Sophia had bathed the entire battlefield into the pitch-black nothingness of her darkness magic while the beastfolk group was nervously staring at the event, not that they could see anything more than a black void. Eventually, the blonde slowly began to wrap things up.
"S-Spare us... please!"
"W-We'll do anything... Help... S-Spare at least us…" Darkness magic was quite effective. The ever so proud supreme commanders of the human army had turned into a sobbing mess while cowering on the ground, trying to shield themselves from the all-embracing void.
"Anything, huh?" She raised an eyebrow in interest.
"A-Anything!" The leader of the commanders, the one with the wettest pants, raised his voice.
"That sounds lovely~. You guys are aware of what's going to happen if you're lying, right?" Her voice was both sweet and intimidating.
"Y-Yes!"
"Perfect." Sophia seemed satisfied. A little while later, the light slowly returned to the area, and soon enough, everything was back to normal.
"Hah... hah..." They were sweating profusely.
"T-Thank goodness..." The commanders were visibly relieved while trying to get away from the tiger by slowly retreating.
"W-What are you going to do to us now...?"
"Well~, unfortunately, like most grievous wounds, it's going to get worse before it becomes better."
"Hiieh!" They flinched again.
"Let's get over with this." The moment those words left her lips, many roots shot out of the earth, binding the commanders and forcing them to kneel down in front of Sophia. Once they were in a nice and humiliating position, the entire ground around them started to rumble. It slowly raised up and formed into a sort of pedestal, presenting Sophia and the bound-up commanders to the human army.
"T-The supreme commanders."
"I-Impossible!"
"M-Monster!"
"W-What have you beast done?!" A good number of soldiers had fainted from the darkness magic, but most were still up and raised quite a fuss. Even so, behind their complaints, pure terror was written all over their faces, and they tried to put more distance between Sophia and themselves with a mortified expression. It almost looked like something was telling them to stay away from her.
"Silence." A loud yet calm voice of a girl echoed through the area, and not a single sound could be heard anymore afterward. "My, aren't you good listeners now?" Sophia seemed to be using some sort of magic to amplify her voice.
"..." No one dared to talk back.
"You might ask who I am. Well, let's just say I'm the one who brought you this nightmare, and I'll bring you many more if you don't listen now. As you can see, you've lost this war." She pointed at their commanders. "A dirty little beast like me kicked the asses of you superior humans. Quite easily so. You may call yourself superior, but you're the furthest away from it. You're in the realm of being entirely powerless. The only thing the humans are good at is opening their big mouths, but all that comes out there is hot air. You're such a joke. It's at a point where it stopped being funny, went full circle, and went back to hilarious again. Just in a painful and unfunny way, though."
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"..." The soldiers were unable to give a reply as fear and terror were still ruling over them.
"You might also be thinking now what this bastard is even talking about, huh? Whatever she wants, we'll never comply. You know, I wouldn't recommend this way of thinking." The tiger-girl pointed at one of the commanders, whose expression quickly changed.
"Gah! Haa... Haa..." After a quick pained cry, he began to pant for air, but it didn't seem like he was getting any. A moment later, his face turned blue, and he lifelessly fell face first down on the ground.
"Hiieh!" Yet another pig-like squeak could be heard.
"S-Supreme commander!"
"M-Monster!" The battlefield turned noisy again.
"Silence." Her cold voice once more echoed through the area.
"..." They turned into good listeners.
"Just to be clear, I can do that to every single one of you without moving from this place. I highly suggest you to listen to my words. I will now recommend a couple of things to you all, and with that, the entire human race. Also, with recommendation, I mean absolute, non-negotiable rules." She made a slight pause to add some drama to it.
"..." Everyone seemed to be on high alert.
"You'll never again attack or even try to attack the beastfolk. No, merely thinking about it is a no-go. The attempted kidnappings will never occur again, either. You are not superior to anyone, don't act like that. Tell your family, friends, fellow citizens, ANYONE. If even a single beastperson is harmed by a human again or inconvenienced for that matter, I'll come to your homes, and this time, I won't be holding back. I'll end you. Every single one of you. An army of 5,000 or 5 million, it makes no difference to me. Not to mention that I have a couple of friends who are at least as powerful as I am. Don't even try to think of anything funny. It'll only lead to your ruin."
"..." She was continued to be met with silence.
"That's all. Now to show you how serious I am, a small demonstration might be appropriate..." Sophia raised one of her hands, and the battlefield became noisy again. A final time.
"G-Grah..."
"W-Wha-... a-air..."
"H-Help!" Anguished screams echoed from all corners while the soldiers were grabbing their throats and panting for air, seemingly suffocating.
"..." Bit by bit, the area was turning silent. One human after the other fell on the ground and stopped moving, just like their commander earlier.
"Alright..." Sophia turned to the two remaining commanders.
"W-Why... Why did you kill them...?"
"T-This makes no sense... after your speech."
"They're not dead."
"E-Eh?" They obviously couldn't believe her.
"Just like your colleague, too." Sophia pointed at the human lying in the dirt next to the two. "I just let them pass out by temporarily removing the air in the area." She didn't feel like explaining how she did it. "They'll wake up again and without any sort of lasting damage. Probably. They're of no use for me dead. It was a mere demonstration to you."
"Y-You can remove our air to breathe...?"
"It's quite easy. Do you understand how simple it would be for me to eradicate a city of yours? I wouldn't even have to actually destroy it. Also, while this here is indeed my true form. I am a tiger," She pointed at her body. Is her true form, became her true form, same difference for Sophia. "I don't have the need to, but I can simply turn into a human shape and walk right into your capital. And it will happen if I find out that a human tried to harm another of my fellow beastfolk. Contrary to today, I won't hold back then, though. Not even ash will be left behind of your capital. Go to your king or whatever sorry excuse rules over you and tell them what happened today. Inform him of my demands and what happens if they get ignored. If he doesn't listen, make him. Do you understand? Even the effects of the darkness magic you're feeling right now, it's not even half of what they could become if you don't comply."
"Y-Yes!" Both supreme commanders were shivering like crazy.
"Though I'm not unreasonable, you know?" Sophia smiled at them, which only caused the two to shiver even more. "The humans have one week to put these rules in effect."
"T-That's-!"
"One. week." There was no room for negotiation.
"Y-Yes!"
"Oh, one last thing. While I am of the tiger family, I'm not directly affiliated with the king in this matter. I've acted on my own here because I love my fellow beastfolk. While I think the king agrees, I decided to end this stupidity on my own." She didn't want to give Menzor even more of a headache, not that it would change anything.
"W-We understand."
"Alrighty~." Her voice turned cheery, or extra scary, depending on the listener. "I guess it's only fair for the two of you to join your comrades, no?" Once she said these words, the only two conscious humans fainted in a matter of seconds. "Ahh, I'm sooo tired~." Sophia's anger was also gone as she looked across the silent battlefield.