Helios, the solar deity, he who wears his shining crown and maneuvers the blazing chariot, lighting the sky.
I remembered quite well that he was the Greek Sun God who was then surpassed by another more prominent Sun God, Apollo. Well, it was not that Helios wasn't powerful, it was just that Apollo was considered to be the most Greek of all gods and there could only be one Sun in the sky, so this dude got ditched.
To be honest, it was not really surprising for a Hunter like Leo to possess his power, but the fact that he could cast fire (or rather, solar flare?) simply by asking the god himself was indeed mind-boggling to me. Was that how Hunters fight? Really?
And do they fight bare-handed? Like a sorcerer? But even a sorcerer may need to rely on an object to channel their magic? So many questions concerning 'How's and 'Why's came up in my head, for someone who had been studying mythology and things people in the year 2045 didn't give a damn about, this was starting to get exciting somehow.
"Lioness!" Then seconds later, Leo decided to fuel my excitement by shouting another name, even though it sounded pretty generic and far from Greek, I couldn't help but anticipate what was coming next.
Again, from nothingness, some shape started to form on his left hand, at first it looked like a circular piece of molten metal with a diameter of no less than 20 inches, but in the blink of an eye, it then began transforming into a wheel blade with multiple 'fangs' surrounding it and a hollow middle. If I were to describe its appearance in a single sentence, I would say that its final form was that of a ring with sharp fangs and claws; a hollow saw blade, I guess.
Assuming that was his weapon, I didn't really want to imagine how bad the wound must be if someone were to get hurt by it... Still, it must be hard to maneuver such an unusual weapon. To fight off all these hellhounds attacking him simultaneously, would that be possible--?
"Hey, shrimpy Adel! I can smell your doubt from here! Do you really think I would suck at my own weapon?!" Oh--
However, as I started to get worried, it seemed that Leo still has tricks up his sleeves. In his right hand appeared another piece of molten metal, this one was long and thin like a snake's body and it coiled itself around his arm like a snake would, or rather... a lion's tail?
When it got transformed into some kind of a silver chain that had one side of its ends attached to the wheel blade, and Leo started to spin his deadly weapon using that chain while taking such a poised stance, I must admit that my doubt got cleared up almost right away. No way that wouldn't be a perfect weapon for a skilled fighter... and a Sun God who chose lions to be his image.
"Adel! Take a f*cking good look at me, OK?! Don't you dare turn your gaze somewhere else, you hear me?!"
"Ah--? Y-Yeah, I won't!" I found myself shouting back at him absent-mindedly since my mind began wandering off to my own mind library to find some form of symbolism behind his choice of weapons. O, to be the Avatar of Helios, and bear such weapons, what could be the meaning behind it? My literature nerd ass couldn't help but wonder.
"Somehow I feel like you're looking at me, but at the same time not looking at me... Fine! When I've saved your ass, you'll look at me soon enough!" It seemed that Leo just shouted at me about some trivial matters, my bad, my mind was too busy to catch that.
Anyway, let us not dwell on what makes my mind busy any further. The battle was just getting started. The ones who decided to make the first move were the hounds, all eight of them began encircling around the lion boy, pretty quick to use the fact that they outnumbered him as their advantage. But as expected, that didn't seem to affect Leo in the slightest. The boy was standing still, calm and collected, his hand spun his Lioness with grace. He seemed to be waiting for something - maybe a chance to strike.
It was not long until the first hound finally got impatient and decided to jump at the lion, ruining their formation in the process, that was when he made his first strike. The wheel blade, Lioness, flew through the air as if it had a life of its own, going straight for that hound's throat with perfect precision before its blade slashed through the seemingly thick skin with such a swift movement. Just a single blink passed and the only thing I saw was blood splattering everywhere, but not a single drop touched Leo's body.
And how naïve of me to assume that that would be the sad end of that hound's life story, being killed by a Sun God means you're not going to die in ice, but in fire. As soon as I blinked my mortal eyes again, the hound's entire body then got lit on fire, ravaging flames devouring all of its skin and flesh, causing it to screech in agony until it met its end - which could be a merciful end to its final pain in this case.
All of a sudden, I had this thought come up in my mind that I should respect the dead by refusing my own eagerness to lean my body over the airbike to try to take a look at its corpse... But it was too late. I had already seen it. The only thing left of that poor hound was just a pitch black stuff which, of course, would be better left undescribed.
"Welcome to Leo's Kitchen~ Today's dish of the day is BBQ hounds~ Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy your meal~" As Leo said those words with such an eerily cheerful tone, his Lioness was already flying toward another victim. At the same time, one of the hounds decided to avenge its short-lived fellow by launching aggressively toward the lion, sharp fangs aiming for his neck, also it was striking him from behind, which could be a smart move.
But a smart move could not win against such a swift weapon... and an acrobatic enemy. The moment Leo immediately twisted his body to turn back and face his foe, then proceeded to slash the sneaky hound's throat right after killing the other one he aimed first in just one single swing, my jaw almost dropped to the ground. That was it... That was another two down.
It had been only half a minute, I guess, but 4 out of the 8 hounds had already become indescribable piles of charred BBQ. ...Pardon my words, but that 'Leo's Kitchen' just got stuck in my mind.
"HAHAHAHA! COME ON, DOGGIES! FACE THE KING OF BEASTS, AND SEE WHO WOULD STAND A CHANCE!!!"
It may not sound right, but... I guess this boy just single-handedly outnumbered all these hounds, with no difficulty whatsoever.
Another half minute passed, and all I saw was blood and flames, the rest of the hounds had already fallen or rather... become Leo's Kitchen's dish of the day, to make it sound less distressing.
So brutal, so... wicked.
I wonder if the gods instructed man to fight like this.
Or it was just this boy being who he is - being corrupted by his own power.