Alexander approached her with a calm and steady gait, his movements seemed slow however when he finally made a move it was like a blur.

She felt her vision go momentarily black as she felt herself go flying, she did not even manage to see the moment Alexander struck her.

Feeling herself face down on the cold stone floor, she moved her arms to lift herself up, however, when she was about to do so crushing pain filled her ribs as another forceful blow landed on her.

A spurt of blood filled her mouth, spitting it out she sighed in defeat, ‘This is the worst I have been beaten since coming to this world’

Even when already facing a stronger opponent in the Red Fishkin she never felt this helpless, the gulf was truly large.

Talia prepared herself in the best way she could, but at the end facing such an overwhelming power difference there was little she could do

Alexander stared down at her with a mocking smirk.

“Hahaha, is that it? You’re truly even more pitiful than I imagined, not worth a great figure such as me dirtying their hands to deal with you, though that is what henchmen are for, isn’t it?” Alexander mumbled crazily before realising his ‘henchmen’ already laid still on the floor.

Immersed in his victory Alexander had momentarily glossed over his defeated henchmen.

“Ah yes! What useless servants as the master how could I be the one to make a move? Sure I did look incredible dashing as always… but it totally ruined how domineering I looked whilst ordering my servants about.” Alexander said forgetting about Talia who was slumped on the floor groaning in pain.

’This guy is absolutely crazy…’ Talia grumbled clutching her sore ribs, from the descriptions about him in the game she pictured Alexander to be some cunning, charismatic noble but upon meeting the person himself all she found was some egotistical maniac.

However, Alexander who was completely engrossed in his own thoughts a moment ago seemed to suddenly freeze.

Talia watched Alexander stiff body slowly turn around staring directly at the orb in the centre of the room, a croaky voice emerged from his mouth when he said: “I apologise great ones, I will bring the girl to you straight away…”

Alexanders blood-shot eyes fixed upon her, the craziness seemed to have disappeared as he spoke in a cold, deep voice, “We told you we would find you…”

Talia shivered under the scrutiny of Alexander, the feeling he gave off was completely foreign compared to the previous Alexander.

It also made her suspicions about what Alexander is confirmed.

‘He must be a…’ she was about to mumble before her thoughts were cut short by the forceful tug of her hair.

She felt herself dragging across the floor as a fine hand gripped her head firmly, futilely she raised her arm in an attempt to swing at the arm grabbing ahold of her but her attempts were just shrugged off easily by the target.

It made her feel like a small child fighting against an adult her swats or movements seemed to do little to impede Alexander at all as he easily brought her to the altar.

Removing a sharp knife from his belt, Talia truly felt that this was it and she was going to die, yet at that moment loud noises sounded outside the room.

Alexanders eyes seemed to have turned dark upon inspecting the noise, without hesitation he plunged his knife towards her heart at blindingly fast speed.

Talia felt the threat of death, however just as the knife was about to land upon her it hit a resplendent, golden barrier that absorbed the attack fully.

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Almost simultaneously Alexander and Talia turned their heads towards the entrance spotting the figure of a familiar priest, Priest Omar!

Beside him stood the two heavily armoured knights she saw at the entrance of the Church previously.

Her eyes lit up in excitement and relief upon seeing the priest, nonetheless, the surprising thing to her was that no panic showed on Alexander’s face at all, instead, a broad, bloodthirsty grin filled his face.

“The smell of light magic… magic blessed by those lowly beings, fake Gods! I will enjoy the taste of your souls alongside this little girl…” Alexander said standing up fully a terrifying aura of darkness emerging from his body.

The tainted aura coming from Alexander was so intense, she felt even if hundreds of thousands of Tainted Fishkin were merged together they still wouldn’t be able to match it.

Priest Omar’s gaze turned solemn knowing this was a difficult enemy, a thick aura of light burst from his body as a bright, transparent barrier covered the two knights beside him.

“Come on men, I can tell whatever power he is controlling is incomplete, this is our best chance in dealing with him! For the Templars!” Priest Omar shouted.

The two men in front of Priest Omar were the first to charge, then following even more men emerged from the door, she saw another six armoured templars who followed their lead, then two more war priests like Priest Omar came in behind them instantly launching offensive magic.

Despite this show of force, Alexander merely laughed as he shrugged off a few bolts of light which slammed into his armour.

Swinging his sword casually he blocked the blow of one of the charging men who’s momentum was instantly halted by one stroke.

For the other man he simply grabbed ahold of his weapon with his free hand, the extremely sharp weapon swung with great strength was not even able to pierce Alexander’s skin.

“Hahaha, is this it?” Alexander mocked taking pleasure in toying with his prey as a mere few strikes were all it took before he broke the light barrier surrounding their bodies sending the two men flying.

Two large dents were left in their sturdy armours as they were sent to the ground with great force.

Nonetheless, despite this powerful display, none of the men behind was deterred as they continued their charge towards Alexander.

However, even with their great courage and determination, it could do little to offset the disparity in power.

The only member of the Templar party who can do any damage to Alexander was Priest Omar, yet his contributions were limited as he required some time to cast a spell.

And this was focusing his attention on protecting the knight's lives from being taken by Alexander, there were numerous times where the lives of a Knight may have been lost if it wasn’t for Priest Omar and the two war priests protection.

With Priest Omar’s strength, he could perhaps just barely match Alexander’s firepower if he went all out, however, the issue was that Alexander’s durability and stamina were way superior compared to theirs, so eventually they were going to get worn out by him.

They were fighting a losing battle and they knew it, as they slowly lost ground the first man was lost.

Alexander’s blade cut across the air as it pierced through the armour of one of the men directly ending his life.

An echo of laughter filled the room as Alexander took great delight in his first kill, “You will all be next!” He shouted

Talia meanwhile had finally recovered enough to sit up, realising the Templars were fighting a losing battle she knew that she had to do something, and now having the proper time to think she knew exactly what she could do!

Staring at the dark, eerie orb, she knew what the seemingly unbeatable Alexander’s weakness was.

She was able to identify him after observing his personality, if she was right, he must be a Corrupted Avatar!

These were beings who have merged with an orb of corruption becoming a vessel for a powerful being to inhibit, Alexander at the moment was in the beginning stage of this process.

His physique and soul were slowly being morphed into the perfect vessel to house a powerful being, even now despite his great strength this process was incomplete and Alexander would still become far stronger in the future if he was allowed to complete his merger with the orb.

Talia knew the weaknesses of this process, at the beginning stages the person was vulnerable, eventually, the orb would be completely merged into the individual, therefore allowing them to fully become a Corrupted Avatar, yet at the moment it was incomplete.

Which meant if she could destroy the orb similar to last time, then Alexander should perish alongside the orb.

However, this came with its own risks, last time she faced great peril in order to destroy the orb, and now an even more formidable one laid before her.

Yet looking at the struggling Templars on the brink of defeat she knew there was little choice in the matter.

It was either dying with the chance of changing the situation or meeting a pointless death at the hands of Alexander.

The choice to make was easy.

Reaching her hand towards the orb she felt the world went black once more, it was time to face the beings contained in the orb once again.