The green sparrow introduced Gravis enthusiastically. Gravis was the pride of their region, a level four King that managed to beat an Emperor. There had been a select few beasts that managed to fight an Emperor as level five Kings, but they were the stuff of legends. There hadn't been one in millennia.
"How far has the southern region fallen?" a grey elephant said with disdain. "A measly level four King is already considered equal to an Emperor. You are really throwing away the last bits of respect I had for you."
Gravis furrowed his brows. He was pretty sure that the whole continent knew about him by now. Additionally, did that elephant just comment on the southern region? Did this mean that there were regions?
"Don't judge a snake by its scales, Borro," the green sparrow said. "The Emperor he has beaten is standing right behind him."
Of course, the green sparrow was referring to Morus, who always stood quietly behind Gravis.
Borro, the grey elephant, huffed in disdain as he threw a side-eye at Morus. "A traitor that colludes with fish," he commented. "We land beasts are much more powerful than the sea beasts, yet the northern and southern region can't even deal with some fish. I'm ashamed to call myself an Emperor when you're also calling such a fish-fucker an Emperor."
Morus remained silent, but his tail cramped up in rage. Morus followed his master's orders, which was why he didn't act.
Gravis' brows furrowed even more. "Why are you talking to these idiots?" Gravis transmitted to the green sparrow.
"They are from the western region," the green sparrow answered with a voice transmission. "Nearly all Emperors from the western region are like this."
"Why?" Gravis asked.
"Because only the northern and southern regions fight the eastern sea. The sea beasts already have it quite hard resisting our two regions. If we send the third region at them, they might collapse. The Ultimates don't want that since they want tempering. This means that the western region is not fighting with the sea beasts."
"They see that our southern and northern regions are not able to overwhelm the sea beasts and think us to be useless. That's why they always show such disdain," the green sparrow explained.
"That's great and all, but why are you talking to them?" Gravis asked back.
"Because of you," he answered.
"What do you mean?" Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Whenever a known Emperor from our southern area challenges one of them to a duel, they always back off for a multitude of reasons. Yet, their small-mindedness won't accept that you have the power of an Emperor as a level four King. That's why I called you over," the green sparrow explained with some mirth in his voice transmission.
"So, you want me to kill them instead?" Gravis asked.
"You want tempering, don't you?" the green sparrow asked smugly. "Isn't fighting an Emperor some good tempering?"
Gravis actually had to agree. If the green sparrow hadn't so openly explained his reasoning, Gravis might have felt manipulated. Yet, since the green sparrow was so forthcoming, he actually appreciated the sentiment.
"Some insults are not reason enough to kill someone from our side," Gravis sent back. "I'm actually interested, but such useless words are nothing. It doesn't matter what someone else thinks of you."
The green sparrow didn't like the answer, but as long as Gravis didn't agree, there was nothing he could do. It was all up to him.
"Look at them," the grey elephant said to the brown buffalo beside him. "They are obviously talking to each other merrily. The southern region has truly fallen."
Gravis turned to the elephant and looked neutrally into his eyes. "Your words are meaningless," he commented.
"Be silent, King! Know your place!" the elephant shouted with disdain.
"You're truly lost in your own world," Gravis commented again. "I have better things to do than to talk with a blind and deaf elephant."
With that, Gravis turned around and flew away.
"You've finally realized your place, King of trash," the elephant commented. "Trash begets trash, and as long as such trash keeps existing in your region, you will forever only have trash."
Gravis stopped.
Then, he turned around. "Repeat that," he said emotionlessly.
The elephant huffed. "I said that trash begets trash. Your useless southern region can multiply however much it wants, but as long as trash like you exists, all the southern region's offspring will also be trash. It's your southern region's fate to remain trash. That's why our western region doesn't procreate with your southern region. We don't want trash offspring," the elephant said.
Gravis flew over and stopped before the smirking elephant. "So, my offspring is trash?" he asked coldly.
The elephant spat in disdain to the side. "Of course it is! Look at you! How can anything good come from such a black lizard-thing like you?"
"You and me, life and death duel," Gravis said coldly.
Gravis could ignore insults about himself. Yet, his children were his weak spot. No one was allowed to insult them!
The grey elephant was taken aback by the sudden challenge, but then his disdain only increased. "Me, an Emperor, fighting a mere King? Fighting you would be a loss of status for me." Then, the elephant's disdainful smirk widened. "But you can fight my chosen King. If you manage to beat him, I will duel with you."
"Who is your chosen King?" Gravis asked without emotion.
Some seconds passed in silence, after which a black raven appeared. "Yes, Emperor?" the black raven asked the grey elephant with respect.
"This black lizard-thing wants to fight you," the grey elephant said.
The raven turned to Gravis, and when he realized that Gravis was a level four King, he also looked with disdain at him. The raven was here to fight other outstanding level five Kings, not some mere level four King. To him, having to deal with Gravis was also a loss of status.
The raven ruffled his feathers as they stood up aggressively. "You want to fight me? Know your pla-"
BOOOOM!
And the raven was dead.
Gravis activated his Law of Suppression and blasted the raven's head off with some lightning without even looking at him. Dealing with a level five King was no harder than breathing for him.
"Now, you and me," Gravis said to Borro.
Silence descended on the area. All the Emperors and Kings kept check on their surroundings, and they had all noticed the sudden and loud appearance of Gravis' lightning. All beasts looked at Gravis from a distance with shock.
Usually, even if one of these Kings insulted an Emperor, the fight would, at least, take some seconds. After all, all of these Kings were absolutely outstanding. Yet, Gravis, a level four King, killed one of these level five Kings in less than a second.
The beasts from the southern region noticed Gravis and grimaced. They knew Gravis, and they also knew that none of their Kings would win as long as he partook in the competition. The appearance of Gravis told them that they wouldn't receive any Law Comprehension this time.
"You dare to sneak-attack my chosen King!?" the grey elephant shouted in rage. "Your conduct is not the conduct of a land beast! You act like the sea beasts! Are you a spy!?"
"It doesn't matter if I am a spy or not," Gravis said. "You said you would fight me if I managed to beat your chosen King. Keep your word."
"Fighting you would be stepping into a trap of a traitor!" the grey elephant shouted with righteous indignation. "You only want to distract me so that your traitorous servant can sneak-attack me!"
Then, the grey elephant turned to the western Emperors. "We must seek justice for our fallen comrade from the western region!"
Many of the western Emperors narrowed their eyes at Gravis. Gravis had disrespected the western region by sneak-attacking one of their chosen Kings.
"Gravis, what did you do this time!? Can't I get a single day without you creating trouble!?" Azure shouted in frustration as she arrived beside him.
"He called our children trash," Gravis said.
Azure was taken aback a bit. "So? He's an Emperor. He can call Kings trash since they are just Kings," she said, confused.
"You might not care, but I care," Gravis said. "You know how I see our children. He promised me that he would fight me if I killed his chosen King. Now, he wants to break his promise."
Azure frowned as she turned to the grey elephant. "Is that true? Are you truly breaking your word?" she asked coldly. She couldn't care less about someone calling her offspring trash, but not keeping one's word was a loss of face for every Emperor.
"This has nothing to do with you, Empress from the Icy Pride Empire," a level three Emperor from the western region said as he appeared beside the grey elephant. "This candidate is obviously a traitor. After all, it's forbidden to kill other Kings before the competition starts. He has broken the rules."
"I'll allow it," Meadow said nonchalantly from the ground.
The Emperors turned to the flower, but as soon as they saw Meadow, they shivered. "Plant Ultimate," the level three Emperor said with respect. "Isn't it against the rules to- "
"Did I stutter?" Meadow asked. "Or are you just too retarded to comprehend normal thoughts? We make the rules, and I say that it's okay. Now, go tell your mosquito-bull to fight Gravis. After all, he promised."
The grey elephant shivered. He wasn't a very powerful Emperor. Even he wouldn't have been able to kill his chosen King that quickly. The grey elephant might be arrogant and self-absorbed, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that Gravis was a huge issue, which was why he wanted Gravis to attack first. Then, he could complain and disqualify him from the tournament.
Yet, Gravis had killed his chosen King immediately! He had, at least, expected that his chosen King would be able to resist until other Emperors got involved and stopped the fight. Then, he could blame Gravis.
Now, he had to fight Gravis?
"Stop!" a powerful voice echoed throughout the horizons.
Everyone turned to the source in respect as they all remained quiet.
A greyish-black deer stood on top of the tallest mountain in the surroundings. Lightning continually jumped from one antler to the other, which emanated an unreal amount of Energy.
"Lightning Ultimate," the grey elephant said with respect to the deer as he lowered his body.
"This is an obvious transgression of the rules," the Lightning Ultimate announced. "but, since the Plant Ultimate allowed it, I'll overlook it this time. Yet, there will be no further fights before the competition starts. This is my decree!"
Gravis glared at the Lightning Ultimate, while the Lightning Ultimate looked with disdain at Gravis.