“They’re coming, Leo,” Shinsou said as he clasped a hand on Leo’ shoulder.

”No shit, that was the plan!” Leoric thought as he huffed and puffed, his legs shaking under his body's own weight.

“We’re beyond the fucking pale at this point, so we might as well go all in. Sustain that flaming monstrosity as long as you can and tell the militia to start evacuating who is left. I’ll do what I can to draw their attention. ”

“That was the fucking plan from the get go!” Leo cried out as the roar of the flaming behemoth cried out in front of him, the sheer amount of heat forcing him to back up a few paces to keep his hair from singing. As Leo turned to face his now ally he had already ran over to another side of the flame tornado. Leoric sighed a light sigh of relief, if he had shin here then maybe they can do this. Or at least if the worst was to happen, someone would get his body home.

As much bravado as he started with, it was quickly draining as his body was pointing out it was past its limit and would soon collapse. He was going to use his bravado, his courage, his ego, to push him through as much as he could but how long would it be before his body collapsed and wouldn't listen to him anymore? Leo was knocked to his senses as a large slimy and smooth body impacted hard with him.

Leo looked up as his body impacted the ground and slid a few feet as a smooth, glistening demon stood before him. Leoric could only imagine the glistening and slimy feeling he felt was a defense against the flaming tornado. Leoric quickly spun his legs to create momentum and launched himself to his feet. His left leg twitching under the strain.

“Nog geb ahnah shuggoth, mgah'ehye ya ymg' lllln'gha bthnkor ng ahthrodog ahorr'eogor” The demon hissed towards Leoric as he licked what could only be lips.

“What? Man, you come all the way here and can’t even speak tradespeak? Such a disappointment for a low level demon.” The exhausted adventurer smirked as he gripped his sword hilt as tight as he could and pushed himself forward.

Leoric knew he could fight this demon, there was no doubt in his mind. The only inkling of doubt was from how long it would take, he knew there would be more demons arriving and so would need a lot of force behind a swing or a cut to make any deep wounds. This is when an idea came to mind, he quickly raised his left hand towards the demon and shot off his left M.A.D. device which the demon deftly dodged, however the device had now connected with an empty barrel that was barely held together against a shop just behind him. With a quick command to his M.A.D. it pulled in the barrel at high speed and smashed it across the back of the slime covered monstrosity and forced it to stumble forward.

As it stumbled forward Leoric used its own momentum against it and sliced clean through it’s left leg. The demon cried out and shrieked as it fell to its only knee. The Brawler was far from done and using what little momentum he had left he used all of his might to slice clean through the neck. Leoric huffed and fell to a knee as the sound of snapping sinews could be heard as the head of the demon slawed off and fell with a slump into a puddle of its own blood.

It wasn’t long before another demon crawled down from a rooftop, hissing and clicking at Leoric as it did so. Its long tongue moving like a tail, swaying and moving with amazing prehensile movements. Leoric wasn’t given long to admire the sheer oddity that was this demon as it launched it’s tongue at him, like a bolt out of a crossbow.

Leoric thought he was going to be able to dodge it but instead it impacted his leather vest, the sheer force sending Leoric sliding across the blood soaked sand at his feet. He quickly grabbed the spot out of instinct and felt the regular feeling of his leather vest, with a quick glance down he remembered he had gotten his leather vest enchanted some time ago to be as strong as damascus and it just saved his life. The shock of realizing he was perfectly fine and what everyone used to call him gave him a bit more energy as he stood up right and walked towards the demon slowly.

“You should really do research on who you are fighting before you fight. But let me fill you in real quick. I am Leoric Ironabs Blackwell…”

There was a sudden leap into the air from the demon before he could finish his boasting and another tongue attack was sent flying forward. This time Leoric quickly side stepped and dropped his sword only to quickly grab the tongue before the demon could pull it back.

“... And I am the best brawler you will ever see” with this Leoric began to swing the demon around by its tongue before giving it a quick and strong pull straight down. The brawler pulled his fist back and with every ounce of strength he had, with the little magical power he had recovered since casting his spell, he put everything into the skull of the demon as it came crashing down beside him. Sending a spray of dust, and debris into the air from the impact.

As the dust and debris settled Leoric looked down and noticed there were now two demons dead at his feet. The most recent victim still twitching. Leoric bent down and grabbed his sword and quickly decapitated the second demon. As blood began to pour out of the now missing head, Leoric's body collapsed. He barely caught himself with his hand now firmly planted in sand and demon blood. His lungs protesting from all the exertion.

Leoric closed his eyes and tried to focus on getting his breathing under control, after all breathing techniques were one of the more important skills his Master had ever taught him. However within moments Leoric felt perfectly fine, his stamina had completely recovered and with a shock he opened his eyes and the immediate vicinity around his hand that was in a deep puddle of blood, was now perfectly clean and there wasn't any blood around his hand.

“Wait, does all demon blood absorb into people? No… then what is going on”: Before Leoric could begin to deduce a theory a foot collided with his ribs and sent him rolling a few dozen feet away. He looked up to see a giant armor clad figure standing where he just was, it’s foot still out stretched and it’s eyes glowing an ominous red color as it peered into his soul.

The Brawler quickly got to his feet, rolled his shoulders and was ready for a fight. He now felt like everything was perfect, he had no exhaustion, his body was aching for a fight, and he was ready to give it one. He launched himself towards the demon, kicking off with all his might and using his magic to push himself forward as quickly as he could. However as he was about to connect with the armor clad revenant it reached out its hand and managed to grab Leoric by the throat. Lifting him quickly into the air and then slamming him down into the dirt between the two demons he had just killed.

Leoric gasped for air as the impact was intense. Not to mention the amount of force that was now squeezing his throat closed. There was no way out for him, his mind entered a panicked state as it realized that it had no oxygen left and it couldn't think of a way out of this predicament. Leoric went limp, his ripped and tattered shirt barely covering his arms as they splashed down into the massive puddles of demon blood around him.

The hand on his throat was loosening, Leoric quickly opened his eyes and felt nothing but rage, fury, his want for destruction was outstanding and he just wanted every demon to be dead by his hands. He reached forward and grabbed the thick armored forearm of the revenant and for a moment he could have swore he saw fear in the glowing eyes of his opponent. It was delicious to see.

With a quick and powerful grasp Leoric felt the gauntlets of his opponent dent and malform as the grip around his own throat completely relaxed. There was a swift kick that launched the armour bound goliath back a few feet and Leoric effortlessly got to his feet, completely reinvigorated and feeling like he could destroy the entire Demon army himself. With a snap of his fingers the fire tornado behind him instantly vanished and there was molten rock and piles of ash where the market stalls used to be.

With a quick glance at his hand after snapping his fingers, Leoric noticed his entire arm was black. No, not just his arm, his entire body was black. Not only that but it felt stronger as well. In the middle of examining his new skin color the brute of a revenant charged him with a sword drawn this time. Leoric sighed and turned to face him. Launching himself forward a few paces and using his wind magic to Quaking strike his opponent several times. The brutes armor shattered, revealing dead, and decaying flesh underneath as Leoric quickly grabbed the outstretched arm that was going to attack him and flung him across the molten town center and then quickly jumped over the molten ground and landed next to Shin.

Or well, what Leoric thought was shin. He looked incredibly different and was fighting a hellish monstrosity. Leoric cracked his neck and sheathed his sword before raising his fists.