None of the Kings were sure how to even react to this current situation. The Red King supported Gravis' claim of power? Yet, how was that even possible!? He was a level three Lord!
None of the Kings dared to say anything and just waited for the Empress' judgment on this matter.
Meanwhile, the Empress looked at the Red King and then at Gravis.
WHOOOM!
Her pride came out of her body and concentrated entirely on Gravis. None of the other beasts, except the white ape, noticed what the Empress was doing. The pride washed over Gravis with more power than before, but he had already experienced this. Without waiting another second, he released his Will-Aura to withstand the feeling of pride.
Yet, the feeling was many times stronger than before, and Gravis had to use the entirety of his concentration to keep his Will-Aura steady. His Will-Aura deformed into multiple shapes as the pride pressed into it.
Some seconds later, the feeling of pride became even more powerful, and Gravis had to grit his teeth. He wasn't willing to admit her superiority and accept her as his ruler.
The other beasts looked at Gravis and wondered why he looked so distressed right now. What was going on with him?
The power increased more, but just before Gravis' Will-Aura broke, it vanished. Of course, Gravis knew why that was. The Empress was only testing him.
After all of this had passed, the Empress showed an interested smirk. To her, it was incredibly interesting that a Lord was able to withstand so much of her pressure. She realized that Gravis had some peculiar techniques and powers. After all, the other Kings didn't even notice her pride, while he was able to withstand it. Of course, she hadn't used her full power.
"What is your name?" she asked Gravis.
The beasts almost couldn't believe what was happening. The Empress only asked the names of beasts she found worthy. She didn't even bother to learn the names of the Kings and only referred to them with their titles.
"Gravis," Gravis said directly with some spite in his voice. Withstanding the Empress' pressure felt to him like she was trying to suppress him, which he didn't like one bit.
The Red King felt a bit nervous when he heard Gravis' tone. This beast was even ready to show disrespect to the Empress! He only hoped that he would not be dragged into this mess.
Meanwhile, the other beasts almost went crazy. Gravis hadn't called the Empress as Empress and even sounded like a rebellious prisoner. Not even the beasts that were ready to die dared to be disrespectful towards the Empress. The feeling of the Empress' power gave the beasts the illusion that disrespecting her was worse than dying.
"Interesting," the Empress mused with a grin. It had been a while since someone had talked to her that way. Usually, she would just kill the offending beast. After all, if someone dared to disrespect her, it meant that they hadn't felt her power before. As soon as they felt her power, they wouldn't dare to disrespect her.
Yet, Gravis had felt her power and still dared to talk to her in this tone. Other Emperors on her level or above her level also acted like this, but they were Emperors. It was wholly different when a Lord did the same. The fact that Gravis managed to somewhat resist her Law of Pride earned him some respect in her eyes. After all, power was everything.
"Gravis," she said with a calm voice. For some reason, when Gravis heard his name spoken by her, his whole body shook. To him, it felt like the Empress' power had been fully released and pressed down on him. Yet, that feeling had nothing to do with the Empress.
It was just that when she spoke his name, his emotions and body finally realized that an impossibly powerful beast had taken note of him. Earlier, it had still felt like they were in two different worlds, but now, it felt like her power came into his world.
"Choose one of the seven beasts beside you to be your opponent," the Empress said. "If you win, you will become my mate."
At first, the Kings weren't happy when they heard that. After all, this wouldn't allow their candidates to prove themselves. Yet, when they remembered that Gravis would be able to fight three levels above himself, they understood the Empress' reasoning. If Gravis' claim proved to be true, it would be a waste of time for their candidates to even try to prove themselves. The Battle-Strength between the two parties couldn't even be compared.
"I will," Gravis said, "but I want to fight one of the level five Lords after that. These level four Lords aren't even a challenge," Gravis said evenly like it was obvious.
Nearly all the present beasts exploded in rage. This arrogant little level three Lord said that these outstanding contestants weren't even a challenge. Did this little shit's arrogance know no bounds!?
The Red King furrowed his brows. It wasn't that he thought that Gravis couldn't win against such a level five Lord. It was just that putting his life on the line like that felt kind of not-worth-it. Gravis wasn't ready to understand a new Law, so why would he put his life on the line like this?
Gravis also knew that he wasn't ready to understand a new Law yet, but he had something that needed tempering, which the Red King didn't know about: His Will-Aura.
The fight with the Golden Dragon had increased his Will-Aura tremendously. Right now, Gravis' Will-Aura was more powerful than ever before when compared to his Realm. With this more powerful Will-Aura, Gravis had already created a plan for some excellent tempering.
Right now, Gravis was too powerful for normal level five Lords. The only level five Lords that were a genuine challenge were these incredible candidates. As soon as he killed one of them, he wouldn't be able to temper himself anymore for a while. After all, the next level would be a King.
And that's where his new and improved Will-Aura came into play. As it stood right now, Gravis would be able to fight a King when he would reach the power of a level five Lord. Yet, Gravis didn't want that. He wanted to fight one when he was a level four Lord. For that, he needed to improve his Will-Aura even further.
After hearing Gravis' demand, the Empress grew more interested in him. It was already hard to believe that he could kill a powerful participant one level above him, but he even dared to go two levels above him?
The Empress was even a bit confused as she realized that Gravis wasn't ready to learn a new Law. Just like the Red King, the Empress was also able to tell when someone was about to understand a new Law. She wondered if Gravis knew about this.
Then, her eyes wandered to the Red King and inspected him. After some seconds, she concluded that the Red King would have told him already. This meant that Gravis was ready to bet his life anyway. 'Interesting,' she thought.
"Alright, I'll grant your wish," the Empress said, "but first, you need to win against your current opponent."
Gravis nodded and inspected the other level four Lords. They all seemed incredibly eager to fight him. They refused to believe that Gravis was so powerful, and they wanted to kick his teeth in for what he had said… and maybe kill him too.
"You," Gravis said as he pointed at a lion, "you will be my opponent."
The lion showed a malicious smirk while the others looked with envy at him. Gravis had chosen this lion because he didn't have any elemental affinity. This meant that his body was more powerful than usual and, therefore, had more power, which Gravis could consume. The more his lightning improved right now, the better his chances against the level five Lord after this.
The Empress looked at the lion and saw that it was rather big. It was about three-kilometers-long. Normally, she would make them move to a different area since her mountain was only so wide. Yet, since Gravis was rather small, she didn't see the need to make them move.
The mountain-top was around ten-kilometers-wide, and if two big beasts fought, the fight might become awkward due to the limited space. Yet, since Gravis was so small, it should work out.
"Everyone, move away from the middle. The two beasts will fight right here," the Empress ordered.
The beasts all moved to the side of the mountain, leaving a wide, open space in the middle. Gravis walked into the middle of the arena without paying the lion any attention. Meanwhile, the lion felt disrespected by the fact that Gravis wasn't even looking at him.
'I will enjoy tearing you limb from limb!' the lion thought with disdain and hate.