At the same time, Leon continued fighting the Vessel of War, who was getting more and more rusty as time went on, its movements becoming slower and more predictable with each exchange.

"You’re the Vessel of War and struggling this much?" Leon grinned, taunting the creature, "Wow, you guys aren’t that good after all."

Leon was indeed taunting it, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t cautious, his senses were on high alert for any trick the vessel might pull, his eyes scanning for any sign of a trap.

In fact, he was ready to react to anything the entity before him threw at him, his body primed for combat and his reflexes sharpened to their peak.

At that moment, the situation changed dramatically as reinforcements arrived.

SMASH!

Leon heard hundreds of footsteps heading their way, and from the many destroyed walls, and the halls, hundreds of guards appeared, surrounding Leon on all sides like a wall of flesh and steel.

The Vessel of War floated above them all, looking down at Leon with a wide smile, its remaining eye gleaming with triumph at having summoned its army, and it opened its mouth.

"...W...Ar... Ar...MY!"

It was heavily struggling to even speak, yet it still said those two words, its voice cracking and distorted from the effort.

’I guess it wants to say that during a war, there’s always an army,’ Leon thought, his eyes flaring with determination, ’Unfortunately for them though, they still stand no chance.’

In fact, Leon found this to be the perfect opportunity for something.

Fwoosh!

Alphox jumped out of Leon’s chest, the small baby dragon appearing in a flash of light, looking at the scenery around it, its eyes scanning the guards surrounding them, and Leon pointed forward.

"Destroy everything," he said with a grin, "I’m sure you’ll gain a level or two from killing them all."

"Kaaaa~" Alphox chirped in agreement, its tail wagging with excitement.

And just like that, Alphox lunged toward one of the imperial guard and swung its claws at him with surprising ferocity and speed.

Immediately, a massive after image of three claws erupted, hitting several of the guards at once, and killing them instantly, their bodies collapsing to the ground in a heap.

Alphox’s power was no joke, able to one-shot these guards easily despite his small size and low level, his attacks devastatingly effective.

And he didn’t stop either as he unleashed his [Draconic Roar], the sound shaking every guard in the chamber and causing them to stumble back in fear, their morale breaking.

Even the vessel of war seemed slightly distraught by the appearance of the dragon, and it instantly tried to kill it, recognizing the threat it posed.

But of course, it was met with Leon’s blade, forcing it back even more and preventing it from harming Alphox, the two working in perfect sync.

At the same time, Leon made sure to unleash all his spells on the imperial guards, his magic cutting through their ranks like a scythe through wheat, decimating them.

They tried as best as they could to gang up on him and Alphox, swarming them from all sides, but unfortunately for them, each of Leon’s spells were made for situations like this.

His Cataclysmic Fireball scorched through a row of guards, turning them all into ashes, his Torrent of Lightning zapped many of them, allowing Alphox to finish the job, his Shadow Bullets pierced through the heads of many who came close.

It was an absolute massacre, and over the course of a few minutes, where the Vessel of War tried to attack, almost every guard was dead, their bodies littering the floor of the destroyed chamber.

Leon received the notifications of his kill, and more important he saw all the loot on the ground, but he couldn’t pick it up.

’My Storage Space is full, damn, well, all of these items suck anyway,’ he thought, dismissing the loot.

The imperial guards always dropped items that could be used by people of their army, so it was utterly useless to Leon and not worth the space in his inventory.

Still, he’d give it all to Iris and hopefully get paid, though more than anything he simply wanted the reward she had promised at the start of the party before it went to shit.

The battle continued, though with its injury, the vessel of war was slowly overwhelmed, its attacks becoming weaker and less precise with each passing moment.

Time Stop!

Leon used his forbidden spell once more and used [Eclipse Dance] behind the vessel, appearing in the perfect position to strike it down.

Much like the first time, hundreds of slashes erupted, forcing the vessel to use its barrier to try to tank them all.

But unfortunately for it, this time around, it couldn’t do it all, the barrier already weakened from the previous attacks.

And so eventually...

Crack! BOOM!

It actually shattered completely, leaving the vessel defenseless and even more vulnerable.

Allowing Leon to swing at the vessel’s second arm, cutting it off cleanly with one powerful strike that severed it from its body.

ROOOAR!

It released a second shockwave, sending Leon flying back across the chamber, but still, the deed was done: it lost both its arms, rendering it mostly harmless and unable to fight back effectively.

The vessel bled and seemed to sway a little, confused as to how this could happen to it, a servant of the gods, defeated by a mere human.

"Alright, lets end this," Leon said faintly, his voice filled with finality, "Alphox, you get a hit too so you can get some experience from this."

"Kaaa!" the dragon nodded, determination in its gaze, and the two rushed forward together.

Slash!

Leon swung repeatedly at the vessel, who couldn’t defend itself, forcing it to tank the blunt of his slashes, each one carving deeper into its form.

It began to float into the air out of Leon’s view, trying to escape into the Imperial Kingdom, hoping to recover and regroup, but Leon wouldn’t allow that.

"Shit," Leon groaned as he saw it float, "We can’t let it!"

And that was when Alphox came in clutch once again, showing his worth in the battle.

The small dragon released his wings, and with a powerful flap soared into the air, right where the vessel of war was floating.

And then it swung its tiny claws with all its might,striking true.

Claw Swing!

SLASH!

The vessel of war received damage so high it made it fall to the ground, crashing down with a heavy thud, allowing Leon to decapitate it at that moment with a final swing of his blade.

And just like that, its body disappeared like a spirit, fading into nothingness.

Though right before then, a crimson panel appeared for Leon to read, glowing with ominous energy.

[The Celestials won’t be happy about this. You have made a grave mistake.]

"Sure," Leon said dismissively.

And the panel disappeared as well, leaving Leon in the chamber by himself, and of course, the panels appeared around him.

Ding!

[You have defeated "Vessel of War (???)" and gained...]

...

A/N

As I said before, this is the moment where the Celestials and the Gods become much more important, thank you for your support until now!