CHAPTER 343: CHAPTER 343: HIDDEN INTENTIONS

"And what makes you think that I would agree to such?" Kael asked as his eyes lit up fully with intense killing intent.

Constantyne shook his head and smiled. "You don’t seem to understand the situation you are in, little lion.

Look around you, you’re surrounded, outnumbered. I alone can crush you without spending much effort.

The question is, what makes you think you won’t agree to our plan?

Is it the machine you have flying in the air? Please, even such machines can be turned into scrap with sufficient might.

Or is it that other lioness that you have hiding that is going to surprise us..."

When Constantyne said this, the smile on his face widened into one of madness.

Kael and Chloe frowned.

Belgrod flicked his fingers slightly in a certain direction behind him.

Multiple red magic strings shot out of the magic circle that appeared all of a sudden. At a corner between two tier 4 tigers, the magic circle was formed and the red strings shot out.

At first, it looked like they caught nothing, then Katari appeared.

Kael took a deep breath...again.

Katari was bound to the magic circle in her humanoid form. Her wrists and ankles had glowing red strings wrapped tightly around them, pulling her to the ground.

She was on her knees, struggling to stand but the strings held her tight. The ground cracked and the magic circle glowed brighter and brighter, it was using as much energy as possible to hold her down and seal her powers.

The space around Katari vibrated as she tried to escape to no avail.

The tier 4 tigers surrounded her, staring at her with deep killing intent.

Kael and Katari looked at this with strange expressions. They looked worried.

Katari looked sorry and somewhat frightened.

Frightened?

Belgrod looked at Kael, "As you can see, it’s not so hard to guess all your moves. You are merely a tier 4 lion. What exactly did you hope to use to have an advantage over us?

Stealth? An ambush? Waste of time."

"Let her go," Kael said, looking like he was struggling to keep himself calm.

"Not yet!" Agatha said as she walked up to Katari and kicked her face. Katari’s head moved mechanically to the side as blood trickled down her lips. She put her head down, hiding her expression from Agatha and the rest.

Agatha smiled deviously, happy to exert her might on these weaklings.

Chloe flinched when she saw Agatha kick Katari. She managed to keep her cool, wondering how Katari was feeling right now.

She didn’t know who to pity, Katari or Agatha.

Constantyne walked up to Kael and stood in front of him, baring his fangs and lighting up his eyes with flames.

"We could fight now, right here, right now. We all know how this is going to end. It’s your choice, you either come with us willingly, or by force." Constantyne said, his hot breath hitting Kael’s face.

Kael’s eyes narrowed as he noticed that Constantyne’s aura was strange. He had sensed this type of aura in the past but couldn’t pinpoint exactly.

"Do not make this harder than it is, Kael. You’ve fallen into our hands, you’ve lost the game, do you still want to lose your life?" Belgrod asked. He tried to reason with Kael from an intellectual stance as he sensed from the way Kael talked that he was quite smart.

Kael was silent, he was thinking of what he should do next. The tigers were waiting for him, Katari and Chloe were waiting for him. He had to make a choice.

Finally, Kel sighed for the last time, his shoulders slumped and he wore a defeated expression on his face. He averted his eyes from Constantyne’s, earning him a chuckle from the latter.

"Fine, but you must release her," Kael said.

"All will be done after the Arkship is under our control," Belgrod said. He was not going to release Katari, she was his leverage.

The threat of violence wasn’t enough, he had to keep an insurance in the form of this lioness.

"Let’s go," Constantyne said before turning around and heading toward the curved metal structure.

The tigers all parted ways for him, as though he were a king. Constantyne enjoyed this. He felt like he had just won a battle without having to raise his finger.

He had secretly been hoping that Kael would resist and give them a reason to fight. But judging based on Kael’s aura alone, Constantyne guessed that a fight with Kael was not worth it, it wouldn’t be as enjoyable as he would hope for.

Kael followed without a word, keeping his head up as though he was still trying to maintain his dignity.

"Belgrod, let’s go," Agatha said to Belgrod. Belgrod stared intently at Kael’s back as he followed Kael, his eyes shifted focus to Chloe, the winged one.

He wanted to make sure he was not missing anything. He noticed that most of his attention had been on Kael and that winged one was pushed into the background.

"Thirty if you will stay here, watch over her," Belgrod said to the tigers while referring to Katari.

The tigers immediately communicated amongst themselves, deciding who was going to stay.

Some of them hoped to be close to Kael in case he suddenly resisted so that they could be close to the action.

Quickly, thirty tigers were selected to stand guard around Katari. The remaining thirty-two followed after Belgrod.

Katari still had her head low, her black hair covering her face. The tigers couldn’t see her expression or guess what she was thinking. They could only watch her.

Kael and Chloe were escorted by the rest of the tigers to the curved metal structure. Constantyne walked in front of him, Agatha was to his right, and Belgrod levitated over from behind.

He was covered.

"Oh, Oliver said that you knew Darius, is it true?" Agatha turned to ask at this point. She was curious.

Kael nodded to confirm.

"How is he?" Agatha asked.

"He’s doing well," Kael answered.

Agatha breathed a sigh of relief.

"How did you two meet?" She asked, hoping to get a clearer picture.

"We’ve worked together multiple times in the past, he was the one who told me about this place," Kael said.

"Makes sense," Agatha nodded. For Kael, a lion, to know about this place, he had some informants. Perhaps Darius had just told him without any strings attached.

Agatha didn’t know that the situation was way more complex than anything she could imagine and Kael was not ready to explain anything to her... for now.

They finally reached the base of the meta structure. Kael got to take a closer look.

The whole metal structure looked like it had been cast from one single piece of metal. Its silvery surface was covered in bits of moss and creeping vines. The tigers had not bothered to maintain this place, perhaps, they had hoped to use nature to hide it from the world.

"This is it," Constantyne said, gesturing toward a corner in the base of the structure. There, Kael saw a semicircle entrance, wide enough for two elephants to walk side by side through.

The inside would have been dark if not for the sun casting light inside.

Kael could see the metal floor that was deeper than the earthen ground they were standing on. The walls were dry and it looked like an abandoned futuristic habitat that had been abandoned.

It was a tunnel, or a passageway would be a better name.

Vines had crept down from the body of the structure and into the tunnel, covering the inner walls but not being able to cause any visible damage.

The only sign that this place was unkept was the vines and moss that were everywhere. Aside from that, the whole thing looked like it was in good shape.

Kael suddenly stopped walking, and so did Chloe. This caused the tigers to also stop walking and look at them confused.

"Have you been there before?" Kael asked.

"Yes, multiple times," Constantyne chuckled, "What? Are you a scared little kitty?"

Kael shook his head, "No," Then he disappeared along with Chloe.

Constantyne’s eyes widened into saucers. The tigers stared at the spot where he was at with their mouths wide open.

Belgrod frowned, he had not detected the spatial distortion on time, and he had not been able to stop it.

Within half a second of Kael’s disappearance, he located where he was going to appear next. But it was already too late.

Space twisted behind the stunned Constantyne, causing him to turn around swiftly. Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn there.

They saw him, Kael, with his winged consort, Chloe, standing at the entrance of the tunnel.

Kael had a cold expression on his face, and killing intent burst from his eyes at an unhealthy rate.

Chloe looked behind her to stare into the tunnel, her eyes filled with uncertainty.

"This passage should lead to a few chambers including the tiger’s chamber. That should be why they don’t have access to any other place besides those chambers.

If I can follow the passageway, I’ll find the Command Chamber and access..."

Kael didn’t have time to hear the rest as he saw Constantyne’s fist heading straight for his face.