Ch. 631..640

Chapter 631 - 631 – Unforeseen Developments

Gravis almost couldn’t believe that Morus was throwing his life away to get revenge on him. Was he really willing to sacrifice his life for a mere moment at revenge!? That was stupid!

Yet, in this heated moment, Gravis hadn’t realized that he had done the same thing as Morus in the past. When Gravis had decided to temper his Spirit with Destruction Lightning, he had also been willing to throw his life away for revenge. He had done the same thing.

Gravis had three choices in front of him now.

First choice: Find and kill a level two Emperor to become an Emperor himself.

Second choice: Trust that his children were powerful enough to, at least, stall Morus.

Third choice: Ask Orthar or Meadow for help.

All three of these choices were terrible. If Gravis found and consumed a level two Emperor, he would need several minutes to finish his evolution. During that time, he was also very vulnerable.

It was very possible that this was just a ploy of Morus to force Gravis into an evolution. During that time, Gravis would find it difficult to resist since all his being would be focused on his evolution. This might very well end in his death.

Trusting his children was incredibly risky. Even if they had already become level two Emperors by now and could fight a level three Emperor, they would still have huge issues against Morus.

Morus probably knew three level two Laws by now. This made him very powerful for a level three Emperor. Gravis didn’t care about the strength of someone inside their Realm since his Will-Aura suppressed a lot of their fighting power, but other beasts cared very much.

As for asking Meadow or Orthar? Meadow would probably just tell him to fuck off. Even though Meadow was Gravis’ friend, she respected power, and she wouldn’t help Gravis with an issue he had created himself.

Orthar would probably help, but Gravis would feel like that would endanger his path severely. As soon as someone relied on someone else with an issue they could resolve themselves, they might fall into a habit of always seeking outside help.

Not being able to defend oneself against something was one thing, but Gravis had the power to kill Morus. Being protected against something overpowering like Heaven was one thing, but being protected against something one could solve themselves was fatal to one’s mindset.

’I have to risk it!’ Gravis thought with gritted teeth.

Then, Gravis shot into the Grand Lake in search of a level two Emperor. He couldn’t let his fuck-up endanger the life of his children! If someone had to risk dying, it was him.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, a wall of fire appeared in front of Gravis, and he came to a stop.

"You are truly foolish," Morus said. He had stopped flying towards the south and had returned as he stood before Gravis.

"What are you planning now?" Gravis said with narrowed eyes.

"Even in this situation, you believe you have a choice?" Morus asked with a sneer. "Do you truly believe that you have a choice right now? Having a choice implies having control, but you don’t have any control."

Morus slowly circled Gravis from a distance. "You are not in control, which is why you have no choice. Meanwhile, I am in control and have all the choices, and one of these choices is to remain by your side and slowly grind you to death."

"What do you mean?" Gravis asked with nervousness.

"I am faster than you, and you can’t kill me as long as I fight from a distance and very defensively. If you consume a level two Emperor, I will kill you. If you try to comprehend more Laws, I will attack you and break your focus. If you decide to flee, I will chase."

"I am not forced to fight you openly, while you are forced to fight me if I so want. Your life is in my claws," Morus said as he clenched one of his claws.

For the first time in a long while, Gravis felt suppressed again. An opponent that he could defeat was suppressing him like he was more powerful. This was the first time this had ever happened to Gravis. It had always been someone more powerful than him that suppressed him.

Yet, Gravis had learned a lot, and he also saw the way out of this situation.

"You are in control," Gravis conceded, "but not completely."

Morus smirked. "And why is that?"

"Because even this situation of being suppressed can allow me to comprehend Laws," Gravis said. "I already know the Law of Suppression. If I remain in this situation, I might as well learn the Law of Control or manage to upgrade my Law of Suppression."

"Additionally, you do not know of all my methods. I have a way of becoming an Emperor without you being able to kill me," Gravis said coldly.

"So, yes, you are in control, but only partially," Gravis said. "You can influence an outcome, but you can’t make sure of the outcome."

CLAP!

Morus suddenly clapped into his claws loudly one time. "And that’s exactly what I wanted to show you," Morus said.

Gravis immediately grew confused. Morus had surprised him multiple times in the last minutes, and he did it again just now. "What do you mean?" Gravis asked coldly.

Morus sighed as his body relaxed. "It’s true that I have a ton of hatred for being under you for so long, but I am not an emotional beast. Just like you, I mostly follow logic and seek my own gain."

Morus looked towards the Grand Lake, a rare show of an opening. "When I regained my control, I was reminded of your talk with the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts. You have talked openly with him, not even taking note of me. So, I’ve heard everything you had talked about."

"He is a powerful level five Emperor. Yet, he does not dare to go against you. If he weren’t supremely smart and crafty, he wouldn’t have been able to lead such a huge faction and achieve so much success. I concede the fact that he is probably far craftier and smarter than me."

"So, if even he doesn’t want to make you his enemy, how could I dare to? This got me thinking. You are speaking of your experiences and powers so freely, yet what is to say that you do not have even more stashed away in secret? There are too many unknown factors about you."

Gravis realized that Morus wanted to teach him something, but he didn’t lower his guard. This could just be another one of Morus’ tricks.

"I hate you," Morus said coldly, "but I won’t let my emotions impede my path to power. The reason why I betrayed the land beasts and went to the sea beasts was for my power, and for the same reason, I will betray my emotions today."

"Trust me when I say that it takes everything out of me to not kill you right now, but I see this as an opportunity to become more powerful. Emotions are a weakness, and I need to resist and fight them to become more powerful. The success of your friend, the octopus, has shown me this. He has managed to eliminate his emotions and follow cold logic. I am still emotional, but I want to solve this issue," Morus said coldly.

"Get to the point," Gravis said as he relaxed a bit.

Morus still looked at Gravis with killing intent. "You have won against me previously, and my life has been in your hands. You have decided to spare me, and I have paid that debt by being your servant for 700 years. My emotions do not want to accept this, but my mind tells me that we are even now. All debts have been repaid."

"So," Morus said coldly, "as two strangers with no open debts between us, consider my lesson about control as a down-payment for our future cooperation."

And once more, Morus surprised Gravis. "Cooperation?"

Morus nodded. "If there is a lot that your octopus friend can gain from a cooperation with you, there should also be plenty of it for me. My goal is not revenge, but supreme power, and if you can help me in achieving it, I’m willing to do nearly everything."

Gravis sneered. "What if I don’t want to?"

Morus only smirked. "You must," Morus said.

"Why?"

"Because I have given you a lesson in control out of my own goodwill. You are a very honest beast, or human, Gravis. If someone helps you, you feel the need to help them back," Morus said with a smirk.

Then, he flew closer without any fear of any of Gravis’ attacks.

"I don’t know if that is a weakness or a strength, but right now, it is a weakness, and I’m going to exploit it," Morus said. "If you want it or not, you are stuck with repaying me."

Gravis remained silent as he wasn’t sure what he should feel right now. On one hand, he was happy that his children were safe and that he had seen another weakness of his, which was the illusion of having too much control. Yet, on the other hand, Morus was exploiting Gravis’ honest personality.

"Okay," Gravis said. "I will repay you this once. What do you want?"

Morus only smirked.

"Once is all I need. As for what I want..."

"I also want to go to the highest world," Morus said with a smirk.

Gravis narrowed his eyes further. He wasn’t a big fan of bringing Morus to the highest world, but he needed to repay him anyway. Additionally, Morus would no longer be even close to a match for him when the time came. At that time, Gravis would just leave.

"Deal."

Chapter 632 - 632 – Confinement?

Morus smirked. "Good," he said. "Then you can go visit your offspring. I can’t understand why you are hanging onto them so tightly, but that’s your thing. You can simply contact me when it’s time to go."

Gravis was not comfortable with the situation. Obviously, Morus hated him deeply. Yet, Morus had put benefits above his emotions and even called emotions a weakness. Sadly, that mindset was one that Gravis could empathize with.

Back in the lower world, when he had still not confronted his feelings, he had thought the same thing. Emotional decisions would mostly end with a bad outcome, which was why he hated and suppressed his emotions back then.

Yet, after talking to his mother, he realized that suppressing his emotions to have a greater shot at achieving his goal would invalidate his entire goal. Sure, he would be free in the end, but what then? Everything after that would be hollow.

Gravis still didn’t make decisions on an emotional basis, but he also didn’t need to completely suppress and kill them. Gravis saw the danger in what such a mindset could bring in the end, but he didn’t tell Morus.

After all, the two of them were definitely not companions. Telling someone about their flaws would help them, and Gravis surely didn’t want to help Morus more than necessary. After they returned to the highest world, their paths would split. The chances were high that Morus would be far out of his element in the highest world and would find a quick death.

"When it is time, I will contact you," Gravis said evenly. Then, he turned around and shot towards the south. It had been over 700 years since he had seen his children, and he wanted to know how everything was going for them.

Morus only smirked. "I wish you luck," he said with a weird tone.

Gravis furrowed his brows as he heard Morus. ’I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t know something I don’t know about my kids, but his way of speaking just sounds ominous. Is this another way for him to rile me up emotionally?’ Gravis thought.

Ironically, Morus had learned a lot about control while he had been Gravis’ servant. Because of that, when Gravis talked to Morus, it felt challenging for him to gain control of the conversation. Gravis enjoyed being in control, and he was pretty good at gaining control over a situation, but it felt very difficult when he talked to Morus.

’There’s one thing I know for sure now,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’Morus is not stupid, and he is very dangerous. I guess most of my problems when dealing with him come from the fact that Morus knows a ton about me while I know nearly nothing about him. Our powers are comparable, but Morus is able to take most of the control for himself.’

’Yet, I wonder, is my feeling of having control really factual, or have my opponents just not shown their hands? Morus is openly demonstrating his control of the situation, while others might keep it a secret.’

Gravis sneered. ’Morus might not have realized it, but his conduct is very humanlike. I shouldn’t forget that I’m currently in a world filled with beasts, which normally are not the biggest fans of scheming. When I return home or go to the next world, I will come into contact with humans again, and humans like scheming. I must not relax and think of myself to be the intellectually superior one. Otherwise, I might die to my own arrogance.’

Gravis thought more about his mindset and how it might affect him in an environment filled with humans while he flew towards the south. He didn’t want to admit it, but Morus’ lesson had been incredibly helpful to Gravis and might even save his life in the future.

’You hate me, and you probably want nothing more than my death. Yet, you have taught me a valuable lesson, knowing that it might ensure my survival in the future. I have no idea if I should be thankful or not. It’s like I’m a beggar, and you throw a ton of money at me with disdain. Should I be thankful or not?’ Gravis thought.

Gravis reached the southern territories pretty quickly. Surprisingly, no beast stopped him when he simply entered it. Usually, in such a time of crisis, everyone entering the region should be thoroughly questioned. After all, what if he was a spy?

Gravis had expected to be questioned, but when he saw that no one came to question him, he stopped of his own volition. His Spirit Sense quickly found a level two Emperor.

"Hello, I am Gravis. Do you know of the whereabouts of my three children, Aris, Cera, and Yersi?" Gravis asked.

First, the level two Emperor felt rage and disdain that a mere King dared to contact him, but when he heard Gravis’ name, he remembered him. Back then, Gravis had been known by everyone in power. After all, he was the most powerful King in the world by a huge margin.

Yet, hearing something and feeling something was an entirely different concept. The level two Emperor was very experienced in feeling danger. After all, one had to be experienced to become so powerful in such an environment.

Because of that, the level two Emperor used his instinct and feelings to get a feel of Gravis’ power, and what he saw was terrifying.

On the outside, the level two Emperor showed no change in expression, but inside, he was shocked beyond belief. He felt an incredibly terrifying feeling of danger radiating off of Gravis. This feeling even told him that if he were to anger Gravis, only death would await him.

Such a feeling didn’t rely on a Law. After all, the Law of Danger only activated when someone had the power to threaten the user and had malicious intent. Gravis had no malicious intent, which was why the Law of Danger of the level two Emperor didn’t get triggered.

What he was using was simply a feeling he had developed after fighting many, many life and death battles. After all, there was a reason why he was the leader of one of the most important defensive lines of their region.

"Greetings, Gravis," the level two Emperor transmitted back. "I know of the three beasts you’re searching for. I will show you where they are."

Gravis smiled and nodded to the level two Emperor. Normally, he would have said thank you, but Gravis didn’t want to make the level two Emperor feel uncomfortable.

An image appeared in Gravis’ mind, showing the general layout of the southern region and where he could find his children. Yet, Gravis had to lift an eyebrow when he saw that image. His three children were far away from each other.

’I mean, they can’t always remain together, I presume,’ Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. ’After all, they are three different individuals with their own beliefs. The closest one is Aris. Let’s check up on him first.’

With that said, Gravis shot further towards the south. Yet, surprisingly, after only some minutes, Gravis was stopped by someone.

"Aris, are you crazy!?" a nervous and scared voice contacted Gravis. "If the Tornado Emperor finds out that you have left your confinement, he will kill you!"

Gravis’ mind immediately went wild. Confinement? What was going on?

Gravis looked over at the origin of the voice transmission and saw a black snake, a level one Emperor. By the looks of the snake, it felt very concerned and nervous right now.

When the snake saw Gravis’ eyes, it became surprised. "Oh, you’re not Aris," the snake said with a sigh.

Gravis quickly came closer. "No, I’m not Aris," Gravis said evenly. "I’m Gravis, and Aris is my son."

Now, the snake was taken aback again. "You’re Gravis?" he asked in shock.

"I am," Gravis said. "So, what was that about confinement?" he asked with a cold tone.

The black snake sighed again. "Your offspring is not allowed to communicate with each other or leave. If they try to do any of that, they will be killed."

Gravis’ eyes narrowed. "Oh? How did that happen?" he asked. "As far as I know, confining someone is very rare for beasts. Normally, we just kill anyone that acts against our camp. So, where did all this confinement business come from?"

The black snake looked like it wanted to say something, but it kept silent. "Talking to you is already a risk. If word gets out that I’m giving you insider information, I will be ruthlessly killed. Don’t put me into a dangerous spot," it said.

Gravis’ emotions were worked up, but he didn’t want to make the snake’s life difficult. Instead, he asked a simple question. "How powerful is the Tornado Emperor? You should be able to tell me that, at least."

"Level three Emperor," the snake answered.

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "That’s enough for me," he said.

BANG!

Then, Gravis shot towards the south with even more speed. Gravis thought that something smelled very fishy here. If one of his three children had betrayed the land beasts’ camp, they would have been killed, and if they had done something not as devastating, they would be sent to the frontlines. Keeping them confined like this would not help the land beasts’ camp at all.

This meant that this confinement couldn’t be for the greater good of the land beasts’ camp.

So, the only other reason was personal gain. This Tornado Emperor wanted to gain something out of confining them.

Yet, Gravis wouldn’t jump to conclusions. He had just learned from Morus that his expectations and knowledge about the mindset of others might not be as accurate as he believed. Because of that, the first thing he would do is to find out the reason behind why all of this was going on.

Then, he would act accordingly.

Chapter 633 - 633 – Tornado Emperor

Gravis quickly came closer to Aris’ place of confinement, but he couldn’t reach it since someone intercepted him.

"Die!" a powerful voice came, followed by a mighty and concentrated wind lance.

Gravis had been prepared for a fight ever since he had heard that his children were in confinement. Because of that, he had always been cautious about anyone attacking him. Additionally, he had seen how the attacker had readied themselves.

The sense of a beast could be likened to an echo of a bat. They could feel everything from a terrifying distance, but it wasn’t very clear. Meanwhile, the Spirit Sense of a human was incredibly detailed. Because of that, Gravis had been able to see the shifts of expression on the level three Emperor, which allowed him to react to the attack.

Yet, the wind lance had been terrifyingly fast. If Gravis hadn’t seen the beast before it actually launched its attack, Gravis would have been severely injured, even if he already wore his armor.

Whooosh!

The will upon the wind lance was broken as a short burst of lightning allowed Gravis to sidestep the attack. Then, he looked at his attacker’s appearance.

It was a green, snake-like dragon. This dragon looked very similar to the Golden Dragon Gravis had fought in the past. Additionally, this dragon had seven eyes on his head. ’Another beast that subconsciously emulates Heaven’s looks,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes.

The dragon was shocked when he saw Gravis evade his attack. Not only had Gravis sidestepped the attack, but he had also made it impossible for the dragon to control his attack. This couldn’t be Aris.

"Who are-"

BANG!

Lightning exploded behind Gravis as he shot at the dragon. He used his entire speed with this acceleration, but thanks to his new Laws, he hadn’t spent much Energy on the acceleration.

The dragon’s eyes widened in shock as Gravis showed far more speed than he had expected. Not even Aris was as fast as this new beast, and Aris counted as a very fast beast! Was this one of Aris’ children?

BZZZZ!

Gravis immediately put as much lightning into his saber as possible, which was about 70% of his total storage. Thanks to the increased power of his lightning that he had received by understanding several lightning-related Laws, he only needed to use 70% of it to unleash a fully powered Lightning Crescent.

Usually, as a beast with a wind affinity, the Tornado Emperor should have been able to barely react to such an attack, but Gravis’ instantaneous actions without giving the Emperor any time to speak took him by surprise.

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Lightning Crescent exploded onto the Tornado Emperor’s body as a ton of beasts in the surrounding kilometers got consumed by the explosion. All the Energy of the dead beasts was gathered by Gravis, allowing him to reach his peak again.

"ARGH!" the Tornado Emperor shouted with pain and hate as most of his skin was turned to dust. He had wanted to talk to this beast, but this insane beast had immediately attacked him. He had to pay!

The scales of the Tornado Emperor started healing. Obviously, he had comprehended the Law of Skin Growth.

WHOOOOM!

Yet, Gravis unleashed his Will-Aura and Law of Suppression. Together with these two things, he unleashed his Body Composition Law to destroy all the Life Energy that the Emperor used to heal his scales.

Sadly, this was a level three Emperor, someone that was four levels above Gravis. Even with Gravis’ mighty Will-Aura, he wasn’t able to stop the regeneration of the dragon’s scales. Yet, it also wasn’t ineffective. The Tornado Emperor had to use triple the amount of Life Energy he would have normally needed.

Gravis had decided to attack immediately because of the Tornado Emperor’s attack. The whole thing regarding his children was irrelevant to this decision. When someone with the power to kill him attacked him, even if it was by mistake, this someone was an enemy.

Obviously, the Tornado Emperor had confused Gravis with Aris, but that didn’t matter. If Gravis hadn’t been powerful enough, he would have died.

Panic broke out among the beasts. Such a powerful attack had been unleashed in the middle of their region? Such powerful battles were forbidden! This could only mean one thing.

An enemy was invading their region!

A ton of Emperors assembled as they all shot at Gravis.

SSSSSSSS!

Yet, their bodies all started to turn to dust as they came closer.

"If you involve yourself in this fight, you will die," Gravis transmitted to all the gathered beasts. "This green snake-thing has attacked me first, and only he is my enemy. Keep yourselves out of this fight, and nothing will happen."

Usually, these beasts wouldn’t believe something like this, but the fact that all their bodies were turning to dust convinced them that they maybe shouldn’t involve themselves. Instead, all the Emperors gathered the Kings and led them away from this area.

As soon as they retreated, all their bodies stopped turning into dust, which relieved them greatly. Such a death would be meaningless.

Meanwhile, the Tornado Emperor looked at Gravis with hatred. "Who are-"

BANG!

Gravis immediately shot at the Tornado Emperor again as he loaded his saber with another Lightning Crescent. Then, he unleashed it.

Whooop!

But this time, the Tornado Emperor had been prepared. His body quickly transformed into a thin string, which curled around the area where the Lightning Crescent would hit.

Yet, Gravis was not so stupid that he would use the same tactic twice. This had only been a feint from him, and he hadn’t unloaded his Lightning Crescent.

Instead, he held his hand towards the thin string.

BRRRRRRRRR!

Gravis immediately unleashed his Law of Heat with as much power as he could muster. Such a thin string had a terrifying amount of surface area, and the more surface area there was, the more effective temperature became.

The string immediately turned into a ball as it rapidly began spinning.

SSSSSSHHHHH!

A terrifying wind picked up in the surroundings to push Gravis away. Right now, the Tornado Emperor was at a disadvantage since Gravis had taken the initiative. This meant that he had to reset the current fight and gain some space.

The brief run-in with the Law of Heat had injured his scales, but he could quickly heal this minor damage, even if he had to use a lot of Life Energy to do so.

BZZZ!

Yet, against all expectations, Gravis seemed to not be affected by this wind. This attack had been far too hasty and too dispersed, which allowed Gravis to completely destroy the wind with his Law of Wind Composition.

Gravis’ eyes shone as he saw his opportunity, and he slashed downward with his Lightning Crescent.

Suddenly, a thin and sharp tail came out of the ball. Behind the tail, a storm exploded as it shot at Gravis with unreal speed. One had to remember that this was an Emperor four levels above Gravis. His speed far outclassed Gravis’ speed. Because of that, the tail hit first, breaking Gravis’ attack.

BANG! CRK! SSSSS!

The tail hit Gravis at the waist, creating a powerful cut in his armor. Yet, as soon as the outer armor was penetrated, a terrifying amount of freezing, pressured gas shot out of the cut. As a lost minute resort, Gravis had influenced the gas inside his armor with the Law of Cold. The pressurized gas came out and froze the entire tail.

As the tail froze, it died, and with it, the will upon the tail. With Gravis’ Law of Composition, he turned the frozen tail into dust. All of this played out in a split second. Even if Gravis managed to destroy the Tornado Emperor’s tail, the force behind the attack still broke his entire waist and shot him into the distance until he hit a mountain, which his body quickly destroyed.

Gravis had to spit out some blood as some of his organs nearly got crushed into nothingness. If he hadn’t had his armor, he would have died immediately.

This was the power of a beast four levels above him. Even a single, casual, physical attack could end him.

The Tornado Emperor gnashed his teeth as he regrew his tail. Yet, he didn’t know the Law of Muscle Growth, which only allowed him to regrow the tail as a blade. Of course, that was still better than nothing.

But now, the Tornado Emperor finally had space and could reinitiate the fight.

With a powerful explosion of wind, the Tornado Emperor shot at Gravis again, who was still reeling from the attack.

Chapter 634 - 634 – Experienced Opponent

The Tornado Emperor shot at Gravis with unreal speed, who had barely any time to react. Even with his new speed-related Laws, the speed difference between him and his opponent was just far too difficult to overcome.

Gravis immediately replaced his current suit of armor with a new one. If he got hit without having the gas between his armor pieces, he would get destroyed.

SHING!

A powerful wind blade was unleashed by the Tornado Emperor, which destroyed his suit of armor too. Even with the Law of Wind Composition weakening the attack, the attack was still terrifying, and Gravis’ entire right side got decimated.

BZZZZ!

A lightning net appeared in the air, which Gravis used to pull himself away. With his level two Law of Lightning Manipulation, he could finely control this entire net, and with his Law of Magnetism, he could pull himself to wherever he wanted. Because of this, the next follow-up attack of the Tornado Emperor missed.

Gravis immediately got another suit of armor and healed his body. Then, he used his speed in tandem with the Law of Magnetism to shoot at the Tornado Emperor. He had to go all-in since a re-initiation of his part would end badly. He had to immediately turn it around.

BANG!

A concentrated explosion of wind pushed Gravis away as the Tornado Emperor shot another wind blade at Gravis. Gravis’ Will-Aura wasn’t powerful enough to destroy this attack with the Composition Law of Wind, but it could weaken the attack quite a bit.

BANG!

Yet, Gravis’ lower body was turned to mincemeat again as he healed himself and summoned a new armor. If this continued, he would run out of Life Energy very soon. He had to do something!

A ton of rocks suddenly appeared as Gravis shot all of them at the Tornado Emperor. The Tornado Emperor only sneered as he charged at Gravis again. He wouldn’t be fooled by these rocks.

BANG!

Yet, one of the rocks exploded with lightning, which shocked him for a short moment. This was one of the rocks created with the Law of Loaded Earth. It wasn’t there to hurt the Tornado Emperor but to take him by surprise and shake his mental state.

CRK!

Gravis’ saber hit the tail-blade of the Tornado Emperor, barely breaking the skin and touching the bone. Unleashing a Lightning Crescent at this tail would be a waste of lightning. Instead, Gravis had other plans.

SSSSSS!

With the skin broken, Gravis could unleash his Body Composition Law on the bone of the tail, which quickly turned it brittle. Then, Gravis switched his saber out for a new one. Such a switch came instantaneous thanks to his Spirit Space.

SSSSS!

The bone in the tail froze as Gravis loaded his new saber with his Law of Cold. He had prepared a lot of different sabers for different Laws. This one was attuned to the Law of Cold, which allowed him to use this saber as a proxy to influence the bone of the Tornado Emperor. Another explosion with lightning arrived, and the tail of the Tornado Emperor was cut off again.

The Tornado Emperor felt the pain and attacked Gravis with his maw, but his Law of Danger quickly made him abort. The Tornado Emperor had also comprehended the Law of Danger, and he felt that if he went through with this bite, he would die right now. So he attacked with one of his claws instead.

Yet, this short moment of indecisiveness gave Gravis enough time to realign himself and summon his shield. Additionally, Gravis even had enough time to parry the attack instead of blocking it.

The force of the attack made Gravis’ body spin around as he replaced his saber with another one. Using the force of the spin, Gravis unloaded a Lightning Crescent at the widely open Tornado Emperor.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The Lightning Crescent hit, and the Tornado Emperor lost all his scales again. Additionally, since his tail had been cut off, the Lightning Crescent also managed to destroy a lot of muscles at the tail end. By now, the total length of the Tornado Emperor had been cut down by 20%.

Gravis’ lightning storage had fallen to about 25%, but he had also damaged his enemy. But this time, he wouldn’t let up.

The Tornado Emperor was a mess of blood as he tried to gain some distance to regenerate again.

SSSSSSSS!

Yet, as he shot into the distance, he was surrounded by intensely cold air. If one stayed still inside the domain of the Law of Cold, one wouldn’t have as many issues, but if one moved rapidly through the cold, it would become fatal. All the oozing blood of the Tornado Emperor froze as the microorganisms inside him couldn’t break through the ice to regrow his scales.

Sadly, this also ate up a terrifying amount of Gravis’ lightning. Freezing the outside of such a powerful Emperor was terrifyingly Energy consuming.

The Tornado Emperor was very experienced, and he quickly found a way out of this situation.

Instead of wasting more Life Energy to regenerate himself, the Tornado Emperor made bones break out of his right claw, which quickly extended. Additionally, these bones were shaped like blades. The Tornado Emperor now had a massive claw of bone blades.

So, instead of retreating, he swiped this claw at Gravis.

BZZZZZ!

Yet, the Lightning Net around Gravis used its magnetism to pull these bone blades apart, barely allowing Gravis to squeeze through them. With that, the Tornado Emperor was open again.

Seeing that Gravis was about to attack him again, the Tornado Emperor decided to sacrifice one of his trump cards.

SHING!

A new arm suddenly appeared at the Tornado Emperor’s side as it punched through Gravis’ torso. Gravis had already realized that the Tornado Emperor knew the Law of Disguise, which he had used to change his body shape, but Gravis still wasn’t fast enough to react to this arm. The arm punched a hole through Gravis’ torso.

Yet, the arm was not big enough to kill Gravis in one strike. The Tornado Emperor had seen Gravis’ defensive capabilities and used a smaller version of his arm. If he had used one that was big enough to instantly kill Gravis, he would also hit a bigger area of Gravis’ armor, which would injure Gravis even less.

The Tornado Emperor smirked victoriously as he unleashed his Body Composition Law to turn Gravis into dust.

Yet, nothing happened.

Instead, Gravis quickly retrieved his ice saber again and cut off the arm that penetrated his torso.

SSSSS!

The cut-off arm turned into dust as Gravis absorbed it, regaining about half of his lightning.

The Tornado Emperor became enraged.

BAM!

He instantly increased the size of his body as he hit the entire Lightning Net surrounding them. He had to get rid of this Lightning Net first!

SSSSS!

Additionally, the heat of the lightning hitting his body melted the frozen blood, which quickly allowed him to regrow his scales. Yet, instead of regrowing his tail, he decided to simply close it off with scales. Regrowing the tail would cost far too much Life Energy, and he was already running low.

Gravis hadn’t expected this move, which allowed the Tornado Emperor to rebuild his defense and weapons.

Then, the Tornado Emperor summoned more bone blades as he charged at Gravis without any hesitation.

’This will become troublesome now,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes.

Chapter 635 - 635 – Long Shot

For a short moment, silence reigned as both combatants didn’t immediately attack. Gravis had to plan how to win against the Tornado Emperor. Killing him wouldn’t be easy at all, especially since he had comprehended the Law of Disguise. This Law could change his body and give him many chances to evade any decisive attack from Gravis.

Meanwhile, the Tornado Emperor felt waves surging inside his being. He still couldn’t believe that he was actually fighting a King and not a level three Emperor. Gravis was not as fast as him, not as resilient, and his attacks were not nearly as powerful. Yet, Gravis’ incredible amount of fighting tactics and Laws allowed him to seemingly counter everything the Tornado Emperor threw at him.

By now, the Tornado Emperor knew exactly who Gravis was. A King that was able to fight a level three Emperor? That was absolutely impossible, except for one beast. This could only be the elusive Gravis that he had never seen before. The Tornado Emperor couldn’t imagine anyone else that could achieve such a ridiculously powerful Battle-Strength.

The Tornado Emperor regretted that he had jumped the gun. He had wanted to find an excuse to kill Aris, Cera, and Yersi for many years now, and when he had seen Gravis, he hadn’t even thought about the fact that this beast was Gravis. At most, the beast could have been one of Aris’ offspring.

Yet, he just had to attack Gravis, and now he was having a lot of issues. Gravis was not someone the Tornado Emperor had wanted to mess with, but that had been in the past. Now, he couldn’t let Gravis survive. At this moment, the Tornado Emperor could still kill Gravis, but if Gravis became an Emperor himself, the Tornado Emperor would only die.

He had accidentally stepped upon a perilous path, and now he had to walk it to the end or die.

By now, the watching beasts also came to the correct conclusion. In the beginning, they had believed that it was some kind of sea beast invading, but after they had seen the appearance of Gravis and his unreal Battle-Strength, they realized that all of this had only happened because of a misunderstanding.

Yet, the fight had already begun, and both of them had unleashed several killing shots by now. There was no way to salvage this situation. If they were human, maybe someone would jump between them and say that it was a misunderstanding and try to even the tides, but that was not how beasts were. If someone tried to kill them, they would not rest until the enemy was dead.

Meanwhile, many kilometers away, Aris sat inside a cave as he clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth. "This is my prey, father!" he said to himself with anger. "This is my enemy!"

Yet, there was nothing that Aris could do. He was still a level one Emperor, and he could not fight two levels above himself. His plan had been to bide his time until he had become powerful enough to kill the Tornado Emperor. Sadly, his bothersome father had to turn up now!

"Fine, you are more powerful, so you deserve to pick your prey first, but that is not how it’s always going to be, father," Aris said silently with battle intent.

Even though Gravis’ Spirit Sense could reach Aris, he had no time to be distracted right now. One moment of carelessness, and Gravis would die.

’I need to find out more about his Laws,’ Gravis thought. ’I need to know which Laws he knows so that I can plan my attack around them.’

BANG!

Gravis exploded forward again as he readied his saber with another Lightning Crescent. Yet, even if that Lightning Crescent perfectly hit the Tornado Emperor, he would probably still be able to heal himself. This meant that Gravis had to play this smartly.

The Tornado Emperor saw Gravis shooting at him with his full speed, and his eyes shone. This was a chance!

WHOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, a powerful pressure assaulted Gravis. It was like the surrounding air had gathered and constricted his movement. Yet, surprisingly, it didn’t stop his movement forward and only made it impossible for him to stop or evade. This meant that he was now a sitting duck.

’This is probably one of his level two Laws,’ Gravis immediately thought. ’The Law of Pressure, an element neutral Law, which has a connection to the wind element. His other level two Law should be that powerful wind blade, which even when weakened, has still managed to destroy half my body.’

The Tornado Emperor also charged forward as one of his humongous bone claws swiped at Gravis. With his Law of Pressure suppressing Gravis, Gravis couldn’t possibly evade this attack.

BZZZ!

Suddenly, Gravis transformed into lightning, surprising everyone. Then, something even more shocking happened. The pressure around Gravis seemingly lost its target as the wind gathered in one spot and then dispersed again. It was like the wind couldn’t interact with the lightning.

Yet, that wasn’t the end of the surprises. Seemingly defying all physical concepts, Gravis immediately stopped in the air without any inertia. This movement looked surreal and unnatural.

Whooosh!

The bone claw missed since the Tornado Emperor couldn’t have predicted such an instantaneous stop from Gravis.

What had Gravis done?

He had transformed into lightning and had then used his Law of Lightning Stasis to bring himself into a stasis. His whole being gripped the surrounding space as it kept itself stationary in the air. Gravis’ Lightning Transformation was no longer his primary way of battling, but it still had its advantages.

Gravis immediately transformed back and slashed at the Tornado Emperor with a Lightning Crescent. The Tornado Emperor looked at the approaching Lightning Crescent in shock, gritted his teeth, and unveiled his last trump card.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Lightning Crescent exploded onto the ground as it missed its target. Yet, instead of feeling frustrated, Gravis’ eyes shone. ’I knew that you still had a trump card hidden away!’ he thought.

Many kilometers away, the Tornado Emperor had reappeared. Yet, parts of his body had been destroyed, and he looked very exhausted. The reason for that exhaustion had been his last trump card.

This was the level two Law of Wind Speed.

Wind was traditionally seen as the fastest element, but that was only true in the earlier Realms. As soon as someone reached the Immortal Realm, light would become the fastest element. Yet, that wasn’t all. As soon as someone started comprehending the speed-related Laws of Lightning, Lightning would also be considered faster than wind.

This level two Law of Wind Speed was the last and most powerful burst of speed that the wind element would ever achieve. Out of all speed-related level two Laws in existence, this Law was by far the fastest. Yet, every advantage came with a disadvantage.

Using this Law made it nearly impossible for the user to even react. Its speed far outclassed the user’s own mind. Additionally, the instantaneous acceleration put a severe burden on the body. Lastly, creating such an insane speed cost a ton of Energy.

Beasts had far less Energy than humans, which was also the reason why they didn’t use their level two and level three Laws as much. Right now, the Tornado Emperor only had around 30% of his Energy and 40% of his Life Energy remaining. Yet, he could still fight with his peak Battle-Strength.

On the other hand, Gravis was low on lightning again. With this small amount of lightning, Gravis couldn’t unleash another Lightning Crescent for quite some time.

Yet, Gravis had gotten what he had wanted. He had unveiled the last relevant Law, which the Tornado Emperor had comprehended. With this new knowledge, he could plan something.

’This is more troublesome than I initially had believed,’ Gravis thought. ’I need to immobilize him for quite some time to unleash my killing blow, which will be hard with the Law of Wind Speed and Disguise.’

’I don’t see a way that will help me to immobilize him now, but I have to try either way. If I succeed, I survive. If I fail, I die. Isn’t that what tempering is all about?’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes.

CLANK!

And suddenly, the Tornado Emperor was encased by a terrifying amount of armor. Gravis was using his destroyed and spare armor sets to immobilize the Tornado Emperor.

Yet, this would be immensely difficult since Gravis couldn’t fuse them without expending nearly all his lightning. It was a long shot, but it was the only thing Gravis could try.

Chapter 636 - 636 – Mortality

The Tornado Emperor became panicked as he realized that a ton of powerful metal had appeared around him. He quickly transformed into a thin string again as he violently moved around.

Gravis did his best as he tried to use the force of his Spirit to keep the metal pieces moving so that the Tornado Emperor couldn’t move. Yet, this task burned his Spirit crazily.

The Tornado Emperor saw that just trying to get out didn’t work.

CRK!

So, he used his bone claws to tear at the armor pieces with great effect. The armor was not nearly powerful enough to resist the physical attacks from a level three Emperor.

Gravis realized that this was not enough, so he threw something else into the mix.

BANG!

Suddenly, when the Tornado Emperor wanted to transform into a bigger form, he felt incredible pain. It was like something unbreakable was constricting his body. He quickly turned back into a string and looked at the offending object.

It was an obsidian ring, which had appeared around his body.

Yes, this was the obsidian ring that Gravis’ father had given to him. Its size was nearly perfect for constricting the string-form of the Tornado Emperor. The Tornado Emperor could wiggle out of it, but Gravis held it in place around the Tornado Emperor’s body with his Spirit. As long as the Tornado Emperor couldn’t shoot out in a straight line, the ring would stay on.

Yet, this didn’t stop the Tornado Emperor from attacking the armor around him. With every passing moment, more of the armor was torn to shreds.

’I need something harder!’ Gravis thought with gnashed teeth. With panic, he searched around in his Spirit Space until he found something that could help him.

The Tornado Emperor unleashed another attack, but instead of destroying more armor, his bone claw broke into pieces. He had just hit something incredibly hard!

What had he hit?

A small, weird device had appeared. This was something that Gravis had totally forgotten he even had. Initially, he had bought this device to discern the types of materials he came across in a Natural World. Yet, it had become obsolete after his father had taught him forging.

This was the small scanner, which Gravis had bought from the scammer along with the Life Ring. It might not have any actual uses thanks to Gravis’ knowledge, but it was still something that had been created in the highest world. This meant it was very hard.

Gravis saw how effective the small scanner was and looked at it. Surprisingly, it didn’t have a single scratch.

By now, Gravis knew a lot more about materials. This meant that he also recognized most of the materials inside the scanner and could see its properties. If the scanner was only hard, it would have been broken. Yet, the scanner was also flexible like a Medium-Complex Material.

This scanner exhibited all properties of all the materials Gravis knew, and his eyes shone when he saw it. This was what he was aiming for!

’Move!’ Gravis ordered with his will as he tore at the scanner. Slowly, a ton of knowledge appeared inside Gravis’ mind as he realized how he could make the scanner’s form change.

BOOOOM!

And with this, Gravis had comprehended his first level three Law by himself.

Gravis’ eyes shone with light as all matter in the world suddenly made sense.

"I know matter!" Gravis proclaimed as the armor pieces and scanner started to warp. The materials of the scanner were too powerful to be manipulated by Gravis normally, but that was no longer the case. He couldn’t forge the scanner’s materials, but he could warp and change them.

The scanner slowly turned into two cups that tried to press the Tornado Emperor together.

The Tornado Emperor attacked the cups, but the only results were broken bones for him. So, he quickly decided to change his tactic.

He let the part of his body encased by the ring remain small as everything else turned humongous. The force of the expanding body pushing against the armor put a huge strain on Gravis’ Spirit.

CRRRRR!

A ton of new materials appeared as Gravis summoned them with his Spirit Space. Then, he manipulated them so that they also started encasing the Tornado Emperor.

Sadly, the Tornado Emperor was still too powerful and fast. Whenever Gravis nearly managed to encase him, the Tornado Emperor would slip out at the last moment.

BZZZZZ!

A new Lightning Net appeared around the Tornado Emperor as it took ahold of the different materials, moving them around with magnetism. This cost Gravis a lot of lightning, but it gave him the edge he needed.

The Tornado Emperor saw that it became harder for him to break the armor, so he changed his tactics again.

"Die!"

BANG!

Out of nowhere, the Tornado Emperor suddenly unleashed an impossibly powerful wind blade. This probably had over half his remaining Energy inside it as it shot at Gravis.

This wind blade was too fast.

Gravis had no way to evade.

Gravis would die.

Time slowed to a crawl as Gravis felt like nothing was moving. It was like this moment would keep going forever.

As Gravis saw his doom approaching, he only smirked.

"Interesting," he said.

SHING!

Gravis turned into lightning as the wind blade shot through him. 90% of his being was destroyed by the wind blade, barely leaving him alive. This was not just Energy or lightning that had been destroyed. This was Gravis’ foundation and being that had been destroyed.

Gravis turned back into himself, but he had changed.

Right now, Gravis was no longer a level five King.

Right now, he was a level four King.

The Tornado Emperor was enraged and shocked when he saw that Gravis had survived, but he also felt that Gravis had become much weaker. This was his chance.

"It’s over," Gravis said slowly and weakly.

The Tornado Emperor wasn’t sure if Gravis was giving up, but his question got answered quickly.

BZZZZZZZZ!

Suddenly, something appeared.

"I know your Laws and your movement. You can’t survive," Gravis said slowly.

Beside him, several gigantic circles of metal appeared, which aligned in a row. Behind them, a majestic and powerful spear floated in the air, filled to the brim with lightning.

Gravis had had this attack prepared since the beginning of the battle but couldn’t unleash it unless he was able to restrain his enemy. After all, this attack took a while to wind up.

Seemingly in slow motion, Gravis took ahold of the spear as the saved up lightning in the rings started to break out violently.

"Goodbye," Gravis said.

BANG!

Then, he threw the spear into the rings. The lightning inside the rings hit the spear as they all shot it forward with increasing speed.

Yet, the onlookers and the Tornado Emperor were confused. This spear was moving so slowly. It moved with the speed of a level five King, and even after it left the last ring, it was only moving with the speed of an average level two Emperor. Sure, that was pretty fast for an attack from a level five King, but nothing that the Tornado Emperor couldn’t evade, even in his current circumstance.

"The weakness of my attack has been solved," Gravis said with a smirk.

Then, he snapped his fingers.

BANG! CRK!

The Tornado Emperor couldn’t comprehend his current situation. He looked down at his body, at the spear sticking out of his chest. What? Hadn’t this spear been many kilometers away just now? How had it entered his-

BOOOOOOOOM!

And the Tornado Emperor exploded into lightning.

How had all of this happened?

This was Gravis’ new attack, which he had developed at the Ultimate’s Meet, and it required Gravis to save up 100% of his lightning in different objects. The rings had a collective 10% of lightning inside them. The spearhead had 20% of lightning inside it, and the hidden spike beneath the spearhead had 70%.

Gravis would throw this spear into the rings, using different Lightning Laws to accelerate it to a ridiculous speed. This speed was equivalent to a fast level three Emperor.

Yet, hadn’t Gravis’ spear only moved at the speed of a level two Emperor? Where did that additional acceleration come from?

The answer to that was Gravis’ new Law.

Gravis smirked as he absorbed the lightning of the dead Tornado Emperor.

"I know Time," Gravis whispered to himself.

Yes, Gravis had comprehended the level three Law of Time.

When he had been close to death, he had felt time slow to a crawl, which had given him his last push. The vicissitudes of perceived time had been a huge part of Gravis’ life.

Because of time, he had forgotten the faces and voices of his family.

Because of time, he had made a new family.

Because of time, he had found a new home.

Because of time, he no longer felt young.

Because of time, he had made many friends.

Because of time, his old friends had vanished.

Because of time, his mindset had changed.

Time was a primal force, and it affected everyone and everything. Gravis had always thought about time and its effect on his life, which allowed him to subconsciously gain insights into it.

With this new Law, Gravis had slowed down the time of the spear by half. Because of that, it appeared to move slower than it actually was.

Then, when the Tornado Emperor thought that he could evade the attack, Gravis switched the time manipulation. Instead of slowing it, he was doubling it. This made the spear seemingly teleport.

From the speed of a level two Emperor, the spear suddenly accelerated to the speed of a level four Emperor.

As soon as the spear hit the chest of the Tornado Emperor, a minuscule Lightning Crescent exploded, which destroyed the defenses of that spot along with the spearhead. Thanks to this, the hidden spike inside the spear could penetrate the Tornado Emperor’s body.

When the spear was inside the Tornado Emperor, the actual attack would be unleashed.

70% of Gravis’ lightning, a fully powered Lightning Crescent, exploded from inside the Tornado Emperor’s chest.

The Law of Time had allowed Gravis to boost the speed of his attack to such a degree that it was almost impossible to evade. Yet, without the materials keeping the Tornado Emperor occupied, he might have been able to use his Law of Wind Speed to escape. Both of Gravis’ new Laws were integral to his victory.

This attack had been designed by Gravis to kill people and beasts that thought of themselves as immortal thanks to their defenses.

This was an attack specifically made to instantly kill any slow and defensive opponent.

These "immortals" felt their defenses to be infallible, but this attack would show them that they were definitely not immortal.

This attack demonstrated mortality with a single strike.

Because of that, Gravis gave this attack the appropriate name:

Mortality.

Chapter 637 - 637 – Law Comprehension Realm

Gravis stood in the air as he absorbed all the lightning with closed eyes.

He immediately became a level five King again, but there was more than enough Energy to make him into an Emperor. Because of that, only seconds later, Gravis already started to feel the evolution approaching.

Gravis’ body started vibrating as he envisioned his new body. His fighting style had changed, and with his new fighting style, he needed to make some alterations to his body. He no longer needed to focus all his power into a physical attack. Now, he needed variety and flexibility to make use of as many Laws as possible.

Gravis’ body became bigger as time passed, but that was irrelevant. Starting at this Realm, one could exhibit their full fighting power also in a small size. Because of that, Gravis didn’t care about the actual size that his body would reach.

Yet, that was only the beast part of him evolving. While his body was changing, his lightning and Spirit were also changing. Gravis had a feeling that he had to move his lightning into his Spirit, which he followed. He felt no feeling of danger from this act.

His lightning entered his Spirit quickly, and in a matter of seconds, all his lightning had seemingly vanished. Gravis watched as the lightning inside his Spirit Space started to gather into a tight ball. After some more seconds, the ball began to vibrate violently.

Gravis felt like something was building up inside of him, and he let it build up until it exploded forward.

BANG!

The small ball of lightning exploded, and the explosion hit the walls of Gravis’ Spirit Space. Usually, such an explosion would be devastating for the Spirit of a Cultivator, but Gravis felt no pain. In only an instant, Gravis saw how all his lightning vanished into the walls of his Spirit Space.

BANG!

Then, Gravis’ Spirit Sense seemingly exploded. It began to stretch into the distance as its range increased by more than ten times. On top of that, everything seemed to be so much clearer.

Gravis had already been able to see everything clearly before, but one wasn’t able to envision how it would be like if they could see and feel even better.

All the minuscule particles in the air appeared in Gravis’ vision, and with his knowledge, he understood them. He saw the Energy inside them and how they worked. Everything that he saw just made sense. This was the only way it could be described.

As he gazed upon the world, there were no questions, only answers. Everything that had confused him in the past just made sense now.

’This is why it is called the Law Comprehension Realm, huh?’ Gravis thought in a rare moment of peace and tranquility. Right now, only he and the world existed, nothing else.

BOOOOM!

’So this is temperature,’ Gravis thought as the level three Law of Temperature seemingly appeared in his head by itself. ’It’s actually so simple. How have I ever been stuck at something like this?’

What was the use of the level three Law of Temperature? The use could be described as very useful or nearly useless, depending on who was asked.

Its use was that the Temperatures could be controlled more finely and a little more intensely. Yet, the big part was the Energy requirement to keep the Law running.

There wasn’t any.

As Gravis existed, so did the temperature around him exist. If Gravis wanted, everything would burn. If he wanted, everything would freeze. If he wanted, everything would be nice and temperate. Temperature was a state of matter and Energy, and that was it, just a state.

Using the Law of Cold and Heat had consumed a lot of Energy from Gravis in his previous fight. Because of that, he hadn’t been able to keep it up indefinitely and could only use it in short bursts. Now, there was no limitation to it.

’This is a supporting Law,’ Gravis realized with his newfound clarity. ’The Law of Temperature can be used by itself, but that is not where its true use lies. Its true use lies in its ability to change the other Temperature Laws. As long as I understand another level three Temperature Law, like Extreme Heat, I would be able to use its power without needing any Energy. This would grant me unlimited usage of the powers of an offensive level three Law.’

Gravis looked upon the gathered beasts, which looked at him in wonder and reverence. Gravis had killed a level three Emperor as a King. This had never happened before.

BANG!

Suddenly, a storm of fire appeared as it shot at Gravis.

This firestorm came from a level two Emperor, which realized that Gravis was weak now. He was in the middle of his evolution, and this was the ideal moment to strike.

Why did this beast attack Gravis?

Because it feared what would happen to the southern region. One of their leaders had angered Gravis, and there was a chance that Gravis might extend his anger to the southern region. Nearly every beast knew Gravis, but none of them actually knew him.

If one knew Gravis, they would know that Gravis wouldn’t do that, but they didn’t know him. As far as they knew, Gravis could be a petty and exploiting beast.

Whoooom!

The fire stopped before Gravis like it had been halted. Gravis turned his gaze to the fire as the panicked beast behind it turned into dust, which was quickly absorbed by Gravis’ lightning.

Gravis’ lightning had been absorbed by his Spirit, but that didn’t mean that it had vanished. In actuality, this was exactly what everyone went through when they reached the Law Comprehension Realm. The only difference was that instead of lightning, they used Energy.

Gravis’ lightning and Spirit became one. Now, there was no longer a distinction between them. His lightning was his Spirit, and his Spirit was his lightning.

Earlier, his Spirit had only been attuned to lightning. It had still been its own thing, but now, it turned into the same thing.

This meant that his lightning now carried the power of his Spirit and that his Spirit now carried the power of his lightning. This increased the power of both of them. The only drawback was that both of them drew from the same well now.

Gravis’ Spirit had become so powerful that he could stop an elemental attack from a beast an entire level above him. Stopping this attack was no different to him than controlling his armor pieces.

At the same time, four other level two Emperors turned to dust as their Energy was absorbed by Gravis. Gravis had seen that they had also wanted to attack him but would wait until someone else attempted it first.

Yet, that didn’t matter to Gravis. They had planned to attack him, and because of that, they were his enemies.

The surrounding beasts became panicked as they thought that Gravis was going on a rampage. Fear took ahold of their minds as they scattered in all directions. This was a crisis for the southern region!

Gravis didn’t bother to explain himself to them.

After he became an Emperor, the workings of this world were no longer relevant.

Why?

Because with the exception of Meadow and Heaven, nothing was a danger to him anymore.

Right now, these scattering Emperors and Kings appeared to Gravis like the weak Spirit Beasts appeared to an Emperor. They existed in the same space, but they lived in different worlds.

A Spirit Beast wouldn’t explain itself to an Energy Beast.

An Emperor wouldn’t explain themselves to a Spirit Beast.

And Gravis wouldn’t explain himself to an Emperor.

Gravis no longer inhabited this world. Right now, he was only a visitor that would soon leave.

Yet, there was something that interested Gravis.

The flame he was currently holding.

At the same time as he looked at the flame, all the elements of the destroyed Emperors also got pulled to him by his Spirit. He saw water, wind, lightning, and nothing. The last one had no elemental affinity.

Gravis only looked at the gathered elements before him as he smiled.

’So, these are the elements, huh?’

BOOOOM!

With that, Gravis understood the level three Law of the Elements. His Laws of Elemental Matter, Elemental Force, and all the small Mixed Elemental Laws fused into one to become an impossibly powerful level three Law.

Gravis smiled happily as he saw that his prediction had come true.

"The elements are only an entryway."

SSSSSHHH!

And then, something shocking happened.

Chapter 638 - 638 – Elements

Around Gravis, eight balls appeared.

To his top right was a ball of fire.

To his top left was a ball of water.

To his high-middle right was a ball of earth.

To his high-middle left was a ball of air.

To his lower-middle right was a ball of metal.

To his lower-middle left was a warping ball of wood.

To his lower right was a ball of darkness.

To his lower left was a ball of light.

Eight elements appeared around Gravis, but all nine elements were present.

Gravis was the lightning.

Yet, that wasn’t the end.

Even further outside was a gigantic ring with the ten mixed elements.

Eighteen elemental balls could be seen hovering around Gravis as he smiled.

CRRRRK!

At the same time, his evolution finished, and with it came two new arms.

Back then, Gravis saw no point in having more than two arms. After all, he could only put his entire muscles behind two of them. Yet, that had only been a fitting body for his old fighting style, which had pursued powerful and explosive strikes.

Now, Gravis’ fighting style had changed to one filled with variety and complexity, and with this fighting style, a new body was required to perfectly utilize it.

If Gravis could only control one element, he wouldn’t need more than one arm for a shield and one arm for his saber, but that was no longer the case.

Now, Gravis could control all the elements.

’An Elemental Seed is just that, an Elemental Seed,’ Gravis thought. ’An Elemental Seed is something that humans use to convert Energy into the elements, and creating such an Elemental Seed is not difficult at all.’

"I know the elements," Gravis said to himself. "Only beasts need an affinity to control an element. We humans can control any element we want. We only have to understand it first."

Gravis’ humongous, 20-kilometer-tall body shrunk until it was only two meters tall.

’Sure enough, even with this size, I can feel the full power of my body,’ he thought.

His evolution had finished, and he had changed. The Laws were clearer, his lightning had fused with his Spirit, and he had grown two additional arms.

But more than that, Gravis felt calmer.

Yet, that didn’t come from his evolution. That change came from his understanding of time.

Time itself was unchanging, but it changed everything it came into contact with. At this moment, Gravis remembered something he had said casually once, which had been thrown back at him by his father.

"I am me, and that won’t change, no matter how much I’ll change," Gravis said with a smile. "It sounds cheesy, but it has some truth to it. Enemies come and go. Friends come and go. Family comes and goes. Even my home changes constantly."

"Yet, my current relationships, home, and being are just temporary. As I change, everything else changes, and that’s how the world works. Who cares about losing your home when you will automatically find a new one with time?" Gravis asked himself.

"How dare you destroy my southern region!?" a violent transmission suddenly came from a distance.

Shortly after that, a mighty rhinoceros appeared near Gravis.

This was the leader of the southern region, the only level four Emperor.

Gravis didn’t look at the rhinoceros. Instead, he dispersed his elements and looked at the ground.

"Do you feel it?" Gravis asked.

For some reason, Gravis’ words intrigued the rhinoceros. "What?"

"Gravity," Gravis said. "It permeates everything, no matter if it is living, dead, an element, or a force. It doesn’t matter. Everything is affected by gravity, no matter what it is."

"I feel it," Gravis said with a smile. "Gravity is a force acting upon time and space itself, and since everything lives inside space and time, gravity also affects everything."

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

Gravis understood the Law of Gravity, and with him, the rhinoceros also understood the Law of Gravity. The rhinoceros was a beast with an earth affinity, and it had quite some connection with the concept of gravity. Gravis’ words had enlightened the rhinoceros, making it understand a level three Law.

The rhinoceros became shocked as it suddenly comprehended a level three Law. He had become an Ascender? He had managed to reach this step?

The rhinoceros closed his eyes as he reveled in the feeling of understanding.

Then, Gravis appeared directly in front of the rhinoceros.

"Sorry, but I need food, and your mismanagement of the southern region is the best reason I can find," Gravis said sheepishly.

The rhinoceros became confused. "Wha-"

SHING!

And the rhinoceros was dead.

Gravis knew that he wouldn’t be able to find any enemy in this world anymore. Everyone knew him, and no one would attack him. Yet, Gravis needed food to become a level three Emperor. At that time, he could take on the Striders.

This meant that he had to be morally flexible and consume beasts that hadn’t attacked him previously. He didn’t enjoy it, but when it came to his path to power, he could also do cruel things, if necessary. He wasn’t about to waste thousands of years just to wait for someone to attack him.

With this strike, Gravis had doomed the southern region to fall to the sea beasts. Of course, Gravis had already accepted that every action of his would have devastating consequences to the weaker beings.

Yet, that didn’t mean that Gravis wouldn’t try to minimalize his negative impact upon the world.

His Spirit encompassed a huge part of the southern region as he spoke to every Emperor.

"I am Gravis, and I have killed the Tornado Emperor and your level four Emperor. If you want to survive, you will gather at the north-western border with your entire following in three days," Gravis announced.

The Emperors couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but if their level four Emperor didn’t speak up, it had to be true. Beasts were not as skeptical as humans. The powerful were right, and Gravis had shown to be the most powerful. Because of that, nearly all Emperors immediately followed Gravis’ orders.

Then, Gravis looked at Aris, who had left his cave by now.

Aris was looking at Gravis with awe. Today, he had seen what supreme power was. Additionally, he had never seen his father truly fight someone. Back when Gravis had fought Morus for the first time, the three of them had retreated and couldn’t watch the fight.

Gravis’ fighting style and usage of the Laws had awed and inspired Aris. Especially the last display of the many elements had shocked him beyond belief.

Aris looked bitterly at his hand.

BZZZZZ!

A small lightning bolt appeared inside his hand, and he looked at it with a lost expression.

"What’s the use of this Punishment Lightning when someone can just comprehend all elements?" Aris asked himself.

"Oh, you know Punishment Lightning," Gravis said with a smile as he appeared in front of Aris with a smile. "That’s great! But I’m not a fan of your words. Don’t you know that if you push something to the limit, no amount of variety can protect your enemy? You should know that as an Emperor."

Aris sighed as he closed his hand. "I know," he said. "I only felt melancholy about my current lack of power. Yet, it is only that, current."

Gravis was a bit taken aback, but his smile quickly returned.

Then, he put his hand on Aris’ head and stroked his scales.

"You’ve truly grown, Aris," Gravis said with a loving tone.

Aris felt something stir inside him as he heard his father’s voice. For some reason, these words made him happy.

Then, Gravis lightly slapped Aris’ shoulder. Gravis had to control his power to not injure his son since he had just become a level two Emperor after absorbing the rhinoceros.

"Come on, let’s get your sisters. Then, we’ll have a proper reunion," Gravis said with a laugh.

Aris sighed with a bitter smile.

"Yes, father."

Chapter 639 - 639 – Family Reunion

Gravis and Aris flew into the distance, gathering the other two. Aris had already become an Emperor and had comprehended several Laws regarding lightning, which made him very fast.

On the way, Gravis broadcasted his announcement several more times since his Spirit wasn’t big enough to envelop the entire southern region. He knew that his rise to power would damage the world for thousands of years, and it would take a long time to recover. Yet, he had a plan to rectify it as much as possible.

In a matter of minutes, the two of them reached Cera, who had been in confinement in the middle of the southern region. These gigantic distances, which had taken Gravis weeks and months to travel when he had been a Lord, were now nothing more than a stroll to him.

Cera noticed Aris and Gravis approaching. By now, she had already heard Gravis’ announcement, so she knew that their father had come.

Yet, she didn’t know how to feel. Her two siblings seemingly had some kind of connection to their father, but she just felt nothing. Gravis simply felt like another companion of hers, nothing more. She didn’t dislike him, but she simply didn’t feel anything special for him.

Of course, some things had changed. For example, she now felt reverence towards her father, but that was only due to his power. The three of them were no longer inexperienced children. After all, one shouldn’t forget that all of them were over 800 years old now.

Because of that, Cera knew how difficult it was to jump levels inside the Emperor Realm. Back when Gravis had first come into contact with them, jumping several levels didn’t seem as difficult, but now, they all truly knew how hard it was to jump more than one level.

Even though all three of them had managed to comprehend Punishment Lightning without any issues, it only allowed them to jump a little more than one level. Average level two Emperors were no threat to them, but level three Emperors would be a sure-death sentence to them.

"Hey, Cera," Gravis said with a smile as he appeared before her.

Cera nodded. "Hello, father," she answered.

Gravis noticed the subtle changes inside his daughter and felt a bit pained. He knew that Cera was more beast than his other two children, and with that came a natural apathy towards her family. Gravis knew that it wasn’t her fault, but it still stung a little.

"Come on," Gravis said with a smile as he gestured towards her. "Let’s get Yersi. Then we can have a proper family get-together."

Cera wasn’t the biggest fan of talking to Gravis due to her complex emotional relationship with him, but she felt drawn to her siblings. Her eyes fell upon Aris for the first time in over a century.

"Have you become more powerful, brother?" she asked evenly.

Aris sighed as he averted his gaze. "I have, but I’ve also realized that my power is not nearly enough. There is much more I can do," he said.

When Gravis heard Aris’ words, he smiled. He had really changed from his arrogant self.

Aris’ arrogant personality had always worried Gravis, especially since it had been so hard to show him the disadvantages that such a personality brought with it. Gravis hadn’t even been sure if his short demonstration back then had helped, but even if it hadn’t, the last 700 years had definitely changed him.

Gravis also knew one of the reasons why Aris had changed. From Aris, Gravis felt a very similar feeling as from Azure. This made Gravis pretty sure that Aris had comprehended the level two Law of Pride.

The Law of Pride reflected the true and positive nature of pride. Since Aris had comprehended this Law, he had also comprehended the advantages and disadvantages of pride. One could say that Aris knew the problems of pride even better than Gravis.

The Law of Pride worked similarly to a Will-Aura. Yet, instead of an unshakable will impacting the mindset of an enemy, it was the boundless feeling of pride and confidence in oneself. One could liken it to fighting someone powerful that was incredibly confident in their power without being arrogant.

From Cera, Gravis felt no special level two Law. It could be that she had also comprehended a level two Law, but if she had, Gravis had no familiarity with it.

Aris and Cera talked about their progress in the Laws as they followed Gravis to Yersi’s place.

In comparison to the other two, Yersi was at the frontlines towards the east. Gravis wasn’t sure why she was at the frontlines and why the other two were not, but he would surely hear their stories soon.

Yersi noticed the three of them approaching and smiled towards them. "Hello, father, brother, sister," she said with a friendly tone as she greeted each one of them.

Gravis was sure that Yersi was more human than beast. She had always shown the most emotional reactions out of all of them. Even when she had been only a Demonic Beast, she had already hunted with schemes.

Aris was probably a perfect mixture between beast and human, which was also the reason why he had the most issues. His beast personality and human personality clashed with each other, with none of the two emerging victorious.

Gravis looked at his youngest daughter and smiled warmly. "Hey, Yersi. Let me just deal with something, and we can all talk," Gravis said as he shot into the distance with incredible speed.

The three siblings looked at each other.

"It must have been hard for you, sister," Aris said with a sympathetic tone. Cera also looked at Yersi with some pity.

Yersi only smiled. "I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t frustrating, but everything worked out, right?" she asked with a chuckle.

Aris sighed. "I wasn’t powerful enough," Aris said with some guilt.

"Hey!" Yersi shouted as she punched Aris’ shoulder. "You don’t need to look out for me. It’s not that you’re not powerful enough, but that I’m not powerful enough."

Aris looked at the raging war, which was still going on at the coast. "I’m the leader, which means that I need to deal with the most powerful enemies."

"Alright, I’m back!" Gravis said as he appeared beside them. He had just informed the rest of the southern region about his announcement. "Now, first things first!"

Whooop! PACK!

Gravis became bigger as he grabbed all three of them and pulled them in a bearhug. The three of them were quite surprised by their father’s embarrassing conduct.

Yersi chuckled as she hugged him back. Aris was conflicted as the feeling of embarrassment and warmth came into conflict with him, while Cera only let it happen without doing anything. She just had to wait for it to be over.

Gravis didn’t much care for their current emotions. He was just happy to see them, and he wanted to hug them, no matter if they wanted it or not.

After some seconds, Gravis let them go and returned to his normal size. "So, first of all, what’s up with all this confinement nonsense I’ve heard about?" he asked.

Chapter 640 - 640 – What Happened

Silence reigned for a couple of seconds, and Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

"It was my fault," Aris said.

"Don’t overvalue your power," Cera said like she had been offended. "You might be more powerful than me right now, but that doesn’t mean that I was not also a danger."

"It was because of our rapid growth," Yersi said after Cera.

Gravis looked at Yersi. "Tell me more," he said.

Yersi looked towards the raging battle with even eyes. "A little more than a century ago, all of us managed to understand Punishment Lightning together."

Gravis nodded. He had expected something like that. Gravis had been made up of Punishment Lightning himself, and he had already expected them to have a crazy affinity towards that type of lightning. It wasn’t shocking to him that they managed to learn a level three Law so quickly.

"The Earthquake Ultimate saw that-"

"Wow, wait a second," Gravis interrupted Yersi. "Earthquake Ultimate? As far as I know, there are no Ultimates left in this world."

Cera snorted. "That’s what he called himself after our southern region was cut off from the other regions," she said with disdain. "The Earthquake Ultimate is or was the level four Emperor of the southern region."

"That rhinoceros?" Gravis asked.

Yersi nodded. "Yes, that was the Earthquake Ultimate," she said but then had to chuckle. "It’s ironic that you didn’t even know his name when you killed him."

Gravis leaned back as he sat on the ground. "Calling yourself an Ultimate even though you’re not is kinda ballsy but also conceited," he commented.

The three of them were a bit surprised by Gravis’ choice of words, but the phrase was pretty accurate.

"When we managed to understand Punishment Lightning as Kings, we quickly became Emperors," Yersi continued. "When the Earthquake Ultimate saw that he had three new Emperors with a level three Law each, he became troubled."

Gravis frowned. "Why? He just had to ignore you, and you would leave this world sooner or later."

The three of them looked with a bit of confusion at their father.

Yersi sighed. "You’ve really been away from the world for too long," she commented.

Gravis rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Probably. So, could you explain?"

Yersi nodded. "The issue is food and power," she said. "The world is not the same as it has been in the past. Tempering among land beasts stronger than Lords is nearly nonexistent now due to the constant threat of the sea beasts. This makes it difficult for us land beasts to become more powerful without fighting the sea beasts."

Gravis scratched his cheek. "I still don’t get the issue. So what if you have to fight the sea beasts? Sea beasts are also food."

Yersi sighed again. "From an individual standpoint, yes," she said, "but from our region’s standpoint, no. You might not know this, but due to the intensity of the war, we are losing more beasts than we gain new ones."

"How come?" Gravis asked with surprise.

"The sea beasts," Cera said from the side. "A couple hundred years ago, their fighting style changed. Back then, they only fought to become more powerful, but suddenly, they changed their approach. Now, they are fighting to eradicate the land beasts."

Gravis scratched his chin. "A couple hundred years ago, huh?" he muttered. "That should have been when Orthar became a level five Emperor."

The three of them were shocked and confused. First of all, who was this Orthar? Second of all, there was a level five Emperor!?

Gravis noticed their expressions. "Oh, Orthar is the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts," he said.

Now, the three of them were even more shocked. "The sea beasts have a level five Emperor!?" Yersi asked with shock.

Gravis nodded. Then, he decided to tell them about his history with Orthar.

They almost couldn’t believe that some Low-Rank Spirit Beast that Gravis randomly found in the ocean had become the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts and made them basically the overlords of the world.

"I’m pretty sure that Orthar has no interest in eradicating the land beasts," Gravis said. "He is very logical and only cares about his own power. Eradicating the land beasts brings him no gain. Right now, he is only waiting for me to become powerful enough to ascend so that he can hitch a ride."

Yersi scratched her cheek as she looked at the ground, thinking. "Him becoming a level five Emperor fits the timeframe," she said. "From what I’ve heard of you, this Orthar probably stopped caring about the land and sea beasts after he became a level five Emperor and stopped doing anything."

Gravis nodded. "Probably."

"This means that someone else must have taken to ruling the sea beasts," Yersi said. "And their goal is different from Orthar’s. Now, everything makes much more sense."

"Can we get back to the topic?" Gravis asked. "Why were you losing more beasts than gaining them?"

"Kings," Cera answered evenly. "The Kings started getting involved in the nonessential areas. They know that we have only limited space, which means that our beast production is capped. The sea beasts have the entire ocean outside the continent to recruit new members, but we don’t."

"Because of that," Cera continued, "They decided to cut off the tempering for our Lords. Kings started randomly appearing at unimportant areas, killing every Lord they found. This made it very difficult for our Lords to survive, and without a steady stream of new Kings, eventually, we would run out of Kings and Emperors."

By now, Gravis had a pretty good grasp of the situation. "But they still continued attacking," Gravis presumed. "Making it difficult for you to help the Lords to survive. Yet, the Lords still need to become more powerful. This probably means that the Lords are eating each other, right?"

Aris kept himself out of the conversation mostly as he watched the ongoing battle in thought.

Yersi nodded. "That’s the only way for us to remain alive as a region. Now, with the background information explained, you can probably find out how the Earthquake Ultimate felt when he saw three new Emperors with level three Laws."

Gravis frowned. "From a beast standpoint, I still can’t understand why he would confine you. Yet, from a human standpoint, I can see sense in that," Gravis said.

"Father," Yersi said. "Are there humans that act similarly to us beasts?"

Gravis nodded. "Sure. There are a ton of humans with different personalities. Some of them will- Oooohh!" Gravis suddenly exclaimed as he understood. "Yeah, if there are humans that act like beasts, surely there would be beasts acting like humans. Now, everything makes sense."

As soon as Gravis considered this from a human standpoint, he immediately managed to connect the dots.

"The Earthquake Ultimate saw his position of power in jeopardy," Gravis said. "The fact that he called himself the Earthquake Ultimate already showed how he saw himself. As soon as the regions split apart, he was probably ecstatic since he was now the undisputed leader."

"Additionally, he saw the shrinking number of level four Emperors. There aren’t even enough level four Emperors alive to create a single level five Emperor now. This means that if you three were to rapidly ascend the rankings, he would have to end up as food. The lack of food basically forces you three to consume him," Gravis said quickly.

"Yet, killing you would be a huge waste. If the current situation continues, the southern region would sooner or later die out, and he doesn’t want his position of power to be threatened. So, logically, he would keep your powers suppressed while using you as labor to weaken the sea beasts as much as possible."

Gravis scratched his chin. "This also explains why you were at the frontlines, Yersi. He probably disallowed you three from tempering yourselves or consuming other Emperors, and he probably forced you to hunt down Kings and Lords without end."

"Additionally, since he had to oversee the southern region, he didn’t have any spare time to keep watch over you three, which was why he commissioned the Tornado Emperor to keep watch over you."

Gravis remembered the rapid attack from the Tornado Emperor. "But the Tornado Emperor was a typical beast, and he was probably not happy at all to oversee some, to him, weak level one Emperors. He was probably hoping for the chance that one of you disobeyed any orders so that he could kill you without angering the Earthquake Ultimate. That was why he attacked me so happily and suddenly."

Gravis looked at Aris. "Do you actually know how often it happens that beasts confuse me with you?"

Aris nodded. "A couple hundred years ago, others also constantly confused me with you."

Gravis leaned back. "Man, that must have been annoying and boring," he said, "only being allowed to kill weak Kings and Lords."

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted.

"Annoying?" Cera said with some rage. "You call that annoying!?" she shouted with more anger.

Gravis was taken aback by this sudden shift. What was up with Cera? Gravis also noticed that Aris gritted his teeth and that Yersi had a bitter smile.

"Our path to power had been cut off!" Cera shouted. "Two of us were not allowed to leave while our sister had to kill unworthy beasts! Killing unworthy and weak beasts disrespects our power and what we have gained in our life!"

Gravis only looked with confusion at his three children. He could very well imagine himself in this situation since he had a lot of experience with Suppression. Yet, he really couldn’t see this as more than annoying.

"I mean, I get what you’re saying," Gravis said. "That’s why I called it annoying. However, I honestly don’t get why you three are so worked up over this."