In the next few months, Aris and Cera had found another weapon of theirs.
They had both realized that their resistance towards lightning was incredibly powerful. They couldn't absorb lightning like Gravis, but their resistance was astounding. It required lightning on the power of a Lord to injure them. Due to that, they had found a use for their lightning that other lightning beasts didn't have.
They had developed the same technique as their father. By exploding their lightning on their feet, they could achieve incredible acceleration and speed. When Gravis saw them use this technique, he felt an incredible feeling of pride radiating out from inside him.
His children looked very similar to him, and now, they also developed the same technique that he used. Gravis had never felt so proud in anything. The pride he was feeling was even greater than when he had killed the lower Heaven.
'I think I can understand why Orpheus doesn't search for power anymore,' Gravis thought, but then, he shook his head. 'But I'm not done yet! As soon as they become Lords, I can meet them. When that time comes, I can explain everything to them. They will join the Empire, and we will be fighting for the same side. Then, I can focus on my own path of cultivation again!'
Gravis hadn't become a King yet due to him always remaining split. His three bodies were all close to achieving a breakthrough each. As soon as Gravis gathered all his bodies into one again, he would become a King.
He also knew that, since Heaven saw him as a beast, he would be granted a Law when he became a King. Heaven had forced him to go through the restrictions of a beast, so it was only fair that he would also get the rewards. Gravis couldn't imagine Heaven being so petty that it forced him through this rule but decided against rewarding him.
By now, Cera was also able to fight two levels above herself. Yet, in comparison, Aris was already looking at three levels above himself. Sadly, there were no Lords inside this area. This seemed incredible, and it was, but it couldn't be compared to jumping levels in the Unity Realm.
The body's power doubled in every level below the Unity Realm, but as soon as one progressed in Unity, the power would quadruple with each level-up. As Aris was now, when he became a Lord, he would maybe be able to fight two levels above himself, but not against other Divine Beasts.
His body would be double as powerful as normal beasts on his level, but even when one considered his already more powerful body, a Lord two levels above him would have a body eight times as powerful as his.
If there were a theoretical fourth level for Spirit Beasts, their body would be a little more than five times as powerful as Aris' body as a Low-Rank Spirit Beast. Yet, if he were a Lord, a beast only two levels above himself would have a body eight times as powerful as him. This showed that fighting two levels above oneself as a Lord was more difficult than fighting three levels above oneself as a Spirit Beast.
That's where Laws came into play. Laws allowed someone to fight two levels above oneself as a Lord. Without Laws, it would be impossible. Even Gravis wouldn't have been able to kill the shark two levels above himself without his Punishment Lightning, which was a Law, obviously.
The moray eel in the invasion had proven that Gravis wasn't yet ready to fight someone three levels above himself. Back then, he had needed to rely on the corpses around him to emerge victoriously.
Right now, with his new understanding regarding the Speed Law of Lightning, Gravis would be able to fight a level two King. Yet, for Kings, understanding more Laws became easier as for Lords. When Gravis would reach the Realm of a King, the average level four King might already have understood three to five Laws. This was the progression of Battle-Strength alongside the Realm.
And when Gravis thought that, he smiled. It wasn't because of his thoughts but because of something else.
Yersi had returned to area F. She had managed to become a High-Rank Energy Beast again, but it had taken her over a year.
During that year, she had been forced to hide in caves and in the earth to protect herself from the shockwaves of powerful Lords and Kings fighting. This reminded Gravis of the time he had been transported to outside his home city. Hadn't he done the same thing back then?
Yet, this time of danger had done wonders for Yersi. Yersi's sense of danger had been sharpened to an astounding degree. When she fought a Spirit Beast again, she had also managed to perform another technique that Gravis used, which her two siblings hadn't been able to perform yet.
She was able to pre-dodge.
Her instincts warned her of danger, which allowed her to react to attacks from the enemy earlier than usual. Due to that, she managed to emerge victoriously against her opponent. Now, Yersi had also managed to take the first step towards fighting someone way more powerful than her.
Some months later, Cera also managed to kill a High-Rank Spirit Beast. When she ate the corpse, she became a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast. Aris had been a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast for a while now, and he was close to becoming a High-Rank Spirit Beast.
And then, it happened.
Aris and Cera met for the first time.
Both Aris and Cera narrowed their eyes at each other. "Who are you?" Cera asked with a voice transmission. Spirit Beasts could already transmit their thoughts to others, which allowed them to talk to each other.
"Aris," Aris answered with confidence. "I'm the overlord of this place. Ever since I've reached my current level, nothing has been able to keep standing in front of me. Who are you?" he asked.
"Cera," Cera answered with narrowed eyes. Aris' boast had rubbed her the wrong way. "I was just about to say the same thing. Ever since I've reached this level, nothing has been able to stand against me."
Aris huffed. "Do you have any idea how often I have heard that before? The last one that said that to me had been one of these beasts with a powerful body one level higher than me. He didn't even stand a chance."
Cera disliked Aris' arrogant words, but she felt his power. To Cera, Aris truly felt like the most powerful beast she had ever seen, except for these godlike beasts at the edges of this area. To her, Aris felt as dangerous as her first opponent that had been two levels above her.
"Do you want to fight?" she asked coldly. Aris felt incredibly dangerous to her, but she wouldn't back down from such a fight. Her pride didn't allow her to.
"I am more interested in your appearance," Aris answered as he walked closer. "I've never met someone that looks like me."
"Same thing for me," Cera answered carefully as she kept observing him.
Aris circled her as Cera didn't allow him to enter her blind spot. She didn't know this beast, and it was possible that this was a beast that attacked from the shadows.
"Funnily enough," Aris said as he circled her, "even though you are female and look nearly identical to me, I don't feel any kind of desire to mate with you. Even some snakes have exhibited more attraction than you."
"That's not what everyone else always says," Cera answered with a huff. "Whenever I want to fight a male, they always try to mate with me first. I seem to have quite an attraction to others."
"Interesting," Aris said as he arrived in front of her again. "I guess that means that we are siblings. I can't imagine any other reason for this dynamic."
Cera looked at the floor with furrowed brows. She hadn't thought of that before. It seemed like Aris had managed to make the connection earlier than her.
"Yet," Aris said with a more dangerous tone, "I wonder if you have the strength worthy of being my sibling."
Cera narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you want to find out?" she asked.
Aris chuckled a bit. "I will find out," he said as he readied himself to pounce forward. "If you don't prove to be my equal, you will die today."
BANG!
And Aris charged forward with an explosion of lightning.
