“Remember when I told you she ran from home? She was captured by bandits and then saved by a human mage.” Seith replied.

“A human? I bet he was surprised when she became stronger than him.” Gadanfar replied laughing.

“You will be surprised, I saw him wipe the forest with a horde of Kelpie. He might be a human but his strength surpasses even monsters.” Seith bragged.

“I guess that lightning is a trick he taught her. Even though, I don’t think he will reach the tiger chieftain. He will get killed before he could cast any spell.” Gadanfar said with a thinking face, most mages he saw took a few seconds to cast spells which made killing them far easier than fighters.

“You’re a lion, at least support your chieftain.” Seith sighed.

“No way, the tiger chieftain is way cooler than our useless chieftain. Have you seen him hunt alone, he is a monster!” Gadanfar yelled as if it was the natural thing to do.

The lion king usually hunted with his wives, employing tactics and clever formations to reach a 100% success rate in hunts.

The tiger chieftain on the other hand hunted solo and mostly chased heavy-weight targets. Even though he only has a 70% success rate, he was seen as the stronger one since he tackled everything alone.

Selena returned to her father and Gadanfar, she captured five bison for Gadanfar. That was the best they should be able to drag back home.

“Hey Selena,” Gadanfar called.

“What is it-nya?” Selena shifted back to her humanoid form.

‘What is her deal with this nya? Did Seith spoil her too much?’ Gadanfar was a bit confused but he wasn’t going to question the behavior of someone stronger than him.

“Did you hear? The lion king and the tiger chieftain will soon fight over the forest. The winner will claim this whole forest as his hunting ground.” Gadanfar explained.

“I know you might be attached to your husband but those two are strong, I bet neither of them will refuse you. It will also help the jaguar clan to rise back to the top by having one of their daughters marry the alpha.” Gadanfar was explaining..In lion society, males could steal other males’ pride. And it wasn’t uncommon for females to run to the strongest fighter.

Selena’s brain was processing everything and she quickly reached a conclusion.

“The winner going to own the forest-nya?” Selena asked.

“Of course, that’s a massive wealth. All clans will have to pay him a portion of their hunts and fight for his cause. It will be better for you to stick with one of them. But it’s a battle to the death so you better wait until the result is decided.”

“That’s a good idea!” Selena smiled.

“Right? It’s..” Gadanfar was about to talk when he heard Selena’s next line.

“I’m going to kill both of them and give the forest to Cain, I’m sure there is no hunt better than a whole forest.” Selena shifted back to her Jaguar form.

..Both Seith and Gadanfar needed a few seconds to process what they heard.

“This belongs to Cain and..” Before Selena could finish, Gracie interrupted her.

“You need to own the forest before you can give it to Cain,” Gracie said with a passive face.

Selena changed what she was saying, “This is my forest-gaw. I need them out so I can give it to Cain-gaw.” Selena rushed to the distance.

“Selena, stop!” Seith yelled after her.

“She will be fine, leave her be,” Gracie said.

“What happened to your daughter?” Gadanfar asked, this might be the first time a female fought for the position of the alpha in decades.

“She got more confidence in her strength and is more focused on what she wants,” Seith remembered when Selena fought a goat when she was little. She could have won but her fear and low self-confidence caused her to get rammed in the chest.

“Let’s head back, she will return when she finishes what she wants.” Gracie turned around to walk toward the village.

..

In the turtle clan, one of the elders who have lived for centuries opened her eyes. Feeling the cold wind blowing in the air bringing a sour smell.

She looked toward the sky and frowned, her wrinkled face almost not changing. “A black demon is flying in our sky..” She mumbled.

“What? Did you say something elder Facrona?” One of the youngest elders yelled at her almost deaf ears.

“Who are you?” She looked at him with a questioning face.

“It’s me your son, how many times did you forget me on this day?” He helped her up..

..historical

“Where is Selena?” Elena asked looking behind them. Usually, her daughter comes rushing in first, but now she can’t even smell her nearby.

“Selena..well she is..” Seith was trying his hardest to find a suitable excuse.

“She went to kill the lion king and the tiger chieftain.” Gracie spilled the beans as if it was normal.

Elena stopped what she was doing and glared at them, especially Gracie. “Can she do it?”

“She can. Selena is far stronger than she looks.” Gracie said with a passive face as she dropped a bison from her shadow.

..

Back at the mansion, Hati was swinging her sword in Cain’s backyard. “You still here?” Chad told her.

“Do you have a problem?” Hati growled at him.

“Ulf died a long ago, don’t you want to reclaim your rightful throne?” Chad replied. She was Ulf’s daughter and with her strength, she could easily take his position.

“That’s none of your business, I will only return with that dragon’s head.” Hati didn’t intend on returning to the village until the day she is strong enough to kill the sealed earth dragon.

“Your life is none of my business, that’s right. But it’s Ulf’s right on me to make sure his daughters achieve what they want!” Chad pulled his sword rushing at Hati.

Hati lifted her sword to block his attack but the swing was too strong that she got disarmed. She tried to back away but Chad dropped her to the ground with a well-placed ankle kick.

“Stand both of you, don’t fight me alone as you will never achieve anything like that!” Chad growled, pointing out the fact that Hati and Skoll weren’t cooperating during fights.

“What do you know?” Hati growled at him.

“Now I disarmed you, Skoll could have made you a new weapon or even helped you hold the blade with magic.”

(We can do it, I will use magic and you fight. We can do it since the last time) Skoll told her sister.

~Are you sure you won’t harm yourself? The shard alone is bearing its weight on you~ Hati asked.

(Don’t worry about that, we can fight!)

A small rock emerged from the ground knocking Hati’s sword back into her hand. In the next moment, a stone glove covered her right hand and fused with the blade.

Stone plates, akin to scales covered Hati’s pulsating nine tails as she pointed them toward Chad. CRACK! A pointy tip formed on each of them as Hati glared at Chad with a stern face.

“You asked for this (You asked for this)” Two voices spoke the same sentence on top of each other.

Hati rushed at Chad swinging her blade and trying to stab him with her nine tails.

CLANG! BANG! Chad kept deflecting each strike with grace, he wasn’t much faster than Hati but his figure seemed to morph around with each move.

As Hati and Skoll started getting nervous, CLANG! Chad’s sword flew away from his hand. ‘We disarmed him (We disarmed him)’ They thought.

Hati swung the sword at Chad’s exposed forearm, this was it, they can finally return the hit.

CLANG! Chad’s forearm muscles pulsed like a heart as the blade touched. CRACK! The eternal blade snapped in half and was forced back into Hati’s body.

Hati was left in disbelief at that moment, BAM! BAM! Chad twisted his body to the side just as he saw the dancer do in the capital, quickly crushing the plates protecting Hati’s nine tails.

(What was that?) Skoll gasped, unlike Hati who only saw the eternal blade snap. Skoll saw what really happened to the shard.

The moment it connected to Chad’s flesh, his divine magic seeped into the shard. In one swoop, the beast god’s divine power stored in the shard resonated with Chad’s divine power and submitted to it.

To be more accurate, the beast god’s divine magic got converted into Chad’s divine magic which gave his will a brief control of the shard. Since he wanted the attack to fail, the blade snapped to accommodate that wish.

Of course, the beast god’s divine magic took the shard back but it was too late because chad has already smacked Hati back to the ground.

“I will..(Stop you can’t beat him, he’s abnormal)” Hati still wanted to fight but Skoll stopped her, Chad was out of their league if he could just slap a god’s divine magic into submission.