2 Beasts could be seen running to the boundary of the Central Eastern Forest, Northern Territory seemingly trying to escape from something.

At first glance, it looked like the Snake in the front was being chased by the Tiger at the back, but this notion was broken when the Tiger started to overtake the Snake and wasn’t slowing down at all. These 2 haggard looking Beasts were actually running from something else! But what was it?

‘That shameless cat, how dare he!’ is what could be interpreted from Drako’s thoughts.

His mind was completely gripped by fear and as a result his thinking abilities were severely diminished, so when he saw that Raiko was surpassing him, unjustified rage started to occupy his thoughts. He was completely blaming his dilemma on the Tiger and wanted nothing more than for Raiko to be used as bait to aid in his escape.

But how could that be possible? At this moment, Raiko could feel an ominous presence in the air that was constantly looming over them but he had zero interest in staying to find out it’s origin so he left Drako in the dust without a second thought and focused all his efforts on escaping.

Soon, he could finally see the boundary of this accursed territory and hope flooded his heart. At this point all distractful desires like ambition and vengeance were washed clean, he only hoped to escape without issue and live to see another day.

But it seemed fate had something else in store for him.

SSSHH!

Just as Raiko was about to reach the edge of the territory a loud sound of rustling leaves was heard. Raiko quickly stopped running and turned his head to the left, looking for the source of the sound. But nothing was there.

Just as he was about to turn back, a sudden smell that caused his hairs to stand on end entered his nose. Raiko slowly looked back to his front.

Standing just in front of the edge of the territory was an enormous beast that surpassed 10 metres tall standing on four legs. The behemoth-like creature had pristine white fur that gave off a holy glow, eyes that were completely pale blue with no other colour that shone like stars, hooves carved from ice that released a cold mist and 2 antlers in the same nature but replaced the mist with swirling blue lights.

It was the Guardian of the Eastern Forest, Dodo.

Raiko couldn’t help being petrified by the colossal Beast in front him that was brimming with a celestial’s disposition. Looking at the menacing antlers that resembled Tree branches because of the Elk’s ridiculous size, Raiko couldn’t but begin to shake violently. This was not an existence he could compete with at all.

Draco shared the same sentiment, mhm, but he was not so foolish as to remain in place, shaking in fear like a certain pussycat. He turned around and fled immediately after recovering from shock.

As someone who also contained a Law in his body, Dodo’s presence wasn’t so brain-crippling to him even if the Elk had 3 Laws. Unlike the so-called Beast King, Draco still retained some ability to act upon his thoughts, something the Tiger was unable to do no matter how much he screamed at himself to run.

So Drako didn’t hesitate to run, he wanted nothing more than to escape this calamitous Beast and never meet it again. Just look at those antlers! They radiated a shocking amount of energy that Drako was unable to identify but he could feel the terrifying coldness all the way here, a strange feeling that he only felt once before because of his Fire Laws.

And the first time he ever felt cold was naturally when he met Dodo for the first time. That was a devastating experience for the Snake Clan that they would never forget, half of them died after all.

But unfortunately for Drako, even if he didn’t want to experience the might of the Guardian Of The Forest, he wasn’t the one making decisions here.

Dodo softly tapped his hoof.

ccccCCCCRRR!

Ice began to explosively spread out from the point Dodo’s hoof made contact with the ground, quickly reaching both Raiko and Drako and freezing them up to their necks, leaving their heads free.

Clack, clack, clack!

Dodo began to slowly walk up to the 2 beasts, causing them shiver even more than what the frigid ice was doing to them. At this point it looked like they were vibrating. Well, their bodies from the neck down were frozen completely, but their heads…

One couldn’t help but wonder if their heads were going to snap off.

As Dodo got closer to Raiko, he manipulated the ice to bring Drako right beside his former enemy, lining them up like 2 naughty school kids in front of the teachers desk. Their rapidly shaking heads made the scene more comical than it was.

But for Raiko and Drako, this situation was more like…

‘𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸𝔸ℍℍℍℍ!!!!!’

Neither of them could think coherently anymore, their minds on the verge of collapsing. Dodo’s indomitable and ‘world threatening’ aura, the blood-freezing cold, the futility to resist, the inability to comprehend and the presumption of certain death…

It was utter despair.

Gradually, Raiko and Drako’s eyes began to rise up with froth beginning to leak out of their mouths.

Dodo stiffened, he didn’t mean for things to go this far. He had only meant to scare them a little bit but he didn’t know the effect his killing intent had on people. Most of the time, he killed his enemies before they could even feel anything talk less of despair on this level, either that or they ran away.

He never held them captive like he was doing now and the results were as shown.

Dodo sighed in lament, he had only wanted to have a conversation as fellow rulers of this Forest, they made his job of protecting the Forest and more importantly Ciera easier after all. But he couldn’t just let them go unpunished could he? Otherwise they would take him for a joke and come to mess around in his territory again.

But look at the result.

Dodo sighed one more time before a sudden ice storm formed around him, quickly hiding him from view. However, It didn’t last long and it soon disappeared, but when it did Dodo was nowhere to be seen.

The ice that he had left in this place also shattered, leaving the 2 remaining beasts to slump down, finally free.

But the damage had been done. All that could be seen of their eyes was white sclera and burst blood cells as they continuously twitched.