Gravis felt incredible nervousness and shock when the Red King unveiled his secret. This would change the whole dynamic between the white ape and him. The white ape was extremely powerful and had a high standing in the Empire, while Gravis was basically a weak nobody.
Yes, Gravis could be considered as a breeder for the Empress, but how many of those were there? Gravis had no idea, but he was sure that there were more breeders than level two Emperors in the Empire. Additionally, with the Empress' influence, she could get as many new mates as she wanted, but she couldn't get new level two Emperors as easily.
This meant that this situation had transformed into a situation where a way less valuable resource threatened a very valuable resource of the Empire. Just the danger alone that he posed might be enough reason to kill him. So, why had the Red King decided to tell them his secret now? Why was he putting his reward on the line like that?
Meanwhile, the white ape realized several things. He specifically remembered that some minutes ago, Gravis had told him to send another beast if he tried to access the ore. Back then, the white ape had no idea why Gravis wanted another beast. After all, the white ape was easily powerful enough to annihilate him. Yet, with the revelation of this new information, it all made sense!
Gravis wanted him to send another beast because Gravis could kill him. If Gravis were desperate enough to try to access the ore, it meant that he was in a situation where he saw no other way to survive. At that time, Gravis might even decide to kill him. After all, he would think that he would already be doomed to die anyway.
The white ape looked at Gravis intently. They were currently over 40 kilometers away from each other, which meant that the white ape was just barely inside Gravis' Spirit Sense. At such a distance, Gravis would, at least, get an opportunity to formulate a thought. From this distance, the white ape wouldn't have a chance of killing him.
The white ape also realized the complex threat that they posed to each other. Both of them could kill the other one with a thought. Such a situation had never happened as far as the white ape knew. Usually, beasts with similar power wouldn't be able to instantly kill the other one.
The only situation where that would be possible was if one beast were many times stronger than the other one. Yet, that made it impossible for the threat to carry both ways. After all, one of them was way more powerful than the other one.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" the white ape asked Gravis.
Gravis looked with narrowed eyes at the distant white ape. "Because as long as you don't realize my threat, you would have no reason to kill me, which would give me no reason to kill you. If I kill you, the Empress will kill me, but if you kill me, due to your relationship with the Empress, you won't die."
Gravis explained all of this coldly and threateningly. The whole dynamic had changed, and he had to make it clear that he wouldn't hesitate if the white ape decided to attack him.
The worst situation would be that the white ape didn't believe him and attack him to test it. In that situation, either Gravis would die, or the white ape would die, which would also result in Gravis' death.
The white ape tried to wrap his head around this situation. The relationships between beasts were straightforward and direct. A more powerful beast would either ignore a weaker beast, make it join their Tribe, or kill it. Complex relationships were uncommon for beasts. Politics was more of a human thing.
"As soon as you try to test me, I will die, no matter if I kill you or not. As soon as the choice needs to be made, my life is over. That's why I can't tell you and can't let you get close to me right now," Gravis threatened. He had to stop the white ape from trying anything!
Surprisingly, the white ape only put his fingers to the bridge of his nose in an expression of frustration. He took the whole situation way easier than Gravis would have ever believed.
"Gravis," the white ape said after a frustrated sigh. "Why do you make this situation so complex?" he asked.
"Because it is," Gravis said.
"No, it isn't," the white ape answered with another sigh. "You're one of my Empress' mates. If I were to kill you, I would be trampling all over my Empress' dignity. Our situations are identical. As long as one of us makes a move, we both will die. So, why would I want to kill you?" the white ape explained.
Gravis' doubt and carefulness didn't decrease. "Normally, I would believe you due to your lightning affinity, but I can't bet my life on something like that."
"Why do you think I unveiled your secret?" the Red King suddenly asked Gravis. "It was because I know the Grand Elder and the Empress. He is speaking the truth. He can't kill you just like that. So, since you have a similar standing, I decided to unveil your secret."
"If someone doesn't know that another one can instantly kill them, they don't have all the necessary information to make an informed decision," the Red King said. "Isn't that something you said while you still had your Tribe? I've heard that from some of my soldiers and thought it was quite a good philosophy."
Instead of thinking about these words, Gravis only sneered. "That's true for friends. I don't know anyone here, and immediately putting my life in their hands would be naïve and foolish," Gravis said.
BANG!
Suddenly, the Empress hit her throne with one of her hands out of anger. "Ridiculous!" she shouted. "You are part of the same Empire as the Grand Elder! How dare you say that you are not friends!?" she shouted in genuine anger.
Gravis wasn't intimidated by this outburst. He already had his back to the wall. "So, you're telling me that there are no beasts with ulterior motives and schemes inside your Empire, Empress?" Gravis asked.
"Of course there are!" the Empress answered immediately with a lot of confidence. "Yet, not giving your comrades the trust they deserve because of a minuscule minority of scheming weaklings is disrespecting them! My Empire won't allow such a thing!"
Gravis felt like this situation was strange. The Empress had just acknowledged that there were scheming weaklings in her Empire, but she still advocated for trusting everyone. Wasn't that just inviting trouble?
"Yet," Gravis shouted back, "by trusting everybody, you leave your back open to this minority of schemers. If everybody trusts them, they can use everybody's trust to their advantage!"
"Then that just means you aren't powerful enough!" the Empress shouted back. "Power is everything, and if some scheming weaklings can kill you, it only means that you were not powerful enough! A schemer's path will never reach the top! So, as long as you reach the top, what can they do to you?"
Now, Gravis was a bit taken aback. That's right! Why had he suddenly forgotten that power was everything? Hadn't he told that to everyone inside the River Tribe? Hadn't he repeatedly said that, in front of supreme power, schemes were worthless?
Gravis had also forgotten that these were beasts and not humans. There was an incredible amount of scheming humans, but scheming beasts were incredibly rare. In truth, Gravis had only met a single beast that could be considered lying and deceitful: Shira. He hadn't met any other beast similar to her.
Gravis remained silent as he fell into thought. 'Have I betrayed the very thing that I have taught the River Tribe?' Gravis asked himself. 'In front of power, all schemes are meaningless. Wasn't that what I have told everyone? Yet, now, as soon as I got surrounded by more powerful beasts, I fell back into the exact mindset I warned everyone about.'
Gravis remained silent for some more seconds and looked at the horizon. Surprisingly, the Empress also remained silent. By now, the Empress knew that if Gravis disagreed, he wouldn't hold himself back. Putting up a show also didn't seem to fit his character, judging from what she had seen.
As more time passed, Gravis began to feel worse.
'I'm a hypocrite,' Gravis thought to himself with disgust. 'I have looked down on Cynthia's hypocrisy. Yet, now, I have fallen into the same thing. I said one thing but did the other.'
After some seconds, Gravis sighed and turned back to the Mountain of Pride. Then, he lowered his upper body and bowed to the Mountain of Pride. "I have committed a mistake. I have forgotten that power is everything and have begun to scheme."
"In the past, I have said that power is everything and have looked down upon beasts that schemed. Yet, I have become just that kind of beast. Thank you, Empress, for showing me my error," Gravis said slowly and sincerely.
The Empress remained silent for a couple of seconds while all the other beasts didn't dare to say anything. This whole situation was way beyond their ability to handle, and they just tried to keep themselves out. This was between the Grand Elder, the Empress, and her new mate. It had nothing to do with them.
After some seconds, the Empress furrowed her brows and looked at Gravis.
"Stop being weird!"