Lord Of Beasts

Ethan was fairly certain his face had become recognisable by now.

Kaela’s even more so.

Anyone with a television, a phone, or an internet connection had probably seen one of them over the past few days, whether they realised it or not.

Yet not a single one of the men climbing out of those trucks hesitated.

Perhaps they subconsciously couldn’t believe that two powerful Titled were standing outside Darren’s run-down house in the middle of nowhere. Or perhaps they simply didn’t care because they had no real understanding of what genuine power looked like.

Either way, neither Ethan nor Kaela minded.

In fact, it was exactly what they had been hoping for.

A grin spread across Ethan’s face.

’Partial Assimilation: Storm.’

Blue lightning erupted around his body.

His eyes transformed, the irises dissolving into shimmering compound eyes composed of countless tiny hexagonal lenses that reflected the world in impossible detail.

Thin streaks of azure crawled beneath his skin as mana surged through every muscle, the world around him seeming to slow as his senses heightened. The transformation finished almost instantly, crackling arcs dancing over his arms and shoulders before fading into a constant electric aura.

Kaela noticed immediately.

She’d already figured out he’d acquired the Lightning Dragonfly after seeing his tattoo and sensing its aura when it evolved, so there was no point in trying to hide it from her now.

His strongest trump card was still Beast Summoning.

That was the skill worthy of its rank, and the one he intended to keep hidden unless absolutely necessary.

’It’s not like anyone’s recording this.’

Out here, there weren’t exactly security cameras watching every move, and he couldn’t help but want to experiment against these fools.

Thunder Dash!

Lightning exploded beneath his feet.

A deafening crack of thunder followed a heartbeat later as Ethan vanished, covering the distance between them in what looked less like running and more like teleportation.

The first man never even saw him arrive.

His assault rifle disappeared from his hands, and a split second later Ethan grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face into the side of the truck.

Bang!

The entire vehicle rocked, and the man’s body immediately went limp before collapsing into the dirt.

Ethan glanced down for the briefest moment.

’He should be alright... I think.’

He honestly wasn’t sure, but he had tried to hold back, which was harder than he expected while assimilated with his violent B Rank Beast.

Not that he had the time to dwell on it.

”They’re Titled!” someone finally screamed.

Panic spread through the group, and gunfire erupted from every direction.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Muzzles flashed, shell casings rained across the ground, and bullets tore through the air in a chaotic storm.

Ethan smiled.

’Thunder Dash.’

Electricity burst around him once more.

He wasn’t faster than bullets, not yet, but he was far faster than the men pulling the triggers. The instant a rifle pointed his way, he was already somewhere else, his eyes capturing every subtle movement in his surroundings.

Left.

Right.

Forward.

Back.

Unlike Wolfy’s explosive lunges, Storm’s speed specialised in abrupt directional changes, and Ethan found himself instinctively weaving through the hail of gunfire exactly as the Lightning Dragonfly would.

Every burst of acceleration left a crackling trail of electricity hanging briefly in the air, making it seem as though several copies of him were darting across the battlefield at once.

Bullets tore through empty space, exploding the ground where he’d been moments earlier.

’This is actually...’

He narrowly slipped between another burst of automatic fire.

’...kind of fun.’

He laughed to himself.

’It’s like a really high-stakes game of dodgeball.’

A few metres away, Kaela appeared to be having just as much fun.

Although she wasn’t bothering with the dodging part, simply because she didn’t need to.

Bullets punched straight through her body, opening bloody holes across her arms, shoulders, and stomach. The wounds closed almost instantly. Those that remained lodged inside her were forced back out as flesh regenerated around them, tiny metallic pings sounding as flattened bullets hit the ground.

The shooters collectively froze.

”No way...”

”That’s the real Riot Valkyrie!”

”Is she... immortal?”

Kaela burst into laughter.

The sound was almost cheerful despite the dozens of bullets passing through her. She caught one gunman by the wrist before he even realised she’d reached him, spun once, then effortlessly hurled his massive frame over her shoulder.

Boom!

The man crashed into the ground hard enough to leave a shallow crater. Several ribs almost certainly broke on impact before he passed out cold, and that was with her holding back like Ethan was.

Although judging by the crater, perhaps not as much.

”Keep shooting!”

The order came from a younger man standing on the back of one of the trucks, wearing a stained white vest beneath an open jacket.

His voice cracked with panic.

Unfortunately, the others obeyed, and another barrage of bullets erupted.

Ethan’s expression became more serious.

He could dodge forever, and Kaela could ignore the bullets entirely, but all it took was one stray round heading towards the house and...

’I’m not going to let that happen.’

His thoughts drifted back to Storm’s fight with Wolfy inside the Tower. The dragonfly hadn’t simply fired lightning; it had complete control over it, guiding it and making it bounce exactly where it wanted.

’Chain Lightning isn’t fixed... I can control it. I just need to lower the output so I don’t kill them all.’

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

’Variable Chain Lightning!’

The skill wasn’t different, nor was it a sub-skill. Just like Variable Beast Impact, it was simply Ethan manipulating the mana he poured into an existing ability.

Less mana and power, but same application.

Blue electricity exploded from his outstretched hand, and instead of one massive bolt, dozens of thinner arcs burst outward.

They struck the closest gunman first.

His body convulsed violently.

Before the current could disperse, Ethan redirected it.

The lightning leapt to the next man.

Then another.

And another.

Crackling blue bolts danced between every member of the group like a web of living electricity, each jump perfectly controlled, each discharge strong enough to overload muscles without stopping hearts.

The air filled with the smell of ozone.

Hair stood on end.

Bodies stiffened simultaneously before collapsing one after another.

One.

Two.

Five.

Eight.

Ten.

The final arc raced towards Kaela, but just before reaching her, it fizzled harmlessly into the air.

Silence followed.

Every gunman lay unconscious across the dirt, apart from the first man Ethan had slammed into the truck and the two unfortunate souls Kaela had already folded into the landscape.

Ethan looked over and gave her a smug wink.

She responded with a slow and exaggerated clap.

”Not bad.”

Then she almost pouted.

”But I was about to finish them myself.”

”You can have the next fight.”

”Yeah, whatever.”

Ethan crouched beside one of the unconscious men, pressing two fingers against the side of his neck. There was a steady pulse. Then he checked two others to find that they were also breathing.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Even if they were complete bastards who’d shown up armed to murder Darren, even if they hadn’t hesitated to open fire, even if he ultimately wouldn’t lose sleep over killing someone to protect the people he cared about...

He still didn’t enjoy taking lives.

If he did, that would’ve made him a psychopath.

And despite what everyone seemed to think, he wasn’t quite that crazy.

’At least... not yet,’ he joked to himself.

The smile disappeared almost immediately.

His eyes swept across the unconscious men littering the ground.

’Killing is a last resort.’

’But if it’s the only option left...’

His gaze drifted towards the house behind him, where Elara, Mark and Darren’s mother waited safely inside.

’...then I’ll kill anyone who threatens the people I’m protecting.’