The Capital city of the magical beasts.

The four great families had moved to this place in the hope of using the water as a natural form of defense, of course, that was what was told to the general public, however, no one believed them, and they were smart not to. The truth was that the Royal Basiliks had secret records of an ancient defense formation located deep within the water, and it was only after sharing this information that the other families accepted their proposal.

But who would have thought that what they feared most wouldn't be caused by outsiders trying to attack the city, but instead by a citizen living within it, and one with one of the highest status at that?

One-fifth of the massive city was submerged by lava, every wisp of life eradicated within its range. And that included the main branch of the Royal Basiliks: their elders, members, armies, and even their servants. There was a big possibility that they were all dead. As for the leader, no one was sure if he was dead as they knew he had left to investigate the cause of the sudden lightning flashes in the sky and the shaking of the earth, a couple of hours ago.

Just when some of the leaders and elders started moving towards the direction of the Royal Basiliks territory, a sudden change took place. A certain portion of the lava below them churned greatly, and before they could react, a figure shot into the sky, and quickly cut across it.

"Wh-What? Who was that?"

The elders screamed in surprise, as they couldn't catch a glimpse of the figure that moved so fast their eyes couldn't follow the movement. Only the expressions of the three leaders changed, as a shocked look appeared on their faces. Quickly exchanging glances, they shot into the distance as they gave chase.

The elders were perplexed about what was going on but left with no choice, they quickly followed their leaders.

.....

The magical beasts within the capital city trembled in fear, their eyes filled with pure terror. If it hadn't been for the members of the remaining three great beast families who were quick to act, it was sure that the cities would have been filled with chaos. But under their control, each member of the city was forced to stay in their house and not leave until further notice.

Within the territory of the Beast Association.

Unlike the other great beast families who had a unique bloodline that was passed to future descendants, the beast association as could be inferred from its name, was an association of different magical beasts who refused to be under the control of the other three great families. After several years of resistance and with many powerful figures at their helm, the association was able to stand toe to toe with the other families. Of course, they were still the weakest among the group, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that they also wielded power almost equal to the three, and could make decisions on their own.

"Stop right there!" An angry cry suddenly shook the skies above the territory of the Beast Association. Most of the important figures had already moved out into the city to control the situation while those remaining had already shut themselves in their houses, leaving the streets empty and devoid of any presence.

Razor who had been flying across the sky with the little bit of strength he had left finally fell to the ground after failing to dodge the attack of the leader of the Emberclaw legion.

Bang!

His body formed several craters of different sizes as he rolled across the ground before coming to a stop.

Razor's mouth opened uncontrollably, and a red liquid with dark wisps forced its way out of his mouth, with pieces of his internal organs mixed within.

Despite surviving through Scarlett's attack, Razor's current state could only be described in one word.

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Grave!

Pieces of his scorched flesh clung to his body, some even revealing part of his bones. His dark hair was almost completely burnt, the revealed scalp suffering the same fate. His body was covered in blood, his blood, and his breath was shallow and almost to the point of non-existent, showing that he was almost close to death.

Raising his head, Razor's blood-red eyes quickly fixed on the figure who had attacked him.

A red-haired man with matching eyebrows glared at him in fury. It didn't even take a moment to recognize the presence above him despite his blurry vision. Not many had such a distinct appearance, and among those few, only one had such an immense presence.

"Cassian..."

That was right. The person above him was the leader of the Emberclaw legion.

Cassian's fiery temperament erupted instantly. Looking at the sinister aura surrounding Razor, he roared out, his voice booming in the distance:

"Razor, you file beast! I always felt there was something wrong with you. To think that you were one of the corrupted..."

He didn't even finish his words before he jumped into action.

Razor wasn't surprised. The Emberclaw Legion were known for their fiery disposition, and even among them, Cassian stood out.

A massive fireball five meters in diameter suddenly lunged at the kneeling Razor, the heat emanating from it burning his already scorched skin before arriving.

"Great wall!"

RUMBLE!

The ground in front of Razor suddenly shook, before a wall about twenty meters high rose before him.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The fireball exploded against the thick wall, causing countless cracks to spread from the point of impact, however in the end, the wall held, even protecting Razor from the shockwaves generated.

As the wall fell back to the earth, Razor saw a gaunt-looking man standing before him.

"Galen! What are you doing?"

Cassian shouted at the yellow-haired man in front of him, who shared the same status as him.

The leader of the Stoneclaw Pride appeared indifferent before Cassian's rage.

Instead, he threw a pill at the kneeling Razor and said one word.

"Heal."

Seeing this, the last presence who had appeared at the same instant as Cassian and had protected the houses around them from his attacks using their shadows finally spoke:

"Galen?"

Galen looked at the questioning look on the face of the leader of the Beast Association and opted to remain silent. His usually warm eyes were now cold, while the friendly aura he usually emanated was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing that Razor was rapidly healing after taking the pill, Cassian quickly acted.

"There is no need for words. It is clear that Galen is with that bastard, and we must kill them without fail." Shouting to no one in particular, Cassian lunged at Galen.

Two fireballs appeared at his sides this time, with a size double the previous one. The heat emanated from them caused the temperature in the surroundings to rise several degrees and it wasn't long before some of the buildings around them started showing signs of catching fire.

'This bastard...' Iro cursed Cassian's several generations within his mind. The fiery idiot had not even taken a moment to think about the implications of two out of the four great beast families becoming corrupted and had merely acted on impulse.

Left with no choice, Iro quickly commanded the shadows cast by the houses around him to cover them and offer a layer of defense.

Thankfully, the elders of their families finally arrived.

The two fireballs cast by Cassian collided with two massive hands that were formed from pure stones.

BOOOOOM!

BOOOOOM!

Two great explosions shook the area, and if it wasn't for the dark shadows covering the buildings, they would have been long destroyed.

"Quickly evacuate the citizens!" Iro shouted at his elders only for his eyes to widen at what he saw.

Taking advantage of the other elder's confusion when they appeared at the scene, the Stoneclaw Pride's Elders launched sneaked attacks, taking the lives of many unaware elders. Blood rained from the sky, as a thick metallic smell spread out.

The other elders acted quickly and successfully defended themselves, though they didn't escape unscathed.

Seeing three of his elders who had shared and laughed with him in the morning killed in an instant, Iro finally registered the severity of the situation.

Three of his people had died, and they were strong people at that. The question was how many more would follow? Thousands? Millions?

ROOOOOAAAAR!

Shifting his eyes to Cassian who had turned into an eighty-meters-long red wyvern and Galen who had turned into a sixty-meters-tall yellow-striped tiger, Iro slowly brought down his raised hands, causing the shadows surrounding the buildings to retreat.

'That is right!' he couldn't help but agree with the foolish Cassian, 'What matters now is killing these two and their elders quickly.'

He knew the terror of the evil laws. It was almost like a virus that could spread undetected and he knew that if they didn't bring these few corrupted down quickly, the entire magical beast race might be at risk.

With his mind made up, Iro finally launched into the great brawl which despite having started less than three breaths ago had caused great destruction to the surroundings.

As his body moved towards the fight between the two titanic figures, his body was suddenly engulfed by deep Shadows, and from within their embrace came a forty-meter-high beast.

ROOOAR!

The furious roar of a shadow panther shook the surroundings.