Lion to Himself

Max came closer to the gate, seeing a gathering of people that made him smile. That meant that Jesse had made it back safely and delivered the women to the guards, that his friends were safe and this little side show couldn't distract him anymore. Then again Max liked having the company, not having to ride alone into a battle on his lonesome as he slowed down to a jog, coming to about half a mile.

Jesse gulped, only seeing the wake of dust and moving grass, unsure just what was beyond in the fields. Moore dropped him on his tail bone as he groaned, huffing as he hissed and narrowed his eyes at the small man. From what Jesse could tell this guy seemed human but something just felt off as Moore raised his hand and the sound of bowstrings going taunt accented the wind. More stepped forward with a chuckle as the air around him felt so different like the man was itching for an army to come knocking on his door. The Captain whistled and men began to drag out large hunks of steel, crude and barely representing large gauntlets.

"C-Captain Moore, is it really necessary to do that? The m-mayor and mage got m-mad last time when you went on a rampage a-and the town wasn't happy with the damages! We can't clean up the mess again! They already slashed our wages last time because of your battle fetish!"

Moore only seemed to ignore them as before slipping on his right gauntlet a volley of arrows was let loose, none of them having a precise target but then again if this was an army they wouldn't need to as the arrows soared high into the air and began to rain down as the air whistled around them.

Max could hear something, it was unnatural and not the wind. The sound of... of a bow being drawn back as suddenly the arrows caught the sun and glinted. Max could see every last one of them, witnessing the mess of arrows that dotted the sky. Eighteen, all of them iron-tipped and if he had to assume from where he stood plus the sunlight he would say human craftsmanship. All of the arrows were accounted for and coming from town, his only guess was they thought he was some sort of Goblin or wild animal.

Max cursed as he dropped to his right knee, pulling his bow from his back. He was happy to have found it again since he discarded it back at the camp when they initiated the first part of their plan. His brain felt like a supercomputer as it suddenly began tracking the wind, the arrow velocity, the angle, and how he could counter them. His instincts were feeding this information as his body accounted for it all, firing arrows into the air, catching the nearby ones, and taking them out of the equation as he cleared himself a nice little bubble and a pathway to town.

Jesse watched as each and every arrow was let loose and then suddenly several more from the supposed army. A clear circle of where arrows would have struck become's clear. Jesse looks towards Moore, the man's golden blonde hair seems to wave within the wind as he begins to radiate an aura of blood lust, excitement and it was unnerving to be so close to as the man's body began to throb, body seemingly beginning to grow as muscles began to grow on his body, each passing second he got bigger in size, muscles enlarging, bones and face changing.

Leon Moore was a subspecies of Beastmen that was typically on the rare. Leon was a part of the Were subspecies of Beastmen, a Werelion to be exact, and held a lot of pride. Standing at seven foot tall and bulging with muscles, a golden mane now adorning him as his men shook in fear, mostly thinking about how they were going to make months end now that the so-called 'King of Field's Meadow' was out of his cage. His massive paws took up the space within the metal fists as the booming, rough gravely voice of Moore began to speak.

"Provide covering fire and if one of you hit me I swear I'll gash your wages before the Mayor does. We strike when this army comes out of their cover! Stay out of my way! And Gnome, I should have you locked up for leading them here but instead, thanks for the fun!"

Moore let out a hearty laugh as Max rolled out of the grass, popping onto his feet as another volley of arrows began to descend on him. He snarled some as he didn't have time for target practice again as he counted another eighteen but didn't bother with them as the guards watched a small boy simply dodge and weave through the stream of arrows unscathed. Jesse's eyes went wide as he saw Max, having trouble telling if it was him with the mess of dried blood on his skin but once he saw those golden eyes he knew it was him but he seemed.... different.

Before Jesse even got a chance to speak Moore was off like a bullet as he rushed Max, all the men suddenly stopping as they saw the small boy who had just walked through their arrows like he was making his way to the market. None of them dared draw another arrow now that Moore was in the way, charging straight at Max like a freighter as the massive hunks of steel didn't even seem like a hindrance to him.

Max would have loved to take in the view of Hourton but he had more pressing issues to worry about as the lion man was closing the gap between them and Max had no plan. Moore pulled back, too excited for a fight to care that this was a kid and not an army as he bore down on Max with a raised fist, bringing it down on the boy as a large plume of dust obscured the scene from the gathering of people who wanted to know why the beast was out of its cage.

Max was more than thankful for the new footwork. If he didn't have Instinct Foot Work he would have been crushed, but instead, he slid between the beast's legs as he planted two Astral Needles into the creature's Achilles tendons but didn't let them explode. He was unsure if this was friend or foe but at the moment incapacitation was the goal over more death. His instincts were feeding him information along with his wealth of knowledge, analysis had started before the first punch landed and was already at five percent. He needed to pull out another trick as he was now behind the large beast who was recovering from the blow.

Moore felt the deep pain of the needles as they bore into his flesh, each small movement that relied on the muscles caused them to move deeper and the pain to become more pronounced like a white-hot blade. He roared out in pain as he turned to pummel Max once more, striking at the boy but he seemed to be faster as the boy closed the gap and slashed his eyes but knew the cut hadn't done damage to the actual eyeball.

Max hated to have to draw blood but he would fix it later as the idea was to make the opponent concede instead of trying to brute force this fight. Red filled Moore's right eye as he huffed and growled as his body throbbed and muscles bulged as he wanted to taste blood, roaring out like a lion as he let off a fluffy of blows. Max wasn't sure what to do and his instincts were overwhelmed as dancing through the blows wasn't an option but magic was.

A cloak of magic engulfed Max, primal was the name of the game and he would need it as he met each punch with is own.

{{Primal Spell: Prey. A magic spell that weakens the affected target by weakening them just enough for the attacker to win, like a temporary curse but the mana consumption is detrimental. One thousand mana a second.

Max had just over six seconds to finish this fight and as much as he didn't want to he had to fight brute force. Each punch he met was angled just below Moore's knuckles and struck with enough strength to cause the Beast's onslaught to backfire as the counter pulverised the metal of the gauntlets and caused an extremely painful fracture through the fingers as they broke. Moore was running out of steam as each attack only seemed to be avoided or countered.

As the sixth second rolled around Max had ended the fight as he planted his fist hard into Moore's nose, knocking him out and breaking his nose as Max ran out of breath. Slowly he began to walk away as the werelion fell over as his consciousness faded, Max the victor as he walked towards Jesse, tossing the head of the Goblin King at the feet of the crowd. Wiping a bloody lip he let out a held breath.

"By the gods what the hell was that thing! Kill a Goblin King and the thanks I get is volleys of arrows, a crowd of scared people and a damn lion beastman swinging without asking questions?! Fuck, someone tell me where to get a plate of food and get me an audience with the Mayor.... Jesse, show me where I can get a bath."

Everyone was shaken up by the series of events as Max made his way into the town, all eyes on him. He shook his head, it was probably because he was soaked in a miasma of blood and smelled. Yeah, definitely because he smelled like Goblin.