This day was one of the busiest days Orthar and Morn ever had. They had to approve of every challenge, after all, and the challenges just kept on coming. It was almost like the Land Camp had gone crazy. Yet, those two only smirked.
The blood, death, and chaos inside the Tribe would increase the power of the Tribe tremendously. Only the beasts with the strongest Battle-Strength would be able to survive, and these beasts would, therefore, also have an above-average Battle-Strength for Lords. Every single Lord would have proven to be an elite beast!
This was different from other Tribes. Other Tribes only had a certain standard for Battle-Strength, and as long as a beast proved to fulfill that standard, they could fight the Prey. After all, Prey was there to be eaten, was it not? Because of that, the Battle-Strength of these Lords would be lower than the Battle-Strength of the Lords inside the River Tribe.
Shira grew nervous as one battle report after the next arrived at her side. She had no time to search for beasts that countered the beasts of her enemy. As soon as she found out about the weakness of one of her enemies, that beast had already won a second life and death battle.
Weaknesses and advantages could only help so much. As soon as a beast went through many life and death battles, it would become powerful and experienced enough to counteract these weaknesses. At that point, individual power easily outclassed the inherent weakness of that species.
Her heads started hurting as Shira's brains worked overtime. The advantage of having two heads also came with the benefit of increasing the processing speeds of her brains. Yet, this wasn't helpful at all right now. On top of that, her advantage of having more recruits had vanished.
All other land beasts were already residing inside other Tribes, but that fact wasn't true for the ocean. There was an endless amount of Spirit Beasts willing to join the River Tribe. Because of that, Shira always had more recruits than Silva.
Yet, on this day, an army of over 200 land beasts had arrived, and all these beasts were willing to join the River Tribe as new recruits. Obviously, these were the beasts of the Tribe that Liza had visited a day before. Without their Lord, they weren't willing to remain in that Tribe. After all, one invasion from the ocean, and all land beasts would die.
Like this, they all joined the River Tribe. Additionally, Shira couldn't control the battles of the recruits anymore. After all, Liza overlooked that department now.
As the day progressed, the Sea Camp became smaller and smaller. The Sea Camp still had their powerful members, but all the weaker ones were falling like flies. The Battle-Strength of the Land Camp clearly outclassed the Sea Camp.
Shira thought for a long time about this issue, but she just couldn't find a reason. She had no idea why every beast inside the Land Camp was so powerful.
As more and more time passed, more and more of her Camp died to the Land Camp. By now, her Sea Camp only had around 50 remaining members. Of course, the Land Camp also had casualties, but those couldn't be compared to the Sea Camp's.
In total, the Land Camp had only lost around seven beasts. Meanwhile, this crazy slaughter gave rise to more Lords inside the Land Camp. By now, the Land Camp already had eight Lords, excluding Silva.
Yet, shortly after that, an even more devastating report had appeared. One of her two remaining Lords had been killed by some panther from the Land Camp. One shouldn't forget that Lords also counted as soldiers. Therefore, they could challenge any other Lord to a duel.
'What is going on!?' Shira thought in frustration and nervousness. When the day had just started, she had been assured of her victory over the Land Camp. Yet, as soon as Silva returned, her dream had transformed into a nightmare. If this continued, the whole Sea Camp would be annihilated!
On top of that, at some point, there would probably appear a Lord in the Land Camp that countered Shira's power. When that happened, it wouldn't only be her Sea Camp that died. When that happened, her own life would be in genuine danger!
As time progressed, the members of the Land Camp became fewer and fewer. When the next day arrived, only twelve members were left inside the Land Camp. Yet, all twelve of these members had already become Lords. Like this, the slaughter stopped after Shira's last remaining Lord died.
It was only allowed to challenge beasts at the same Rank. Therefore, the Lords of the Land Camp only had each other, Shira, the Elder, the Oracle, and Gravis left to fight. No more sea beasts from the Sea Camp died. Yet, Shira only had around 20 left. On top of that, she was the only remaining Lord.
Shira fell into despair. There were some beasts inside the Land Camp that could be a genuine danger to her life. The only reason why she hadn't been challenged yet, was that her venom was a strong deterrent. Even if a Lord won, they could very likely succumb to her venom if she hit them once.
Yet, Shira couldn't count on that fact. It was only a matter of time until a perfect counter to her became a Lord. When that happened, her death would come. Shira feared for her life, and she had never been this scared before.
She already considered fleeing from the River Tribe. Additionally, she never trusted Morn and Orthar. There could very well come the time when one of these two decided to challenge her. After all, they also needed food to become more powerful, and those two were a powerful threat to Shira's life.
Shira felt like she was completely out of her depth, with monsters all around her that were a danger to her life. Sadly, she didn't realize the irony in that thought. After all, Silva had had the same feelings towards her before he consulted Gravis.
Shira couldn't find any solution to her current predicament. Without assets or power, her craftiness was nearly useless. She had relied on her craftiness for her entire life, and today was the first time when it had failed her.
She stood before a crossroad. Flee or stay? If she fled, she would need to either establish her own Tribe or join the Tribe of another beast. Both options had problems. If she established her own Tribe, she would need to completely rely on her own power. After all, there would be no other Lord inside her new Tribe. This meant that she needed to kill the enemy Lords personally.
If she joined the Tribe of another beast, she would first need to search for a Tribe that had, at least, a level two Lord as a leader. Level one Lords wouldn't allow such a dangerous snake into their midst. On top of that, she would need to join as Prey, and that was hard. She would need to fight several brutal battles.
The issue with finding such a powerful Tribe was that these Tribes didn't reside on the outside of the continent. She would need to travel a considerable distance into the continent. Of course, that meant that she had to go through the territories of other Tribes. Like this, she would need to fight these Tribes either way.
Additionally, there was a massive issue with both of these choices, and that issue was the River Tribe's insane growth. The growth of the River Tribe completely shocked Shira. In just over a week, the Tribe went from having no Lord to having over a dozen. If she left for another Tribe, she would sooner or later become food or Prey for the River Tribe.
When that happened, enough time would have already passed for the River Tribe to be many times more powerful than now. At that point, she could probably only join as Prey, and if she survived, her strength would only allow her to become a mere soldier.
In order to counteract this possibility, she would need to travel such a vast distance that it would probably take over a year of travel via the ocean. Yet, if she did that, she would still have to deal with the other issues.
Shira felt like there was no way out. In her mind, it didn't matter what she chose. Only death remained.
After hours of dealing with her despair, Shira finally remembered something. She remembered that Silva had been completely suppressed by her. Yet, as soon as he invaded the Hyena Tribe, he had completely transformed.
'No,' Shira thought as she narrowed her eyes. 'He had already changed before that. After he passed by me, I felt the difference in his mindset. All of this happened just after he had gone to the Spire. What happened in the Spire that it changed him that much?' she thought.
As she thought about this, a realization slowly dawned on her. 'That viper had already known Morn for a long time. Morn wouldn't be able to change his mind to such a degree. On top of that, the Oracle had stayed at the border to wait for the invasion. There was only one powerful beast remaining at the Spire during that time.'
'The Leader!' she thought with narrowed eyes. 'That viper has probably realized that his death was around the corner. Not finding a way out, he probably went to consult the Leader. After their talk, his whole mindset had changed.'
Shira was currently at the bottom of the Abyss and looked upwards at the Spire with narrowed eyes. 'That viper had no way out, so he simply followed the Leader. After all, his naïve methods hadn't worked against me.'
Suddenly, Shira's eyes widened as she realized something else. 'Doesn't that sound just like my situation?' she thought in frustration. As she continued thinking, her frustration grew. 'No, I can't! If I consult the Leader, I would have only proven that my way is wrong! Then, all my efforts over these years would have been for nothing!'
Yet, Shira's grimace slowly changed into a frown as she looked at the ground. 'Prove that I was wrong?' she thought and then looked at the Spire again. Now, she only had an unsure expression. 'Haven't I already proven that my path is wrong by ending up in such a situation with no way out?'
Then, Shira's body shook in anger and refusal. After that, she shook her heads in violent frustration and released a shout as her tail destroyed the wall to her side.
After calming down, she looked upwards at the Spire with motivation. 'So what if I lose the battle!?' she thought with anger. 'I'll accept this loss to win the war!'
Then, she shot at the Spire from the Abyss.
It was time to consult the Leader.
