Year 6942 of the Calendar of the World Tree
Several human shaped figures are hidden underneath a massive patch of brush. All their eyes were fixated on the location of a gleaming purple flower several meters away.
"Do you think we're the first ones to arrive?" One of them asked in a whisper.
"No. There's no way there aren't any of those bastards around." The voice of the man in the furthest front was barely heard even through their comms amid all the sounds on the forest floor. "Those backward savages will never give up a chance for Ascension without a fight."
From the other side of the flower, a middle-aged human male with a ferocious face, and sparkling blue eyes, emerged from the trees. This man approached the flower with calm, and unhurried steps. He's buck naked.
"Reporting to Legion Commander Draken Alpha. We confirmed at least twenty Ani-shifters had arrived at the scene. We don't know what species they can shift into at this moment. Over." The commander of the human troops hiding in the bushes received a general status report from one of his scouts.
He casually pointed his runic weapon at the human male that was almost at the flower, and said to his troops, "Don't think that our opponents today are only those twenty odd creatures. You'll pay if you do."
The human commander charged his runic weapon with his blood red mana and fired with eager anticipation of blasting his opponent's mug into smithereens like it was routine.
Something he always looked forward to as a military commander.
The power of arcane rang through the deepest depths of the woods. It was the trigger for the small detachment of human soldiers hiding in the flora, who wielded their own weapons and ambushed their opponents with murderous intent.
It was the stench of burning flesh near the flower that sent the other 'shifters' into frenzy. Upon seeing their leader caught unawares by a lone bullet, some Ani-shifters transformed from almost unseen animals to crazed humans in the middle of the enemy ranks.
The area around the flower became filled with a smokescreen after the bullet exploded, with the apparent leader of the Ani-shifters' fate unknown.
Alpha jumped into the fray anyway, pulling his infamous scarlet sword out of its scabbard. Its runes flared bloodred, infused with the commander's very own mana, as he hacked away and slashed down at his opponents that looked like... regular humans. Except they came out of nowhere, and can transform into animals, and even hybrid forms.
It became a melee of human runic weapons, and augmented human forms of Ani-shifters.
Commander Draken Alpha cut down the head of a partially transformed horned human trying to skewer him, before evading the elongated talons of a beaked human and thrusting his fiery weapon into its abdomen. He thought maybe the number of shifters would be at most twice his crew's size, but this had become much more complicated than what he expected.
'Are they that desperate for an Ascension flower to send this many? Or could it be...'
This was the first time in his decorated military career he'd faced this many Ani-shifters for a single Ascension flower.
His natural battle instincts gave him the striking idea that the real danger lies not with their number, but with the one leading the hunt.
Movement within the explosion area around the flower remained unseen by the naked eye of the humans. But, there was another shifter that was blending into the smoke filled surroundings like a chameleon.
"Your Highness, is everything alright?" Amid the battle cries, gun shots, and flesh meeting metal, the low, yet sweet voice of a female Ani-shifter appeared out of nowhere and asked the seemingly frozen human reaching for the flower.
This was the human who first appeared in the sights of Alpha and his men. One of his arms was a mangled mess, since it took the bullet and the explosion at its fullest.
"A stun bullet, really? Are these pure humans that desperate for our Ascension flowers? This is so expensive!" She cursed as her full human features materialized. She had a beauty that could topple kingdoms. "To waste it on a being such as my Lord? They're going insane."
She took in the sounds of arcane and bones cracking outside before taking out a small vial of muddy liquid and carefully applying it on her Lord's mangled arms.
The stun effect of the bullet started wearing off, around the same time his hands started recovering at a ridiculous pace. It wore off not because of the muddy liquid, but because the bullet can't stun a being like him for any longer than a minute.
His Highness, as he was called, started moving. He gave a gentle nod to his attendant beside him, and took out a runic saber that was supposed to have been long lost along with its previous owner.
A swift, almost soundless cut separated the massive flower from the World Tree's nourishment.
Of course, since the effect of the stun bullet had worn off, the dust cloud that came with its explosion was also wearing off.
So when the commander of the pure humans— Draken Alpha— saw it dispersing, he stopped his killing and went straight for the flower, and the man behind it. He didn't expect the bullet's time to be up at all.
"Take the flower, and run away. We'll meet up at the proposed place, if I don't return within half a day, take the flower back home." The massive king pushed the flower into his attendant's hands and rattled off orders. "Go now. The kingdom needs that flower."
"I... please take care of yourself, Your Majesty. That commander is not someone to be underestimated..." With a begrudging expression, the attendant used her chameleon's camouflage ability and disappeared into the underbrush along with the prized flower.
"Well, if it isn't the hotshot Eighth Commander Draken Alpha. It's my pleasure to finally meet the future Grand Legion Commander of the Sunset Legion." Like a war horn, everyone still alive in the small skirmish heard the tremendous, and awe inspiring voice of the shadowy man inside the dispersing smoke. "Will you indulge me, King Harambe, in a fight to the death?"
!
The expression in Draken's face contorted in a blood boiling fury even his closest confidants have never seen before. His ability to remain unflappable and calm in situations like this made him the highly regarded general that he was, so him erupting into a fit of fury with just the slightest provocation? It was unusual.
"Are you really King Harambe, the Reaver?" Draken's voice was as filled with rage as it could be. He doesn't want to show his opponent weaknesses through his emotions, but he just doesn't want to stop the roiling anger he's feeling right now. Since he's too emotional right now, there's no way he can fight with his analytical mind. He'd have to return to his instinctive past for this one.
"Oh, that's what those unskilled fighter kings call me over there? In my realm, I'm called the Great." A carefree laugh came out of King Harambe. "Will you fight me, boy?"
The king emerged from the smoke, with his hands healing at a rate Draken's eyes could see. He carried the charming, magnetic aura with all the dignified ferocity and aggressiveness in just his stature alone.
Alpha was almost left speechless. How could he even miss this man's appearance even from far away? This was the unparalleled king of the beasts, regal and mighty, and he just shamefully shot him with a surprise, and unscrupulous stun bullet? What a joke.
The fighting hadn't stopped in their vicinity, with Draken's elite troops showing how mighty the best of Sunset Legion's famed Eighth Legion is— and showing the Ani-shifters that the gap in fighting strength was still that wide between the two warring parties.
After being assured of his victory no matter the outcome, the Eighth Commander said with a rare hint of pure malice: "It would be my honor, Your Majesty."
"Hear me, my friends, if you intend to fight the Sunset Legion and die with honor, you're welcome to lay your life down together with me! Use your shifting capabilities, and together we'll wipe the elites of the infamous Eighth Legion out of existence!" The rambunctious speech of the charismatic King empowered his subordinates and made them decide right here and now.
It was a stirring moment, as waves upon waves of shifters transformed into humans in a grandiose showcase of their power and their indomitable will.
Now, even the scouts and the rear legionnaires faraway are surrounded by shifters. Most of the Ani-shifters' might not have the capabilities to wield mana, but their strength lies with their numbers, and their hybrid capabilities.
"You... took everything from me!" Draken's voice cracked with hate. His blood red runic sword screaming to get a piece of the King.
"Oh? But Commander Alpha, this is the first time you and I meet." Harambe unsheathed two runic sabers, both of which flared as bright blue as his eyes. "Besides your name, and infamy, I don't even know who you are."
Draken made the first move. Once he saw those sabers, he promised that the death of either of them would be the only thing that could stop him.