Lightning Is the Only Way

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."