“Shin, Let’s show her what happens when she messes with the wrong people.”

Leoric thought it would be easy with his new power arcing around him; However, just as what looked like the last defiant bit of energy erupted from Shin, a heavy force pushed both of them to their knees. Cazri had more tricks up her sleeve. With an impressive burst of wind magic, she sent them sliding backwards before an unnatural weight began to bear down upon them, attempting to crush them.

”Is this the extent of my new power?" Leoric pondered to himself "Is this the extent you grant to your herald?" He shouted in his mind to the one who spoke through him moments ago "Cazri didn’t get this far without learning a few tricks or two!” Leoric reflected for a moment before his own wind magic began to swirl around him and erupt into the air. It was rapidly expanding, creating a column of equal pressure around himself. Leoric flashed a grin at Cazri before leaning forward and kicking off the ground with everything he had in him.

CRACK!

A bolt of lightning erupted from the ground where he was formerly standing. and collided with the roof as Cazri could no longer spot the demon blooded brawler. She franticly began looking around for him.

“Oww, for fuck’s sake.” Came from behind her as Leoric was stumbling back from flying face first into the wall, rubbing his nose, feeling slightly disoriented. “There must be a trick to using this power..”

“This is the Nine’s Herald?” she scoffed, emphasising the first word as if in disbelief. She turned to face Leoric with her sword outstretched, pointing it in his direction. “Hardly a threat to me.”

“Only hardly?” Leoric said as he felt the muscle in his left leg twinge in agony; apparently his body was having issues dealing with this herald power. With a quick expelling of breath, he focused his strength and this time kicked off at a much more controlled speed. In a flash, he was now in front of Cazri. He reached across with his left hand, grabbing her wrist while his right hand flexed, then swiftly became a fist as he swung and impacted her chest alongside a sickening crack.

Cazri was involuntarily pushed back several feet, dropping to her knees, coughing up blood as she tried to catch her breath. Leoric looked at his left hand that now held the hilt of the first king’s sword. She was now disarmed. He shot a glance at the portal behind Shin and immediately closed it before unsheathing his own sword while sliding the king's sword into its sheath. This way, he knew no one could use it for evil.

“No, no, no!” Cazri shouted as she slammed her fists into the ground like a toddler throwing a tantrum. It would have been funny had she not continued talking. “If I am not leaving here, then neither shall either of you!”

There was a tremendous build up and detonation of magical power coming from Cazri as the building began to shake, even more destructively than when Shin had cast a spell himself. While Leoric was busy looking around at the crumbling tower, he felt a pressure on his chest as if someone had just poked him with their index finger accusingly. He looked down to see a shocked Cazri holding an iron dagger with a now blunted and bent tip... She had tried to use her burst of magic to stab the herald in the chest while he was distracted, but the black skin granted to him from his demon blood proved to be too strong to puncture. With a flurry of movement, Leoric grabbed her by the face and lifted her off her feet. Her arms and legs were swinging wildly, frantically trying to hit him, to get free, for a miracle to happen.

Leoric lifted his sword and tapped it against her chest almost wistfully. “You know, if you weren’t such a murderous bitch, we could've been quite a team.”

He slowly sunk his sword into her chest, rupturing her heart. Blood spurted from her mouth as she drew her last breath, her body going limp. Leoric discarded the trash in his hands and let out a sigh of relief. A sudden, immense pain erupted all at once across his body as his skin gradually went back to its beautiful olive tone, his hair regaining its pigment and the boundless amounts of power he felt vanished from his body.

Every muscle group screamed in agony, it was more pain than he had ever felt in his life - and that was saying something! With a pounding headache, he sauntered over to where he had discarded the body and after a few moments of struggle managed to decapitate it. He was going to need proof she was dead when he reported back. This would make her fate quite clear.

The ground shook violently once more as the ceiling began to collapse in chunks followed by the walls falling inwards. He reached for the sword of the first king at his hip and with a shock, Leoric discovered the sword was gone. He couldn't find it. He frantically scanned the room, searching for it; he needed it to get out of here before he was crushed.

As a chunk of roof collapsed nearby, he looked towards it and noticed the shining hilt of the blade near where Shin was. Shit, Shin! how was he going to get both of them out of here?

“Leoric! Go, I will be fine!” Shin called out as if reading the brawler's panic-stricken thoughts.

“Fuck, fine! But I will meet you in Sanctuary when we report our success together!” Leoric ran to the hall they had entered from, turning back only to add “If you die, I will go to Hell and drag you back myself!”. With that, Leoric forged his path out of the temple.