"I don't agree to this!" the red hawk shouted with rage. "I can still fight, and an ability like this only works once against me!"
The white ape transmitted what the Red King had said to the Empress. She would need to be the one to make the decision in this matter.
The Empress remained silent for a bit as she went over all the things that the white ape had told her. The information came from the Red King, and it should be pretty reliable. Yet, should she really ask for a new opponent for him? In actuality, she just wanted to get this whole matter over and done with. Gravis had already proven himself more than worthy of being her mate.
After some seconds, the Empress sighed inconspicuously. A sigh was a show of emotion and frustration and shouldn't be seen by her subjects.
"Any beast ready to fight him, step forward," she announced, shocking the gathered beasts. The Empress had agreed? But the fight wasn't over!
"Empress," a King said as he stepped forward. "I honestly don't mean any disrespect, but the fight isn't over yet. Maybe the red hawk can still win."
This was the referrer of the red hawk. Some beasts became nervous when that King stepped forward, but, surprisingly, the Empress didn't kill him.
"This isn't some kind of trick from him to save his life," the Empress said. "If it were some sort of trick, he wouldn't ask for a different opponent. Even if it's hard to believe, he genuinely has already won."
The King that had stepped forward was a bit unwilling, but he stepped back and no longer said anything. His polite and deferential attitude had saved his life.
"I don't agree to this!" the red hawk shouted again. "I can still wi-"
SHING! BANG!
And the red hawk was no more. The Empress had overlooked the first time when the red hawk had objected. Yet, after seeing its King stepping forward and also being unsuccessful, it had dared to object again. A powerful beast needed to remain calm and had to have the ability to judge its current circumstances accurately. The red hawk, obviously, didn't have this quality.
"Any beast ready to fight him, step forward," the Empress announced again, glossing over the fact that she had just killed someone.
Meanwhile, the King of the red hawk grew incredibly frustrated. He wasn't frustrated because of himself or the Empress, but because of the red hawk. Its stupid hot-headedness had cost him his reward!
Surprisingly, not many level five Lords stepped forward. Gravis' display had intimidated a lot of them. He had shown one weird power after the other, and they were sure that he had more things and abilities stashed away. It was simply too risky to fight him.
Yet, some still stepped forward. They were confident in their abilities and knew that this weapon wouldn't work against them. Those beasts were beasts with no elemental affinity, earth affinity, metal affinity, and one with lightning affinity. They didn't rely on ranged attacks and could attack him without any issue.
The Empress nodded. "This time, I will choose an opponent," she said.
Gravis shrugged, his shoulders creating a metallic sound. "Sure," he commented.
There was still a little bit of surprise that the beasts felt due to Gravis' casual manner, but they had mostly gotten used to it by now.
"You," the Empress said as she pointed at a brown mammoth. This beast obviously had the earth affinity. On top of that, it was gigantic, with a body nearly five kilometers long.
The mammoth grew excited when it had been chosen. Then, it took flight and flew over to the arena.
BANG!
A mighty explosion could be heard as it landed on the ground. It looked at Gravis with bloodlust and battle-intent.
Gravis looked back with the same battle-intent. This fight would be way better and more challenging than the previous one. Finally, he could get some real tempering!
"Your weird ability won't work on me," the mammoth proclaimed with a booming voice.
Gravis smirked. "You're right, and that's good. I don't want to win. I want tempering!" he said.
The mammoth also smirked. "Good, because I will give you more tempering than you've expected. In fact, I'm going to temper you into a footprint of mine."
"That's the best you can come up with?" Gravis asked after some seconds.
The mammoth grew a bit angry when it heard Gravis' answer. "Listen here, you little-"
"Can we start now?" Gravis asked as he looked to the Mountain of Pride.
The mammoth grew angrier, but the Empress found Gravis quite entertaining. Usually, such powerful and talented beasts had quite a strong ego, which often resulted in a lot of posturing before a fight. Yet, Gravis didn't seem to be interested.
"Start!" the Empress transmitted to everyone.
Gravis flew backward for a bit and landed around ten kilometers away from the mammoth. The mammoth didn't care and simply stayed there. "Might as well. I need some space anyway to reach my full speed," it said.
"Oi, less talking, more fighting," Gravis shouted from a distance. Then, he clapped into his hands a couple of times, creating a metallic sound. "I've been waiting for this all day! So, hurry up!" he shouted.
The mammoth gritted its teeth and sneered. "Oh, I will enjoy squashing-"
"I just said less talking! Are you stupid!?" Gravis shouted from a distance.
Now, the mammoth was genuinely enraged. Its eyes became yellow as it gathered all its earth power. Then…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The mammoth started accelerating quickly, its footsteps thundering into the horizon. Its body's weight became heavier and heavier, and its hardness also increased manifold. Yet, its speed was still incredible. In fact, it seemed to be even faster than an average level five Lord.
Gravis realized that this was probably a Law related to speed. Otherwise, there would have been no way for a beast with the earth element to be that fast. Together with its affinity, this was a terrifying combination. It completely solved the weakness that the earth affinity had.
As Gravis watched the mammoth charging at him, he felt his blood boil. 'Finally! This is a proper fight!' he thought.
Gravis watched the mammoth coming closer, and he felt his mind going into overdrive to save his life from this charge. The mammoth's charge was too fast, and evading it wasn't an option. He, somehow, had to find a way to block it. Yet, even if he used his shield, the mammoth's incredible power would injure him severely.
This feeling of having one's life hanging by a thread was exciting to Gravis. He loved it when he didn't know how to survive but then managed to find a solution to his predicament, and the same thing happened this time too. Gravis found a solution to the mammoth's charge.
Yet, when he realized this solution, he felt his heart ache. 'Why?' he lamented.
Yes, he had a solution, but he didn't like that solution at all. In fact, he hated the solution.
The mammoth saw Gravis' expression and felt disdain towards him. Gravis had obviously realized that he couldn't withstand the mammoth's charge. The mammoth closed in quickly and was ready to attack Gravis.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An incredibly loud, explosive noise resounded throughout the surroundings. It was absolutely deafening.
Gravis still stood in his earlier place, grieving over his lost tempering opportunity. The charge of the mammoth had also stopped. Yet, that stop hadn't been voluntary.
BOOOOM!
The mammoth collapsed as it lost consciousness while Gravis sighed.
What happened?
That was easy to explain. Right now, the mammoth and Gravis couldn't see each other. That was because something was in the way.
Between them was a massive chunk of ore inside the Nascent Nourishing Ranks. Gravis had a lot of powerful ore inside his Spirit Space, and he only needed to summon a random one of those in front of him to stop the mammoth's charge.
This powerful ore was impossibly heavy and hard. No Lord was even able to scratch it. So, when the mammoth charged into it, its tusks, skull, trunk, and neck broke. Luckily, it was still alive but barely.
The eyes of all the watching beasts opened widely. Where did that massive chunk of ore come from!? Also, was the fight already over?
"Hey, ehm," Gravis said with some embarrassment, "Can I have another opponent?" he asked quietly. "I will also put my ore away. I kind of… forgot about it. Is it okay if I just put it to the side?"
Gravis didn't sound confident at all. To the beasts, it seemed like his whole demeanor had changed. Wouldn't a beast that had managed to win against two such powerful opponents in succession brag about its power and shout in confidence? Why did Gravis look and sound like he had done something wrong?
"Oh yeah, right," the Red King transmitted to the white ape. "I forgot that he had a lot of powerful ore in his separate space. Yeah, if you want the fights to be somewhat fair, you should allow him to empty his separate space. Otherwise, none of these fights will be a challenge to him."
The white ape didn't answer the Red King as he was too busy coming to terms with the current situation. Had a level three Lord, who was not a Divine Beast, just won against two really outstanding level five Lord Divine Beasts?
"Pfft."
The sound of suppressed laughter could be heard coming from the Empress' direction, but she had isolated the sound as soon as she realized what had happened. So, only the white ape was able to hear her. After he heard that sound, he could only sigh.
Then, the white ape looked at the sky.
"What is even going on anymore?" he asked himself.
"This is not how this day was supposed to go."