Savannah did not return to peace after the ritual. In the crater where the ritual once took place, a new monument of power remained: a pulsing, obsidian-black egg. It stood three feet tall, its shell as hard as diamond, but it wasn't just a dead stone. It had a heartbeat—a deep, rhythmic thump-thump that vibrated through the soil. Strangely, a faint golden luster flickered beneath the black surface, and an oppressive, predatory pressure—a Lion's Might—leaked from the cracks. It felt as if a miniature king was waiting to be born.
Princess Venesa also experienced some changes in her body as she found herself able to transform into a half-human; half-lion hybrid at will. First she was shocked then came relief as this change meant Deleon was safe.
For five long years, she stayed within the Divine Palace, a sanctuary built into the heart of the Ancient Tree it was the palace of jungle lion royalty. She had grown, her youthful playfulness replaced by a sharp, regal intensity. Her grief had turned into a fierce protectiveness. As a lioness she was cold and predatory to others but now she looked no different than a cold statue.
Then as she saw the black egg pulsing with golden aura, she smiled again and started to wave her transformed human hands over it.
However, the world saw her devotion as a weakness. Across the animal kingdoms, nobles and young talents whispered. They saw the egg as a tomb. "The human slave is dead," they claimed.
"Why should a Royal Princess waste her potential on a ghost?"
Assassins were sent almost weekly—some by rival tribes hoping to break the Princess's spirit, others by nobles wanting to kill the 'slave' so they could force a new pact upon her. But the Jungle Lion security was absolute. No one bypassed the Pride's guards easily, and none had ever reached the inner sanctum.
Until tonight.
The moon was a silver scythe in the sky, casting long, pale shadows across the Princess's chambers. Venesa sat by the egg, her fingers tracing the warm, vein-like ridges of the shell. In the moonlight, she looked like a statue of devotion. She had forgotten the world outside;
her only reality was the heartbeat beneath her palm.
Clink.
The sound was no louder than a falling needle, but to a Jungle Lion, it was a thunderclap.
Three masked figures materialized from the shadows of the balcony. They moved with the grace of high-level predators, their eyes glowing with the killing intent of professional assassins. Venesa did not scream. She did not even stand up. She simply turned her gaze toward them, her eyes flashing with a terrifying golden light.
Even without her full pact powers awakened, she was a Divine Jungle Lion in her own sanctuary. She released her Lion's Might—a crushing wave of gravity and primal fear. The three masked men stumbled, their knees buckling. They were low-level pacters, and the sheer weight of her royal blood was enough to suffocate them.
"You dare enter the heart of Pride?" she whispered, her voice like grinding stones.
Suddenly, a fourth shadow erupted from the ceiling.
He laughed—a cold, rasping sound—and unsheathed a jagged knife that glowed with a sickly green light.
This was a mid-level powerhouse, and his knife was an Awakened Weapon, infused with the essence of a venomous beast.
He moved like a flash of green lightning, lunging not at the Princess, but at the egg.
"If the boy won't die, I'll break the shell!" he roared.
CRACK.
The sound didn't come from his knife, it was still some distance away from touching the egg. It came from the egg, the egg was hatching.
The black-red shell shattered outward like a grenade. A shockwave of golden and black energy sent the three lower assassins flying against the stone walls. From the center of the debris, a figure rose.
A man emerged, his physique slender but branded together with muscles that looked like steel wires. His hair, black as the void, slid down his back to his waist. He stood naked and unashamed, emitting a pheromone so powerful it made the air feel heavy. He was a perfect blend of human grace and lion-like dominance.
One of the low-level assassins, panicked, threw a poisoned throwing star at the man's back.
The weapon didn't hit. It stopped three inches from Dreleon's skin, suspended in mid-air as if caught in an invisible force-field. Dreleon didn't even turn around. With a flick of his fingers, the weapon spun around and flew back with ten times its original speed.
The weapon blurred through the air, zig-zagging with impossible precision, piercing the throats of all four intruders in a single breath. They collapsed, dead before their bodies hit the floor.
The silence that followed was deafening.
"You... Who are you?" Venesa asked, her voice trembling. She was a Princess, but the man standing before her felt like an Ancient King.
The man turned. The cold, murderous light in his eyes vanished, replaced by a deep, unwavering loyalty. He knelt on one knee, his long hair pooling on the floor.
"Your subject greets Her Highness, the Royal Princess," he said. His voice had deepened into a rich song that resonated in Venesa's chest.
Venesa blushed, her heart racing. The "Lion hormones" he was emitting were overwhelming. He was technically her pacted subject, but he felt like a predator that could swallow the world.
"This... what power was that?" she asked, pointing to the fallen weapons. "How did you make them fly?"
Dreleon looked at his hands, his expression becoming intensely serious—the same Cold Dreleon she remembered, but matured. "I do not know, Your Highness. I felt the space around me, so I commanded it. If my answer is unsatisfactory, I should simply die for my incompetence."
He gestured, and one of the fallen daggers rose, pointing its tip directly at his own heart, ready to strike on his command.
"Stop!" Venesa shouted, her heart leaping into her throat. She stared at him, a realization dawning on her. Telekinesis? Or is it something deeper? She looked at his transformed golden blood pulsing in his veins, shimmering with a hint of her own golden aura. He wasn't just a human anymore. He was now a half human half lion and half something else.
Because of being a lioness she was able to perceive it, except human and lion's features he was excluding some other scent too like a dangerous predator which gave goosebumps even to her.