The wind whipped up furiously around the cloud humanoid, making everyone shiver as they plopped onto the ground. Worse yet, they could see various clouds slowly begin to find their way over here.
Now, Ann only had two options:
Fight. Or die.
Of course, to her, and even to everyone else as well, the answer was clear. At the very least, they wouldn't die without fighting.
And for Ann specifically, there was still a chance.
She had been awakened for over half a decade by now; she was prepared for situations like this.
Currently, she had two options and both of which were courtesy of her uncle, Rans father, Torian.
One of them would leave her weakened for weeks on end.
The other had a really good chance of killing her.
She had to choose one quickly, and while she was still more than willing to die, she still didn't think it was necessary in this situation.
Thus, the first one was chosen. This move was particularly unique as it was actually a skill. Well, it was just better to show you.
…
So, there Ann was, standing in front of this ominous cloud monster just as it formed.
Her mind quickly ascertained the level of danger it held and recollected a potential solution.
The next moment, her will moved and gathered most of what's left of her fetal organ, youth serum, into her stomach. It swiftly coalesced into a ball, but it didn't end there.
In the stomach, the ball, as if it came alive, changed forms; it eventually turned into an animal that was then injected with soul juice. It then ran up through her esophagus and up into her mouth.
Sticking her tongue out, the animal ran out of her mouth and landed in front of her.
Moving her hands, threads stuck into the animal, supplying it with even more juice, but that was merely a simplification of what was happening.
In reality, the juice inside the animal was used to form… parts.
More specifically, bones.
She literally built for the animal an entire skeletal system, giving it unparalleled strength.
Beyond that, thick strands covered the bones—muscles.
Granted, while the bones were much more well defined, they still seemed to miss something. The muscles were even less defined, as they were merely just that, strands that mimic muscles.
Instead, most of the focus was… focused on the outside that formed the animal. And it had to be said that the more detailed it was, the more powerful it became.
But, as more juice was pumped into the animal, it quickly ballooned in size.
In a few seconds, under everyone's shocked gazes, the animal fully revealed itself with its hundred-foot (thirty meters) stature.
The animal, in actuality, was… a lion.
Was it obvious? Well, I didn't really know what other kind of animal I could've used. Plus, it helps a bit with continuity, though that's for later. But yes, to reiterate, it was a lion.
However, it wasn't any kind of lion, but a Desert lion. The very same kind that Pridicus was. It even had a slight resemblance to him, but it was only slight.
It's body was well proportioned, and you could even see hairs, though they were very thick as Ann couldn't do individual strands of hair yet. It's tail had a fake flame at the end and it swayed heavily in the air. It's paws were wide and its claws hung out dangerously.
As it looked up at the cloud, it let out a snarl as it's lips were lifted to reveal its sharp teeth.
But what was more peculiar was its mane. Usually, they were whole or just sort of unkempt, but this was different. It appeared natural, but it was split into five long sections; it appeared to resemble a five-pointed star.
However, what was mesmerizing was the fact that it was translucent. While it's body outside was orange, you could see the white structures underneath; its consistency was also similar to that of gelatin.
All of this to say, it's aura was almost similar to that of the black cloud humanoid. After all it was skill, or I guess, because she made everything with juice, it's a reverse skill? Nonetheless, it was a skill meant to amplify power and boy did it do that.
But, it wasn't like it was easy. Ann right now was literally leaking blood through her nose, and the amount of juice she spent filling the lion left her pale. While she knew it probably wouldn't help much, she still took out and drank an elixir to speed up her recovery.
And so, finally, it was done. It took no longer than five seconds, and even the black cloud was surprised to silence.
She had never seen such a strange move, but the fact these "random" people were still resisting only further enraged her.
She let out a cry as the cloud gathered its black lightning. It climbed its body, collecting into a ball in its mouth.
The head of the cloud looked down at this still seemingly tiny jello cat and snarled. It's mouth opened, revealing the ball that continued to collect the lightning.
The next second, a bolt of black lightning twice the size of the lion shot down at it.
However, how could the lion back down now?
It stomped the ground with its heavy paws, shattering the ground as it inhaled, quickly ballooned in size once again. It then roared directly at the lightning bolt while pushing the air out at immense speeds.
The roar directly broke through multiple sound barriers, creating a solid wall of air that successfully blocked the bolt.
It then leaped at the cloud, swiping at it with its claws. The claws ripped through the air as well as the cloud itself, however, because of its gaseous form, it did practically nothing.
Instead, seeing an opportunity, the cloud brought her huge fist upon the lion, smashing it into the ground and causing a crater.
However, worse than that, it seemed that the cloud itself was made of ice crystals, and because they were made with soul juice, they were much tougher. In the end, it was like the lion got sand-blasted by the cloud, ripping small chunks of it off when it got hit.
However, with the juice supplying it with energy, as well as the properties of youth serum, it quickly recovered to full power.
The lion's flexible body then twisted, freeing itself from the pressure of the hand of the cloud. It backed up before turning around and whipping its tail. It's tail spun quickly and with the light-attributed juice, it heated up the air so much it caught on fire. Its spinning created a vortex, catching the fire within it, and made a flaming tornado that engulfed the cloud.
The cloud cried out as the flames stuck to her body, causing the ice to melt. She squirmed furiously, destroying what little was left of the environment as she tried putting out the flames. Her body shrunk a little before she patted out all of the flames. The face of the cloud showed an extremely ugly expression as she looked at the lion. Gritting her teeth, she breathed in to gather the water in the air into itself, where it filled them with juice.
The snowy air made a whirlpool as it flowed into the clouds mouth where it gathered and gathered, until eventually, she shouted and rained down ice spears onto the lion by the thousands.
Luckily, as a feline, as well as not being completely solid, it managed to escape from the onslaught each and every time. Okay, not every time, but it then healed so it was perfectly fine after an entire minute of the icy shower.
Seeing it didn't work, she narrowed her eyes, which was mimicking Kingsley that was fused onto the head.
The cloud then brought back the spears, where it then fused them into makeshift snakes; it then sent them out to the lion by the hundreds.
At this point, Ann was surprised by this attack as the lion was completely surrounded.
She was going to use her juice to get rid of them, but just as they almost rammed into the lion, they stopped for a second.
Seeing this, she immediately took the chance and escaped the formation the snakes had made, and she even found her lion to be several times faster than before.
How could this have happened?