CHAPTER 541: CHAPTER 541: GAUNTLET OR THE GOLDEN LION?

The void was not peaceful.

The thousands of arkships maintained a certain distance from the strange storm-covered planet.

No one tried to circle the planet and claim the gauntlet for themselves as it was impossible to do that. A lot of creatures here were operating with pure cold logic and knew that the most likely inheritor of the gauntlet would be a lion.

Everyone knew of the racism of the lions, why would Jin set all this up just for another creature to take it away?

No, trying to prevent anyone from entering might work in the short term but it was not wise in the long term.

Instead, they were hoping someone would take the first step and pass through the storm to enter the planet.

Whatever happened during that time would be observed and the factions would be able to tell if it was safe or not.

But at the same time, they also didn’t want just anyone to pass through the storm.

They were wary of the golden lion, the primary contender.

If he and his accomplices came, they would most likely shoot him down to prevent him from getting stronger.

Kael was truly becoming a serious and growing trouble for his enemies.

The horses hadn’t even seen Kael yet but their President had been complaining that they must eliminate him as soon as possible.

President Musty didn’t come here personally, but he had sent his most powerful Governors to oversee the event.

The dragons seemed to know something, but they still acted temperamental and looked like they were ready to start another war right here right now.

Who could blame them for their agitation?

Their Draconic Heaven was currently being besieged by their ancient, worm-like cousins, who were demanding half of the heaven.

So infuriating.

It was unclear who was leading their team here as the leader was yet to make himself known.

Perhaps, if their leader showed himself, everyone here would scatter and forget about the gauntlet immediately.

Over at the other side, observing from their arkships were Ma’abu and his allies.

He didn’t just come with his fellow Anti-Primordial lion kings.

The tigers with their arkships were not too far away, but they did make it obvious that Ma’abu and they were working together.

The Phoenix would have come, but their numbers were too low for them to venture to such a place filled with the risks of death; they’d rather spend their time continuing their search for the Primordial Fox and the Primordial Peacock.

Speaking of which, Ma’abu had learned that both Primordials related to the phoenix had been born already at some point.

Apart from the captive foxes and peacocks they had who claimed to have felt a pulse, the Phoenixes themselves also felt it.

Once they found those two Primordials, they would be a step closer to creating their own Primordial Phoenix for their endangered race.

Of course, their plan most likely involved the extinction of both the fox and peacocks, but they didn’t care.

The tortoise also didn’t come for some reason, saying that they didn’t want to be part of whatever would happen in this place.

It sounded ominous but Ma’abu didn’t relent. This was a perfect place for him to enact his plan on Kael and end it all once and for all.

The creation Dragons could not come too. Setting their foothold in heaven while they still could was more important to them than finding some long-lost treasure.

Luckily, the alliance was still set. The Tigers, Phoenix’s, Tortoises, Creation Dragons, and Ma’abu’s lions were still in cooperation.

Besides those major factions, there were a few rogue civilizations and mercenary groups that just decided to come as well. Their greediness ensured that they desired the leftovers from these big guys.

The bees were at the back, choosing to observe first, no one bothered them.

The lions were naturally the most restless of the bunch.

That was why no one paid serious attention when a couple of the arkships flew closer to the planet.

By the time they had closed the distance and were within firing range, these arkships let loose volleys of missiles.

"Fools, didn’t they see the previous demonstration?" A Governor from the Horses’ side lamented with a mocking expression from the comfort of his chamber of command.

Around him, other horses stood on their hind legs and laughed elegantly, seeing an opportunity to insult the lions.

But they still watched with curiosity, and so did the other factions.

Ma’abu narrowed his eyes at the holographic screen, feeling like something was off.

Why would they all send out missiles at the same time when they had clearly seen that the planet returned every attack that was sent its way?

He also did not recognise any of the arkships that he was seeing even though he knew that they were from lions.

’Shadow Tyranny?’ He wandered.

But he still kept his eyes on the screen.

The arkships that launched these missiles immediately began backing up as if they were running from a possible explosion.

They all saw it and many assumed these guys were sending out some serious heavy power that could blow up the planet, and if it didn’t, it would affect them all.

As if they were all thinking the same thing, the factions pulled away fast, distancing themselves from the planet as they expected the planet to return those missiles back to the sender.

Unfortunately, things were not as they seemed.

Multiple arkships had focused their observation runes on the missiles and saw something peculiar.

Those missiles, numbering in the thousands, got closer and closer to the planet, leaving a hot fiery trail behind them.

As soon as they broke into the atmosphere and created friction with the atmospheric particles, things changed.

The missiles never made it to the storm.

Each of them exploded, revealing escape pods that had been modified for this specific operation.

Just as soon as they saw it, it was over. The thousands of escape pods sank into the stormy clouds and disappeared from the view of all the observers.

*Silence!*

One minute, two minutes, three minutes. Time passed but the storm didn’t send the escape pods back out.

The silence was loud and deafening.

What did it mean when so many people felt like fools? Who knows, but that was how they all felt at the moment.

"Was that...?" Chen asked, stunned by the grace and finesse it took to come up with such a daring yet effective plan under the pressure of so many powerful creatures.

"No no no no no...!" Ma’abu screamed as he stomped his paws repeatedly on the metal ground.

Even if any of them had wanted to catch those escape pods, it was too late. They had been expertly fooled into moving away from the planet, making it so that they couldn’t get close fast enough even if they entered warp speed.

As for the arkships that had launched those missile-escape pods, they had vanished, speeding out of the star system and weaving their way into the crowd of other arkships.

They spread out and scattered, some of them taking on camouflage systems. They blended in with the crowd of other lions.

No one could find them without offending these other lions who had not yet selected their sides.

There was no point chasing after them, every moment wasted was an advantage to those who had just entered the planet.

That some lions might have entered this mysterious planet was not what was upsetting most of them, it was the possibility that Kael might have actually been inside one of those pods.

The possibility was actually very high. So high that it was unlikely that he was not among them.

Everyone had this very strange feeling of danger as if they were playing with their lives by just sitting and watching all this unfold.

"Go on, now!" Ma’abu cried while rushing over to the hatch in his chamber of command.

All the factions drew closer to the planet again and many of them opened their hatches.

Powerful beings stepped out into the void and released their auras, roaring at the stars and racing toward the stormy planet.

They didn’t even bother trying to block themselves, they just focused on getting to the planet as fast as they could.

Their bodies burst into flames right before they sank into the sea of stormy clouds.

From afar, one could see so many arkships shooting out colorful dots of light which pierced toward the chosen planet while covered in fierce unmistakable killing intent.

Even the bees who had been a bit calm panicked a bit, sending out one buzzing bus-sized bee after another from their arkship.

They were the most numerous and formed a swarm right before they sank into the storm.

Surprisingly, the calmest faction was the dragons.

There were a few draconic roars of protest and shame but there was no overaction.

They also sent out thousands of powerful dragons from their arkships. Among these dragons that streaked through the sky, one of them looked odd.

It wasn’t a dragon, it was a humanoid donning an all black suit with a black cape.