Leon, Khayu, and Iset were spat out onto the deck of Leon’s ship without much consideration; Maia was many things, but gentle was not one of them. The river nymph herself leaped from the water and gracefully landed upon the deck like she’d been doing it all her life, flashing Leon a competitive smile as Leon stumbled for a few steps after landing before diving back into the water.

Khayu and Iset missed the look, though, since neither landed on their feet. They didn’t get much of a chance to rise to their feet, either, because only a few seconds after their arrival, a voice made shrill by uncontainable emotion screamed, “Mama! Papa!”

A moment later, Asiya appeared as if from nowhere and threw her arms around her parents, weeping and blubbering the whole while. Leon could make out a few words, but nothing too coherent—it sounded to him like Asiya was trying to express her joy at having her parents back, but her emotions had completely overwhelmed her ability to talk.

He, after quickly scanning their surroundings with his magic senses to ensure they were safe, stood back with a smile of pride on his face. Khayu and Iset, once they identified their daughter, wrapped their own water-logged limbs around her, and the small family cried in joy together. Leon hadn’t thought it would’ve been possible, but he’d actually succeeded; Asiya and her parents were reunited, all three freed from their imprisonment within the land of their Ancestors.

After a second or two, Leon felt a hand wrap around his waist, and he turned to see Valeria there, beaming her joy at him at his success, and Leon pulled her in closer, sealing her lips with his own. It wasn’t the hardest thing he’d ever done, but it had still been a stressful night and he was looking forward to crashing with Valeria and Maia in his arms. Even if he didn’t necessarily need sleep at the eighth-tier, he still wanted to cuddle with them, to feel that they were here with him.

Maybe he was being affected by the family reunion nearby, he couldn’t say. However, after about a minute, Leon glanced over at Anshu, who still steered the ship, and at Alix, Gaius, Marcus, and Alcander, all of whom were working the sails.

“We’re getting out of here?!” Leon yelled to his retinue, half an order and half a question at what they were currently doing.

Anshu looked like he was about to respond, but Alix beat him to the punch. “That’s the plan, boss!” The Indradian scowled, but kept his mouth shut until Leon shouted to carry on.

“Will do!” he replied, his tone somewhat strained. “We’ll be back in Ariminium in two days—less, if the wind is with us!”

Leon chuckled and muttered, “The wind will always be with us!” Anshu definitely heard him, because the Indradian seemed to minutely relax as Leon summoned his wind magic and filled the sails with his power. With his help, the ship turned around and began to speed off into the night, gliding across the surface of the water with seeming ease.

“Leon,” Khayu said from behind Leon, who turned from what he was doing to address the Samarid man, “I can’t possibly thank you enough! You have saved me, my wife, and my daughter! I’d thought our entire family to be destined for the block, but… but you…” He trailed off, and his expression of gratitude began to break as all the emotions of the escape and the nearly-completed execution flashed through him. Already emotionally raw after the reunion with his daughter, the older Samarid man began to weep as he pulled Leon into a tight bear-hug. “Thank you!” he muttered into Leon’s ears. “Thank you! Thank you! I can’t ever repay you for this, but please let me at least tr—”

A small explosion and a wave of heat washed over the two embraced men, violently cutting Khayu off and throwing them both backward.

Iset and Asiya screamed as Leon regained his balance, but found Khayu collapsing into his arms, his body limp. The Samarid man had a burning hole in his back about double the size of Leon’s fist, the flesh scorched and the exposed bone blackened by the heat.

‘We’re not in the clear!’ Leon thought in momentary panic as he scanned their surroundings. They were a fair distance from the shore, but Leon could see Mansur standing upon the sandy beach, fire still dancing around his fingertips, a cocky smile of triumph on his lips. The seventh-tier fire mage’s aura then spiked again, and Leon ordered his people to hit the deck.

Without hesitation, everyone complied, and another wave of fire swept over the ship a moment later. Anshu had some trouble since he was steering the ship, and Leon heard a subdued groan of pain, while Iset and Asiya crawled over to Khayu.

“See to him!” Leon shouted at Valeria. He then turned to the rest of his retinue, pointed at the shore, and ordered, “Shoot him!”

Gaius and Alcander were the first to rise, arrows already nocked in their bows. They drew and loosed their deadly payloads, some of Leon’s spells tied to the arrows. However, a fireball from Mansur incinerated the arrows before they even reached halfway, but by then Leon was already moving.

He’d leaped from the deck of the ship in the same breath as Gaius and Alcander fired their arrows. He didn’t even think about his clothing, and as he sailed through the air, he summoned his power and transformed into his avian form for the third time in barely more than a day. He felt his soul realm flexing a bit as his magic reserves were overtaxed, but the transformation was successful; in a matter of moments, his body expanded, tearing free of his clothes, and becoming the spitting image of the Thunderbird, if a little smaller.

Leon then operated entirely on instinct. It was his first real fight in his Thunderbird form, and it wasn’t one he was prepared for. But any nervousness he felt melted away in the heat of his wild fury. He’d rescued Khayu and Iset and had been just about to bring them back to Ariminium, only for this bastard to attack and severely wound Khayu.

White hot fury lanced through Leon’s mind as he beat his wings, a clap of thunder resounding from his feathers so loudly that Mansur blinked in surprise and fear, his eyes momentarily darting around the beach as if looking for someone. The Samarid then turned his focus back to Leon, summoned his power, and in the last moment he could before Leon was upon him, let loose with a cataclysmic eruption of flame from his outstretched fingers. Leon beat his wings once more, and a mighty gust of wind caught the fire blast and sent it rolling back over Mansur.

His own power couldn’t harm him, of course, but it entirely took the teeth out the attack. Mansur barely had time to register the heat before talons longer than his legs raked through the fire, wrapping themselves around his chest, and just barely scraping off his armor. Not even a second later, Leon’s avian face came tearing through the smoke and flame, his beak shining like polished gold, and tore out Mansur’s throat with savage ferocity. Leon’s talons tightened, crushing Mansur’s metal armor, and his ribs beneath.

The seventh-tier Samarid mage barely had time to gurgle and futilely raise one of his arms to try and launch one last blast of fire before Leon raised one of his legs and slammed it down upon Mansur’s arm, snapping the bone within like dry twigs.

And it was over. A seventh-tier mage was dead, clutched in Leon’s talons, his body broken and battered, his skeleton so shattered that he was little more than a sack of meat slowly leaking through a few mangled holes Leon had torn in his throat, arm, and torso. And with the deed done, Leon’s rage cooled.

He glanced back at his ship and saw Alix, Alcander, Marcus, and Gaius ready with bows out and arrows nocked, scanning the beach for further threats. Asiya, Valeria, and Iset were crouched over Khayu, Valeria pressing a healing spell into the man’s back, but Asiya’s father remained motionless, his aura flagging. Anshu continued to steer the ship onward, while Maia and Xaphan were still out there somewhere—Maia was closer, but she’d doubled back to make sure they weren’t being followed. With a quick message, Leon asked her to return with all haste.

Then, he turned his eyes back to Mansur.

He’d gotten sloppy and let the Samarid get far too close. Now, it seemed that his mistake would have fatal consequences.

Leon was reminded of his father’s favorite story to tell when growing up. It was of a man who sought immortality, but upon finding a flower that would bestow immortality upon him when eaten, he’d gotten careless and celebrated the flower’s acquisition too quickly. Before he had a chance to eat the flower, a serpent lunged out and stole it out of the man’s hand, eating it right in front of him.

The story changed slightly with every retelling, but the lessons always remained the same: never get careless; the job wasn’t done until everyone was home safely; never assume the fight was over until there was irrefutable proof that it was.

When leaving Samar, Leon had kept his magic senses projected, watching for anyone that might follow them and try to prevent their escape. He’d not seen anyone and had assumed that they weren’t there and had let his guard down when finally making it back to the ship. However, he, himself, had methods to escape such scrutiny, yet still he’d allowed himself to get complacent. Even though his magic senses had told him that they were in the clear, if he’d remained alert and on-guard, then he might’ve been able to react in time to save Khayu.

This was on him, and Leon had to fight the urge to tear into Mansur’s body even further. Instead, he inspected the corpse.

Mansur’s armor wasn’t particularly noteworthy, aside from its obvious quality. It wasn’t quite enough to get Leon’s attention, and the damage it had taken in Leon’s attack ensured that Leon wasn’t going to bother taking it. However, there were a couple things that did catch Leon’s interest: an amulet around Mansur’s neck that had been shaken loose from beneath his armor during Leon’s mauling. It hung from a thick gold chain, and was rather simple, being little more than an oval frame made of gold set with a polished, multi-faceted sapphire the size and shape of a sparrow’s egg. It glowed with magic power, so Leon, without bother to transform back into his human form, tore it from Mansur’s corpse and sent it into his soul realm.

The other object was a ring on Mansur’s finger made of silver and set with a dozen tiny rubies, eight of which were glowing with soft red light. Leon was none too careful in removing the ring with his talons, and so removed Mansur’s finger as well, which he shook loose before storing the ring in his soul realm.

That was brutal, Xaphan’s voice said in an appreciative whisper. That guy came off as a bit of a **heel, I’m glad that he finally did something to warrant such treatment. You ought to remember this, human; if you wish for power and the titles that come with power, all who oppose you ought to be treated similarly.

Leon didn’t respond, instead turning his head upward to see a tiny fiery dot in the sky which he knew to be Xaphan flying high above them.

But then, he turned his attention back to the beach. His retinue keeping an eye on the beach had the right idea; if Mansur could get so close without him noticing, then what were the chances that others could do likewise?

Leon thought of the restrictions his ring of invisibility had, and then beat his wings, sending a powerful burst of wind rolling down the beach in one direction, and then again in the other. It took a surprising amount of effort for so little power, and as a figure suddenly appeared on the beach, revealed when their invisibility failed, he had to fight the urge to transform back into his human form and collapse in exhaustion.

The figure appeared feminine, and she stumbled quite a bit with the force of Leon’s probing wind, her features temporarily obscured by the sand kicked up in the wake of the gusts. However, Leon didn’t even need the sand to settle before he figured out her identity: Kaouther, the seventh-tier water mage.

He stepped off Mansur and, still in his avian form, began to awkwardly try to walk over to her. He felt somewhat ridiculous, but his size and power still seemed to have an effect, as Kaouther paled and an expression of abject fear crossed her face. From the Gulf, meanwhile, Maia appeared, manifesting from the waves fully dressed and with murder in her eyes. From above, Xaphan dropped like a meteor, landing behind Kaouther, and largely trapping her with the three eighth-tier equivalent beings.

“Please, please!” she shouted, probably having never before in her life having seen such power standing in opposition to her. “I’m not an enemy! I didn’t come here for violence!”

Leon, Maia, and Xaphan advanced upon her regardless. She still had some room to maneuver, but Leon noted that she didn’t take it. Instead, she just held up her empty hands and fell to her knees.

“I surrender!” she shouted, her tone somewhat desperate. “I’m not loyal to the Sultan!”

That finally got Leon to pause, and Maia and Xaphan took their cues from him, pausing as well. Leon coldly regarded the woman—she was beautiful by just about any standard of beauty imaginable. Fit, with an enviably well-endowed figure that he’d rarely seen matched by anyone else. Her features were the epitome of Samarid beauty, with full lips; a strong, but not overpowering jawline; long, lustrous brown hair pulled back into a loose bun; and a pair of hazel eyes that seemed to shimmer almost like gold in the light of the full moon.

Leon then noted that she wasn’t wearing any armor, instead being clad in simple dark blue and green sleeveless robes that only went down to her knees. She wore a couple of expensive, yet nonmagical rings, had a tight gold band fastened around her neck, and had gold bracelets decorated with elaborate geometric patterns on each wrist, one of which emanated an aura of light magic that Leon assumed was responsible for her invisibility. Finally, she only wore close-toed sandals on her feet and had a pair of thin golden anklets which the sandals seemed tied to. In short, she was hardly dressed for battle, but instead seemed more like she was dressing to impress someone, lending some credence to her claim that she wasn’t there for violence.

Wishing he didn’t have to, Leon quietly transformed back into his human form after a moment of thought. He couldn’t speak with her in his Thunderbird form, after all. As he returned to normal, he had to carefully control his expression to not appear perturbed at his lack of clothing, but as soon as he could fit into them, he conjured new clothes from his soul realm. Kaouther, he noted, awkwardly averted her gaze as he transformed.

When he could speak again, Leon approached her, his aura and killing intent staggering despite his exhaustion, and loomed over her for several long seconds. Then, when it seemed like she was just about to speak again, he cut her off and demanded, “Your comrade just attacked someone I made great exertions to save. How do you think I should I take your presence?”

“The Commander was sent by the Sultan to watch you on your way out,” Kaouther explained. “He wanted to make sure you weren’t going to come back and try to break out the traitors… but it seemed you did it anyway. Congratulations, I say.”

Leon didn’t respond, merely glaring at her, silently telling her to continue.

She audibly gulped, and said, “Today was supposed to be my day off. Instead, I had to respond to your… eh, ‘attack’, on the palace this afternoon, and then escort you around while everyone else lost their tiny minds over your presence. We didn’t speak much, but I have to admit, I was intrigued…”

“By what?” Leon growled.

She paused a moment, seeming to carefully weigh her words. “Beasts… don’t usually reach the point of ascension. Humans are far better at gaining in power than they are. But that means that those beasts that do manage to seize enough power to assume human form are the sort that will… make waves, so to speak. The sort that are ambitious. Driven. I’ve never seen an Ascended Beast before, so I was intrigued to see if you fit that mold.”

“And if I did?” Leon asked.

“Then I would’ve asked to join you,” Kaouther readily replied, her fearful expression dropping to reveal a smile of greed or ambition, Leon couldn’t quite tell. “I have no love for the Sultan; I was forced into his service against my will because of my power. I owe him nothing. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d kill him myself! He’s weak, concerned not with glory or ascension, but with the pettiest of concerns—his political power, his position, his rights! I have reached the seventh-tier, but under him, I will go no further; that much, I can say with certainty. So that leaves me with two options: either sign on with someone or something under which I can thrive, or I can strike out on my own. The latter is tempting, but there is power in numbers…” Kaouther glanced first at Leon, then at Maia, and then behind her at Xaphan. “… so I thought that signing on with someone else would be the better option. That is why I’m here, Aetos. I want to join you. I don’t care at all for the Samar Kingdom, the Sultan, or any of them. I just want to continue walking the path of magic, and I could be a great servant of yours, if you’d only take me under your wing…”

She continued to kneel, but she brought her arms together, pressing her sizable breasts together and giving Leon a look of such fiery passion that he figured if he wanted to tear her clothes off and take her right there on the beach, then she’d let him.

And there was a part of him that was tempted—a rapidly growing part south of his waist. But there was more than just what she was implicitly offering that he found hard to pass up: she was a seventh-tier mage, and if he took her in, it would represent a substantial increase in the power of his retinue. She could be a great asset in whatever struggles might come next.

But she was also abandoning her former liege at what was essentially just the tiniest of sign of a greener pasture, and if he were honest, he found her offering herself to him in front of Maia and Valeria to be almost insulting, rapidly killing much of his physical attraction.

‘How long would she remain loyal to me?’ Leon wondered. ‘Even if I made her a concubine, or a wife, I could never truly trust her. Not if I recruited her under these circumstances. Besides…’ His gaze momentarily went back to his ship, where Khayu remained lying on the deck, unmoving, responding not all to Valeria’s healing spells, Asiya and Iset crying and pleading over him not to die. ‘If I took her in now, I think Asiya would strongly disagree, and Valeria and Elise would side with her.’

Focusing on Kaouther, Leon growled, “I’ll pass on the offer.” He then laid out the reasons he’d just pondered, but added, “… but I won’t kill you here. You can leave. Just know that we are not friends—but also know that so long as you don’t try anything more, so long as you don’t follow us, so long as you don’t tell anyone what happened here, we won’t be enemies. Now go.”

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, and she looked shocked that he would do so. But his will was firm, and after taking a few seconds to process that she’d just been rejected, disbelief carved deeply into her face, Kaouther slowly got to her feet, turned around, and started to stiffly walk in the direction of Samar, casting many looks behind her at Leon and his company as she did.

“Is this wise, human?” Xaphan asked aloud, his voice crackling like fire.

I’d feel better killing her, Maia added.

“It’s fine,” Leon responded, his eyes starting to grow heavy with exhaustion. “Enough has been done today. We don’t know her or who she might be connected to. It’s a risk, but better to let her go as a peace offering than to make more enemies out of anyone she might be connected to.”

“Worried about some backwater noble coming after you for killing their daughter?” Xaphan pressed, sounding only half-serious. However, Maia turned her head in his direction and stared at him. He didn’t need her to speak to understand her question.

“People in this part of the world don’t just become seventh-tier mages,” Leon stated. “She has to have backers. She has to have connections beyond just the Sultan.” He glanced over at Mansur’s corpse. “I think we’ve made enough enemies today, and mercy can be a powerful weapon if wielded with discretion. So let’s just salvage what we can and go.”

Xaphan sighed. “Very well.” Then, his body burned even brighter, and then shrank into just a pinprick of orange light that sank into Leon’s chest. The demon had returned to Leon’s soul realm.

Maia nodded to Leon, resting a hand on his shoulder in support. They didn’t need to speak to understand that whatever his decision, she was with him for it. The two then used their water magic to return to the ship, with Leon having to rely upon Maia far more than he was comfortable with, his three transformations these days having expended just about all of his energy.

However, what awaited them was not a scene of Leon’s retinue grateful to have survived this short fight, nor one of them celebrating their victory. Instead, most of Leon’s retinue was silent. Only Asiya and Iset made much of any noise.

They wept over the dead body of Khayu. The healing spells had failed to save his life.