Ares raised his arms as though ready to embrace the enemy. He glanced between the hyenafolk and then the lionfolk.

The lionfolk leader had then forced his army to shift their position, he himself rode alongside a few of his mounts towards Ares, though keeping formation with the rest of the army as he did so.

The hyenafolk were chattering away with one another, not yet reacting to the lionfolk moving.

The lionfolk leader threw a glance back towards to check before then approaching Ares on his mount.

Ares raised a hand. “That’s far enough,” he said.

The lionfolk leader did not listen. ‘I suppose I have no choice then…’ Ares then pointed a finger to the sky and the earth in front of him began to shift around to form a small earth wall, which stopped the lionfolk’s advance.

“And so, why are you my enemy?” The lionfolk man beat a fist against his chest.

“You are my enemy, and so I shall treat you accordingly,” Ares said.

“What have I done to earn such a right.”

“You refused to heed my request and I didn’t particularly feel like letting you get close enough to swing at me.”

The lionfolk man snarled. “You do not order the mighty Leonsi.”

“It was a request, which you denied. You had the choice to make.”

“You had attacked my fellows.”

“I defended myself against your fellows. If they hadn’t attacked first, I wouldn’t have any issue with you.”

The lionfolk snarled at him. “Release my fellows at once!”

“You do not order the mighty Ares.” Ares smiled in return.

“Release them or perish by my might!” The lionfolk tossed his spear with a great strength, the spear cutting through the air as though it was an arrow loosened by a powerful bow.

Yet Ares caught it with a casual swipe, smiling towards Leonsi. Then he glanced back towards Kask. “Did you see that? He attacked me just now, right?”

Kask nodded his head.

“Would you say it was unprovoked, just as his fellows had attacked me unprovoked earlier.”

“Yes, Ares.”

“Well then…” Ares turned to look back at the lionfolk man, who by now had found himself another spear. Ares looked beyond the lionfolk and summoned to himself a large drum. “Rejoice! For Ares has entered the fray on your side, hyena peoples!”

Ares crushed the spear within his grasp and then turned to pass the drum to Anka. “Please play this until the battle is over.” He said to whom he assumed was the heartiest of his group, though his eyes glanced over to Saykkera for a moment, before they then passed to Emerli, whose eyes were filled with an anxiety. Ares nodded his head towards her.

His ears twitched as he felt something try to pierce through his back. Leonsi was upon his back and was trying to force the spear through his back.

“Oh lionfolk! See your leader for the coward that he is! To attack a man with a turned back!” Ares then summoned a spear into his hand and thrust it backwards towards Leonsi, who had pulled back and veered aside to dodge the spear.

Ares turned. He rolled his shoulders and cracked them, then swayed from side to side as he stretched out his hips, his back, and then his neck. He summoned a second spear into his other hand and then leapt towards the lionfolk flank.

“I’ll handle this!” Ares laughed with great joy as he found himself in the thick of things. “I’ll show you what you get for messing with me, you egotistical prick!” Ares cut through a lion mount as though it was made out of butter, then summoned a few javelins to rain upon the enemy.

Leonsi roared as he leapt up to face Ares. The pair clashed with one another, though Ares kept part of his attention on the hundreds of lionfolk that were right behind him. He shifted the earth behind him so it became more troublesome to traverse, making it slippery wet with mud.

“You’re rather angry, aren’t you?” Ares met Leonsi’s spear with with his own.

“You will pay for your foolishness, human scum!”

Ares nodded his head. “Greater men than you have tried.” Ares then kicked the lionfolk chief against the side of his knee, sweeping him until he was on his side. Then he shifted the earth around Leonsi to trap him inside as he turned to face the greater threat behind him.

Yet once his back was turned, Leonsi was again upon him. He had gone feral, and so had many of those around the King.

‘Ah right…’ Ares ducked and weaved under the various lionfolk, slipping in his own trap. He grunted and then shifted the earth around him as the lionfolk tried to grab him, before he then shifted into his phoenix form. He crumbled the wall and then grabbed the nearest lionfolk by her head, tossing her aside before another appeared behind him.

It was Leonsi, who had spear in hand though was no longer trying to stab him. Instead he was frozen in equal parts fear and shock.

“You!” He gasped as he remained there frozen like a statue.

Ares grinned, though about as well as a phoenix could smile before he then leapt forward and slammed into the lionfolk, easily overpowering the lionfolk leader. He would not show any mercy to someone that had been so arrogant and then so cowardly. He grabbed Leonsi with his talons and then flew up to the sky. Leonsi struggled against Ares’ vice grip.

Then Ares spun so they were heading straight to the ground, dragging Leonsi behind him. Within the blink of an eye he was at ground level, though he veered up so he didn’t slam into the ground, tossing Leonsi forward into the ground.

The lionfolk crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch, rolling as the bones in his body turns to sand and his body fell like jelly.

Ares had not seen the terrible landing, but as he circled around towards Leonsi, he saw how the body pooled. Ares turned and landed near his own group, turning into a phoenix as he dropped to his knees and then heaved.

He then spewed out a river of food from his gut, vomiting out all of Teorn’s delicious food that was half digested. He continued to vomit as he thought about the pool of flesh that Leonsi had become because of him.

‘I didn’t think that was going to happen…’