Thales bolted, carrying Kino over his shoulder.
In the brief moment it took Silver Lion to finish his sentence, Thales had already triggered the ability he excelled at most: running away.
Though his build was on the portly side, causing his flesh to bounce noticeably as he sprinted with Kino hoisted on his back, his speed was remarkably impressive. He flew down the long, dark street with astonishing nimbleness, fleeing for his life.
"Oh my god, if we don't run now, when will we?!" Thales gasped as he ran. Then, he called up to the companion on his shoulder, "Kino, hang in there!"
"Fa... Fatty..." Kino's aggrieved voice floated down. "I'm not dead yet."
"Then get off me already! You're breaking my back!" Thales smoothly dropped Kino back onto his feet.
Catching his breath, Kino stood opposite him, a look of lingering dread plastered across his face. Just a moment ago, Silver Lion had barely grazed the edge of his clothes, yet the impact had sent him flying uncontrollably through the air. If that flying kick had landed cleanly, he'd probably be singing "Goodbye, Mother, I'm sailing away tonight" while bidding an eternal farewell to this world.
The gap between a regular human and someone capable of equipping armor was simply too vast.
"Forget about them, let's just make ourselves scarce, Kino," Thales suggested, his small eyes darting frantically toward the path they had just traversed.
The very next second, the exact scenario Thales dreaded materialized. Silver Lion rounded the far corner of the street, rapidly closing the distance.
"Don't even think about escaping, brats!" Silver Lion bellowed, pausing briefly to catch his breath. "Man, you two can really run."
"Ah! He caught up!" Thales jumped as if struck by an electric shock. Grabbing Kino by the arm, he dragged him forward into another mad sprint.
His chubby frame possessed an agility that defied logic. The sheer momentum of his escape was fueled entirely by a desperate primal desire to stay alive. Master Wyatt, that giant turtle, was currently locked in combat with Logan, and Phoebe, the only one who could have protected them, was pinned down by Golden Lion. If Silver Lion caught them now, who could possibly save them?
As for whether Phoebe could actually defeat Golden Lion, that was a luxury far beyond their current capacity to worry about.
Silver Lion roared in frustration, pushing his pace to pursue the escaping pair. As a proud warrior and the second lieutenant serving directly under General Logan, if he couldn't even apprehend two ordinary human children, he might as well retire permanently and smash his head against a block of tofu to end his disgrace.
Feeling the oppressive aura rapidly closing in from behind, Kino and Thales broke out into a cold sweat of sheer panic. Thales sneaked a quick glance over his shoulder during a stride, only to find Silver Lion's outstretched hand practically inches away from grabbing him.
Gritter his teeth, Thales threw his heavy torso sideways into Kino, tackling him to the pavement. The sudden dive allowed them to narrowly evade Silver Lion's grasping fingers.
Standing over the fallen pair, Silver Lion loosened his wrists. "Now then, let's see where else you can possibly run."
Without a moment's hesitation, he took a half-step back, shifting into a predatory pouncing stance to bring a decisive end to this game of cat-and-mouse.
"Ignorant humans... how could you ever hope to escape the claws of a lion?" he muttered. In a flash of movement, he lunged at the two helpless boys on the ground.
Kino and Thales instinctively squeezed their eyes shut. Even before Silver Lion physically reached them, a sharp, whistling gale arrived first, the icy breath of impending doom.
"We're done for!" Thales scrambled backward a couple of paces on all fours, but his strength had completely evaporated.
"Fatty! If we survive this, I swear I'll never call you Fatty again, Fatty!" Kino yelled, bracing for impact.
The next instant.
Silver Lion's mid-air lunge froze abruptly. A colossal wave of Hetero-Energy detonated in the space between him and the two boys, materializing like an unyielding fortress wall, separating the attacker from his prey like an impassable chasm.
"What is this?!"
Silver Lion's eyes automatically snapped toward the source of the immense pressure: the sky.
Simultaneously, a deep, resonant, and remarkably magnetic voice drifted down through the air:
"When the races of the earth gaze up at the night sky... what is it that they see?"
Silver Lion stared up into the dark expanse. Amidst the turbulent, wind-swept storms of the night, a lone figure was gracefully descending from the heavens.
It was Zoran. He had intervened, neutralizing Silver Lion's fatal strike.
As Zoran's words echoed, Silver Lion found himself momentarily dazed. He blinked hard, wondering if the exhaustion from the frantic chase was playing tricks on his vision, but things seemed entirely surreal. He witnessed a jagged bolt of lightning rip through the storm, momentarily illuminating the hazy night sky, revealing a pristine, stark-white full moon hidden behind the shroud.
Silver Lion shook his head vigorously to clear his senses. The vision of the full moon vanished, and Zoran's figure came back into sharp focus. Following the prompt of Zoran's philosophical question, he looked up once more, barely catching the faint, ephemeral silhouette of a translucent moon.
Aside from that, all that remained was the middle-aged man descending from the air. He appeared significantly more mature, or rather, older, than General Logan, and every deliberate movement he made exuded an aura of absolute composure.
His charge had been effortlessly broken by this man. And the reason Silver Lion found him so deeply composed was that after deflecting the attack, the man had made no further move to strike.
"My friend, I must ask you to step aside," Silver Lion said after a brief pause, his tone turning dead serious.
"Do all of you soldiers possess such impeccable manners?" Zoran let out a soft chuckle. From Logan down to Silver Lion, this entire army seemed to carry a strange, polite chivalry about them. "But unfortunately, I cannot step aside," Zoran added calmly.
"Whoa! It's you... Mister!" Thales finally scrambled to his feet, instantly diving to hide behind Zoran's back.
Kino likewise stared at Zoran with wide, curious eyes. They had encountered this man not long ago. When they had first laid eyes on Master Wyatt and been scared out of their wits, they had attempted to flee the room, only to be stopped at the door by Zoran, who happened to be dropping by for a visit. They had been effortlessly levitated right back inside.
In a flash, Kino and Thales put the pieces together. This man was clearly on their side, or at least, on Phoebe's side.
"Mister, you've got serious style! I, Thales, offer you my most sincere gratitude. You are my savior!" Thales declared earnestly. If Zoran hadn't stopped Silver Lion just now, he figured he and Kino would currently be keeping each other company on the road to the underworld.
"Don't mention it," Zoran said with a smile, shifting his gaze back to Silver Lion.
Facing Zoran, Silver Lion slowly clenched his fists.
"If that's the case..." His eyes narrowed, his knuckles popping with an audible crunch. "When a path is blocked, it seems the only way forward is to carve it open with my fists!"
Stamping his foot violently against the pavement, Silver Lion launched himself forward like a shooting star, hurtling directly toward Zoran without a shred of fear.
"Your bravery is commendable," Zoran spoke softly, extending a single finger. "But your strength is vastly inadequate to support it."
A massive vortex of Hetero-Energy abruptly materialized. Silver Lion, mid-charge, suddenly felt his body completely rip away from his control. He was dragged violently into the swirling vortex, spun around like clothing inside a high-speed washing machine.
An icy dread gripped his heart. The stranger's Hetero-Energy was leagues above his own. The sheer volume of energy released by a casual flick of a finger was practically equivalent to an Ultra Beast Warrior unleashing their ultimate technique in their Armored State.
Yet Zoran looked completely relaxed, as though he had merely waved away a fly.
"These two brats are under my protection."
His voice boomed through the night, echoing with immense power across the streets and ringing clearly in everyone's ears. Simultaneously, the raging vortex of Hetero-Energy shuddered violently, hurling Silver Lion across the street.
He crashed heavily into a reinforced concrete wall and slumped to the ground, completely unconscious.
From start to finish, he hadn't even managed to brush against the hem of Zoran's clothes.
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