Here is the fifty-fourth chapter in this story released in accordance with the release schedule, which in this case is the two year anniversary of the publication of this story. Initially I had planned on this chapter to cover the snapshots of Leone's life with Mereoleona and a look at Lubbock and Najenda in the Green Praying Mantis but after realizing how long it will be, as well as the other chapters in this Night Raid Snapshots arc, I decided to break it up as well as another chapter in this arc so all of Night Raid will get their own chapter with the exception of Lubbock and Najenda as they're in the same Squad and three of the chapters will be connected in some way but more on that when the time comes. Anyway, as for this chapter, it's a simple look at how Leone is doing and what she's been up too since we last saw here and so that is all the administrative stuff I have for y'all and there are no questions to answer or guest reviews that need a response so I will end this here. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate. That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the fifty-fourth chapter in Akame ga Clover.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.

Chapter 54: Prey

"Beast Magic: Lionelle!"

Bright yellow magic flared up around Leone where she crouched on a high, sturdy, branch and hidden by the thick leaves of the tree that she'd taken perch in. Naturally, she was also the strong magic region as that was where she currently called home.

The tree, like everything else natural in this region, was rich in mana and larger than it would be in one of the kingdoms save the Heart Kingdom, and so it was the perfect cover for Leone as she waited for her prey to show itself. That too was something that was affected by generations of living and evolving in a place like this making it bigger, tougher, and stronger than it would be anywhere else on the continent and that was before the additional mutation that had made it worthy prey for someone like Leone.

That was why she was here in first place and so Leone as the magic finished transforming her she grinned a feral grin that flashed vicious canines that her spell gave her. At the same time, the yellow tail the same color as her hair that had sprouted from her coccis twitched in anticipation of the coming battle though Leone didn't lash it less she make too much noise and give away her position.

It wasn't just the tail and teeth that she now had, though, her hands had turned into yellow lion-like claws complete with claws only they were still shaped like human hands while her usually close cropped blonde hair, minus the strands framing her face, had burst out and down her back in a long mane and a pair of cat ears had formed on top of her head. She was, for all intents and purposes, a hybrid between a human and lion only with no fur on her body save her hands.

However, it wasn't just cosmetic changes that her Lionelle spell gave her, it also enhanced her physically. She was now stronger, faster, tougher, and had enhanced senses that were on par with a lion, which was what the spell seemed to be based off. The one odd thing though was that her self-healing, something she had an above average natural ability at, was drastically enhanced by the spell so that she rapidly healed when wounded with the spell active. It was odd and strangely the whole thing had always felt familiar in a way that Leone couldn't place but it was comforting at the same time.

Leone got this feeling every time she used this spell, it was as if she'd used this for longer than she'd had a grimoire but that couldn't be true because her raw magic never did anything like this when she'd used it growing up and so Leone always pushed these odd feelings out of her mind as she embraced the changes that Lionelle did to her. It was just this spell though, all her life Leone had felt like something was missing, something that she could never place or find as it was just a feeling but whatever it was drove her to survive, to get stronger, and live the best life that she could.

To top it off, her boss had noted that she had unnaturally good natural talents for hand to hand combat, not that Leone could ever beat her boss on that front as that woman could hit harder than any magically enhanced beast in the strong magic region, as well as in areas like stalking, hunting, and guile. All of them, according to her boss, were at a level that indicated she'd been training in them for well over a decade before she met her boss but that shouldn't be possible given that she was 6 at the time.

It all made no sense to Leone or her boss but her boss just chalked it up to Leone's drive to survive she'd been nothing more than a poor, homeless, street urchin when she'd picked her boss's pocked on a rare occasion that her boss was passing through Kikka on her way to the Royal Palaces. This act showed that Leone didn't lack for balls, well metaphorical balls but balls, nonetheless.

Leone had to develop this level of confidence because she'd been born to an unknown mother in Kikka, cast aside and dumped in a terrible and abusive orphanage as a baby because she was unwanted, and then ran away from it at the age of 5. However, despite all that, as well as her age, gender, and social status, she'd survived on the streets for over a year before that fateful day in Kikka that she'd tried to pick what she though was a rich noblewoman's pocket and then run away to escape her using her raw Beast Magic to enhance her speed.

Of course she'd failed to escape the raging lioness that she'd stole from, though she'd come closer than anyone else ever had according to her boss, and in the process had impressed the woman so much that she decided to take Leone under her wing and train her up as her apprentice. That had come as a shock to Leone, especially seeing as the woman was none other than the oldest child of the head of House Vermillion, one of the three royal houses of the Clover Kingdom, and in Leone's experience royals and nobles couldn't give two shits about poor street trash like her.

Apparently that assumption didn't apply to Mereoleona Vermillion, or at least it didn't apply if you had natural talent that she could recognize and respect. That said, Mereoleona wasn't classist in general like most nobles and royals either but she also avoided basically everyone most of the year so she was a very strange woman overall and even after 11 years under her tutelage Leone still didn't fully understand her.

All that was immaterial, however, because when it came to talent, Leone had that in spades apparently and according to Mereoleona her magic was easily on par with a high ranking noble so between that and the rare attribute that Leone had had likely been key to her early survival so she was worth taking under her wing. It had also led to Mereoleona's assumption that Leone was probably the bastard daughter of some philandering nobleman and a serving girl who was fired when she got pregnant, or worse the daughter of some poor prostitute. Well, if Leone could handle the intense training that that would entail.

Just as Mereoleona had expected, she wouldn't have bothered otherwise, Leone had taken to her new life and training under the Uncrowned Undefeated Lioness like a duck to water. Leone's drive to survive and get stronger allowed her to not bat an eye at the challenges that being Mereoleona's personal student entailed. Add in that Leone's attribute, Beast, was all but made for life in the strong magic region and running into Mereoleona that day seemed fated for her because the older woman had brought out the best that Leone's magic had to offer.

It was a partnership that was perfect for her and after over a decade together Mereoleona considered Leone her protégé and with their 15 year age difference the little sister that she'd never had, not that she'd say as much, while Leone looked up to Mereoleona as the mentor and mature guidance that she'd never had. She did call Mereoleona boss, a term that felt natural to Leone and which Mereoleona didn't dissuade, and strove to make the older woman proud of her though she did view the crazy lady like a big sister as well which showed how close they'd become over the years.

The culmination of all of this was that recently Leone had finally earned what Mereoleona had offered her since their training began, the chance to be admitted into the Crimson Lion Kings, her boss's family's Magic Knight Squad and run by the older of her two younger brothers, if she proved worthy of it of course. That moment had come earlier this year when Mereoleona had presented Leone with a Crimson Lion King Magic Knight robe after a trip to the Capital for that express purpose.

While she'd never tell Leone it, Mereoleona had already decided that Leone was worthy long before she got her grimoire and learned more spells as she was already skilled in magic without it and could use Mana Zone almost as good a Mereoleona could, it had taken a while to get Fuegoleon to accept it. He had though, the main holdup being Mereoleona's secrecy over Leone's name and magic, and now Leone wore the full robe of the Crimson Lion Kings with pride.

Even now, when she was on this hunt that her boss had sent her on, she wore it though that was in part to learn how to stealthily hunt with it on as much as pride in her membership in the Squad. That was doubly so as this was a specific hunt that Mereoleona had tasked Leone with and she was not to return to their campsite until she had succeeded in killing her pray and brought its pelt back with her as proof of her success, as well as to make a new blanket as Leone needed one.

For years now Leone had hunted alone, part of Mereoleona's training style as once Leone was skilled enough to hunt, kill, butcher, skin, and prepare animals, another thing she had a natural talent for and which she'd taken to without an issue, she was basically chucked out to do so alone if she wanted to survive. Most would balk at this but Leone had loved it, probably in part because of her magic which according to Mereoleona had never been recorded the Clover Kingdom before Leone, but it was also in part because of the sheer thrill of the hunt and right now that was what Leone was really feeling.

Of course these hunts were never for sport, only for food and materials or to maintain the delicate ecological balance of the strong magic region. Yes, they were great training moments and some of the strongest animals out here were selected primarily for that purpose but nothing went to waste and Mereoleona made it clear that they were never to overdo it when it came to hunting their prey.

After all, they were part of the ecosystem and had to help preserve it as best they could. Of course they were the apex predators of it and sometimes that meant that they had to take specific actions to preserve the natural balance in the strong magic region, well this region at least.

This was one such instance where Mereoleona had tasked Leone to show both their status at the top of the food chain and to end a threat to the whole system. Due to the whole strong magic region thing, this was a relatively frequent occurrence as the animals here, like the plant life, evolved to be saturated in mana and stronger than anything you'd find elsewhere. As such, a few times a year an especially strong animal that was born with some kind of magical mutation that made it unnaturally powerful emerged that upset the balance when it began to kill indiscriminately.

Not only did this affect Mereoleona and Leone's own resources but the whole ecosystem and so when that happened one of them would kill the animal and reset the balance, while also eating and using the animal's parts if possible. Usually, Mereoleona would scout out the threat and decide if it was worthy of her personal attention, she did love a challenge after all, or if Leone should handle it.

This one was, for the first time, a creature worthy of Mereoleona's attention but that she'd told Leone to kill on her own. It was as much a test to see if she was worthy of her new robe as it was training and Leone wasn't going to let her boss down as she crouched where she was and sniffed the air.

Leone had been on the hunt of this animal for a few week now and she knew that her prey was close. All her boss had told her was what the animal was and left the rest to Leone to sort out. This was usual for them and Leone had set out the night that Mereoleona had told her and been on the hunt ever since.

The first problem that Leone had encountered was that the animal didn't leave any tracks, the reason for this had not been disclosed to Leone, but it did leave other signs of its presence that Leone had used to narrow down the animal's current hunting grounds. However, given what the animal was, it had a large territory and could cover great distances with ease so Leone had expected and prepared for a longer than usual hunt as she tracked it down. Now, though, she finally had her prey's scent and had tracked it to this area of the forest that both it and Leone called home at the moment.

From there Leone had baited it towards where she wanted it to go as that would make confronting it easier. At first she had used the remains of the few minor kills that she'd done to satiate her hunger and keep her strength up to bait the beast towards her. Then, when she knew that she was in the right area, Leone had used blood that she drained from her kills along with her own scent, including one of the spells she knew that allowed her to leave animal pheromones on herself and other things and which she could tailor to general species classifications, to draw the animal to a location of her own choosing.

Now, at last, she knew that it was on her trail as she'd picked up its fresh scent a few moments ago. She was certain that it was her prey because she'd smelled it all over the forest while tracking it and was certain that this was the beast that she was after.

Still, she waited as she looked out in the direction of the smell glad that she was down wind of it so the creature wouldn't smell her presence, not that it would pinpoint her if it did as Leone had made sure to thoroughly saturate the spot she wanted it to be at before she attacked, as it quietly stalked through the undergrowth making almost no sound as it made its way towards her general location. However, it did make a little sound and Leone's enhanced hearing picked it up, her ears twitched at it as she all but quivered where she was as she waited for it to make its appearance known.

Patience was key though and while Leone may have some impulse issues at times and could be impatient, she knew that her prey was coming to her and that it was worthy prey, so how could she not wait for it to show up. This was going to be one hell of a fight and she wanted to start it off right so she waited and looked down at the clearing before here and where she'd made sure to douse her pheromones knowing that the wait was almost over.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, there was a rustle and a large snout poked out from behind a thick tree sniffing the air, snot clear on it even from this distance. Leone grinned as slowly and with clear caution showing that the animal knew that while it was at the top of the food chain here, it shouldn't be careless when investigating something like Leone's pheromones. That was good, it showed how smart it was and only made Leone's eagerness for the coming battle greater.

Eventually, though, the animal finally decided that it was safe and it stalked out from behind the tree and into the open. Unlike Leone or the animal that she most identified with, this beast was not sleek muscles but rather raw bulk and power as it moved and Leone's grin widened because it was just the kind of animal she wanted to tangle with. After all cats and dogs didn't get along and she was now looking at a massive, pitch black, wolf with glowing red eyes that just oozed mana and was at least three times the size of a normal one so easily Leone's own height at the withers.

The wolf bulged with thick muscles and it yellow canines were exposed, flecks of blood on them and saliva dripping from its mouth, as it panted and looked around the clearing tail high and alert. Even from where she was, Leone could feel the raw magical power coming from the beast and knew that it had been so saturated by the mana in the area that it had been mutated so that it was this size, likely killing the wolf that birthed it and only growing from there to become an apex predator.

It also explained why Leone hadn't seen the usual wolf pack in the area, this one had killed all the other wolves and that was no mean feat as the wolves here were already unnaturally strong due to all the mana. In fact it had been the disappearance of the local wolf pack that had keyed Mereoleona into there being a threat to the ecosystem and caused her to investigate to find out what it was.

What it didn't explain, though, was why the boss had decided that Leone was the one who'd have to kill it. However, she didn't question Mereoleona's training methods and if this was a creature that Mereoleona deemed to be worthier of her, Leone would have to remain on high alert as she waited for her opening to take on this majestic beast.

That opening came when the wolf turned and looked to the other side of the clearing from Leone and sniffed to see it the smell it had tracked was coming from that direction. Leone grinned as the wolf was currently looking at a spot upwind of her position that she'd used when she'd needed to relieve herself and made sure that her urine had been enhanced with her pheromone creation spell.

Leone knew that to the wolf the smell would either indicate a female worthy of mating with or a rival that it would have to kill if it wished to remain the alpha wolf in the area. Whatever the case, it had turned from her position and the moment that it did, Leone didn't waist that opening and leapt from the tree and at the wolf's back, claws and fangs bared as she flew towards her prey.

As much as Leone wanted to roar or snarl as she leapt, she suppressed the almost natural instinct to do so as she was going for the element of pure surprise so that she could get to the wolf before it could turn to her. Alas that wouldn't be the case as clearly the wolf had good hearing and heard her leapt, or more likely the sound of Leone crashing through the branches, and turned to intercept her though between its speed and her own, it wasn't fast enough to fully bring its fangs to bear as it spun around, snarling with it's jaw open, and so couldn't clamp down on her.

However, in turn Leone couldn't land on its back and get a hold of the wolf while slash it a few times to keep it occupied before getting her arms around the wolf's neck to break it as she'd planed. Instead she collided full speed with the side of it's head.

Still, Leone could use that to her advantage and score first blood, which she did by slashing out with her right hand and slicing four deep cuts with her claws in the wolf's left shoulder as she slammed into it's face. At the same time, her speed pushed her past the wolf as she nocked its head to the side ensuring it couldn't bite her as she flew past and hit the ground on the other side of the wolf.

The moment that Leone hit the ground, she bounced off it and flipped in the air, spinning, and using her sense of smell to ensure that she was facing the wolf as she landed on the grassy earth and slid over it in a crouch with one hand on it, her claws digging a grove into the ground to slow her down, her grin never faltering. For its part, the wolf snarled and shook its head as it turned to face her, slightly dazed by the collision but otherwise ok showing how resilient that it was.

"Not bad for a mangy mutt." Leone said with a grin as she felt blood trickle down her right cheek, neck, and shoulder from where she'd hit the wolf's mouth and its fangs had done some damage from the sheer force of her collision with them but already she was feeling her body healing up from them. "You're a tough bastard for sure but I'm a tough bitch as well so we're even on that front. This is going to be fun, show me what you got fido!"

At that Leone let out a lion-like roar and pushed off the ground with enough force to warp the earth as she sprinted forward in a slight crouch, her speed greatly enhanced by her spell and closed the distance to the wolf in seconds. However, the wolf wasn't standing idle, the scent of Leone's blood and the wound she'd given it had enraged it and it wanted to eliminate this rival and so it to charged as she did closing the gap faster.

That was just a ploy by the wolf though because he suddenly leapt up as Leone neared him and causing her to look up and confirm that the wolf was indeed male as she'd suspected, and twisted in the air as Leone's speed took her underneath and past him. She snarled at that and planted her left foot and spun on it, the speed twisting the dirt and grass under her foot, as she rapidly changed directions. Alas the wolf had been quicker as he'd turned in the air and landed facing Leone before she turned and was able to leap at her as she turned to face him, front paws out and jaws gnashing.

"Clever." Leone muttered as she leapt back as soon as she could and raised her left arm in front of her knowing that she'd be unable to get clear of the wolf in time. "But not a problem for me even if this is going to hurt."

Leone was still grinning though and as she finished the wolf reached her and clamped his jaws down hard but he only managed to bite Leone on her left forearm rather than her throat like he was no doubt aiming for while his forepaws raked down her upper chest and roughly cut her there before snagging on her black tube top and yanking it down to expose her large breasts.

That wasn't an issue to Leone, there were no other people around and she wasn't particularly shy when it came to nudity, Mereoleona wasn't either and that was basically what Leone had grown up with. That said, there was some part of her mind that wanted there to be only one man to ever see her naked even if she didn't know who that man was, and so she just ignored the strange feeling as her breasts bounced out and the wolfs forepaws fell away and it landed on its hind legs.

"Thanks for this, this much better for me than what you were aiming for." Leone said as she held her arm up and forced the wolf to stand on his hind legs but even though he was leaning forward, he was still significantly taller than her in this position and his weight forced her to back up even if she could hold him up like this while blood ran down her left arm from where the wolf was biting her. "Shame you're such a big bastard or else I'd have been able to open your belly with a little effort but this still works."

With that, and before the wolf could try to fully bite through her arm, Leone lashed out with her right hand even as the cuts in her upper chest healed and sliced the wolf across his chest. Unfortunately for Leone, the wolf was too muscular to land a serious blow but she did slice it across its chest and inflicted four slashes that cut deeply into the muscles there and caused the wolf to bleed and howl in pain as it released her arm but that was it.

Despite the wounds being only serious flesh wounds, they would have still been good enough for Leone to follow it up with another blow to the face and take the upper hand in this fight. From there she would likely just beat it to death but before she could take a step forward, the wolf let out a howl that was so loud and piercing that it caused her to let out a gasp of pain as it rang in her sensitive ears and instinctively went to cover them.

The wolf clearly saw this but he was still falling to the ground so that he was back on all fours after being held up by Leone's arm after he bit her so he couldn't leap at her. However, it turned out that he didn't need to because the moment his forepaws slammed into the ground there was a boom and a blast of magic erupted from them. Before Leone could process it the earth violently rippled out from where the wolf had landed and towards her.

All Leone could do was roll with it as the wave of earth lifted her off her feet and threw her backwards from the force though thankfully it didn't crash into her like it did the trees behind her as it was strong enough to uprooted three of them showing how powerful the magic was. Still, Leone grinned as she adjusted herself in the air and her grimoire flipped to a new spell to take advantage of the situation.

"I see, that's why the boss wanted me to deal with you alone and deemed you a threat worthy of her personal attention." Leone said as she reached the trees and crashed feet first into them but she used that to her advantage as she bent her knees and absorbed the landing on the underside of a branch on one of the uprooted tree's. "You've evolved to be able to use magic, Earth Magic by the looks of it, and can affect the ground. That explains why you don't leave any tracks; you naturally affect the ground as you walk on it but you're not the only one with power here. I'm not just a one trick kitty cat, bitch! Beast Magic: Eagle Wings!"

At that Leone pushed off the branch with enough force to break it and blasted back into the clearing her free breasts bouncing as she did. At the same time, a pair of blonde wings burst from her back and forced the cloak under her robe to slide into a line down her spine as the wings unfolded into large, eagle, wings complete with feathers that were clearly scaled up for her human form. As soon as the wings were out, Leone flapped hard to keep herself aloft as she tore at her prey and noting the warped earth below her from where the wolf's wave attack.

Why the wings were as blonde as her hair or the lion's tail and claws that she still had as she could add other spells to her while Lionelle was active but only to Lionelle, Leone didn't know. For some reason, all her spells that created animal parts on or around her body and weren't pure enhancement spells were this color so she didn't question it. Instead she went with it and sped across the clearing at the wolf.

Of course the wolf was neither idle nor stupid, he was aware of what he could do even if he didn't know why he could do it and so with a howl he pawed the ground as the beast that was daring to challenge him for dominance in his territory now seemed to be able to fly and charged him again. Well that wouldn't work as he'd hunted a few of the larger birds that had dared to threaten his rule and so he knew what to do and as he pawed the ground it reacted to his will and pillars of earth shot up out of it and into Leone's path.

"Damned, not bad." Leone said as she extended her wings to glide and twisted her body on instinct to avoid the field of pillars shooting up and at her before she banked around, never one taking her eyes off the wolf, while looking for another opening. "You're definitely worthy prey and with Earth Magic you can at least be somewhat of a challenge to a Flame Mage like the boss. Me on the other hand, well I always kill up close and personal."

At that Leone banked sharply to get a better angle on the wolf. Ever since she'd learned this spell, Leone had been training her flying as much as she could while also studying the birds in the strong magic region for tips so she wasn't half bad at it. As such, the moment that she could, she flapped her wings once to shoot at the wolf again as he turned with her having also never once let her out of his sight.

This time, though, he pawed the ground in a different manner to before and just as Leone neared him a massive slab of earth shot up out of the ground and into her path. The wolf knew that birds were usually dumb creatures and would fly into this and break their necks so he expected this beast thing would do the same though he had had a few run ins that had shown him that death wasn't instantaneous so he backed up as the wall reached its full height and prepared his next move.

Experience had taught the wolf well even if he didn't know it because Leone was a human and a highly trained one at that and so she reached as soon as she saw the earth wall. Knowing that she'd not be able to avoid hitting it and doing some serious damage to herself, Leone instead extended her wings wide to increase air resistance and swung her legs up and forward so that her feet slammed into the wall of earth with a bone jarring thud. Then, as soon as she hit it, she flapped her wings hard and ran up the wall with the aid of her wings to get to the top.

Leone's goal was to leap over it and down on the startled wolf and take it by surprise but she hadn't counted on the wolf already using this tactic on birds and having his own plans for what to do when the wall was hit. Said plans were to back up and then leap over the wall as soon as he heard the contact with it, a lesson learned from a beak to the leg of a bird that hadn't died on impact, and take the direct path down and onto the bird to make sure that it was dead.

As such, both predators took each other by surprise. At the same time that Leone crested the wall ready to flap her wings once more to go over it and fall down onto the wolf with a powerful kick to the face, the wolf reached the top of the wall with his forepaws out only to find that that was right where Leone was.

The result was a surprised gasp from Leone and a yelp of shock from the wolf before it's forepaws slammed into her breasts, right over her exposed nipples which, and sank into the large orbs before the wolf's forward momentum, which was greater than Leone's as she was still going upwards at the time, knocked her backwards. Together they fell towards the ground with the wolf's paws still on her breasts.

The only thing that saved Leone from having the wind knocked fully out of her was the size of her assets as they absorbed most of the impact but that didn't last long as a second later she slammed into the ground back first with a jarring thud that expelled the air from her lungs. Thankfully, she'd managed to splay her wings before then though which was good because they weren't just magically for show, they were actually part of her body and so she felt anything that hit them.

As such, they could break just like normal wings and that would hurt her though at least they didn't bleed if they were cut. That said, the fact that her wings weren't broken wasn't much of a concern for Leone at the moment seeing as she was now pinned to the ground with over half a ton of pissed off, mutated, magical wolf on top of her.

"You really should buy me dinner first if you're going to fondle me like this." Leone gasped out as the wolf seemed as stunned by the sudden development in their battle as she was. "At least show a lady a good time before copping a…"

Leone didn't finish because the wolf had managed to recover enough to realize that he had the upper hand and had lunged down with its jaws. However, rather than go for throat though, he was more concerned about her wings and wanted to keep her grounded before killing her. As such, he grabbed the left one in his teeth and then with a savage twist of his head he ripped it out of Leone's back showing that she really should have dispelled the spell as soon as she was grounded.

Of course Leone couldn't think of that though as her statement was off as she screamed in pain from the wing being torn from her body. The wings may not be filled with blood but they did come out of her so there was a connection point that had just been violently opened up. Instantly blood began to flow from the wound and stain her cloak while also soaking into the ground beneath her and her enhanced healing kicked in though the wound wasn't as bad as it might look given how Leone's Eagle Wings spell worked.

The wolf didn't know or care about that, he just spat the wing out of its now bloody jaws and looked down at and proceeded to unleash another loud howl into her face that spewed hot air, blood, and saliva. Leone screwed up her face in reaction to the howl, sure that this was a result of the wolf's evolution in a strong magic region because the howl was piercingly loud. In fact, Leone was sure that her ears were bleeding from it and adding to the blood from her back.

Clearly the wolf was no moron and highly intelligent at hunting as he had now grounded and disorientate Leone which gave him the opening that he needed to go in for the kill as his howl ended. As it did he thrust down, head turning and going for Leone's throat. It was a good tactic but the wolf, while facing a fellow apex predator, was also facing a sentient being that had been through more fights than she could count and so Leone just pushed through her pain to get her arms up and in the way of the wolf's powerful jaws.

Again the wolf's jaws clamped down on her and again it was her arms that were bitten. This time it caused blood to burst from them and fall onto Leone's face but she just ignored it as she clenched her teeth and powered through the pain to hold the wolf there. She couldn't move her arms so she couldn't use her claws but that wasn't all that Leone had at her disposal even in a situation as precarious as the one that she was currently in.

"Got you now bitch." Leone said as her face twisted in a feral grin and she reinforced her body with her magic to add to her already boosted strength from Lionelle. "I may be a bitch but I'm also a human and you've got nothing on me!"

At that Leone roared and lifted up with all her strength raising the wolf up enough to move it and using the fact that it still had her arms in its jaws to her advantage by moving it over her head. The wolf let out a yelp of surprise through the bite it had on Leone's arms as she lifted him up and he proceeded to lose his balance slightly as Leone moved her arms over her head and the unstable footing of her large breasts caused the wolf to wobble as he lost the footing that he had.

That was all that Leone needed as she thrust her head up, opened her mouth wide, and twisted her head aiming for the wolf's now exposed throat as the lion-like canines that her Lionelle spell gave her flashed in the bright sunlight. He could do nothing about that before Leone clamped her mouth down hard on the wolf's throat just as he'd planned to do her.

The wolf let out a howl of pain, his jaws opening and releasing Leone's arms but she didn't let go of his throat even as hot, coppery, blood burst from it and into her mouth. All that did was make her lose herself a bit to her feral urges that her spell, and the taste of the wolf's blood, enhanced.

Leone tapped into those urges as she bit down harder and moved her arms and slammed her hands into the wolf's shoulders, her claws digging into wolf's muscular shoulders for stability. As soon as she felt that she had the grip, Leone reinforced her teeth and jaw with magic she bit down as hard as she could and then, with a savage yank, ripped the portion of the wolf's throat that she was in her mouth out.

Instantly a geyser of blood sprayed out and into Leone's face covering her in it and staining her hair red but she ignored that as she felt the wolf's strength leave him as his blood poured out and onto her. Rather than let the mass of dead weight fall on her, however, Leone twisted and tossed the wolf to the side, her claws ripping out of the wolf as she did so that she didn't twist with it while also making sure to toss it to the side that she'd lost a wing.

The wolf hit the ground with a thump unable to whimper as blood pooled out of his throat before it was greedily absorbed by the ground just as Leone's was. His hind legs twitched for a few seconds before they fell still and Leone, her head turned to look the wolf in the eye, saw the light leave them as it died.

With that confirmed, Leone spat the part of the wolf's throat that she'd ripped out from her mouth as it was still there and just panted where she lay. That had been one tough battle, no wonder the boss had wanted her to do this alone as it had been great training for her, and she was grinning from it despite the blood and pain. Leone had won and there were few feelings greater than surviving a battle to the death with worthy prey and as that hit her she burst out in maniacal laughter, a usual response to surviving.

There was one other usual response to surviving such a battle and the cool air on her exposed nipples only added to the extreme horniness that Leone was feeling but she wasn't twisted enough to get off from something like this so she thankfully didn't orgasm where she was. No, this was just a normal battle response to surviving and she just had to wait it out as she laughed on her back on the ground.

To help distract her mind, though Leone knew that she would have to take care of herself later though given her upbringing this was something that more about just dealing with the feeling than anything else though she knew that she was attracted to men, she dispelled her Eagle Wings spell and looked at the sky. As she did, Leone noted that the sun was now setting so she watched that while she let her enhanced healing to do its work. She'd suffered a few wounds and it the punctures in her arms from the wolf's teeth would take a few minutes but after that fight no one would bother her.

Finally, after more time than Leone expected, she felt the last of her wounds finish healing and she sat up and looked over to the wolf. It was on its side, tongue out and eyes glassy and Leone smiled at her victory.

"You were more than worthy, thank you." Leone said as she moved onto her knees and bowed of her head to her prey. "I will enjoy your meat once it is ready while your pelt and other parts of you will be put to good use so this wasn't for sport but the ecosystem, and to test me of course. Rest in piece wolf, you earned that."

With that Leone turned finally addressed her exposed and pulled her tube top back up and over her breasts. She then reached down to a rolled leather sheet that was on her belt and pulled it off before unraveling it and laying it on the wolf's side to reveal her skinning and butchering tools. There was no point in washing up yet, she was just going to get messier with what she had to do anyway so she'd do that later when she was cleaning her tools, and pulled out the gutting knife and set to work starting with eviscerating the wolf.

"I told you; I'll return to the Capital once my squadmate gets back from her hunt." Mereoleona said to the small image of a man with a bowl cut that was being projected from the center of her communication device. "And not before then! I don't care that Randall is out of town on a mission, I can't leave until she's back with proof that she's killed her prey. After that, and if it's late a night's sleep, I'll return. Until then, stop bothering me or else you'll be my next snack!"

With that, and before a stunned Marx could respond to her, Mereoleona ended the call and put away her communication device with a growl at fire that was burning before her as she thought about the politics that she was being forced to deal with. Ever since her fool of a brother had gotten himself ambushed, lost his arm, and fallen into a coma she'd been getting daily calls from Marx to get back to the Capital and take over as acting Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings.

All this despite there being a Vice Captain, who himself was conveniently away on some human smuggling investigation apparently, simply because she was the designated member who would take over as acting Captain if something happened to Fuegoleon. As unexpected as it was, it had actually happened and so Mereoleona was needed back as soon as possible.

However, Mereoleona wasn't going to go back until Leone had returned with the wolf's pelt. She didn't want to abandon their camp until then, not that there was anything of value of here she just didn't want to rebuild and restock it, but as soon as her protégé was back then she could and it would give Leone some more alone time to continue to get stronger while Mereoleona dealt with the annoying politics of the Capital.

So far it had been a week since she'd sent Leone after that wolf that was threatening the ecosystem and she judged that the girl should have found her prey by now and was either in position to strike and take it down or waiting for the right opportunity. Given the time, if the wolf arrived now she was certain that Leone would wait for daylight as facing that beast in the dark would be too challenging for Leone or really anyone without either Flame or Light Magic to aid them in seeing it, or whatever it was that her brother's friend Yami did to sense people.

That was fine though as it would give Leone time to prepare and Mereoleona wondered what the younger woman would go for. Most would go for some kind of trap to put the wolf at a disadvantage but with Leone's magic and Mereoleona's training she knew that her student would just launch into an attack and fight it head on. That was more than fine with Mereoleona as it was a good test of strength for Leone and she was looking forward to the story of how Leone had beaten the wolf and the tricks that it had used on her as she was well aware that the wolf could use Earth Magic.

Until then, though, Mereoleona would be in camp and only leaving it to get food if she needed to replenish their store of meat. Of course the food stayed away from her anyway so the camp was safe so long as it had Mereoleona's scent all over it but still, she liked game meat and right now she needed some more as their reserves were starting to run low.

Given the time, it was nearing dinner and the sun was about to set, and the fact that Mereoleona only had enough boar meat for few more days it was looking like she would have to go out and get another one before the sun set. That way she could begin preparing it so that it could be eaten after the current stock ran out.

"Hey boss! I'm back!"

The call came just as Mereoleona was about to get up and go hunting for another bore and she grinned as she turned to see Leone making her way over to the camp. Even though the girl had clearly cleaned up in a stream, her hair was still dirty with dried blood and the stains were all over her clothes, robe, and cloak. That was fine, after well over a decade living most of the year like this Mereoleona knew how to sort that out and so did Leone so she didn't bother to comment on it. Besides, she was more focused on the bag on Leone's back.

"I see that you've succeeded." Mereoleona said as the scent of freshly killed animal reached her nostrils. "And you've brought back your kill."

"Yup, I've already prepared and preserved the pelt and stored it in the tent we use for that." Leone said jerking her thumb behind her to the set of tents that they'd set up for dealing with their kills showing that she'd been back for a bit but had been busy dealing with the aftermath of her hunt which Mereoleona approved of. "Had to do some field dressings before hauling wolfy back here and sorting the rest of the kill, which took a while given how big he was. I'll admit, I've never had wolf meat but after that fight I have to have some, it's the least that I can do for it."

"Understandable, you did kill it in battle and deserve to eat it." Mereoleona said as Leone reached her knowing that the blonde had prepared everything properly as she'd been the one to teach Leone how to do so. "Plus you're going to be in for an experience, wolf meat is a really rich meat but it can be an acquired taste and frankly I prefer boar and other herbivores to it. Now, if you've already sorted the kill out, what's in the bag?"

"The one thing we don't use." Leone said as she shrugged it off and opened it before reaching inside and pulling the wolf's head out of it and bolding it by the fur between its ears. "Proof that I succeeded in my mission. Man was he a tough bastard and that Earth Magic threw me."

"That was the challenge that I was hoping that you'd face and why I deemed him to be a threat worthy of my attention." Mereoleona said smiling as Leone returned the head to the back and tossed it to the side to properly dispose of later before she took a seat by the fire that Mereoleona had started just before Marx's call and looked at her mentor. "Sometimes animals are born in the strong magic region can use magic, a mutation of evolving and being bred here, and when they do they can become problems as often they can't control their raw magic. I realized this while investigating the drop in wolves in the area and saw that monster in action. I knew that it was a worthy challenge for you."

"Oh it really was, he knew how to use his magic to some extent so a real challenge." Leone said grinning which Mereoleona nodded at, raw magic out of control was one thing but enough sense to use it was what pushed that wolf up to her level though she'd still have taken care of it if its magic was out of control. "Want to hear about it boss?"

"When we prepare dinner, I've got to give you a few recipes for wolf meat anyway so we can go over that and your battle then." Mereoleona said. "First, I've got something to tell you."

"You're leaving for the Capital again." Leone said already getting it though she'd not heard the call earlier as she always knew the irritated tone that Mereoleona got whenever she was recalled to the Capital. "Which is strange as you were only just there."

"Yes, I have to go back from time to time so I used the last one to get your robe but this is sooner than I would have liked." Mereoleona said her tone still annoyed. "However, my idiot brother has gone and decided to take a long nap o I've gotta go back and take over the Squad until he decides to wake up and deign us with his presence again."

"Come again?" Leone asked confused.

"Fuegoleon went and got himself ambushed like a fool and lost his arm" Mereoleona said clearly more pissed that her brother had fallen for an ambush than the fact that he'd been injured by someone, which made sense as the tricked was something that a Magic Knight Captain shouldn't be. "Thankfully he was saved in time but he's in a coma, which means he's just taking a stupidly long nap as far as I'm concerned, however, as he's out of commission I have to step into his place and lead the Squad."

"Well you did say that that was the deal." Leone said not too bothered as she was more than old enough to be on her own, and usually was whenever her boss went to the Capital, but with this she might be able to go with Mereoleona back to the Capital for the first time since she'd been taken in by the older woman. "What about me? Am I to join you? I am a full member now."

"As much as I'd like that, and if Fuegoleon hadn't been stupid I would have brought you in for the Star Festival, I'll be too busy whipping those losers into shape and I already know that you're fine there." Mereoleona said shaking her head while Leona smiled at the praise. "Easier for you to stay here and keep training on your own though do feel free to head into the nearest village or town if you want to relax and mingle with the people we help protect. Plus, you've got a few months' worth of wages so you can have some fun and as a Magic Knight no one will bother you. When I've sorted things out I'll call you either to the Capital or more likely the Yultim Volcano Trail as they need the practice."

"Got it, when I'm done with the meat here I'll take a few days off in the nearest village before making my way to the volcano then." Leone said understanding. "If I beat you there I'll just train as I could use a solo run again anyway and that hot spring is to die for."

"That it is and I'll need you to show the others how its done." Mereoleona said pleased with Leone's independent plans for while she was away. "I expect you to be better than them as I've personally trained you Leone. Show them how a lioness handles the heat."

"You know it boss; I won't let you down." Leone said with a grin before her stomach roared and she flushed. "But, er, how about dinner now?"

"I was about to hunt for some more food while you were away but you've got that covered so yes let's roast up some boar and then I'll head to the Capital in the morning and deal with the shit going on there." Mereoleona said standing. "But until then let's talk about something much better than my upcoming trim. How did you kill that wolf? I know how I would but I've got Flame Magic and ranged spells, I want to know how a Beast Mage handled that beast."

"Oh it was unlike any other kill but then again I was facing a fellow carnivore and apex predator so it was going to be different from the start." Leone said as she rose and followed Mereoleona to the meat storage tent that had magical items there to keep it preserved. "Basically, once I knew that I was in the same area as the wolf, I baited him to a location where I could face him and then, when he arrived I…"

At that Leone launched into her battle tale while Mereoleona listened and nodded at it, adding her own questions and comments about Leone's battle strategy wherever necessary. She would properly dissect the hunt and show Leone where she went wrong over dinner but she was still proud in how well her student had handled the wolf and the kill was certainly very Leone in the end.

The girl was much more hands on with her kills than Mereoleona was but such was the nature of their respective attributes and the spells that they knew but she could still give Leone advice on things. Regardless, Leone was doing well and Mereoleona was more than pleased with her growth, she was a true Crimson Lion King and soon the rest of the Squad would see that.

First though, Mereoleona had to assess them and see just what kind of state they were currently in and soon she'd learn just how far they'd fallen from when she was more active and just how much work she'd have to do to beat them back into shape. That would come though, for now she was going to enjoy another meal with Leona and help her protégé continue to grow as her last day of peace before she went back to the Capital came to an end.

I think that's a good place to end this chapter and snapshot into Leone's life with Mereoleona. Unlike the others she's not really doing missions and is technically the newest Magic Knight of all of them but she is still working hard and training and here we see just what that's like as well as a little taste of Leone's magic. Naturally, it was always going to be Beast Magic, that just made perfect sense for her, and we'll see plenty more of that in the future as Leone's introduction to wider society is coming in time but until then this will be all that we see of her. Lastly, and in case people are confused, all of this took place at some point between the end of the attack on the Capital and the incident in Nean. Next up is the Lubbock and Najenda chapter of the Night Raid arc as we see a little of what they've been up to while the Black Bulls have been on their swift ascendency within the Magic Knight ranks. Anyway, that is all that I have for this chapter so I will leave it off here. If you liked this please favorite, follow, leave a review, or let me know in a PM and I will try to answer any questions posed in reviews and PMs as best I can. Until next time.

Stringdog