Lightning Is the Only Way

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."