Darian and Leon remained in a deadlock while Serik and Varek closed in from either side. Odran had finished drinking his elixirs, and was closing in, gathering fire around his fists.
The rooftop was slowly crumbling from the pressure. Varek’s hammer came down, forcing Leon to break contact with Darian and slip aside. The blow shattered the building beneath them as the shock traveled through the whole city.
Serik pursued Leon, his twin blades cutting off Leon’s escape. Leon shaped his spiritual essence into a curved guard along his forearm, caught the first blade, and dodged the second.
The collision shook his arms and used a brief current of wind to retreat from Serik’s reach, but Odran was already waiting for him, ready with his fire coated punch.
Leon guarded with his forearm but the impact launched him back through the wall of the buildings and landed on a room. He rose among the broken furniture. His breathing was ragged as the others were already on him.
They were not giving him room to fight one at a time. Darian kept him occupied at close range, and Serik’s twin blades threatened any gap in his guard, while Odran forced him to keep moving. Varek’s earth techniques altered the ground beneath them, closing escape routes and turning each misstep into a risk.
Leon alone, overpowered each masters but together they did not give him a clean opening. Every attack forced him to choose between countering one master and exposing himself to another. He was relying on timing rather than raw force, and using as little essence as possible while dodging.
Leon met Darian’s next strike with a spiritual blade. Their weapons rang together, sparks of Lightning crawling along the edge of Darian’s sword.
Leon’s attack cut through his sleeve, and withdrew just far enough to avoid Odran’s burning fist, and Varek’s hammer struck the floor where he had stood.
"Leon!" Darian called as they separated. "Listen to me. I tried to stop them."
Leon’s gaze passed over him without a response.
"You think I wanted this?" Darian’s voice was strained as he rose up from the collapsed building. "There were things you didn’t know. Just give me a chance to explain."
Leon answered by advancing towards him. Darian raised his sword in time to meet him. The impact forced him back across the streets. There was no accusation in Leon’s face, no question, just a calm face.
The civilians fled between the fights as some were already dead from the impacts. The city guards could do nothing, only keeping people away from the battlefield.
Leon’s attention shifted to Varek. He had been carrying his earlier injuries, and they were beginning to show. His hammer was dangerous, but his stance faltered each time he tried to move.
Leon let Darian and Serik press him toward the center of the street, also drawing Varek into the gap they were trying to close.
Varek saw the opening and swung, and Darian and Serik retreated seeing the force behind Varek’s attack. From the side, Odran created a wall of fire, cutting off Leon’s escape route.
Leon seeing this smirked as he slipped inside Varek’s hammer arc, away from the impact of the hammer. The weapon struck the street, sending a violent shockwave, making others retreat even more.
But rather than retreating, Leon withstood the shockwave as he gripped his head and directed a thin thread of his erosion essence towards Varek’s mind.
Varek’s expression briefly changed at first then his eyes widened.
He tried to force the erosion out of his mind, raising every defense he could muster, but his injuries had already weakened his control. The erosion found its way through the gaps, and the first fragments of his consciousness began to crumble.
He knelt, clutching his head. A raw cry escaped from his mouth as he tried to hold on to his thoughts, only to feel them slipping away one after another as his memories slowly blurred.
Even the simple act of gathering his spiritual essence grew impossibly difficult. He knew he was under attack, knew that something was tearing him apart from within, yet he could no longer stop it.
Hearing the cry, Odran took back his wall of fire, revealing Varek on his knees crying loudly, while Leon standing beside him, gripping his head, and looking back expressionlessly at them.
"Get away from him!" Darian shouted.
Varek heard the voice, but he could not understand it. He tried to answer, yet only a heavy gasp sounded. Blood began to seep from his pores, from his forehead and cheeks, then along his neck and arms.
Erosion was stripping away his very consciousness, leaving him trapped in the fading remnants of his own awareness. He tried to remember something to not lose his focus, but that thought also began to slip.
His spiritual defenses flickered and collapsed as Leon continued to erode his mind. Varek’s resistance weakened and he finally broke. His eyes lost the focus, and the strength left his body.
Leon withdrew his hand and stepped away from the body without a word.
The street fell briefly quiet.
Serik stared at Varek, lowering his twin blades a little. Odran’s fire flickered around his knuckles
They had known Leon was dangerous, but they had not understood that his Erosion could bypass the body entirely. The gap left by Varek’s death broke their formation even more.
"Varek?" Darian said but the dead man did not move.
Darian looked at Leon, grief and disbelief mixing across his face. "What have you become?"
Leon offered no reply as he watched the three survivors, measuring their positions, while his breathing remained heavy and blood darkened his clothes. His strength was formidable, but the wounds were finally getting into him as every exchange against the coordinated masters cost him.
Before anyone could move, a distant moment across the other part of the city caught Leon’s eye.
An enormous army was advancing from the opposite side as thousands of guild members marched beneath the banners of the five guilds, as they covered the whole horizon.
Every march rose dust behind them, and the ground trembled beneath the weight of their approach. They had been called to ensure Leon’s death.
Darian glanced toward the formation. "Look at what’s coming. You can’t fight all of them. Stop now, and there may still be a way-"
Leon turned back to him, laughing softly at his stupidity.
Leon launched himself forward as he faced them again as the army drew closer. His wind stirring the dust around his feet and lightning flickering along his fingers.
Darian tightened his grip on his sword while Serik raised his twin blades, and Odran’s surged the flames around him.
The army filled the horizon, and Leon stood alone between it and the men before him.