Ares whistled and crossed his arms. “Well now, ain’t this a beauty…”

Kask looked up towards Ares with a questioning glance, but did not go beyond that. His Storm Seven had gathered around to see the scene before them.

Two armies, about five thousand each, had come to meet each other. There were lionfolk one one side, and then hyena-folk on the other.

The lionfolk were made up of mostly what seemed to be foot infantry armed with blades, axes, spears and heavy furs, as well as some that were on lionback.

The hyenafolk were almost all riding larger hyenas, though both were much smaller than the lionfolk and the lions. They had mostly small bows, slings, and some had spears. Their equipment was much more ragged and in disrepair in comparison.

“What would you like to do?” Kask asked. Anka grabbed onto her large maul, but Ares raised a hand.

“We won’t interfere it’s not on us to do so,” Ares said. Though even though he said that he really wanted to go in and have some fun, but this was a skirmish between two other people. Ares instead sat down and made himself comfortable. He pulled out some of the viper donner he had all that time ago and broke pieces off for the others.

They took the meat from Ares and then sat down to watch as the two sides continued to look out to one another. The lion’s roared, their cavalry marching forward and then off to one side. They then roared, the lionfolk raising their arms into the air.

The hyenafolk followed with their own little display, their riders running around in a small circle, though it was slightly chaotic. They yipped and howled with utter delight, and Ares wondered just they were so joyful in this time of way, especially with how they seemed to hold the disadvantage.

‘Well… they had a lot of bows and slings.’

“Who do you think will win?” Azzo asked as he pulled out a pipe and then light it up with a pair of rocks.

“I’d say it’s a six to four.”

“That close?”

“That isn’t that close… I think if the hyena are more organised than they appear then they win. If the lionfolk are prideful enough to lose most of their own then they’ll win, though it’ll be a Pyrrhic victory.”

“What does that mean?”

“They would have won, but the cost of that would have been victory.”

“What does that mean?”

“They would have lost in their victory. Coming in with five thousand and then returning with a few hundred. At that point… is that really a victory?”

Azzo remained silent as Ares watched. It was then that a small detachment of hyenafolk and lionfolk on lionback rode over towards his way.

The Storm Seven armed up, but Ares raised a hand. “Relax, relax. We’re just having some food, there’s no need to get up in arms about anything…” Ares smiled.

The lionfolk had managed to get to them first, circling around to not allow the hyenafolk to arrive. However the hyenafolk went aside and then began to encircle Ares’ group from behind.

The lionfolk snarled, but Ares stood up and then clapped his hands. “Good afternoon, I see that you’ve come to greet me. May I ask just why you have come here? I was just enjoying the show from afar and wanted to eat in peace.”

“What is a human doing here?” a lionfolk said. She snarled towards Ares and then thrust her spear towards Ares’ direction.

“I’m not a human. Like I said, I’m just here to watch you play.”

“Not a hyena, not a hyena-hip!” A hyenafolk laughed at him. “What are you, huh, what are you?”

“I’m a phoenix, or something of the sort.”

The hyena stopped laughing, it’s eyes going wide. The lionfolk snorted and then thrust her spear towards Ares. Saykkera grabbed onto the spear and then pulled it, forcing the lionfolk off her mount, and then tossed the lionfolk woman aside with ease.

“Excuse me,” Ares said as he turned to Saykkera. “Thank you for the assist, Saykkera, but we’re just chatting. Don’t mind them alright?” He smiled towards her.

The lionfolk snarled and then slashed towards Ares’ party, but he stepped forwards them and then turned his arms into flames, the spears pushing through. They stopped, frozen in shock so their spears went no further.

“Well then, I suppose I have no need to talk to you then,” Ares said as he then returned the favour but drop kicking a lionfolk woman off her mount and then grabbed onto her mount’s head and tossed it as though he was tossing a doll. The lion flew about ten metres before crashing down and then Ares summoned a spear in each hand.

“Storm Seven, form up!”

With their King’s words his group armed up, with Saykerra stepped around Emerli and the enemy, and Ares standing on the opposite side.

The hyenafolk retreated a little ways away as Ares turned his attention to the lionfolk. “Don’t worry about the hyenafolk, they haven’t done anything. Azzo, keep an eye on them. Everyone else focus on the lionfolk.”

The lionfolk leapt forward on their mounts to try and crash into the group, but they found themselves crashing into spears that had formed a fence around the group in the blink of an eye. The lion’s cried out in pain as they stumbled and dropped, the lionfolk crashed aside and were dropped to the ground.

“Try not to kill them,” Ares said. He slammed his foot down against one’s elbow, crushing it against the ground and then struck another with his spear to pin them down too.

Within moments they had incapacitated all but two, who turned and ran towards the large army that was waiting to fight the hyenafolk.

Ares then turned down towards the lionfolk. “I would suggest you surrender honourably, otherwise we’ll have to kill you. I don’t really have the patience to deal with this kind of thing.” Ares turned for a moment to look at his allies to see if they were fine, but winced as he felt something push into his lower thigh. He looked down to see that the lionfolk woman had shoved a spear up through his leg.

Ares stared down at her and then nodded. “Alright,” he said. Then he summoned a spear into his hand and slowly pushed it through her chest, staring into her eyes as he then twisted the spear inside her. She gasped and began to choke as he continued to twist the spear.

“Stop it!” Another lionfolk snarled and then tried to escape from the grasp of Teorn, though Ares raised a hand towards them.

“I had warned them, but now they much pay the price of their-” Ares stopped as he saw Emerli staring at him with a look of absolute horror in her eyes.

An ice-cold wave flowed through Ares as he pulled the spear out. His eyes darted away from Emerli as he dropped down and then placed a hand on the woman’s chest and then shifted his hand into flames.

The woman howled in pain for a moment before she spat out some blood and mucus, gasping for air as Ares pulled his hand away.

“Be thankful I have graced you with good health!” Ares roared at her and then kicked her away from him, pulling out the spear and then he tossed it as far as he could in frustration towards the battlefield. It landed in between the two armies, causing them to try and figure out just what had been the reason for a random spear to appear.

The two armies turned to see Ares, who had disarmed the lionfolk and had beaten them to the ground. The hyenafolk from Ares circled away and then towards the hyena army.

“Well shit,” Ares said.