NOVPUBThe battle at the settlement ended that same night with the pathways in between many bone huts soaked with blood.
Many bone huts had been destroyed, their rubble collapsed under the dead bodies of the inhabitants and invaders.
The fighting ended with the invaders taking the victory. There was no other way it could have ended.
The inhabitants of the settlement outclassed the invaders with individual might. They had many more individuals at the tier 3 wolf power level or similar than the invaders.
Yet, the invaders overwhelmed them with numbers and coordination.
This was why Kael had asked for them to aggressively recruit creatures into the kingdom. The gap in individual strength could not be covered quickly so they had to make do with higher numbers and coordinated attacks.
Of course, many creatures of the invaders died during the fight. Many of them were shot to death by the magic turrets, some had fought to death with their opponents.
Goats, wolves, bears, foxes, and birds, their bodies varied and the corpses were not lacking. The smell of blood now mixed with the salty smell of the nightly sea breeze.
Still, a good number of creatures from the settlement had been either killed or subdued, most of whom were rabbits.
For the rabbits, the news of their leader, Stella, running away had been the nail in the coffin. They didn't have a herd or pack mentality, all they wanted was to survive to see the next daylight.
Some flamingos had surrendered but most of them managed to run away, vowing to never come back here again.
The Paradise Beach was now secured. A strategic location, close to the water and next to the forest. They had also ripped rewards in the form of new subordinates and quality meat.
Diane stood in her humanoid at the center of the rubble, her hair which had been tied into a long ponytail flowed freely in the breeze.
She was naked as usual but her body was currently drenched in the blood of her enemies. The blood covered her scars and seemed to make her less war-like.
Her toned and athletic muscles housed a suppressed strength, every breath she took in and out was filled with power.
"You felt it too?" A telepathic voice came from behind her, causing her furrowed brows to relax.
She didn't need to turn back to tell that it was Eidel who spoke.
"Yes, he's gotten stronger," Diane said with a worried expression. Her tensed muscles relaxed and she released her balled fist from its squeeze.
"If we felt it, surely other lions would have sensed it as well. A challenge to them all," Eidel said, frowning. Her red eyes burned fiercely as she stared at the dark horizon where Kael and Chloe had flown.
That pulse, it was none other than Kael, they knew so because they had felt something similar when he was close to them.
The rapid release of lion-tainted conquering essence.
The pulse.
Diane squeezed her hands into fists with blood dripping from her knuckles, "We'll be by his side, right?"
Eidel nodded, "Always,"
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The pocket dimension.
The stench of blood, burnt flesh, and death filled the land here.
Silence, this mini world was eerily silent, like a ghostly god had descended to deliver punishment on the mortals.
It was quiet, too quiet.
Near the edge of this pocket dimension, at the lake which also acted as the entrance into this world.
Any aquatic creatures swam in the lake or staked near the edge, panicking. Normally, these creatures would hardly stay close to each other without trying to kill themselves.
But now, fighting was the last thing on their mind, they just wanted to get back to their world.
Most of these creatures happened to be water lions. There were at least two hundred of them with thirty percent of them being males.
For some reason, the entrance, the portal had disappeared, leaving an ordinary lake bottom for them to stare at.
Unless a certain someone intervened now, they would be stuck here forever.
#####
Iron Blood Pyramid.
At the top of the 2.5-kilometer tall pyramid, the throne level.
A wide hole had been opened up in the wall, an entrance that led into the throne room.
Kael stood by this entrance, naked and divine before the world. One of his hands was raised to hold the entrance as he supported himself at the edge of the entrance.
His dark blonde hair rested softly over his head, moving slightly to the tune of the fantasy breeze.
His eyes, gold irises with deep black pupils, stared out at the vast land and false night sky, the new world that was now his to control.
Thinking of this, Kael could not help but let the corner of his lips rise slightly. He smiled at the thought of what he had now become.
A Lion King.
This good mood of his did not last as he felt a power return to him. His Fortune power which had previously been suppressed by Aziza's remnant power, finally returned to him.
This meant that his fate had once again been released. There were no longer any strings, no guidance, no subtle control over what he did.
Kael was glad about this, but he was also aware that he would be on his own from now on.
That pulse he released had alerted every single lion in heaven and in the universe. It was a challenge even though he had never intended for it to be so.
The Conquering Essence within Noel's heavenly beacon had been so potent that it immediately rushed out after he fused with it, forming that cosmic pulse.
Surely, those terrifying Lion Kings felt it, they all knew that the Primordial Lion was born now, it was an instinctive knowledge.
What would happen now?
Kael already knew the spatial distortion around the planet was fading away, why else had King Larvis detected Aziza's Heavenly Beacon in the first place? Soon, the Lion King would be able to locate this planet and come here.
Kael didn't know how long, not yet, but he knew he didn't have much time left.
If he was just an ordinary Lion King, most of them wouldn't care. But he was the Primordial Lion, the supposed King Of Kings, according to Aziza.
The new Lion King was under pressure l but he also had some plans and some new upgrades.
Kael felt that he would be able to pull through if he did things right. He was scared of death, he had to be honest with himself, that's what he would use as a driving force from now on.
He would make sure he survived, no matter the cost.
Besides, he wasn't completely defenseless, not anymore.
Conquering Essence, that was the name of the energy source of the Law Of Conquering. With Conquering Essence, he could now use and play around with the true powers of a Primordial Lion.
Kael brought his hand up, looking at the mass of golden essence sticking to his palm. He waved his hand and the golden essence dissolved.
Not just that, he also had the perks of the heavenly beacon, something he still hadn't settled down to understand yet.
Kael felt Noel's heavenly beacon, now his own heavenly beacon, reacting with the Lion System.
Both the heavenly beacon and the Lion System seemed to recognize each other, as though they were two parts of one machine.
If they could fuse into one, a mutation would occur that would change both of them significantly.
Kael was curious, he stopped resisting and allowed the heavenly beacon without him to be enveloped by the power of the lion system.
The two entities clashed within Kael's body, fighting for dominance while still trying to fuse with each other.
Kael let them be, for now, putting his thoughts towards other immediate things to take care of.
Like this pyramid.
Remembering the Iron Blood Shuttle back in the private hangar in the pyramid, that smile returned to his face.
Everything his eyes touched was now his property, a proper base of command. Far better than that mountain in the forest.
His ears twitched, the sound of the rising elevator stopping at the center of the throne level.
He already knew who was in the elevator, a naughty thought entered Kael's head when he thought of her at this time.
The doors of the elevator slid to the sides to reveal Chloe, now in her humanoid form and dressed in her grey clothes.
Her nose picked up Kael's scent, and she followed it, going around the elevator till she saw Kael standing at the entrance of a seamless hole in the metal wall.
His seven-foot-tall figure was very impressive, his strong back and his long golden-furred tail added to his regal aura.
"Kael…" Chloe muttered with her mouth, not her mind.
Xu Ying and the others were nowhere to be seen, this worried her. Did Kael do something to them?
That pulse had awakened an instinct within her that she never knew she had, it was like her genes were reacting to Kael's existence.
It was annoying as much as it was good pumping. She suddenly had a burning desire to travel the world and conquer everything under the sky, a desire she kept firmly suppressed for now.
She was one hundred percent sure that the person standing there was the Primordial Lion.
He wasn't hiding the overflowing might of his being, allowing Chloe to sense the depths of his new strength.
Kael had successfully evolved and was now a tier 4 lion, an extraordinary one.
"Chloe," Kael turned around and revealed his abs and strong pectoral muscles to the winged woman. He spoke her name with his mouth, using the Lion language.
Chloe stared blankly, unsure of what to say now.
Kael had a mysterious glint flash in his eyes, "Why don't we look for a place to relax, you must be tired as well," Kael said with a fiendish smirk forming on his lips.
