved through the building behind him, tearing away its upper floors.
Darian struck from Leon’s blind side, his sword aiming towards Leon’s back. Leon stepped to the side and coated his hand with essence, catching the sword with his bare hands.
The collision sent a shock wave through the surroundings.
Before Leon could counter, Malrec’s spiritual restraints wrapped around his arms and legs. The bindings tightened, interfering with the flow of essence through his body and locking his joints in the middle of his movement.
From the back, Odran seized the opening as fire engulfed his fist, and he slammed it into Leon’s ribs.
The blow hurled Leon through a rooftop. Before he could rise, Odran had already followed him and drove another flaming strike through the rooftop hole while Malrec’s restraints tightened around his limbs.
Leon saw the attack coming as he released a pulse of spiritual essence, shattering the bindings apart. Lightning flashed across his body as he surged above the collapsing roof and caught Odran’s descending fist with his bare hand.
The flames sent sparks around them.
Leon twisted Odran’s arm aside and drove his knee into the man’s abdomen before throwing him backward. Odran crashed on a street, leaving a trail of blood as he rolled across the broken surface.
Leon chased him, but the others closed in.
Serik’s twin blades descended from above, one aimed at Leon’s neck and the other at his shoulder. Leon leaned away from the first and caught the second against a newly formed spiritual edge.
He twisted his wrist, deflecting the blade, then struck Serik across the face with his free hand. as blood sprayed from Serik’s nose, staggering backwards.
Darian came at Leon again. His sword came down, its edge wrapped in concentrated spiritual essence. Leon ducked and avoided the cut, but Malrec’s restraints caught him around his ankle once again as he tried moved away.
Darian reversed his grip and swinged his sword back. Leon tore his leg free, but the blade still caught his shoulder, and a small trail of blood ran down his arm.
He retaliated with a backhand that hit Odran across the jaw when the man attempted to return to the fight. Odran tumbled through another rooftop, blood scattering across the tiles.
Leon tried to follow, but Malrec and Serik attacked together.
Malrec’s restraints reached for Leon’s wrists while Serik’s blades crossed toward his torso. Leon formed a short weapon of spiritual essence in his hand and swept it outward, deflecting both blades.
Leon rushed towards Malrec, but a sudden pressure struck his consciousness Malrec had launched a spiritual assault directly at his mind, seeking to interrupt his awareness long enough for the others to strike.
Leon faltered for an instant, and immediately Darian’s sword came toward his side.
Leon recovered just enough to turn and form a curved spiritual blade along his forearm. Darian’s sword met his condensed essence, and the collision drove him backward across the rooftop. His boots tore through the tiles before he regained his footing.
The guild masters were not relying on their elements alone. Their weapons extended their reach, their elemental techniques controlled the battlefield, and their spiritual attacks targeted openings that ordinary defenses could not cover.
Leon had to contend with all of them. He stopped trying to force his way through their formation and watched their movements.
Serik remained close enough to intercept his attacks, while Odran favored direct assaults. Darian watched for the moment Leon committed himself, and Malrec waited for those brief intervals when his movement became predictable.
Varek had returned to the fight, though his movements were slower and his earth armor remained fractured. He gripped his hammer with both hands and swung it toward Leon.
The weapon came down with enough force to split the rooftop. Leon leapt aside, but Varek changed the direction of his swing midway.
The hammer struck the ground beside him, sending a wave of splinters.
Odran’s flames arrived before Leon could free himself. He forced lightning through his body, and launched himself through the edge of the fire. He landed before Varek, whose hammer was still recovering from the swing.
Leon struck the weapon’s head with his palm. His erosion element spread across the hammer. The surface cracked, then crumbled away, exposing the metal beneath. Varek barely managed to pull the hammer back before Leon drove a lightning coated fist into his chest.
Varek was sent skidding across the rooftop. Leon pursued, forming a narrow blade of spiritual essence on his hand. Varek raised the hammer to defend himself, but Serik swept in from the side, forcing Leon to turn away.
Darian followed with a sword strike, and Malrec’s restraints surged up from below. Leon broke the bindings with a pulse of essence, but the brief delay allowed the four masters to regroup around Varek.
They had lost none of their ability to coordinate. Even injured, they covered each other’s weaknesses, disrupting Leon’s attacks before he could finish any of them.
Immediately, Odran struck him with his fire coated fist, and Darian’s sword followed before he could fully recover. Leon blocked the sword with a spiritual weapon, but the impact drove him through a wall and into the building beyond.
He emerged through the opposite side.
’I need to kill that spiritual master first,’ he thought as a trail of blood ran from his mouth.
He rose and attacked again. He gathered wind essence around him as he crossed the street, dodging past Serik’s blades.
He appeared before Malrec, who tried to raise his spiritual restraints, but Leon’s condensed weapon struck first. The blade pierced the defense around Malrec’s shoulder, and lightning burst through the point of impact.
Malrec recoiled and Leon followed immediately with a strike to his chest, not giving others much time to react.
His erosion spread through the spiritual defense surrounding the guild master’s body, weakening it before Leon’s next blow landed on his jaw, hurling him back again through the building.
Malrec tried to defend to buy some time for others to come, but Leon crossed the distance immediately and his next essence strike pierced straight through his chest. Then poured his erosion essence into the wound, until it spread on his chest, and puts his hand inside, pulling out his heart.
Malrec fell back without resistance among the debris, blood pooling beneath him, and made no further attempt to rise.
Leon turned toward the remaining masters, his expression cold as he crushed the heart in his grip.
Varek’s face paled. Even with his injuries, he tightened both hands around his hammer, while Serik drew back his twin blades and Odran’s fists ignited with fire.
Darian said nothing as his sword remained raised, and lightning crawled along its edge.
Leon moved as the ground exploded beneath his feet, launching himself toward Serik.
Serik crossed his blades to defend, but Leon formed a curved weapon from condensed spiritual essence along his forearm and struck, and Serik’s arms were loosened from the impact.
Leon followed with a lightning charged elbow that caught him across the face, sending blood spraying from his mouth, hurling him backwards.
Before Leon could finish him, Odran charged as his fist struck Leon’s side. Leon twisted with the impact, and caught his wrist.
Then, he drove a knee into Odran’s stomach, and he stumbled over. Then immediately, Leon’s let loose his other hand, and formed a narrow blade of erosion essence, slashing across his chest.
Odran staggered backward, blood spreading across his clothes, but Darian was already closing in, his sword aiming toward Leon’s neck.
Leon immediately raised his spiritual weapon to intercept it as the weapons collided. The force sent a shock wave across the surrounding, as neither retreated.
From either side, Serik and Varek were already closing in, while Odran was drinking elixirs, healing himself.