Ash didn't make any quick movements. His hand kept his sword ready for any fast attacks. But this creature merely stared at him, observing every reaction. It seemed to be weighing the cost-benefit situation if it fought against him.

Ash took one careful step back, his eyes still trained on the beast, unwilling to leave it for a second. Yet, it was this step that settled the debate in the beast's mind.

With a growl, it retreated, going back into the leaves and bushes. Yet Ash didn't calm down, and still only inched his way backwards, his eyes constantly scanning the forest, dreading that beast's return.

He was halfway back to the entrance to this pocket space when he heard a stick crack and a small growl. Ash quickly twisted to his side and swung his sword.

He felt it strike against something hard, and when he had the chance to look, he saw another beast of the same type, but this new beast had white fur all over, no mane, and their eyes were red.

Cursing, Ash was about to shift his attention to fully face off against this white-furred beast, yet before anything, he saw movement in the corner of his eye.

Ash gripped his sword tight and muttered a prayer under his breath. Before he could do anything else, the white beast pounced.

...

Aaron watched Lenore with a smile. She was practically hugging her unicorn just to stay on. He was silently debating whether this was the time to go after her, but another's movement drew his attention away. It was Uri.

She was pacing around the entrance of the pocket space, and occasionally pawing at the ground. At first, Aaron ignored this, but it quickly became worrying when even Mr. Lottle started to frown.

Then Mr. Lottle asked something strange, "Aaron, did I send Ash into the barn?"

Aaron silently nodded, and felt a cold hand grasp his heart when he heard Mr. Lottle curse, and rush out of the pocket space, with Uri following behind.

Inside the forest, blood gushed out of Aaron's back from five deep slashes that easily went through his cloak. The two lion-like creatures approached from both his left and right, forcing Ash away from the pocket space entrance.

Inside Ash's magic expanse, the light elements escaped into the world and converged at his back, and entered his wounds. Yet when they tried healing him, they were met with resistance, and black elements came out to oppose the light ones.

Damn it! The black lion harnesses the dark...

Ash couldn't even finish his thoughts. Before he knew it, he was on the ground with a heavy weight pressing on his back.

A scream escaped his lips as his back was further damaged by the claws of another lion. He couldn't even figure out where this new one came from, but he could feel its hot, moist breath approaching his neck.

Lightning quickly exploded out of Ash's magic expanse, and coated his body before any teeth could sink in. He heard a whimper before wind slammed against his body, smashing it into the dirt, and the weight on his black disappeared completely.

When Ash managed to stand up with help from his magic, his already pale face turned chalk white.

There were now more than the original two lion-like beasts, there were now four. Two new ones, one was red with brown eyes, it was a cub.

The other was slowly floating down, it was definitely the one that pounced on him just moments earlier. It was another white-furred one. Both of these two had no mane.

Wait... That's a cub, yet it's red, that can't be right unless...

Ash quickly swung his sword behind him. He had no real reason to, his movements were only based on a suspicion, and from what he learned from his previous encounters, but his sword struck something hard and alive.

Unfortunately, it didn't pierce through, only knocking them away.

Ash turned back to the other lions and backed away until he felt himself hit a tree. His free hand crept into his magic bag, he needed to activate the emergency signal that all holy knights had, while his light elements continued to fight the dark elements that were in his injuries.

But before he could accomplish anything, his surroundings suddenly became hotter, and he smelt smoke coming from behind.

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He took a quick glance to check what was happening, only to see the tree he stood in front of caught on fire.

"What the..." The lions didn't allow him to finish comprehending everything, they all charged, some with their heads down acting like goats ready to pierce through their enemies.

Ash coated his sword with electricity, but he had to stop, and instead used the light elements because the dark elements at his back were beginning to go crazy.

But as he was focusing most of his attention on his front, he failed to notice the lion behind him, this one an adult version of the red cub.

Crouching down, it slowly advanced forward. There was no sound, smell, or presence that gave Ash any indication that it was even there.

As it approached, its speed slowly began to increase. It was behind the tree where Ash stood, so the lion's movements couldn't catch his eye.

It rapidly shrunk the distance between itself and the tree, and when it was in front of the tree it leaped. This leap propelled it through the burning tree, attacking Ash from behind and eliminating his chances of countering this attack.

Yet, this poor lion couldn't reach Ash. A wall created from the dirt below blocked its path the moment the tree broke. And Ash witnessed as walls formed around the other lions, these walls transformed into cages.

Ash leaned against the wall behind him, and slowly sank into the dirt, his breath heavy, and face pale. The blood on his back left a trail on the smooth dirt wall. Around him, he could hear the lions trying to break through their enclosures, yet the dirt was too compact for them to leave any real damage.

But he also heard footsteps, yet he didn't worry, he already felt who these footsteps belonged to. And going around the earth cages, his beloved unicorn made her appearance.

"Oh, Uri," Ash said with relief that couldn't be measured. He tried to stand up but found that all the energy in his legs had disappeared completely.

"Thank goodness I didn't hurt them."

Ash looked up and saw Mr. Lottle peeking through the cages of earth, and checking on the lions.

"Thank you Mr. Lottle, I appreciate the care you have for me," Ash mockingly said as he watched Mr. Lottle make sure his lion-like creatures weren't hurt.

"Quite that tone with me, sir Ash, if it wasn't for me you would have been done for. And imagine how Aaron and the other holy knights would feel when they hear you were almost killed by a couple of beasts in the same stage as you while wearing the Holy Knight armor."

Ash frowned, and tried to defend himself, "These weren't normal beasts, any one of these could easily kill a human Star Core Magician, and I was against five of them... And really, thank you for the help."

"You're very welcome... And I guess you're right, these guys could tear apart any normal human Star Core Magician. You got lucky Uri knew you were in danger."

"I did, didn't I?" Ash patted his Unicorn, and used her to support his weak body, "By the way where's Aaron, when the earth walls came up I thought Aaron came?"

Mr. Lottle looked away, "Well, I may have forgotten to tell Aaron you're in trouble, but he's a smart man, he should know."

"I do now." Another voice came into the conversation in the form of Aaron, who was holding the reins of Lucky, with Lenore still awkwardly sitting on her saddle.

Aaron's voice lacked humor, and when he looked at the lion-like creatures, his fingers twitched.

These creatures... They must be the origin animal of...

"Aaron." Mr. Lottle's voice was soft, he understood Aaron's pain, much like how he understood Ash's and Aster's, but he needed to get Aaron's attention. But he was ignored.

If I study them, could I find out more about Nircel..?

"Aaron!" Mr. Lottle raised his voice.

Aaron slowly turned to look at Mr. Lottle, his eyes still lingering on the lion-like creatures, "Yes..?"

He didn't need Mr. Lottle to tell him what he wanted, he could already see what was wrong. The earth elements around the area had grown active from his emotions, and this would've been fine if everyone else here was in the Soul-Forming stages.

But Mr. Lottle was the only other person in Soul-Forming, besides him, everyone was in the Star Core Magician stages and below. The earth elements interfered with the movements of the other elements, and for the other people, it felt like a sandstorm, with the earth elements barraging them constantly.

Aaron swiped at his surroundings, and all the earth elements were collected into his palm, freeing the others from the bombardment.

When this happened Ash was breathing heavily, the earth elements had gotten inside his wounds, and it messed with his own light elements, while also slightly increasing the dark elements.

Lenore and Lucky fought for air, the earth elements had gotten into their systems, and they struggled to expel it until Aaron drew it out of them.

Ash leaned his head against the earth wall again, having fallen during the earth element storm, "Mr. Lottle, what exactly are these creatures?"

Mr. Lottle moved some of the earth off the earth wall to get a better look at his lions, "I was told that in the old world, they were called manticores."

The earth elements were starting to act up again, and Aaron, who went back to looking at the lion creatures, turned back to Mr. Lottle, "Matthew told you?"

"Drew actually. Turns out under that icy exterior, she still has quite the ambition."

Aaron frowned, "So she chose a side, of course she picked Matthew's."

Mr. Lottle exhaled, and shook his head, "There are no sides, Aaron, everyone just wants to know the truth."

"The truth?" Lenore muttered, "Uncle, what is he talking about?"

"Nonsense, it's just the words of a crazy old man." Aaron said, turning away from Mr. Lottle and taking the reins of Lucky, "Let's go."

Ash didn't get up just yet, and looked at Mr. Lottle, "What did you mean by old world?"

Mr. Lottle shook his head, "You're not strong enough for that just yet."

"What stage do I have to be in for you to tell me?"

Mr. Lottle smiled and said, "It's not your magic stage that's weak, it's your mind."