Chapter 53 53: They came, and they were forced to leave

Author : Double chapter. I think this is the third or fourth week since I have been at the top. Thanks for all your support. ////////////////// [1st POV] There was palpable tension in the air that was thick enough to cut if you had a really sharp knife. The hot air did not feel like it contained oxygen with how unsatisfying each breath was. A chain of growls left my throat. The constant low vibration was a warning and a threat that they could not just hear but feel in their bones. They stayed silent and did not offer a warning of their own. After all, how could they give out threats when they couldn't do shit when we faced head-on? All three of them circled around me while I remained unmoving in my place. The moment of pause gave us time to observe each other. Makali was the most wounded among the three. He had attacked me so recklessly that he left his underbelly exposed. He had underestimated me too much and he paid the price in full. Eight cuts spilled out from his inner belly. The cut was not too severe, as lions have loose skin to protect them from such cuts. But the red liquid that spilt out from the cut was bloody. You bleed a lot more than usual while performing heavy activities and when your blood is pumping. So blood dripped out from his wounds and fed the parched ground everywhere he went. Roku was doing much better but didn't look the part. There were cuts and missing flesh on his face. The blood painted his face red, just like mine was. The only difference was that mine was painted from the blood of my prey but the blood on his face was his own. Baraka was the least harmed among the three brothers. There was only a small patch of red on his shoulder. The small amount of blood would not be visible had it not been for his white mane. "You... tailless abomination!!!" Makali roared in anger to try and look intimidating, but he only ended up making himself look pathetic. Because even as he talked shit, he wouldn't take even a single step towards me. "I told you brother, you don't know how he fights," Roku said in a calm voice while circling me. His words caught my interest briefly. Perhaps Roku had talked to them about me and explained why he couldn't kill me when questioned. But Makali, being the reckless warrior he was, did not heed his brother's words and tried to pull the same tricks he pulled on other rogue lions, only to find out the hard way that his brother was right and I did not fight like others. "I don't want to hear it!" Makali replied to his brother in anger. They continued circling around me but without doing anything else. Every one of them was hesitating. I had replied to their attacks in blood, so no one really wanted to be the first one to jump into the fire. I could not take all three of them, that much was obvious to everyone. But the first person I decided to attack would have to pay the price in full. And no one wanted to be the one to pay the price. Roku had fought me once and lost, so he was not mentally there to fight me. Makali was the fiercest, but he was the most wounded, so he was not physically there to fight me. In the end, it was Baraka who took the first step towards me. Like I expected. I turned my whole existence towards him right then and there. My eyes locked on his and my gaze seemed to pierce through him. I remembered the decision I'd made in my mind, to fight in the most brutal fashion possible. He seemed to sense my killing intent and he froze after taking one step. He stared at me and I dared him. He took a brief pause and I could see his resolve and anger slowly crumbling away to make way for rational thought. He released a long sigh after that. "Let's stop for today," he said and immediately, his two brothers snapped their heads at him. "What are you saying Baraka?!?" "We should end him today, before he becomes an even bigger threat." "No, continuing this fight will only bring more harm to us than good. Even if we kill him today, it will come at a steep cost that we can't pay. Remember brothers, this is the dry season," Baraka said towards his brothers. "Not only is food scarce but we get the most challenges during this season as the nomadic males want to secure the resources in our territory. We can try killing him but the injuries we sustained might lead to our downfall when we encounter the next challenger, or worse, a coalition," Baraka said. "We need not take such a risk for a non-challenger," he added. Roku stayed silent and thoughtful before he eventually gave a hard nod. He understood where Baraka was coming from and found it reasonable. "Are we really doing this?" Makali asked in disbelief. Baraka gave a nod, "We made a mistake," and then he looked at me with a glint in his eyes, "But we wouldn't make the same mistake again." After that, Baraka turned around and left to return back to the pride. Roku followed soon after and finally, Makali left after taking one final glance at me. Ever since the beginning, this fight did not have much on the line. I was not challenging them or claiming the territories as my own, simply protecting the prey I killed. On their part, the aggression was natural for a male who intruded in their territory and also the grudge they held for what I did to Roku. But all of that was not worth risking their life for. And they knew they were risking their life one way or another after the initial fight of the battle. I watched them disappear from my field of vision, and after they were far enough, I walked back under the shade where my food stayed intact. I carefully lay under the shade to continue feeding. There was a tiny, almost permanent smile on my face as I did so. They didn't realise it, but I learned a lot from that short battle. I learned the areas where I lacked and the areas where I had the upper hand. So when the time comes that I finally challenge them for everything they had, I would do so with confidence and with a clear plan in my mind. ... ... /////////////////// [3rd POV] "Holy smokes, that was intense," Ramirez commented while he captured the leaving figure of the three kings of the Serengeti. "Yeah... but this fight played out very differently from what I was expecting," Dr. Tonson said while thoughtfully watching the dust settle in the short, intense battle. "Are you surprised that they decided to leave so easily after starting the whole conflict?" Hana asked with a curious tilt of her head. You could hear it from her tone that a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. "No, not at all," Dr. Tonson replied, "In fact, it is quite common for lions to stop a fight if the risk outweighs the gain. A lion's battle is ritualised to a degree. It's a fight for dominance, not for death. It's why two lions will remain rivals and battle multiple times before the true victor emerges eventually." "So it's not that that surprises me so. It's the fact that Leo was able to pull this situation against three fully grown lions," Dr. Tonson said while scratching his head. "We didn't really question it before in his fight with Roku since we thought Leo was fully grown, but now that we know he is still sub-adult and still growing, it begs the question. Why do the kings have such a problem when they are way more experienced? It makes no sense," he said. "How the hell is Leo holding up against them? No, scratch that, how is he winning?!" At the beginning of the fight, they thought they were watching their favourite lion getting mauled and brutally murdered. But the battle they just saw said otherwise. "Malik, give me the radio," Hana asked the driver. Adeyemi quickly passed the phone to her, and she connected it to the other group of researchers. "Hello, can you tell me the last time the pride ate? Specifically the males," she asked through the walkie-talkie. "Uhh... oh... um..." the person on the other end of the phone stumbled for words. You could hear that they were caught in surprise with what happened as well. "Well, they haven't eaten for a while. I'll say it's around two weeks since they had food. They did steal some from a leopard and hyenas but those were just scraps," he answered. "And were they in some kind of fight recently?" Hana asked once more. "No. But we did spot some male lions coming into their territory," he answered. "You mean other males besides Leo? How many?" "It's hard to tell, the dry season is when the rogue males expand their roaming area to find prey. Inevitably, they will come down here since this is the only place with a watering hole and prey flock here," he said and then hummed for a bit. "We believe we spotted four different male lions here recently," he said in the end. "Okay, thank you for the information," Hana said and turned off the radio. The two research groups had divided and rarely meet these days since Leo and the Serengeti pride live in opposite sides of the region. "That explains a few things," Dr. Tonson said. Hana nodded thoughtfully before she perked up with a different topic, "Do you think Leo will ever encounter these rogue males as well?" "Probably, considering he hunts a lot," the doctor answered with a shrug. "I don't know what you guys are saying, but I think it's not that complicated. Leo just fights better than the others, which is awesome. Must have something to do with his weird build. In boxing, southpaws have always had a small edge over orthodox boxers simply because the former are rare and orthodox are not accustomed to fighting left-handed fighters," Ramirez commented thoughtlessly, but he hit right on the nail. "Wait..." Dr. Tonson said and then blinked owlishly, "You might be onto something." Sometimes, a unique perspective is all it takes to find the answer, not an educated perspective. Anyhow, the research crew continued buzzing over their own research and had the time of their life, trying to understand the unique creature called Leo. ... ... [IMAGE] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------