Ch. 501..510

Chapter 501 - 501 – Switched Situation

Yersi’s fight was brutal. From the very beginning, she was out of her league and was suppressed continually. The opponent didn’t even take her seriously as they gave her one heavy injury after the other.

Gravis’ emotions went haywire as he watched. This was not like the fight between Aris and his first opponent, two levels above him. Back then, Aris still had the ability to somewhat defend against his enemy’s attacks. Meanwhile, the only reason why Yersi was still alive was that her enemy didn’t take her seriously.

She was driven into a corner and was about to die without even having injured her opponent. Gravis’ body started shaking as he tried his absolute best to keep himself out of this. He needed to let nature take its course, but it looked like nature wanted to kill his daughter.

 

 

Suddenly, Yersi unleashed a mighty lightning beam that incinerated her opponent. Gravis saw this and immediately knew what it was. ’The all-out attack that all Divine Beasts have,’ Gravis thought.

The enemy was dead, but the all-out attack created another issue now. The enemy’s corpse was incinerated, making it impossible to eat. Additionally, Yersi fell to the ground as her Realm dropped to the Mid-Rank of Energy Beasts. She had survived, but now, every enemy was three levels above her.

Gravis felt a lump in his stomach as he realized the situation Yersi was in now. There were no Energy Beasts around. Due to that, she couldn’t become a High-Rank Energy Beast again without fighting a Spirit Beast.

If things continued like this, Yersi would undoubtedly die.

Gravis had an idea how he could salvage the situation, but it depended on Yersi’s actions now. If she didn’t make the right choice, nothing would be able to save her.

After a day of rest and healing, Yersi looked into the middle of area F. By the Energy she was feeling, she could judge the direction. So, she turned in the other direction and left area F. She knew that she needed to recover in an area away from here. She needed to go somewhere to regain her power.

Yersi reached the edge of area F, but the King responsible for area F appeared in front of her and stopped her. She was not allowed to leave.

"Area F is supposed to simulate the real world, right?" Gravis asked the King.

The King furrowed his brows as he heard Gravis’ words. Would he involve himself? "Yes, which is why she is not allowed to leave. You can’t flee from the real world."

"Yet," Gravis answered, "in the real world, she would be able to find Energy Beasts to regain her strength. If you were in her situation, would you want to mindlessly stay in an area that will surely bring you death?"

The King wasn’t happy about these words. "She has made her choice, and she needs to deal with the consequences."

"She already has," Gravis said. "This fight had allowed her to awaken her all-out attack. Right now, she has decided to retreat. Have you never retreated in your life?"

"This has nothing to do with this situation. The rules have to be followed," he said.

Gravis remained silent for a bit. "I think you don’t get what I’m getting at. I’m not telling you to send her back to area D. I’m saying that you should let her leave the areas altogether. Let her experience the real world."

Now, the King remained silent for a bit. Sending her back to area D would have been unfair to the other offspring. Yet, by preemptively leaving the areas altogether, no one would mind.

The entire reason for the area’s existence was to reflect the real world in a safer environment. In the real world, there were powerful beasts all around. A fight between two Lords could kill an Energy Beast from a distance. Usually, deciding to leave the areas had a way higher chance of death than staying in them.

Two entire minutes passed where the King simply stood imposingly in front of Yersi, who had a fearful and panicked look on her face. She knew that she needed to regain her power, and she also knew that she couldn’t regain it here. She needed to leave, but this godlike beast in front of her didn’t allow it.

"I need to ask an Elder about this matter," the King answered Gravis finally.

"No need," the voice of the Empress appeared inside the King’s head.

"Empress," the King said involuntarily in respect and fear.

"Gravis has already informed me of what has transpired over five minutes ago, and I have been watching your exchange," she said.

The King became nervous when he heard that. Had he done something wrong?

"You have chosen correctly by asking an Elder," the Empress transmitted, making the King feel a huge amount of relief. "I have designed the areas so that they reflect a safer picture of the real world. Yet, in this case, that doesn’t hold up. Right now, area F is a more dangerous version of the real world for this particular offspring of mine. Staying in the areas is a privilege, not a punishment."

"Therefore, I decided to let her leave the area to regain her strength in the real world. Yet, she has also made her choice by coming to area F this early. So, if she manages to become a High-Rank Energy Beast again, she must enter area F again. This will force her to fight two levels above herself, which is what she wanted," the Empress declared.

The Empress had already decided on this issue about five minutes ago, but she wanted to see how the King responsible for area F would react. He held a position of paramount importance. If such a King were to be a traitor, they could have killed a frightening amount of talented beasts. She didn’t like to doubt other beasts, but his position was just too important.

Luckily, the King had made the correct decision in the end. He had realized that he couldn’t pass a judgment with confidence. Asking a superior was the best choice he could have made in this regard.

"It will be done, Empress," the King said deferentially. Then, he looked at the fearful Yersi. "You are allowed to leave, but you must return when you have regained your strength," he transmitted to her.

By now, Yersi was smart enough to understand all these words. Due to her father’s blood, she was even smarter than Skye had been as an Energy Beast. Yersi lowered her head to acknowledge the command and then ran past the King.

Finding Energy Beasts outside the breeding areas in the Icy Pride Empire was tough. Nearly all offspring born in the Empire were inside these areas. The only Energy Beasts she would be able to find would be wild ones. Due to Kings and Lords continually fighting in the Empire, the wild beast population had huge issues in thriving.

Gravis watched her leave but still felt nervous. Now, it was all up to her. Finding Energy Beasts would be difficult for her. Right now, inside Gravis’ Spirit Sense, he could only see two wild Energy Beasts, and his Spirit Sense had a reach of over 150 kilometers.

Meanwhile, Cera had managed to kill her first Divine Beast. The fight had been fierce since their powers were about equal. This Divine Beast had a Battle-Strength that was very close to being able to jump two levels. One could describe their strength as Half-Step High-Rank Spirit Beast.

Cera had learned a lot in the fight. In actuality, one could say that she had been lucky with her opponent. The gap between fighting one level above oneself and two levels was huge. One couldn’t prepare themselves for such a massive jump.

Yet, by being able to fight someone that was more powerful than nearly any Mid-Rank Spirit Beast but weaker than nearly any High-Rank Spirit Beast, Cera had received the optimal opponent. This would be able to prepare her for fighting two levels above herself.

Aris had it the easiest. He fought one beast two levels higher than him after the other. He had been fighting beasts two levels higher than him ever since he had been a High-Rank Demonic Beast. These kinds of fights were still very dangerous, but Aris wasn’t in a disadvantageous position.

Right now, the situation from back in area A had been completely reversed. Back then, Yersi had been the most powerful, followed by Cera and then Aris. Now, it was Aris followed by Cera, with Yersi having to recuperate outside area F.

’Aris will become a Lord with no issues. Cera also won’t have any issues, but she won’t be as powerful as Aris yet. Yersi might die before she can become a Lord,’ Gravis thought.

’Yet, if she manages to recover from this setback, she might become as powerful as Aris. Having to search for food in such a dangerous environment is also a form of tempering.’

"Let’s see what the future holds."

 

Chapter 502 - 502 – Siblings Meet

In the next few months, Aris and Cera had found another weapon of theirs.

They had both realized that their resistance towards lightning was incredibly powerful. They couldn’t absorb lightning like Gravis, but their resistance was astounding. It required lightning on the power of a Lord to injure them. Due to that, they had found a use for their lightning that other lightning beasts didn’t have.

They had developed the same technique as their father. By exploding their lightning on their feet, they could achieve incredible acceleration and speed. When Gravis saw them use this technique, he felt an incredible feeling of pride radiating out from inside him.

His children looked very similar to him, and now, they also developed the same technique that he used. Gravis had never felt so proud in anything. The pride he was feeling was even greater than when he had killed the lower Heaven.

’I think I can understand why Orpheus doesn’t search for power anymore,’ Gravis thought, but then, he shook his head. ’But I’m not done yet! As soon as they become Lords, I can meet them. When that time comes, I can explain everything to them. They will join the Empire, and we will be fighting for the same side. Then, I can focus on my own path of cultivation again!’

Gravis hadn’t become a King yet due to him always remaining split. His three bodies were all close to achieving a breakthrough each. As soon as Gravis gathered all his bodies into one again, he would become a King.

He also knew that, since Heaven saw him as a beast, he would be granted a Law when he became a King. Heaven had forced him to go through the restrictions of a beast, so it was only fair that he would also get the rewards. Gravis couldn’t imagine Heaven being so petty that it forced him through this rule but decided against rewarding him.

By now, Cera was also able to fight two levels above herself. Yet, in comparison, Aris was already looking at three levels above himself. Sadly, there were no Lords inside this area. This seemed incredible, and it was, but it couldn’t be compared to jumping levels in the Unity Realm.

The body’s power doubled in every level below the Unity Realm, but as soon as one progressed in Unity, the power would quadruple with each level-up. As Aris was now, when he became a Lord, he would maybe be able to fight two levels above himself, but not against other Divine Beasts.

His body would be double as powerful as normal beasts on his level, but even when one considered his already more powerful body, a Lord two levels above him would have a body eight times as powerful as his.

If there were a theoretical fourth level for Spirit Beasts, their body would be a little more than five times as powerful as Aris’ body as a Low-Rank Spirit Beast. Yet, if he were a Lord, a beast only two levels above himself would have a body eight times as powerful as him. This showed that fighting two levels above oneself as a Lord was more difficult than fighting three levels above oneself as a Spirit Beast.

That’s where Laws came into play. Laws allowed someone to fight two levels above oneself as a Lord. Without Laws, it would be impossible. Even Gravis wouldn’t have been able to kill the shark two levels above himself without his Punishment Lightning, which was a Law, obviously.

The moray eel in the invasion had proven that Gravis wasn’t yet ready to fight someone three levels above himself. Back then, he had needed to rely on the corpses around him to emerge victoriously.

Right now, with his new understanding regarding the Speed Law of Lightning, Gravis would be able to fight a level two King. Yet, for Kings, understanding more Laws became easier as for Lords. When Gravis would reach the Realm of a King, the average level four King might already have understood three to five Laws. This was the progression of Battle-Strength alongside the Realm.

And when Gravis thought that, he smiled. It wasn’t because of his thoughts but because of something else.

Yersi had returned to area F. She had managed to become a High-Rank Energy Beast again, but it had taken her over a year.

During that year, she had been forced to hide in caves and in the earth to protect herself from the shockwaves of powerful Lords and Kings fighting. This reminded Gravis of the time he had been transported to outside his home city. Hadn’t he done the same thing back then?

Yet, this time of danger had done wonders for Yersi. Yersi’s sense of danger had been sharpened to an astounding degree. When she fought a Spirit Beast again, she had also managed to perform another technique that Gravis used, which her two siblings hadn’t been able to perform yet.

She was able to pre-dodge.

Her instincts warned her of danger, which allowed her to react to attacks from the enemy earlier than usual. Due to that, she managed to emerge victoriously against her opponent. Now, Yersi had also managed to take the first step towards fighting someone way more powerful than her.

Some months later, Cera also managed to kill a High-Rank Spirit Beast. When she ate the corpse, she became a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast. Aris had been a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast for a while now, and he was close to becoming a High-Rank Spirit Beast.

And then, it happened.

Aris and Cera met for the first time.

Both Aris and Cera narrowed their eyes at each other. "Who are you?" Cera asked with a voice transmission. Spirit Beasts could already transmit their thoughts to others, which allowed them to talk to each other.

"Aris," Aris answered with confidence. "I’m the overlord of this place. Ever since I’ve reached my current level, nothing has been able to keep standing in front of me. Who are you?" he asked.

"Cera," Cera answered with narrowed eyes. Aris’ boast had rubbed her the wrong way. "I was just about to say the same thing. Ever since I’ve reached this level, nothing has been able to stand against me."

Aris huffed. "Do you have any idea how often I have heard that before? The last one that said that to me had been one of these beasts with a powerful body one level higher than me. He didn’t even stand a chance."

Cera disliked Aris’ arrogant words, but she felt his power. To Cera, Aris truly felt like the most powerful beast she had ever seen, except for these godlike beasts at the edges of this area. To her, Aris felt as dangerous as her first opponent that had been two levels above her.

"Do you want to fight?" she asked coldly. Aris felt incredibly dangerous to her, but she wouldn’t back down from such a fight. Her pride didn’t allow her to.

"I am more interested in your appearance," Aris answered as he walked closer. "I’ve never met someone that looks like me."

"Same thing for me," Cera answered carefully as she kept observing him.

Aris circled her as Cera didn’t allow him to enter her blind spot. She didn’t know this beast, and it was possible that this was a beast that attacked from the shadows.

"Funnily enough," Aris said as he circled her, "even though you are female and look nearly identical to me, I don’t feel any kind of desire to mate with you. Even some snakes have exhibited more attraction than you."

"That’s not what everyone else always says," Cera answered with a huff. "Whenever I want to fight a male, they always try to mate with me first. I seem to have quite an attraction to others."

"Interesting," Aris said as he arrived in front of her again. "I guess that means that we are siblings. I can’t imagine any other reason for this dynamic."

Cera looked at the floor with furrowed brows. She hadn’t thought of that before. It seemed like Aris had managed to make the connection earlier than her.

"Yet," Aris said with a more dangerous tone, "I wonder if you have the strength worthy of being my sibling."

Cera narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you want to find out?" she asked.

Aris chuckled a bit. "I will find out," he said as he readied himself to pounce forward. "If you don’t prove to be my equal, you will die today."

BANG!

And Aris charged forward with an explosion of lightning.

 

Chapter 503 - 503 – Aris Vs. Cera

Aris directly charged at Cera without any fanfare. His speed was incredible, and even though Cera had been prepared, it was still difficult for her to react to Aris’ ridiculous acceleration. The only thing she could do was use the same acceleration technique to evade the attack.

Yet, this gave Aris the initiative, and he immediately charged after her. Cera realized that she couldn’t continue like this. If she did, she would run out of Energy first. After all, Aris could simply feign an acceleration without using it. Due to the potential attack, Cera would need to use her own acceleration either way if she wanted to evade.

So, for the next attack, Cera decided to charge at Aris too. Both of them charged at each other, but it was hard for both of them to mount an attack because of their speed.

BANG!

Yet, Aris had made a gamble and attacked either way. If Cera decided to evade, she would be too far away to make use of that opportunity, but if she attacked, he would be able to hit her. Sure enough, Aris swiped Cera to the side with his claws.

CRRRR!

Cera’s scales were powerful, and the claws could not penetrate them, but the attack still shook her insides. Aris followed up with another attack.

BANG! BANG!

Yet, Cera recovered quickly and rammed directly into Aris with her body before he could attack. Both of them were thrown into the distance due to the force of the collision.

BANG!

Another collision happened as both of them hit each other again. Then it happened another time and another time.

CRK!

But now, something happened that changed the dynamic. Cera had always charged at Aris with her shoulders while Aris charged forward with his claws to injure her. Yet, due to their defenses, Aris’ claws and forearm broke. Bones were not as hard as the scales, and Cera managed to come out on top.

When Aris felt the broken bones, he sneered. In the next collision, he used his legs, hitting Cera on the shoulder again.

 

 

Cera’s shoulder broke, making one of her arms nearly useless, while Aris could still use his arm somewhat. By now, they had used up a lot of their Energy. Every acceleration cost a huge amount of Energy, and both of them were running low now.

Due to that, the fight became a scuffle, with both of them using all their weapons to injure the other. Their usual tactics didn’t work anymore due to their scales. Normally, in order to break the defense of more powerful beasts, they would use their lightning. Of course, both of them knew that their lightning wouldn’t work on the other.

Like this, an ugly scuffle happened with both of them rolling around, trying to injure the other with everything they got. Both of them hadn’t fought like this before, but that was when the difference in their combat experiences showed.

CRRR!

Cera tried to claw out one of Aris’ eyes, but he barely managed to move out of the way. Then, he gave up on the other parts of her body and grabbed her extended arm with everything he had. His claws grabbed her wrist while his legs wrapped around her upper arm. Then, he bent backwards.

’Is that an armbar?’ Gravis thought in surprise.

Such typical mortal techniques like an armbar were rarely seen in the cultivation world. After all, beasts had different sizes, and using such a technique would leave them open for an elemental attack. Yet, in this case, this technique worked wonders.

CRR!

Cera’s arm was close to being broken, and she used her tail to attack Aris’ head.

SNAP!

Aris had been prepared for that and bit the tail with his teeth, not letting it go. In a matter of seconds, the scales on Cera’s tail started cracking apart as Aris used more and more strength. If Cera didn’t do something, she would lose her arm and tail.

 

 

Instead of fighting the armbar, Cera decided to break her own arm and awkwardly twisted herself to get her other arm into the range of Aris. Then, her claws moved towards Aris’ groin. She grabbed the things that were there and yanked with all her power.

"AAARRGHH!!!" Aris shouted in pain as he jumped away. Rage and pain mixed, and he charged at Cera again.

Cera quickly stood up again, but one of her arms was completely useless now. Additionally, her tail hurt like hell, and her bones were already exposed.

Consumed by rage, Aris violently used all his power to injure her in as many places as possible. Right now, he was no longer fighting smartly. He only wanted to kill her as quickly and violently as possible.

Cera was on the defensive again as she used different parts of her body to block the attacks. Of course, she still got minorly injured with every attack. Yet, she had a plan.

 

 

As Cera defended again, she used her working arm and tore out one of Aris’ eyes. This shocked Aris, and his rage was replaced by nervousness. In a split-second decision, Aris bit her functioning arm and used one of his legs to kick the bitten arm.

 

 

The bone inside the arm broke into pieces as several fangs of Aris also got torn out of their sockets. Yet, Cera used this opportunity to bite Aris’ head.

BANG!

Aris had regained his rationality and used his last remaining lightning to jump away before Cera could do anything.

Right now, Aris had a broken forearm, broken teeth, and the parts in his groin had been torn off.

Meanwhile, Cera had lost the use of both of her arms. One arm had been broken into pieces, while the other one had a broken shoulder and broken elbow. Additionally, her tail was also close to being torn off.

Aris and Cera looked at each other with narrowed eyes. Some rage appeared in Aris’ eyes again, but surprisingly, he only took a deep breath. Cera watched him carefully.

Then, Aris smirked. "I haven’t had such an intense fight in a while," he said. "Yet, the winner is obvious. You have lost the use of both of your arms, and your tail is also nearly useless."

Cera didn’t answer him, but she could only agree. Her main weapons had been destroyed, and with Aris still having a functioning arm, he could counter her other attacks. The only correct decision she could make right now is to flee.

Aris relaxed as he stood up straight to crack his spine. "You’re powerful enough to be my sibling," Aris said as he smirked again. "But I have won. This means that I am the leader!"

Cera had realized by now that Aris had no more intentions of attacking her. Yet, she didn’t feel happy or relaxed. Instead, she gnashed her teeth violently as frustration took over.

She had lost!

Additionally, she had lost against a beast at the same level as her! Something like this had never happened before, and she hated this feeling!

She had thought that her Battle-Strength was the most powerful. She had believed that no one would be able to resist her if they were at the same level. Today, she had been confronted with reality. She wasn’t the most powerful beast on her level.

Cera looked at Aris with hate. "For now, I will accept that, but don’t become complacent. We will fight again in the future, and then I will be the leader!" she said coldly with a threatening tone.

Aris smiled with arrogance. "I wouldn’t have it any other way! I don’t want weaklings in my presence," he said with confidence and disdain.

Both of them hadn’t realized what had just happened. Normally, such equally powerful beasts would kill each other no matter what. Yet, to them, it felt natural to band together. It was very rare that fighting beasts became companions later on.

’Is this because of my human mindset?’ Gravis asked himself. ’If there is a big strength difference, one beast will become subservient to the other. Yet, if beasts are equally powerful, they will never follow the other one. After all, killing and consuming such a powerful opponent would do wonders for their Battle-Strength.’

’Humans are different. Humans want to be close to others by nature,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’It seems like my human mindset has somewhat influenced their mindset.’

After this fight, both of them sat down to recover. The fight had taken everything out of them, and if they wanted to become more powerful, they needed to hunt some more High-Rank Spirit Beasts.

After a day, they left together. They had already formed a kind of small Tribe with this action. None of the two questioned this development. To them, it felt natural to travel together, unknowing of the fact that this was very atypical for beasts.

They quickly found some High-Rank Spirit Beasts. Aris allowed Cera to fight them since she needed more food than him. He didn’t do this out of kindness but because these beasts were too weak for him. He wanted his last opponent to be a powerful one.

After some days, Cera had fought multiple times again. Sadly, the opponents were too weak to offer good tempering. The fact that she had learned a lot from her fight against Aris didn’t help in that regard. Her opponents were nothing more than fodder.

Cera grew more frustrated as time progressed. She needed a powerful opponent to temper herself! She needed this to fight Aris again.

Right now, her goal was not to become more powerful for the sake of power.

Right now, she only wanted to put Aris in his place!

 

Chapter 504 - 504 – Yersi

Several days later, Aris and Cera were both close to becoming High-Rank Spirit Beasts. Sadly, Aris hadn’t found any worthy opponent during all this time, which frustrated him to no end. He wanted a proper fight, not a one-sided beating.

On this day, Aris and Cera felt powerful shockwaves coming from one direction. Aris immediately charged into that direction, Cera following him. These shockwaves felt powerful, and Aris knew that he would be able to have a real fight soon.

After a minute, they arrived in a clearing. What they saw shocked them.

There was a dead rhinoceros on the floor. Judging by the feeling of its body, Aris and Cera knew that this had been a High-Rank Spirit Divine Beast. This was exactly what Aris wanted to fight. Yet, it had already died. The fight hadn’t even taken that long!

On top of the corpse, they saw another beast similar to them biting into the corpse.

This beast was Yersi.

By now, Yersi had also become a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast, and she had shown her power by completely decimating this rhinoceros. She wasn’t even injured!

"Seems like we are not the only two of our kind," Aris said with a smirk to Cera.

Cera only looked at Yersi with battle intent. She refused to be the weakest of the three of them!

Yersi had already noticed the two of them but didn’t stop eating. To her, it was like they didn’t exist. Aris felt offended by this disdain. "Hey, you!" Aris shouted.

"What?" Yersi answered simply without stopping to eat.

"Are you not surprised why we look similar?" he asked with a sneer.

"You are my siblings, obviously," Yersi answered directly like it was nothing special.

Aris didn’t like Yersi’s dismissive conduct. "Yes, but are you worthy of being my sibling?" he asked.

"What’s it to you?" she asked as she glanced at the two for the first time. "I’m not interested in leadership if that is what you want to know."

Aris was a little taken aback by that answer. Yersi was not interested in leadership? Why would she say something like that? Wasn’t becoming powerful her goal?

"Why are you not interested in leadership?" Cera asked from the side. For some reason, she was very interested in Yersi. She acted completely differently from the two of them.

"What’s the point of leadership?" Yersi answered. "Being the strongest among a group of beasts doesn’t make you the strongest in the world. I don’t care about who makes the decision in our group. I only seek power, nothing else," she said.

Aris and Cera both noticed that Yersi had said "our" instead of "your". This showed that she already saw herself as part of their group but didn’t care about who would give the orders.

"What if I don’t want you in my group?" Aris said provokingly.

Yersi looked at Aris more closely. After some seconds, she had seen enough and returned to eating, infuriating Aris. "Our instincts tell us to gather together, and I have no problem with that. Are you so full of yourself that you want to demonstrate your power to everyone in our group? What’s the point of that?" she asked dismissively.

For some reason, Yersi’s conduct managed to rub Aris in all the wrong places. It was like she was the complete opposite of him. He wanted to be the most powerful and show his power to everyone, but she didn’t even seem to care about something like that. Why would she not show any concern towards his power!? Did she have no pride in herself?

"I am the leader of this group, and I want to see if you’re powerful enough to join me," Aris said with narrowed eyes. "I will attack you, and if you’re not able to defend yourself, you will die today. I refuse to lead a group of weaklings!"

Yersi stopped eating again as she looked at Aris. This arrogant prick was supposed to be her leader?

"I changed my mind," Yersi said suddenly, surprising Aris and Cera. "I don’t want to be led by someone so arrogant. If you let your pride and emotions dictate your actions, you will only lead us to death. So, for the sake of the group’s survival, I will contend for leadership with you. See it as a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the greater good."

Yersi jumped down from the corpse and turned to Aris with even eyes. Aris hated her words, and he would enjoy tearing her throat out. It didn’t matter that she was his sibling. She had shown no pride in herself, and he couldn’t respect such a weak-willed beast!

"I can feel that you are more powerful than me, but you, specifically, won’t be able to win against me. You have a fatal weakness that will cost you your life in the future. Today, I will show you this weakness in the hope of rectifying it," Yersi said as she lifted one of her arms in front of her. "Come whenever you want."

Aris was enraged by her arrogant words! How could she possibly know his weaknesses!? Not even Aris knew his own weaknesses, so how could a beast he had just met claim that she knew them!?

BANG!

Aris exploded forward with lightning while he punched with his arm. He had learned that using his claws wouldn’t do much against Yersi’s powerful scales. He needed to make a blunt attack.

Whoosh!

Yet, contrary to Aris’ expectations, Yersi didn’t use her lightning acceleration to evade. Instead, she simply used her waist to move her upper body out of the way of the incoming attack. ’How is this possible!?’ Aris thought in shock. By all intents and purposes, his attack should have been too fast to evade that easily!

Aris didn’t know that Yersi had already mastered pre-dodging, a technique that was the bane against someone faster than her.

Aris was fully open now, and Yersi laid her palm on his chest.

BANG! BANG!

Her arm moved in a peculiar way to gather all her body’s power. Then, lightning exploded out of her elbow as all the power hit Aris’ chest.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Aris’ scales on his chest, as well as his ribcage, broke apart as he was flung into the distance with as much power as never before. On the way, he destroyed a lot of trees with his back, shaking his insides.

Meanwhile, Yersi’s whole right arm also broke into pieces due to the insane power she had just used. Yet, that was within her expectations.

BANG! BANG!

Aris’ back hit an incredibly hard rock as his body stopped. Some blood came out of his mouth as his whole body hurt immensely.

 

 

In no time at all, an arm suddenly appeared and penetrated Aris’ chest. Aris looked down in shock as Yersi’s arm grabbed something and pulled out. Aris felt as much pain as never before as Yersi pulled out his lungs and heart. Yet, she didn’t pull hard enough to tear them off his body. Right now, she only held them in front of Aris so he could see them.

"You have lost," Yersi said calmly and coldly. "I only need to use a bit of power to kill you right now."

For the first time in a long while, Aris felt genuine fear and panic. Right now, his life was in the hands of another beast, and if they so wanted, they could kill him easily. He hadn’t felt this helpless since he had met that mighty beast at the area’s edges.

Splosh!

Yersi shoved the lungs and heart back into Aris’ ribcage, turned around, and walked away.

"Do you know why you’ve lost?" she asked without turning to him.

Aris was still in panic as he could barely comprehend the situation. Yet, Yersi’s voice made rationality return to him.

"W-why?" he asked in confusion and nervousness.

"As I’ve said," Yersi said, "I can feel that your Battle-Strength is more powerful than mine. You have, obviously, gone through more tempering than me. Yet, as soon as someone notices your fatal flaw, you will die. You have been lucky that you haven’t met anyone able to see that flaw until now."

Meanwhile, Cera was completely shocked as she looked at Yersi with widened eyes. Aris had felt nearly insurmountable to her, but Yersi could have killed him without breaking a sweat! Yet, Yersi said that Aris was more powerful than her? How was this possible!?

By now, Aris had recovered. He looked at the open hole in his chest with narrowed eyes. ’This doesn’t feel right. I know that I should have been able to win against her. My instincts told me so! I shouldn’t have tak-’

And then, Aris’ eyes widened. His mind started going wild as his pride wrestled with his reason. His pride told him that this fight had been unfair. It told him that he should have won and that her fighting tactics had been dirty. Who would unleash such an incredibly powerful attack at the very beginning!? This was not how fights were supposed to go!

Yet, his reason told him that there were no dirty fighting tactics. His reason told him that his pride didn’t matter if he died. The fact that she won could only mean that she was more powerful than him.

Aris gritted his teeth as he wrestled with himself, but after half a minute, he relaxed and sighed.

"I have lost," Aris said in defeat. "My pride is telling me that I should be more powerful, but I can’t deny the fact that I would have died if you so wanted. I shouldn’t have taken you lightly."

"My pride is my weakness," Aris said with a bitter smile.

Yersi turned around and looked at Aris. Aris was surprised at what he saw. Yersi was smiling a heartfelt, warm smile. "Exactly," she answered. "You are lucky, but also unlucky at the same time. You haven’t received a genuine setback yet, which has made you blind to your own flaws. Yet, genuine setbacks can also kill you."

"I’ve once lost a fight and used my all-out attack. Due to that, I needed to flee from here and find beasts to help me recover my power. During that time, I got my first glances of the outside world," Yersi said as she looked at the sky with longing.

"I have seen incomprehensibly powerful beasts fighting. I had to hide in caves and in the dirt just to protect myself from their shockwaves. I have seen more powerful beasts than me die to these shockwaves too. That’s when I realized that being the strongest in my region is an empty goal. If any of these beasts came here, we couldn’t do anything else than flee or die."

Yersi came closer to Aris and put her hand on his shoulder. "We are not the strongest. Everything in here is only tailored to our power. I’m pretty sure that we are in some special area for offspring, and as soon as we become powerful enough, we will go to the outside world."

"Having pride in our current power will make us blind to our weaknesses. Look at the beasts more powerful than you, not the weaker ones," Yersi explained.

Up in the sky, Gravis felt incredibly proud in Yersi.

 

Chapter 505 - 505 – Family Meets

With this fight being over, the youngest of the siblings became the big sister of the group. Yersi was not interested in leadership, but Aris wasn’t ready yet to take over. Yersi had been right when she said that her Battle-Strength was weaker than Aris. If Aris hadn’t taken her lightly and used everything he had, he would have most likely won.

The strongest should take over the group’s leadership, but Yersi didn’t want to be under someone that let emotions and arrogance dictate their actions. Her fight had given Aris a wake-up call, but she still wanted to be sure that he had changed.

The group continued hunting for prey. Sadly, there were not that many High-Rank Divine Spirit Beasts in the area. Because of that, Yersi took most of the prey since she still needed quite some food to become a High-Rank Spirit Beast herself.

Yet, the area also wasn’t completely empty of Divine Beasts. In the coming weeks, both Aris and Cera managed to fight one and consume it. Both of them became High-Rank Spirit Beasts, and only Yersi was left.

Yersi didn’t mind hunting weaker prey since she knew that there would be plenty of opportunities to hunt more powerful beasts in the future. She had seen the outside world, and she knew that they were only at the bottom regarding power.

Two months after the group had met up, Yersi also became a High-Rank Spirit Beast. By now, all of them were ready to leave the area and enter the real world.

"We are ready to leave this area," Yersi shouted into her surroundings. She was sure that someone was listening. Some seconds passed where nothing happened, making the group furrow their brows.

Whooosh!

Suddenly, all three of them started flying involuntarily. Cera and Aris were a bit nervous since they had only heard of the outside world from Yersi. The feeling that there were so many more powerful beasts still hadn’t settled in for them.

The group flew upwards into the sky. They broke through the cloud layer as they continued ascending. The sheer height made them nervous since they had never been so high up before.

Whoop!

They broke through the cloud layer and saw the clouds sprawling below them. Then, they also noticed something particular. There was a small ball of lightning hovering some distance away from them.

All of them became fearful as they saw this powerful ball of lightning. They all had an incredible affinity for lightning, and because of that, they felt the sheer power of the lightning. It not only had way more Energy inside it, but they also felt its quality. This lightning had an incredible destructive power.

They involuntarily flew closer to the ball of lightning, and their fear increased. Now, even Yersi felt unsure. Were they being brought up just to be harvested by this ball of lightning? Yet, around a hundred meters away from the ball of lightning, they stopped.

Whooom!

The ball of lightning transformed into a black, massive beast. The three of them had a height of about 40 meters, but this beast was 400 meters tall. Yet, they had seen bigger Spirit Beasts before in their area. It looked imposing, but they were used to beasts being that tall. The size of this new beast was not as monstrous as these godly beasts that guarded the areas.

The eyes of the three of them widened as they took in Gravis’ looks. He looked exactly like them! Was this another of their siblings?

Gravis smiled at them. "Aris, Cera, Yersi, I am your father, Gravis," Gravis said with kindness.

The three of them felt shocked. Their father? They had had several thoughts about where they came from, but they weren’t sure. They had never even thought about meeting their parents.

"You’re our father?" Yersi asked to make sure.

Gravis nodded. "Yes, I have watched over the three of you while you grew up. It was also my doing that allowed you to enter the next area early by convincing the responsible Kings."

Then, Gravis looked closer at Yersi. "It was also me who convinced the King to let you leave the area after your first fight against a Spirit Beast."

The surprises just didn’t stop for them. Their father had watched them all this time? Why had he never talked to them?

"Why are you only showing yourself now?" Aris asked with narrowed eyes.

Gravis sighed. "If you knew that you had me watching over you, you might think that I wouldn’t allow you to die. This would take the feeling of danger and fear out of your tempering. I’m sure that you’re experienced enough by now to realize that this would only hurt you. The feeling of danger forces your mind to come up with a solution as quickly as possible. That is important," Gravis explained.

Yersi recognized the sense in Gravis’ words. Aris still wasn’t thrilled with meeting his father. Aris had gotten his power all by himself. It would only take some time for him to become even more powerful than his father. Cera didn’t know what she should think right now. Her emotions were a mix of wonder, skepticism, and uncertainty.

Gravis then explained to them the workings of the areas. They had discerned a couple of the rules by themselves, but not all of them. Of course, in order to explain the areas, Gravis also told them about their mother.

"Our mother is an Emperor? How powerful is an Emperor?" Cera asked. It seemed like she was interested in their mother.

"You are Spirit Beasts right now," Gravis explained. "As soon as you eat enough food, you will become a Lord. After five levels, you will become a King. The beasts responsible for keeping an eye on the areas are Kings, so you have met a few of them. After another five levels, you become an Emperor. Emperors are the most powerful beasts in this world."

Wonder and shock appeared in their eyes. There were so many levels and Realms above them? Everything almost felt unreal.

"Then, how powerful are you?" Yersi asked.

Gravis scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I’m a level five Lord," Gravis said.

Immediately, skepticism appeared in their eyes. They had just been told how powerful an Emperor was, and their father, a mere Lord, managed to mate with an Emperor? How was this possible?

"What did you do to convince our mother to have children with you?" Aris asked with narrowed eyes. "By what you have told us, your levels are too far apart. In front of her, you should only count as an ant."

Cera glared at Aris. Their father was still many times more powerful than them, and Aris shouldn’t say such things. Meanwhile, Yersi remained silent as she fell into thought. She knew that, at first glance, this reeked of some sinister plot that their father had pulled off. Yet, would such a powerful beast as the Empress fall for something like this? There had to be more to this.

Gravis sighed again. He knew that Aris would react like that, but it still hurt him when he heard his own child disregard him to this degree, but he answered the question anyway.

"That’s because I have the most powerful Battle-Strength out of all Lords living in this world," Gravis explained.

Aris wasn’t impressed by that since he was also the strongest in his area. How big could the world be? Additionally, his father had just explained that the powerful beasts they have fought were the offspring of Emperors, the most powerful beasts. This meant that they all already faced the most powerful beasts in the world for their Realm.

Cera was uncertain as she heard that. To her, it also felt a bit underwhelming.

Yet, Yersi had seen parts of the outside world. She knew that Gravis was probably very powerful.

"Aris," Gravis said after a while. "Yersi has already shown you that arrogance can be your downfall, but I think you still haven’t realized how big the world is. What do you think, how many Lords exist in this world?"

Aris only sneered. "That’s not hard to find out. Our area is already quite big, and I assume that every area has around 10,000 beasts. The outside world is probably much bigger, but Lords still require a lot of food. So, a generous guess would be like 50,000 Lords."

Gravis shook his head. "There are billions," Gravis said.

All three of them were taken back. Billions? They hadn’t even heard of that number, but since voice transmissions conveyed concepts and not words, they understood how big that number was.

"Just the number of Divine Beast Lords is over 50,000. All of these beasts are descendants of Emperors and have a body just as powerful as yours. In your area are only 37 right now. The true world is vast," Gravis explained.

"I don’t believe you," Aris said with disgust. "There couldn’t be that many powerful beasts."

Aris’ pride didn’t allow for him to recognize that he was weaker than billions of beasts right now. He refused to accept that so many beasts could kill him if they so wanted.

Gravis shook his head again. "Your arrogance will be your downfall in the future," Gravis said. "Today, I will show you something that might help you in dealing with that problem."

"I don’t need your help," Aris said with disdain. "I have managed to become this powerful without your help, and I don’t need it now."

For the first time in their presence, Gravis smirked. "You have no choice in that regard."

WHOOOM!

All three of them shot towards the earth outside the area but stopped shortly before hitting the earth.

After this short fright, they noticed another Gravis standing in front of their landing zone. Yet, this version of Gravis felt pathetically weak. Additionally, this Gravis was only two meters tall.

"This is one of my copies," this new Gravis said. "Right now, this copy is a Low-Rank Spirit Beast. Additionally, I am not a Divine Beast myself. This means that your body is around six times more powerful than mine."

Gravis cracked his neck and back casually. "I will be fighting you with the same Battle-Strength I had when I was on your level, but with a way weaker body. This will be plenty enough to show the distance between you and me."

Aris was a bit taken aback as he heard that. Then, he became enraged. This so-called father of his thought that Aris was so weak that he could defeat him with such a level gap? Aris was the one who fought several levels above himself, not his opponents! To him, this was an insult!

Aris snorted. "Don’t cry if I beat you to a pulp."

Gravis only smirked.

It was time to fulfill his fatherly duties and teach his child something!

 

Chapter 506 - 506 – Gravis' Teachings

Cera and Yersi believed their father to be very powerful, but was he so powerful that he could truly win against Aris with a two-level disadvantage? This seemed impossible to them.

BANG!

Aris exploded forward with impressive speed as lightning exploded out of his feet. He immediately unleashed a punch. A beast with such a weak body wouldn’t be able to dodge something like that!

Whoop!

Yet, even though Gravis moved very slowly in Aris’ perception, he somehow managed to barely dodge the attack.

Shing!

A saber appeared in Gravis’ hands, and Aris couldn’t stop himself. His forward momentum made the saber stab into one of his eyes. Gravis didn’t enjoy this, but he needed to show Aris his fatal weakness.

Yet, Gravis quickly jumped away again.

"If I had put any amount of strength into my saber, it would have entered your brain," Gravis said with a smirk from a distance.

Cera and Yersi’s eyes widened. Where did this sharp stick come from? Additionally, what was this sharp stick? They had never seen anything like it.

Aris felt pain, and his mind went wild. This was just like the time when he had fought Yersi!

"You were so confident in your attack that you didn’t anticipate that your opponent might be able to evade," Gravis said. "This left you open to a fatal strike."

Aris was still stunned as he stood there. Then, he shook his head in rage. "Where did that sharp stick come from!? Is your pride in your own body so weak that you must use external things to help you win!?" Aris shouted.

Gravis shook his head. "I am the creator of mine and your bodies. There was no beast looking like us before I have arrived. The body you have has been designed with my combat style in mind," Gravis explained.

The three of them were surprised when they heard that. It was one thing to be granted such a body, but it was a different thing to create it.

"This is a saber," Gravis said as he held his saber forward. "It is made of the hard stone in the earth, which we call metal. Our natural weapons have a limit in terms of what they can do. "

Gravis walked around a bit. "You are right to question the possibility that something with such a weak body would be able to win against you. After all, my claws wouldn’t have been able to reach your brain. Then, why would I use them against you?"

"Think of your past fights. You should have realized that the weapons you have are not enough to penetrate the enemy’s defense. So, why not create a weapon that can do this? Don’t think about what you have, but what you don’t have," Gravis said with a smirk.

Aris still wasn’t convinced. This defeat felt unfair! It was one thing to lose to Yersi, who was at the same level as him, but to lose to someone two levels below him? He couldn’t accept something like that.

Yet, before Aris could say anything, Gravis smirked at him. "I know that you are still not convinced. Even though you would have just died if this were a real fight, you still don’t accept it. Your pride makes you blind to- "

"Shut up!" Aris shouted as he charged at Gravis again with an explosion. He couldn’t accept his loss. This time, he wouldn’t use such an easily avoidable attack.

Whoooom!

Suddenly, the air turned cold as it became difficult for everyone to breathe. Gravis had just activated his Will-Aura. Yet, true to his promise, Gravis tweaked it to have the same power as when he had been at the Tree-Stage. After all, he had said that he would only use the Battle-Strength that he had when he had been at their level.

Yet, how powerful was Gravis’ Will-Aura? Back in the Tree-Stage, he had already killed the priest and strengthened his Will-Aura with the Tree-Stage training.

A beast at his same level would lose its consciousness. A beast one level above him would barely be able to move, and a beast two levels above him would be slowed by nearly 50%.

All three of them felt like a massive pressure was pressing into them. In their eyes, this weak Gravis had transformed into a beast that appeared just as powerful as a King! Of course, this was only an illusion brought on by Gravis’ Will-Aura.

Aris had wanted to attack, but the sudden pressure had made him hesitate. Gravis wasn’t someone that let such an opportunity slip by him. With Aris being slowed, Gravis jumped forward and buried his saber in Aris’ other eye. Now, Aris was blind.

BANG!

Then, Aris heard an explosion of lightning and felt a powerful hit to his stomach, which threw him into the distance. Sadly, he wasn’t able to discern much without eyes.

Cera and Yersi had seen what had happened. Gravis had used some lightning and kicked Aris in the stomach with another lightning explosion. The resulting power reduced Gravis’ legs to chunks but threw Aris into the distance.

"You have just died a second time, Aris," Gravis transmitted from a distance.

Aris’ mind was in a panic as his survival instincts kicked in. He jumped around in an effort to dodge other attacks, but no attacks came.

Meanwhile, Cera and Yersi saw Aris jumping around while Gravis just stood there, not doing anything.

"I’m not attacking you right now. Stop it with this stupid dance," Gravis said.

When Aris heard that, he stopped. Sadly, he was still unable to see.

"Have you all felt it?" Gravis asked. "This was an aura unique to myself in this world. It transforms my will into physical pressure. My aura had already been at this level when I was at your level."

Aris could only hear right now, but for the first time, he truly listened to what his father was saying.

"Our legs are fast and allow for instantaneous acceleration, but as you all know, it drains a lot of our Energy," Gravis explained.

BZZZZ!

Some thin tendrils of lightning appeared around Gravis as he shot forward with incredible speed. It wasn’t as fast as the lightning explosion, but it was definitely much faster than normal. After all, Gravis was using the power of lightning together with his physical power to move that quickly.

This was the Lightning Movement. Gravis hadn’t used that technique in forever.

Cera and Yersi felt like this method of movement was ingenious! Would they have ever thought about something like this?

Of course, they couldn’t be faulted. Humans had a long history, and what allowed such a technique to be so widely spread was an essential advantage humans had over beasts.

Writing.

One smart beast might develop a mighty technique, but this technique would be lost if that beast died. Yet, if a human wrote down this technique and sold it, it would spread. Beasts had no idea what some beasts millions of years ago managed to create, but, due to writing, humans could know the distant past.

"You have accepted your current speed, and you haven’t thought about how to improve it. You have accepted your speed as your total, unchangeable truth. This is the same thing that has happened to your perception of your weapons. You haven’t thought about creating a more powerful weapon than the ones you already have," Gravis explained.

Aris was confused by Gravis’ words since he hadn’t been able to see the lightning movement.

Meanwhile, Cera and Yersi were listening with bated breaths. It was like their father was showing them the essential truths of combat. A whole new world of combat had opened before their eyes.

"Is there more, father?" Cera asked curiously.

Gravis smiled warmly as he heard Cera call him father. "Yersi has managed to step outside this boundary with something she has developed. Do you know what it is, Yersi?" Gravis asked.

By now, Gravis felt completely different to Cera and Yersi. In the beginning, they had doubted his power, but now, it was like Gravis was at a completely different level. He had shown them a path to elevate their attack and speed. Was there also something in regards to defense, utility, flexibility, and evasion?

Yersi was a bit confused when Gravis called her out, but then, she realized the answer. "Do you mean the early dodging?" she asked.

Gravis nodded with a smile. "This was also a technique I had developed in the past, but you managed to invent it yourself. When you managed to perform it for the first time, I felt very proud of you."

For some reason, Yersi felt warm when she heard Gravis’ words. She didn’t know why, but his approval just made her happy.

"This was the same technique I have used against Aris in our first fight," Gravis said. These words also interested the confused and bitter Aris. "What is the most obvious and most powerful attack your opponent can perform? By looking at their personality, conduct, body, and general feeling, you can determine that."

"Of course, using this technique comes with a risk. If you judge incorrectly only once, you will be hit by a devastating attack. Yet, when fighting against someone that is so fast that you can’t react, it is your only way to win. Having a 50% chance of dying is better than having a 100% chance of dying."

Now, Aris realized how Yersi had been able to evade his attack. She had anticipated how Aris would attack and dodged before he even attacked himself. This transformed something instinctual, like dodging, into something deliberately planned. To Aris and Cera, this concept felt bizarre and wrong.

"Aris," Gravis said, making Aris’ insides shake. By being blind, he felt helpless. Additionally, Gravis had given him a beating without him even being able to defend. Was Aris truly so weak?

"Y-Yes?" Aris tried to answer with confidence, which was ruined by his nervous stutter.

"Your pride in your power blinds you to the possibility of failure," Gravis explained. "Your attacks have always worked in the past. So you think that you will always triumph. You have developed a domineering and powerful combat style. One could say, your combat style is as offensive and domineering as it gets."

Aris was a bit confused. Why was Gravis praising him?

"The problem with that style is that it relies on your opponent having a similar combat style to yours," Gravis explained. "If they fight you openly and directly, you have a very high chance of winning. Yet, if they fight indirectly, your combat style falls flat."

"You can continue with this combat style, but as soon as you find someone that specializes in evasion and devastating counterattacks, you will have huge issues. A combat style that requires a specific opponent is only useful when fighting that opponent."

"Yersi is exactly such an opponent," Gravis said as he smirked at Yersi. "The difference between you and her are your goals. Your goal in a fight is to win. Her goal is to kill. She is willing to use everything in her power to kill her opponent. You’re not."

Gravis looked at Aris. "Forget your senseless pride. Accept that there are a lot of opponents out there that are more powerful than you. Talent only brings you so far. Don’t aim to win. Aim to kill."

Everyone looked at Aris.

How would he react?

 

Chapter 507 - 507 – Mindset

Aris remained silent as he wrestled with his pride. His mind told him that everything that Gravis said was the truth, but he also felt that if he accepted the truth, he would lose. Accepting that someone else was right was always very difficult.

Gravis shook his head again. "Do you guys know what the most important thing is for becoming powerful?"

Aris was a bit surprised by such a stupid question. The answer was obviously power!

"Power itself!" Aris said, surprising the other two. Aris was willing to talk now?

"Power is the goal, not the prerequisite. What do you need to become truly powerful?" Gravis asked.

"Battles and a powerful body," Aris said.

"Half-true, Aris," Gravis said. "You were right with the necessity for battles, but the body part is not as important. After all, your body is already part of your strength, and you can change it however you want. Let me show you something."

Then, Gravis transmitted an image into the heads of his three children.

The three were a bit confused why Gravis transmitted this image. Wasn’t this just some weak eel?

"This is the body I had after arriving in this world," Gravis said with a smirk.

Immediately, all three of them were shocked. This had been their father’s body at some point? But this body was so weak and full of flaws! The body was slow, fragile, and had nearly no weapons. This body was about as bad as it could get!

"You should have noticed by now that it is possible to alter your body after every evolution. Right now, your instincts tell you to stay in this body and to become as small as possible. Yet, is that the correct choice?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

Before they could answer, Gravis sent another image. "This was my body after the first evolution," Gravis said as he showed them the image of the fleshy eel with an alligator head.

"This was my body after the second evolution," Gravis said as he showed them the image of the previous eel with some powerful arms.

"This was my body after the third evolution," Gravis said as he showed them the image of the same eel, but with a wider chest and black scales.

"And finally," Gravis said as he gestured to himself. "This is my body after the fourth evolution."

Cera and Yersi were intrigued as they listened to Gravis. Their father had managed to transform such a useless and weak body into such a powerful weapon? The first image didn’t even have any resemblance to Gravis’ current body.

"If I had followed my instincts, I would be a huge eel now," Gravis said with a smile. "Yet, I have noticed the weakness of my body and have planned my future evolutions accordingly. First, I needed a weapon, which was why I made my head."

"Then, I needed arms that allowed me to use tools. After that, I needed a more powerful defense. Lastly, I created my flexibility and speed. Like this, all aspects have been covered. Yet, this body only fits my fighting style."

Whoop!

Gravis summoned his saber again. "I use a saber, and my entire body is built around using one of these. My main weapons are not my teeth or claws. My main weapon is my saber. If your main weapon is not a saber, you might need to think about changing your body with the next evolution."

"For example, what about a longer tail with a sharp spike at its end? Your arms can hold someone while your tail deals the fatal attack. This would be similar to a scorpion. What about replacing one of your arms with a heavy club? This club would help you in breaking through an enemy’s defense. What about both? The possibilities are endless," Gravis said as he gestured grandly.

Then, Gravis pointed at his head. "Your creativity is your only limit."

The three of them fell into thought as they started thinking about changing their bodies. Before today, they would have never even considered that.

"Sorry for getting on a tangent," Gravis said with a snicker. "Back to my original question. I have asked what you need to become powerful. Battles are one part of the answer, but that only covers one aspect. The most important requirement for becoming powerful is the mindset."

"Mindset?" Cera asked with confusion.

Gravis nodded. "If you are not willing to risk your life, you won’t be able to temper yourself. Your mindset to gamble with your life is what allows you to take such a risk. Additionally, I would like for you to imagine your future selves. In ten years, what would your future self think about you now?"

The three of them hadn’t considered that before. They were beasts and hadn’t come into contact with a true society yet. Such far-reaching planning was not something they had done before.

"I will tell you," Gravis said. "Your future selves will think that your current self is an idiot. You always continue growing, and you also always learn new things. Right now, you are much more experienced than the you from a year ago. The you from a year ago feels like a rookie compared to the current you, correct?"

Yersi and Cera agreed with a nod. They had learned a lot in the past year.

"What are you getting at?" Aris asked. Yet, he didn’t sound arrogant this time. Instead, he sounded more open.

"What I’m saying is that if you have more things to learn and more things to change about yourself, you are not perfect right now," Gravis said. "Right now, you might not see any weakness in yourself, but your future self would find a ton of weaknesses in the current you."

"Yet, if you’re unable to throw away your pride and see the flaws you currently have, your future self won’t be able to see your flaws. Does this mean that you are perfect as you are now? If you were, you wouldn’t have lost against me just now," Gravis said.

Aris felt attacked by Gravis’ reminder about his bitter loss.

"Do you feel it?" Gravis asked as he came closer to Aris. "Do you feel the unwillingness deep inside you? Do you feel the frustration with realizing that someone else might be right?"

Gravis put his hand on Aris’ shoulder, making his body shudder a bit.

"This feeling is the enemy. If this feeling wins, you will forever remain at your current level. Allow yourself to grow and to be open to change. If you realize that you have been mistaken about something, you shouldn’t try to justify your path but try to adapt it. Take the best things from all paths and mindsets, and you will grow closer to perfection," Gravis said.

Aris knew exactly what Gravis was talking about, but it was hard. If he accepted Gravis’ words, it would mean that he had lived his whole life with a wrong mindset.

"Your mindset isn’t wrong," Gravis said, surprising Aris. Was his father able to read his mind?

Of course, Gravis wasn’t able to do that. He just had a lot of experience with people and beasts.

"Don’t see your current mindset as the correct or incorrect one. It is simply the first level. It’s the base. Your future mindset doesn’t invalidate your old one. It simply builds upon it and upgrades it."

Aris’ mind was going wild. He could accept that. Gravis had said that his future self would think of his current self as an idiot anyway. Didn’t that mean that his future self was a better version of his current self? Would his future self have the same identical beliefs as his current self? No, his future self would have grown.

Some seconds passed in silence.

"I’m sorry I doubted you, father," Aris said after he calmed down.

Cera was surprised when she heard Aris admit his fault. At the same time, Yersi’s eyes shone as she realized that Aris finally accepted his weakness. If Aris managed to deal with his mindset, he would become truly powerful!

Gravis smiled happily when he heard that. "Thank you, Aris. You don’t know how worried I have been about your mindset. You’re my son. I don’t want you to die. I want you to become powerful. Realize that I am doing this not to hurt you, but to help you."

The three of them were unsure if they had heard Gravis correctly. Had Gravis just said that he was worried for them? Every beast knew that allowing others to impact one’s feelings was a weakness. Yet, their father had acknowledged that he had that weakness without any problem?

"Now," Gravis said, taking all of them out of their thoughts. "Sit down. I will tell you about my past and why you have your current bodies."

Cera quickly sat down in front of Gravis since she was very interested in what he had to say. Yersi shrugged and also sat down. Then, everyone looked at Aris.

Aris hesitated, but his mind won over his pride. By now, he had accepted that he needed to change. Listening to his father’s story would be the first step towards his new mindset.

When Gravis saw Aris sitting down, he smiled happily.

And then, Gravis told them his story.

 

Chapter 508 - 508 – How To Jump Levels

It took several days for Gravis to tell his children all about his background. Usually, it wouldn’t have taken so long, but same with Orthar, his children just asked one question after another. It seemed like they were quite curious about the workings of the world.

In their area, they had been the most powerful hegemons, but as soon as they met Gravis, they realized how big the world actually was. Tribes, Kingdoms, and Empires were completely unknown concepts to them. Beasts were congregating and working together in such a large number?

"This is also why you have such an incredible affinity towards lightning," Gravis said with a smile. "My goal is to fight Heaven in the future, which is why I have ignored all other elements and completely focused on lightning."

The three of them were lost in thought. By now, Aris had completely opened up and was just as curious as the other two. He had also accepted Gravis as his father and even felt proud of him. His father was "only" a Lord, but he had already managed to kill level two Kings. This was incredible.

Gravis had also demonstrated his other powers to them and explained how they worked. These were his children, and he wouldn’t keep anything secret if it helped them learn something and grow more powerful.

Seeing that they stopped asking questions, Gravis could finally explain the next thing. "Now, let me tell you something about Battle-Strength in the Lord Realm."

The three perked up again, especially Aris. He was the one most hellbent on becoming powerful.

"Starting at the Lord Realm, every level up quadruples the power of your body. This is double the amount of growth of being a Spirit Beast. Think about this for a bit and realize what this means in terms of abilities to fight one level above yourself," Gravis said.

They remained silent for a bit, but then, all three of them look with confusion at their father. "Father," Cera said, "if the power gap is so wide, how were you able to fight someone three levels above yourself? Doesn’t that mean that their bodies are 64 times more powerful than yours? You wouldn’t even be able to react to anything. Additionally, your attacks wouldn’t be powerful enough to injure them."

Gravis nodded. "Exactly. Fighting three levels above yourself as a Spirit Beast is a major difference from fighting three levels above yourself as a Lord. Now, let me break down how I managed to achieve that."

"First of all, you all now know that I am a human and that I have the weapons of a human. This means that I have a Spirit and Lightning that is about equally as powerful as my body. Additionally, since I’m in the Unity Realm, I can move my power around. This means that if I concentrate my whole power into one part, for example, my body, it would be three times as strong."

"If we take this strengthened body as a baseline, the enemy is no longer 64 times as powerful as me, but only a bit over 21 times," Gravis said.

"21 times still seems impossible," Yersi said from the side with furrowed brows. "The opponent is still faster than you can even react, even if you use the pre-dodging technique."

Gravis nodded. "Exactly. That’s where the Laws come into play. Laws are the biggest factor that decides your Battle-Strength from now on. A Law represents the natural workings of the world, which, if you can understand it, you can manipulate. Look at this, for example."

Gravis was still inside his weak body while his other, more powerful ones, were hovering in the sky. "Let me demonstrate one of the Laws I know," Gravis said as he stood up.

BANG!

Gravis charged forward with his full speed but only used his physical body. His speed was fast, but not really that fast. It was a bit above average for a Low-Rank Spirit Beast.

"If I only use my physical body, my speed is only a bit above average for my level, right?" Gravis asked.

The three nodded.

"Now, let me add my lightning."

BZZZ!

Now, Gravis used the speed of his body and his lightning movement. This raised his speed to be a little above average for a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast.

"With that, I am about as fast as a beast one level above myself," Gravis said. "Now, I will perform the technique that you all know."

BANG!

Lightning exploded out of his feet as he got shot forward. "This short acceleration makes me a bit faster than the average High-Rank Spirit Beast. If we take the difference for Lords into account, this will increase my speed by one level at the Unity Realm."

The three nodded as they still followed him.

"Now, carefully look at this," Gravis said.

BZZZZZ!

Some streaks of lightning came out of his back as he shot forward with an insane speed. The three of them almost couldn’t follow his body. This incredible acceleration shocked them to no end.

"This is the Law of Lightning Speed," Gravis explained. "It allows me to be even faster than with our lightning acceleration. If I were a level one Lord, just this Law would increase my speed to be about the same as a level three Lord. That’s a two-level difference."

BANG! BZZZ!

Gravis vanished from in front of them as an explosion happened.

"Now," Gravis said from behind them, making them turn around in shock. "This was a combination of the lightning acceleration and the Law of Lightning Speed. This is close to being as fast as a Lord three levels above me."

"Of course," Gravis said with a smirk, "due to me being a human, I can triple my speed by focusing all of my power into my lightning. This makes me just as fast or a bit faster than a Lord three levels above me."

Gravis came back and sat down in front of them again. "Thanks to the Law and some additional fine-tuning of my other abilities, I managed to close the speed gap. Of course, I can’t continually use this. After all, moving so fast eats up a lot of my resources."

"What about defense and attack?" Yersi asked. "It’s good that you manage to close the speed difference, but you still can’t kill your opponent with only that."

Gravis nodded. "You have felt my lightning before, and I have also told you how I have acquired this lightning. This lightning can also be understood and used by others. This means that this lightning is also a Law."

BANG!

A small ball of lightning exploded in Gravis’ hand to demonstrate its power. "Punishment Lightning by itself is already a little more than an entire level stronger than my own level. This automatically elevates my attack without me even needing to spend any extra resources."

"Of course, another issue would be that my lightning would run out before killing a Lord three levels above myself. That’s where my other technique comes into play."

"Other technique? Which one?" Aris asked with a sparkle in his eye.

Gravis nodded.

BZZZ! BZZZ!

Gravis transformed into lightning, shot upward, and returned again. "I needed to reload my lightning to show you the full effect of my technique," Gravis said. He had simply reabsorbed his weak body and made a new one with the same power.

Shing!

His saber appeared. "I will use about 80% of my lightning. Watch carefully," Gravis said.

The three of them looked at Gravis with intense eyes.

BZZZZZ!

A Lightning Bomb appeared in front of Gravis. The three of them felt its destructive power, and if they didn’t have such an insane resistance to lightning, they would have become nervous. Yet, they could still feel and appreciate the insane power in the Lightning Bomb.

"By fusing my Spirit, Will, and Punishment Lightning, I can create this bomb. Of course, as you have seen, creating this bomb takes some time, and when it explodes, it will unleash its power widely, in an unfocused manner."

SHING!

Gravis moved his saber through the Lightning Bomb, and it disappeared. Yet, the three of them noticed that lightning now came out of the saber.

"Close your eyes. The explosion is very bright," Gravis said.

Yet, the three of them didn’t. "Our eyes will recover very quickly anyway," Yersi said.

Gravis shrugged. Then, he slashed into the distance. A Lightning Crescent shot out of his saber and destroyed over a kilometer of his surroundings. One had to remember that Gravis was only using the power of a Low-Rank Spirit Beast right now.

The explosion vanished just as quickly, but it had managed to blind the three of them for a while. Yet, they had been prepared, and it would only take half a minute to heal their eyesight. Of course, their mind wasn’t on their eyesight right now but the power of the explosion.

This explosion had been truly powerful! If it had been unleashed with the fire element, all three of them would have been reduced to ashes if it hit them. The pure destruction shook them for many seconds.

"Now," Gravis said, regaining the attention from his three kids. "If I stand in front of an opponent three levels above me, and they don’t take me seriously, they will very quickly die to that combination. They wouldn’t be ready for me to shoot at them with speed at their same level, which will take them by surprise. Then, I directly unleash that attack into them, and they might very well die or get severely injured."

"This means that my opponent wouldn’t even have been able to show any of their power. They hadn’t moved, which means that their speed is useless. They hadn’t attacked, which means that their power is useless. The only thing standing in my way in killing them was to overcome their defense."

"Aris," Gravis said after his explanation, making Aris look at his father with his newly recovered eyes. "Imagine how you would have reacted if you met me, and I had the fire element. My speed would have caught you off guard, and my attack might have killed you. You would have died a regretful death. You know that you were more powerful than me, but the fight had ended before you could even show a bit of your power."

"That’s what I was talking about with the difference between you and Yersi. You aim to win a fight. Yersi aims to kill, just like me. This situation wouldn’t even have been a fight. This would have been a one-sided slaughter where the weaker one instantly kills the stronger one. Never take your opponents lightly. There is always a chance that they might surprise you."

Aris nodded. "I understand," he said. "By now, I’m ready to accept that I would have died to such an attack. Staying alive is more important than winning a fight, and killing my opponent is also more important than winning a fight. After all, if I die, I can never fight again."

Gravis smiled proudly. "A great way of putting it, Aris."

BANG!

The powerful body of Gravis appeared in front of them as it absorbed the weaker one. "Now, we’ve talked enough. It’s time for you to become more powerful!"

The three of them stood up with steely eyes.

It was time to see the real world!

 

Chapter 509 - 509 – Subsidiary Tribes

The four of them flew for a while. Gravis had to drag them behind him in the sky since they couldn’t fly by themselves since they first needed to become Lords. This would take a while since they had to travel for a very great distance to continue their tempering.

The Empire had a lot of tempering programs for all levels of strength. Right now, the three of them were still too weak to partake in an invasion. That would have to wait until they became level three Lords. Until then, they would take part in another program.

Subsidiary Tribes was the name of the program.

Level one to level three Lords would be sent to the edges of the continent where they would create a Tribe to help the Empire get more members. Starting at the Lord Realm, beasts were able to contribute to the Empire. Due to that, none of the tempering for these beasts would take part inside the Empire.

The Empire might be able to bear the cost of sacrificing and refining their beasts up to the Lord Realm, but if they continued that practice to the King Realm, they would use up way too many of their own members. Additionally, these Kings wouldn’t have seen the outside world yet, decreasing their quality.

By sending the new Lords to the edges of the continent to make a Tribe, they could recruit a lot more Spirit Beasts. If those Spirit Beasts then became Lords, they would be introduced to the Empire and continue their own tempering. Every couple of months, a King would appear in the Subsidiary Tribes to collect the new recruits. With that, the three of them would be able to contribute to the Empire that had raised them.

But first, Gravis wanted to make a stop somewhere else.

The four of them arrived at the foot of the Mountain of Pride. Just like Gravis, his three kids were impressed by the imposingness of the mountain. They all fell into thought as they simply took the mountain in. Aris, specifically, seemed to have quite an affinity for the Law of Pride.

Pride was like a double-edged sword. If used incorrectly, it might blind someone to growth, but if used correctly, it gave people confidence in their own power when things looked bleak. Due to Aris’ personality, he had had a lot of dealings with pride in the past. Now, it was up to him to understand and use it correctly.

Gravis wanted the three of them to meet their mother for the first time, but just when he wanted to climb the mountain, the Grand Elder appeared in front of them.

"The three of them are not qualified enough to see the Empress," the Grand Elder said with a serious voice.

The three of them looked at the white ape in confusion. This white ape was only around one-and-a-half meters tall, and they felt no power from him. To them, he felt exactly like a Demonic Beast.

Gravis furrowed his brows, but before he decided to argue, he first needed to introduce his children to him. Otherwise, one of them might say something disrespectful.

"Aris, Cera, Yersi, this is the Grand Elder. He is a level two Emperor and the strongest member of the Empire besides the Empress," Gravis said.

The eyes of the three of them widened in shock. They were standing in front of a level two Emperor? This was one of the most powerful beasts in the world? The contrast of his weak appearance and what they had heard about him clashed inside their heads.

The Grand Elder looked at the three children with narrowed eyes.

WHOOOOM!

Instantly, the three of them felt like they stood before the world itself. In their minds, the harmless white ape had transformed into a godlike existence. They had never felt anything as powerful as this!

"Do you see, Gravis?" the Grand Elder said as he turned to him. "They have had no experiences in the outside world, which makes them unable to truly appreciate and notice power. Their eyes have shown skepticism and even a little bit of hidden disdain towards me. If they weren’t your children, they would already be dead."

Gravis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. In his eagerness to introduce his children to their mother, he had forgotten how beasts looked at their offspring. To the Empress, these three were not even worth as much as a common soldier of the Empire.

Gravis had also noticed that the Grand Elder said "your children" and not "the Empress’ children". The Empress wouldn’t mind their deaths. In her mind, since they weren’t able to notice power, they should deal with the consequences of offending a more powerful beast. There was no love among beasts.

"Thank you, Grand Elder," Gravis said. Most humans would have acted in a hostile manner if someone so powerful displayed their power on their children like this, but not Gravis. Even though he had made a mistake, Gravis saw that this situation would teach his children a valuable lesson. By feeling the power of an Emperor, they would finally truly feel the power of the real world.

After all, there was a difference between hearing something and feeling something for themselves.

The Grand Elder nodded and then transmitted a map to Gravis. "This is where the level one Lords need to gather. The next escort will depart from there in 23 days. You can tell her everything regarding their future. They can meet the Empress when they become level three Kings."

Gravis nodded. "Thank you," he said and then left with his three children.

Gravis was a bit nervous about how his children felt when they heard that they wouldn’t meet their mother for a long while. Yet, surprisingly to him, they weren’t that hung up about the fact. It almost looked like all of this only felt natural to them.

"You don’t mind that you won’t meet your mother for a while?" Gravis asked.

"Why would we?" Aris answered evenly. "It’s not important where our blood comes from. Only the companionships built upon perils are worth anything."

The other two nodded at Aris’ words.

Gravis sighed when he heard that. To him, it was rather ironic. Didn’t Gravis have the same outlook regarding his own siblings? He didn’t care that they were family. He only cared about their emotions and conduct towards him.

Yet, there was still a difference between them. Gravis still felt a little bad about the fact that most of his siblings were egotistical and never cared for him until he eventually becomes powerful. Meanwhile, this hidden, bad feeling didn’t exist in his children’s minds. They truly didn’t care about not meeting their mother.

’I should keep the fact in mind that my three kids are beasts, and beasts think differently to humans. The things I want emotionally might not be what they want,’ Gravis thought with furrowed brows.

They continued traveling for a couple of days. During the travel, they talked a lot with each other. Maybe it was Gravis’ friendly and warm aura, maybe it was their mindset which resembled a human’s more than other beasts, but a warm and harmonious feeling could be felt between them.

For the first time in a long while, Gravis felt like he was back home with his parents and Orpheus, and he enjoyed every second of it!

 

Chapter 510 - 510 – Family Goodbyes

They traveled for about a day. Gravis couldn’t use his full speed while pulling his three children with him. Yet, Gravis actually didn’t want the journey to end. He loved this feeling of harmony so very much.

Even though Gravis appeared strong and powerful, he had always felt alone in this world. Yes, he considered the Grand Elder and the Empress as friends, but friends were different from family. He always distracted himself with cultivation, but that didn’t make the feeling disappear entirely. It just moved it into the background.

Now, with a family of his own, Gravis finally no longer felt alone. This world was no longer just a simple training ground on his journey but another home for him. His children were here, and he cared for them immensely.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and the four of them arrived at the spot that the Grand Elder had told Gravis about. A lot of level one Lords congregated here as they all waited for a King to escort them to their future training grounds.

The three kids were shocked when they saw so many Lords. There were over a hundred of them! Every single one of them would serve as tempering for them. After all, the three of them were still High-Rank Spirit Beasts.

"This is only a glimpse of the true vastness of the real world," Gravis told them. "These beasts are only the ones that have reached the Unity Realm in the last ten days. In the next twenty days, their numbers will most likely triple. There are many Lords in this world, and this is only a tiny amount of them."

The three of them nodded with narrowed eyes. They finally saw beasts that they could actually fight here! To them, it felt like it had been forever since they last saw such worthy opponents.

"Don’t try to fight them randomly," Gravis instructed them. "These beasts are part of our Empire. They are not the enemy. Don’t waste your precious tempering experiences by fighting duels. As soon as you create a Tribe of your own, you will feel the difference between fighting wild beasts and actual war."

The three of them nodded. Gravis had told them that every tempering opportunity was precious and that they should use them in an optimal way. Gravis had also told them that a war with multiple enemies felt much more chaotic and uncertain, which would immensely help their temper. The three of them were not so stupid to ignore such sound advice.

"When the King arrives, I will tell them to send you to the area for level two Lords," Gravis said.

The three of them felt nervous when they heard that. Yes, they wanted tempering, but this sounded more akin to certain death than tempering.

"But we can’t fight three levels above ourselves yet!" Cera said from behind Gravis.

"I don’t expect you to," Gravis said. "The difference between a High-Rank Spirit Beast and a level one Lord is two levels, but these levels only refer to the levels between Spirit Beasts. This means that every level one Lord has a body about double as powerful as yours since you are Divine Beasts. In regards to the Lord Realm, the difference between you and a Lord is not even a full Lord level."

"A level two Lord has a body about eight times as powerful as yours. Right now, such a fight would be close to certain death. You still have a small chance of winning, but that chance is truly tiny. Yet, that only holds true if it’s only one of you fighting one," Gravis said with a smirk.

The three of them began to understand what Gravis was referring to. "You want us to fight together?" Aris asked with a raised brow.

Gravis nodded. "If you fight together, two of you have a good chance of emerging victoriously against a level two Lord while the last one deals with the level one Lords. Yet, that fight will still be more difficult than fighting a level one Lord alone. Right now, you’re in an awkward spot in regards to Battle-Strength."

"Awkward spot?" Cera asked with confusion. "How can Battle-Strength be awkward?" she asked.

"Simple," Gravis answered. "Fighting a level one Lord will only serve as a minor tempering experience. Yet, fighting a level two Lord means almost certain death. This makes it awkward for you to find fitting tempering."

"But," Gravis said with a smirk, "there are ways around that. For example, you can fight two level one Lords simultaneously or fight a level two Lord with a companion. Both of these things will serve as good tempering for you. By fighting like this, you are increasing your Battle-Strength until a fight two levels above yourself isn’t as perilous anymore."

The eyes of the three sparkled as they realized the use of fighting like this. This would truly help them to become more powerful!

"But you have to keep in mind that not all Lords are equally powerful," Gravis warned them. "Back when I have led the River Tribe, all of my Lords had an, at least, above-average Battle-Strength. Some of them were even able to fight a full level above them, just like you. You have to remember that none of my Lords had been Divine Beasts. You might meet Lords like that in your future journey."

Yersi furrowed her brows. "Then wouldn’t we die if we met someone like that as an opponent?" she asked.

Gravis nodded. "The chances are high, yes, but that is the difference between the areas you have grown up in and the real world. In the real world, there are a lot more uncertainties and surprises that you can’t control. If you can’t deal with them, you will find that you have died an unnecessary death. Just this fear of uncertainty does wonders for you. Yersi, you of all beasts, should know the use of that uncertainty."

Yersi thought back to the time she had walked outside to find Energy Beasts. Back then, everything could have happened. If she hadn’t reacted appropriately, some shockwaves might have killed her during her search. Yet, hadn’t she learned the ability to pre-dodge by going through this?

"I understand," Yersi said after some seconds.

Gravis turned to them with a smile. "Then, let’s enjoy our last moments together as a family. I won’t be accompanying you in your future journey from now on. After all, my own journey hasn’t ended yet. I also need to walk forward."

The three of them nodded at Gravis with confidence. "We understand, father," Aris said. "If you stopped going forward just because of us, I wouldn’t see you as our father anymore! You are our father, which means that you always need to be more powerful than us. Otherwise, you would only be a failure."

Gravis smirked bitterly. He understood Aris’ sentiment, but Aris could have put it in a friendlier way. This was Aris’ way of encouraging his father to become more powerful. The other two siblings similarly echoed that sentiment in their own, less-rude fashion.

Then, the family spent the last 20 days together. They talked, and Gravis explained more foreign concepts to them. Most of these concepts were things that only humans related to or used, but those things would still be helpful to beasts. They needed to widen their horizons as much as possible.

The day for the escorting King to arrive appeared in almost no time to Gravis. When the King arrived, Gravis felt reluctant to leave them. Now, their future was uncertain. He couldn’t watch over them anymore. Yet, he had to deal with the fact that his children were leaving his supervision. This was an integral step in their development, and it was time for them to create their own path.

Gravis told the King about his plans, and the King agreed that this sounded like the best way to proceed for the three of them. If they managed to survive, these three would become elites of the Empire. After all, the step of fighting two levels above oneself was the hardest to take, and not many beasts managed to accomplish that.

Gravis said his goodbyes to his children and watched them as they flew into the distance, together with the King. He waited until they left his Spirit Sense’s range and sighed.

"My brief vacation in this world has ended," Gravis said to himself with melancholy. "I have managed to father three wonderful children, and I can’t stop because of them."

Gravis’ eyes narrowed as two other Gravises appeared beside him. He had waited until his family matters were over to become a King. He wanted to use the Law Heaven would grant him when he became a King as a springboard to jump back into danger again.

"My resolve has not weakened because of my children," Gravis said with a powerful will. "Instead, it has only grown more powerful. I need to create a world for them where nothing can suppress them. I want them to live in total freedom, without a Heaven always looking down on them."

Gravis looked at the sky with fiery anger. "If I had to choose again, I would willingly choose to have these three children. I don’t regret this even a little bit! Yet, you have still forced me through this. Should I be thankful for an enemy that nearly killed me because I have gotten more powerful as a result of that? No!"

All three Gravises transformed into lightning and gathered in one lightning bolt.

BANG!

Gravis had gathered all his power into himself again for the first time in several years.

BANG!

In an instant, Gravis felt the violent feeling of an evolution approaching.

"You better not renegade on your own rules, Heaven," Gravis said coldly.

It was time for him to become a King!