A mighty thunder echoed throughout the area as a lightning bolt hit the ground between the two enemies. After the lightning bolt vanished, Gravis stepped out of it with a smirk.
The Matriarch looked at Gravis seriously. She had never seen anything even similar to that. It almost seemed like that the beast in front of her had been just lightning a second ago. Yet, that was obviously impossible.
Meanwhile, Orthar looked strangely at Gravis. "Gravis, why are you here?"
Gravis only smiled at Orthar. "I want you to go through genuine life and death tempering, but there is a difference between life and death tempering and suicide. Your chance of winning is zero if you fight her. I can feel her power," Gravis said.
Orthar took a shaky breath. He had been overwhelmed by the pressure of his enemy. Yet, he had believed that this was normal. Orthar had a lot of experience, but he hadn't fought many enemies that were a genuine threat to his life. He had just expected that this kind of pressure was normal for such dangerous fights.
"Well, if both of you come together, this might actually prove to be some sort of fight," the Matriarch said calmly as she looked at Gravis.
Orthar looked seriously at the Matriarch. "Gravis, do you want to fight together?" he asked.
Gravis only laughed a bit. "Even though I still have my Lightning Fork active, she won't be even a slight challenge to me."
Orthar was a bit taken aback. "But your body, Spirit, and lightning are only a third as powerful as your peak state. I do not doubt that you could easily win in your peak state, but I'm not sure that you can fight her with your Lightning Fork still being active."
Gravis only shook his head slightly. "Orthar, as soon as I regained Unity, I have not been the same as before. How can humans fight the beasts if their bodies are three times weaker than the enemy's body? That's because humans have a particular weapon that beasts don't have. Don't forget that I can move my centers of power around however I wish."
A look of realization appeared on Orthar's face. "Right. I apologize. I forgot about that," he said.
"It's okay. After all, I am the only human in this world. You wouldn't find another beast able to do what I can," Gravis answered.
"Are you two done yet?" the Matriarch answered impatiently. She had watched Gravis and Orthar converse and grew annoyed.
Orthar looked at the Matriarch and then distanced himself from them. There was no reason for him to get involved.
The Matriarch noticed Orthar's actions and narrowed her eyes. Then, she looked at the calm Gravis. "Your body is weak," she said. "You have, by far, the weakest body of any Lord I have ever seen. Yet, the octopus stepped aside. Are you really that foolish that you think you can beat me on your own?"
Gravis laughed a bit and shook his head. "Matriarch, your isolation from stronger Lords has dulled your senses. I feel that you have an impressive battle-strength for your level, but if you continue to hunt for only weak Lords, your battle-strength won't improve. As soon as you become a level two Lord, your battle-strength might actually only be slightly above average. What then?"
The Matriarch narrowed her eyes. "And what's that to you?" she asked with annoyance. She had also had similar thoughts. Yet, she had decided on her path. Such a weak Lord had no say in her matters.
"I can tell you what it's got to do with me," Gravis said with a smirk. "I want to recruit you into my Tribe."
The eyes of the Matriarch widened in surprise. "You want to recruit me?" she asked incredulously. She couldn't believe that Gravis was serious.
Gravis nodded. "Exactly. My Tribe is different from other Tribes. My Tribe isn't about getting as many beasts as possible or about gaining as much territory as possible. My Tribe is all about increasing the power of the truly strong beasts."
The Matriarch listened to Gravis' words and realized that he was actually serious. Then, she burst into laughter.
"Such a weak Lord is talking about such grand ideas. Even if I were to consider joining your Tribe, you would first need to prove that you are more powerful than me," she said with a sneer. "Yet, I can't imagine that happening with that weak body of yours."
Gravis only had a third of his power, but one shouldn't forget that he had tempered his lightning and Spirit far beyond what other humans could. Even though he only had a third of his power right now, his Spirit, lightning, and body could be considered just as powerful as the centers of power of other humans in his Realm.
Starting at the Unity Realm, even an average cultivator was able to put up a fight and maybe kill a beast at their equal power. Yet, what about Gravis' other strengths? His battle-strength, Will-Aura, Punishment Lightning, mindset, and some other things allowed him to even fight Early Rank Unity Beasts or level two Lords in the language of the beasts. And that was considering that he still kept his Lightning Fork active.
Gravis laughed a bit and shook his head. "What if I'm able to suppress you in three different ways so that you won't even be able to put up a fight? Would you then consider joining my Tribe?" he asked.
The Matriarch sneered at Gravis. Was this weak beast dreaming? How would that even be possible? "Sure. If you can do that, I'll do whatever you want," she said.
Gravis smiled and nodded. "Okay, though…" he said as he trailed off with a sigh. "You're really lucky that you're not a level two Lord yet. If you were, I wouldn't even offer you to join my Tribe. If you were a level two Lord…"
"I would just directly eat you."
WHOOOOM!
A massive pressure appeared as Gravis activated his Will-Aura. Starting at the Unity Realm, the Will-Aura depended on the power of the Spirit. The Spirit was the medium that the Will-Aura used to take effect on the world.
Since his Spirit was only a third as powerful as his peak, it would be significantly weaker. Yet, since Gravis was back in the Unity Realm, he could just move his physical power and lightning into his Spirit. Like this, his Spirit was just as powerful as usual, and so was his Will-Aura.
The Matriarch felt an unreal pressure press into her. She felt like she was encased in some powerful mud and could barely move her body. Her speed had been reduced by over 99%. Yet, she wasn't able to analyze all these things. The only thing on her mind was shock.
"This is the first suppression," Gravis said as he slowly walked closer. The Matriarch could barely move, and Gravis just walked over to her until only a hundred meters were between them. This was only three times of the Matriarch's body length.
Whoop!
The pressure disappeared, and the Matriarch could finally move again. Feeling the control over her body returning, she quickly looked at Gravis with narrowed eyes. This beast was incredibly dangerous!
BZZZZZZZ!
Gravis moved all his power into his Punishment Lightning and summoned about half of it in his hands. Destruction Lightning was already incredibly powerful for cultivators in the Initial Unity Realm. Yet, Gravis had Punishment Lightning, something that was way more dangerous.
The Matriarch looked at the lightning floating above Gravis' hand and felt its immense power. She had seen a lot of Lords in her life, and many of them had been way more powerful than her. With her experience, she judged that this lightning was about as intense as the lightning of a level two Lord. This gave her another incredible shock.
She was only a level one Lord. An elemental attack from a level two Lord would be absolutely devastating to her. She didn't dare to get closer. All her instincts, heart, and mind were telling her that she would die if that hit her.
"That's the second suppression," Gravis said.
Whoop!
The lightning vanished, and Gravis moved all of his power into his body. Now, his body was just as powerful as the body of a level one Lord. The Matriarch had been too preoccupied with the pressure and lightning to notice that Gravis' body had become many times weaker earlier. Yet, as the power of his body increased, she noticed it, and her eyes widened. How was this possible?
"Now, time for the third suppression. Try to put up a fight, at least, okay?" Gravis said nonchalantly.
BANG!
Gravis transformed into lightning and shot at her with unreal speeds. He hadn't used up any of his resources yet, so there was no danger in transforming. In less than a second, Gravis materialized directly before the Matriarch.
The Matriarch panicked. This speed had been so fast that she couldn't even react. Yet, her combat instincts kicked in, and she swiped at him with one of her claws.
Pack!
Gravis' right hand easily grabbed her left paw. One shouldn't forget that their bodies' were equally powerful. The Matriarch didn't hesitate and immediately used her next three attacks simultaneously. Using three simultaneous attacks was very impressive, and that showed her incredible combat power.
She used her captured paw and her hindlegs as support to hit Gravis with the other paw. At the same time, her mouth shot at him with an intent to bite. Additionally, a very powerful icicle appeared on Gravis' right side and shot at him. Everything was happening at the same time.
BANG! BANG! Pack!
Gravis used his tail to parry the icicle. Something like this required incredible finesse and control, but Gravis had enough combat experience to do something like that easily. His other hand grabbed the other paw. Meanwhile, he lowered his head and headbutted her chin.
The Matriarch's head shot upward, and Gravis jumped forward while still holding her paws.
BANG!
The Matriarch's body flipped, and she fell on her back. Gravis used that time to grab her throat with both of his arms and squeezed. The throat was one of the weakest parts of most animals. If he wanted to, he could tear half of her throat out with his claws, and the Matriarch knew that very well.
Her mind stopped working as panic and fear took hold of her. She was about to die! This was not a fight. It was like she was doing exactly what her enemy wanted. She hadn't felt this helpless in a long time.
BANG!
Gravis threw her body away, and she landed a couple of hundred meters away. Yet, she didn't stand up. The shock she had received was too powerful. A seemingly incredibly weak Lord had grown into a titan in her mind. She still couldn't process that everything was real.
"Convinced?" Gravis asked from around three hundred meters away.