Leone's Crisis

Kaguya's toes lightly touched the soft snow, and her body flashed like lightning across the landscape, leaving no trace in the snow behind her. Moving at top speed, she raced northward without stopping.

Suddenly, Kaguya halted, bent down, and brushed away the snow on the ground with her hand, revealing a pale hand beneath.

It was the hand of a dead person, and beneath the snow at her feet lay a cold corpse. Kaguya looked around, her clear eyes narrowing as she noticed several other corpses nearby, with spears, swords, shields, and other weapons scattered across the ground.

The bodies were dressed in Imperial Army uniforms, with armor bearing the insignia of the Empire. It was clear that these corpses belonged to the Imperial Army—only the Imperial soldiers could be so uniformly equipped.

Most of the bodies bore the marks of heavy blows; some even had clear imprints of fists or claw marks, as if they had been slashed by a beast.

Kaguya stood up and looked into the distance. If she was right, these soldiers were likely killed by Leone. Only Leone could have left such marks.

The further she went, the more bodies she found, lying haphazardly on the ground. Most were already buried under the snow, and the crimson blood had frozen into icy patches.

It seemed Leone was just ahead. Kaguya stood up and ran in the direction indicated by the trail of bodies.

Meanwhile, in another snowy area, a group of people was locked in a fierce battle. Shouts and screams filled the air, and the sound of combat was almost deafening. But on closer inspection, it wasn't a chaotic free-for-all; rather, a large group of armored Imperial soldiers was attacking a single girl.

The girl had long, golden hair and a delicate face, with a tall, curvy figure. Her chest stood proudly, revealing a hint of snow-white skin. However, she was different from an ordinary girl—on her head were a pair of furry beast ears, and her arms ended in sharp, clawed paws.

She was none other than Leone, the person Kaguya was searching for.

Leone was in a sorry state, her body covered in dirt and her clothes torn to shreds. Her body was riddled with wounds, and blood continuously seeped from her injuries.

A normal person with so many wounds would have died long ago, but Leone had a special ability—her wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Most of the wounds under the bloodstains had already closed, though the remaining bloodstains looked gruesome.

This was the power of Leone's Teigu, The King Of Beasts Transformation: Lionelle, which granted her incredible healing abilities. Even if her limbs were severed or her eyes gouged out, she could recover as if nothing had happened.

However, even with this power, Leone was struggling. The Imperial soldiers were simply too many—there were at least a thousand of them. Worse still, these soldiers were armed with the Empire's standard-issue powerful crossbows. While they might seem like simple bows, their actual power exceeded that of most firearms.

A normal person shot by one of these crossbow bolts would be as good as dead, and a lighter person might even be knocked off their feet by the sheer force of the impact.

Leone had suffered because of these crossbows. Although she had strong regenerative abilities, being pierced by a bolt that damaged her internal organs took much longer to heal. Moreover, if the bolt remained lodged inside her body, it would interfere with her self-healing. If she were to be shot full of bolts like a pincushion, no matter how strong her healing abilities were, she would be unable to move.

Leone, after all, wasn't like Wolverine and didn't have his absurdly powerful healing factor. Compared to his, her abilities were much weaker.

At the moment, she was fighting while retreating, trying to escape through the forest filled with trees. In the forest, the Imperial soldiers' numerical advantage was diminished, and she could use the terrain to ambush them.

"Ha!"

With a shout, Leone delivered a powerful punch to the soldier in front of her. His eyes bulged, and his chest caved in with a loud crack, blood spurting from his mouth as countless bones snapped.

The soldier was tossed high into the air like a ragdoll before crashing heavily to the ground, lifeless.

This was the last of the Imperial squad chasing her. After an exhausting battle, she had finally killed them all.

Leone collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, her chest heaving up and down. Sweat trickled down her face.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and smiled victoriously. "These guys were tough. I wonder just how strong that girl must be to treat these Imperial soldiers like cannon fodder."

Leone's mind flashed to the image of a silver-haired girl. It was frustrating to think about—despite being about the same age, that girl's power was terrifying, easily toying with even one of the Three Beasts, and casually controlling the lives of countless people.

And yet here Leone was, being pushed to the brink by the Imperial Army, even though these soldiers seemed to be among the Empire's elites. If it weren't for her special regenerative abilities, she might not have been able to defeat them.

"Alright, time to go," Leone said, standing up and brushing the dirt off her clothes. "I bet Mine's getting impatient."

"Go? Go where?"

Just then, a deep voice sounded behind Leone.

Her pupils contracted in alarm, and she quickly tried to turn around.

"Thud!"

Blood splattered.

A mouthful of blood spewed from Leone's mouth as she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down, she was shocked to see a blood-soaked, sharp ice spike protruding from her chest.

"A rat is still a rat—you almost got away," a small figure emerged from behind a large tree, giggling.

He had golden hair and golden eyes, a delicate face, and a small stature. He was dressed in black armor, with black horns on his head and a tail resembling that of a demon.

"You're one of the Three Beasts... Nyau."