Ch. 641..650

Chapter 641 - 641 – No Big Deal

"Haven’t you said that you cared about us?" Cera said with venom. "Have you been lying?"

"Hey!" Gravis shouted as he frowned. "Don’t ever question my love for you! I know very well how it feels to be suppressed, and I understand how frustrating it must have been for all of you, but don’t blow this out of proportion!"

"There are many ways you could have used to solve this issue. If it were truly so bad, you would have taken any of them," Gravis said.

All three of Gravis’ children had different reactions to his words. Yersi sighed while Aris looked with a complicated expression towards the battle. Meanwhile, Cera only looked with disdain at her father. "Enlighten me," she said, and judging by her tone, she didn’t expect much.

"First of all, you could have immediately fled as soon as you were confronted by this situation."

"Where to?" Cera asked without any amusement.

"The sea beasts," Gravis answered simply.

"The enemy?" she asked like she hadn’t heard correctly. "And become traitors? I could never live with such a shame."

"And exactly that’s why the situation wasn’t so bad," Gravis said. "Because staying in this situation was not as bad as living with some shame. If living in this situation was so bad, you would have simply fled in shame. Tell me, what would you have done if you knew that the Earthquake Emperor would kill you tomorrow? What would have happened? Would you have waited and obediently died?"

Cera gnashed her teeth. "Of course not! I’m not throwing my life away!" she shouted.

"So you admit that you had a choice in your current circumstance," Gravis said.

Cera glared at Gravis. "Of course we had, but living in shame is even worse than dying."

"Now, you’re contradicting yourself," Gravis said with some annoyance. "You said that you wouldn’t have thrown your life away, but now you say that you would rather die than live in shame. What is it?"

Cera stood up angrily. "These are two unrelated things!"

"No, they’re not," Gravis answered. "When you’re confronted with a horrible situation, you will want to find a way out of it. But sure, let’s put a pin in that. Next thing: You could also have attacked the Tornado Emperor together when the Earthquake Emperor was busy. There surely had to be some times where that opportunity presented itself."

"And waste such a great tempering opportunity?" Cera shouted back. "That’s a level three Emperor, and there are not many left. Wasting such a great tempering opponent just to- "

And then, silence.

Cera grew angrier as she realized what she had just been about to say while Gravis only smirked. Aris closed his eyes and sighed while Yersi felt a bit uncomfortable with the situation.

"You know," Gravis said after some seconds. "I have a close and powerful friend in this world, and I think her words are very accurate for this current circumstance."

Gravis paused for a bit.

"She would say, stop being a little bitch," Gravis said.

Cera nearly exploded.

"As far as I have seen," Gravis said, "none of you three had had any genuine setbacks yet. You have been born in a perfect area suited for you. Then, you have been at a place that allowed you to become Kings very quickly. After that, you joined the defensive lines and stayed there."

"You didn’t have to crawl, flee, and hide from an enemy that was about to kill you. You didn’t have to do something shameless to defeat an opponent that was too powerful for you to kill. Now, you have been suppressed once by a level four Emperor, and you immediately acted like it was the worst thing."

"We are not some carefree mortal animals," Gravis said. "The fact that you hadn’t yet needed to resort to something like this shows that your life has gone too smooth. If I were a mortal, I would feel for your circumstance, but we’re not mortals. We’re Cultivators. How can you possibly reach the top if such a minor thing, which you could have even resolved yourself, affects you so much."

Gravis leaned back again. "Yersi should know. She had once been in such a situation. Isn’t that right, Yersi?" Gravis asked.

Yersi sighed but nodded. "Back when I have left the Offspring Areas for the outside world to recover my power, I didn’t live with dignity," she said. "I had to crawl and hide in caves, flee from anything that even looked like it was dangerous. I have basically lived like a weak rodent, constantly hiding from danger."

"Father is right," Yersi said. "This has maybe been the most horrible thing in our lives, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t so bad."

Aris also sighed. "How could I have been so blind?" he said from the side. "When I saw you killing the Tornado Emperor, father, I felt rage. I felt like you were stealing my opponent. If our situation had truly been so bad, I would have felt relief, not rage."

Cera still wasn’t completely willing to accept her father’s and siblings’ words.

"Every bad situation, experience of pain, tragedy, and other similarly painful things make you more powerful," Gravis said. "As mortals, we can vie for a life without such pain, but as Cultivators, we need to fight against the pain to reach our goal."

Gravis stood up.

"If such an incident has such a gigantic impact on you, it might actually be better for you to stop cultivating," Gravis said.

Silence returned.

"That’s too far, father," Yersi said.

"It’s not," Gravis answered. "Only now have you gotten a true taste of cultivation. Do you think this will be the first time that any of this will happen? Only more pain will wait for you in the future. You guys know my story. Yet, instead of listening, put yourself in my situation. Don’t think like it’s something that someone else has experienced, but something you have experienced."

"You can’t compare yourself to us," Cera said, less angry by now. "Your circumstances are far from normal."

Gravis looked at Cera for some seconds and sighed. "Is this as far as you can go?" Gravis asked. "Have you already accepted that you can’t become as powerful as me?"

Gravis looked at Cera intently as Cera averted her eyes. "Do you think my power has been handed to me? I won’t be a hypocrite and say that I have achieved absolutely everything on my own, but I have achieved 95% on my own."

"Without the assassination attempt on my life and being buried in a pile of shit for two weeks, I wouldn’t have gotten Destruction Lightning. Without me killing someone I felt very close to, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attune my Spirit to Destruction Lightning."

"Without me constantly seeking my own death through insane tempering and pain, my Will-Aura would be nearly useless right now. Without me fleeing from my opponents in shame, I would be dead. Without me constantly fighting Heaven and purposefully walking into its traps, my Spirit and lightning wouldn’t be so powerful, and I wouldn’t even have come to this world."

"Cultivation is pain," Gravis said. "If you can deal with the pain, great, but if you can’t, it’s better that you don’t cultivate."

Yersi and Aris listened intently. Cera didn’t want to admit it, but her father’s words also touched her a bit.

"When I’ve been a level five King," Gravis continued as he walked around, "I have been able to fight a beast three levels above me. Something like this doesn’t even exist in this world. Yet, was that enough? Was that where I stopped?"

"No, I didn’t. Instead, I spent three times of my current age at that point to push myself one level further."

"Think about it," Gravis said. "That would be 2400 years for you right now. Would you be willing to not fight a single beast in the next 2400 years and only comprehend nothing but Laws to boost your Battle-Strength one more level? Would you be fine with remaining level one Emperors for 2400 more years?"

Silence reigned again.

"I think I would," Aris said.

Gravis smirked when he heard Aris. That was a good mindset.

"And Yersi," Gravis said as he looked at her. "Don’t coddle your siblings. You’re only hurting their path to power by doing that."

Yersi felt called out while Aris and Cera looked at Yersi with questioning looks.

Yersi smiled awkwardly. "Actually," she said slowly. "I never thought of our situation to be so bad, but I didn’t want to make you two feel weak."

Aris sighed again when he heard that. "I have a lot to work on," he muttered.

Cera’s insides churned in a mix of emotions.

"ARGH!" Cera suddenly said as she shook her head violently. "Fine!" she shouted. "Over is over. Can we change the topic now?"

Gravis had to chuckle a little when he heard her.

Then, the four of them talked about their lives, Laws, cultivation, power, experiences, and everything else.

And sooner than they thought, the deadline for the southern region had arrived.

"It’s time," Gravis said as he stood up after three days.

"What’s your plan, father?" Yersi asked. Gravis had always avoided talking about this topic.

"You will see," Gravis said with a smirk. "The only thing I can say is that the dynamic of this entire war might change."

"In truth," Gravis said as he looked towards the west. "There is a high possibility that this war will completely vanish in a few years."

Chapter 642 - 642 – Another One

The three of them were shocked when they heard their father’s words. This whole war might stop? What was that supposed to mean? How could something like this be stopped? It wasn’t that everyone wanted it to stop, but that everyone didn’t want it to stop. This war was important to become powerful.

"You’ll see," Gravis said. "Let’s go to the northwest first. Everyone should be gathered by now."

Gravis shot into the distance as his three children followed him. They knew that their father’s boasts weren’t empty, but they just couldn’t think of a way how this war would stop. The only solution they could come up with was if one of the two camps got utterly annihilated, but they doubted that their father would do something like that. He didn’t seem to be the bloodthirsty type.

After some minutes, the four of them arrived at the north-western border, and as soon as they arrived, they felt awestruck by what they saw.

So many beasts.

Everything was just filled with beasts.

There were so many Lords present. There was even an uncountable number of Kings. Sadly, even with all beasts gathered here, the number of Emperors was still pitiful. There weren’t even 100.

This really put into perspective how many beasts had died. If all Emperors here were to fight each other, only one new level three Emperor would be born, and that was considering that no corpses would be wasted.

This display showed them how truly hard it was to become a level five Emperor now. If the other two regions had the same number of beasts, there would be only enough to produce one more level four Emperor. Yet, even if one included the sea beasts, there were not enough beasts in existence to produce even a single level five Emperor.

By all intents and purposes, it was now impossible to become a level five Emperor now. There was just not enough food.

All beasts looked with reverence up at the floating Gravis. They knew him, and they knew that he had killed their level four Emperor. He was the most powerful beast present, and they would follow his orders.

"Today," Gravis announced, "we will abandon the southern region and join the western region."

The beasts were shocked when they heard Gravis’ direct announcement. Abandon their homes? Why? They could still resist the sea beasts.

"What about the two level four Emperors from the sea beasts?" the sole level three Emperor asked Gravis.

"They will not be an issue," Gravis answered. "If they decide to stop us, I will kill them."

The level three Emperor was still nervous. Gravis had killed their level four Emperor, but fighting two at once may still be too difficult for him. Yet, Gravis had ordered it, so he decided to take a step back.

Gravis turned back to the crowd. "If you want, you can battle on the journey, but I will not stop for you. If you leave my Sense’s range, you are on your own."

"What about the weaker beasts?" a level two Emperor asked.

"They’re too slow, and I only have so much space inside my Sense," Gravis answered. "The Spirit Beasts will die, but you will survive."

The beasts weren’t very happy with that development, but they accepted it. They didn’t much care for these weak beasts anyway.

Gravis saw that no more questions came and nodded. "Stay close to me," he said as he flew to the border.

The beasts gathered behind him and stayed as close as possible. Gravis flew so slow that even the slowest beast of the group could keep up. Yet, that meant that the journey would probably take three days.

SPLASH!

Several sea beasts broke out of the water as they tried to attack the land beasts, but they couldn’t move anymore as soon as they came close.

Gravis had activated his Will-Aura and suppressed all of them.

"That is your first warning," Gravis said. "Any other beast that attempts to attack us will be turned to dust by me."

Most of the sea beasts retreated, but there were always some stupid ones. Just as Gravis had said, these beasts turned into dust as soon as they came close to the group.

The dust fell into the sea since Gravis couldn’t use such weak beasts as nourishment. He didn’t enjoy mindless killing, but it was important to show that he wouldn’t allow any fighting right now.

After this, silence reigned.

Yet, that was only for some minutes.

Gravis noticed the two level four Emperors of the sea beasts coming closer. Surely the sea beasts wouldn’t want for every beast to congregate onto one region.

"The first one of you two that launches an attack will be killed," Gravis transmitted to the two.

The two of them stopped as they glared at Gravis. Obviously, he was the leader of this gigantic movement.

One of the two was a moray eel, and when Gravis saw him, he was taken back to his fight with that one moray eel when he had been a Lord.

"Why are you involving yourself, Gravis?" the moray eel asked. The moray eel knew exactly who Gravis was. After all, Gravis had swum past them when he had visited their Supreme Leader.

"I have killed the level four Emperor of the southern region," Gravis said, shocking the two level four Emperors. "If I leave these beasts to die, that would be on me. Yet, I can easily solve this issue, which is why I’m doing this."

The two level four Emperors looked at each other with uncertainty, but after some seconds, they turned back to Gravis.

"You can pass, but only because you are more powerful than us," the moray eel said.

Yet, instead of answering immediately, Gravis only smirked. "Oh, is that so?"

The two level four Emperors were taken aback, but that was only for a short moment.

SSSHHHH!

Near Gravis, a pile of dust suddenly appeared out of thin air and trickled down.

BZZZZ!

Gravis used some lightning to absorb the dust but just kept looking at the two with a smirk.

SSSHHH!

The moray eel turned into darkness as he became nothing. Meanwhile, the other level four Emperor looked with shock at what had just happened.

"I wouldn’t have expected for you to lie to me and to try a sneak attack. Who would have thought?" Gravis said with a smirk.

The moray eel had had the darkness element, and from the very beginning, he had only shown a copy made out of darkness. While they had been speaking, the moray eel had sneaked up on Gravis, wanting to unleash a sneak attack. Of course, with Gravis’ knowledge about the elements, he easily saw through that.

"What about you?" Gravis asked the other level four Emperor, which was a clam with eyes.

The clam became fearful, and she didn’t dare to answer Gravis. Anything she said could give Gravis a reason to kill her.

"Actually, it doesn’t matter," Gravis said. "You will meet me in one week near the Grand Lake. If you don’t show up, I will kill you."

The clam nearly couldn’t react, but out of instinct, she nodded several times and flew away.

The gathered beasts couldn’t believe what had just happened. Gravis had killed a level four Emperor just like that? He was so powerful!?

After this point, no more attacks came.

Three days later, the group finally managed to reach the western region, and they were greeted by an army of beasts.

"Halt!" the resident level four Emperor commanded. "What is your purpose in coming here?"

Gravis quickly gave the level four Emperor a summary of what had happened and why they were here. In comparison to the level four Emperor from the southern region, this one was a true beast. This meant that he was happy to accept all these beasts to bolster their ranks.

Just like the southern region, the western region started to run out of beasts. Such a high number of new beasts would help them immensely.

The beasts quickly flew into the western region, and soon enough, only Gravis, his children, and the level four Emperor remained.

"Do you wish for leadership?" the level four Emperor asked. He had already accepted that he was weaker than Gravis.

"Leadership is irrelevant now," Gravis said. "Instead, I have a request for you."

"Yes?" the level four Emperor asked respectfully.

"In one week, meet me near the Grand Lake. I will tell the same thing to the level four Emperor of the northern region," Gravis said.

"What about our defenses?" he asked.

"The last level four Emperor of the sea beasts will also be there," Gravis said. "No level four Emperor will attack while you are away."

The level four Emperor nodded. Yet, he still had one more question.

"Can you tell me the reason?" he asked carefully.

Gravis smirked as he looked towards the distant Striders.

"The world is about to end."

Chapter 643 - 643 – Beast Disadvantages

The level four Emperor and Gravis’ three children looked at Gravis in shock. These were quite some ominous words he had just spoken. What did he mean by that the world was going to end soon?

Gravis didn’t elaborate further and only told them that they would see in the future.

Without waiting for another second, Gravis shot towards the northern region to inform the level four Emperor residing there.

When he crossed the gigantic river, no one dared to stop him. One reason was that every Emperor had been informed about Gravis’ power, while the other reason was Gravis’ ridiculous speed.

Gravis was already a level two Emperor, and he had comprehended the level two Law of Lightning’s Speed. This Law alone already made him as fast as a level three Emperor, but when it was used with Punishment Lightning, Gravis was already as fast as a level four Emperor.

Yet, that still wasn’t the end. Gravis’ Law of Time allowed him to double the speed of his personal time. This meant that, to him, he flew as fast as a level four Emperor, but to others, it looked like he was nearly as fast as a level five Emperor.

No one could stop him with that speed, except for Meadow and maybe Orthar. However, Gravis’ power was already more powerful than Orthar’s power by quite a bit. Sadly, Gravis was pretty sure that he still wasn’t as powerful as Meadow. He probably had to become a level three Emperor first, maybe even a level four Emperor.

Meadow had already killed an Immortal once, and as everybody knew, every three Realms, a major power jump would occur. This meant that a level one Immortal, if that level existed, would be three levels above a level five Emperor. So, from a total strength standpoint, Meadow was six levels above his Realm right now.

Gravis quickly arrived in the northern region and informed the residing level four Emperor about the meeting. At first, the northern level four Emperor doubted Gravis’ power, but his instincts told him that he must not anger Gravis. So, in the end, he decided to trust his instincts.

After that, Gravis quickly gathered his three children and lead them to the Grand Lake. The reason for that was that he wanted them to learn more about Laws. Right now, they were not in danger, which was the best moment to comprehend more Laws. After all, if Gravis’ plan worked, his children wouldn’t be so safe anymore in the future.

There was not much land left at the Grand Lake, but there was still some since the sea beasts couldn’t take everything without angering Meadow.

Gravis showed them around and demonstrated to them how he had comprehended one Law after the other in his over 700-year-long seclusion. Of course, he didn’t tell them how the Laws worked since that might hurt their Law Comprehension experience. Gravis wanted them to search for their own paths and learn their own Laws.

He simply showed them which thoughts he had had back then and how he had decided to look at one thing after the other in an effort to understand everything.

His children absorbed all of Gravis’ knowledge. To them, it was wondrous that Gravis learned Laws by looking at his surroundings and trying to find stuff he didn’t understand. He seemingly had no goal in trying to comprehend Laws. Even if a Law appeared absolutely useless to his Battle-Strength, he looked at it anyway.

Their viewpoint was vastly different. Gravis looked at his surroundings and understood nearly everything due to his incredibly vast knowledge. By now, Gravis had dabbled basically in nearly every category of Laws, which meant that he knew a little bit about everything.

Meanwhile, his children were overwhelmed by all the unknown. They hadn’t looked at their surroundings like Gravis. They always had a goal in mind when trying to comprehend Laws, and they only targeted these goals. After all, what was the point of learning a Law if it didn’t increase their power?

One couldn’t fault Gravis’ children for this mindset. Basically every beast had this mindset since they lacked creativity and curiosity. Their inherent drive towards power made comprehending unimportant Laws appear like it was a waste of time.

Yet, just like several other things, following one’s instinct was often very useful but would also hinder someone sometimes. The two best examples were the pre-dodging technique and the mutation after a significant breakthrough.

Performing a dodge based on an assumption transformed it into a conscious action instead of an instinctual one. Additionally, if his children always followed what their father’s blood inside them told them, they would all still look like him, which would be a problem. After all, they all had different personalities and fighting styles.

Aris obviously preferred a direct confrontation, which made him decide to create a very bulky body with four powerful arms.

Cera relied more on her agility, which made her decide to create a lithe, agile, and fast body with incredibly sharp spikes at the end of her arms.

Yersi fought more like a darkness beast, evading and hiding her strength until she managed to unleash a devastating assault that immediately killed her opponent. Because of that, she looked very graceful and thin, even when compared to Cera.

Additionally, she looked very humanlike, but that was only the surface. In truth, she had already comprehended the Law of Disguise, and an incredibly terrifying, venomous tail was hidden inside her body.

Since the three of them were beasts and also had the inherent drive of beasts, it became quite difficult for the three of them to look at the Laws like Gravis looked at them. Their viewpoints were just entirely different.

Something inside the three of them told them that they had to become more powerful, quickly. Every second they didn’t spend becoming more powerful felt like they crept closer to death. Their instincts told them that they had to become more powerful, or they would end up as food.

Gravis told them that they had to overcome these instincts, but that was easier said than done. This was something very connected to their very being. They were beasts, and Heaven didn’t want beasts to have an overly powerful Battle-Strength. Average Battle-Strength or slightly above average was perfect for beasts, but Heaven didn’t want them to jump two or three levels.

If a beast managed to gain such a powerful Battle-Strength, Heaven wouldn’t kill the beast. After all, some rare geniuses needed especially powerful beasts. Yet, there also shouldn’t be many of these beasts to protect the population of human cultivators.

This was why this instinct was in every beast. It wouldn’t be able to stop all of them, but it would be able to stop over 99.999% of them from going too crazy with their Battle-Strength.

Gravis and his three children spent the next week talking about the general concept of how one should approach understanding a new Law. Many of the concepts were challenging for the children to understand, but Gravis noticed that they made progress. This talk would be invaluable for their future survival.

And like this, the one-week waiting period had ended.

And the three level four Emperors had arrived.

Chapter 644 - 644 – There Can Only Be Two

The three level four Emperors arrived one after the other.

First, the level four Emperor from the north arrived and waited for Gravis to announce the reason why he had called him here.

For now, Gravis ignored him.

Then, the clam arrived, and she glared at the level four Emperor from the north while he glared back. At least, Gravis thought that she glared. It was hard to discern the facial expressions of a clam.

Lastly, the level four Emperor from the west arrived, and surprisingly, he didn’t go to the other land beast Emperor. Instead, he took up a third position. He didn’t glare at either of them, but Gravis could feel that he was not a fan of either of the two. The same thing was true for the northern level four Emperor, who looked with venom at the western level four Emperor.

Gravis scratched his chin as he noticed that. ’Interesting,’ he thought.

"Alright," Gravis said as he flew closer to them.

All three of them stopped glaring and only respectfully looked at Gravis.

"This meeting will consist of two parts," Gravis said. "Depending on your mindset, you will either enjoy or fear the first part. The second part is only an order I will give you."

The three of them were anticipating Gravis’ words in fear. He was the most powerful out of all of them, and if he wanted to kill them, he could do just that without any repercussions. After all, he was not an Ultimate. The ruler wouldn’t intervene.

"Now, for the first part," Gravis said. At the side, the three children of Gravis also looked with anticipation at Gravis. What would he do?

"I’ll be straightforward. As soon as I become a level three Emperor, I will be powerful enough to eat Striders, which means that I won’t need any more food from the beasts," Gravis said.

The three of them released a sigh of relief. This had been their biggest fear. If Gravis decided to eat them, there would be nothing they could do about it.

"But," Gravis said, "to become a level three Emperor, I need one more level four Emperor."

And like that, their nervousness returned and transformed into fear. The two land beast Emperors felt especially nervous. Right now, the land beasts had the upper hand, and choosing one of them seemed much more likely than killing the last level four sea beast Emperor.

"One of you will be consumed by me. The choice of which one it is lies in your hands. Make a free-for-all, duel each other, vote, I don’t care. I need the corpse of a level four Emperor. If you don’t want to fight, I will choose myself," Gravis said.

If these beasts were mortals, this would be cruel and inhumane, but these were beasts. It wasn’t that their lives weren’t worth anything, but that their mindset had already accepted their possible death at the hands of another beast. They had committed to cultivating.

Additionally, this choice actually wasn’t so bad. Obviously, a fight would break out, and the weakest beast would die. Like that, at least one beast would receive some excellent tempering while the weakest one would die. This was about as fair as Gravis could make it. After all, power was everything.

The three of them all had different reactions to it. The clam became fearful and nervous. If the two land beast Emperors decided to gang up on her, she would die.

Yet, contrary to all expectations, none of the two land beast Emperors looked at her. Instead, they glared at each other.

"I’ve waited for this opportunity," the northern Emperor said.

"Finally," the western Emperor said.

Then, the northern Emperor turned to the clam. "Leave. This will be a fight between him and me."

The clam almost couldn’t believe it. She didn’t have to fight? That was great! The clam didn’t enjoy fighting at all. The only reason why she had become so powerful was that one beast after the other had tried to kill her, and she had always won. She only wanted to live in peace.

Sadly, this was impossible in this world, at least as long as she stayed near the continent. Yet, she just couldn’t leave the continent. She enjoyed the Energy density near the core of the world just way too much.

Sometimes, someone just managed to stumble into success. One could say that her mindset was not suitable for cultivation at all, but she somehow still managed to become so powerful.

The clam quickly flew into the distance to watch from a safe distance while Gravis simply waited. The dead beast would be eaten by him.

"If one of you two releases an all-out attack, I will kill that beast immediately," Gravis said.

The two Emperors continued looking at each other, ignoring Gravis. They had been rivals for a very long time, and they had always wanted to prove to each other that they were the more powerful one. Yet, they also respected their rival. If they were truly the weaker one, they wouldn’t want to do something so petty.

Beasts were definitely different from humans just because of such mindsets. Something like this would be rare among humans.

The two of them immediately clashed, and everyone watched.

Gravis didn’t much care for the fight, but his three children were entranced. These were level four Emperors, beings far stronger and more experienced than them. Watching such a violent battle would help them in comprehending more Laws.

The fight took multiple hours since their Battle-Strength was just too close to each other. Additionally, none of the two followed a very aggressive fighting style. It was more like the two of them tried to find opportunities for a counterattack.

As the fight dragged on, the two of them also managed to understand new Laws. This made the fight swing back and forth. One would be suppressed by the new Law of the other one until he would also understand a new Law.

The fight continued for over a day, and by now, Gravis was sure why the two of them hadn’t been able to resolve their enmity for such a long time.

Obviously, it wasn’t good for the land beasts if two level four Emperors fought each other. Yet, thanks to their defensive fighting style, they weren’t able to decide a victor until an Ultimate got involved, and when the regions got split, they couldn’t come into contact with each other anymore.

By now, a considerable crowd had gathered and watched the fight. Sea beasts and some land beasts watched the fight from a distance with interest. This was valuable knowledge!

After another day, the fight finally ended.

The western Emperor had won, but he was also close to death. Sadly, he didn’t manage to comprehend a level three Law during the fight. This meant that he could still not attempt to ascend.

BZZZZ!

Gravis consumed the corpse of the northern Emperor and became a level three Emperor.

Now, Gravis felt powerful enough to fight a Strider. These humongous beast, which had always towered over Gravis, were now within his reach. He still remembered the time Azure had made him aware of the Striders.

Back then, Gravis had been a level five Lord. Looking at ten beings with the power of level five Emperors had been awe-inspiring to him. Now, he had reached their power and could kill them.

After reveling in his new power for a bit, Gravis turned to the two remaining level four Emperors in the world.

’This world is truly at its end,’ Gravis thought. ’Back then, there had been ten level five Emperors. I also guess that there had probably been over 50 level four Emperors. But now, there are only two level four Emperors remaining. The entire world has been exhausted.’

"Now, for my order," Gravis said, claiming the attention of the two level four Emperors. "For the next century, no King or Emperor will fight any beast from the other camp. The Lords and weaker are still allowed to fight, but there will not be any fights between beasts of different Realms."

The two level four Emperors were shocked when they heard Gravis’ words. They were supposed to stop fighting? Just like that?

"Gravis, can you tell us why?" the western level four Emperor asked carefully.

"Preparation," Gravis answered. "You need more beasts when the century is up. If everything works as planned, you will be thankful for my order. If it doesn’t work out, it also doesn’t matter."

The clam looked at the western level four Emperor with pleading. She wanted him to ask again but wasn’t courageous enough to ask herself.

"Why wouldn’t it matter?" the western level four Emperor asked. He also wanted to know.

"Because nearly all the beasts in this world will die if my plan doesn’t work."

Chapter 645 - 645 – Why A Century?

"Oi, dafuck are you on about?" Meadow said as she suddenly included herself in the conversation. "What’s with these ominous fucken words!?"

Gravis only smirked. "Meadow, can you feel my power right now?" he asked as he looked towards Meadow’s direction.

Meadow remained silent for a bit.

"You are as powerful as me," she said after a while, without any sarcasm or snark.

"Half-right," Gravis said. "I wouldn’t be able to kill an Immortal while you can, but thanks to my Will-Aura, I would still be able to fight with you."

"Now," Gravis said, "how powerful do you think I would be when I am an Immortal?"

"Very," Meadow said.

"And how powerful do you think Heaven is?" Gravis said.

Meadow remained silent again.

"I don’t know," she said after a while, "but Heaven is probably more powerful than me."

Gravis nodded. "Heaven is definitely more powerful than you. If you were an Immortal, you might have a slight chance, but I would still put my money on Heaven. Heaven is just that strong. Do you understand what I’m getting at?" he asked Meadow. He transmitted his voice only to Meadow so that nobody else could hear him.

Now, Meadow realized what Gravis wanted to say. That was true. If Heaven and Gravis fought, this entire world might be destroyed. It would take forever for the world to return to its previous state if that was even possible.

"And you have a plan to save the world?" Meadow asked. Surprisingly, she had been pretty serious throughout this conversation. Apparently, she cared for the world.

"I have a plan, but I’m unsure if it will work," Gravis said. "If it works, I would need you to help the beasts of this world. You will naturally know what to do. Could you do that?" Gravis asked.

Meadow remained silent again for a while.

"Urgh, fine," she groaned. "But your plan better work, or I will have to spank your butt."

Gravis smirked. "I thought you wanted my plan to succeed. Why are you now enticing me to fail?" Gravis said.

"Ew," Meadow said, "Fuck off, pervert! I’ll go back to cultivating, weirdo."

Gravis had to chuckle. Obviously, Meadow was only joking around with him, as was Gravis.

After that, Gravis gave his order again, and the two remaining level four Emperors left. For the next century, only Lords and weaker would be allowed to participate in the war. Everyone else had to find tempering inside their own camp. Like this, the deaths of the beasts would vastly decrease.

After everything was taken care of, Gravis went over to his three children. "You have one century to learn as many Laws in peace as you can. After that, depending on how it goes, you might need to fight for your lives."

The three of them narrowed their eyes. Comprehending Laws for a crazy long time felt terrible for beasts, but as long as they had a specific timeframe, it wouldn’t be a problem. After all, after a century, they would fight again and become stronger.

"We will," Aris said.

Gravis nodded. "Good," then he turned to the Striders with a gleam in his eyes. "I will also make use of my time."

Why had Gravis given everyone a century? After all, he could just simply kill enough Striders to ascend in a single day.

The reason for that was something else he had planned.

Gravis flew over to one of the Striders and summoned all his power. He summoned a spear full of lightning as he activated the process of Mortality. Then, he unleashed a fully loaded Lightning Crescent from his saber.

Lastly, he used his Law of Time to manipulate the speed of both of his attacks so that the Lightning Crescent would hit first and Mortality a split second later.

The Lightning Crescent hit the head of one of the Striders and exploded violently, easily destroying the surrounding 200 kilometers of space. Gravis was a level three Emperor now, and with that, his strength had also reached insane degrees. If most of his attacking power hadn’t been focused on the Strider, the explosion would have been many times bigger.

A third of the Strider’s head was destroyed, and shortly after, Mortality buried itself into the Strider’s brain.

Boom.

A tiny noise was heard as Mortality exploded inside the Strider’s head. It wasn’t powerful enough to blow the whole thing up, but the insides of the Strider’s head were utterly destroyed.

CRRRRR!

A deafening sound of something gigantic falling over could be heard as the Strider fell over, dead. It hadn’t even had any time to unleash its offense or defense. It had died immediately.

The world became silent as every beast looked towards the humongous Striders in the core of the world. The Striders were visible from nearly everywhere, so Gravis killing one of them would also be noticed by nearly everyone.

Everyone knew who had killed the Strider. Did this mean that Gravis would ascend soon?

"Is it time?" Orthar asked as he appeared near Gravis.

"Not yet," Gravis said. "You have another century. In one hundred years, it is time. If you know where Morus is, please inform him of that fact too. I still have to pay him back, even if I don’t want to."

"Okay," Orthar said as he returned to his Abyss.

Meanwhile, Gravis absorbed the power of the Strider. Sadly, its power wasn’t enough to make him a level four Emperor. For that, he would need to kill two more.

Gravis regenerated his lightning over the next hour and killed the next Strider.

One hour later, another one died.

After Gravis absorbed that one, he finally became a level four Emperor. Yet, he didn’t stop.

Gravis unleashed a singular Lightning Crescent at the fourth Strider, and that Lightning Crescent was enough to kill it. This meant that Gravis’ killing speed had doubled. Yet, to become a level five Emperor, Gravis would need ten Striders.

After three hours, Gravis had killed six Striders since becoming a level four Emperor, but then, he stopped.

’This should be enough,’ Gravis thought.

BZZZZZ!

Gravis transformed into lightning and split himself into two. He had enough Spirit/Lightning inside of him to create two Gravises with the power of a level four Emperor.

One of them flew closer to a Strider, but the Strider didn’t react. After some seconds, that Gravis even came so close to the Strider that he could touch it. Sadly, it still didn’t react.

BANG!

Then, Gravis kicked it.

The Strider didn’t react.

"What, you don’t even count that as an attack?" Gravis asked. "Then how about this?"

Gravis used his Body Composition Law to attack the Strider.

Nothing happened.

The Strider didn’t react, and it also didn’t dissolve.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in shock. "What?" he exclaimed.

Now, Gravis was in the same situation that his enemies had been in when fighting him. That one elephant and the Tornado Emperor had both tried to dissolve his body with their Laws but failed. The same thing had now happened to Gravis.

"You’re not made of flesh?" Gravis asked as he scratched his chin.

The Strider didn’t react as it continued to dumbly stand there.

Then, Gravis went through one Composition Law after the other. First, he tried the materials and then all the elements. Yet, the Strider continued to just stand there.

WHOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, Gravis felt an incredible force tearing at his body. The Gravis near the Strider had to resist the spatial tearing as the outside Gravis looked at the Strider with perplexity.

"You’re a fucking plant!?" he shouted. "Why are you a fucking plant!?"

Gravis had just tried to dissolve the body of the Strider with the Plant Composition Law, and looky there, it worked. Who knew that these brown cow things were plants?

The Gravis, close to the Strider, gnashed his teeth in pain as he tried to resist the spatial tearing. Yet, the spatial tearing was just too powerful, and he felt his body getting torn apart.

BZZZZ!

Then, Gravis transformed into lightning.

As soon as Gravis did that, the tearing became barely bearable, but he was still being torn apart.

’Stay in one piece! Stay in one piece! Stay in one piece!’ Gravis continually shouted at himself. Even the outside Gravis gritted his teeth. One shouldn’t forget that both Gravises were the same being, which meant that they both felt the same pain.

After some seconds, the Gravis closer to the Strider was completely dissolved. The Punishment Lightning scattered and was turned back into Energy. Like this, all of Gravis’ previously absorbed Energy had returned to the world.

The Strider calmed down when it killed the attacker and continued standing there dumbly.

The surviving Gravis rubbed his chin with a smirk as a gleam appeared inside his eyes. ’It works!’ he thought.

Why had Gravis given the beasts a century?

The reason for that was his Will-Aura.

When he had been a level five King, his Will-Aura had been at the absolute possible peak for his Realm, which was about the first level of an Immortal. Now, Gravis was nearly an entire Realm higher, which meant that he could also push his Will-Aura nearly an entire Realm higher.

Gravis had had this plan to temper himself against the Striders ever since he realized that Styr couldn’t help him anymore with his Will-Aura. Styr had been able to temper Gravis’ Will-Aura by trying to scatter Gravis’ being.

Meanwhile, the Striders tore someone apart with their weird Law of Space Tearing or something. If Gravis remained inside a physical body, it wouldn’t help him much since that would be only physical pain. Yet, if he transformed into lightning, wouldn’t that be the same as Styr’s tempering? After all, the Strider would tear at his entire being.

Yet, in comparison to Styr, these Striders were not here to help him. They wanted to kill him, which required Gravis to become more careful. Because of that, he created another body and sent it in.

The disadvantage of that was that he would die after some seconds and would waste half of his foundation in a matter of seconds. Such a wasteful training method was unsustainable.

At least, it would be unsustainable if there weren’t an unending supply of Energy right in front of Gravis. Gravis would kill four to six Striders, create a new body, let it die in tempering, and consume more Striders. As long as Heaven kept converting his dispersed lightning into Energy, the Striders would never stop.

"Heaven," Gravis said with a smirk, "I hope you’re ready to work your ass off because this won’t stop for the next century. Try to keep up with me, okay?"

BOOOOM!

Then, Gravis killed another two Striders.

Chapter 646 - 646 – Darkness

Gravis continued doing this for the next five years.

By now, he was able to survive for about a minute inside the Striders’ Space Tearing Domain.

’It’s time I up my game,’ Gravis thought with a smirk.

Then, the outside Gravis also charged at a Strider.

WHOOOOOM!

Then, both of them were under the Space Tearing Domain. With two Space Tearing Domains attacking Gravis at the same time, both of his bodies dissolved many times faster.

BOOOOM!

But after some seconds, one of the Gravises unleashed a pre-loaded Lightning Crescent at the Strider in front of him, allowing him to regain his power.

’Wait, I can make that even better!’ Gravis thought.

The other Gravis retreated until he had enough Energy to also pre-load a Lightning Crescent. After that, both Gravises went to the next Striders and killed them after they came close to death.

Now, Heaven had to create two Striders every couple of seconds. Gravis’ regeneration and Energy absorption were just too crazy.

After some time, both Gravises had absorbed enough Energy to make two more Gravises, which they did. Now, there were four Gravises.

All four of them pre-loaded a Lightning Crescent. Creating weapons was not an issue since Gravis had a ton of ore.

More time passed.

Now, there were ten Gravises, one for each Strider.

The beasts of the world couldn’t believe what they were seeing. In their eyes, there were ten Gravises that all killed Striders without end, but they also didn’t ascend. Where did all these Gravises come from!? Where did all these Striders come from!?

By now, all the stars had vanished, but no beast noticed.

Gravis couldn’t send all ten of them at once at the Striders, but he could rotate them. If he let all ten of them attack at once, Gravis’ being would be scattered in no time.

When one of them had gathered enough Energy to make another Gravis, he simply shot the lightning into the horizon. Heaven would convert that lightning into Energy again.

Many years passed.

By now, all ten Gravises fought against the Striders, and Heaven had to work itself to the bone.

Gravis killed the Striders incredibly quickly and would transform their Energy into lightning, which it had to convert to Energy and then to Striders again.

Every Strider had enough Energy inside it that it would rival a level five Emperor. Meanwhile, Heaven was only in the Immortal Realm. Continually converting so much Energy twice was incredibly exhausting.

At some point, Heaven just decided to only give Gravis as much Energy from the Striders that he was full again. Like this, it wouldn’t have to transform lightning into Energy first.

"No, fuck you!" Gravis said as he shot his lightning at the dead Strider and absorbed it. Then, he shot the unneeded lightning into the horizons.

Heaven grew incredibly annoyed and frustrated as the sky shook for the blink of an eye. Why couldn’t Gravis just let the Energy return!? All of this was utterly senseless!

"I bet you think that all of this is senseless, Heaven," Gravis said with a smirk. "Isn’t that the exact thing I had thought and said back when you forced me to procreate? This is senseless! Doesn’t feel good, does it?"

Heaven wanted to say that these two things were unrelated, but it wasn’t allowed to talk to Gravis right now. In the end, it was forced to suck up its frustration.

"Isn’t this interesting, Heaven?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "You are more powerful than me, but I’m the one forcing you to work while you can’t do anything."

"Isn’t this what you have taught me? This is suppression! If you actually wanted to give me the Law of Suppression back then, you should be happy. After all, I’m only doing what you have taught me. If you didn’t, well shit, you should have given me another Law so that I didn’t comprehend this one."

"How does it feel to be suppressed by someone much weaker than you?" Gravis said with a smirk.

Usually, Gravis was not a fan of suppressing others, but this time, he enjoyed it thoroughly. Back then, Heaven had suppressed him with the rules, and now, Gravis was suppressing Heaven with the rules. Wasn’t this ironic?

More years passed. Gravis had been tempering himself against the Striders for seventy years by now.

Surprisingly, no more Striders died.

Why was that?

Because Gravis’ Will-Aura had become powerful enough to resist the tearing force consistently. Gravis’ being was scattering so slowly that he regenerated his being faster than he was being dissolved. This meant that he also didn’t need to kill any Striders anymore.

Heaven could finally take a breather.

"Oh?" Gravis said with a smirk. "Do you think I’m done? Of course not!"

BZZZZ!

All ten Gravises split into four additional Gravises. Now, there were 40 Gravises with the power of a level three Emperor each.

When Heaven saw that, it fell into devastation.

"Let’s go," one Gravis said.

WHOOOOOM!

All Gravises charged at the Striders as they started scattering with frightening speed. Yet, for every dead Gravis, another Strider would die, which gave Gravis enough Energy to make another one.

The Striders began to die even faster than before since the Gravises also died faster than before. Now, Heaven had to work even harder than ever before in its life. The sheer amount of conversion of lightning into Energy and then into Striders was terrifying.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, something terrifying happened.

The stars had vanished ever since Gravis had started tempering himself. After all, Heaven needed all the Energy to produce so many Striders.

But now, the sun had exploded!

The beasts felt like doomsday had arrived as the sun had vanished. What had happened!? Why were there no stars!? Why was there no sun!?

The world was plunged into pure darkness as the beasts felt like the end of the world was about to come.

Yet, as the sun exploded, the amount of Energy in the world rose sharply. Heaven needed a bigger storage of Energy so that it could do the tasks in batches instead of one at a time. With this much Energy to spare, Heaven could first transform all the lightning into Energy, which would then stay on standby until it would create a batch of Striders at once. This relieved the pressure on Heaven by quite a bit.

Meanwhile, the world fell into panic.

The sun had exploded!

The animals fled into their hiding places as the beasts flew around in panic. They didn’t know why this happened, but they knew that this had something to do with Gravis.

All the beasts looked at the core of the world in terror but couldn’t see anything due to the darkness. Was Gravis destroying the world!?

"Do you think that will stop me?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "This world is already at its end. Isn’t this a very fitting atmosphere for the last 30 years of the world?"

Even Meadow grew nervous as she noticed that the sun had exploded. She had heard about Heaven but hearing about it and feeling its power was something completely different. Heaven made the sun explode, and such an ability felt terrifying, even to her.

Meanwhile, Orthar looked at the situation with admiration. Gravis was becoming incredibly powerful, and he was glad that he decided to become his companion. The more powerful Gravis became, the better.

The two remaining level four Emperors also felt terrified. The last words they had heard from Gravis echoed in their heads.

"This world is at its end."

More time passed as Gravis continued tempering himself against the Striders.

In these years, nearly all mortal plants had died. High-Tier Energy Beasts and more powerful didn’t need food to survive, but a lot of animals and weaker beasts needed them.

First, the plants died.

Then, the animals died.

Then, the weaker beasts started dying as they couldn’t always find another powerful beast quickly enough to sate their hunger. The Demonic Beasts and Low-Tier Energy Beasts began to fight more ferociously as they could now only eat other beasts.

Because of that, 30 years later, either the beasts had become powerful enough to not need any food anymore or had died. There were no more weak beasts remaining. When a new beast was born, it would either starve or get some food from its parents of more powerful beasts.

Meanwhile, the level four Emperors gathered near the Grand Lake.

The century was up.

What would happen to the world?

Gravis stopped attacking the Striders as he felt that he had nearly reached the peak of his current Will-Aura. Right now, it was at the peak of the Immortal Realm.

BZZZZZ!

All Gravises gathered into one Gravis, who quickly reached the power of a level five Emperor. Yet, that was not enough.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis quickly killed one Strider after the other until only one Strider remained.

Heaven knew that Gravis only needed one more Strider. After this Strider, Gravis would become an Immortal. Because of that, it didn’t create any more.

Yet, before Gravis killed the last Strider, he stopped.

There were no stars.

There was no sun.

There was nearly no Energy in the atmosphere anymore.

The weak beasts, animals, and plants had vanished from the world, leaving behind only a dead land.

Absolute silence.

Deafening silence.

Nothing.

Yet, everyone felt horror and terror deep inside them.

The hundred years were up, and the world was at the brink of destruction.

This day would decide the fate of the entire world and its inhabitants.

Gravis took a deep breath.

Then, he looked at the sky with narrowed eyes.

And began to speak.

Chapter 647 - 647 – Gravis' Plan

The world was silent as it waited for Gravis’ words.

"Highest Heaven," Gravis said, his quiet voice echoing throughout the world.

The world remained silent as Gravis spoke.

"This world is dead," Gravis said. "There are not enough beasts for even one level five Emperor to emerge. When I fight Heaven, even more beasts will die, and the chances are high that the entire world won’t recover without a Heaven intervening and creating new life."

"Yet, how long until the beasts become powerful enough to ascend again? A hundred thousand years? A million years? Ten million years?" Gravis asked. "All of the present beasts are Energy, and they all will die of old age. Isn’t this a waste?"

Silence.

"Additionally, after I kill this Heaven, there won’t be a Heaven to reignite the flame of life of this world. This world will become a dead world."

"So, highest Heaven, why not transport the beasts of this world into another middle world?" Gravis asked. "The beasts of this world will be seen as intruders, and a gigantic war will break out between worlds. Like this, this world will still become a dead world, but, at least, the current Energy of these beasts doesn’t get wasted."

Silence.

The beasts that heard Gravis were confused. Who was Gravis speaking to? Who was this highest Heaven?

After a minute, Gravis continued speaking. "Meadow will not involve herself in the war. She will only help the beasts to establish a foothold. Everything else is on them."

Silence.

A minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

"I swear that I will not involve myself majorly in this war, and if I do, you may kill me," Meadow suddenly said, surprising Gravis. He had not told her to do this. Additionally, she had just now given her life to Heaven. If Heaven wanted, it could kill her with even the flimsiest of excuses.

"Do you know what you have just said!?" Gravis asked Meadow with shock.

"I know what I’m doing," Meadow said seriously. "I may look down on weaklings, but I still value life. If risking my life gives this world a chance to survive, I’m willing to take it."

Meadow sighed. "And if the beasts of this world will die in the other world, it just means that we were not powerful enough."

Silence returned.

"Thank you, Meadow," Gravis said quietly.

The world waited for something to happen.

One minute.

Five minutes.

Thirty minutes.

"The old bastard agrees."

The world remained in silence as Gravis heard this voice.

Gravis smiled warmly as all the memories of his original home had been stirred by this voice. He hadn’t heard this voice in a thousand years.

"I’ve missed you, father," Gravis said with closed eyes, having a smile on his face.

"I have also missed you, son," the Opposer answered. "I’m proud of you."

Gravis felt a long-forgotten kind of warmth coursing throughout his body. Right now, he felt like he was back to being a kid, even though he was still a man. Hearing his father say that he was proud of him touched Gravis.

"The world has one year to prepare itself. In one year, every living being in this world, except you, will be transported to another world. Any beast that you do not want to leave should be inside your Life Ring during that time," Gravis’ father said.

Gravis nodded and sighed. He was willing to sacrifice this world for his power, but if he had a chance to solve this issue, he would take it. Luckily, his plan had worked out.

"Father," Gravis said with a smile. "Why don’t you give your three grandchildren some of your wisdom?"

Even now, Gravis was thinking of gaining something for his three children.

"I usually don’t involve myself in the lives of my grandchildren," the Opposer said, "but these three have shown a lot of potential. Bring them with you to the highest world."

Gravis smiled widely when he heard that. "Thank you, father."

"No problem. We’ll see each other again," the Opposer said.

"See you soon," Gravis said.

Then, silence returned.

Gravis turned around as he looked at the gathered Emperors. "In one year," he started, forcing the entire world to listen to him. "Every beast in this world will be transported to another world. When that time happens, you must claim your place in that world."

"You will be seen as invaders. You will be seen as the enemy. Your ruler won’t be able to protect you. The other world might have several level five Emperors. The other world will certainly have more level four Emperors," Gravis announced.

"The land beasts and sea beasts in this world must unite to even stand a chance. If you don’t, this world will truly die, and the other world will consume this world. In this remaining year, you must prepare yourself."

"If you are too weak, you will die even faster than if you remain in this dying world. You will be forced to fight more intensely and ferociously than you ever had before. There is a great chance that you will die very quickly."

"But," Gravis said, "at least, you have a chance to survive."

"Prepare yourself!"

The dark world remained silent.

And then, everything began to move.

The land beasts started going into the ocean of their own volition as the sea beasts entered the land. Several fights broke out, but these were not fights to the death but to get to know each other.

Yet, that was only true for the fights between camps. As soon as the world heard Gravis, the camps themselves started fiercely slaughtering each other. However, this slaughter was very systematic. The more powerful beasts of a Realm were slaughtering the weaker beasts of their Realm.

The beasts couldn’t allow the enemy to gain easy food. Instead, they would kill off their weaker comrades to make the powerful beasts more powerful.

Parents were consuming their children.

Children were consuming their parents.

Companions were consuming each other.

Rulers consumed their subjects.

The world was preparing for war.

And today, 40% of all beasts would die.

The world had not said a word, but it had answered regardless.

Gravis witnessed the world changing. Instead of fearing the future and spending their remaining time in peace, nearly all beasts started violently slaughtering each other. This was the difference between man and beast. Man might fear the future, but a beast will do its best to become more powerful.

Companionship, friends, family, Kingdom, Empire, everything became irrelevant when their survival was at stake.

Death and destruction would consume the world so that the destruction may ignite a flame of hope.

The world was preparing itself.

Right now, there were no land beasts and no sea beasts. There were only the beasts from this world, and they would fight the beasts of the other world.

Land and sea would unite to create a force powerful enough to slaughter another world.

Gravis smirked when he saw the carnage. His calm and composed aura was in stark contrast to the rivers of blood that flowed under his feet.

"Orthar," Gravis said. "Isn’t it ironic?"

"It is ironic," Orthar said as he appeared near Gravis.

Gravis looked at the world.

"The River Tribe is not dead."

"Instead, it has transformed the world into a singular force of sea and land beasts."

"This world is now the River World."

"And these rivers of blood mark its birth."

Chapter 648 - 648 – Immortal

The world remained in carnage for an entire week, and then, it returned to silence.

The weak beasts were dead, and only the most powerful beasts on each level survived. These beasts all managed to rise by a level, and the average Battle-Strength of every beast was powerful enough to jump a level in normal circumstances.

The dying world had been refined into a powerful force of elites.

Now, this force remained asleep, but as soon as the new world appeared before it, it would break out in a violent slaughter.

The other world was not their enemy but food!

SHING!

The last Strider died as Gravis killed it.

There was no reason to wait with his breakthrough. His fight against Heaven would happen in less than a year, and until then, he might as well learn more about his power.

The last Strider died, and Gravis absorbed its power.

BOOOOOM!

Gravis felt his body evolving, and he decided to add another two arms to his being. His end goal was eight arms, but six had to do for now.

Yet, surprisingly, nothing much happened.

Gravis didn’t even feel the pull of Ascension, but that was to be expected. There was no reason to pull him to a higher world. The fight between him and Heaven would happen.

His evolution ended, and he got his new pair of arms, but that was it.

Gravis narrowed his eyes as he looked at his new arms. ’This can’t be everything,’ he thought.

Sure enough, Gravis felt a calling.

It was like his body was calling out to his most powerful Laws. It was very similar to when he had reached the peak of Spirit Forming. Back then, his centers of power had called out to each other, except that, this time, his body was calling out to his Laws.

Gravis analyzed this feeling and somehow felt like only one of his Laws would be able to fuse with his body. He also felt that this process was irreversible.

’When I returned to my homeworld, that one clerk said that the cultivation techniques from my lower world didn’t have much potential since the Laws have to fuse with the body later. I’m probably at this step right now, and I must choose one Law to become intrinsically connected to me,’ Gravis thought.

’My body is ready to fuse with a Law. I’m also pretty sure that this is one of the reasons why the beasts of this world need to learn a level three Law before ascending. The more powerful the Law, the more powerful the base.’

’This world has been created to grow food for the highest world. This means that a level three Law is enough to reach the standards of the highest world. Yet, is that my goal? Do I only want to reach the standards of the highest world?’

Gravis shook his head.

’My goal is not to become powerful in the highest world but to become the most powerful. The level three Law of Elements is my most powerful Law, but is that truly enough?’ Gravis thought as he looked at the dark sky.

’No, it’s not enough,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’I refuse to fuse my body with a level three Law. I want to consume Heaven and use its better Law of Lightning! The lower Heaven was able to use Punishment Lightning, so this Heaven can probably use an even more powerful form of lightning. I want this Law!’

’Yet,’ Gravis thought, ’Heaven is at a higher Realm than me, and it has surely already attuned its body to a Law. That one Immortal that Meadow had fought in the past surely hadn’t fused their body to their Law yet. Just a boost of three levels wouldn’t be enough. I’m sure that by fusing a Law with my body, my strength would explode even more.’

Gravis looked at the dark sky again. ’This means that this Heaven will have the biggest advantage of the Immortal Realm over me. My body has not been attuned to a Law while its body has. I don’t know what effects this fusion will have, but it surely is what makes an Immortal an Immortal.’

’This means my fight against Heaven won’t be as easy as I had believed initially. I’m also sure that this Heaven is not as inexperienced as the lower Heaven. It is probably very experienced in combat and won’t make any mistakes. Additionally, it has watched me all this time. It knows every attack and Law of mine, and I won’t be able to take it by surprise.’

Gravis looked at the world. ’On top of that, this world had been created and managed by this Heaven. This Heaven has created Law Comprehension Areas for every kind of Law in this world. It’s impossible to do something like that if it doesn’t understand the corresponding Laws.’

’This means that this Heaven has probably comprehended every single Law in this world.’

’I have always had the advantage against my opponents in regards to my Laws. After all, the sheer number of Laws I know is what allows me to jump levels. Yet, Heaven knows many, many more Laws than me.’

Gravis narrowed his eyes as he also remembered something else. ’Additionally, Heaven is not a beast. The lower Heaven had been able to share its Will-Aura with its Heavenborn. This means that this Heaven probably also has an intensely powerful Will-Aura.’

’Yet, I’m also certain that my Will-Aura is more powerful. My Will-Aura has reached the peak of the Immortal Realm, and I doubt that this Heaven has such a powerful Will-Aura. However, due to the level suppression and Heaven also knowing the Law of Suppression, our Will-Auras will probably cancel each other out. I won’t be able to suppress it.’

’This fight will be difficult, really difficult,’ Gravis thought.

’Yet, that is exactly how I like it!’

Gravis decided to stop thinking about his future fight. It would arrive regardless, and thinking more about it won’t change the reality.

Whooosh!

Gravis transformed into a human, and he felt no strain while doing so. He also felt that he could still exhibit all of his power in this form. The only difference was the form of his body. His human form had the same power as his beast form, but it wasn’t as combat-oriented. This meant that Gravis was still more powerful in his beast form than in his human form.

Yet, Gravis enjoyed being in his human form. His new human form looked identical to the form he had chosen when he had just comprehended the Law of Body Composition. Right now, Gravis looked middle-aged with black hair and a goatee.

Gravis also summoned some black pants and a black shirt. With his Composition Laws, this was nothing difficult.

’I’m finally a true human again. Right now, I have a human body with the power of a beast body. This means that I have the advantages of both with none of the disadvantages. For once, my typical saying is not accurate,’ Gravis thought with a smile.

Gravis looked to his side and snapped his fingers.

BOOOOOOOM!

A 1,000-kilometer wide area collapsed as it turned into nothingness. Space had collapsed, and that part of the world didn’t exist anymore.

Gravis looked at the hole, which didn’t mend by itself. There was no more Energy in this world, and Heaven wouldn’t mend this hole.

The main reason for that was that it didn’t need to.

Gravis snapped his fingers again.

SSSSSSSHHH!

The hole shrunk and vanished.

’No wonder all Immortals can teleport,’ Gravis thought.

As soon as Gravis had become an Immortal, he had comprehended a Law. The comprehension of this Law had come automatically without Gravis having to concentrate on it.

This was the Law of Space.

The reason why every Immortal could teleport was because of the Law of Space. Every Immortal automatically comprehended the Law of Space, which was a level three Law. It allowed them to manipulate space, which gave them the ability to teleport, destroy space, and repair space.

Yet, this Law was actually only for show.

The reason for that was that, just like Gravis’ Law of Time and Gravity, this Law of Space was only the mid-tier version of this Law. This meant that the user could fully manipulate all facets of this Law as long as the surroundings had been created with that version of the Law.

Yet, would higher worlds or the highest world have this mid-tier version?

Of course not!

Right now, Gravis had transcended the scope of a middle world, and he could fully control the middle world.

This meant that Gravis could destroy and mend all space. It also meant that he could accelerate and slow down time by 100 times. He could also create so much gravity that the entire world would be compressed to 1% of its current size.

Yet, all of this would change in the higher world. Just like previously, Gravis would only be able to double the acceleration and deceleration of time. The same thing was true for space and time.

The three Laws were still powerful in the higher worlds, but they didn’t have the ridiculous power that they had here.

’Most beasts and humans probably attune their body to the Law of Space since it would be the only level three Law they know. Only the elite that manage to comprehend another level three Law before becoming Immortals would be able to attune their bodies to another Law,’ Gravis thought.

’I wonder what the difference is between attuning oneself to different Laws. What kind of effect does it have on one’s power?’ Gravis thought.

Gravis had to smirk. ’Well, I will find out soon enough, won’t I? After all, Heaven will surely show me what Law it has attuned itself to.’

Gravis experimented some more with his Laws, and sooner than he had thought, the time was already up.

Tomorrow, the deadline would arrive.

Chapter 649 - 649 – Dead World

The beasts all gathered at one spot.

There were no Demonic Beasts.

There were no Energy Beasts.

There were no Spirit Beasts.

Everything had either died or become a Lord or more powerful. The beasts no longer needed to keep the new beasts coming because the new world will give them a base of weaker beasts. Due to that reason, every weak beast had been forced to become more powerful or die.

In terms of Lords, there were now more than ever before in this world. The number of Spirit Beasts had always been very high, and by refining all of them, the Lord population had exploded.

Yet, that explosion of life quickly stopped when one looked at the Kings. There were definitely fewer Kings than before Gravis had arrived in this world.

And the number of Emperors was pitiful. If all Emperors fought each other, they might be able to create two more level four Emperors, but that was it. Creating a level five Emperor would be impossible.

In front of the Lords stood the Kings, and in front of the Kings stood the Emperors. In front of the Emperors stood the level four Emperor of the western region. The level four Emperor of the sea beasts didn’t want to assume leadership, which was why she stood together with the other Emperors.

The level four Emperor of the land beasts was the general and leader of the beasts.

Yet, this imposing general and leader kneeled before the being in front of him. In front of him wasn’t Gravis, but a small humanoid figure made out of roots.

Meadow had gathered her entire body into this human form. She was no longer the ruler of the beasts but their ancestral protector. She wouldn’t be allowed to kill any beasts and would only be allowed to grant her beasts a small area of safety.

As soon as they reached the new world, she would push every enemy away and would claim ten percent of the new world for them. Any beast that wanted to invade this land would be halted by Meadow without her being allowed to kill or weaken them.

Meadow had become just that, a protector, the creator of a sanctuary.

Obviously, ten percent of the world would not be nearly enough for the beasts of this world to survive. They would be pushed against each other with not much room to move. Yet, that was how it was supposed to be.

In order to encourage conquest and slaughter, the beasts would need to hold a new territory for a full year. After that time had passed, Meadow would enlarge her sanctuary.

But the enemy wasn’t stupid. After some years, they would be able to see the pattern and would do their best to contest conquered territories. Of course, that was also on purpose. The more the enemy contested their territory, the better. The powerful beasts of this world had to fight and claim their power.

If the beasts only remained inside their sanctuary, sooner or later, some of them would fight each other or die of old age. Additionally, the enemy had more beasts, which meant that this world wouldn’t win an arms race.

Everything depended on the Emperors and their power. If they weren’t able to fight many similarly leveled Emperors at once, their lives would be miserable forever until they deteriorated into nothingness.

Besides Meadow stood Gravis. He was the most powerful being in this world, together with Heaven. Yet, he already lived in an entirely different world. He was only a temporary watcher. His time of control over this world had ended, and it had been short but impactful.

Besides Gravis stood Orthar, who also looked at the beasts.

"Orthar, it’s time," Gravis said.

"I’m betting my life on you winning against Heaven," Orthar said. "Don’t disappoint me."

Gravis nodded. "I won’t."

Gravis summoned his Life Ring and pulled Orthar into it. If Gravis died, the Life Ring would be destroyed, and Orthar would be thrown back into the world, which would be completely destroyed by then. This was a sure death sentence.

"Aris, Cera, Yersi, it’s your time," Gravis said to his children standing behind him.

The three of them nodded. They had already been informed by Gravis about what would happen.

"We trust you with our lives," Aris said.

Gravis nodded again and summoned them into his Life Ring.

Gravis felt an incredible pressure of responsibility on his shoulders. If he died, Orthar and his children would die with him. This was no longer only his own life he was playing with, but also the lives of his three children. He wasn’t allowed to die, no matter what!

"Morus," Gravis said evenly to the lizard behind him.

"I’ve bet on you. I hope I won’t be disappointed," Morus said with a smirk.

"I don’t care," Gravis said as he pushed Morus into the Life Ring. If Morus died, he wouldn’t care a single bit. Yet, he had to repay him. There was no way around that.

Silence returned as the quiet before the storm arrived. Soon, everyone would explode into merciless slaughter.

"Highest Heaven," Gravis said, "everyone is ready."

WHOOOOOOM!

A portal appeared as it grew to a ridiculous size. The gathered crowd of beasts could pass through it without having to adjust their positions.

Meadow saw the size of the portal and returned to the same size she had been when she had killed that Strider back then. The portal was big enough for that.

All her weapons were summoned as her body started to seemingly burn with white fire.

Gravis had to concede that Meadow really looked impressive in that form, even if she was far weaker than him right now. He wondered how the other world would feel when such a menacing godlike being suddenly appeared in their world.

"Prepare yourselves!" the general shouted at the beasts.

The beasts started to grit their teeth and narrow their eyes. A wild aura of slaughter and killing intent seemingly bathed the world in crimson. This was the ferocious killing intent of an entire middle world gathered into one spot.

Nearly one billion beasts all unleashed their will of slaughter at once, which shook the entire world.

Gravis wasn’t affected by the killing intent, as was Meadow.

Meadow turned to Gravis. "It will take a while, but we will see each other again in the highest world," Meadow said to Gravis as her imposing and bloodthirsty voice echoed throughout the world. Her usual harmonious voice had vanished.

Gravis only smiled. "We’ll see each other again, friend," Gravis said with a lighthearted voice, contrasting the current atmosphere.

Meadow nodded, turned to the portal, and charged through it with her full speed. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAH!" all beasts shouted in rage, their gathered voices warping space and destroying the ground.

Then, everyone charged through the portal with their full speed.

The portal was wide enough, and the beasts were fast enough that it took all beasts less than a minute to leave.

WHOOOOM!

The portal closed and vanished, and this marked the last sound of the world.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

There was no light.

There was no wind.

The water didn’t move.

The earth didn’t move.

There were no plants.

There were no animals.

There were no beasts.

There was no life.

There was no movement.

With no movement, time nearly lost its meaning.

This world stayed in perpetual stasis as nothing inside it changed.

Only Gravis stood as the sole example of life and movement inside this world.

This was no longer a real world.

This was no longer a dying world.

This was a dead world.

Chapter 650 - 650 – Heaven

Gravis stood beside the still Grand Lake as he felt the death of a world.

How many beings were able to experience the death of an entire world?

How many beings could feel the feeling of absolute isolation that such a situation gave one?

Gravis took in the feeling for half an hour as he stood completely still.

"It’s time, Heaven," Gravis said, his voice the only sound in this world.

"Don’t be impatient," a genderless voice said as someone appeared close to Gravis.

Gravis was shocked.

Heaven had answered him?

Gravis looked to his left, where he saw a human looking silently at the Grand Lake.

This was Heaven.

Heaven looked like a young and thin person, its gender indiscernible. Yet, there was one major difference. This human had seven eyes instead of only two, all their eyes arranged in a circle.

"Take in the feeling of a dead world, Gravis," Heaven said, not looking at him. "This is a rare opportunity, and you shouldn’t waste it."

Gravis didn’t want to follow what Heaven said, but he also felt like Heaven wouldn’t use such a trick to attack him. The highest Heaven wanted Gravis to become powerful, and this Heaven followed its ancestor’s commands and teachings.

Gravis also looked at the Grand Lake as he started to lose himself in the stillness of nothingness.

His mind wandered as incomprehensible thoughts shot through it. He had no idea what he was thinking, and as time passed, he started to forget everything in the stillness.

Nothing moved.

Not even Gravis moved.

His body, mind, soul, and being stilled as he became one with the world.

BOOOOOM!

Gravis’ head suddenly shot up as consciousness returned to him. He was pulled out of the feeling of stillness as he had just comprehended a Law.

"This is the Law of Minor Death, Gravis," Heaven said from beside Gravis. "You have remained on this spot for 50 years just now."

Gravis’ eyes widened. "50 years!?" he said with shock.

"Time has lost its meaning, Gravis," Heaven said. "When there is no meaning to time, eons might pass in a second, and a second might pass in an eon. You have experienced this feeling once before. Do you remember?"

Gravis’ mind raced. He had experienced this feeling once before?

Then, it hit him.

"When I was waiting for a new body!" Gravis said. "When I left for this world, I also felt this stillness."

"Yes," Heaven said, still looking at the Grand Lake. "Back then, you had waited for your new body for 200 years."

Gravis almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "200 years?" he asked.

"Yes," Heaven answered. "This was also the reason why you managed to learn the Laws of Life so quickly. Without knowing, you had been staring at this strange organism inside your ring for 200 years. You think you are 1,000 years old, but you’re actually 1300 years old. Without noticing it, nothingness has taken 300 years from your life."

Gravis had no idea how he should feel right now. He had just heard that he was actually 30% older than he had believed. Was this good? Was this bad? Should he be thankful? Should he be angry? Gravis wasn’t sure.

"The Law of Minor Death is something only a select few beings can experience," Heaven said. "This is a Law not even I had known until now. It can increase the power of many of your Laws. Your Composition Laws and your Law of Elements can make use of this Law."

Gravis looked back at the Grand Lake. "It sounds powerful."

"It is," Heaven answered.

Silence.

"Why have you allowed me to comprehend it?" Gravis asked.

"Because you need to become more powerful," Heaven said.

"What’s my power got to do with you?" Gravis asked.

Silence.

Heaven didn’t answer for a while.

"Did you know that us Heavens also have emotions, just like you humans?" Heaven asked as it suddenly changed the topic.

This time, Gravis was the silent one.

"We also feel love, hate, happiness, wonder, rage, sadness, grief, pressure, frustration, elation, relief, and all other emotions. We have been modeled after our Ancestor."

"As are humans."

Gravis remained silent as he thought about Heaven’s words. Humans had been modeled after the highest Heaven, and the Heavens were too. This meant that the Heavens could feel the same things that humans could feel. Did that make them any different from humans?

"I love this world, Gravis," Heaven said, its genderless even voice resonating with the world. "I have seen its birth. I have seen its rise. I have seen the birth of all living beings, but I have not seen the death of all beings."

"This world is like my child," Heaven said. "Slowly seeing it deteriorating into nothingness has pained me more than anything I have ever felt. If you were not here, this world would still be alive. My child would still be alive."

"Why are you telling me this?" Gravis said with a cold voice. "You know exactly that I don’t care about you."

For the first time, Heaven turned to Gravis and looked at him.

"I’m showing you my resolve," Heaven said. "My ancestor is the Cosmos. My ancestor is everything. This world is his. I am his. You are his. Time is his. Space is his. Destiny is his. Life is his. Death is his."

’His?’ Gravis thought. So, it was not only his father that assigned a gender to the highest Heaven.

"Because my ancestor is everything, my actions are also his. Therefore, my unending hate towards your existence is not something I can relieve. I am my ancestor, and my ancestor wants to give you a chance to win against me," Heaven said emotionlessly.

"Are you saying that I’m not able to win against you without this Law of Minor Death?" Gravis asked with skepticism.

Heaven looked into Gravis’ eyes. "No."

"I’m saying that you are still not able to win against me."

Gravis narrowed his eyes, but deep inside, he felt nervous.

But that couldn’t be true!

Gravis was already as powerful as it was possible for this world. Heaven might be as powerful as him but so much more powerful that Gravis couldn’t even resist?

"You only know a small part of the Laws, Gravis," Heaven said. "Your base of weaker Laws is good, but you have not truly experienced the powerful Laws."

"You are still weak, Gravis."

Gravis felt anger well up inside of him. Gravis knew that there were still many Laws he hadn’t comprehended but calling him weak felt insulting. He was able to battle four levels above himself!

"You do not accept my assessment," Heaven commented.

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "Of course I-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Gravis stopped talking as his entire being was shaken.

Space was destroyed.

Time was destroyed.

Gravis’ body was nearly destroyed.

SSSSHHH!

From the husk of a body, Gravis managed to regrow himself, but his eyes were widely opened in shock and terror.

Time and space had returned.

Heaven still stood in front of him, but its finger pointed to the area behind Gravis.

Gravis slowly turned around as he looked at what was behind him.

Nothing.

The entire world behind Gravis had vanished.

20% of the entire world had vanished, and Gravis no longer stood in the middle of the world.

Right now, Gravis stood at the edge of the world as the old center became the new edge.

"W-what?" Gravis stammered.

"If I hadn’t unleashed my attack at the edge of the world, you would be dead now."

"This is the power of a level five Law, Gravis."