Lightning Is the Only Way

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.