Samuel Argus's pov 

'pardon?'

I asked with a blank expression to which he smiled and said 

"I asked if I can kill these people"

'Leon,.....please'

"I'm sorry Samuel but I've run it through my mind several times already and I've realised, if I don't kill these men then I'll never be able to move forward"

"into formation now"

the leader of the 4 lances bellowed, he and his comrades adopted a diamond formation with him at the front a few feet away from Leon, the man at the back began to cast several enhancement spells on his leader while the ones at his side spread out with their weapons drawn. It was clear that they would leave Leon to their boss while they performed support.

 At first I was surprised by their confidence before I heard the front man speak 

"Crystal Arcanum activate"

'it seems everyone has an Arcanum nowadays'

I couldn't help but say as an aura of light blue enveloped his body and multiple shards appeared and began floating around him, Leon didn't pay my suprise much heed instead choosing to focus on me, as if their attempts at preparation didn't matter 

"I'm waiting on your answer"

I exhaled, exsasperation filled my voice, as I didn't know how to respond to this situation, in truth I was quite angry, angry at Langris for what he did, angry that he didn't tell us, and angry at myself for not being someone who could stop it, if I were a typical Don letting this fight happen would be par for the course, afterall Langris and I were still rivals and it was only natural that I wanted him to lose some strength but he was also technically my boss and I wasn't supposed to let his possessions get damaged.

I looked to his subordinates, other than their boss the rest looked pretty confident of their chances, so I asked 

'can you handle this fight?'

their leader answered with

"we won't do anything to embarrass our master"

the true meaning behind his words were probably something like it would not only be best to work together but would in no way shame Don Langris but instead I decided to take it to mean 

'very well, I won't step into a fight where I'm not needed'

although brief the look on the leaders face was enough to tell me that my guess was right and an evil smile threatened to blossom on my face, but I quickly dispersed it as I jumped back to watch the fight.

The leader rushed forward first, his synchronisation of his ki and his Arcanum was shabby but he could still do it so Leon had to reply with Arcanum enhanced ki of his own blocking the charge with one blade and one hand, this seemed to offend his opponent who drew back and slashed towards his head, his ki flew in a wave of blue that utterly missed its target, Leon used a movement technique to get behind him. He turned just quick enough to meet Leon's fist that sent him flying into the distance, as he turned to face the others the other two lances charged at him swinging their blades from opposite directions in order to seal his escape but he had two swords and both of them lashed out with enough force to not only counter the blades but push the ones holding them back 

"8th teir magic rupture cannon"

the Lance who had hung back suddenly fired off a spell, a quite powerful one at that, it worked by creating large amounts of flame then compressing them to about the size of a finger nail blasting it in an expanding beam, its intense heat and high velocity caused the result to be quite destructive but all Leon did to counter it was put out a hand covered in ki, the powerful beam that could pierce a dragons scales found it could advance beyond that man's palm spreading destruction in opposing directions.

It was then that their expressions changed, the four lances had been known as a proud group, one that belived they could possibly beat any of the other Don's when working together but that statement was far from true. Only those who have become Don's truly knew what they were and what they had suppased, four spirits shimmered into life at four points surrounding the battle field and almost instantly a decent sized barrier shimmered to life in front of me, I quickly analysed it and shook my head gravely, a complete elemental nulification barrier, right now all elemental spells would lose a lot of their effectiveness an 8th teir spell like that one would probably only excert the power of a 2nd teir spell, as the lances quickly realised despair quickly showed on their faces.

Their leader reappeared behind Leon who dodged his attack deftly before sending his own, the man blocked but the force easily passed through him and shattered the ground beneath, the man muttered something and crystal shards spread out from his blade and onto Leon's and began to crawl up his arm but Leon didn't even look phased, the ki on Leon's blade wiggled before breaking all of the shards, a mass of black tentacles with mouths here and there quickly spread out destroying the crystal ki and putting several holes in its owners body, although none were lethal the pain rocked the mans body so badly he had to retreat all the way back to the one who had casted magic. The man proceeded to pull out his own blade while his leader tried to heal himself to no avail, pieces of Leviathans energy covered his body preventing healing magic from working while simultaneously draining his strenght.

The two that had been knocked away reappeared launching ki arts at Leon but Leon didn't even move, his ki flared up once more and two giant mouths appeared to consume both attacks

"Regurgitation"

he said and the mouths instantly spat out the attacks they had consumed only this time they seemed far more powerful, the two attacks combined into a devastating show of force that threatened to consume all, all four of them converged and raised their energies launching a combined attack that they seemed to have practiced before hand, a powerful beam of crystal infused light blasted out to meet the attack head on, it managed to hold it for all of 5 seconds before it was ripped apart, the attack didn't stop until it hit its intended target.

I heard them scream, proud men, strong men, they didn't scream like they were facing a quick death, they screamed like they were going through the most agonising torture imaginable. It was then that I frowned, if Leon wanted to kill them he just needed to add a little more force into that attack but instead it was clear that he held back, severely at that, in order to increase ones defenses mana reinforcement was key and that in turn needed more effort from a person's mana channels but if one recieved too heavy an attack the mana channels would have to do more in order to counteract it, the mana channels are quite like muscles too much strain and they feel pain, the only difference is that they aren't a secluded type of muscle, mana channels connect nearly every part of the body from the nerves in the fingers to the ones in the eyes due to that a mana user can display a shocking amount of control over various parts of the body, its literally a muscles connected to every thing, imagine of that type of muscle was in pain, imagine if it was damaged, it would replicate a feeling comparable to being doused in hot oil, Leon struck all four of them with not enough force to kill them but enough to do just that.

"Leviathan Arcanum edict of acidic gas"

with those words green tinted gas began to fill up the air before rushing straight towards the men groaning in the floor, as pained cries filled the air with the unmistakable sound of someone being being burnt alive I was pushed out of my reveier 

'Water infused Arcanum style ocean breeze'

I cried as an attck left my blade not at Leon but at the men he was torturing, the gasses giving them hell dispersed with my attack to reveal all 4 men with skin so blistered it looked flayed, half melted and clinging to them like a rags, their clothes long gone and their appearances so wretched it would inspire pity even from their worst enemies

"what are you doing?"

asked the culprit in an innocent voice 

"you said you would stay out of this"

'I said I'd stay out of the fight so long as I wasn't needed and clearly'

I said gesturing to the half corpses on the ground 

'I am, but that's not important right now,....what are you doing?'

"what do you mean"

I sighed in a front of false calm 

'this is too much, I can't allow it'

"you gave these lives to me"

'that's not what I said and it doesn't matter, I can explain away killing them in a manner that wouldn't rouse Langris's anger, but that's only if you do it in a civil way'

"what part about murder is civil"

'that's not the point, do you want to have to deal with that man? aren't you scared'

Langris would be able to deal with his subordinates being killed in action but them being slowly and greusomely tortured is not something he'd let stand, I could explain away my fault in this by claiming his subordinates weren't my responsibility but what about this idiot

"no"

as he said that he smiled, a genuine smile one that contained no fear or anything even

'I can't let you do this'

"why not its not really your problem is it?"

'your people need you moron'

"I have no intention of dieing any time soon"

'then make it easier by standing down'

"I can't because I need this"

'you're crazy and I'll stop you, even if I have to kill you'

"I don't care, and you can try"

with that we charged each other, he released all of his spirits using their energies to enhance his body which not only allowed him to physically match me but surpass my strenght,

'shit'

I mouthed as I was sent flying backwards by several feet, I quickly righted myself in order to face my dilemma, I couldn't beat him, at least not without fighting to kill (not like I thought I could do that either but I had to try)

'Water infused Arcanum style ONE WAVE GOD SPOUT'

a ferocious stream of ki and water gushed out from my blade in a thrust that tore up everything in sight 

"Leviathan Arcanum Chuthullu's embrace"

to which he responded with a defensive technique, my moved which had compressed a devastating amount of power was completely nullified

"reverse"

he cried, he was attempting to reverse his defensive technique and turn it into an offensive one, a move that would be too deadly for me to take head on but if I dodged the lances behind me would undoubtedly die, as I agonised on my choice a beam if pure green light shot down from the sky at a speed most would have trouble tracking crashed onto Leon mid reverse. The explosion was devastating rocking our surroundings like a legion of dragons had all released their breath attack all at once and in a fog of green and black was Kannie standing over an exhausted Leon

"I'll do what u can for you, you do whatever you can"

he said with a soft smile.