Chapter 476: To Heaven
Up on a lonely hill in the middle of nowhere, Katari sat quietly on the peak in her lioness form.
At the bottom of this lonely hill, the skeletal remains of two dragons were lying with an aura of desolation and emptiness.
Katari opened her eyes to reveal eyes that had turned into balls of dark space. The space within her eyes seemed limitless like it would suck in everything all at once, including light.
Katari blinked her eyes once, and the strange phenomenon disappeared. Her eyes became normal again.
Although her expression seemed way more indifferent than it usually was, there was a hidden look of disdain that threatened to spew out from her but she was doing her best to suppress it.
Whereas before, she was merely indifferent to everything happening around her, now it looked as if she didn’t want to be anywhere at all.
Katari stood up from her sitting position, her large lioness form imposing and exuding extraordinary power.
Her large paws pressed against the hard ground of the hill’s peak and her claws dug into the soil.
At once, Katari looked up to the sky, her eyes piercing through the multiple layers of the planet’s atmosphere.
She stared beyond at the void around the planet, the peaceful, lonely void.
Space warped around Katari’s body. It twisted and turned, concentrating an ungodly amount of power around Katari.
Katari disappeared instantly, moving through the invisible void like a shooting star.
Above the clouds and far above the planet’s orbit, Katari appeared in the empty void.
Her four limbs kicked against the fabric of space, moving her farther and farther away from Kareem.
As she moved through space, Katari’s body embraced the void for what it truly was, space in its rawest form.
She felt comfortable, perhaps too comfortable. She didn’t want to be anywhere near any form of matter at all. Away from the planet, up in outer space, she felt that this was where she could thrive.
Perhaps, this was how space lions, lionesses, and other space-related creatures felt after reaching a very high level of power.
The starry void wrapped around Katari, filling her lungs with the vacuum of space.
Katari could...breathe.
No, she didn’t need to breathe.
This wasn’t a warp effect that could allow tier 6 entities to warp their powers to do strange things that they usually wouldn’t, this was all from Katari’s own power.
She stopped moving, sensing a powerful presence chasing after her through the void.
She liked back just in time to see Kael’s golden lion form teleport to the location behind her.
"Well done," Kael said, using telepathy.
Katari’s eyes flashed with the light of excitement upon seeing Kael.
"Kael, I did it," Katari said, also using telepathy.
"I can see that, how does it feel?" He asked.
"Powerful Kael, I feel powerful," Katari said as she flexed her claws and swung her tail from left to right.
In the void, the two of them shared a single heartbeat, their hearts beating at the same rhythm, spatial ripples spread out from both of them.
"Is it enough?" Katari asked, bringing her face closer to Kael’s.
"No, it’s not," Kael said, "But it’s enough for now."
"I’ll continue getting stronger, for you," Katari said.
Kael nodded, "I’ll be depending on you to do that," Kael responded vaguely.
Katari smiled, the more her body could be of use to Kael, the more she herself would feel satisfied.
The only thing Katari had ever feared was ever being useless to Kael. To one day become so redundant that Kael saw her as a liability.
Although it was hard to say if Kael would just start seeing her as useless just because she was suddenly weak, it was still a real fear that the usually indifferent Katari had developed in her psyche.
"It’s time to go to heaven," Kael said right before both of them disappeared.
/////
Leonine Heaven.
Exalon’s continent.
One look at Exalon’s place of residence and one would know that he was a really resourceful and capable Lion King.
The continent his clan resided on was vast, easily ten times the diameter of an average planet like Kareem.
And one tenth of this continent’s surface was covered by the tall black pyramid.
This pyramid was simply huge, way too huge. It wasn’t just a random pyramid like the Iron Blood Pyramid or the late king Larvis’s pyramid.
This was a pyramid built to last, a fortress among fortresses. It housed all the members of Exalon’s clan, as well as hosting suites for guests and visitors.
This type of pyramid wasn’t rare in Leonine Heaven, but it wasn’t common either.
Lion Kings who had this type of pyramid usually used it as a safe bunker to hide away from enemies for long periods of time.
Exalon could be said to be one of the few who had this type of pyramid.
The only issue that came with pyramids like this was the maintenance and cost of energy for everything to run properly. It was enormous and that was the same for the energy it used.
Its origin essence reserves were comparable to an arkship’s, if not slightly larger.
On the bright side, once the original essence reserves of this pyramid were filled, it could last a long time.
But in recent times, with so many clan members making use of the utilities, and Exalon hosting many visitors, and the likelihood that a massive battle could occur anytime, it didn’t look like the origin reserves could last longer than usual.
*BOOM!*
A figure sped through the multicolored skies of the continent, speeding toward the pyramid.
It was a man, a really big man. He was bald with long white hair on the sides of his head. His brownish-yellow eyes glittered with the light of excitement and his lips were parted to form a calm smile.
His body was large and muscular, like that of a bodybuilder. Standing, he would probably be more than seven feet tall. His shoulders were broad and his chest was wide.
He wore a simple white up-and-down loose attire with the ends of his fabric fluttering in the wind.
His attire failed miserably to hide his imposing muscular frame as every movement he made caused a significant bulge.
The warp effect acted in his constantly vibrating muscles, allowing him to speed through the air as though he could fly.
The grey furry ears and long lion tail behind him spoke of his true origins, a lion.
And from the aura emanating from him, he was tier 6 and also a bona fide lion king.
This muscular man flying through the air was none other than King Exalon himself, Kael’s biggest supporter.
He balled his hands into fists as she drifted to a stop in front of the mega black pyramid.
His eyes scanned everything from up to down. Everything here was under his control.
He had been gathering some Lion Kings secretly for the past one year ever since Kael told him that he would be coming soon.
Now, there were more than ten thousand lion kings in this vicinity of Exalon’s pyramid. Most of the lion kings were stationed on their arkships but the black pyramid was currently housing one thousand visiting lion kings.
Exalon could not gather so many Lion Kings in one place without a good excuse. He had simply told them that this place would be ideal for the Primordial Supporters’ temporary headquarters.
And indeed, the pyramid had been serving as that on the surface, a lot of meetings about war and strategy were held daily.
The lion kings lived to laze around but they usually didn’t if there was work to do. They were constantly reviewing the missions that they posted to the mission boards, keeping a list of all those who refused to join the lion system, and monitoring potential threats related to the Anti-Primordial Coalition.
But deep down, Exalon knew that he had gathered them all to this place for the sake of Kael.
Kael had not specified the exact date but he said that he would tell Exalon the exact moment he was going to come.
A few minutes ago, Kael had given Exalon the signal, which was the cause of his unnatural excitement.
Exalon’s mind churned and he connected himself with the whole pyramid. He then used the lion system to accept the linking request Kael had sent him.
This would allow Kael to open a heavenly gate directly to this place instead of a random location.
Immediately, he felt it, the link, as well as the attempt from the universe to breach time and space.
Not just Exalon, all the lion kings who had heavenly beacons felt it. Someone was trying to open a Heavenly Gate to Leonine Heaven and the destination was the area in front of Exalon’s massive pyramid.
King Exalon balled his hands into fists, puffed out his large chest, and opened his mouth to announce in a booming voice.
"The All-King is coming to heaven! Ready yourselves for his arrival!"