Gravis had no more plans that could guarantee his success. This fight felt similar to his battles with Red and the priest in the Heaven's Trial. Back then, he also had no idea how to win. Only through finding an opening or a new path had he been able to prevail.
Yet, Gravis really had no idea what he could do now. His Battle-Strength was just too low. The biggest issue was the opponent's defense since he could shrug off even Gravis' most powerful attack. As soon as he transformed into metal, Gravis' Lightning Crescent would only be able to melt off some parts of his body.
Yet, the Golden Dragon had a length of over five kilometers. Even if Gravis managed to melt off a hundred meters, he would have only given the Golden Dragon a flesh wound. In order to damage the Golden Dragon's organs, Gravis would need to melt off way more than that.
As soon as the Golden Dragon received a flesh wound, Gravis would have committed way too many resources. After that Lightning Crescent, Gravis wouldn't even be able to transform into lightning without falling out of the Unity Realm completely.
Yes, he could maybe evade the Golden Dragon's attacks until he refilled his power storages, but that was only considering the Golden Dragon's current approach to combat. One shouldn't forget that the Golden Dragon hadn't even moved.
If it saw that it was injured and that Gravis was regenerating his power, it would immediately attack with its full force. Then, Gravis would have to deal with the Golden Dragon's overwhelmingly powerful body too.
Some more hours passed in which Gravis only dodged. The Golden Dragon was still playing with him, but this was not what Gravis felt. The spears just never stopped. On top of that, Gravis' Realm had already dropped when he had been injured previously. This meant that he was weaker than when the battle had started, while the Golden Dragon was just as powerful.
The pressure started mounting on Gravis as evading the spears became harder and harder. Sure, the constant avoiding of spears had given him great training in evading enemy attacks, but this was not training. If he failed, he would die.
The fear and frustration grew stronger inside Gravis. He couldn't increase his attack any further. He couldn't increase his defense any further. He wasn't even as fast as in the beginning. His current Battle-Strength just wasn't enough.
Gravis gritted his teeth as he realized that the whole situation completely glided out of his control. He had always felt some kind of control in his fights, even if the opponent was way stronger than him, but now, Gravis could only hope for a miracle. His own power just wasn't enough to win.
"I won't help you," the Red King transmitted to Gravis as he saw how distressed he became. "If you die, you die. This is what I wanted to see. All control escapes your grasp, and you have no idea how to win. You have given it your all, but it's not enough."
The Red King still stood on top of the Golden Dragon's head. He had never needed to move since the Golden Dragon also hadn't moved much in the fight.
While the Red King was talking, Gravis found it increasingly more difficult to evade. By now, some of the spears even started grazing him. His stamina was still at full thanks to his lightning, but his concentration was failing.
"This is what we call true tempering," the Red King transmitted. "You can temper yourself against opponents that are about as strong as you, but what does that accomplish? This allows you to keep your current Battle-Strength in relevance to your level."
"You are able to fight two levels above you, and if you keep going like this, it will just stay the same. By fighting against normal beasts two levels higher than you, you will always only remain on that level," the Red King transmitted with a smirk.
"You are forever stuck at this level like this. Yet, do you not want to become even stronger? Are two levels enough for you? Two levels are already unprecedented in regards to normal beasts, but not in regards to Divine Beasts. There are some that can fight two levels higher than themselves."
"I don't want to give my Empress something like this. After all, she has enough Divine Beasts around her. No, I want to give her something truly unique. I want you to become even more powerful. I am betting everything on you! I don't know if it's possible, but I want to try it anyway!"
Gravis could hear the Red King's craziness. Gravis knew that if he couldn't kill the Golden Dragon, the Red King wouldn't save him. The only way out of this was to raise his Battle-Strength.
Yet, was that so easy? He couldn't just make himself stronger.
Blood started flowing out of Gravis' mouth as he gnashed his teeth violently. He was making a decision, but he hated making this decision so much. He had decided to rely on pure chance. There was no other path left.
Gravis had to bet everything on one card, and that card was incredibly weak.
'If I fail, I die. I need to succeed! There is no other way left!' Gravis thought in craziness.
BOOOM!
Gravis shot forward and started blocking the spears with his Spirit. This used up his resources, but he needed to get closer!
The Golden Dragon saw that and narrowed his eyes. He wasn't so inexperienced that he would take Gravis lightly now. This was probably Gravis' last-ditch effort, and he might explode with more power than he had previously shown. So, the Golden Dragon grew even more careful.
BZZZZ!
Nearly all of Gravis' power concentrated into his saber, which made it crackle with powerful lightning. Then, he lifted it and slashed forward. A Lightning Crescent filled with nearly all his power shot at the Golden Dragon.
The Golden Dragon quickly noticed that this attack was quite powerful and shot nearly all his remaining spears at it.
Whoooosh!
Yet, the spears vanished into thin air before they could reach the Lightning Crescent. The eyes of the Golden Dragon and Red King widened in shock. Where did the spears go?
This was Gravis' last trump card, his Spirit Space. They had seen him summon a saber, but they hadn't seen him absorb something into his Spirit Space. His Will-Aura destroyed the will on the metal while his Spirit simply collected all the ore. With this, his Lightning Crescent would be able to hit the Golden Dragon.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A mighty explosion appeared as nearly the whole Golden Dragon was engulfed in lightning. It was incredibly bright and destroyed kilometers of land.
The explosion vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, and the Golden Dragon was finally visible again. True to its namesake, the Golden Dragon had transformed into a fully golden material. It had a ferocious expression on its face as it felt incredible pain. It managed to withstand the attack, but it still hurt immensely.
Plop! Plop!
Its body had become incredibly hot, and a lot of its outer layer became liquid and slid off. All of these droplets had been part of its body before.
The Golden Dragon became enraged from the pain and looked at Gravis.