Boom!
The dense Exploding Fireballs descended like scorching meteors from the heavens, the sweltering airwaves slamming against the earth's surface. As the deafening explosion erupted, a vast inferno blazed life into the area, encompassing hundreds of meters. Yet, it failed to harm the Ferocious White Tiger. Its agility was unparalleled, its bestial instincts magnified to provide a glimpse into the future skirmishes, allowing it to evade the magical barrage in the nick of time.
A dragon's dynamic vision is sharp, but the feline's is hardly inferior. The tiger's graceful and nimble leaps, akin to a dance on the edge of a blade or snatching chestnuts from fire, meant that the Exploding Fireballs barely affected it. Even when a stray spark landed upon the snow-white fur of the Ferocious White Tiger, it was briskly cast aside.
With a roar, the Ferocious White Tiger let out a cry that seemed to awaken a long-lost fighting spirit. After being blessed by the elements, it had won every battle, as a mere soldier escalates to a celebrated general. Unchallenged, until this colossal dragon forced an unsettling feeling upon it.
With a flick of its agile tail and a build-up of energy in its limbs that caused the ground to tremble, the tiger leapt a staggering hundred meters into the air, charging at the enormous creature in the sky with the swiftness of lightning. The scene was nothing short of spectacular.
Caesar couldn't help but feel delighted by such tremendous combat vigor from the big cat. In some respects, feline creatures represent a form of evolutionary perfection, with unmatchable speed, power, and explosive force. Especially when empowered by the elements, they evolve into formidable apex predators—yet dragons are an exception.
With a mere swish of his long tail, Caesar seemed to momentarily harness the wind, summoning a gale that bore down upon the charging tiger. Dragon tails are powerful weapons, and the force behind their swing can obliterate a small mountain. The impact sent the Ferocious White Tiger crashing painfully to the ground, leaving a sizable crater.
Despite its impressive defensive fur, designed to withstand the onslaught of magical creatures and their spells, the Ferocious White Tiger could not withstand the impact against a dragon of Caesar's magnitude.
"Do you intend to keep resisting? Alas, I have little time for play..." Caesar mused as the great beast struggled back to its feet, admiring its defiance before knocking it down.
Minutes passed, then half an hour, and a full hour, with the Ferocious White Tiger gradually calming down from its frenzied efforts, until, with an almost resigned whine, it submitted.
"So, you yield?" Caesar addressed the subsided beast, smoothing its fur with a dragon's paw. The former indomitable predator now gently licked Caesar's scales with a warm and moist tongue, a sensation oddly reminiscent of petting a cat in a previous life.
Recognizing the inherent animal social hierarchy, the Ferocious White Tiger bowed to Caesar's greater strength, assuring its servitude and loyalty.
Caesar was pleased as he petted the once fierce creature's head; the dense fur was enjoyable to touch. The Ferocious White Tiger was a formidable ally in battle and a docile companion in leisure—a creature of dual purpose.
After some recuperation, Caesar refrained from transforming the tiger's bloodline, knowing the process would be lengthy, with the war likely over before its completion. Thus, the dragon and the tiger hastened towards the human thoroughfare, ready for the ambush.
Choosing an opportune location for attack, Caesar sent Sylvana and her army of monsters ahead. Upon arrival, he surveyed the human army rather than immediately rejoining Sylvana, casting invisibility upon himself and melding with the night. Even the Griffin Knights would fail to spot him from thousands of meters above without the aid of a high-ranking caster.
He soon found the humans—a dense cluster of points like ants, stationary in the night, resting after the day's battles. Even at rest, they diligently patrolled, alert to magical creatures and beasts.
Observing their uniforms, adorned with the Cassius flower emblem, Caesar recognized these soldiers as Duke Cassius's men—rebels from the Silvermoon Kingdom and ambitious usurpers to the throne.
Caesar waited. Dawn was his battlefield, the zenith of his might. By then, not even beings of high rank would challenge his power. For now, it was the silent prowl before the inevitable conflict.