This time, Ethan didn’t wait.
The moment the lion charged, he moved forward and grabbed a broken branch from the ground without slowing down.
His body twisted smoothly, arm pulling back, and then—he let it fly.
The branch whistled through the air.
It struck the second lion right in the jaw.
A loud crack rang out.
The beast staggered, its head whipping to the side. It didn’t fall, but the blow threw off its momentum.
Meanwhile, Mei didn’t have time to think about how Ethan was such a good close-combat fighter.
As she surged forward, closing the gap in an instant. Her body twisted mid-run, one leg dragging behind her as power gathered at her fists. Blue light flared around her knuckles.
She slammed straight into the lion’s side.
The impact sent it flying, crashing into the trees with a roar, quickly becoming a cough.
Branches cracked. Dust rose.
The beast didn’t get back up.
Sera stood frozen in place.
She hadn’t expected them to move so fast. Or hit so hard.
But her shock only lasted a heartbeat.
Because one of the other lions, smaller but faster, broke formation and lunged straight at her from the side.
She flinched, raising her arms in panic.
The glyphs etched into her gloves pulsed at that exact moment—light flaring from her palms and chest.
A shield formed around her, not large, but solid.
The lion crashed into the barrier and bounced back, rolling once before springing up again with a snarl.
Sera blinked, stunned. She looked down at her glowing hands.
That hadn’t been a conscious choice.
The spell had activated on its own.
Even Ethan noticed. He turned his head slightly mid-motion, catching her expression.
’So she could defend herself, that was good to know,’ he thought.
But there was no time to say anything.
Smoke thickened around them.
The remaining lions began to move again.
Growls echoed from the trees.
Their manes flared with angry heat, licking flames into the air like burning flags.
Ethan exhaled and pushed forward.
His illusions rippled around him—ghost shapes in the mist.
A flicker of a double to the left, a misleading footstep sound to the right.
Enough to confuse the beasts.
Enough to slow their coordination.
He ducked under a swipe, let his shoulder slam into a lion’s side, and then pivoted around a tree to deliver a precise strike to the ribs of another.
They fought like a tide.
Mei followed closely, her motions sharp and deliberate.
She wasn’t as fast as he was, but her strikes landed with brutal accuracy. Every movement from her looked like something trained, not just learned, but ingrained through experience.
Sera kept to the rear, planting healing circles into the ground wherever she could.
Her magic weaved between the chaos, forming a second layer of defense over the battlefield.
When a claw grazed Ethan’s arm, a quick pulse from Sera’s glyph closed the wound mid-fight.
He didn’t even slow down.
But even with teamwork, the number of lions was high.
Too high.
Three more emerged from deeper in the trees.
Their eyes glowed faint orange.
Their manes burned hotter.
And at the center of them stood something even worse.
A larger lion.
Its fur shimmered between gold and ember red. Its shoulders rose higher than the others, and its face held something... different.
Not rage.
Not hungry.
But awareness.
It stepped forward slowly.
Each step left blackened prints in the grass.
Its gaze moved past Mei. Past Sera.
And landed on Ethan.
It didn’t blink.
It didn’t roar.
It just stared.
Ethan felt his chest tighten slightly—not from fear but recognition.
This lion wasn’t a simple beast.
This one was watching him like a person would.
Like, I understood something.
"Why do you hide your fangs?" the lion asked, voice low and rumbling.
Ethan didn’t answer.
Mei’s stance shifted slightly beside him.
Sera gasped behind them. "Did it just... talk?"
Ethan said nothing.
But he felt something stir inside him.
The lion took another step, embers drifting from its mane like sparks on the wind.
"I smell the blood of kings," it said. "But you wear a mask."
The air around them thickened.
Even the other lions stopped moving.
They weren’t attacking now.
They were watching.
Waiting.
The fire on their bodies didn’t dim, but the heat became still.
Ethan stepped forward.
Just one step.
Then another.
The mist from his illusions faded away, like a curtain being pulled back.
His fists clenched once.
And then he moved.
The lion charged at the same time.
They collided in the center of the clearing.
No illusion.
No tricks.
Just force.
Claw and fist met mid-swing, the shockwave knocking loose leaves from nearby trees.
Ethan ducked, spun, and delivered a sharp elbow to the lion’s chest.
The lion retaliated with a roar, flames curling from its mouth.
It lashed out with a claw, but Ethan jumped back and landed smoothly, eyes locked onto the beast.
Then, without waiting, he ran forward again.
He didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t think.
His instincts guided him.
He dodged low, slid under the next swipe, and planted a solid blow into the lion’s front leg. The beast buckled, roaring.
Mei moved next, darting in from the left.
She aimed for the other lions now.
One tried to intercept her, but she twisted and used her own momentum to throw it sideways.
Another lunged at Sera—but this time, the healer didn’t freeze.
She raised both hands and flared her glyphs again, forming another barrier.
The lion bounced off, stunned.
Ethan took advantage of the distraction.
He charged again, this time twisting an illusion around his arm—not a fake version of himself, but a mirrored strike—a false direction that confused the lion’s depth perception.
The lion blinked—just once.
And Ethan struck.
The punch hit deep.
The lion roared, staggered back, and slammed into a tree.
It wasn’t out.
But it was down.
And the others?
They began to retreat.
Not from fear.
But from recognition.
They understood now.
This wasn’t just a test.
This was a message.
And Ethan?
He had delivered it.
As the flames died down and the smoke cleared, Ethan lowered his hand.