The jungle held its breath.
Kraven's body creaked under the invisible weight Aelius let fall upon him from the sky, a power so crushing that the roots themselves trembled. Makia, barely standing, gasped, swaying as if each breath were a miracle torn from death.
Kraven slowly raised his face, his smile disfigured by madness.
"Did you really think… I wouldn't kill you, brat?" he growled, extending his bony hand toward her, fingers like claws ready to close around her neck again. His red eyes filled with hatred rose toward Aelius, and with a broken cackle, he muttered through his teeth:
"You'll be next… and then the other idiot… I'll destroy Alistair's entire perfect and hateful world."
Makia, Aelius, and Kael looked at him in a silence charged with storm. But then, something changed.
Before Makia, the humanoids, the beasts, the apes with bone weapons… positioned themselves between her and Kraven, like a wall of flesh, bone, and spirit.
"Why… why are you protecting me?" Makia asked, confused, with a weak voice.
A huge ape, with dark fur, barely turned its head, and in a guttural, primitive tone, but laden with meaning, murmured:
"You…"
The stadium, the nobles, the entire world on the screens… fell silent.
Kraven narrowed his eyes, surprised.
"Aren't these beasts supposed to have no intelligence? How is it they speak?"
The ape took a step forward.
"You… blood… smell… of little Tar…"
In the imperial box, Alistair stood up abruptly, his face losing color.
"No… it can't be…" he whispered.
His breathing became erratic, his chest rising and falling at a dangerous speed. Tiberius grabbed him by the shoulders, alarmed.
"Alistair, what's wrong with you?! Are you alright?!"
Back in Amazonia, Makia barely murmured, staggering:
"Who is… Tar…?"
The beasts smiled, showing fangs of ancestral fierceness.
From among them emerged an imposing figure: a blue humanoid, with exotic face, savage beauty, completely yellow eyes like those of a feline-reptile, and orange hair that seemed to burn under the jungle's light.
"Our brother… Amazonia's protector…" she said with a liquid voice, almost a whisper among roars.
Makia didn't understand. But time for questions vanished.
Kael extended his hand, fire surrounded Kraven in a burning prison. From above, Aelius reinforced gravity, veins marked on his forehead, nose bleeding from the effort of containing him.
The jungle trembled.
Kael used earth to immobilize his feet. Aelius compressed the air until it became lead.
And at that moment, Kael removed the fire from his face.
A whisper, a presence:
"With subtlety… like a predator… Shock!"
The impact shook the jungle. Ian, maddened with fury, appeared like lightning, striking Kraven with a force that made the earth crack.
The entire jungle roared.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Ian shouted, his voice overflowing, savage, broken with love and rage.
"NOOOOOOOBODYYYYYYYY TOUUUUUCHESSSSSS MAAAAAAAAKIAAAAAAAAA!"
Kael and Aelius released their power at the same time. Kraven fell, semi-conscious, a mass of flesh and evil crushed against the earth.
Ian didn't stop. He threw himself on him, sitting on his chest, delivering blow after blow, hands bathed in blood, his body trembling, his face shadowed by the most ancient fury.
The stadium watched in horrified silence, between euphoria and fear.
And then… a laugh.
Small. Broken. Insidious.
Until it broke into a manic laugh.
Kraven.
Laughed.
Under Ian's fists, with his face destroyed, teeth broken, eyes swollen, Kraven laughed like a demon before the apocalypse.
The jungle fell silent.
The public shuddered.
Hearts, one by one, felt ice slide down their spines.
Kraven…
had not finished.