Fulfilling a wish

In the midst of the destruction of the courtyard, Kai gritted his teeth and kicked against one of the falling rocks. Using that momentum, he clumsily kicked against two other rocks on his descent in order to land in a better position.

At the last moment, Kai activated Soul Flame and dumped all the additional stats into Constitution so he could tank the landing.

Landing with a loud thud, Kai squinted and ignored the urge to cough. He was completetly surrounded by dust, unable to see where Ezekial had landed.

Turns out, by some stroke of luck, the cavern which the Plague Harbinger had been chained inside was nearly directly under the courtyard, that's why Kai had been so pleased when he spotted Ezekial out there. It was also the reason why he had to stall for time, as he was more than certain that the beast would definitely choose the most direct route.

As Kai was standing up, he narrowly avoided a chunk of falling rock by rolling to the side. Then, he was nearly swept off his feet by a sharp aura coming from directly in front of him.

All the dust was sent away, and all the falling rocks were knocked off course by the shockwave of aura. Looking at where the shockwave originated from, Kai couldn't help but mutter a silent curse.

Ezekial was already on his feet, seven vibrant flames floating behind his back and his sword already in his dominant hand.

He locked eyes with Kai, and just as he was about to attack, he froze after hearing maniacal laughter above him.

While he had been falling, Kai had been a little surprised by the lack of rats on the ground of the cavern. There had been so many when he had been here a few minutes ago, so where had they all gone?

Kai question was instantly answered when looking up.

Thousands upon thousands of rats were scaling the walls of the cavern, climbing over each other in an effort to reach the top quicker, and all of them were being led by one four armed beast.

The Plague Harbinger had already escaped the cavern, standing on the roof of the castle. It's entire body trembled, making Kai think it was about to go into a frenzy or something, but it just started laughing.

It laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until it felt the falling snow start clinging to its fur.

Then, it cast one final glance at Ezekial before hopping away from the roof. As soon as it disappeared from his line of sight, Kai heard a feral voice shout:

"Cowardly King! Where are you!"

It seemed that the beast held more of a grudge against Castillian rather than Ezekial, making Kai a little confused.

Ezekial's eyes widened after he watched the beast run away to hunt down Castillian. Were they seriously going to go after the King?

Eyes darkening, Ezekial's grip on his sword tightened as the seven stat flames behind his back died out. Turning around, they crouched down and went to hop out of the cavern, only to feel an overwhelming sense of danger come from behind them, resorting in him having to turn around at the last second, deflecting a sword that had been aimed at their neck.

Kai bounced away, Esurient already in his hands. Muttering a silent curse that his attack had been unsuccessful, Kai felt a small grin make its way onto its face after steadying himself. After all, he had discovered one lovely bit of information about how this fight would go.

Esurient was on roughly the same scale as Ezekial's own sword.

"You!" Ezekial spat, his eyes burning with rage, nearly making Kai kneel over just from the sheer amount of bloodlust he was emitting.

"What?" Kai grinned, hesitantly gripping onto Esurient even more.

"You're the one that taught me never turn your back on your opponent, you must be a really shit teacher to forget your own lessons."

Ezekial was seething, his entire body trembling as he held back his anger until he eventually screamed:

"Do you have any idea what you've done! You have set that deranged savage loose on the crown and the city, you have doomed us all!"

Kai laughed, his eyes glinting with a little bit of madness.

"Oh well, you know me... Actually, you don't, you're just a phony after all, but if you did know me, then you would know that...

I'm extremely fucking petty."

Tilting his head to the side in a taunting fashion, Kai added on.

"And I don't care about this city, I'm just fulfilling a wish someone I know made, and I'll be damned if I let her suffer in this cursed Dimension any more than she needs to."

The cavern fell eerily quiet after that. Ezekial was silent because he was seemingly holding himself back from succumbing to some sort of beastial instinct, meanwhile Kai was silent because his mind was racing.

His first role had been fulfilled. The distraction was currently rampaging the castle and would eventually move onto the city, distracting presumably every guard in the city.

All except one lone guard.

Because that was what Kai's second, and main role was for.

Gripping onto the hilt of Esurient even more, Kai got ready for the next few minutes of his life.

That was because his main goal was simple enough in theory, but not so much in practice.

His main goal being...

Hold back Ezekial long enough for everyone to make it to Castillian and Anastasia's chambers and get through the portal, teleporter thing.

Smirking at Ezekial, Kai shook his head and asked.

"So, Cotton Candy, are you ready to fight?"

Ezekial's body stopped trembling as they looked at Kai with wide eyes. Had they seriously lost it.

"You? You think you stand a chance against me?"

Kai shrugged in response.

"You don't know until you try, plus, I have a bunch of skills that I have to test out."

And he wasn't lying, because he had a very simple plan in mind.

From the very start...

He was going to go all out.

Instantly, the tunic he was wearing started changing form, switching to that of a pure black bodysuit that covered every inch of him bar his hands, feet, neck and head. It was extremely flexible, almost as if he was wearing nothing at all, only the protection it offered was immense.

He wasn't an idiot. There was no way in hell that he would confront Ezekial wearing his tunic, that was way too stupid considering it only offered a bit of resistance to the cold and an enhanced memory.

Plus, he didn't even have his tunic at this current moment anyway.

As soon as the tunic stopped switching form, a silver liquid started crawling over Kai's body.

It started from his shoulders, then quickly spread over the rest of his body, turning physical as it did. It had little gaps where his limbs connected, offering him even more flexibility

Soon, Kai was completetly encased in a set of lustrous silver armour. He looked more knightly than the guards of this castle, he even looked more knightly than Ezekial himself.

The armour covered every inch of him except for his neck and above, but that was fine, Kai wasn't planning on getting decapitated any time soon.

Esurient's body began to glow, its entire being eagerly quivering in anticipation of the fight to come. This was the first time it would actually get a good fight since its upgrade, so it couldn't help being excited at the prospect.

As soon as all his items were equipped, Kai's stats gained a large boost. Altogether, just from items, he received 300 Strength, 375 Constitution, 200 Stamina, 150 Dexterity and 175 Will.

Kai also felt his Mana begin to circulate around his body quicker, it's flow moving more freely and not feeling as clunky as it normally did. That was all because of the 25% boost to his Mana circulation that he received from having Esurient equipped.

Instantly after his items were equipped, Kai's body was engulfed by a raging inferno of vibrant flames. The colours were dazzling, enought to catch the eye of anyone who gazed upon them and suck the air our of their lungs and make them feel thankful that they even got to see such a beautiful combination of mismatched colours.

Sadly, it wasn't only Kai that was preparing himself, as while all that was occurring, Ezekial was also getting ready.

His mind was clouded. He didn't care about Her Majesty's orders anymore, he was going to pummel this red headed pest into the ground and bathe in his blood until he felt satisfied enough that he had desecrated their corpse enough that they would be kicked out of whatever afterlife the ended up in.

Behind Ezekial's back, a circle of sevent different coloured flames, the same the flames encasing his opponent, manifested. They shone with the intensity of seven mini suns, but they sadly did not possess the same amount of power as them.

"Is that all you've got?" Ezekial taunted as he licked his lips eagerly.

Kai grinned madly.

"Not even close."

Which was not a lie, as now came the fun part.

Now, Kai would get to use all the skills and tricks he had never used before.

Now... He would be embarking into uncharted territory.

And he had no idea how powerful he would become once he emerged.