Lightning Is the Only Way

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.