In front of the glowing luminescent lion stood a vast mountain, singular, that stretched on to the ocean and travelled past a dense forest for which he could feel a few strong beasts roamed. He had no actual interest in intruding upon those beasts, however. As a mighty beast he was; he obviously understood that it was uncouth to come into another creature's territory without prior warning and cause.

There was no need to invade a bastion of the kitsune of Bloodleaf - technically they could be valuable allies in removing the menaces from this world… But it would be overkill for a task like this.

He had been taught that even a mighty lion will still use its claws & fangs to hunt a rabbit yet he also believed there was no need to bring in the pack. Hell, he didn’t even bother hiding his approach, just walking on the path made via those brutish drakes charging through anything in their way. Following this trail of destruction all the way to a massive hole in the side of the cliff face that was surrounded by what can only be called a shanty town; created from whatever they could steal from the nearby woods.

An attempt to raise a wall seemingly had been made. It was hardly impressive though, clearly showing signs of being clawed at by the occasional heroic fox climbing over, as it was literally just a cobbled together pile of wooden planks and occasional pile of glued together rocks. What was funniest about it…

Was that it was completely useless since even a two tailed fox could likely clear it.

Still those dumb drakes needed their slave labour yet were hardly willing to take them in and protect them like they were some precious commodity. Unless they were a pretty girl or handsome at which point they were swept away in broad daylight to never be seen again by their family. Thoughts that made the proud feline furrowed his brow under his helmet. Regardless he tried to hold that confident & warm smile.

His step-mother (his older sister's dearly departed birthmother) constantly told his sickly sibling that to smile at the world was to show that the hardships that haunted you were not enough to break you. For him this meant he had to smile so that those he wanted to protect could feel safe. As such he calmly approached the entrance to the hovel that they kept their fellow sentient living beings like a pen for animals with little self-awareness.

Standing out front were actually someone of earth-dragon blood - showing just how troublesome they were finding the attacks from the forest - nevertheless they could hardly be called purebloods. If Alice was here she’d remark how their bloodline was even weaker than the one she enslaved to the mortals. He was not one to judge based on that kind of stuff, however, instead he’d judge them based on their actions.

“What are you doing here, lion?!”

He did not answer that question nor did he take pleasure in the fear that the dragon obviously experienced upon feeling his own power. Instead he walked up to him at a standard pace, his great tower shield in one hand while his mighty lance was in the other, both his weapons sized perfectly for him… Which meant they literally towered over the drake who only stood at around 6 odd feet.

Hard to really compare due to being compared to the 15 foot monolith that was Photon who towered over the rickety wall let alone the dragon.

Seeing a giant adorned in golden armour - wielding weapons larger than they were - it was no surprise that the poor “little” lizard instinctively took a step backward. Nevertheless they knew that they would die to their clan if they just let someone waltz in through the front door. Allowing him to quickly regain his footing.

That drake, already in their true form, charged toward the humanoid-formed lion with his mouth opened wide as if to chomp down on anything of purchase it could find. It expected to at least be able to push back the knight. Powering forward thanks to having four thick limbs clawing at the ground compared to the mere two that the feline was standing upon.

It turned out that was far too ambitious.

“Tell me how the dirt tastes, little lizard!”

Before the drake could make sense of it; they found themself flying through the air from what seemed like a casual flick of that massive shield. The massive body rolling across the ground like a bag being carried by a particularly strong wind. Photon couldn’t tell whether the dragon was alive yet he also didn’t care.

Instead he continued walking (not even having been slowed down by the attempted attack) to soon reach the equally shoddy gateway that was literally just a flat piece of wood on a hinge. There were supposed to be three but one had popped out while the third simply hung off the door. He was even forced to duck under the askew top beam - placing a hand under it just to make sure it didn’t suddenly collapse.

The tiny mortals obviously heard the battle so fearfully looked toward the lion who now stood within their little slice of civilization.

Taking it in made Photon sigh at how the place looked more like piles of discarded crap that just so happened to form a “cave” rather than a bustling town. The mortals all around wore scraps of stained cloth but their race seemed to be one of the sturdiest among the various mortals; bovine-kin. Each naturally had the ears and tails that should have been expected yet their bodies didn’t lose those of the dragons.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Although there was one thing that made heat slowly rise within the eyes hidden under the helmet… There was a clear lack of any young girls with it not even being a surprise. Those cows were not only physically strong with fertile bodies - many races seeing that as a benefit since it allowed for even the species with the lowest birth-rates to increase their number - but the women also had their own unique ability. To gant potent energy granting & enhancing milk that worked on even the strongest of races.

It didn’t take a genius to look at the few older women to understand that “pretty girls” likely meant just about every female who reached puberty. They were cursed to have the greatest benefits amount mortals in a realm that granted them no chance to defend their benefits. He didn’t even need to enter the mountain to understand just how those poor mortals were being treated on the inside.

Especially since war loomed over the entire world; a war that the drakes would need plenty of new members to fight against the world that would refute any claims they’d make.

“What do we do now…?”

Photon was slightly startled at the appearance of the bird but soon calmed.

“We charge in, get as many hostages to safety as possible and hope we can succeed before big sis brings this entire community down.”

He decidedly didn’t speak too long. Not wanting to cause these people to become even more fearful of their nieces, daughters, sisters, cousins, mothers and beyond. That did not mean he had no intentions of announcing the cautious crowd of cows that had developed due to his rather obvious entrance.

For a moment he just turned his eyes across the poor mortals as he took a deep breath and…

“BWAHAHA~!”

Gave out a joy filled loud bellowing laugh that left all those people instantly confused causing his smile to instantly widen.

(At least they are no longer scared!)

He wasn’t done there, however.

“You all have no more need to fear those dirty dragons; me and my allies are going to charge in there right now to free all those that the monsters have kidnapped. From here on you will no longer need to close your eyes with fear that your loved ones will be stolen away by some overgrown lizards. I promise you all that you will get what you are owed because I am here so feel free to stoke the light of hope!”

One only needed to see for a second that most of them hardly took his words seriously… Yet there undoubtedly existed a light of hope within their eyes - a light that the young lion desired to keep burning for as long as he could. Without so much as another word he began to walk through the town with all the mortals stepping aside for him to pass unfettered.

Similarly to everything else in these cursed mountains; the very structure of the town was lazily made to accommodate the drakes as much as it could with minimal forethought. Literally just having a wide open street that headed straight to the massive cave entrance into the monumental mountain. Easy at least.

There weren't even any more guards waiting outside since the earth dragons never believed that anyone would actually attack them. One would find it strange since they were openly preparing for war yet their arrogance made such thoughts unthinkable. Not that Photon cared about their thoughts anymore.

Standing in front of the menacing dark maw like the last bastion keeping the abyssal beast from breaking out from its cavernous dungeon. He showed no intention of backing down as his body began to glow golden as he appeared as if he was about to thrust his spear forward. Utilising his own unique-skill as a radiant lion to explode into light that burst right through the black to bring the light of hope to the hopeless.

His path was without deception or distraction as he charged down in a straight line - whatever was in his way didn’t even get to react as his “light like” appearance was not actually for appearances. After all, his ability was to transmute & control light. Those slow drakes were never going to be able to keep up with the very literal speed of light while they also struggled to get past his defence.

Taking full advantage of what his sister taught him; he utilised his abilities to generate glass made from light which allowed him to refract whenever the path branched. Using his bestial instincts to guide himself through the halls of earth. In contrast, Seriema only just got to the entrance as she looked into the tunnel with annoyance due to limiting her ability to flee.

Her fight of flight (literally) instincts were strong as ever - proven by the bump present on her forehead.

“What is with members of the Stratos and charging into things like a maniac?”

Despite saying that, a smile fluttered on her face as she flicked her wrists to have two karambit appear within her tiny little talons.

“Guess I’ll clean up like usual.”