Ch. 511..520

Chapter 511 - 511 – King

The evolution began with a boom. Gravis’ body had way too much lightning, which all went into his body and Spirit now, boosting them way past the requirements for the evolution.

Gravis felt the evolution and felt his body changing. In no time at all, Gravis imagined the picture of the body he wanted to create. This time, in comparison to all the previous evolutions, he wouldn’t change much. All aspects of his body had already been covered, and making big additional changes would ruin his body’s balance.

Gravis’ body shook as he began to become smaller again. He hated it that he always continued growing with each level up inside the Realms. Such a big body might be useful against beasts since they were even more massive, but in the future, when he met humans again, such a huge body would only be a liability.

After around a minute, Gravis’ body stabilized again. Right now, he was back to having a size of two meters, which was very well within the size ranges of a human. Looking from outside, his body didn’t appear any different at all, except for its size.

What had Gravis changed?

Not much. Wings would be cumbersome and ineffective since his speed was already covered by his lightning. Additional arms would seem nice at first glance, but when Gravis used his arms, he also used all the other muscles inside his body. If he had another two arms, his attacking power would not increase at all since it would be just the same muscles being used.

What about a longer tail with a spike at the end? That sounded like a good change, but not when one considered who Gravis always fought. Against a beast on his level, such a tail would do wonders. Against a beast one level higher than him, it would also still prove to be a small advantage.

Yet, as soon as his opponents were two levels higher than him, the weapons Gravis’ body could create wouldn’t be powerful enough to break through the enemy’s defense. If Gravis used that tail to hit such a beast, his tail would break apart at the first impact. An advantage that was only useful against enemies Gravis could easily deal with was not a useful advantage.

Additional legs would make it hard for Gravis to defend against attacks from all angles. Additionally, it would decrease the flexibility of his waist.

A horn? All of Gravis’ defenses would crumble anyway if an actually dangerous opponent managed to hit him. The horn would not be able to work as a weapon and also not as a defense. It would only make his head more cumbersome.

All in all, every addition Gravis could make would sacrifice an advantage that he had. So, he only changed a single thing, except for his size.

When one looked on from the outside, they wouldn’t notice anything different, but when they saw inside Gravis’ body, they would see that the inside of his torso had changed drastically. Gravis added a lot more soft and springy flesh to surround his organs. This was the change that he made.

Right now, when Gravis fought an enemy three levels above him, the biggest danger was the blunt force impacting his torso by blocking an attack with his shield or armor. That’s why Gravis used this change to make his torso as resistant towards blunt force as possible. With this, he could block several more attacks without dying.

The evolution stopped as Gravis took a deep breath to feel his power.

Finally, he was a King!

Some seconds passed in which Gravis only thought about his new power. Yet, the more time passed, the more frustrated and infuriated Gravis became.

Gravis snapped his head to the sky and glared. "Where is my Law?" he asked icily.

No answer came.

Gravis waited for another minute, but nothing happened.

CRRR! CRRK!

The sound of gnashing teeth could be heard from Gravis’ mouth. "Are you fucking serious!?" Gravis shouted with all his power, his voice shaking the surroundings.

"You count me as a beast and force me to go through the mandatory procreation. I said I am a human, and you disagree! You say I am a beast and force me through this stupid rule anyway, but now, I am suddenly not a beast anymore!? Now you decide to see me as a human!?" Gravis shouted in rage.

This was a blatant manipulation of the rules! When it came to an issue regarding being a beast, Gravis counted as a beast, but as soon as a reward was imminent, Gravis suddenly counted as a human. What was this bullshit!?

"Answer, you useless piece of shit!" Gravis shouted.

Time passed, and no answer came.

Gravis’ fury reached new heights. The past thing with him counting as a beast instead of a human was still debatable. After all, it depended on the definition of the onlooker, if it was the body or the mind that decided one to be a human or beast.

But this!

But this was not debatable! Heaven had made its choice regarding Gravis’ status, and it should go through with everything that this choice entailed.

Gravis clenched his fist so hard that his scales cracked under the pressure.

Suppression!

He hated this constant suppression. The lower Heaven had suppressed him by directly acting against him and also suppressed him emotionally by forcing him to remain alone. The highest Heaven had suppressed him by completely disregarding him and using him against his father.

This Heaven suppressed him with the rules, and now, it suppressed him with its blatant manipulation of them.

Gravis hated being suppressed so much!

He only wanted freedom, but one Heaven after the other forced him to do their bidding.

"Fine!" Gravis said with a threatening voice. "You want to play this game with me? Fine! Do you think this show of force and control will discourage me!? No, this only makes me even more certain of my goal!"

"As soon as I’m powerful enough," Gravis said slowly.

"There will no longer be a Heaven in this world! I swear it upon my life!"

 

Chapter 512 - 512 – Ironic

Gravis’ will and lightning manifested as it heard its oath. His lightning went wild and showed its support. Lightning struck everything that came close to it, and this Heaven had dared to suppress it!

Gravis’ Will-Aura exploded as he created this solemn vow. He was not swearing on the name of anyone else, which was different from how normal cultivators swore oaths. Gravis had sworn on his life, and his lightning would force him to uphold this oath.

Even if this Heaven would kill every single loved one in Gravis’ life, he would still be forced to fight it or perish. His lightning would never allow him to back out of an oath, no matter what happened. Even if this Heaven begged on all of its limbs and gave Gravis supreme power, if he let it live, he would still be forced to attack it.

Gravis had never sworn such an oath before in his life. He knew his lightning and himself very well, and he knew that such oaths couldn’t be sworn lightly. Only when there was a very good reason would he go through with something so consequential.

In an ironic sense, Gravis suppressed himself with this oath. He would be forced to do whatever he had sworn now with no way out. Yet, if this oath managed to temper himself more, he would only become more powerful. Gravis wanted to force himself into killing this Heaven, no matter what happened.

BOOOOM!

Gravis’ Will-Aura exploded as it spread into the distance. All level three Kings and weaker in a 500-kilometer-radius felt the immense pressure exhibited by Gravis’ Will-Aura.

With his rage and oath, Gravis managed to push his Will-Aura across the border, separating it from the next level.

CRRRRR!

The earth and mountains in his surroundings cracked and crumbled as his Will-Aura shook them.

Yet, instead of paying any attention towards his new, powerful Will-Aura, Gravis’ mind was focused on something else. Surprisingly, it even didn’t pay any attention to Heaven right now.

Gravis’ mind was going wild as concepts he had understood previously fused together into one. He was understanding something crucial!

Many of Gravis’ past experiences gathered together to form one whole concept. This concept was a Law! Additionally, this Law was something very few living beings managed to comprehend.

Different beings had different experiences, which taught them different, new concepts. Nearly Gravis’ entire life revolved around him wanting freedom due to him being suppressed by the different Heavens.

Gravis’ rage vanished as it was fully focused on comprehending right now. He had just grasped something integral, and he would use this chance to understand a new Law.

After half a minute, Gravis managed to combine a lot of his known concepts into a single Law.

"Hahahaha!" Gravis laughed.

Yet, his laugh didn’t sound happy. His laugh sounded more like someone who had one bad thing after the other happen to them. He laughed at the irony of his current situation.

"What irony," Gravis said silently with a bitter smile after some seconds. "My goal is freedom, and I want nothing more than to be free and do what I want. Yet..."

"I’ve comprehended the Law of Suppression."

Gravis never wanted to suppress anyone. He wanted freedom, and since he valued freedom so much, he also wanted everyone else to gain freedom. Gravis never wanted to suppress someone. It was only killing, neutral interactions, friendly interaction, or no interaction at all with others.

Suppression.

How many different kinds of suppression were there?

One could say that there was only one kind of suppression, which was the suppression someone stronger had over someone weaker. Yet, that was not true.

Someone could be blackmailed. The blackmailer might not be more powerful than the person, but they had something that managed to suppress others emotionally. Gravis had experienced this kind of suppression in the lower world when the lower Heaven had forced him to stay alone.

Gravis had experienced the suppression of power nearly his entire life. The Heavens always looked down on him and had power that could obliterate him if there weren’t the rules or his father keeping him protected.

Then there was suppression by intelligence. Someone might use the rules of a larger organization to force someone more powerful into a weak situation. This Heaven had suppressed him with its uses of the rules.

How many people or beasts came that much into contact with suppression as Gravis? One could argue that all of them were under Heaven, and therefore, all of them would be under constant suppression. Yet, no beast even realized that there was a Heaven, and nearly all humans just accepted Heaven as an inevitable truth of the world. If one didn’t fight this suppression, they wouldn’t feel it.

Slaves and people in similar situations came a lot into contact with suppression. Yet, that was only one aspect of suppression. They were suppressed by power. Rules and emotional suppression often didn’t affect them at all.

How many beings had so many dealings with more powerful beings that wanted to suppress them without being allowed to kill them? How many people would even think about comprehending the Law of Suppression? How would they even go about doing that?

It wasn’t like there was some Law Comprehension Area for suppression. Just like pride, suppression was an ethereal Law that was hard to grasp. Suppression didn’t physically exist since it was only a circumstance for the suppressed one.

Due to all of that, very few beings managed to comprehend the Law of Suppression. It was just way too difficult to experience all forms of suppression by themselves.

Gravis laughed in disgust. "I bet that you think that this makes everything ok, right Heaven?" Gravis asked with a sneer. "I have comprehended a Law now, and therefore, everything is fine."

"No! I have comprehended this Law by myself because I don’t accept your bullshit! In your mind, you might even think that you have done this and that I should thank you. How truly disgusting."

"The Law of Suppression, what irony!" Gravis said with a huff. "I hate suppression more than anything, and I have comprehended the very thing that I despise. Yet, it is still a weapon and a part of me."

WHOOOM!

Gravis activated his new Will-Aura and moved it around. Surprisingly, he could compress it just as well as his earlier Will-Aura. Back when he had gotten his Unity Will, or Nascent Will as it had been called in his homeworld, he hadn’t been able to compress it.

But now, he could compress it however much he wanted. Of course, there was still a difference. The compression of his Will-Aura didn’t increase its power. Now, no matter how much he compressed it, it always had the same amount of power.

To Gravis, this didn’t make a difference. When he used his Will-Aura in a fight, he would compress it to the maximum amount possible anyway. In fact, since he could now use it in any shape and size that he wanted, fighting would become way easier for him.

Gravis felt the power of his Will-Aura and guessed that a level three King would be slowed by about 30% with it.

Gravis smirked.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis’ surroundings seemed to change color to a dull grey. Usually, Gravis’ Will-Aura always felt cold. If one wanted to associate a color with it, one would choose a dark blue or black color. Now, his surroundings appeared grey due to his Will-Aura.

The change in the feeling of his Will-Aura was the Law of Suppression.

A Will-Aura exhibited pressure on someone, and suppression also put pressure on someone. The Law of Suppression and his Will-Aura were very similar and went hand in hand. Using the Law of Suppression with his Will-Aura as a medium was obvious to Gravis.

His surroundings warped as grey streaks moved through them. It was like there was some kind of grey water encasing Gravis.

"Sure enough, the Law of Suppression is powerful," Gravis muttered to himself. "With this, I can even suppress a level four King by about 20 to 30 percent. Additionally, using it with my Will-Aura doesn’t waste any of my power. I can keep this active for however long I desire."

Gravis looked up at the sky with cold eyes. "You have suppressed me so much that I have comprehended the Law of Suppression. Normally, I would tell you to take this as proof of your idiotic and arrogant conduct, but you probably have your head so far up your own ass that even someone that has comprehended the Law of Space would be humbled by this amazing, space-bending feat."

Gravis sneered again.

"Wash your neck and wait for me to claim your eye-filled head!"

 

Chapter 513 - 513 – Pulse

Gravis had declared his stance towards Heaven and had taken the oath. Yet, to fulfill that oath, he first needed enough power. So, what would be his next course of action?

First of all, Gravis needed to become familiar with his new powers. His father had told him that humans would receive a new weapon when they reached the Nascent Nourishing Realm. Even though Gravis didn’t know what that weapon was, he already felt a peculiar feeling that hadn’t been there before.

It felt like his centers of power were even more connected than before. When he had been in the Unity Realm, it had felt like cables connected them, but now it felt like they were the same thing, just in different containers. It was hard to put this feeling into words, but this was the closest analogy Gravis could find.

Gravis moved his power around so that everything was perfectly equalized in his being. His body, his Spirit, and his lightning all had exactly the same amount of power now.

Whooom!

Gravis felt some kind of resonation inside his being. Additionally, he also felt like his being was about to pulse. The feeling could be likened to someone knowing that they would be sneezing in a couple of seconds. The pulsing wasn’t happening yet, but Gravis knew that he could will it to happen.

Whooom!

Gravis’ being pulsed, and he felt a burst of power coming out of his being. Yet, this additional power could not be used like this, making Gravis fall into thought again.

He remembered the feeling of the pulse and moved the power of his being around some more. Gravis realized that he could summon the pulse even when not everything was equalized. Yet, surprisingly, the pulse never became stronger than when Gravis pushed all his power into one center of power. Additionally, that center of power also couldn’t be increased further with the pulse. 300% of his power was the maximum.

"Hm," Gravis hummed as he thought some more about this. "There has to be some use for this."

Gravis made the pulse appear again and tried to concentrate it into one center of power. Whenever his being pulsed, that center of power would reach a power of 300%.

Gravis scratched his chin. "Hm, I can’t get past the 300% barrier in regards to one center of power, no matter what I do."

Then, Gravis smirked.

"But I found something else."

Whooom! BANG!

Gravis’ being pulsed again as he jumped forward with his body and lightning acceleration. Yet, surprisingly, Gravis was even faster than he should be.

"Just as I thought," Gravis muttered with a smirk. "I only have 100% of power per center of power, which, when added, would be 300% of power. Moving my power around allows me to increase one of them to 300%, and the pulse also allows me to increase one to 300%."

"Yet, they’re not mutually exclusive."

Just now, Gravis had moved all his power into his lightning, increasing its power to 300%, while his body and Spirit both had 0%. Yet, by using the pulse, Gravis managed to increase his body’s power to 300% for a split second without taking away any of his lightning’s power.

This meant that Gravis could now elevate two centers of power to 300% simultaneously.

Normally, such a discovery wouldn’t make much of a difference to him. After all, he could just rapidly switch between the centers of power that he wanted.

Yet, there were two important differences.

First of all, Gravis could now use his physical power when he accelerated with lightning, which made him faster. Another usage would be the creation of a more powerful Lightning Crescent. Usually, Gravis would only be able to use a Lightning Crescent with 150% lightning and 150% Spirit. Now, he could use a 300/300 one.

Another difference was that the pulse didn’t eat up as many resources. For some reason, when Gravis unleashed an attack while being on 300% of his power via the pulse, the used resources would only eat up the equivalent of if he had used it with 100%.

Where did all this extra power come from? After all, Gravis was using an amount of power greater than his whole being. This power and Energy had to come from somewhere, right?

Surprisingly, the extra power came from the environment. His pulse would connect with the Energy in the environment and manipulate it. The Energy surrounding Gravis would then directly enter him for a short time and leave again.

This whole thing could be compared to breathing. Gravis could breathe in the Energy, transform it into a force he could use, and breathe it out as an attack.

For example, Gravis could suck in a lot of Energy with his pulse, transform that Energy into lightning, and unleash the lightning. Of course, such a transformation of power still required some Energy from his being, which didn’t allow him to use this technique endlessly.

Gravis also couldn’t permanently absorb the Energy. This pulse was only a short resonation between his being and the world. As soon as the short timeframe for the pulse passed, Gravis felt his being starting to become injured. The short resonation was the only thing that kept him uninjured.

After thinking about all of this, Gravis looked with furrowed brows towards the sky. "According to logic, I should be able to transform the absorbed Energy into lightning, shoot it out, and then absorb it normally, but that also doesn’t work."

"I wonder, is that something you have done, Heaven?" Gravis asked.

Of course, no answer came.

However, Gravis was pretty sure that he was on the right track. Cultivators had this weapon, and their Spirits were adapted towards Energy. Naturally, they should be able to absorb the Energy without any issues. It was Energy, after all. With this, every human should be able to just shoot through all the Realms.

Yet, that was a double-edged sword. If everyone had the ability to increase their Realm without end, they would very quickly hit a bottleneck. Additionally, their Battle-Strength would be absolute garbage.

Gravis frowned. Nothing in all the worlds happened for no reason. Heaven had its fingers in everything, and if something from nature didn’t conform to common sense, it often meant that Heaven had changed something in there.

Gravis imagined a world where this absorption of Energy would be possible. With every human having the ability to endlessly absorb Energy, they would all remain at the peak of each major Realm since there would still be bottlenecks. For them to progress more, they needed to go out and temper.

Yet, there were problems with that. One problem was that there was no incentive in regards to resources. No one needed to fight for any kinds of resources since the Energy in the air would be enough.

Another issue would be the transformation of the process of tempering. Tempering was a continuous process. Right now, everyone tempered themselves whenever they got the opportunity.

Yet, in this theoretical world, the gradual tempering would transform into one huge occurrence. This would discourage a lot of cultivators. Many of them would rather decide to stop cultivating than risk their lives so often without any gain.

One could liken it to some work. An employee had one week to do one job that would take them ten hours to complete. If they were smart, they would spend one to two hours each day. "I only have to get through these two hours of work. Then, I’m done for today," they would say.

Like this, they would be able to complete the work without any emotional distress.

Yet, if they skipped directly to the end of the week without doing anything, they would have ten hours of work directly in front of them. The chances were high that either the work would suffer or that it would be a huge ordeal for the employee.

With that comparison, one could see the emotional impact of this pulse ability if it allowed humans to absorb endless amounts of Energy. If one hypothetically needed five fights to reach the next Realm, it would make a huge difference in regards to the distribution of the fights.

"I only need to kill that guy to get this reward," one would say when they had a fight in front of them. Doing that five times over the course of some years with some rewards sprinkled between them would make it much easier to accept. Yet, if one had to complete all five fights in one sitting without any rewards, the feeling would be different.

"I have to risk my life five whole times to become more powerful?" one would say. This would discourage them.

This explanation had been quite long, but it represented the things Gravis had thought about. Allowing humans to absorb Energy without end would probably be more damaging than helpful in regards to cultivation. Heaven wanted as many powerful humans as possible, and, ironically enough, in order to achieve that, Heaven had to make cultivation harder.

’Well, to be honest, I prefer it this way,’ Gravis thought. ’If I had the ability to increase my cultivation to the Law Comprehension Realm immediately, I would miss a lot of tempering and comprehension regarding Laws. This would also mean that my Battle-Strength would fall to be a little above-average.’

’Sure enough, my favorite phrase has proven to be true again. Advantages have disadvantages and disadvantages have advantages,’ Gravis thought.

’Anyway, this new ability allows me to use fewer resources and unleash a stronger, instantaneous burst. It fits my fighting style rather well.’

’Well, no sense in remaining here. I already know what I want to do.’

BZZZ!

With that said, Gravis transformed into lightning and shot towards the Mountain of Pride.

 

Chapter 514 - 514 – No Longer A Mate

Gravis arrived at the Mountain of Pride, but before he could climb it, the Grand Elder appeared in front of him.

"Since you are now a King, you no longer have the status of a mate to the Empress. Therefore, you are not allowed to climb the Mountain of Pride as casually as before," the Grand Elder said with an even voice.

Gravis looked unamused at him. "Okay," Gravis said evenly, "then I’m not here as a mate, but just as myself. I’m going up."

The Grand Elder held his hand out to stop Gravis. "Gravis, your status has changed. We have to keep up the rules."

Gravis rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Oh, shut up," Gravis said in annoyance. "You think I have only been able to visit you guys so many times because of my status? How about you ignore this useless shit about status and accept the reality for what it is."

If any other beast had told the Grand Elder to shut up, even if it were only meant as a joke, he would have killed them. Yet, for some reason, the Grand Elder didn’t get angry at Gravis. It was just how Gravis was.

"And what is this reality?" the Grand Elder asked.

"I like you guys. You guys like me," Gravis said with a shrug. "We’re companions. What’s the problem with me visiting one of my companions?"

The Grand Elder remained silent for some seconds as he looked at Gravis with narrowed eyes.

Then, he sighed.

"Nothing goes as per protocol when it involves you," the Grand Elder said helplessly.

Gravis only smirked. "Don’t act like my conduct doesn’t feel refreshing."

"Don’t push it!" the Grand Elder said with a cold look.

"Is it or is it not refreshing?" Gravis said with a smirk. "Come on, you can tell me if it bothers you."

The Grand Elder groaned. "Just go up," he commented as he flew up the Mountain of Pride.

Gravis proceeded to do so and arrived in front of the Empress quite quickly. She seemed just as neutral and absent-minded as usual, but Gravis had had enough contact with her to judge her mood based on subtle clues.

Gravis was pretty sure that the Empress felt quite amused right now. She had probably seen the interaction between him and the Grand Elder at the base of the Mountain of Pride and felt some mirth from the Grand Elder’s helplessness.

"What brings you here, Gravis?" she asked neutrally. Yet, this neutral tone meant that she didn’t mind his presence at all. If she were annoyed, she would have used her icy, prideful tone.

"I feel quite comfortable with my Battle-Strength right now, and I want to make use of it. If I increase my level once or twice, tempering might become awkward for me again. Right now, fighting a level four King should be just perfect."

The Empress narrowed her eyes at Gravis. "Do you know how powerful a level four King is?"

"No, but I’m pretty sure that I have a good estimate," Gravis answered.

"What do you think, how many Laws has the average level four King managed to comprehend?" the Empress asked.

"Probably between four and five," Gravis answered.

The Empress was quite surprised when she heard that. She had expected that Gravis would underestimate the increase of Battle-Strength between the different levels for Kings. Yet, Gravis had been pretty accurate with his estimation.

The Empress nodded. "Four Laws are the average for a level four King. You know this, but you still think that you can fight such a foe? What makes you so confident?" she asked.

"For one, I have comprehended two additional Laws since my last fight, and both of them are very useful to my fighting style. If I had only comprehended the Law of Lightning Speed, I wouldn’t be so certain, but by understanding the Law of Suppression, I have become much more powerful," Gravis explained.

"Law of Suppression?" the Empress asked with furrowed brows, glancing at the Grand Elder. The Grand Elder also hadn’t heard of that Law before. "I’ve never heard of this Law."

Gravis scratched his chin. "Well, I think it only makes sense that not many beasts learn the Law of Suppression. After all, it’s not something you can just comprehend without coming into constant contact with different kinds of suppression. Want me to show you?" Gravis asked.

The Empress leaned forward. "I’m intrigued. New Laws always interest me," she said with a sparkle in her eyes. The Grand Elder was also very interested in this new kind of Law.

Gravis nodded.

WHOOM!

Then, he activated his Will-Aura but only made it so big that it touched the Empress and the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder and the Empress remained silent as they felt Gravis’ Will-Aura. Their powers were far superior to his, which made Gravis’ Will-Aura feel barely stronger than the wind, but they were still interested in the feeling of pressure that Gravis unleashed.

"That’s my Will-Aura without the Law of Suppression," Gravis said.

The Grand Elder furrowed his brows while the Empress looked a bit surprised. "That was without the Law of Suppression? This aura already has the same power as the inherent superiority of a level four King," she said.

The natural aura of a level four King would not inhibit other level four Kings but would demotivate and suppress level three Kings. Gravis being able to unleash an aura equivalent to the power of someone three levels above him was already nearly unbelievable. There was more?

"Now, let me add the Law of Suppression."

WHOOOOOM!

The surroundings turned grey and dull. This Will-Aura exhibited the same feeling someone felt when they saw an overpowering army marching towards them from a distance. The army wasn’t here yet, but it was only a matter of time. It was the feeling of an imminent catastrophe.

The Grand Elder fell into thought while the Empress looked with interest at her surroundings. The change in color was something new to her. Normally, one could feel the color of someone’s aura, but she hadn’t seen an aura that actually transformed the colors in the surroundings.

"With the Law of Suppression, you can exhibit the same amount of pressure as a level five King," the Empress said. "If the enemy knows that you are not a level five King, they would still be willing to attack, but their instincts, emotions, and speed will be suppressed quite a bit."

Whoop!

Gravis retrieved his Will-Aura again. "Do you understand now why I think I’m ready to fight a level four King?" Gravis asked.

Instead of answering, the Empress furrowed her brows. "I know your power rather well, and even with this Law of Suppression, a fight between you and a level four King would still be up in the air. There is still a high chance that you would die," she said after a while.

Gravis nodded with a grin. "Yes, exactly! If I knew that I would win, this wouldn’t be tempering, would it?" he asked.

The Empress nodded once more. "Correct. Fighting a level four King is a bit riskier for you than the normal tempering for a beast, but this willingness to take these risks is probably one of the reasons why your Battle-Strength is so powerful."

"Right," Gravis said with a nod. "If I don’t keep going at it, my Battle-Strength won’t increase anymore in comparison to my Realm. As a Lord, my Battle-Strength allowed me to fight thee levels above myself, but as soon as I fought my first King, I felt the difference. The average Battle-Strength for Kings is way higher than for Lords."

"With the boost of my two new Laws, I think I have barely reached the ability to fight three levels above myself as a King. If I don’t use that boost right now, I might regress to an awkward spot for tempering, which would then force me to regress to only being able to jump two levels. Additionally, I should be ready to understand a couple new Laws," Gravis said.

The Grand Elder nodded from the side. "You have this feeling on you, yes. You are about to understand more Laws. I presume that they have something to do with lightning," the Grand Elder said.

"I think so, but I can’t know without comprehending them," Gravis answered. Then, Gravis turned back to the Empress. "So, do you know of any fitting areas or missions for me? The best-case scenario would be a singular level four King as an enemy."

The Empress thought for a bit since this was quite a stringent requirement. Even one additional level three King could ruin the whole experience.

Then, the Empress got an idea, and her eyes sparkled.

 

Chapter 515 - 515 – New Squad

"Hi, I’m Gravis, and I will be part of your squad from now on!" Gravis introduced himself politely to a group of four beasts sitting in front of him.

"Hello, Gravis," a friendly but demotivated chorus came from the beasts.

Gravis only laughed when he heard that demotivated echo. "Oh, come on! Show some more spirit!" he said encouragingly.

Instead of answering, most of the beasts remained silent. Some of them even sighed.

"Gravis, I’m happy to have you in my team!" a small silver wolf said from in front of Gravis with friendliness as he stepped forward. "Don’t mind the squad’s lack of enthusiasm. We simply had a rough patch for the last couple of years with a lot of deaths. But hey, bad things can’t keep happening forever! At some point, our luck will turn for the better!"

This was Gravis’ new team.

The whole squad was made out of previous mates to the Empress. This meant that every single beast in here was mighty. Some of them were barely able to fight two levels above themselves in the King Realm. One had to understand that fighting two levels above oneself as a King was way more impressive than fighting two levels above oneself as a Lord.

So, even when all of the members were made out of previous mates to the Empress, not every member of the group could fight two levels above themselves. However, all of them could jump one level.

This was the Empire’s elite striking squad. The squad would travel to one defensive line after the other and attack the enemy’s defensive line together with their own defensive line. Of course, the sea beasts also had several such striking squads.

This squad was under the leadership of a silver wolf with the lightning element. The wolf was a level three King, and he could fight level four Kings without any issues. He was pretty powerful.

In the last couple of years, this squad had had a lot of casualties in the fights. Because of that, all the members were disheartened. They didn’t want to stay in this squad anymore, believing it to be a place of death. Yet, they had made their choice, and they needed to go through with it.

The critical lack of success of this striking squad was one of the reasons why the Empress had sent him here. With Gravis’ power, the success of the squad should turn for the better quickly.

"I’ve heard of how the past few years went, so don’t worry, I can understand," Gravis said with a smile. "Don’t worry, with me here, the success will surely turn for the better!"

Humans might find such words to be arrogant, but beasts didn’t mind them. Additionally, weren’t all of them the most elite of beasts? After all, they had all been mates to the Empress in the past. This was the best proof of Battle Strength.

"Stop being so self-absorbed with misery!" the silver wolf shouted at his squad. "We just got a new member! We need to be happy for every new member we get!"

"What’s the point?" a red lizard said from the side with an annoyed tone. "We have had so few successes in the past several years, and someone always dies. There’s no reason to get close to someone who will soon die too."

The silver wolf groaned. "Oh, come on. It’s not that bad," the silver wolf said.

"Yes, it is," the lizard answered. "I’m the most senior member in this squad, excluding you, and I have only been in two raids. Everyone that has joined this squad before me has already died. Chances are that I will be the next one."

The silver wolf found it quite difficult to establish a positive atmosphere with all this depression polluting the atmosphere. His squad needed to be motivated in order to bring out their full strength!

"I will prove it to you in our next raid," Gravis said. "I’m not confident in keeping everyone alive, but we should be able to get through the next raid with only one death."

Yet, the group didn’t echo Gravis’ sentiment. They felt like beasts that had lost their will to fight. It was like they were on death row.

"Anyway, Gravis!" the silver wolf shouted, trying to distract the squad from their negative thoughts. "How powerful are you?" he asked.

"I think I should be able to fight a level three King, but I haven’t had the opportunity to confirm that thought yet," Gravis said.

Something was wrong.

Any person or beast that knew Gravis would know how he would normally answer such a question. He would say something like that he had a 50% chance of killing a level four King or that he was confident in fighting a level four King. Yet, Gravis had said that he only thought that he SHOULD be able to fight a level three King. This was not how he normally spoke.

Gravis’ lightning grumbled a bit when Gravis said that. It technically wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t stating the whole truth. This could be seen as a small form of soft manipulation.

Yet, the more powerful Gravis grew, the closer his connection with his lightning got. By now, Gravis was able to transmit quite some complex concepts to his lightning, and it also became more reasonable in its demands. The lightning knew why Gravis said that and accepted Gravis’ soft form of dishonesty, but only because of the current situation.

The silver wolf seemed quite impressed. "Not bad! You’re not underestimating the powerful Kings. That’s a good quality to have! I would have almost believed that you would say you would be confident in killing a level three King," the silver wolf said with a laugh.

Gravis only shrugged with a helpless smile.

"Anyway," the wolf said as he turned to the rest of the squad again. "It just so happens that we got a mission for a new raid!"

Instead of being happy about the tempering, the atmosphere became colder and more depressing. The members believed that at least half of their members would die again, this time. The death-rate was way too high for them.

When the silver wolf saw their reactions, he sighed. "I know that you don’t want to, but we have to do our jobs. Think about it this way, the more dangerous the mission, the better the tempering for the survivors. A lot of beasts would be envious of our tempering opportunities!"

No beast answered him as they simply looked to the side with disinterest.

Gravis saw this and also could only sigh. ’There is really no fighting spirit left in the whole squad. The squad leader is the only one who seems willing to fight,’ Gravis thought.

"Get your affairs in order. In one day, we will leave for the battlefield!" the silver wolf commanded.

Two of the beasts left while the other two just stayed there. It seemed like not everyone had companions outside the squad. The two that left were probably the only ones with companions outside the squad. They were probably telling their companions what they should do in the worst-case scenario.

The two beasts returned quickly, and a day later, everyone left.

It was time to attack a defensive line!

 

Chapter 516 - 516 – Jessy

The group traveled for a couple of days. The journey that had taken the invasion force months to complete had been completed by the striking squad in a couple of days. Obviously, the reason for that was the power of this striking squad.

Every single member of the striking squad was a level one King with an exceptional Battle-Strength, and they all also had an above-average speed for their level due to the Laws they understood. The speed difference between these members and the level three and four Lords in the invasion force was huge.

They quickly arrived at the appropriate defensive line. This defensive line was closer to the continent’s core than the last one, which also meant that this territory was more valuable. Of course, this also meant that the defensive line was more powerful.

Instead of having only one or two level four Kings, this one had five. Yet, this defensive line also wasn’t important enough to station a level five King here. Those were stationed even closer to the core of the continent or had entirely different tasks to complete.

The striking squad had been sent here due to the bitter battles between the defensive lines. Many of the members in the defensive line had been killed in the skirmishes over the past few years. Filling up the ranks of the defensive line was a huge expenditure for the land beasts. So, instead of filling up the ranks, they decided that it would be better to just destroy the troublesome enemy defensive line.

Just like the previous defensive line Gravis had visited, this one also resided on a huge mountain range. Earth Movers built these mountains to act as a natural barrier for sea beasts. If the sea beasts wanted to transform the environment into water, they would need to use way more Water Makers.

Gravis was a bit surprised when his Spirit Sense encompassed the defensive line. There were over 200 Kings present, which was quite a big number. However, over 150 of them were average level one Kings. The remainder were level three Kings, with five level four Kings leading the whole defensive line.

"We have been waiting for your arrival," a black panther transmitted to the group as she appeared in front of them. Gravis looked at her and felt a dark and oppressing aura coming out of her. Yet, he was sure that she wasn’t the Commander of this defensive line. After all, Gravis didn’t feel the unique aura of a beast able to fight a level above themselves on her.

Someone with the capabilities to lead four other beasts on their same level should be very outstanding. Beasts were never willing to follow anyone weaker than themselves or someone equal to them. They only followed someone if they admitted that they were weaker than them.

This was also the reason why the leader of the striking squad was a level three King while the members were all level one Kings. Every member of the striking squad had an exceptional Battle-Strength, and a level two King might not be able to lead them with confidence. Additionally, their leader also needed to have a powerful Battle-Strength themselves. That was why a level three King with a powerful Battle-Strength was the leader.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the silver wolf transmitted back casually. The silver wolf had the capability to fight one level above himself, and he should also be more powerful than this black panther. That was why he didn’t need to show any respect to the level four King.

"So, how is the Commander doing right now?" the silver wolf asked with a friendly and casual tone inside his voice transmission.

"Commander Rime is currently trying to find traitors among our ranks. As you surely have already heard, the number of traitors has skyrocketed in the past decade. We have no idea where they all come from, but the fact is that there are way more than before," the black panther answered.

The silver wolf nodded. "That sounds good. We can never be careful enough about traitors in our ranks. So, does Commander Rime have a plan in regards to the assault?" the silver wolf asked.

"Commander Rime is very careful with his plans and information and always keeps them secret. The recent rise of traitors has made him even more guarded regarding his secrets. Because of that, I don’t know if he already has a plan or not," the black panther transmitted.

"Then I think I should speak with him at our usual spot," the silver wolf transmitted back.

"Go ahead," the black panther answered, making way for the silver wolf.

"Guys," the silver wolf said as he turned to his members. This whole discussion had been done via voice transmission, but he had kept his members in the loop. "I will be meeting up with the Commander for a bit and plan our assault. Please remain here and wait for further orders."

The squad nodded in confirmation. Then, the silver wolf left with the black panther to meet the commander.

While the squad waited, they used their senses to keep track of what their squad leader was doing. Meeting the Commander face-to-face was only a formality to show the respect that the squad leader had for the Commander of this defensive line. The silver wolf was powerful but probably not as powerful as the Commander.

The squad leader flew to a blue crab together with the black panther. Apparently, this blue crab was Commander Rime. The squad was actually quite surprised when they saw the Commander. Wasn’t that a typical sea beast? Why would a sea beast lead the defensive line of the land beasts? This truly seemed suspicious.

The three Kings looked at each other for several minutes while they talked to each other with voice transmissions. The squad had no idea what they were talking about, but that was understandable. If these three didn’t keep these things secret, every member of the defensive line would know their plan. If there were a traitor among them, this could become disastrous.

After some minutes, the Squad Leader returned with the black panther. "Alright, we have finished our planning."

"So? What will we do?" the red lizard in the squad asked with a voice transmission.

"Well, I can’t exactly tell you the specifics. After all, the more beasts that know about our plan, the likelier it is to reach the ear of a traitor. I can only tell you that we will form a small hitting squad with Jessy over here," the silver wolf transmitted while gesturing to the black panther beside him.

"Glad to be working with you," the black panther transmitted with a nod.

"Jessy has the darkness element, which allows her to hide herself very well in the dark. We will be waiting until it’s dark and then proceed with the plan," the silver wolf transmitted.

The group sighed. They would already be attacking in less than twelve hours. Judging by previous experiences, in twelve hours, over half the squad would die again. Every beast wondered if their time had come.

Gravis didn’t really mind the wait. To him, this was no different than any other battle. He would risk his life in every situation that he considered as tempering. After all, if there weren’t a high chance of death, it wouldn’t constitute as tempering in his mind.

Meanwhile, the squad felt like the time was progressing way too fast. They felt like they would die in twelve hours, and they wished that these twelve hours lasted forever. They weren’t ready to die.

The twelve hours passed way too quickly for the squad’s liking. Yet, the time had come to move out. The sun had already fallen below the horizon, and the night was beginning.

"Time to move out," the silver wolf transmitted to his squad and Jessy.

Jessy and Gravis were already prepared to move out. Meanwhile, the remainder of the squad stood up with hung heads. They were the absolute elites of the land beasts, but that wouldn’t change their fate. The chances were high that they would die tonight. Could such a devastating death-rate really be considered tempering?

The silver wolf and Jessy flew towards the west, away from the defensive line. The group was a bit confused about the direction, but that was probably part of the plan. Commander Rime, Jessy, and the silver wolf all didn’t seem to mind that the group took this direction.

The group traveled for a couple of thousand kilometers until they could no longer feel the defensive line. Then, the silver wolf and Jessy stopped.

"This should be an adequate distance to the defensive line. We are still within Commander Rime’s sense, but he won’t be able to come here fast enough. If we move further, we will enter the range of the Blue Flame Empire. Let’s do it here," the Squad Leader said to Jessy.

The squad felt confused and shocked when they heard that. What did their Squad Leader mean?

Jessy nodded. "Hurry up. We only have so much time until the Commander arrives."

The silver wolf turned to his squad with his usual, positive smile. "Sorry guys, but you have to die now."

The squad felt a cold shiver run down their spines. What did their Squad Leader mean?

On one side were four level one Kings, while on the other were one level four King and a level three King that was more powerful than the average level four King.

Was their Squad Leader a traitor? They could understand that the black panther was one, but their Squad Leader? He had been part of the Squad for a really long time! Additionally, hadn’t he been a mate to the Empress? How could someone like that be a traitor!?

BANG!

And then, the silver wolf exploded as the lightning inside his body went wild. In no time at all, the lightning consumed the body and entered Gravis’ body.

All the beasts felt like their eyes were falling out of their heads. What had just happened!?

"Huh, the Empress has been spot-on," Gravis commented with a bit of surprise.

Then, he looked at the shocked Jessy.

"And sure enough, I have one average level four King as an opponent."

Meanwhile, Jessy fell into a panic. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go!

 

Chapter 517 - 517 – Change In Sea Beasts

Whoosh!

Jessy immediately fled into the distance after she managed to get a grasp on the situation. The plan had fallen flat, and her fellow spy, who had been even a bit more powerful than her, had died instantly. She couldn’t stay here!

"Not so fast, dear," a voice came from behind her suddenly.

Jessy felt shocked, and fear raised its ugly head as she realized that she didn’t recognize this beast’s voice. The terrifying thing was that she hadn’t felt the presence of this beast before. This meant that this beast was very likely even more powerful than her!

BRRR!

Thick walls of earth rose in front of her, cutting off her path of retreat. Just with her experience alone, Jessy was able to feel the hardness of these walls, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to crush through them in a timely manner.

Additionally, there was a bigger reason why she didn’t continue. Right in front of her, on top of the newly raised wall, sat a beast casually.

"Why don’t you listen to what I have to offer?" the small badger said casually.

This was the same badger that had welcomed Gravis when he had been in his first invasion. This badger was the master of the mantis that acted as the Commander of that one defensive line.

How did all of this happen?

When Gravis asked the Empress for an opponent, she had thought about something. In the last ten years, the number of spies had risen significantly. This gave her two options to consider.

Either the sea beasts had always had so many spies previously, and they were only now managing to uncover them, or something in the sea beasts’ conduct had changed drastically in the last couple of years.

The Empress had enough knowledge to deduce the correct answer. If the sea beasts always had had so many spies, the battles wouldn’t have been so even over the past few centuries. Spies gave an incredible amount of intelligence, which would allow the sea beasts to triumph more. Because of that, the Empress was sure that the sea beasts just recently started pushing in more spies into the land beasts’ territory.

Another reason that made her come to this conclusion was the average outcome of the battles that had been happening over the past decade. For hundreds of years, the battles between the land beasts and sea beasts had been even. The land beasts won a battle, and then the sea beasts won a battle.

This entire dynamic changed a little more than ten years ago. Right now, the sea beasts were winning more battles than they were losing, which hadn’t happened in an incredible amount of time. The fact that the sea beasts won more battles broke the entire balance in the war. Something like this didn’t just happen randomly.

Interestingly enough, the reason for the sea beasts’ higher number of victories wasn’t their power. In actuality, it was more about the place and the styles in which the battles have been conducted.

When the land beasts attacked, the sea beasts often had a minor edge in numbers and power. If that happened in only one battle, one could simply attribute that to bad luck. Yet, that had been happening for a frightening number of battles.

There was only one explanation that the Empress could think of. There had to be a great Commander and strategist in the sea beasts’ ranks, someone that knew a lot more about war than nearly every other beast.

Due to that, the Empress started to change her approach. In the beginning, when the balance was still there, she could get away with not handling things perfectly. Yet, now, every decision had bigger and more far-reaching consequences. If this continued, the sea beasts might gain an additional, huge chunk of the continent.

The Empress remembered Gravis’ tales and had asked him more about how humans fought wars. Gravis had told her more about how human societies functioned, and he also told her that the strategies that the sea beasts used were unusual for beasts.

Beasts cared more about the individual than about the greater collective. Due to that, when an Empire attacked, they sent in about as many troops as the enemy had. If they managed to come out victorious, they would get a lot more powerful beasts.

Yet, humans thought and fought differently. To humans, everything was about resources and numbers. Humans weren’t as willing to send in an army that would be about equally as powerful as an enemy. They would send in an army slightly stronger or overwhelmingly stronger, depending on what their goals and resources were.

The sea beasts’ way of fighting resembled the human way of conducting a war way more. It was almost like an experienced human was leading the sea beasts.

With all of this considered, the Empress asked Gravis how he would deal with spies and traitors. Judging by what Gravis had told her and by how he had described the humans’ way of thinking, she saw that their war style had a certain advantage.

Humanity’s way of conducting a war was safer than the beasts’. They would take way less risky battles but would immediately overwhelm a weaker force. Due to that, there would be many times fewer casualties in these wars. Of course, the drawback was that there wouldn’t appear so many really outstanding humans. After all, the battles were safer.

Additionally, even though traitors and spies existed for beasts, their number wasn’t nearly as high as if they were humans. The sudden increase of spies supported the fact that someone very familiar with the human way of doing things helped the sea beasts.

Gravis told the Empress that humans wouldn’t directly kill the traitor or spy but feed them false information to lead the enemy into an ambush. Another usage of spies would be to use them to find even more spies. After all, the spies generally knew the other spies.

After a lot of talking, the Empress told Gravis her idea. The striking squad had an unrealistically high death rate. Such an elite squad shouldn’t have so many casualties, and all of this reeked of a traitor in the squad. The Empress was 90% confident that the silver wolf was a traitor. Yet, instead of confronting him, she decided to change her approach.

Gravis would enter the squad.

Gravis was the juiciest bait the Empress could offer to the sea beasts. Gravis’ Battle-Strength was monumental, and killing him would probably be worth about as much as killing an Emperor. The sea beasts wouldn’t be able to withstand such a juicy bait.

Additionally, it just so happened that the silver wolf had an affinity towards lightning. As long as Gravis was there, the silver wolf wouldn’t be able to do anything to him. Additionally, not the entire squad could be traitors. This meant that the silver wolf needed to get another companion to guarantee success.

A level three King would be too weak to guarantee success. Because of that, the Empress would be sure that the silver wolf would either get a level four King or a level five King to help him. If it were a level four King, Gravis could kill the wolf and get the opponent he wanted. If it were a level five King, the badger that had secretly followed the squad would deal with them.

This was how all of this came to be.

Yet, one last interesting thing should be explained.

What did Gravis think about the fact that the sea beasts suddenly started conducting war like humans?

Funnily enough, Gravis was probably the only being inside the land beasts’ camp that knew the reason why everything had changed so drastically.

His father had told Gravis that there were absolutely no humans in this world. Was his father wrong? Definitely not! What human would be able to hide from him? Even if this Heaven tried to hide the human, the Opposer would easily notice.

So, the only connection that this world had to humans was Gravis. Only knowledge originating from Gravis would be able to make the sea beasts’ conduct so human-like.

When Gravis heard all this, he genuinely felt happy.

Why was that?

Because such a Commander and strategist had to be supremely intelligent, a sea beast, and would have needed to have been in contact with Gravis for an extended period of time.

There was only one beast that Gravis could think of when he thought about it.

Gravis felt really happy.

This was the best proof that Orthar was alive and doing very well.

 

Chapter 518 - 518 – Commander Rime

Jessy looked with fear at the badger. She could feel that this was a level five King, and on top of that, she knew that this badger had an above-average Battle-Strength for his Realm. This badger would be able to win against 90% of level five Kings. Jessy herself only had an average Battle-Strength for a level four King. This meant that she was completely helpless against him.

"Finally calmed down, have you?" the badger said casually. "Well, that makes things way easier. I have kind of good news for you, but it depends on your power."

Jessy had no other option than to comply. "Yes?" she asked nervously.

"It’s simple!" the badger said with a smile. "You will fight our dear friend Gravis over there," he said as he pointed towards the distant Gravis, who was only waiting for the badger to establish the duel. "If you manage to kill him, we will let you escape to the sea beasts’ territory."

Gravis needed the badger to establish the duel. If Jessy decided to retreat, he wouldn’t be fast enough to stop her. Gravis had already realized that Jessy obviously had an affinity towards darkness. This meant that she could hide herself very well and retreat. Gravis had no way of stopping her from fleeing.

Jessy was surprised when she heard that. Then, she turned and looked at Gravis to inspect him. As a spy, she had heard a lot about Gravis, and she knew that the sea beasts saw Gravis as an incredibly valuable target. Yet, there was a three-level difference between her and him. She knew that Gravis had outstanding Battle-Strength, but would he really be able to jump three levels?

Additionally, if she managed to kill Gravis and escape to the sea beasts’ territory, she would receive rewards equivalent to killing a level one Emperor. This would secure her future and would allow her to rise to the ranks of an Emperor.

The more she thought about it, the better this offer was. Obviously, none of the other beasts would intervene in the fight. Otherwise, they wouldn’t want her to fight him since that would not serve as tempering. This would make this whole situation pointless.

Actually, this offer was even better than if the original plan had worked. If the original plan had worked, she would have had to give the silver wolf the majority of the reward since he had planned everything and was also more powerful than her. With this offer, if she managed to kill Gravis, she would get the full reward herself.

Had the badger lied about letting her escape after she killed Gravis? She was certain that he hadn’t lied. Someone with the power of an above-average level five King would find it beneath them to lie and con a weaker beast. After all, if he wanted to kill her, he could just kill her without any problems.

"I accept," Jessy said with cold eyes as she didn’t let Gravis out of her eyes.

Meanwhile, Gravis smirked coldly. Finally, he had a worthy opponent. As an average level four King, Jessy probably understood four Laws, which was an incredible difference from the moray eel Gravis had killed. The moray eel only had comprehended two Laws.

The difference between this opponent and Gravis’ last one was vast. Yet, Gravis also wasn’t the same being anymore. Right now, he had comprehended two additional Laws. The Law of Lightning Speed had an incredible affinity towards his fighting style, and the Law of Suppression would also close the speed gap even more.

With these two Laws combined, Gravis could close the speed gap so that he wouldn’t need to pre-dodge anymore. However, since Gravis couldn’t continually use the Law of Lightning Speed, he would still be slower than her on average, but that was what he wanted. A slower opponent wouldn’t be able to offer him much of a fight.

"Immediately stop what you are all doing!" a new voice suddenly appeared in everyone’s mind.

A second later, a new beast entered their senses. Surprisingly, it was Commander Rime, the crab.

"Commander, this is the business of the Inquisition Department," the badger said.

"I don’t care! This was one of my officers, and I will kill her for her betrayal!" Commander Rime transmitted with fury as he came closer.

Jessy became fearful again as her previous Commander charged over to her. Even though Commander Rime could be counted as a sea beast, he was fiercely loyal to the land beasts due to his past. The reason why they had traveled so far away from the defensive line to kill the squad was because of Commander Rime.

The silver wolf had told Commander Rime that they first needed to get familiar with each other since Jessy would join their operation, which would take place a day later. They had told him that they would do some practice fights in secret, away from the defensive line, so that no potential traitor found out their plan.

It had taken quite a bit of convincing until Commander Rime finally relented. Commander Rime was so incredibly careful about traitors that it bordered on paranoia, making him the biggest issue in pulling off the plan.

Commander Rime quickly arrived and immediately attacked Jessy.

BRRRR!

A wall appeared in front of Commander Rime, but his shears punched through it easily. Gravis saw some strange vibrations coming out of Commander Rime’s shears, and Gravis was sure that he had used a Law with that strike.

"Commander, immediately stop what you are doing!" the badger shouted with authority. His casual and friendly demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

"I don’t recognize your authority, badger!" Commander Rime shouted in rage. "I have heard the offer you have given, and you are obviously in cahoots with the enemy! You are only putting on a show to let this traitor escape today while giving her the chance to fulfill her goal!"

The badger became angry when he heard that. "How dare you!" he shouted with rage. "I am an Inquisitor of the Inquisition Department! We all go through an intense amount of screening to ensure that there are no traitors among us! I have killed more traitors than you have ever seen in your entire life!"

"Every system has a flaw, and you are one of them!" Commander Rime answered. "There is no way that you are not a traitor! You are sending one of our valuable members to their death!"

"Commander Rime, this is my own wish," Gravis said from behind him, making the Commander stop.

"What?" Commander Rime asked in shock.

"I have asked the Empress for an average level four King as an opponent, and we have already known that the silver wolf had been a traitor. Yet, instead of just killing him, we decided to use him to unmask other traitors," Gravis explained calmly.

"You might remember that the silver wolf exploded just now? That is one of my abilities, and it only works on beasts with a lightning affinity. Because of that, the silver wolf wouldn’t have been able to serve as my opponent. That’s why I needed another one."

Commander Rime’s mind went wild. This was all a conspiracy to find Gravis a fitting opponent? But that was a level four King! How was that anything but suicide!?

"Do you realize the difference in power between you and the traitor?" Commander Rime asked.

Gravis nodded. "I have spoken at length with the Empress, and her evaluation is that the fight would be up in the air. It could go either way, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. I need to take advantage of my current Battle-Strength."

"Right now, I should barely be able to fight a level four King, but if I don’t fight one before reaching the next level, I won’t be powerful enough to fight three levels above myself anymore. That’s why I wanted this fight."

Commander Rime heard these words while the badger glared at him. The squad only listened in shock. Their new member was powerful enough to fight someone three levels above himself? This was ridiculously powerful, so much so that it just didn’t seem real.

"I’m uncertain and unconvinced of the Battle-Strength you have claimed to have," Commander Rime said, "but the Empress of the Icy Pride Empire has much more experience than me. If the Empress says that the fight is up in the air, then I believe her."

"But!" Commander Rime said with cold killing intent as he glared at Jessy again. "If you manage to escape to the sea beasts’ territory, I won’t rest until you are nothing but digested dung!"

Even though Jessy knew that she would be safe in the sea beasts’ territory, a cold shiver still ran down her spine when she heard these words. She knew how powerful Commander Rime was, and being chosen as one of his targets was not something to be happy about.

"Inquisitor," Commander Rime said while looking at the badger with respect, "I have misjudged you and hereby retract my earlier words."

’Well, I guess that’s as close to an apology of a beast as it can get,’ Gravis thought.

"Don’t judge the situation before you know all the background information," the badger said with an icy voice. Obviously, he was still angry about being called a traitor. "In my position, it is imperative to know all the details first before jumping to conclusions. That’s something you should also try to learn."

"That’s why I’m an Inquisitor, and you’re just a Commander of a defensive line," the badger said coldly.

Instead of being angry or insulted, Commander Rime accepted the criticism. It was the truth that he had jumped to conclusions, and there was no falsehood in the badger’s words.

After some seconds of silence, the badger turned to Jessy. By now, his smile had returned.

"You can start whenever you want. No one will get involved."

Jessy released a breath to calm down and then concentrated on Gravis...

Who was already slashing with his saber, just a couple of meters away from her.

 

Chapter 519 - 519 – Gravis Vs. Jessy

SHING!

Gravis’ saber went through Jessy’s entire body. Yet, obviously, this had not been the real Jessy. Gravis knew that cultivators and beasts with the darkness affinity had quite a talent for trickery. If he had believed this Jessy to be the real one, he would have unloaded the pre-loaded Lightning Crescent into her.

Jessy was a level four King. Someone with that power would not make such a rookie mistake like preparing themselves mentally when a fight was about to start. This had been bait laid out by Jessy to get Gravis closer to her. Gravis didn’t mind the trap and jumped right into it.

The bisected body transformed into shadows as it vanished.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Several blades out of darkness appeared around Gravis as they shot towards him.

WHOOOM!

Gravis’ Spirit destroyed the will upon them, but since they had been created by Jessy herself and not by some external material, Gravis couldn’t retrieve them with his Spirit Space.

Suddenly, a powerful, red suit of armor appeared around Gravis. Would Gravis have fought a level four King without preparing his armor first? Of course not! Defeating such an opponent required all his power, including his armor. Luckily for him, this time, the ore he had used had a color he actually liked.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The darkness blade behind Gravis was blocked by his tail, while his saber blocked the other two. These darkness blades had an incredible sharpness, but they weren’t fired with a lot of power behind them. As long as they hit him, the darkness Energy inside them would eat all of Gravis’ Life Energy anyway.

Jessy appeared directly behind him in her true form. Kings could control their sizes freely to a certain degree, but if they wanted to unleash their full power, they needed to show their true form. Jessy was over 20 kilometers long, and her coat released some shadowy energies that combined with the darkness around her. One shouldn’t forget that it was currently night.

A long and thin tail that ended in a thin blade shot at Gravis with incredible speed. This attack wouldn’t be as weak as the darkness blades.

WHOOOM!

The surrounding darkness turned grey as Gravis activated his Will-Aura together with his Law of Suppression. Even though the other beasts weren’t inside Gravis’ Will-Aura, they still felt the overwhelming power of suppression. Yet, they couldn’t even think about this powerful pressure as the fight continued.

BZZZ!

Gravis used his Law of Lightning Speed to evade the attack. Jessy was shocked when she felt the suppression and saw Gravis’ speed. She had prepared herself for a dangerous fight, but when she saw Gravis’ speed, her feelings also realized her opponent’s power.

 

 

Gravis immediately unloaded his pre-loaded Lightning Crescent into the tail beside him. This was the enemy’s most powerful weapon. Normally, Gravis wouldn’t target his opponent’s weapons, but if he tried to hit her torso or head from his current position, she would very likely manage to evade. Jessy was 20 kilometers long while her tail was even longer, and it would take a small bit of time for his Lightning Crescent to travel that distance.

The tail was completely consumed by lightning as Jessy felt a burning pain. Even some parts of her hind legs were burned, but the injury on her legs wouldn’t impact her Battle-Strength. Yet, the loss of her entire tail was an issue.

She had created that tail to act as her most powerful and decisive weapon. It was very fast, very strong, and was filled with the darkness element. With the tail gone, she lost her main weapon.

BZZZZ!

Gravis immediately charged at her with his full speed and attacked her again, but just like the last time, her body vanished into thin air.

’That tail had been too flexible and powerful. She has probably comprehended a Law related to her tail, and she hadn’t used her entire strength with that attack. If she had, evading it might have become troublesome. Dealing with that weapon is the only way I can ensure success. I can’t rely on luck,’ Gravis thought.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

A lot more blades of darkness appeared around Gravis as they shot at him. They were fired with more power this time, and Gravis’ body was thrown around as he parried them. Luckily, his armor was powerful enough to not get damaged by such attacks. Yet, the outcome would be different if Jessy actually managed to hit him with her claws or teeth.

Any other beast would have had some issues in dodging these blades, but Gravis had gone through a lot of evasion training. Even though his body was constantly thrown around, he always managed to barely angle his body appropriately so that the blades would miss.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Yet, the blades just didn’t stop. Jessy summoned more and more blades of darkness, and it became increasingly difficult for Gravis to dodge as Jessy learned Gravis’ dodging patterns. Of course, such an avalanche of blades also consumed her Energy. If this situation continued, it would be up in the air if Gravis failed a dodge first or if she ran out of Energy first.

Gravis tried his best to find Jessy in the darkness, but no matter what he used, she just didn’t seem to exist anywhere. It was like the night was protecting her, and Gravis wasn’t even able to find her with his Spirit.

Additionally, by using his concentration to find his opponent, he couldn’t concentrate fully on dodging. Since Jessy was taking him seriously now, the blades could only be dodged or parried now. Blocking was out of the question.

CRK!

Gravis misjudged one of his parries, and the armor on his tail cracked. Additionally, the blade of darkness that had hit his tail also drew a slight amount of blood.

BZZ!

Gravis transformed his tail into lightning. If Gravis hadn’t done that, the darkness Energy inside his tail would have consumed his entire Life Energy. Now, the darkness Energy fought with the lightning, and after a split-second, only a tiny amount of lightning was left. The effect of darkness Energy wasn’t nearly as devastating on lightning as on a body.

BZZZ!

Gravis quickly transformed into lightning and then immediately transformed back with a new tail. The injury of his tail had cost him some Energy, but Gravis hadn’t used much Energy in the fight yet. Otherwise, it would have been problematic to transform into lightning.

Jessy suddenly appeared on top of Gravis and attacked him with her claws. She had chosen the perfect moment, and Gravis couldn’t evade this attack. Seeing no other option, Gravis could only use his shield to block the attack.

 

 

Gravis was shot into the ground with ridiculous force. They had been fighting several kilometers in the air up to now, but Gravis hit the ground in just a split second. His shield exploded as the bones in his arms cracked.

When Gravis hit the ground, he felt his torso shake violently. Fortunately, Gravis had changed the composition of his torso with his last evolution. Otherwise, he would have received some pretty serious injuries.

BZZZ!

Instead of standing up, Gravis transformed into lightning and transformed back in a standing position. This was the fastest way for him to stand up.

BANG!

Gravis’ decision had been the correct one as Jessy directly attacked him again from above. Gravis’ feet exploded with lightning as he used his lightning acceleration and Law of Lightning Speed to evade the attack.

BANG!

Gravis slashed at Jessy’s front leg as his elbows exploded with lightning. Using his lightning like this would have been very wasteful, but by using the pulse inside his body, he hadn’t used as much lightning with that move.

SHING!

Gravis felt a lot of resistance as his saber buried itself into Jessy’s body. Jessy’s body was so gigantic that this couldn’t even count as a small prick. Yet, Gravis had a mad grin on his face as he saw his chance.

BZZZ!

Gravis suddenly vanished into nothingness as the sound of lightning could be heard for a brief moment.

BOOOOM!

Jessy immediately bit off her own front leg just in time. The severed leg exploded in lightning as Gravis had transformed himself into a Lightning Crescent and had entered his own weapon to explode inside her body.

The gigantic explosion in front of her burned the fur and skin off her head and torso as she was thrown into the distance.

Clank! Clank!

Gravis’ armor fell to the floor since he couldn’t transform his armor into lightning as well. Half a second later, the severed leg vanished in the lightning as the lightning explosion gathered into a small ball.

BANG!

With an explosion, the small lightning ball shot directly at the retreating Jessy.

SHING!

Yet, Jessy had replaced her body with darkness as she vanished again. The lightning transformed into Gravis again as the armor on the ground vanished and appeared around him.

Gravis had used his absolute full power with his Lightning Crescent, even using the pulse. He had used up all his resources with that attack, but as soon as Gravis had seen that his saber was inside Jessy’s body, he knew that he wouldn’t die.

If Jessy hadn’t severed her leg, he would have traveled along her body and killed her with his lightning, consuming her body. Like this, he wouldn’t have died. Yet, if Jessy decided to sever her leg, Gravis could simply absorb the leg since it wasn’t associated with a will anymore. Eating the severed leg was no different from eating a corpse.

Jessy gritted her teeth as she narrowed her eyes at Gravis.

Then, there were suddenly ten of her as they all charged at Gravis with speed no slower than herself.

 

Chapter 520 - 520 – Danger

The ten black panthers immediately charged at Gravis, eliciting quite some nervousness from him. He had seen how Jessy replaced her body with a shadow body before, and he knew that these had to be fake. If they weren’t fakes, she would not be an average level four King.

Additionally, she would have used that ability before she got as heavily injured as she was now. She was only trying this approach since the others haven’t worked up to now.

Yet, this approach proved quite effective. Gravis had no way to discern the real one. The copies emulated even the dripping blood from Jessy’s exposed flesh. By all intents and purposes, the copies were flawless. There was only one real body, and any attack from a fake wouldn’t injure Gravis, but that was never Jessy’s intent.

All ten copies charged at Gravis from different angles, and they all used the same attack, which was a swipe with her remaining claw. If Gravis couldn’t block the real attack, he would receive a devastating injury.

 

 

Gravis summoned several shields around his body and protected himself. One shield on his right was hit, and its fragments bounced off Gravis’ body. Yet, since he hadn’t used his hands to block, the claw wasn’t stopped by the shield.

BANG!

Gravis turned to the real one and summoned another shield between himself and her. Gravis transformed his arms into lightning and barely managed to grab the shield with that move. Sadly, he couldn’t put much strength into that block and was thrown into the distance.

Gravis shot through one of the copies while his arms broke. He hadn’t been able to get a stable grip on the shield in such a short amount of time. The only thing Gravis could do was to restore his arms with his lightning, which decreased his power.

All copies of Jessy fused together and then split apart again. With this, Gravis wasn’t able to discern the real one again. Then, they charged at him. This method had proven quite effective on him, and Jessy finally saw an opportunity to win this fight.

Gravis gritted his teeth as he made a decision.

BZZZZ!

Minuscule bolts of lightning swept over the surroundings and hit the black panthers. His lightning bolts shot through the copies, but the slight darkness Energy inside them destroyed a lot of lightning. Yet, with this method, Gravis was able to spot the real Jessy.

BANG!

Gravis charged directly at the real one, but instead of attacking, Jessy retreated. It was almost like she had expected such a move from Gravis. Luckily, thanks to Gravis’ fast acceleration, he reached her before she could run too far.

Jessy immediately stopped and simply looked at Gravis with cold eyes. Then, several more copies appeared. Gravis had been prepared to unleash a devastating strike, but he couldn’t be sure which one was real again.

Obviously, creating these copies took up a bit of time, which was why she had retreated instead of directly summoning new ones. Yet, by retreating, she had gained enough distance to ready more of them.

BZZ!

Gravis unleashed more lightning as he charged at her. A lot of his lightning was used up again, but instead of retreating, all the copies charged at him. Gravis saw the real one and readied himself to dodge.

Whoosh!

Gravis dodged the attack, but something didn’t feel right. It was almost like Jessy wanted him to dodge.

BZZZ! BANG!

Out of instinct, Gravis transformed into lightning and made himself as long as possible. One of the presumed copies swiped its claws through Gravis’ lightning form, destroying a lot of it by absorbing the lightning.

Gravis had been sure that this Jessy had been a copy, but the power of this attack had proven real. ’She can switch places with her copies!’ Gravis thought in panic as he felt half of his being vanish. His body was currently lightning, and half of his being had been absorbed by Jessy’s claws.

Yet, absorbing so much lightning still took its toll on Jessy’s remaining front leg. The front half of it had been turned into dust, leaving her with only a bloody stump.

Gravis transformed back as the attack passed, but he felt frail. By having had so much lightning before his breakthrough and by absorbing the silver wolf, Gravis had been at the cusp of becoming a level two King. Yet, right now, he was only barely a level one King. If he lost some more Energy, he would become a level five Lord again.

’Fuck! I have barely any Energy left, and if I don’t use it wisely, I will die!’ Gravis thought. His mind was going crazy with trying to find a way out of this. Jessy had lost her front legs and tail, but she could still use her fangs to attack him.

She hadn’t done that up to now since that would bring her head too close to the enemy. If Gravis managed to counterattack by evading a swipe from her, she would only lose a leg, but if she used a bite, she would die. Yet, there was no other way left since attacking with her hind legs would be too cumbersome.

Meanwhile, Gravis was also with his back to a wall. He only had enough Energy to unleash a single attack powerful enough to kill Jessy. If he judged incorrectly, his attack would get wasted.

What about a wide range explosion with a Lightning Bomb? That was also too risky since Jessy could simply decide not to attack at all and only send copies.

What about summoning weak copies of Gravis to attack all copies? That would weaken him too much, and if Gravis’ copies were too weak, they wouldn’t even be able to destroy the darkness bodies. Additionally, Jessy had a way bigger storage of Energy than Gravis due to her level advantage.

Using the environment was also a no-go. The stones or metals would simply bounce off the copies since there was not enough power behind them.

Gravis was thinking crazily about all his options, but reality didn’t wait for him. Jessy immediately summoned more copies and charged at him. Gravis also charged at them.

Whoosh!

All attacks went through Gravis as the copies were all destroyed by his saber. Gravis had taken a gamble and bet on the fact that Jessy would feel him out with this attack. His gamble had succeeded, which forced Jessy to sacrifice ten of her copies without any result. Summoning ten of such copies took a lot of Energy.

Jessy gritted her teeth as she realized that she had made the wrong decision. If she had decided to attack, she would have killed Gravis. She was running very low on Energy, and she only had enough Energy left to summon another eight copies. She would have liked to use another feint, but she simply didn’t have the Energy for another one of those anymore.

Gravis and Jessy both were low on Energy, and they both knew that the other one knew that. Both of them knew that this next strike would decide everything.

Jessy sent four of her copies at Gravis. If she used all of them, Gravis could unleash a large-scale attack that would kill her. Like this, Gravis couldn’t be sure if this was another feint or not.

’It’s a 50/50!’ Gravis thought with frustration. ’I absolutely hate betting on my luck!’

Gravis tried to find a way to discern the real one, but there was just no way. He also couldn’t use his Will-Aura to destroy the will upon them for some reason. It seemed like all the copies were connected to Jessy. There had to be a way to sever this connection, but Gravis just couldn’t feel the connection!

In no time at all, the four copies reached him. They all tried to bite him, and Gravis just couldn’t decide if he should unleash an explosion now or save it for later. ’Will I die?’ Gravis thought with gritted teeth. ’I don’t feel like I’m about to die.’

Suddenly, Gravis’ eyes widened. He simply stopped moving as all copies bit him.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

All four copies had been fakes. ’Why don’t I feel any danger? My instincts should have plenty of experience with danger,’ Gravis thought.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis suddenly understood something as many experiences from him fused together into a single concept.

Whoooom!

Suddenly, Gravis felt a feeling of danger from his left. The remaining four copies had shot at him simultaneously. Yet, Gravis only felt a feeling of danger from one of them.

’The Law of Danger!’ Gravis thought as his mind exploded with battle-intent. ’Now I’ve got you!’

"Your left!" Commander Rime suddenly transmitted to Gravis.

BOOOOOOOM!

Gravis unloaded all of his Energy into his saber and shot a Lightning Crescent at the Jessy to his left. He had felt the danger of her, and he knew that this one was the real one! Jessy’s eyes widened as the lightning consumed her entire being.

A huge explosion echoed throughout the surroundings as the squad shielded their eyes to not become blind. The sound reverberated throughout the horizons, but the explosion disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

After the bright explosion vanished, silence returned to the land. Jessy’s body was consumed and entered Gravis. Luckily, her body was still complete enough for Gravis to achieve an immediate breakthrough.

Gravis had managed to comprehend the Law of Danger and also managed to become a level two King.

The badger looked with a smile at the evolving Gravis while Commander Rime sighed in relief. Gravis was still alive.

One minute later, a ten-meter-tall Gravis looked at his hand in interest as he felt the power.

WHOOOOOM!

Suddenly, the surroundings turned grey as Gravis turned to Commander Rime.

Commander Rime felt a cold shiver run down his carapace as he saw Gravis’ eyes. With Gravis being a level two King now, his Will-Aura was powerful enough to suppress a level four King to less than 50% of their power.

Hatred.

Pure essence of hatred and anger radiated from Gravis’ eyes. It was like the cold feeling of hatred hit the hot feeling of fury as they became a single, unstable whirl.

Commander Rime had endangered Gravis’ tempering. If he hadn’t already known which Jessy had been the real one, Gravis’ whole path forward could have become unstable. By interfering, Commander Rime had stepped between Gravis and his path to power.

This was absolutely unforgivable!