CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 362: HE SHALL CONQUER ALL

"Kael, welcome," Priya greeted, ignoring the cacophony of telepathic waves.

"You’re eye," Kael said as he stared more intensely at the spirit eye on Priya’s head.

The reason he had gotten that spirit eye was unique. He had forced himself to transform into his humanoid form in the middle of a fight while he was in his Conqueror Mode.

The humanoid form was just not compatible with the Conqueror Mode which was an expression of the power of the Law of Conquering.

Kael’s body had burned with the Primordial power of the universe, almost destroying itself. His mind and will were the only things that held on.

In that very moment, Kael’s will could not afford to falter, for it was by sheer will that he was able to keep his soul in place and his body working.

It was also that moment of his mind being under extreme pressure that Kael gained clarity and got the spirit eye.

First of all, he wouldn’t have gotten a spirit eye out of nowhere if he didn’t have spirit power in the first place.

The Spirit Eye was something like a defining element among spirit-based creatures.

It was like how the Veggie Lions had hits or antlers, the Fire Lions could grow more than one tail, the Earth Lions had extra pairs of limbs, the Air Lions had wings, or how Water Lions had scales and blue skin.

Spirit Eye was just something that a spirit lion would get eventually if they focused and achieved enlightenment.

However, Kael’s spirit powers came from Priya. Even though his spirit powers were now different in nature and marked by that distinct golden hue, it still came from Priya.

He was indescribably linked to her. The power may now partly be his but it didn’t change the origin and link between them.

The contract was still valid even though the nature of the benefits changed.

Usually, Kael’s consort would just learn a new technique and he would be able to use it as well. It didn’t matter if they were stronger or weaker than him, he would adapt.

The only exception was N’bayé’s magic which had to be learned manually.

Now, he had gotten the Spirit Eye justifiably by entering a moment of enlightenment. This was natural.

But how did Priya get her Spirit Eye? Did she also receive enlightenment?

Or, did Kael get the Spirit Eye from Kael in the first place? If that were so, it would also make a lot of sense.

Kael doubted that.

If he had gotten his Spirit Eye from Priya, he would have known. He was sure that the Spirit Eye appeared because of him, not because Priya had it.

If so, then why did Priya have it?

Kael’s eyebrows twitched, "Could it be that? How could I have never noticed this before?" Kael said to himself.

Priya looked at Kael’s face, also coming to a startling conclusion.

Kael had given Priya her Spirit Eye, not the other way around.

All this time, they had all assumed that it was a one-sided thing. And perhaps, this was true at first.

Before Kael modified the contract to make the sharing of powers go both ways, his consorts had simply been supplying him with power.

At the back of their mind, everyone knew that if they got strong, Kael would get stronger too.

But after the contract was modified, there had been some loopholes and changes that had appeared, the kind that Kael would have ignored if he had found out.

What this meant was that Kael could not only benefit from the techniques that his consort learned, they could also gain the techniques and powers that he learned.

It was a thorough win-win.

As long as everyone puts in effort, the whole pride will continue getting stronger.

This was a fascinating discovery, one that Kael was happy to have found out.

"Well done," He said to Priya with a satisfied smile.

"Thank you, your Majesty," She said, having received a brief telepathic message from Kael in that instant. She understood everything.

Kael looked around him to see that some of the creatures nearby had subconsciously stared into his and Priya’s Spirit Eyes.

He could feel that the souls of these creatures were being lost and drowned in a series of illusions.

Immediately, he closed his spirit eye, returning his appearance to one that was more human-like.

Kael turned around, at this time, two spatial distortions hit the ground from above.

Katari and Chloe appeared beside Kael in their humanoid forms, gaining the attention of the other creatures.

Kael’s gaze scanned the horde of predators around him and his spirit senses pierced through the telepathic channels.

The screen for the Vassal Record appeared in front of him. Kael took a deep breath.

The numbers just kept on rising.

Just three hundred thousand away from reaching one million. This was taking into account that the bossy lions had killed a lot of creatures who showed resistance or refused to join.

If he took into account the Vassal castes he had before now, plus the herd creatures, plus these predators, plus the various vassals the different lions had conquered in different places, then Kael would have more than two million Vassal subjects.

This was way more than the lion in his Lion System which was just slightly more than twenty thousand as of now.

Fortunately, both were rising fast, especially the lions joining the Lion System. Something seemed to have happened in heaven because Kael could see that hundreds of them, many of whom had been holding off and staying neutral, were starting to join.

More Lion Kings were starting to join and the public chat room was becoming congested with messages becoming old news just as soon as they were sent.

Something needed to be done.

"A new era has begun," Kael said, speaking into the telepathic channel, allowing all to hear him.

"Praise be to the golden lion! Praise be to the Conqueror, for he shall conquer all!" Priya suddenly shouted from behind.

Kael’s smile widened.

"Praised be the Conqueror," A fanatical bear roared to the sky.

"Praise be the Conqueror, for he shall conquer all!" An Air lion chanted as he flapped his wings and blew a gust of wind forward.

Some creatures, especially those that had been part of the kingdom for some time, chanted as well.

However, most of the creatures remained silent.

These were predators after all, not like those herdable grass eaters. Their mentality was totally different. Convincing them to have a high morale just because of a few chants and a dramatic entrance wasn’t enough.

If anything, they had become extra wary of the golden lion.

At least, the lions present were in full support and roared to the sky in acknowledgment of the king of kings.

As Kael looked around, he felt the situation becoming cringe. Before he could think much of it, a figure caught his attention in the distance.

A black winged figure, larger than a grown adult man with a wide wingspan. It flapped its wings and dived straight for Kael, leaving a trail of black mist behind him.

"Marcus!" Kael called out with a smile, already knowing who it was.

The black bird descended from the sky, bringing with him a cloud of death.

He landed in front of Kael, causing the nearby land-based creatures to feel extremely uncomfortable and move away.

It felt as though they were close to death.

Marcus straightened his back but curved his neck. He touched his black feathered wings beside him and stared intensely at Kael.

"It’s you, right?" Marcus asked, somewhat unsure.

He had only felt Kael’s aura and had never seen him physically until now. At this moment, he was starting to wonder if this was actually him as he was a bit nervous.

"Of course it’s me," Kael said, releasing a bit of his Conquering Essence for Marcus.

By now, most of the creatures had returned to what they were doing with Kael’s consort and some vultures edging closer to them.

Marcus sighed.

"Didn’t I tell you that we were going to meet again?" Kael chuckled as he walked up to Marcus and patted his head.

Marcus didn’t blink, but he also didn’t like it as a small frown appeared on his face.

Kael noticed this and respectfully withdrew his hand. Marcus didn’t know that him not moving his head out of the way had confirmed to Kael that he had made some progress in their ’friendly’ relationship.

"I hope you were able to do what needed to be done?" Kael asked while narrowing his eyes.

To this, Marcus revealed an elated expression, "Yes, all thanks to your support," he said.

Kael waved his hand, "It was nothing, really. It’s the least I could do to help a fellow Primordial like me.

You know, we have to look out for each other and provide support however best we can," Kael said with a mischievous glint flashing through his eyes.

Marcus nodded, "About that, I’ve been thinking..."