Shadow Leopard (2)

As a fist dozens of times larger than a normal person's bore down on it, fear and pleading flashed in the Shadow Leopard's obsidian eyes. It was terrified and chose to submit.

Green smiled and, with a thought, stopped the Clay Golem from delivering the killing blow. It held the Shadow Leopard by the tail as though it were a kitten.

The Shadow Leopard was clever, with the intelligence of a child in its early teens. Knowing its life depended on the human before it, it immediately tried to curry favor when brought to Green, meowing at him.

Green smiled, pressed a hand to the Shadow Leopard's forehead, and used Death Corruption.

Ordinarily, that would certainly have failed. But here, it might work. This small space lay within the Absolute Divine Domain, isolated from the real world and connected to the Nature God's Divine Kingdom. Some of the real world's laws had no hold here. And with the God of Nature fallen, the divine kingdom had lost its stabilizing force, loosening its laws as well.

Green had sensed how chaotic and lax the laws here were when he summoned the Clay Golem. Normally, a summoned Undead creature could emerge from a Summoning Portal, but it could never charge through one at full speed the way the golem had.

Using Death Corruption on the still-living Shadow Leopard was an experiment to see whether he could turn it into a summon recognized by the Graveyard.

The Shadow Leopard felt a cold surge of Psychic Energy invade its body and instinctively tried to resist. The Clay Golem gave it a shake, then slammed it into the ground like a sandbag.

When the golem lifted it again, the Shadow Leopard felt as though its body had come apart. Even as a supernatural beast, it