Ch. 561..570

Chapter 561 - 561 – Tirade

Aris was fearful as he felt something touching his heart. He had never felt so close to death before. If Gravis wanted, Aris would be dead right now.

"I concede. You’re more powerful than me," Aris said slowly.

Plop!

Gravis came out of the cut he had entered from and cleaned himself off the blood. Then, he floated in front of Aris and looked him deep into the eyes.

"Aris, you need to learn several things," Gravis said. Aris only remained silent as he listened to Gravis’ words. "In actuality, you have made the same mistake I did."

Aris, Cera, and Yersi were surprised when Gravis said that he had also made a similar mistake.

"Just like you, I had charged through one Realm after the other. I thought that everything would continue working out for me as long as I continue tempering myself. Yet, that is not the truth."

"Why am I still a level three King after such a long time? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Do you think I’m just not able to become more powerful?" Gravis asked.

Aris took a deep breath. "In the beginning, yes, but I don’t believe that anymore," he said.

Gravis nodded. "Everything changes when you become an Emperor. The Empress and the Grand Elder have explained these things to me, and now I will explain these things to you."

By now, their mindset had completely changed again. Gravis had shown that he was still much more powerful than them. This meant that his words were worth their weight in gold.

Gravis explained to them how old the average Emperor was and how many Laws they had managed to comprehend in that time. He also explained to them how many more Laws an average Emperor would be able to learn with their Law Comprehension experience in comparison to them.

"In short, if you continue going at this speed, you will sooner or later become weak in comparison to others in your Realm. You must take long breaks to comprehend Laws between fights. Otherwise, your Law Comprehension will continue to fall in comparison to your Realm," Gravis said.

"In the last 100 years, I have fully concentrated on only understanding Laws. I didn’t do this because I couldn’t get any more powerful. I did this in order to keep my foundation solid. If we ignore my Punishment Lightning, I would know enough Laws to reach the average of a level two Emperor, and that’s after spending a full century on them."

"Just think about it," Gravis said. "If we ignore my Punishment Lightning, I would still be able to kill every level five King in this world. I had no problems in defeating you while not having used my three most powerful weapons. Yet, that is only the average for a level two Emperor. The most powerful King in existence only knows as many Laws as a level two Emperor. Quite the contrast, isn’t it?"

The three kids thought about these things and grimaced. Everything that Gravis said made sense and that was why they didn’t like it. They thought that they could continue just like they always had. Looking at Gravis’ monstrous Battle-Strength and knowing that this would be the average Battle-Strength of a level two Emperor felt terrifying. Every opponent of them at that Realm would be so overwhelmingly powerful?

Of course, that was not entirely true. Gravis had not used his three most powerful weapons in the fight, after all. One shouldn’t forget that he could still use his Punishment Lightning, which also included the Lightning Crescent, and his Will-Aura with the Law of Suppression. If he used these things, his Battle-Strength would be insane, even for an Emperor.

"Emperors are terrifying," Gravis said. "I haven’t fought one before, but I now know that they are very terrifying. A level two Law is incredibly powerful, and if you don’t know at least double the Laws of such an opponent or a level two Law yourself, you will die. Keep in mind that every Emperor knows at least one level two Law and a ton of level one Laws. You can’t even think about fighting someone like that as you are now!"

All three of them remained silent as they listened to Gravis’ words.

"Now," Gravis said, "onto your next mistake. You are not trusting and listening to other beasts on your level."

"I trust my companions!" Aris said with power, not happy that Gravis said that he didn’t trust them.

Gravis shook his head. "That’s not what I meant. What I mean is that you should trust in their experience and judgment. You are no longer young, but in comparison to other level five Kings, you are still young. They have seen a lot more than you or even me."

"When you had been Lords, you should have met a lot of inexperienced and stupid Lords. Yet, that is no longer true for Kings. Every King has managed to comprehend at least one Law and went through the mandatory procreation. They have remained in this Realm for hundreds of years, and in that time, they have seen a lot."

"Have you ever seen the power of an Inquisitor?" Gravis asked as he looked at the three of them.

All three of them shook their heads.

"This is what I meant," Gravis said. "Every experienced King has seen an Inquisitor go into action at least once. Additionally, why are there so few Inquisitors? Is it because no one wants to be an Inquisitor?" Gravis asked.

"No," Yersi said as she said her first word ever since meeting Gravis again. "Everyone wants to be an Inquisitor, including us. It’s the best position for tempering and also the safest. We can move around as we want and fight whom we want."

"And why were you not able to become an Inquisitor?" Gravis asked.

Yersi looked to the side. "We were told that we were not powerful enough," she admitted.

Gravis nodded. "That’s right. To become an Inquisitor, you need to have comprehended either one level two Law or, at least, ten useful level one Laws. You need to be in the top 10% of level five Kings."

"Now," Gravis said as his eyes narrowed. "All of these things I have said are connected. You do not have enough experience. Yet, that is not so bad if you are able to rely on your companions’ experiences. If you lack experience, you can simply trust the judgment of someone that has the experiences. Then, you will still be able to make the right decision."

"You didn’t know how powerful an Inquisitor is. Yet, instead of listening to the words of your companions, who have seen an Inquisitor, you decided to ignore their words. You believe them to be beneath you when that is not the case. Yes, their Battle-Strength might be weaker than yours, but their experiences are still very valuable."

"So, think about how you have acted just now," Gravis said. "I have met quite a few powerful Kings on my journey to here since they kept confusing me with you, Aris. When I showed them that I was Gravis, how did they react?"

Gravis remained silent for several seconds as he looked angrily at his children. It was imperative that they realized the error of their ways!

"I’ll tell you how they reacted. After realizing that I’m Gravis, not Aris, every single one of them immediately fled, and I could even feel the nervousness inside them. All these level five Kings didn’t dare to disrespect me even a little bit, and that’s because they know how powerful an Inquisitor is."

"And they know what it means when someone manages to kill an Inquisitor as a level two King," Gravis said.

"So, instead of listening to your companions, you decided that an Inquisitor couldn’t be as powerful as everyone says. After all, a level two King managed to kill one."

"If I were an enemy, you three would be dead right now, and why? Because you didn’t trust in the experiences of your companions."

Gravis’ eyes narrowed. "Never forget, an Inquisitor is more powerful than you, and I’ve managed to kill one when I was half your age. Even if I just scratched my balls for a hundred years, I would still be more powerful than all three of you at once."

"I killed an Inquisitor when I was 60. You are all now around 110 years old and can’t even fight one. Yet, you have the audacity to look at me with disdain!? I’m not angry that you looked at me like that. I’m angry at how stupid you would have to be to run headlong into danger that could be easily avoided by listening to your companions!"

"You were lucky that it was me!" Gravis shouted. By now, he was pretty upset with them, and he needed to rectify this fatal weakness of theirs. "Imagine that you would have seen an Inquisitor of the sea beasts in battle! You would have attacked them, thinking yourself to be so superior, and then that Inquisitor would have destroyed you like some flies."

"This wouldn’t have been a death due to tempering, but a death due to stupidity! Learn what you can fight and what you can’t fight!"

By now, the three of them felt scared in front of Gravis’ tirade. Where had their always happy and loving father gone? They had never seen him so angry!

"I don’t want you to die such stupid deaths!" Gravis shouted, but his voice was less angry now. "You are my kids, and I love you! I don’t want to lose you because of such a stupid reason. I want you to become powerful, and if your destiny is to die, I want you to die a normal death while tempering."

The three of them didn’t know what they were feeling right now. Something deep inside of them felt bad for Gravis. They also felt incredibly sorry and guilty. They had no idea what these feelings were, but these feelings told them that they should listen to him and rectify their mistakes.

BZZZZ!

Suddenly, the lightning inside their bodies pulled them forward. Yet, for some reason, they didn’t feel afraid.

Pack!

They all flew to Gravis, and he pulled them all in a group hug. Luckily, they were all back in their shrunken forms.

"I don’t want to lose you," Gravis said quietly.

Yersi was the first that returned the hug. Then, surprisingly, it was Aris. Cera took some time since she wasn’t sure what she was feeling, but seeing her siblings returning the hug, she just went with it.

A lot of new emotions they had never felt before appeared inside their mind. These emotions were not emotions that beasts felt.

These were human emotions.

Chapter 562 - 562 – Wasted Time?

The hug continued for several seconds.

"Father, this is getting embarrassing," Yersi said.

"Oh, sure," Gravis said as he let them go. "Sorry, I just missed you so much. Seeing the way that you acted made me fear for your life, and I just wanted to hug you."

"It’s okay, father," Yersi said again. "It also felt... nice? To me, I mean," Yersi said, though she felt a bit uncomfortable saying it.

Aris wrestled with himself. He felt like he should also say that it felt nice, but he just felt too embarrassed to say it. Meanwhile, Cera appeared unsure.

Gravis noticed all of their reactions. ’Interesting. Yersi and Aris seem quite susceptible to human emotions, but Cera isn’t. Maybe the beast part in her is more dominant than the human part. Well, I can’t force her to feel like a human. It’s her decision.’

"Now, tell me, how have you been?" Gravis asked with a smile.

"Father, we first need to return to the defensive line," Cera said. "We can’t remain here for long. After all, we’re Sub-Commanders."

"Oh? Sub-Commanders, eh?" Gravis said with pride. "That’s quite surprising. None of you three are the Commanders of this defensive line, even though you are all level five Kings? The Commander must be powerful!"

"Yes, she is definitely more powerful than us," Aris said with a serious look. "If she wanted, she could become an Inquisitor."

"That sounds cool. Introduce me then," Gravis said with a smirk.

The three kids felt a bit embarrassed by their father’s conduct, but what could they do? Fathers were often embarrassing to their children, and Gravis was no different.

All four of them returned to the defensive line, and Gravis was quite surprised at what he saw. There were over 200 level four Kings stationed here. There were also five level five Kings in total. One of these level five Kings was probably another Sub-Commander while another one was the Commander.

This defensive line was way more powerful than all the other ones Gravis had seen. However, as Gravis thought about the map he had received from Azure, he could guess why. This defensive line was rather close to the core of the continent. The power of the defensive lines probably increased the closer they got to the core of the continent.

Gravis enthusiastically greeted every beast he saw on his way, surprising and shocking quite a few of them. The ones that didn’t recognize him were confused that this level three King was here, while the ones that did recognize him felt shocked that someone of Gravis’ caliber was saying hello to them.

In Gravis’ mind, these were all the colleagues of his children, so he needed to appear friendly. He only meant well, but his three kids were still embarrassed by his friendly and forthcoming attitude. Couldn’t he act appropriately for his status and power?

After some flying and a lot of greetings, Gravis stood before the Commander. Surprisingly, she looked quite similar to another beast Gravis had seen in the past. She was a cheetah with an incredibly long tail. Additionally, with Gravis’ new knowledge about the elements, he could feel the Wind Energy deep inside her.

Gravis thought back to the invasion he had taken part in when he had been a level four Lord. The King that had led the invasion back then had looked just like this Commander. Sadly, she had died to the moray eel.

The Commander saw Gravis and stood up from her lying position. "You are Gravis, correct?"

Gravis nodded with a smile. "Greetings, Commander. Yes, I’m Gravis."

"It’s an honor to meet you," the Commander said politely, surprising Gravis’ three children. Their powerful Commander was so nice to Gravis? Their Commander was normally so incredibly strict! She only acted like this towards visiting Emperors.

"Relax, Commander," Gravis said. "I hope my three children have not caused you any issues."

The Commander relaxed a bit and threw a cold glance at her three Sub-Commanders. "Their work is impeccable and their Battle-Strength powerful. It’s just that they seem to take some enemies too lightly."

The three of them felt nervous when they heard that. This was their boss, and their boss could take all three of them solo. By now, their Commander had put a lot of discipline and respect into their heads, which made them respect the Commander very much.

"I know, but I think I managed to show them the error of their ways after they wanted me to prove my power," Gravis said.

The Commander’s face morphed into a grimace of disgust as she looked at her three Sub-Commanders. "They wanted you to prove your power?" she asked.

Gravis waved his hand nonchalantly. "Yes, but that’s understandable. After all, they haven’t seen me in a century."

"Arrogant and pathetic," the Commander commented as she glared at her three Sub-Commanders. "Have all my words fallen on deaf ears?"

The three of them felt a bit fearful and ashamed in front of their Commander.

Then, the Commander turned back to Gravis. "Gravis, I have a small request," she asked.

"Yes?" Gravis asked.

"I haven’t felt danger in a long while. I miss the feeling of danger, and I feel like I need to remember it. Otherwise, I might get overwhelmed in a fight. I have comprehended the Law of Danger, and I would request you to trigger it," the Commander said respectfully again.

BANG!

Gravis exploded at the Commander with his full speed and summoned a saber that had a fully pre-loaded Lightning Crescent in it. Then, he swung it.

The Commander’s eyes widened in shock, and an explosion of wind appeared between Gravis and her, shooting them both away from each other. Then, Gravis only stopped and smiled. "Happy?" he asked.

The Commander breathed heavily with shocked eyes. She hadn’t expected Gravis to attack immediately, and she hadn’t been prepared for such an attack.

Yet, wasn’t this exactly what she had requested? Right now, her Law of Danger had screamed at her that she would die if she didn’t do something. It felt like her life was about to end. She hadn’t felt that feeling in forever.

Gravis’ three children had been shocked when their father suddenly burst forward like this. Additionally, they became even more shocked when they saw fear appear for a split-second in their Commander’s eyes. Their exalted Commander had shown fear in front of their father.

The Commander slowly relaxed from her battle-stance and took a deep breath with closed eyes. "Oh, I’ve missed this feeling. This is the feeling of becoming more powerful," the Commander said slowly as she savored the remaining feeling of fear. "When will I ever feel this feeling again? I miss it," she said in melancholy.

"I don’t get it," Gravis said.

"Well, you haven’t lived as long as me. You are still going forward while I’m remaining at this level," the Commander said.

"No, that’s not what I meant," Gravis said. "I can understand the feeling of missing danger, but I don’t get what you mean with wanting to feel this feeling again but not being able to."

Now, it was the turn of the Commander to become confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You have a defensive line right here, and the enemy also has a defensive line," Gravis explained. "You want to feel danger, right? Why don’t you just attack the enemy’s defensive line?"

"We don’t know the power of the enemy’s defensive line," the Commander said. "By attacking, we could be running into a force way more powerful than us. Then, there would be nothing but death."

"Yeah, but isn’t that normal?" Gravis asked. "If you only take fights that you’re sure of you can win, how could that be considered tempering? Sure, if you know for certain that you can’t win, you shouldn’t fight, but you don’t know that, do you? It’s an unknown."

The Commander remained silent as she wrestled with herself. Gravis’ words went against everything she had done in the past centuries, but they also made a lot of sense. When she had become powerful, had she always only taken the fights she was sure she could win? Of course not!

"So, it wasn’t the world that didn’t allow me to temper myself, but myself," the Commander said with a melancholic voice. "I have wasted years of my life."

"No, you didn’t," Gravis said, surprising the Commander. "I have a friend called Ferris. He was an Elder of the Icy Pride Empire, and he had been a level one Emperor for over 3,000 years. According to your logic, these 3,000 years were wasted time."

"Yet," Gravis said. "Just recently, he managed to comprehend two level two Laws and a level three Law as a level one Emperor. For 3,000 years, he had only been a slight bit above average. Yet, in just one century, he became probably the most powerful level one Emperor in this world."

"3,000 years of experiences have exploded forward, making him incredibly powerful. Just because you didn’t manage to increase your Realm doesn’t mean that you haven’t learned a lot during that time. Look at me! I’m still a level three King. Yet, has my power stopped progressing? No, definitely not! All of this waiting is accumulation ready to explode forward in a fight!" Gravis said with an encouraging voice.

The Commander took a deep breath. "You’re right!" she said as her eyes became steely. "I have not wasted my time, and I have a lot of Laws ready to comprehend! Today is the day I rise! We will attack the enemy’s defensive line, and if I manage to survive, I will become an Emperor to seek more tempering."

"Your words have opened my eyes, Gravis," she said respectfully while Gravis only smiled.

Then, the Commander turned to her defensive line.

"Ready yourself! We will attack in five minutes!" she proclaimed to the defensive line.

Chapter 563 - 563 – Attack!

The defensive line was shocked. They had remained here for many years without anything happening. No enemy had been attacking, and they also hadn’t attacked. This defensive line was too powerful for a simple Striking Squad to make a difference. These core territories were just way too important, and no one dared to recklessly attack.

Yet, wasn’t this what they were doing right now? Usually, the closest Empire gave the permission for a defensive line to attack, and then they would ready themselves for several days. After all, the input of the closest Empire was important.

Why was the input of the closest Empire important? The main reason for that was that the conquered territory would transform into a new defensive line. This meant that the space that the previous defensive line had stayed at would be given to the closest Empire to expand.

Of course, such a thing didn’t come for free. The Empire had to pay for the new territory. This meant that the Empire had to reward the victorious defensive line out of their own pockets. Such a thing wasn’t cheap. Yet, every Empire would still be happy if their Empire became bigger. Such a payment was demanding for an Empire, but the gains easily made up for the losses.

Normally, a defensive line didn’t decide when to attack. Yet, the Commander of a defensive line still had the option to do that regardless. This was to protect against a traitorous Emperor that didn’t want them to attack. With this setup, both the Commander and the closest Emperor would need to be traitors to stall a defensive line.

The beasts in the defensive line had remained relaxed and calm for so many years, but everything suddenly ended. They were going into battle!

Some of the beasts were fearful. Others were nervous, but most of them were excited. Most of the beast had felt stifled for so many years. Staying in this defensive line gave them Contribution Points towards their Empires, which allowed them to enter Law Comprehension Areas. Yet, after such a long time, they all craved tempering.

Aris, Cera, and Yersi were shocked that their father had made the entire defensive line move with just some simple words. They had often talked to the Commander and wanted her to attack, but she always refused, saying that it was too risky. Yet, with just some simple words, Gravis managed to convince her.

"I will only get involved if there is no way for you to win," Gravis said to the Commander. "This is your fight, not mine."

Yet, when Gravis said that, a crafty glint appeared inside his eyes.

The Commander nodded. "It’s better this way. You are right. This is our fight!" she said with battle-intent.

All beasts readied themselves and waited for orders. After five minutes were up, the Commander appeared in front of them. "We will attack!" she shouted as she shot into the distance.

"RAAAAA!" a chorus of battle-cries echoed throughout the horizons, shaking the earth. All beasts immediately returned to their normal sizes and charged forward, following their Commander and Sub-Commanders.

Then, the entire defensive line moved as over 200 beasts, several kilometers tall, charged towards the north-east. The speed of the defensive line was incredibly fast. After all, even the weakest beast was a level four King.

In no time at all, the ocean appeared in front of them. A Kingdom with a level four King as their leader was here, serving as an outpost. Normally, an invasion with a weaker force would appear here to destroy this outpost, but this was not the case today. Today, the whole defensive line ran over this Kingdom.

"Slaughter them all!" the Commander said to her Sub-Commanders. The Sub-Commanders looked at each other to decide which one should give the order. In the end, the fourth Sub-Commander accepted the order and sent some level four Kings into the Kingdom.

For this Kingdom of the sea beasts, the apocalypse had come. Five level four Kings, each one as powerful as their King, had come to kill every sea beast. The King of this Kingdom felt fearful as they knew that death had come for them.

One of the level four Kings engaged the King while the remainder slaughtered all sea beasts they could find. No one was spared. Kings, Lords, Spirit Beasts, and everything weaker were mercilessly slaughtered. This was a war between two camps, not a duel. Everyone that wasn’t a land beast needed to die!

Gravis wasn’t the biggest fan of that, but that was just how war was. Innocents died, and that couldn’t be stopped. Sure, if he wanted to, he could stop the slaughter, but why would he? It had nothing to do with him.

Well, if he hadn’t been here, these beasts wouldn’t die, but that was normal. By now, Gravis had accepted that his actions on his path to power would involuntarily destroy the lives of countless innocents. This was just how the world was, and he wasn’t some hero.

The slaughter below the defensive line commenced brutally as they all still charged forward. After around a minute, they saw the first powerful enemies.

When Gravis saw the enemies, he smiled victoriously. ’I knew it!’ Gravis thought.

What enemies did they see?

Two level five Kings and ten level four Kings.

Was this just an outpost?

No, this was the entire defensive line!

Gravis knew a lot about human warfare, and Gravis also knew that Orthar was the strategist for the sea beasts. This defensive line of the land beasts hadn’t moved in forever because of their Commander. The indecisive attitude of the Commander had been noticed by Orthar. Because of that, they only stationed enough beasts in the defensive line to appear strong.

Yet, in reality, the powerful beasts that showed themselves from time to time were actually the entire defensive line. Meanwhile, the beasts that would have normally been assigned to this defensive line were sent somewhere else. Like this, they would have more Kings for the truly endangered territories.

Sadly, accidents happened. Orthar knew that Gravis could see through a lot of his careful planning, but he couldn’t outfit every single defensive line with a counter for Gravis. Also, Orthar was still Gravis’ friend. They might be in different camps, but neither of the two wanted the other one to die. Gravis wouldn’t teach the land beasts warfare, and Orthar wouldn’t send overpowered enemies at him.

Even if Gravis destroyed ten defensive lines, their dynamic wouldn’t change a bit. Neither of the two had the goal to make one camp victorious. Both of them only wanted to ascend to the next world. Victory or defeat for either of the camps made no difference to them.

The enemy’s defensive line was shocked and became fearful. They couldn’t possibly resist such a powerful force! Weren’t they supposed to be safe!?

When the Commander saw the weak defensive line, she felt disappointed initially, but then a smirk appeared on her face. In order to appear powerful enough to contest with this defensive line, they also had to show a powerful Commander. This meant that a mighty level five King was at the weak defensive line. Sure, her defensive line wouldn’t get much tempering, but the Commander would get hers!

Aris, Cera, and Yersi looked at each other, deciding who should take the remaining level five King. Yet, surprisingly, none of them took the initiative. Usually, they nearly fought each other for opponents, but this time, no one wanted to. Apparently, Gravis’ words had shown them that they needed to comprehend more Laws first.

So, in the end, the remaining level five King fell to the last Sub-Commander. The Sub-Commander had only sent some level four Kings to annihilate the Kingdom they had passed over, but they were still here. Seeing that the other three Sub-Commanders didn’t mind, the last Sub-Commander shot forward.

The enemy’s defensive line wanted to flee, but they couldn’t. Among 200 beasts, there were bound to be some beasts with incredible speed. Because of that, the fastest beast of the defensive line got dibs on the opponents.

In no time at all, every enemy beast had an opponent. The other beasts just stood around the fighting arenas, looking on. This was tempering, and they wouldn’t waste it by piling onto an opponent.

The watching beasts looked with envy at the fighting beasts, wishing they were them. They had come here, expecting to meet a powerful force, but they only saw this pitiful display.

None of the sea beasts managed to escape to warn the closest Empire. They were all caught, and the sea beasts didn’t even know that their defensive line had fallen.

Before engaging the enemy, the Commander informed several level four Kings to inform their closest Empire. The enemy didn’t know that their defensive line had fallen, which gave them a prime opportunity to also take out an entire Empire of the sea beasts.

Defensive lines didn’t move often, but they moved from time to time. Yet, the falling of an entire Empire was truly rare. The main reason for that was the spies among their ranks. The sea beasts knew when an attack would come, which allowed them to protect the closest Empire and defensive line.

Yet, with Gravis’ arrival, all of this had changed. The attack had come out of nowhere, and the sea beasts didn’t even know about it.

After several minutes, the fighting had ended. A couple of land beasts had died, but that was to be expected. When a land beast died, another land beast would just take its place until all sea beasts were annihilated.

The Commander and Sub-Commander also emerged victoriously.

"RAAAAAA!"

A victorious cry echoed throughout the surroundings, and some minutes later, the closest Emperor of the land beasts also arrived here.

And when he saw the defensive line, he became visibly very angry.

’I fucking knew it,’ Gravis thought.

Chapter 564 - 564 – Suspicions

When Gravis saw the Emperor’s reaction, he immediately contacted the Commander with a voice transmission. When the Commander heard Gravis’ voice transmission, she first became shocked, but then her eyes narrowed. After that, she gave orders to the entire defensive line. Shortly after that, nearly all the corpses vanished into thin air.

"What is the meaning of this!?" the Emperor shouted. The Emperor was a bright red lizard, only three meters long. "I haven’t given an order for an attack. Explain yourself, Commander."

The Commander looked at the Emperor coldly. "I have the right to call an attack without your permission. If you don’t want to pay for the territory, an Empire beside yours will be glad to accept."

Suddenly, all Sub-Commanders and over 15 level four Kings scattered as they traveled to the land of the land beasts.

"Halt!" the Emperor shouted. "You will remain here!"

Yet, the beasts didn’t stop.

"No worries," the Commander said. "I’ve sent them to contact the five closest Empires and a Judge."

"A Judge!? What is the meaning of this!?" the Emperor shouted aggressively.

What was a Judge?

A Judge was the equivalent to an Inquisitor but for Emperors. There were five of them in total in the land beasts’ camp. Inquisitors killed traitorous Kings, and Judges killed traitorous Emperors. Of course, Judges were all very powerful for their Realm. The weakest of them was already an outstanding level two Emperor. Inquisitors also only followed the orders of Judges.

"If you’re not a traitor, nothing will happen, Emperor," the Commander said. "Just let them go, and nothing will happen."

The Emperor gritted his teeth and looked with fury at the Commander. Yet, he let all the beasts escape. He didn’t stop a single one of them.

"As you’ve seen, I didn’t stop any of them. Now, tell me, what was the reason that made you decide to attack so suddenly?" he asked.

"That would be me," Gravis said with a smirk.

For the first time, the Emperor noticed that inconspicuous, tiny level three King. When he saw Gravis, he got confused. "You? Who are you!?" the Emperor demanded.

"My name is Gravis," Gravis said with a smirk. "You might have heard of me."

The Emperor was shocked, but then his eyes narrowed. "The traitorous beast that killed an Inquisitor but didn’t get prosecuted due to nepotism," he said coldly.

Gravis only laughed. "I have received my punishment, which was a Realm-Stop for a century. The Empress of the Icy Pride Empire gave me this punishment."

The Emperor huffed. "The Empress of the Icy Pride Empire doesn’t have any right to pardon you. Sure, she can revoke your status as a traitor, but the punishment for killing an Inquisitor still has to be decided by a Judge, and she isn’t a Judge."

Gravis’ eyes shone a bit. This was new.

"Is that true?" Gravis asked the Commander with a voice transmission.

"He’s speaking the truth," she answered. "A level three Emperor can declare you not to be a traitor, but the punishment for the killing of an Inquisitor is still something that is up to a Judge to decide."

’Interesting,’ Gravis thought. ’Apparently, Azure isn’t as simple as it seems. Every beast knows about me killing an Inquisitor. Yet, no Judge has ever appeared to punish me.’

Gravis turned back to the furious Emperor. "Yet, here I am," Gravis said with a smirk. "Every powerful land beast knows of what I have done, but no Judge has ever appeared to give me punishment in the last century. I wonder why that is."

"As I’ve said, it’s due to nepotism," the Emperor said with disdain. "If you had gone to any other Emperor, you wouldn’t be alive anymore. Yet, you just had the luck to go to the Empress of the Icy Pride Empire. Of course your punishment would be so lenient."

"So? What does that change? I’m here right now, and I’m responsible for this defensive line moving," Gravis said with a smirk. "A Judge will come shortly, as will all the closest Emperors."

The Emperor frowned when he heard these words. On the outside, he appeared annoyed, but Gravis knew that the Emperor was very afraid and panicked deep inside. Right now, he was probably deciding what he wanted to do. Should he keep up the disguise, or should he openly flee to the sea beasts?

Gravis had expected this Emperor to be a traitor before the defensive line even moved. He couldn’t be sure about it, but it made a lot of sense. It took two beasts to make a defensive line stop moving. One of them needed to be the Commander of the defensive line, while the other one needed to be the Emperor of the closest Empire.

Gravis hadn’t known that this defensive line hadn’t moved in forever before he arrived. Yet, as soon as he heard the Commander request Gravis to trigger her Law of Danger, he knew that this defensive line hadn’t fought in forever.

Usually, Gravis wouldn’t care much about any traitors as long as they didn’t attack him or belonged to the Icy Pride Empire. He was a member of the Icy Pride Empire, not the land beasts.

Yet, his kids were here! He couldn’t cultivate in peace as long as there was a possibility that they were serving under a traitor. His kids were not powerful enough to do something about this, but he was!

So, Gravis went on and talked to the Commander. He told her that she could temper herself as much as she wanted. She just had to declare an attack. In the end, the Commander realized that it was herself that didn’t allow her to temper herself and immediately declared an attack. This proved to Gravis that the Commander was not a traitor.

And that left only one beast remaining, the closest Emperor. Yet, even with all these suspicions, Gravis couldn’t be sure, which was why he made the defensive line attack without informing the closest Emperor. If they first informed him, he might find several excuses to stop the attack or delay it. Such an action couldn’t prove that he was a traitor.

Yet, after the attack had already succeeded, it wouldn’t be difficult to see if the Emperor was a traitor or not. Gravis only had to see the Emperor’s reaction to see if they were a traitor or not. Of course, even if a Judge arrived now, it might still not be enough to convict the Emperor. Gravis was sure that this Emperor was a traitor, but he didn’t have enough evidence.

"So," Gravis said slowly with a smirk as he flew closer to the Emperor. The Commander looked in shock as Gravis slowly closed in on the Emperor. What was Gravis’ plan?

"What will you do?" Gravis asked as he came even closer. "Will you wait? Will you flee? Will you kill me? What is it?" Gravis asked.

By now, Gravis was just a meter in front of the Emperor. From this distance, the Emperor could kill Gravis without him even being able to react. There were two levels between a level five King and a level one Emperor. This meant that a total of four levels were between Gravis and the Emperor.

As a level three King, Gravis would be absolutely helpless in front of such a powerful Emperor. The fact that he knew a Composition Law that countered the Emperor’s element didn’t make a difference. Gravis would die with one attack.

The Emperor looked coldly at Gravis.

’Come on, take the bait!’ Gravis thought as he looked the Emperor into the eyes. If the Emperor killed Gravis, he would receive incredible rewards from the sea beasts.

BOOOOOM!

Gravis exploded and burned into nothingness as the Emperor suddenly unleashed fire upon him. The whole defensive line was shocked as Gravis seemingly died in front of them. Yet, even until the bitter end, Gravis only smiled viciously.

Then, something came out of Gravis’ falling Life Ring.

Chapter 565 - 565 – Life Energy

A 250-meter-tall version of Gravis escaped out of the fallen Life Ring. This had been a gamble because if the Emperor’s attack had been a wide-range attack, the Life Ring might have gotten destroyed along with Gravis’ weaker body. Fortunately, Gravis had judged the personality of the Emperor correctly.

What exactly had happened? How was Gravis a level four King suddenly?

When the Emperor appeared, Gravis told the Commander that he would confiscate all the corpses and consume them to become a level four King. If the Emperor were a traitor, Gravis would fight him and buy time for the defensive line to retreat. If the Emperor weren’t a traitor, Gravis would pay the corpses back in the future.

As soon as that happened, Gravis put half of his being into the Life Ring and consumed the corpses, becoming a level four King. Gravis was sure that the Emperor was a traitor, which was why he didn’t even hesitate to consume the corpses. The long talk he had with the Emperor previously was enough time for him to finish his evolution.

Additionally, the new Gravis was not naked. He was currently wearing a red-black suit of armor. Since he had already seen the element of his future opponent, he created a suit of armor suitable for the fight. Of course, Gravis wasn’t powerful enough to manipulate materials at the Law Comprehension Rank, which had been an issue.

Well, it would have been an issue if Gravis didn’t already know a lot about Hard Complex Materials.

By mixing some materials together, Gravis managed to create a material that was stronger than Peak Nascent Nourishing Rank but weaker than Initial Law Comprehension Rank. These materials didn’t exist naturally, so Gravis had to create them.

Of course, since Gravis didn’t know the full Hard Complex Material Law, he couldn’t fully take advantage of the material. He was only able to manipulate it with his Hard Pure and Medium Pure Material Laws, which meant that the armor and weapons weren’t any stronger than a Half-Step Law Comprehension Rank Material that had been forged with a level one Law. Yet, this still allowed him to create the suitable material he needed.

Gravis also infused the armor and weapons with Pure-Fire Ash, which increased its resistance to fire. Usually, such armor would melt very quickly when it came into contact with a fire Emperor. Yet, with the Pure-Fire Ash, Gravis’ armor was powerful enough to resist the usage of a level one Fire Law. Only the level two Law that the Emperor knew would be able to destroy his armor.

Gravis was fully prepared for his fight with the traitorous Emperor. "Everyone flee and inform the surrounding Empires!" Gravis shouted as the Emperor still looked with shock at Gravis. Gravis should be dead! Why was he still alive!?

After around a second, the Emperor narrowed his eyes. He had made his choice, and now he needed to commit to it!

BRRRRR! BANG!

Fierce fire came out of the Emperor’s right front claw, and he attacked Gravis with it. Gravis immediately blocked with his shield, and the fire exploded violently.

BANG!

Gravis shot into the water below them, creating a massive fountain of steam. The explosion had increased the heat of Gravis’ armor and shield to insane levels, which made all the water in the surroundings boil.

About 20 level four Kings from the defensive line died due to the explosion.

"Run!" the Commander ordered to the defensive line, which quickly recovered. Then, all the Kings scattered in all directions.

"No one will escape today!" the Emperor shouted with cold eyes as 200 fire-spears shot out from his body. Even such a scattered attack would kill every King in the vicinity. All the fleeing Kings felt their lives flash before their eyes. A lot of them managed to comprehend Laws in this time of crisis, but that wouldn’t help them.

Whooosh!

Yet, instead of chasing the Kings, the fire spears continued shooting in a straight line, only killing another 25 of the Kings.

The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock. Why couldn’t he control his fire remotely!? Meanwhile, the surviving Kings almost couldn’t believe that they were still alive. Yet, they only fled even faster. They couldn’t think about what was happening right now. Only their survival was important now!

Seeing the fleeing Kings, the Emperor tried to shoot more spears after them, but before he could release the spears, he had to redirect his attack.

All the summoned fire-spears angled towards Gravis, who was charging at him. As soon as the fire-spears shot at Gravis, he destroyed the will upon them and activated his Will-Aura as well as his Law of Suppression. The attacks were scattered attacks, and each one of them only had enough power to kill a level four King.

SSSSHHHH!

The Law of Suppression weakened the attacks immensely, and when Gravis used his Law of Fire Composition, all the fire-spears vanished into nothingness. These fire-spears were simply too weak.

Gravis closed in on the Emperor with his full speed and loaded his saber with a Lightning Crescent. He hadn’t had enough time to pre-load a Lightning Crescent, which forced him to create a new one. Then, Gravis shot the Lightning Crescent directly at the Emperor.

BRRRRR!

The Emperor felt the power of the Lightning Crescent and knew that he had to use everything to defend himself. A gigantic pillar of fire appeared in front of him, destroying all the water below him. Fire wasn’t good in defense, but its attack could exhaust the Energy of its enemy’s attack.

This fire pillar wasn’t as weak and scattered as the spears. Gravis’ Law of Suppression only weakened it as much as the Emperor himself, which was around 20%. Then Gravis’ Law of Fire Composition weakened it by another 50%, making the fire pillar only a bit more powerful than the fire-defense of a level five King.

Gravis’ Lightning Crescent shot through the fire pillar, but it had been weakened quite a bit. The traitorous Emperor saw the Lightning Crescent closing in on him and curled into a ball as fire came out of his body in an effort to defend himself.

BOOOOOOOM!

The Lightning Crescent exploded with a violent explosion that took out the surrounding ten kilometers. If the defensive line hadn’t fled by now, every beast in the surroundings would have died.

The explosion vanished just as quickly, and the Emperor appeared before Gravis again. A lot of his scales were cracked, and some small bits of blood came out of his skin. Yet, that was only a slight injury that could be healed in about an hour.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, an even more powerful Lightning Crescent hit the Emperor. Before shooting out his first Lightning Crescent, Gravis had gathered the scattered parts of corpses that had survived the Emperor’s attacks. This was also a reason why Gravis hadn’t stopped the Emperor’s initial attack, which had been targeted at the fleeing defensive line. Gravis needed the corpses!

Yet, instead of feeling great, Gravis only narrowed his eyes further. Before the second Lightning Crescent had hit the Emperor, something had appeared in front of him, blocking the Lightning Crescent and making it explode prematurely. Something powerful enough to make a fully powered Lightning Crescent explode had to be the Emperor’s level two Law!

As the explosion vanished, the Emperor appeared in front of Gravis again. This time, nearly all his scales were gone, and the muscles that showed were blackened severely. His whole body had been burned beyond recognition. This was a severe injury for an Emperor, but not a lethal one.

CRRR! BRK!

The burned muscles were pushed away as new muscle tissue replaced them. Then, a new layer of skin and scales quickly appeared. This whole regeneration had only taken less than a second.

Now, the Emperor had a fully recovered body again. Yet, his breathing was heavy, and Gravis could feel that the Emperor’s Life Energy had lessened severely. The Emperor had used two Laws to transform Life Energy directly to physical health, and Gravis knew of both of these Laws. He hadn’t comprehended them yet, but he knew that they existed.

’The Law of Muscle Growth and the Law of Skin Growth,’ Gravis thought. ’Healing such an insane injury probably cost him nearly 80% of his Life Energy. Yet, if he wants to keep living, he can’t allow himself to use much more, maybe 10% more, but that would already be risky.’

Life Energy was responsible for keeping the bodies of beings alive. If the Life Energy went to 10% or lower, their body would slowly start to break down and get injured with time. To heal these injuries, the being would then need to use more Life Energy. At that point, the usage of Life Energy would become greater than its regeneration, which meant that death was not far off.

If Life Energy were reduced to 0%, the body would simply stop being alive. At that point, the body would fall apart like it had never been connected before.

Yet, the Emperor had a fully healed body now. This meant that his Battle-Strength was not hindered in any way. Additionally, since this regeneration cost Life Energy and not normal Energy, he still had a lot of Energy left to fight.

The Emperor glared with hate at Gravis, while Gravis glared back with his raised saber. Even now, the Emperor hadn’t returned to his actual size, but that also wasn’t necessary.

Lords could shrink their bodies by ten times. Kings could shrink their bodies to anything between their true size and a small fixed size. So, what could Emperors do? Emperors could shrink their bodies like Kings, but in comparison to Kings, their power didn’t decrease. This meant that an Emperor was just as powerful in their miniature form as they were in their big form.

Meanwhile, Gravis was 250-meters-tall, towering over the tiny lizard. Yet, the tiny lizard was the more powerful and more dangerous one. Oftentimes, sizes were deceptive.

"Everyone is gone," Gravis commented.

The Emperor had also noticed that every beast had fled, but that didn’t interest him right now. Right now, only Gravis was inside his eyes.

Gravis readied his saber. ’All corpses are used up. My lightning is down to 20%, as is my Spirit. I don’t even have enough power to injure him right now. This means that I have to survive until everything recovers again.’

’As I am right now, I wouldn’t be able to survive for so long. This means that I need to comprehend at least one new Law to survive. If I can’t comprehend one, I will die today.’

Outside, Gravis looked solemn, but inside, he was smiling crazily.

’That’s exactly the situation I wanted! Comprehend or die! There is no third choice!’ Gravis thought as he watched the Emperor prepare something powerful.

Now, it was the Emperor’s turn to attack!

Chapter 566 - 566 – Defensive Battle

BRRRRR!

Fire came out of the Emperor, and after a second, it split off of his body. Yet, instead of charging forward, the fire stopped beside the Emperor and took the Emperor’s form. In no time at all, a perfect fire-copy of the Emperor flew beside him, also looking at Gravis.

’This is the thing that blocked my Lightning Crescent previously,’ Gravis thought. ’This should be his level two Law. He can probably fight with this copy just as well as with his own body. This ability is incredibly useful in a fight, but it doesn’t fully concentrate on attack. Either its attack is not as powerful as the spires of the Inquisitor, or it costs a ridiculous amount of Energy.’

"I would have never thought that I would need to use my level two Law of Fire Forming to fight a level four King. You’re really as powerful as everyone says," the Emperor said coldly.

Gravis didn’t answer. If he wanted to waste time for himself to recover, he would have engaged in this conversation. Yet, as soon as Gravis regenerated everything, the fight would become too easy. Sure, as the fight was right now, he would still get tempering, but not nearly enough for his liking. He wanted to genuinely be in danger.

Seeing that Gravis didn’t answer, the Emperor readied himself.

Whoosh!

Yet, his fire copy suddenly started falling down uncontrollably, shocking the Emperor. For some reason, he had suddenly lost control over his fire-copy!

Obviously, Gravis has used his Spirit to destroy the will on the copy. Without anyone controlling the fire, gravity became active and pulled it down.

The Emperor recovered quickly and narrowed his eyes at Gravis. "So, the reason why I couldn’t control my fire spears was you. You can cut the connection between me and my element. I don’t know what Law that is, but I don’t need to know."

Another copy appeared beside him, but there was a distinct difference this time. The difference wasn’t in its appearance but in what it was doing. The tails of the lizard and its copy were intertwined. Like this, the copy wouldn’t leave the Emperor’s side, making it impossible for Gravis to destroy the will on it.

Then, the Emperor charged at Gravis with his full speed. Even fire came out of his legs, which allowed him to accelerate to insane speeds.

Usually, Gravis would have no issues evading such an attack, but he had to conserve his lightning. If he used the Law of Lightning Speed or his explosive acceleration method, he would use too much lightning. He needed to recover. Otherwise, he would never win this fight.

BANG!

One of the Emperor’s claws exploded on Gravis’ massive shield while his copy attacked from the side. Gravis could only block one attack since he needed both his hands to hold the shield. If he only used one hand to block the attack, his arm would break. Due to that, Gravis was shot in the distance.

Whooosh!

Yet, the attack of the copy had missed, surprising the Emperor again. The Emperor had enough experience to judge something as basic as backlash correctly. So, why had Gravis shot into the distance faster than he was supposed to?

Of course, this was due to the Formation Arrays on Gravis’ shield, which increased an attack’s force. Some of Gravis’ bones cracked while some of his muscles tore, but that was nothing major. Such injuries would be healed in a minute.

BRRRR!

The Emperor summoned another three copies. Now, one copy was at his right, one was at his left, one was below him, and one was above him. All their tails intersected behind the Emperor. When Gravis saw that, he became nervous. He couldn’t block so many attacks.

BANG!

The Emperor shot at Gravis again. Gravis had no choice but to block the attacks since he couldn’t afford to use up his lightning.

BOOOOM!

The Emperor, as well as all his copies, attacked Gravis’ shield at the same time. Gravis was many times bigger than the Emperor right now. Thus, the Emperor thought it would be easier to concentrate all his attacks onto a single point. After all, he was much more powerful than Gravis.

The four copies exploded at the same time, completely destroying Gravis’ shield. This was an attack that was truly on the level of a level two Law, and Gravis violently shot backward as his arms broke. Yet, thanks to the makeup of his torso, his organs only received some minor damage.

Starting at the Spirit Beast level, air was no longer important, as were most organs’ functions. Yet, instead of being less important, the organs actually became even more important. The reason for that was that organs transformed into Life Energy generators at that point.

Where did a beast or a human get their Life Energy from? Life Energy was produced in the organs, while blood transported Life Energy. If an organ were destroyed, the generation of Life Energy would plummet. The body required a set amount of Life Energy to keep operating, and if too many organs were destroyed, all the Life Energy inside the being would be used up. That was why the organs were vital.

Even though Gravis hadn’t been majorly injured in the clash, his only shield had been destroyed. Creating and forging such powerful materials cost a lot of Energy, and creating a new shield would cost Gravis around 10% of his lightning and Spirit.

Now, Gravis stood in front of an Emperor without a shield. He also couldn’t evade his attacks. This meant that he had to block them with his armor.

He wouldn’t even be able to use his saber since he hadn’t upgraded his saber. After all, the power of the Lightning Crescent wasn’t determined by the quality of the saber. The saber only needed to be able to resist the Lightning Crescent while it was inside it. If Gravis had also upgraded his saber, he would have even less lightning right now.

BRRRR!

Four seconds passed in which the Emperor summoned another four copies. His old ones had exploded with the last attack, forcing him to create new ones. Sadly, Gravis couldn’t interrupt the Emperor since he couldn’t unleash an attack that would actually be a danger to his enemy. It was better to wait.

BANG!

The Emperor shot at Gravis again. Yet, this time, the copies stretched until they all came from different angles. Gravis immediately swung around and used his tail to destroy the copies.

BANG!

One copy was destroyed, and the armor on Gravis’ tail became incredibly hot as it started fusing with his scales. Yet, the tail didn’t stop!

BANG!

Another one was taken out as the armor on Gravis’ tail nearly became liquified.

BANG!

A third copy was punched by Gravis’ hand, and the armor on his right arm also started fusing to his body.

BANG!

The last copy exploded as the sweep of Gravis’ tail finished. One tail-swipe had taken out three copies of the Emperor. Yet, this didn’t come without damage. All muscles on Gravis’ tail had burned black, and even the bones started becoming black. There was simply too much heat.

’One attack will only burn my skin. Two attacks burn my muscles, and three attacks burn everything. I can only block one attack safely and two if I’m in desperate straits,’ Gravis thought quickly. He had used his most expendable body part to test how much damage he would take from attacks. With this new knowledge, he could plan his blocks better.

Gravis was already using his Law of Suppression and his Law of Fire Composition to weaken the copies as much as possible. Without these two things weakening the copies severely, only one explosion would have completely destroyed Gravis’ tail and right arm.

Yet, Gravis was only so fast. He had unleashed two blocks at the same time, but he couldn’t unleash a third one to block the body of the Emperor. So, Gravis had to resort to creativity.

BANG!

The Emperor evaded the burned tail and attacked Gravis’ back, but suddenly, a powerful chunk of ore appeared between them. This was the remaining Peak Nascent Nourishing Rank ore that Gravis had inside his Spirit Space.

The ore exploded, and fragments of the ore hit Gravis’ back. Luckily, since Gravis wore an armor even harder than the ore, the armor only got dented slightly. The fragments’ force also threw Gravis into the distance again, which protected him from a follow-up attack from the Emperor.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, in front of Gravis, a concentrated fireball appeared! This was a fireball that had been created with the Law of Fire Explosion. Gravis was shooting right into it since it had spawned right in front of him. Additionally, Gravis was so fast that he couldn’t even react.

BOOOOOM!

The fireball exploded on Gravis’ chest without being weakened by any of Gravis’ Laws.

Chapter 567 - 567 – Trying To Survive

The explosion was massive, and Gravis was thrown back as all his forward momentum had been stopped by it. The armor on Gravis’ chest started melting, burning the scales and muscles touching it.

This was a huge issue since these muscles and scales were essential to protect his organs from blunt force. With their current burned state, if Gravis got hit again, his organs might break through his flesh and skin and shatter on the liquified armor. Regrowing organs took up a lot of Life Energy.

Yet, Gravis had an even bigger issue. Since Gravis’ forward momentum had been stopped, the Emperor could now unleash a follow-up attack.

BOOOOM!

The burning claw of the Emperor hit Gravis’ back, melting and destroying the armor on it. Additionally, Gravis’ spine broke into pieces and also became burned. Splinters of his spine destroyed parts of his organs as he got shot into the distance again.

BRRRR!

Another fireball immediately appeared in front of him, but this time, Gravis was prepared. He immediately used his Law of Suppression and the Composition Law of Fire to weaken the fireball as much as possible. Then, he kicked it.

The fireball exploded, but Gravis’ leg was only minorly injured since it had been weakened this time. The force of the explosion didn’t shoot him backward but downwards into the water.

SSSSSSSSSS!

A massive cloud of steam exploded out of the water as the water came into contact with Gravis’ hot armor. Additionally, the sudden stop that the fireball had forced on Gravis made his lungs break out of his body.

CRRRR!

Gravis quickly regrew his damaged organs at a different spot, his waist. His waist was relatively uninjured, and it could still give a lot of resistance towards blunt force.

BANG!

The Emperor didn’t let up and chased after Gravis, unleashing another explosion onto Gravis’ blocking right arm. The bone in Gravis’ right arm broke, but his skin had only received minor burns. Yet, the force of the Emperor’s attack forced Gravis deeper into the ocean.

BANG!

The Emperor just didn’t stop and kept close to Gravis. He immediately unleashed another explosive claw, which had been blocked by Gravis’ left arm. The ocean surface far above them boiled violently as the Emperor unleashed incredible heat.

Apparently, the Emperor had stopped trying to kill Gravis with his level two Law. Instead, he was now unleashing one physical attack after the other. This had the advantage that he wouldn’t use nearly as much Energy, and that approach had also shown promising results. So, before Gravis could even stop or ready himself again, the Emperor already unleashed his next attack.

BANG!

Gravis barely managed to move his tail with his Spirit to block. His tail had become immovable after he had destroyed three fire-copies with it, but with his Spirit, Gravis could still move it one last time. The burned tail broke into burned pieces that scattered into the surrounding water, and Gravis was further pushed into the deep.

Gravis couldn’t block with his arms again. If he did, the lack of a solid bone in them would make them break off. Yet, the Emperor kept close to Gravis and unleashed another attack, targeted at his head. Seeing that he had no other choice, Gravis blocked again with his right arm.

The burned arm broke into pieces, leaving Gravis only with his left arm.

BANG!

Gravis hit the ground of the ocean, creating a violent wave of sand and dirt that swept into the distance. Steam and sand clouds were huge hindrances for Lords, and maybe even for Kings, but the senses of Emperors were just too sharp. This cloud made no difference to them. The Emperor easily pinpointed Gravis’ new location and unleashed the same attack again.

Gravis had to block with his last remaining arm, which also quickly got broken into fragments. The molten pieces of armor fell off of Gravis’ body. Sadly, he couldn’t use these pieces to create a new shield or armor set since they had mixed with water. Additionally, forging new armor would cost him too much lightning. If he wasted his lightning now, he would definitely die!

By now, Gravis was several kilometers below the ocean floor. The attacks of the Emperor were simply too powerful, and they kept pushing him deeper. Additionally, even if he wanted to evade, it would prove challenging with this limited space.

The Emperor appeared again and attacked Gravis’ head.

’Do or die! I must comprehend something now!’ Gravis thought crazily as his mind went into overdrive.

BANG!

Gravis’ head was burned to a crisp. Fortunately, he had created a second brain in his waist and had already moved his Spirit to that place. This cost him an insane amount of Life Energy, but he had survived. Sadly, he hadn’t been able to comprehend anything.

BANG! BRRRRRRR!

Gravis broke through a hard layer of stone, and a fountain of violent magma blew out from underneath him. Yet, the natural elements wouldn’t make a difference to a fight in this power range.

The Emperor closed in again and unleashed another attack on Gravis’ torso. If that attack hit, all of Gravis’ organs would be turned to mush.

BANG!

The Emperor’s attack hit Gravis’ chest, but his eyes widened. Before he had hit Gravis’ chest, he had seen a thick layer of scales appearing at the spot. The scales burned, but nothing else had been injured.

’Finally!’ Gravis thought crazily. Gravis had just comprehended the Law of Skin Growth, which had allowed him to use his Life Energy to create a temporary barrier.

The Emperor saw this and stopped attacking.

BRRRR!

Some seconds passed in which the Emperor created over ten clones that all had their tails intersected with his body. The Emperor knew that if he continued attacking like this, Gravis could just create several strands of scales. He needed more power with a single attack.

During that time, Gravis’ armor managed to cool down a lot. Yes, he was currently inside a vast pit of magma, but that magma wasn’t nearly as hot as the Emperor’s fire.

Without hesitation, the Emperor charged at Gravis again. The copies also all charged at him.

SHING! BOOM!

Suddenly, a lot of hardened fragments appeared around Gravis and shot at the copies. Gravis had taken the destroyed and molten pieces of armor and shot them at the copies. Three copies managed to evade, but the other seven exploded at a distance.

’There goes that trump card,’ Gravis thought as he saw the remaining copies and the Emperor charge at him.

SHING! BOOM!

Three thin tentacles of scales grew out of Gravis’ body and destroyed the last three copies. Without muscles, these tentacles wouldn’t have been able to move, but Gravis could still use his Spirit to control them.

Yet, the main attack of the Emperor couldn’t be blocked like that. The fire-copies would explode if they were hit hard enough, but the Emperor would just ignore such a weak tentacle. Gravis had to deal with this attack another way!

BANG!

Suddenly, a long bone grew out of Gravis’ torso and hit the Emperor’s claw, which quickly exploded. The new bone in front of Gravis’ chest got pushed back violently and shot out of his back, leaving a huge hole. Luckily, Gravis had already relocated his organs previously.

Gravis had just comprehended the Law of Bone Growth.

The Emperor noticed that Gravis had learned multiple defensive Laws in a short amount of time and narrowed his eyes further. He had to end this fight quickly!

’I’ve got no time left!’ Gravis thought urgently. ’He’s growing desperate! Come on, the organs of plants work similarly to blood. Quick, think about it!’

BOOOOM!

Gravis managed to comprehend the Law of Blood Growth in this short timeframe. ’Yes!’ Gravis thought crazily.

During that time, the Emperor had created another ten copies, which now charged at Gravis.

BOOOOOM!

All ten copies, as well as the Emperor, exploded onto Gravis’ chest, turning his whole body into chunks. Yet, the Emperor didn’t relax one bit.

Why not?

Because behind Gravis’ destroyed body, a new, fully healed Gravis had appeared. Yet, there was a huge difference. This Gravis was literally made out of only skin, bones, organs, and blood. There were no muscles inside this body. When the Emperor’s attack had arrived, Gravis had quickly created a new body without muscles, which grew out of his back. By knowing these Laws, Gravis could survive in his new body.

Gravis could also achieve this with his Lightning Fork, but there was a considerable difference between these two methods. As injured and exhausted as he was right now, a new body that had been created with the Lightning Fork would have fallen a level. At that point, Gravis would only be a level three King. Then, there was really no way for him to win anymore.

Yet, by simply using up nearly all his Life Energy, Gravis could create a new body without muscles. Like this, he didn’t fall an entire level.

’5% Life Energy left. Seems like I have no other way anymore,’ Gravis thought.

BZZZZZ!

Suddenly, some green lightning appeared around Gravis’ body and filled up his Life Energy again.

Yes, this was Life Lightning.

When Gravis had learned the Composition Law of Lightning, he had also learned to summon Life Lightning again. Yet, entirely healing himself took a total of 20% of his lightning reserves. Gravis had just recovered to 40% of his lightning when he had been forced to refill his Life Energy. So, right now, Gravis only had 20% lightning left. He was basically back at the beginning but without any armor or muscles.

As long as the expenditure of his Life Energy didn’t out-speed his regeneration of lightning, Gravis had a way to survive!

Chapter 568 - 568 – Turn Of Events

The Emperor glared at Gravis while gritting his teeth. He had to end the fight now! He couldn’t waste more time here!

BRRRR!

Five more fire-copies appeared around him as he charged at Gravis again.

CRRR! SHING! BANG!

Several bone spikes grew out of Gravis’ skin. Then, he broke them off with his Spirit and launched them at the copies, which quickly exploded from a distance. The Emperor grew enraged when he saw this. He couldn’t use his fire-copies anymore with this new defensive technique!

BANG!

The Emperor attacked Gravis with his claws, and Gravis used his Spirit to move an arm into his way. The arm immediately exploded since it wasn’t powerful enough to resist such an attack without muscles.

BANG!

The attack also broke through the other arm, but when the tail came between them, the attack had been weakened to the degree that it became nearly useless. Gravis was thrown into the distance again as the Emperor continued chasing.

CRRR!

Gravis’ limbs regrew, but he narrowed his eyes. ’Regrowing these limbs still takes around 20% of my Life Energy. This is too much! I need muscles!’ he thought.

The next attack arrived, but before it could hit Gravis, one of his arms suddenly thickened and blocked the attack. He had finally learned the last Law regarding Body Growth.

Gravis had watched the CMO for a long time, and he had been on the cusp of understanding the Growth Laws regarding the body for quite a while now. This fight allowed him to learn all of them since he needed them to survive.

BANG!

Gravis was thrown back, and the bones in his right forearm broke. Yet, since he had just filled his right forearm with muscles, it didn’t get completely destroyed. Gravis could still block another time with this arm before he had to regrow it.

At least, that would have been the case in the past.

CRRR!

Gravis used his new Laws and completely fixed the arm. ’5% Life Energy to block one attack. I can deal with that!’

The Emperor grew enraged and nervous as he continued violently assaulting Gravis with everything he had.

Thanks to Gravis’ Law of Suppression and his Law of Fire Composition, the attacks never managed to completely destroy his blocking arm in one hit. This allowed him to fix them for a much smaller cost every time.

Gravis fixed his blocking right arm many times between attacks, and several minutes passed. By now, Gravis’ usage of Life Energy was just a bit below his regeneration of lightning. As long as nothing unforeseen happened, Gravis could kill the Emperor in the next hour. He only had to survive!

Yet, something unforeseen did happen. Something happened that Gravis would have never expected.

The Emperor stopped attacking and only glared at Gravis for several seconds. Then, he took a deep breath.

"I give up," the Emperor said.

Gravis was shocked when he heard that. Was this some kind of trick? The fight wasn’t over yet! The Emperor couldn’t possibly know that Gravis was out-regenerating him.

"What?" Gravis asked, shocked.

"I give up," the Emperor said again.

"Why?" Gravis asked.

"Look around you," the Emperor answered neutrally.

For the first time, Gravis had time to pay attention to his magma-filled surroundings.

’So, that’s why!’ Gravis thought as he realized the reason.

What did Gravis see?

In the surrounding 500 kilometers, Gravis saw a total of four different Emperors watching the fight. These were all Emperors from the land beasts’ camp. Several minutes had passed, which was enough for the scattered defensive line to inform the surrounding Empires. The Emperors immediately charged to this location and had been watching the fight.

Of course, none of these Emperors were as stupid as Commander Rime. They all kept themselves out of the fight since this was Gravis’ tempering experience. Yet, if the traitorous Emperor decided to flee or if Gravis died, they would charge him.

Gravis’ death was only worth something if the traitorous Emperor could claim the reward. Yet, with all these Emperors around him, he knew very well that he wouldn’t be able to survive.

This had also been the reason why the Emperor had been so desperate to finish the fight so quickly. He had gambled on the fact that he could kill Gravis before the Emperors arrived. Sadly, he had lost the gamble, and now, it was too late.

The fight was over.

"And you don’t want to kill me out of revenge?" Gravis asked coldly.

"What’s the point?" the Emperor asked neutrally. "My goal is supreme power, not your death. You were only a treasure that I wanted to obtain to make me more powerful."

Gravis sighed when he heard the Emperor. What a disappointing end to a fight. Instead of fighting to his death, his enemy had simply given up. On top of that, he had missed the perfect opportunity of killing Gravis due to his indecisiveness.

What opportunity?

Every Emperor counted as a Divine Beast, which meant that they also all had the all-out attack of Divine Beasts. If the Emperor had used that attack at the right moment, Gravis would have died. Yet, the Emperor hadn’t been willing to fall an entire Realm. This had been his undoing.

"Go ahead, end it. I won’t defend myself," the Emperor said neutrally as he just stood there, motionlessly.

"I don’t have enough Energy to kill you yet. First, I need to regenerate," Gravis said.

The lizard nodded. "Then hurry up and make it quick."

Gravis still felt awkward about the anticlimactic end of this fight. None of his opponents had given up like this before. This was something entirely new for him.

Several minutes passed in which nothing happened. Gravis had calmed down by now, and his Will-Aura had already finished increasing. Gravis had been at the edge of death multiple times during this fight, which made this fight supreme tempering for him.

Seeing that the fight had ended and that the lizard had truly given up, the Emperors came closer. They looked coldly at the traitorous Emperor, who simply ignored them. Yet, when the Emperors looked at Gravis, they all smiled at him encouragingly.

They all started talking with Gravis as they had all witnessed his power. Gravis had the power of an Emperor now, which made him equal in their eyes.

A new Emperor had been born!

It had been over a year since the last Emperor had appeared. The rise of a new Emperor was always worth celebrating, especially one as outstanding as Gravis.

After around ten minutes, Gravis had fully regrown his entire body. Additionally, his lightning and Spirit had also recovered to about 80%. Thanks to his Pulse, the regeneration of Energy could be expedited.

Now, Gravis had regenerated enough to kill the Emperor.

Yet, as Gravis looked at the Emperor, an idea sprung into his head. What would the death of the Emperor accomplish? Yes, Gravis would consume him and become a level five King, but was this the best use for such an Emperor?

Of course, Gravis wasn’t so soft-hearted that he would just let this Emperor escape. Even if he were that soft-hearted, his lightning would vehemently disagree. Yet, Gravis found an interesting solution.

"I have a method for you to survive," Gravis said to the lizard.

The Emperor only sneered. "Even if you decided to spare me, the other Emperors and the Judge wouldn’t. It’s not up to you."

Whoop!

Gravis retrieved the Life Ring and showed it to the present Emperors.

"This is an Artifact. As long as you do not resist, this Artifact will put undying loyalty towards me in your mind. You will still be yourself, but with the difference that you won’t ever be able to betray me."

"So, I would be a slave," he said coldly.

This was Gravis’ solution. In Gravis’ mind, becoming a slave was worse than dying. Gravis and his lightning wanted the Emperor to pay, which would typically mean killing him.

Yet, since slavery was even worse in his mind than killing, his lightning would have no issues. Additionally, Gravis wouldn’t force him into slavery. The Emperor could also decide to simply die.

If the traitorous Emperor also saw slavery worse than death, he would choose death.

"Yes, but isn’t following a more powerful beast the same as slavery basically?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "Additionally, I think I will need a helper or servant when I return to my homeworld. I can’t deal with everything myself."

"On top of that," Gravis said as his smirk intensified. "As I become stronger, I don’t have any use for an Emperor anymore. So, to let you remain useful, I would also need to make you stronger. After all, I’m not about to discard a valuable helper."

In Gravis’ mind, having a servant with undying loyalty would be way more profitable in the long run. He couldn’t always rely on his father for everything. When he inevitably returned to his homeworld, he would probably spend an extended period of time there to comprehend Laws.

The highest world was the best place to comprehend Laws. There surely was a mountain of unique resources in his homeworld that would help him comprehend Laws. Yet, his homeworld was filled with humans, and when dealing with humans, one needed money.

Having a powerful servant would help immensely with earning money. The lizard could do a lot of menial tasks that Gravis didn’t want to waste time on, such as advertising, dealing with customers, finding people, or something similar.

The lizard looked coldly at the ring and remained silent. He was unwilling to give up his path to supreme power, and Gravis had shot through the ranks at insane speeds. The lizard knew that Gravis was only around 160 years old, and he was already as powerful as an Emperor.

If he died now, he would never achieve his goal, but he still had a chance as long as he followed Gravis. Additionally, the lizard expected that if Gravis died, the Artifact would stop working. Wouldn’t he regain his freedom then?

In the end, the lizard valued his life over his freedom.

"I agree," the lizard said without hesitation.

Gravis smiled. "Good!"

"Wait!" one of the Emperors to the side said as he interrupted Gravis. "This has not happened before, and we can’t let you do anything unusual right now."

Gravis looked with cold eyes at the Emperor. "So? What do you want?" he asked.

"We wait for the Judge to arrive," the Emperor answered. "I, personally, have nothing against this development. You have won against the traitorous Emperor, which means that you can do whatever you want with him."

"But, he is still a traitor, and the punishment of traitors is under the jurisdiction of the Judges. If the Judge agrees, no one will stop you, but if he disagrees, the Emperor will die."

Gravis also looked at the other Emperors to see if they agreed with this proposition. The other three Emperors also agreed.

Gravis put the Life Ring away again. "Fine. We’ll wait for the Judge," he said.

’Great, now I have to tell my entire life story again. Otherwise, the Judge won’t believe me at all,’ Gravis thought with annoyance.

After all of this had been decided, all the Emperors escorted Gravis and the traitorous Emperor back to an Empire of the land beasts. The ocean above them was violently steaming due to the magma coming out of the ground. It would only be a matter of time before a passing sea beast found this anomaly and contacted a sea beast Empire.

After arriving at the Empire, everyone waited for several hours. The Judge was a level two Emperor, and he wouldn’t take more than some hours to arrive.

And then, the Judge arrived.

Everyone noticed the arrival of the Judge and stood up with respect to him. Every Judge was outstanding for their Realm, and this Judge was a level two Emperor that could even put up a fight against level three Emperors.

When Gravis saw the Judge, his eyes widened in shock.

"It’s you!?"

Chapter 569 - 569 – The Judge

The Judge looked at Gravis with solemn eyes. "Every time," he said slowly. "Why is it you, every time? We have more traitors than before, but there are still not that many. So, why is it that it’s always you stumbling into them?"

Gravis smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. "I just didn’t want my children to be under potential traitors. It’s not my fault that there actually was one," he said.

The Judge sighed. "I know," he said helplessly. "Tell me how all of this happened."

Who the Judge was should be obvious by now. It was the Grand Elder of the Icy Pride Empire, the white ape.

This explained several things. The traitorous Emperor had said that only a Judge would be able to punish Gravis for his offense of killing an Inquisitor. However, no Judge had arrived to punish Gravis in the last century. Why was that?

That was because the Grand Elder had been present when the Empress gave him his punishment. The two of them had probably decided on the punishment together. Like this, Gravis had already been punished by a Judge.

Additionally, only Judges could order Inquisitors around. Hadn’t the Grand Elder said that he had sent the badger to the southern defensive line to check for traitors when Gravis had been part of the invasion force? On top of that, it had also been the Grand Elder that had sent the Inquisitor with him when Gravis had his brief run-in with the traitorous Squad Leader of the Elite Striking Squad.

Everything had pointed to the Grand Elder. Sadly, Gravis hadn’t been able to make the connection since the Grand Elder always took a backseat to the Empress.

Yet, something else also interested Gravis. Based on how powerful a Judge had to be, the Grand Elder would need to have the ability to fight a level three Emperor. Was he truly so powerful? So, Gravis checked the Grand Elder out again, and what he found shocked him.

"You’ve comprehended Punishment Lightning?" Gravis asked in shock.

The Grand Elder huffed. "You’ve finally noticed, huh? I’ve already comprehended it when you returned from the Plant Ultimate. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when you didn’t notice the Punishment Lightning inside me."

"I mean," Gravis said awkwardly, "I have no reason to keep inspecting you every time we meet. You’re not an enemy."

The Grand Elder sighed again as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Just tell me what happened," he said helplessly.

Gravis told the Grand Elder everything that had happened as soon as he had left the Icy Pride Empire. He told him that he had found it quite suspicious that this defensive line hadn’t moved in forever and that he had also suspected the Commander of being a traitor, which had turned out not to be true.

Then, he narrated how he had started to suspect the Emperor and how he had prepared himself for the fight. After telling the Grand Elder everything about the fight, he finally arrived at his proposition.

When the Grand Elder heard Gravis’ proposition, he stroked his beard in thought. "I presume that this Life Ring of yours is from your homeworld?" he asked.

Gravis nodded.

"Can I see it?" he asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Gravis said as he threw the Life Ring over.

The Grand Elder inspected the Life Ring, but he just couldn’t make any sense of it. Things like Artifacts and Formation Arrays didn’t exist in this world. To the Grand Elder, something like this appeared way too magical to be real. How could someone use this tiny ring to control another beast?

If Gravis hadn’t already proven to be anything but normal, the Grand Elder would have had immense doubts. Yet, if it was Gravis, everything he said was most likely true.

After inspecting the Life Ring for a minute, the Grand Elder looked coldly at the lizard. Surprisingly, the lizard looked rather nervous and afraid now. Earlier, he had had no hope of survival, which was why he had been able to remain calm, but this time, there was a genuine chance of survival. He didn’t want to die.

"I need to test its validity," the Grand Elder said as he threw the Life Ring back to Gravis.

"How do you plan to do that?" Gravis asked.

Proving something like this was difficult. The lizard could simply act like he was under Gravis’ control if the Life Ring didn’t work. True loyalty couldn’t be found out that easily.

"Simple," the Grand Elder said, "As a Judge, it is also my responsibility to find new Inquisitors, and for me to do that, I need to have comprehended the Law of the Mind."

Gravis remembered that Inquisitors had to go through an invasive investigation of their minds to see if they were spies. Initially, Gravis had thought that there were some beasts out there that were responsible for this, but it made more sense that the Judges themselves had this ability.

Gravis gestured for the Grand Elder to start. Then, the Grand Elder turned to the lizard.

"If you want to survive, you have no other option but to consent to a mind-search. Are you willing?" the Grand Elder asked.

Instead of being fearful about someone digging around in his mind, the lizard felt relieved. It looked like he would be able to survive. "Yes, Judge," the lizard said as he lowered his head.

The Grand Elder flew closer but never dropped his guard. After all, the lizard was a traitor. Then, the Grand Elder put his hand on the lizard’s head and instructed him to not resist. The mind was the most intimate and most protected place of a living being. Even with a level two Law, one couldn’t forcefully read someone’s thoughts.

The lizard did as instructed, and some minuscule strings of lightning came out of the Grand Elder and entered the lizard’s head. After around five minutes, the Grand Elder retrieved his hand and stroked his beard again.

"A traitor rarely allows us to search their thoughts," the Grand Elder muttered. "We have gained a lot of valuable intel with this."

"Gravis," the Grand Elder said as he turned to Gravis, "You have not only found a traitor but also allowed the land beasts’ camp to learn a lot about the sea beasts. You will probably receive another 50 years of access for Law Comprehension Areas."

"Huh, that’s nice," Gravis said as he scratched the back of his neck. "To be honest, there are a lot of things that I wanted to learn but couldn’t due to time constraints. This is quite useful."

The Grand Elder nodded. "Use the Life Ring. After that, I will take another look at the mind of the traitor," he said.

Gravis nodded and turned to the lizard. "You will feel something enter your mind. If you resist, it won’t work. At that time, you have no chance of survival anymore."

The traitorous Emperor had enough time to get his thoughts in order while they had waited for the Judge. By now, he had already accepted the fact that, in the future, his life would be fully under Gravis’ control.

"Go ahead," the lizard said.

Gravis activated the Life Ring. Since the effects of the Life Ring were invisible, the present Emperors saw nothing happening for several seconds. Yet, as they were watching, an incredibly complex Formation Array entered the lizard’s mind.

Ten seconds later, the lizard opened his eyes again. Then, he bowed before Gravis. "Morus greets Master," he said deferentially.

Gravis nodded. "Allow the Judge to inspect your mind one more time," Gravis ordered.

"Yes, Master," Morus said as he lowered his head towards the Grand Elder.

The watching Emperors were still skeptical about all of this. To them, it seemed like nothing had changed. Ten silent seconds had passed, and without anything happening, an Emperor was already entirely under Gravis’ command? This was hard to believe.

The Grand Elder put his hand on the lizard’s head again and looked at his mind one more time. Initially, he didn’t see anything different from before, but as soon as the Grand Elder looked at Morus’ loyalty and his opinion of Gravis, everything had changed.

The Grand Elder saw an undying loyalty and worship towards Gravis. It was impossible for a beast to fake the thoughts in their mind, which was why this method of mind-reading had proven quite effective. The Grand Elder had never seen anything like this. It was like Gravis was the most important thing in the entire existence for Morus.

The Grand Elder retrieved his hand and released a shaky breath. "This Life Ring is truly terrifying, Gravis. It warps the personality of a beast to the point that they aren’t themselves anymore."

"As far as I’m concerned, the traitorous Emperor Morus has died. This is no longer Morus. This is simply a selfless tool that will sacrifice itself for its master. To be honest, I would rather die than ever live like this," the Grand Elder said. "A beast with no ambition is no beast anymore."

Gravis nodded. "I told him what would happen, and he has decided to rather live like this than die. He has chosen life over freedom, and that is his own decision. Also, it’s not like he will remain like this forever. At some point, I will probably give him his freedom back. Of course, that won’t happen before I have left this world."

The Grand Elder nodded. "True, this is his choice. So, Gravis, official business is over. Do you want to return to the Icy Pride Empire for the special task that the Empress has for you?" he asked.

Gravis only smiled. "No, I want to spend some time with my kids first. I will be back in about a week or so."

The Grand Elder nodded. "Alright. I will distribute the knowledge we have extracted from the traitorous Emperor and take action." Then, he looked at the present Emperors. "Do not attack the sea beasts right now since the Empire behind this defensive line is too powerful for this lineup. Reconstruct a new defensive line in the conquered territory, and I will deal with everything else."

"Yes, Judge!" the Emperors said with respect. Then, they all scattered to plan the new defensive line.

The Grand Elder threw one last look at Gravis, nodded, and then flew back to the Icy Pride Empire.

Meanwhile, Gravis smirked happily as he found his children with his Spirit Sense. Without waiting for a second more, Gravis flew towards them as Morus followed respectfully behind him. There was no sense in keeping Morus inside the Life Ring’s Space. After all, Morus was powerful enough to fend for himself.

Then, Gravis spent a happy and jovial week with his children.

Chapter 570 - 570 – The Empress' Task

Aris, Cera, and Yersi were astonished when they saw the deferential Morus following behind Gravis. Their father had managed to enslave an Emperor!

If this had happened before they had met Gravis again, they wouldn’t have thought that this was so impressive. Yet, when they have felt the power of the Emperor and had seen the power of the level two Law that Gravis had unleashed, they fully realized the gulf between them and an Emperor. Emperors were truly powerful.

An Inquisitor, a level five King that was more powerful than the three of them combined, only had the Battle-Strength of an average Emperor. Additionally, an Emperor was two levels above an Inquisitor. Emperors were the true elite of this world, and their father now counted as one of them!

In the days they spent together, Gravis taught them every concept about Laws he had found out. He told them about how different Laws could be combined and how combinations were even possible across elements.

The Composition Law of Lighting especially interested them. If they could comprehend this Law, they would be able to regenerate themselves to their peak while only spending some lightning. Something like this was a massive advantage in a battle.

Gravis also told them about his fight with Morus and how he had been able to use the Body Growth Laws to use up his Life Energy and then refill it with his Life Lightning. Together with their powerful scales, such an ability would give them a supreme defense.

After talking with Gravis for several days, they no longer wanted to become Emperors as quickly as possible. Now, they also understood why Gravis hadn’t bothered to become an Emperor yet. Right now, their Battle-Strength was above average, and this was the perfect time to comprehend Laws.

One had to remember that the three of them were Divine Beasts, which meant that their bodies were twice as powerful as average level five Kings. Yet, that advantage would vanish as soon as they became Emperors. After all, every Emperor counted as a Divine Beast.

After around a week, Gravis said goodbye to his three children again as he returned to the Icy Pride Empire. The three of them would continue staying at the defensive line until they had enough Contribution Points for a hundred years of Law Comprehension Area access. This meant that they would need to stay here for an additional 150 years.

The access to Law Comprehension Areas was expensive, and it wasn’t easy to gain it. One had to remember that Gravis only got 50 years for finding and "killing" a traitorous Emperor. Additionally, his actions had also brought a lot of intel about the sea beasts to the land beasts. Other beasts didn’t have it as easy.

The easiest way for Kings to gain access to Law Comprehension Areas was becoming an Inquisitor. Sadly, the three of them were not powerful enough for that job. On top of that, it wasn’t even certain that their mindsets were fit for the position of an Inquisitor.

They had to gain access the hard way, which was spending a long time in service of the land beasts or donating corpses of their slain enemies.

Yes, that was right. Beasts could also donate corpses to gain Contribution Points.

Why was that?

Because the Bulwark required food. The sea beasts attacked the Bulwark incredibly rarely. The reason for that was the power of the Bulwark. Yet, to keep the power so high, the Bulwark needed a lot of food, which came in the form of corpses.

Yet, finding enemies was not up to the beasts. As long as they didn’t infiltrate the sea beasts’ camp, they couldn’t just randomly find an enemy sea beast. So, the three of them were stuck with wasting time in a defensive line.

But that was their story, not Gravis’.

Just as promised, Gravis had returned to the Icy Pride Empire in a week. Without doing anything else, Gravis directly went to the Empress on the Mountain of Pride. As always, the Empress sat on her throne. Gravis really wondered what she was doing here the entire time. He had never seen her leave the Mountain of Pride even once.

"I’m back!" Gravis announced cheerfully as he arrived in front of the Empress. This time, the Grand Elder was also present beside her.

The Empress looked at the silently following Morus behind Gravis in an interested manner. Then, she nodded towards Gravis. "You receive another 50 years of unrestricted access to the Law Comprehension Areas," she said, unceremoniously.

Gravis only smirked when he heard that. This would be useful for comprehending the Composition Laws of Light and Darkness. Additionally, he could visit a Law Comprehension Area for the metal-equivalent to Punishment Lightning. That place would surely have all the necessary materials for Gravis to comprehend the Hard Complex Material Law.

Gravis didn’t forget that his armor had only been able to resist Morus’ level two Law because of Gravis’ comprehension of the Fire Composition Law. This Law had weakened Morus’ fire by a total of 50%! Additionally, Morus’ level two Fire Law wasn’t even a fully attack-oriented one. Its most powerful strength had been the ability to fight alongside him, which had been severely countered by Gravis’ Will-Aura.

Gravis couldn’t count on the fact that he would only fight Emperors that he perfectly countered. If he had fought someone that had comprehended a defensive level two Law, Gravis wouldn’t even be able to injure them with his Lightning Crescent. He needed more level two Laws.

"So, I’ve heard you’ve got a special job for me?" Gravis asked. "Even the Grand Elder had reminded me of this task when we met about a week ago. It seems rather important."

The Empress leaned back on her throne. Usually, the Grand Elder would have objections to that, but he had grown used to it when it involved Gravis. He didn’t even attempt to keep up any form of formality in front of Gravis.

"I hadn’t expected that you would have a run-in with a traitorous Emperor when you visited your offspring," the Empress said as she threw a glance at Morus. "The task would have been perfect for you as a level three King, but with your increase in strength, it lost parts of its impact for you."

"So, you say that I’m too powerful for this task?" Gravis asked, confused.

"You were already more than capable of taking care of this task when you were a level three King, but it would have still had, at least, some excitement. Yet, as you are now, there won’t be any excitement," the Empress said.

Gravis raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you want me to fight Kings? That’s the only possibility I can think of," Gravis said.

The Empress nodded. "Exactly. Every 250 years, the five Ultimates gather to exchange their comprehension of Laws. For 50 years, all five Ultimates will reside in the same place in the core of the world and release the comprehension of their Laws for the other Ultimates to understand."

"As you might have already guessed, an area where five level five Emperors release all their comprehension would become the best Law Comprehension Area of this entire world. This also means that every beast would want to go there and watch."

"Of course, the Ultimates have their pride, and they won’t allow just anyone to watch. Only the level four Emperors are allowed to watch and only in shifts of ten years each. We can’t let our territories remain defenseless, after all."

"Yet, there are two more spots, and these two spots are for the most powerful King of this world and their respective Emperor. So, two years before the Ultimates meet, every Empire will send their most powerful King to battle with the other Kings. The winner will then be declared as the most powerful King and will be allowed to watch the meeting of the Ultimates together with their respective Emperor for its full duration."

"You see what I’m getting at, right?" the Empress asked after her long explanation.

"Huh," Gravis uttered. "I can’t say that I’m not interested in this meeting. What are the elements of the Ultimates?"

"The five Ultimates are: The Plant Ultimate, the Lightning Ultimate, the Metal Ultimate, the Water Ultimate, and the Life Ultimate. You can guess the elements of the first four Ultimates. The Life Ultimate doesn’t have an elemental affinity but has incredible knowledge in Life Laws, which allows her to keep regenerating herself in a fight."

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. ’This means I can probably learn about the Hard Complex and Medium Complex Materials. Additionally, I should look more into Life Laws. Alrighty then.’

"Well, I guess it’s time for me to beat up some Kings," Gravis said as he cracked his knuckles.