The Shapeshifter

Chapter 4

Blood red sky, black soil, withered trees, bones, smog, no living beings and lack of vitality; completely opposite of Terra.

This was what the Human and Lion King saw after they emerged from the portal. Seeing this, they thought they were just near some cemetery in the Underworld, so they started walking towards the north, where a huge black tower stood proudly.

Unknown to them, the portal seemed a centimeter smaller than what it was.

After an hour of walking, what greeted them were a bunch of demon, tens of millions of them.

They were clearly surprised at the sight of such gathering. Though they were surprised it didn't induce a tinge of fear on them, on the contrary it gave these two battle maniacs excitement.

The Human began using his amplifying spells on the Lion King to enhance its speed and stamina.

[Greater Stamina]

[Greater Speed Enhancement]

The Lion King then ran towards the horde of demons, slaughtering left and right.

He then performed a seemingly normal looking punch, when it was completely thrown out tens of demons died under the might of its fist. While it was killing demons, the Human King didn't want to get left behind by the Lion King.

[Meteor Smash]

He then raised his scepter and bombarded the demons with an Area of Effect magic which immediately killed hundreds of demons.

The fight continued for a day but no matter how many demons the kings killed, the number of demons doesn't seem to lessen, on the contrary it increased.

"Pitiful house cat and human slave, we have already anticipated your arrival. What do you feel seeing this welcoming gift, is it to your liking? You should just accept your deaths."

A cold, haughty and mocking voice sounded in the air as the kings fought the demons bitterly.

Hearing this the Lion King didn't back down.

"A mere bone general. Talking haughty and mighty. Why don't you let this house cat have a taste of your feeble bones. Stop hiding behind these canon fodders and come out!"

"I fear your teeth might shatter, little creature. But these guys are enough, giving you cuts and bruises. Making you tuck your tail between your legs and make a run for your dear life."

After the bone general or the necromancer said his piece, he casted a spell that made the demons lost of what tiny bit of sanity left on their minds.

The demons attacked vigorously and courageously even the injured ones are oblivious to their current state and even crawled to fight the kings.

"Hey Lion, we can't keep this up much longer. My mana is draining so much faster than we're killing them. We must go! Now!"

"Screw it!"

After making up their minds, the two sprinted towards the portal. With increased fatigue and lack of mana they struggled in going back while fighting against their enemies. It took them five hours of running towards the now small portal. Looking at it, it was getting smaller and smaller.

Not hesitating any longer, the Lion King jumped towards the portal as he did so, he noticed that the portal was now the size of a human head. When suddenly a hand reached out and pointed to his forehead.

Loads of information and experiences was forced to his brain. After what seemed to be years of information, the Lion King regained his consciousness and stared at the hand at his forehead.

"Live on my friend. With the information I gave you, humanity will surely triumph against these bastar-"

The voice was cut off when the portal suddenly closed leaving behind the right arm of the human king.

'I will perfect everything that you have given me. This will be the hope of me and my people.'

After talking to itself, it looked around to find the Shark King only to find it looking at the sea while eating gr.a.p.es and laughing. Anger immediately filled the head of the Lion King, a friend of theirs died. Yet this fool, was eating gr.a.p.es and laughing!? He tried to contain his anger and ignored the shark king that was asking where the human king was.

"Hoh. So the human is finally dead. We can now proceed to phase 2, I will now open the portal in the deep waters."

The Lion King smiled as it heard the words of the Shark King, then vanished and appeared at the City of Asta.

After smirking, the Shark King then dived towards the ocean and not even its silhouette can be seen.

When both kings were gone, a tiny scorpion can be seen lingering near the portal, diving down towards the earth.

...

A haggard-looking middle-aged man with messy golden hair can be seen inside the laboratory sitting on a stool, with a test tube in his hands.

'That human really was a genius, I give him that. However, the kingdom of the beasts truly benefited in this one. The humans could've posed as a threat to every single being in this Terra should they get their hands on this data. Unfortunately for them, that is but a mere dream.'

The experiment made by the Human King back then, proposed a theory in which mages could turn into different types of beasts. But what separates them from the norm, is that they are capable of wielding mana and invoking magic even though they turned into another being,

Beasts are known to have superior physical abilities but limited intelligence. While humans are their complete opposite.

This was the reason why the Lion King decided to steal the ideas of the Human King.

The Lion King felt threatened because of it and copied it, so that mana will help the beasts evolve or grow stronger rather than having the ability to cast complex spells.

After a bit of pondering, the Lion King decided to disclose a bit of the information that he had regarding the evolution of the beasts.

He first sent it to his accomplice, the Shark King, so that it can spread further and faster. Though he was his friend, the Lion King didn't give the Shark King the whole data, only its simplified version.

Everyone has their own little scheme growing in their heads.

Beasts have thrived, they became stronger, much faster and more ferocious than they had been before. Conquering the vast plains of the south turned out to be an easy task for them.

Demons stabilized their footing, inhabiting the cold mountains of the north. Also destroying the once glorious palace that served as the sign of the unity between man and beasts.

Humanity's situation became worse. After the resurgence of the beasts, they were repressed by demons and beasts alike. What should've been a 2 vs 1 against the demons now turned to a rumble. Where all sides fight each other.

A once peaceful and magical planet, was now in utter chaos. This ended the Era of Peace.