BRRRRRRR!
Five enormous balls of fire came out of the red hawk's mouth, the fire crackling loudly in the sky. Yet, instead of shooting directly at Gravis, the balls remained in the sky and only circled the red hawk's body. The five balls of fire followed the red hawk's movement perfectly and never hit it.
Gravis tried to scratch his chin but only felt metal. Unperturbed, he decided to just scratch the metal. 'This is definitely not normal,' Gravis thought. 'This is probably one of the Laws that the bird has understood.'
'The bird can keep creating fireballs and ready them. After a while, he can use them all freely, which allows him to create a wider spread or make a more powerful attack. On top of that, my armor is weak to fire.'
Fire was a huge counter against any kind of metal or ore. Breaking the ore or destroying it was harder than liquifying it. A level five Lord won't be able to break this armor normally, no matter what they did, except when they used fire.
One had to remember that Gravis used the heat generated from his lightning to forge the armor. This meant that his lightning generated enough heat to melt the ore. So, obviously, the fire of a level five Lord would also have enough heat to melt the ore.
On paper, the red hawk was one of the two worst opponents Gravis could have chosen. Another bad choice would have been a beast with an earth affinity. After all, it would be difficult for Gravis to break through their defense.
Yet, advantages came with disadvantages and vice versa. Looking at the situation from the outside, one would think that Gravis was at a huge disadvantage. Yet, that was only because they didn't know that he was a human.
Why did such attacks never appear when humans fought? They always shot their elements directly at the opponent without gathering them like this, nearly stupidly so. One would think that there was so much more potential to be found by fighting differently. Yet, that simply was not true.
Whoooom! BANG! BANG!
Gravis activated his Will-Aura and deleted the will from the fireballs, which made them stop moving. Yet, the red hawk still continued flying, which made it fly right into two fireballs. Of course, the fireballs exploded right onto the red hawk's body.
"Hahahahahaha!" Gravis laughed loudly. One of the fireballs had hit the red hawk's face, creating quite the funny scene.
This was why it was impossible for humans to fight like this. As soon as they summoned their element, the will on it would simply get wiped out by the opponent's Will-Aura. When humans fought, they could only shoot their element forward at the opponent.
Meanwhile, the watching beasts felt like their eyes were falling out of their heads. What happened? How did the red hawk suddenly get hit by his own fireballs? Gravis didn't even move!
The Red King was also a bit surprised. He remembered that Gravis had managed to make the Golden Dragon's spears uncontrollable, but he hadn't thought that this ability could also be used like that. The Red King realized that the ability to cancel the opponent's control of the elements was more dangerous than he had initially believed.
The Empress and the white ape were also taken aback. "Did he just cancel the control of his opponent's Law?" the Empress asked the white ape.
The white ape narrowed his eyes. "I think so, but that's only possible if he has comprehended the same Law."
The Empress furrowed her brows in an unsure expression. "Does that mean that he knows three Laws from three different elements? This doesn't seem possible, at least not on his current level," she transmitted back.
The white ape combed his beard with his right hand as he fell into thought. Two seconds later, the white ape stopped combing his beard as he found an answer. "I'm going to ask the Red King," he said to the Empress.
The eyes of the Empress also widened in realization. Right! Why hadn't they thought about that before?
"Can you please explain Gravis' powers?" the white ape transmitted to the Red King.
First, the Red King was a bit taken aback by the white ape suddenly contacting him like that, but then he sighed in annoyance. "I don't know much more than you," he confessed.
The eyes of the white ape furrowed. "How is that possible? Isn't he your candidate?" the white ape asked with annoyance.
The Red King sighed again. "Yes, but I wasn't able to learn much about why he has these weird powers. I only know what powers he has, but not why he has them or how they work."
The white ape still wasn't convinced. "You're stronger than him. Why didn't you just order him to tell you?" he asked.
The Red King sighed again, something he had been doing quite a lot. He felt like he was being humiliated right now. "I tried. I really, really tried. Yet, the little shit knows that I wouldn't kill him for that. Pain and injury also don't affect him at all. I threatened him so many times with his life, but he always called my bluff."
"It feels like it wasn't me forcing him to do stuff, but him doing whatever the fuck he wants and forcing me to adapt. That's why I don't know much about the workings of his powers. I only know what powers he has, and what Laws he has comprehended," the Red King finished ranting.
The white ape thought about this scenario for a bit and realized that what the Red King had said was most likely true. "What are the Laws he knows?" he asked.
"Gravis knows two Laws," the Red King transmitted, surprising the white ape. Only two? "One of them is his lightning while the other one seems to have something to do with metal."
"Do you know how he can manipulate the ore like this?" the white ape asked.
"He isn't manipulating the ore at all," the Red King answered, eliciting a skeptical look from the white ape. "He has some kind of space where he can store stuff. He used his lightning to form the ore into this shape and then summoned it around his body. I think he calls it armor."
This whole conversation had only taken around five seconds since voice transmissions were nearly instantaneous. The white ape still had more questions, but those had to wait since the red hawk had recovered. The fight was about to continue.
"RAAAAAA!" the red hawk shouted in rage and pain. The fireball that had hit its chest had incinerated all the feathers and created quite a big hole. The fireball that had hit his face had destroyed his beak, his feathers, and nearly all the skin and flesh on his head. His head looked like a bloody skull now.
A mortal beast would have died to these injuries, but Lords could withstand such an attack. Yet, these were still heavy injuries for a Lord. On top of that, the red hawk had completely lost his eyes. This was an important weapon for them since eyesight was still very relevant to Lords.
Yet, instead of being happy, Gravis looked annoyed. 'It's no danger in this state. It can feel my body's movement with its senses, but only as long as I stay in my physical form. As soon as I transform into lightning, it won't be able to feel me. Then, I can just close in and kill it directly.'
Gravis frowned. 'This isn't tempering.'
Sometimes, horrible mistakes happen. Usually, such a beast would have offered excellent tempering to Gravis. Yet, it had committed a mistake that would make it nearly helpless in front of Gravis.
Gravis really wasn't happy about this development. Yes, it had been quite funny to look at, but it had ruined his entire tempering experience.
"Hey," Gravis shouted at the mountain, "I want a different opponent. Mine's broken and is no longer a challenge."
All the beasts were shocked. The fight still wasn't over, and the red hawk should have more weapons at its disposal. How could he already say that the fight is over?
The Red King sighed again. "He's right," the Red King transmitted to the white ape. "Gravis has a weapon that makes him invisible to a beast's sense, except when they know what they're dealing with. And, right now, the hawk has no idea what's waiting for it. Gravis will go in without being noticed and kill it with one easy strike."
"The fight really is over," the Red King transmitted to the white ape.
