The battle was intense. As Leon fought with all he had on the ground, Kludde sprinted about through the air, slashing and biting with an intense ferocity, but to no avail. It was like cutting off a hydra head, once you slice off a tentacle two more emerge from the water to assault while the first completely regenerates. The beast was massive, and Kludde was barely keeping ahead of it using his superior speed. Leon, on the other hand, was losing and losing fast. He was bleeding from a gash on his cheek, his shirt was tattered, his arms adorned with cuts and nicks. He was running out of energy by this point, but Valdas seemed to have endless ammounts. Leon had learned quickly that cutting him would do little to nothing; all he had to do was manipulate the water onto the platform, touch it, and he would be healed. He drew power from the massive beast while Leon drew power from Kludde and his own anger, which had quelled early into the fight. This was not a fight he could win, and he knew it. At this point he was struggling to stay alive under the onslaught of attacks, dodging, ducking and rolling all while his opponent seemed like he would never falter. The sword could separate to attack from behind, merge to block attacks or perform thrusts and become slack to act like a deadly whip. There was no winning. 

They had reached a lull now. Leon was on one end of the platform, gasping for breath while Valdas breathed easy, his sword stabbed into the ground while he cracked his fingers. "Where's all that fire you had in your eyes? That anger, that drive you had." he grabbed for his sword, and swung just in time to catch the edge of Leon's blade. "Where's your spirit?!" he shouted, slashing again. Leon barely managed to deflect this one. His left eye was shut to prevent blood from seeping in from the cut on his forehead he hadn't noticed before, his hands were numb, his legs were shaky and his breath could not come quick enough. Kludde had stopped listening to his commands and was currently fighting with reckless abandon somewhere close by. He deflected another slash as Valdas laughed. "Tell me. How does it feel? Knowing your death is so close at hand, little soldier?" he made to thrust, catching Leon's shoulder as he failed to parry. His limbs were beginning to freeze up now. He couldn't help but think to himself... is this really the end? Is this all I could amount to? Will I become a bloody stain in the background of this horrible day? "No words, huh?" he slashed out again with a power he hadn't used before, slamming into the edge of Leon's rapier with enough force to throw it from his hands. It made a small splash as it fell into the water, and Leon fell to his knees, unable to hold himself up any longer. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet." Valdas sneered, planting his boot in Leon's chest, kicking him to the ground roughly. 

He squinted his eyes, fire flickering underneath him only to disappear as a wave crashed onto the platform. "No more fire. No more sword. Your partner doesn't listen to you, it's too caught up in its own insanity to take orders from a useless kid." Valdas stamped again, directly into his ribs causing him to cry out in pain. "Your death will be the first in a long line, kid. Jurguards occupation of this worthless hole will be swift, and every man woman and child will die just as you will. By my blade." he spat, swinging his sword in a wide arc, slashing viciously into Leon's chest. "Goodbye, little hero." he said softly as Leon yelled out in agony. He jammed the tip of the blade into Leon's chest, between his ribs, silencing his cries as the pain overwhelmed him. The world dimmed, light faded and the incessant chanting began to increase in tempo in the back of his head. Louder, faster, deeper in tone. He'd failed. His master had asked one thing of him; never lose control. Never let him control you. He'd failed. 

An explosion rocked the earth below them. The roof of the chamber shook violently, sending chunks of rock crashing into the water as a massive column of flame shot up from the floor of the platform. Valdas had retreated to the water, but even he could not stand upon its surface as the massive wave rolled over him, caused by the impact of the shockwave from the explosion. The flame began to die down, and Leon was standing again. Head down, shoulders slumped, and arms limp, seemingly suspended in air by the massive black form that was Kludde. His eyes glowed a bloody red, the flames within dancing wildly as he laughed quietly, his voice deep and rumbling. The chanting had returned. It muttered his own name repeatedly in a steady rhythm as its body rocked to and fro. His body had changed. His spine was exposed, pure white in color between the leathery black wings that sprouted almost unnaturally from his back. His teeth, long and sharp, canines large enough to pierce through stone and twice as powerful. He seemed to emit a kind of shadow like aura that billowed unnaturally from around him, much like the mist he turned into when shifting his shape. There was no shape shifting now, only this single disgusting and terrifying form. 

The tentacles had returned, even more than before as the water shifted to make way for the massive body of the creature, its maw gaping, a deep rattling sound echoing out as the teeth, sharp as needles began to move as its mouth opened, displaying layer upon layer. Valdas had somehow made his way to stand atop the creature, his sword at his side as he laughed. "You do not frighten me demon!" He shouted, brandishing his weapon. "I am not afraid of the big bad wolf!"

"You should be." Leon's voice was a whisper, but it seemed to carry itself toward Valdas. It was quiet, emotionless and dead sounding. Kludde was a blur of movement, as he burst forward, slamming into the massive squid, his hands thrust directly into its mouth, pressed to the side as he pulled, the rows of teeth stabbing through the flesh but causing seemingly no harm as he began to push. Leon was there just as quickly, and just as suddenly, standing straight as a whip of fire formed in his hand. "I could tear your beast in half." he said, leveling his eyes with the man. "And what happened to the little soldier I nearly killed, huh? Where's that anger, that spark of hatred in your eyes? I see nothing in those dead eyes anymore." Valdas smirked, holding his weapon ready as Leon's head tilted ever so slightly. "There is no Leon. Only Kludde. Kludde. Kludde." with every chant of the name, Leon swung the whip of fire. Valdas' attempts to block were useless as the whip passed through the blade, striking his chest and cutting through the armor. Again and again he swung until finally Valdas jumped away, into the water. He slid beneath the surface as the sea monster did the same, disappearing under the water, leaving Kludde in the air, his wings beating heavily as he tossed his head back, letting out a scream of rage as Leon's body fell into the water, floating on the surface seemingly abandoned of the force that had moved him before. 

The rampage started then. Kludde was again a blur, disappearing from the lake and reappearing in the center of the city, atop one of the largest houses, which had nearly collapsed under his weight. It was instead turned to rubble as Kludde slammed a fist into the structure, then on to the next, clearing out fifteen houses in seconds before he moved on, destroying structures, slaughtering people by the dozens as they attempted to run in vain. Soldiers fell, bodies flew, blood spattered the ground and the remains of the buildings as that scream of rage echo'd completely. Valdas had gone, his spirit with him. Kludde's attention shifted then to the new presence, the stronger one that had shown itself to him eariler. The witch and her fox. He zeroed in on their location, intent on extinguishing that light as well as he advanced slowly, the enraged roar merely a growl as he stalked forward while Leon was left floating face down in the water, unnaturally still as his worst fears confirmed themselves while he drifted inside the void of unconsciousness. In a way, he could feel what was happening. After all, a part of him was inside of Kludde, was it not? Just as part of Kludde was within him. It was not simply the demon destroying the city. It was him. He was slaughtering innocent people, destroying the city he had come to love. This was his fault. All his fault. The blackness of the void evaporated under the blinding white that had appeared from nowhere, lifting his body again with a different presence. A presence he had forgotten, a part of him that had long since vanished. 

Kludde ceased its movements as the presence became known to him just as he had reached the young woman when a blinding light lit up the lake with a form he'd never thought he'd see again. "Vajra." he sighed as the dark mist around him began to consume him, transforming him against his will as the demons conciousnes faded. Leaving behind the form of a baby leopard. Leon's body had moved again, walking along the water just as Valdas had, all the way over to the shore where Kludde lay. Behind him trailed a snow leopard, whom approached Myra as Leon's body walked to Kludde, where he knelt as consciousness once again left him. The pure, undiluted spirit that was Vajra stared into the young woman's eyes, its own piercing blue ones impassive before he spoke. "I’m very sorry about all of this, but we need to leave this place before they wake up. Please follow me.” He said, his voice deep and oddly calming despite the carnage around them. The chain covering Kludde had somehow entwined itself around the new spirit’s body, and as he moved, the two that remained unconscious began to trail after him, drifting above the ground. “Outside the main gate is a pathway that will lead us to a forest. Its terrain is mostly flat, there is plenty of cover and fairly secluded. The people here think it is cursed, but we will be safe there. I cannot have Leon here any longer. If they find him, he will be executed on the spot.”