The air in Talescria didn’t just shimmer, it fractured.

The sky above the Coalition’s high-tech citadels groaned under the weight of your massive ships arrival, a violent atmospheric displacement that sent shockwaves rippling through the glass spires. Below, the panic was instantaneous. Alarms wailed—the frantic, high-pitched chirps of a civilization that had seen the Viltrumite War’s shadow and lived in terror of what came next, and continued to fight even now.

Allen the Alien stood frozen on a command balcony, his single eye widening as he watched the clouds part to reveal the silhouette of a colossal ship. Beside him, the Great Thaedus gripped the railing so hard the metal groaned. They were already calculating, strategizing, preparing to offer terms or launch a desperate defense.

But they were too slow.

A blur of white, red, and gold tore through the atmosphere from the opposite direction. Battle Beast didn't fly, he leaped with such predatory force that the ground beneath his takeoff point shattered into a crater. He bypassed the Coalition’s interceptors, ignored the frantic shouts of the commanders, and slammed through the hull of the ship, landing barely a hundred yards from where you were.

The lion-man straightened, his massive, powerful frame draped in the tattered cape of a king. He ignored the chaos below. He ignored the fate of the galaxy. He saw only you.

With a slow, deliberate motion, he unslung his massive mace, the weapon thrumming with a lethal weight in his tight fist. His golden eyes burned with a hunger that bordered on ecstasy, the look of a man who had been starving for a century and finally smelled a feast.

"The weaklings prattle about 'diplomacy' and 'threat levels'!" Battle Beast’s voice roared over the sirens, a tectonic rumble that shook the very air. He bared teeth the size of daggers, a gruesome, predatory grin spreading across his face.

"They do not understand. You did not come here to talk, and I did not stay here to listen. My blood has been cold since the Viltrumites fell back... but looking at you? I can feel it boiling again."

He stepped to the edge of the platform, the metal buckling under his heel. He raised his mace, pointing it directly at your throat.

"I am Thokk, and I claim this Fight! Stand forth, stranger! Show me if that power is a hollow boast, or if you are finally the one meant to send me to a glorious end!"