Reincarnated As A Lion In Another World

"Hostages?" Stella asked while giving Kael a knowing smile, "If that is how you see it then yes?"

Hearing this, Eidel and Ruda took a step back and their claws were bared. The flames and Eidel's fur burned and purple electricity surged around Ruda.

"I expected nothing less," Kael suddenly said, surprising everyone including Stella.

"I'll agree as long as you promise not to lay a hand on them, you're not to even place any rune on them at all," Kael said.

His words stunned Eidel, Ruda, and Chloe, what was Kael talking about? Was he seriously agreeing to this?

"Hmm," Stella thought about Kael's words for a moment, she had indeed planned on putting runes in them right from the start.

But Kael would never allow it, especially after he had seen those exploding rats.

"Why did you agree so quickly? I was expecting you to put up a fight," Stella said truthfully, this confused her and she couldn't help but feel a bit uncertain.

"If we put up a fight, would we win? We're lions, we're not stupid. Whether we fight or not, you're still going to take them hostage either way," Kael said.

Kael was confident in his ability to defeat Stella if he used the Conqueror Mode, but Stella was not the only one to worry about.

There were still the four other leaders of this safe zone, they could be anywhere. Fighting a single tier 4 was one thing, fighting more than one was different.

Not to mention that Kael had little experience with fighting beings of this caliber. Darius was just a single case, a tiger who had lightning powers.

There were other mystical forces besides lightning, how Kael fought during his battle with Darius is not the same way he would fight any other being.

In short, he had to be very careful.

Stella might appear calm now but if he tried to do anything that she didn't want, it could lead to some serious issues.

Eidel and Ruda were not as strong as he was, they would get caught in the crossfire if Kael decided to fight and they might not survive.

"Eidel, Ruda, you two will stay here and wait for your pride sisters. Don't think of it like a hostage situation, it's more like an infiltration mission.

We're going, you guys cannot follow, so there's no point pushing it.

Lay low and don't bring too much attention to yourselves, when your pride sisters come, join them in razing this safe zone to the ground." Kael communicated with his sisters privately.

Eidel and Ruda relaxed after hearing Kael's reassuring words, Kael was not abandoning them he was just adjusting.

"Okay then, no harm shall come to them. Go and come back with the treasure and we can discuss further."

Kael nodded, secretly deciding Stella's fate in his heart. He looked at Chloe and nodded.

The air lioness immediately understood what he was implying, she spread her wings and flapped them, ascending to the sky.

"I'll be on my way," Kael said as he flapped his wings and launched himself into the sky.

#####

Far away from the shoreline, two humanoids stood next to each other on the roof of a well-made bone hut.

Both had strikingly similar features, from the blonde hair with black patches to the black tear marks underneath their eyes. Even their height and build were the same.

These two were none other than Zed and Zod, the cheetah brothers. Currently, they were staring at the shoreline and looking at the two winged figures that had just ascended into the sky.

"Bummer, I never thought Stella would seize the opportunity," Zed said with a playful smirk on his face.

"She's smart, smarter than both of us," Zod said with his usual serious expression, "We were naive to think that she didn't notice anything,"

Zed shook his head, "Smart or not, she's a pain. I haven't eaten rabbit meat in a long time because of her," He said with a fake sad expression.

"Neither have I, but I'm not complaining. We need her to maintain balance over the safe zone, it's best if we shy away from offending her for now," Zod replied.

"Should we follow them?" Zed asked as golden electricity sparked around his body.

"No, let's wait for Aeon. We don't know what dangers await us there, it's better if others go before us to test the waters.

When Aeon and his son come around, we'll all go together," Zod said.

"Okay then, what about Stella and Harath?" Zed asked, this time, his eyes emitted cold killing intent.

Zod scoffed, clearly displeased that they had been brought up again, "What can we do, those grass eaters actually think we're on the same side with them.

The natural way of things is that they feed on the earth and we feed on them, that is how things are supposed to be.

This alliance between us and them is only temporary until we have the power to kill them off.

This place should have been the exchange ground for all predators like us, a place to share meat with fellow meat lovers.

That pig and rabbit think they can make the world a better place with their ideals, they're either way too ambitious or naive."

Zed nodded his head, "They claim that this place is a safe zone to exchange everything, but I see how they react when they see meat being exchanged.

Sometimes, I wonder if they secretly want to turn us into vegetarians, hehe," Zed laughed as he thought about it.

"You underestimate the power of delusion brother," Zod replied, "Stella might be terrifyingly smart but she still has hope to elevate her rabbits from the food chain, she's trying.

Even now, she's still thinking of the rabbits. Logical, yet attached, how strange," As Zod said this, he saw the two distant winged figures fly away over the sea.

They flapped their wings hard, easily covering a large distance after a few seconds.

"Isn't it illegal to fly near the safe zone?" Zed suddenly asked.

Zod shrugged his shoulders, "Meh, let's not trouble Stella," With that, he hopped down from the roof, followed by his brother.

Preparations were to be made.

####

Over at the sea, something else was happening.

A massive magic shuttle floated above the waters like a metal behemoth monster. It cast a dark shadow over the waters and the gravitational disruptions coming from it caused the water to rise up in the form of waves that reached tens of meters.

At the top of the magic shuttle, multiple hatches opened up and different humanoid figures rose out like ghosts from the insides of the vessel.

There were thirteen of these humanoid figures in total, and all of them were producing terrifying auras.

Xu Ying stared at the sky and sighed, "It would have been easier if the Kings could come down themselves," He said to no one in particular.

He wore his usual dark blue trench coat over a white undershirt. One of his eyes glowed blue while the other glowed red, both having intricate patterns within them. Even now, he was still making calculations and looking for errors.

Unfortunately, he found errors, a lot of errors.

"This shit is crazier than I expected," Adolf said over the blowing wind as his short red hair scattered under the harsh breeze.

"Wait, so you're saying there might be more than one Heavenly Beacon here?" One of the youths with green hair and a singular horn on his head said.

"That's literally what he's saying, do you want him to repeat himself?" Thawne commented while rolling his eyes and folding his arms.

"That's not exactly a good thing though," Baba, who now had three arms instead of four, said with a graceful expression.

"This was supposed to be a pick-up, ugh," Another one said.

"For two ancient lion kings to have died In the same place, that's no coincidence. Everything just reeks of danger down there," said a lady with grey hair.

"Who cares, it's not like anything can stop us from taking it?" A large man with bulging muscles said in a deep voice.

"It doesn't mean they wouldn't try, look at those silly little octopuses and squids down there, how troublesome," Thawne said.

The youths had originally been fourteen in total, however, now that Chloe and Wadolius were nowhere to be found, their numbers had come down to twelve.

While the other youths were talking amongst themselves, Alora remained quiet and cold. No one talked to her, they could see that she was not in a great mood.

"Prince Xu Ying, is it that bad?" Alora sent a private telepathic message to Xu Ying.

Xu Ying brought his head down and his shoulders slumped, he seemed very tired all of a sudden, "I don't know,"

Alora's heart went cold, it was never a good thing to hear a Magus Lion say he didn't know something.

"Are we still going to go in?" She asked.

"Yes, definitely," Xu Ying replied with a firm gaze. He walked to the edge of the magic shuttle, allowing himself to see the commotion that was happening down below.

"The signal we just received is completely different from the signal I have been following, those are two different heavenly beacon signals.

This could either be a fortune or misfortune,"

Down below, a massive whirlpool spanning hundreds of meters in diameter had formed on the sea and spun rapidly with a dark abyssal hoe for a center.

Floating around this whirlpool were thousands of octopuses and squids, all staying away to make sure they were not dragged in.

"We just have to play our cards right," Xu Ying said, revealing a ruthless glint in his eyes.