Chimera Rising: Beast King Ascension [How a human-turned-lion went from Zero to Absolute Ruler]

One of the dog-things darted towards Dominic’s front legs and he lifted one paw to swipe at it. Even if the blow had connected, he doubted it would have done much damage because his claws were still sheathed, but that was irrelevant since he missed by a mile.

A sharp pain from one of his back legs revealed that the attack to his front had never been intended to connect anyway.

The message flashed up briefly before his eyes, but strangely it didn’t distract him. Much. The knowledge seemed to enter his brain even before he’d read the message. 

Before he could process it, another dog-thing snapped at one of his forepaws.

Ignoring it, he turned awkwardly towards the one about to bite his back leg again. Snapping at the attacker, his teeth clicked together fruitlessly as he failed to corner the wily creature. 

A sharp pain speared from his back leg:, the one he’d ignored before when it feinted took advantage of his lack of attention.

Growling angrily, he bit at one of the dog-things approaching his side. 

Another feinted at his leg; he swiped at it.

With each bite or swipe that hit air, he felt like he lost a bit more of his cool. The little buggers might be only a fraction of his size, but at this time they were winning.

His tail hurt. As he whirled around to grab his attacker, he almost lost his balance. 

A lucky bite to his front paw made blood start to trickle down and his answering swipe hit only air.

One of the dog-things actually jumped and managed to grip onto the loose skin at his throat, clinging on and dangling from its mouth. 

Although his straggly juvenile mane was no barrier to its attack, the loose skin at his throat meant it didn’t even approach doing any real damage to him. In fact, it was even less than one of the bites to his back leg. However, Dominic felt the last of his cool vanish. 

Having something gripping onto his throat and not letting go was a panic point for both Dominic and the lion passenger in his mind. Dominic had just almost died by being choked out by the very jaws he now controlled; even if the actual damage of the bite was negligible, it sent him into a flashback of all too-recent trauma. The lion’s reaction was no less powerful, its natural instincts driving it to protect its throat.

All thought wiped from his human mind, Dominic truly felt like a cornered animal, and that is when any creature is at its most dangerous.

As he stopped thinking and started just reacting, the awkwardness and precariousness left his steps. In their wake, they left fluid, sinuous feline movements. The dog-things were quick and agile, but in the face of a more powerful creature with just as much speed and agility, they could only fail.

Where before Dominic’s teeth had been clicking shut on empty air, now they found hot flesh and blood. As a dog-thing darted forwards, it found his jaws snapping down on its back. Dominic’s leonine canines pierced straight through its weak body and his bite pressure crushed its body.

Hot blood filled Dominic’s mouth. It should have made his stomach revolt, send nausea through his system; it didn’t. Instead, it made him feel hungry. 

With renewed vigor, Dominic whirled on the other dog-things, his claws out and teeth bared.

Snap. His teeth closed on the back leg of a dog-thing and he threw it up in the air, gravity pulling it down to thump heavily on the ground. It didn’t move. 

Tear. His claws flashed out to rake along the side of another, sending it skittering out of his range with a cry.

Pain. A searing sensation from his back leg. 

Blood in his mouth, another one falling under his teeth.

Pain. Teeth in his back paw. 

More emerge from the bush to bolster their falling numbers. He roared a challenge, bloody fangs bared. 

Pain. Blood. Pain. Tear. Pain. Bite.