CHAPTER 563: CHAPTER 563: THE WILL OF THE PREDECESSORS

"It is time for judgment," Kael said, showing his palm to the lion kings and the others.

Ma’abu frowned, seeing the two Devolution Seeds in Kael’s palm.

"Is that the best you can do?" Ma’abu snickered, "Reducing me to the barest of mortal forms?

I can think of many..."

Ma’abu didn’t finish his words before he was struck in the jaw by Fidel.

"Shut up," Fide hissed, feeling satisfied with the crack sound he heard from Ma’abu’s jaw.

Kael looked at Ma’abu, appreciating that it was Fidel who stood up to shut Ma’abu up, not him.

"Not even close, Ma’abu," Kael said, "This is just the start of a very long process.

One Devolution Seed is for you, can you guess who the second one is for?" Kael asked.

He began to walk toward Ma’abu slowly, taking his time to allow the crisp sound of each of his steps to echo out.

Ma’abu suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable.

"Me, Ma’abu, it’s for me," Kael said, stopping in front of Ma’abu’s kneeling form.

The lion kings surrounded the roof, floating at the edges with their hands either folded or behind their backs.

Their formation allowed for there to be space on top of this skyscraper. The roof platform itself was about ten meters in diameter which would not be wide enough for what Kael wanted to do.

Kael looked around, "Take us there," He said, pointing to one of the apartment buildings not too far from this skyscraper.

Instantly, the space lion king snapped his fingers and everyone of them was transported.

The next millisecond that they were able to find their bearings they were on the roof of an apartment complex which was way shorter than that sky scraper.

The wind was less harsh in this place, but it still blew harshly.

Now, the sound of traffic and honking cars could be heard very audibly in the background, not that they couldn’t hear it before with their sensitive ears.

This apartment complex was rectangular in structure and its roof was also rectangular. It was much wider than the roof of the skyscraper.

Here, Ma’abu looked around, wondering why Kael chose this place, "What are you doing?"

Kael glanced to the side and spoke to the lion kings, "I’m going to infuse the Devolution Seed into my body.

The lion system will be shut down for the meantime as well.

My body will automatically struggle to retrieve its powers back, which means I may expel the seed naturally without any help.

However, if I’m done with what I’m doing, I will need you to remove the seed from my body.

Is that alright?" Kael asked one of the kings who was a Magus Lion.

"No problem, All-King," The lion king bowed.

Kael didn’t even need to ask. To hear that the lion system would be shutting down for a while was not nice to the ears.

Even if Kael were to take the Devolution Seed and get lost in the void, they would make sure they found him just to restore his power.

After receiving a confirmation, Kael turned his attention fully to Ma’abu.

He flicked his finger and one of the Devolution Seeds flew into Ma’abu’s body. Ma’abu could not defend against it and could only watch as the object sank into his chest.

Immediately, he felt the difference. His powers waned. His body started to shrink slightly.

The tail behind him shrank into his body and the lion’s ears on top of his head disappeared.

"Ugh!" The feeling of weakness almost made him vomit all the contents of his stomach.

His metabolism changed, and the way his organs operated changed too.

He felt so...normal.

Even that faint abnormal flow of time that was usually around him was gone now.

"I’ve been confused, Ma’abu," Kael said as he took a step back so that he could see Ma’abu’s transformation clearly.

Ma’abu looked no different from a normal tall human with long black hair and an unreasonably intense look in his eyes.

It wasn’t like he was born a human so he would still technically be slightly stronger than the average human in terms of physical attributes.

"Ever since that day that you wrapped that tail around my neck, I’ve been contemplating.

It was like a fog was clouding my mind and I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to take..."

Kael said. He brought the last Devolution Seed to his chest and pressed it in. The seed instantly sank into his white robes and entered his body.

Kael felt the weakening. The lion kings watched as his tail and ears disappeared from view gradually.

Kael, who was originally seven feet tall, shrank by a few inches, still taller than the average human.

However, all his powers were now blocked and he was no different from Ma’abu.

Normal.

Kael could sense that the power of the Law was fighting against this weakness. This put Kael’s mind at ease, it explained why he had been able to recover his powers quickly when that anti-power rocket was launched.

By nature, Primordials are not really susceptible to this type of technology that takes one’s powers away.

If Kael actually had any weakness, it would be an anti-lion. But even then, Kael had been able to last long enough to drain that tail before it drained him.

If it were a full anti-lion though, Kael wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it.

"How is it that you were able to best me?" Kael asked. He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.

He squeezed his two palms into fists. His full golden eyes settled firmly on Ma’abu.

"Is it that you were better than me? Are you smarter? Did you have more resources?

I still don’t know.

But what I do know is that if I don’t clear this fog from my mind, my heart will not be at peace.

So, I shall make it fair,"

"Pathetic!" Ma’abu spat, standing from the ground as the magic binds on his body dissolved.

"Are you that petty? Or is your pride so heavy that you can’t even imagine someone like me defeating you?" Ma’abu asked, a wicked smirk on his face.

The lion kings looked at each other. Ozia stared at his father, wondering what was going on in Kael’s mind.

"Yes," Kael nodded, being truthful with himself and everyone.

"I am that pathetic, I can’t understand how someone like you could dominate me.

My pride, my intent, my ego, they cannot accept such loss.

So I must settle it fairly.

Equal grounds, if you beat me, I may let you go.

If I win...

Ma’abu, you really don’t want to find out what I will do to you if I win."

With a short series of hand movements, Kalem had taken off his robes, exposing his upper body to the world. His muscular body gleamed under the afternoon sun.

"Kael," Memphis whispered into Kael’s mind using telepathy, "Ma’abu is very old, more than a thousand years old.

In terms of skill, experience, and combat instincts, he is superior."

She was worried.

With supernatural powers, the advantage that age brought was not really significant and could mostly be ignored. But when both of them were in this peak human state, the advantage of age would show clearly.

’Experience?’ Kael thought, not able to respond telepathically.

What Memphis did not know was that Kael might actually be superior to every one of them in terms of experience.

Back when Kael was struggling to remove the anti-lion tail from his neck, he had relied mostly on his sheer will and determination to keep on going.

But at that time, his will alone wasn’t enough, so something else had to compensate.

Memphis had seen it herself, eight illusory golden figures had appeared around Kael, then they turned into streams of golden light that flowed into Kael’s head.

Memphis did not know what it meant but Kael did.

Kael knew that as he was now, he was being supported by the will of the previous eight Primordial Lions.

Kael was already ruthless and tyrannical, one could only imagine his true nature now that it was complemented by the wills of those like Jin, Ishat, and Silax.

Their memories were still separate, but in a moment of need, the residual wills and intent in their memories had been extracted and infused into Kael.

As Kael stood there, millions of years of fighting instinct circulated through his body.

The way it was now, Kael didn’t even need to consciously try to browse through the memories. They came to him like flashbacks of long-lost lives, gradually fusing with his mind.

This was largely possible due to Kael’s ongoing process of embodying the law of Conquering.

He was able to anchor his sense of self without allowing anything to threaten his identity.

No more identity crisis.

But, as many have noticed, the All-King had changed, and he was still changing.

Many wondered if the Kael that was in there was the same Kael they knew.

"Come Ma’abu," Kael said, "You can fight for peace with such vigor and guts.

I want to see how well you can fight for your freedom."

"Fool!" Ma’abu shouted and rushed toward Kael, his two fists raised and his legs positioned in a combat stance.

He closed the distance between him and Kael and threw a swift hook at the latter’s face.

Kael’s expression went frighteningly cold, "Just as I thought."

He raised his hand to casually catch Ma’abu’s punch.