Chapter 496: Her Pride
Kael wasn’t able to continue his words as the edge of a thin, long, and sharp ice blade, licked the surface of his skin.
He felt the cold touch of the blade on his neck, he felt how it tingled him, causing his bones to shiver and his blood flow to slow down.
Kael had stopped talking, but he didn’t flinch. He just stared down with a widening smile on his face.
In front of him, Alora’s face was just a few inches from touching his nose. Her two hands had stylishly and skillfully conjured one long ice sword, pressing the sharp edge against Kael’s neck.
Kael did not try to move his neck out of the way or try to fight back, he looked even more relaxed.
He leaned forward, allowing the edge of the ice blade to press harder into his skin.
"What’s wrong with you?" Alora asked through gritted teeth. She realized that she had let her emotions get the best of her and control her actions.
She felt the hundred if killing intent locking firmly onto her body. Even Shawty was looking at her with intense killing intent.
"Are you ready?" Kael asked.
"Hmm," Alora didn’t say anything, slowly retracting her hand so that she could take a step back.
"If you can prove that you are better than me, right here and right now, I’ll give you anything you want," Kael said seriously.
"Why are you doing this?" Alora asked. To her, it just didn’t make sense.
Why would Kael provoke her so much when there was no clear benefit to it? Even going so far as to bring up the matter of her dead mother.
"You are a threat to me, Alora, an attractive threat," Kael said with the most serious expression Alora had ever seen on anyone.
Kael’s very honest answer made sense but also confused and stunned Alora deeply.
Indeed, Kael was really just entertaining himself if he stripped his actions down to the barest detail.
It wasn’t like he couldn’t find other ice lionesses to become his consort. He was the All-King and he had a lot of options to choose from.
Alora was just one of them. But Alora was also a bit different from the others.
Her mind, personality, and mentality set her apart from the rest of the group, compounded by the trauma she experienced when growing up.
The fact that she had a strong desire to be powerful was attractive to Kael. Kael wasn’t an unemotional demon after all, he could still feel sexual attraction to certain things.
Alora’s stubbornness and arrogance really made him want to beat her up.
Another thing was that he could sense that Alora constantly saw him as a competition, someone to overcome at some point.
Kael didn’t like that as it meant that Alora could be a potential threat to him in the future.
Perhaps, if it were another lion or lioness with this mentality and Kael found out, he would have arranged their demise quietly.
There was that saying that Power loves Power. It was true.
Alora found herself admiring Kael because of the power he commanded and Kael found himself attracted to Alora because of the power she sought.
They were two entities on the same road. But only one must reach the finish line.
So today, when Kael heard that Alora was coming to visit him, he decided to use the opportunity to neutralize a potential future threat.
Alora didn’t know it yet but Kael had no intention of letting her walk out of here so easily.
No, first and foremost, he must let them, not just Alora, know who’s boss.
"Come on, Alora. If you can’t deal with me now, how do you plan on reaching your goal?
Do you think I will let you?" Kael asked.
Alora narrowed her gaze and pressed the blade harder against Kael’s neck.
"I will surpass you," Alora whispered to herself. That was her truth and what she truly believed.
So what if she admired Kael, somewhat if she wanted to be like him. She still wanted to become a God and in her eyes, she was the only one worthy of such power.
She was the only one who deserved to stand at the peak, yes, that was what she deserved.
She would stand at the peak of lion civilization and others like Chloe and Shawty would stand by her side.
Maybe even Kael, if he behaved, would get to stand by her side in the future.
Yes, that was what she thought, that was how high she thought of herself.
And now, Kael was openly and blatantly standing in her way to the top. Such audacity, how dare he?
Indeed, if she left now, she may never have the opportunity again.
But teaching Kael a lesson was vastly easier said than done.
Subconsciously, Alora pressed the blade harder on Kael’s neck.
Kael’s serious expression became firmer, this was it.
*CRACK!*
The sound of ice breaking reached both their ears, and the edges of the ice blade began to show cracks as it was being pressed against Kael’s neck.
Kael’s neck was just too strong for this half-baked ice blade to do anything.
At most, he felt the sharp edges, but that was it.
Alas, to Kael, this was no different from attempted murder.
"At least, you tried," Kael said softly, his voice coming out as a deep and dark whisper that caused all the hairs on Alora and Shawty’s bodies to stand on end.
*WHOOSH!*
Before Alora could react, Kael’s large hand had disrespectfully grabbed her face. Kael’s tyrannical arm movement directly shattered the ice sword Alora was using.
"All-King!" Shawty shouted in alarm.
Kael was fast, before anyone could do anything, Kael had lifted Alora up by her head and slammed her into the ground.
*BAM!*
The tiles instantly shattered into countless pieces. The pillow sofas were blown back by the shockwave and the walls trembled.
The auras of many Lion Kings shot up and drew closer.
"Leave us!" Kael shouted while holding down Alora’s jaws. The auras all receded.
"All-King!" Shawty exclaimed again but she didn’t know who to side with. Kael was literally the one constantly provoking Alora.
’Was he waiting for her to act?’ Shawty asked herself. Everything had escalated way too fast. She had thought that Kael was ignoring her because he was attracted to Alora.
But it was starting to seem like things weren’t so simple.
"Submit," Kael said softly.
That word stuck in Alora like a hammer in her mind. Her reaction was violent and immediate.
Layers of ice grew out of her skin and clothes, forming a thick frosty exoskeleton that pushed Kael’s hand away from her face.
Once that was done, she leapt up and delivered a swift blow to Kael’s jaw.
The ice gauntlet on her arm was broken into pieces and the sound of ice striking metal rang out. Alora felt her arm turn numb from the hit.
Kael’s jaw felt like it was made of the hardest material she had ever touched.
Alora didn’t stop attacking though, even though she was feeling the numbness. Only one phrase kept playing in her mind as she continued to punch out.
’How dare he!’ She thought. ’How dare he ask me to submit’.
She threw one frost-covered punch after the other, her aim was perfect and each blow struck Kael in the jaw perfectly.
Alas, Alora did not have any special physique, nor did she have the bone strength that Kael had.
At best, she was just super strong due to her power level but compared to someone like Kael and Exalon who had tough bodies, hers was nothing.
All the punches she was throwing at Kael had little effect. She thought Kael was moving back because of her strength but it was actually because of the cold.
Each of her strikes sent shivers down Kael’s bloodstreams.
Suddenly, Kael caught one of her incoming punches. He gripped her knuckles, squeezing tight and shattering the ice glove.
He squeezed harder again and the sound of bones cracking echoed out, causing Shawty to feel a chill down her spine.
Alora didn’t scream from the pain, nor did she grit her teeth or show any signs of distress. She was so prideful that she wouldn’t give Kael the satisfaction of seeing her reaction.
"Is this it?" Kael asked, punching out at Alora.
His fist hit her in the chest and she was sent flying until her back smashed into the wall. Thankfully, Kael had released her hand in time, if not she would have truly suffered.
"Is this the power you want to use to reach the top?
You and I know that’s not possible. You know it.
Instead of betting on yourself and ending up failing the entire race, why don’t you bet on me?
I could reach the peak, become the apex Conqueror, and you could be by my side."
Kael said, walking over to Alora’s figure slumped against the wall.
Alora’s cold blue eyes were filled with frosty rage. Her icy aura kept on clashing with Kael’s, turning the whole meeting room into a chaotic storm of ice and gold.
She straightened her back and faced Kael, her fighting spirit surging to the roof.
"I would rather die," Alora said.
Kael laughed and clapped his hands, "That’s what I want to hear."