Commander Rime's intervention was dangerous to Gravis' path. Gravis' Will-Aura had already grown from the battle, but it hadn't grown nearly as much as normal. The fight had been difficult enough to give him a significant boost to his Will-Aura. The fact that he had been under enough pressure to understand another Law proved that fact.
Yet, Commander Rime's intervention had nearly killed the feeling of danger. If Commander Rime had been ready to interfere with words, it wouldn't be illogical to assume that he would have also been prepared to intervene physically. This fact took away a large chunk of the feeling of danger.
It didn't matter if Commander Rime had been willing to interfere physically or not. The feeling of the situation was all that counted when it concerned tempering. After Gravis had finished the fight, he almost felt like the danger he had been feeling just now was fake, even though it wasn't. This was the damage that someone could inflict by interfering in a fight.
If such interventions happened more, the perceived feeling of danger would vanish and, along with it, the pressure. With no feeling of pressure or danger, Gravis wouldn't be able to temper his Will-Aura anymore. This meant that his path to power would be destroyed. Because of these reasons, it was absolutely imperative that Gravis could never allow anyone to interfere.
"Commander Rime," Gravis said with icy killing intent, "by interfering in my fight, you have endangered my path to power. In order to keep my path to power as pure as possible, I'm required to kill you now as an example to everyone else and myself. I can't allow anyone to interfere!"
The squad was shocked and confused as they heard Gravis' words. Yes, tempering was important, but the fight had made Gravis understand another Law. Wasn't that the only thing that counted? Additionally, Gravis would have won either way. In their mind, Commander Rime's intervention appeared pointless and harmless. It was completely inconsequential!
The badger could understand Gravis' reason and mindset, but he also believed that Gravis was taking this situation way too seriously. If Commander Rime had actually saved Gravis' life, this would be a different story, but he hadn't accomplished anything with his intervention. Just like the squad, the badger thought of the intervention as inconsequential.
Commander Rime shivered when he heard those words. "What are you saying?" Commander Rime asked calmly but in confusion. "I only wanted to save your life since you are such a valuable asset to us. I acknowledge that I shouldn't have interfered, but nothing happened in the end. I only wanted to save your life!"
"I know that," Gravis said coldly, surprising everyone. If Gravis understood, then why was he so filled with hatred? Why was he so hellbent on killing Commander Rime? The Commander only wanted to help Gravis!
"I know that you only wanted to protect me, but with your well-meant actions, you have taken a lot of the feeling of danger out of my fight," Gravis said with narrowed eyes. "My path to power must remain as pure as possible, and if I don't wipe away this stain on its purity with all my power, it will forever remain there."
"If I don't kill you now, the next time something like this happens, I might also decide not to kill the intervening beast, and I can't allow that to happen. This is a slippery slope, and as soon as I allow the first stain to remain, the next ones will follow and will become even harder to remove."
"Your intentions had been kind, but you are still responsible for the actions you have done. This is an unfortunate situation, but my path to power is the most important thing in my life together with my family," Gravis said coldly as he summoned his saber.
Gravis' lightning agreed with his words. Commander Rime had stepped too close to it without its permission, which made it furious. After all, lightning lashed out at everything that came too close.
WHOOOM!
The surroundings turned grey again as Gravis' Will-Aura had become even more powerful than before. It was not only more powerful, but a full level of the level suppression had vanished. Right now, Gravis' Will-Aura was powerful enough to suppress a level four King to a powerful degree. Even the badger felt himself get suppressed, but not nearly as much as Commander Rime.
"Gravis," the badger said with a threatening tone, "I understand your feelings, but I can't allow you to fight Commander Rime for only this reason!"
BZZZZZ!
A Lightning Bomb appeared and was absorbed by the saber. Then, Gravis looked at the badger. "My path to power is more important than anything," Gravis said coldly. "I don't like killing or mindless slaughter, but if something stands between me and my goal, I will eradicate it."
"Gravis!" the badger shouted again with anger in his voice. "If you attack Commander Rime right now, you will be a traitor to the land beasts! There are rules that you need to follow!"
"My path is more important than any camp or any rules. Commander Rime will die today, and if I am fated to be branded as a traitor to the land beasts, then so be it!" Gravis said with a powerful voice that showed his conviction.
The badger couldn't believe what he had heard right now. Did Gravis just say that he would turn traitor? Hadn't he just killed several traitors and unmasked even more? Was Gravis insane!? These were not the thoughts of a rational beast!
Commander Rime's emotions and mind were going crazy. He had never seen Gravis as his enemy. He even went as far as to bend the rules to interfere in one of his fights. Commander Rime had been prepared for any kind of punishment if that meant keeping such a valuable asset as Gravis safe. Yet, exactly this beast was about to kill him? What was happening? Was this a nightmare?
BRRRR!
The earth moved, and the badger appeared between Gravis and Commander Rime. "I won't allow this!" he shouted with power. "If you decide to attack, I will declare you a traitor to the land beasts and will execute you right here!"
Gravis didn't want to become a traitor. His children's mother was the Empress of the Icy Pride Empire, who was part of the land beasts. Additionally, the Empress and the Grand Elder were beasts that Gravis considered as good friends. On top of that, the badger, the Empress, and the Grand Elder had helped him a lot.
Yet, Gravis' path was more important than all the beasts in this world, except his children. Gravis' heart pained as he thought about having to kill the Empress, the Grand Elder, the badger, and many other beasts he knew in the future. If there were any other way, Gravis would take it.
But if there were no other way, then Gravis would kill the Empress, the Grand Elder, the badger, and every other beast. His heart would tear apart, but he would do it regardless. This wouldn't be the first time he would kill someone that he didn't want to kill.
Gravis had killed the squads from the Lightning Guild in the lower world after Gorn's death. He never wanted to kill them, but he had done it regardless.
Gravis had also killed Wendy, even though he didn't want to. Another example was the group of wind disciples in the Heaven's Trial.
Gravis never wanted to kill any one of these people, but to continue on his path to power, he had done so regardless.
Gravis readied himself to charge forward with cold eyes as the badger gritted his teeth due to the ridiculousness of the situation. Would he really need to kill one of their most valuable assets!?
As the fight was about to start, the tension and frustration in the air became thicker and thicker.
There was no way out.