Regulus didn't wait for an answer.
He extended his free hand toward the center of the hall and the golden energy surrounding his sword broke away from the blade as if it had been waiting for exactly that permission. It didn't scatter or dissipate. It pulled inward, dense and deliberate, condensing in the air with the speed of something that already had a shape before it was summoned.
In less than three seconds there was a lion standing in front of Ebony.
Three meters of pure energy, solid enough to cast a shadow, with eyes that burned like embers pressed into a face made of compressed light. It didn't growl. It didn't need to. The presence it filled the room with was enough — that dense, still heat that arrives before something that isn't going to stop on its own.
The creature lunged without warning.
