"Catch."

The word was barely a whisper, yet in the deathly silence of the arena, it cracked like a thunderclap.

Prince Gorn didn't hesitate. He was a 5th Order Warlord, fueled by a lifetime of rage and the absolute certainty of his own dominance. He swung Stormcleaver down with enough force to split a mountain.

"Die!"

The axe descended, a blinding arc of white lightning and Star-Metal aimed directly at Leona's skull.

Leona didn't try to block it with a weapon. She didn't try to deflect it.

She thrust her left hand, the black, mechanical claw of the Void Gauntlet, straight into the path of the blade.

CLANG.

The sound wasn't the sharp ring of metal on metal. It was a dull, heavy thud, like a hammer hitting the depths of an ocean.

The axe stopped dead.

Gorn's eyes bulged. He pushed down with everything he had, veins popping, his golden aura flaring wildly.

But the axe wouldn't budge. It hovered inches above Leona's head, caught in the vice grip of black metal fingers.

And then, it started to dim.

HUMMMMM.

The purple Void Core embedded in Leona's palm flared to life. It spun rapidly, generating a vacuum of anti-magic.

The white lightning wreathing the axe screamed as it was sucked into the gauntlet. The ancient enchantments on the blade flickered and died, stripped away by the void, leaving behind only cold, dead steel.

"What..." Gorn stammered, pulling back. "What is that?"

"None of your business," Leona growled.

She squeezed.

CRUNCH.

The head of Stormcleaver, an heirloom forged by the best smiths of the previous era, cracked.

The Star-Metal groaned and fractured under the hydraulic pressure of the Dragon-Scale alloy.

With a roar of effort, Leona ripped the axe from Gorn's hands and tossed it aside like trash. It skittered across the ice, a broken relic.

She stood up.

The pressure of Gorn's 5th Order Intent was still there, weighing down on her shoulders like a physical mountain. But Leona wasn't kneeling anymore.

She was angry.

"You call yourself a King?" Leona stepped forward, her golden eyes burning through the slits of her mask.

"You rely on your aura to make people bow. You rely on your weapon to make them bleed."

She slammed her flesh fist against her chest plate.

THUMP.

"A true King doesn't need to force submission, Gorn. A true King inspires it."

"Shut up!" Gorn screamed, backing away in terror.

"I am the 5th Order! My Intent is absolute! KNEEL!"

He threw his hands out. A wave of golden suppression blasted toward her. The spectral Golden Lion behind him roared, trying to crush her mind.

Leona walked into it.

Her bones creaked. Her muscles screamed. The Intent tried to crush her will, tried to force her to submit to his authority just like the slavers had, just like Baelor had.

But inside Leona's soul, something else was waking up.

The Berserk Aura she had cultivated for two years, the red, wild, untamed power of a beast began to boil. It hated submission. It hated chains.

Break it.

The voice in her head wasn't hers. It was the primal roar of the White Lion lineage.

Break the cage.

"ARGHHHHH!"

Leona threw her head back and roared.

It wasn't a human like scream. Instead it was the sound of a predator challenging a god.

BOOM!

A pillar of blood-red light erupted from her body.

The golden pressure of Gorn's Intent shattered like glass.

The shockwave knocked Gorn off his feet and cracked the ice of the arena floor.

If Damien where here, based on the connection with the contract gem, his system would probably have started ringing with alarms

[System Alert]

[Limit Broken.]

[Berserk Aura Evolving...]

[Intent Manifested: The Unbound Beast.]

[Ascension to 5th Order Successful.]

Unfortunately while Leona didn't have a system, she could feel h strength rapidly increase

The air around her was distorted by heat and red mist.

Her white cloak had burned away, revealing the black Dragon-Scale armor beneath.

She looked at Gorn.

Her eyes weren't just golden anymore. They were glowing with a terrifying, crimson light.

"You wanted a 5th Order fight?" Leona asked, her voice vibrating with power.

She raised her Void Gauntlet. The purple core pulsed in sync with her red aura.

"Then let's fight."

She vanished.

This time no aura was used. She used pure, explosive speed reappearing in front of Gorn before he could blink.

PUNCH.

She hit him in the chest with the Void Gauntlet.

KA-BOOM!

Gorn's ceremonial armor exploded. The gold plating turned into shrapnel.

The Prince was launched across the arena. He smashed through the ice wall, through the wooden barricade, and buried himself deep in the permafrost of the arena's edge.

He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth. He tried to stand, but his ribs were pulverized.

"Impossible..." Gorn wheezed, staring at the monster walking toward him through the steam. "You were... so weak before..."

Leona grabbed him by the throat. She lifted him one-handed, her Void Gauntlet tightening around his neck.

The crowd was silent. Fifty thousand beast-kin watched in awe as the "Freelancer" held the Prince of the North like a ragdoll.

"I told you," Leona whispered, leaning close to his terrified face.

"The Border Guards hit harder."

She raised her right fist, wreathed in the red aura of her new Intent. She was going to end it.

"STOP!"

A roar shook the entire stadium.

From the High Lodge, a massive figure leaped down.

CRASH!

King Scar landed in the arena, his impact creating a crater that separated Leona from the Prince.

He stood tall, his black mane bristling with electricity, his eyes burning with murder.

"Enough!" Scar bellowed, drawing a jagged black sword.

"Guards! Seize this traitor! He dares to strike royalty!"

However, Leona didn't flinch.

She dropped the unconscious Gorn and looked at her uncle.

She reached up with her free hand. She grabbed the edge of her mask.

"Traitor?" Leona laughed. It was a cold, sharp sound.

"You really don't recognize me, do you, Uncle?"

She ripped the mask off.

Her golden mane cascaded down her shoulders, wild and untamed. Her face, marked by the scars of the Slaver Fortress but undeniably regal, was revealed to the firelight.

She looked exactly like her father.

The crowd gasped. A ripple of shock went through the stadium.

In the Council Box, the Elders stood up, their eyes wide.

"Princess Leona?" The Mammoth Elder whispered. "She lives?"

Leona stared directly at King Scar, whose face had gone pale.

"I am Leona!" she roared, her voice amplified by her new 5th Order authority.

"Daughter of King Leo! The true heir of the North!"

She pointed her Void Gauntlet at the King.

"And I challenge you, Uncle! To Mak'gora!"

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