Aris, Cera, and Yersi were astonished when they saw the deferential Morus following behind Gravis. Their father had managed to enslave an Emperor!
If this had happened before they had met Gravis again, they wouldn't have thought that this was so impressive. Yet, when they have felt the power of the Emperor and had seen the power of the level two Law that Gravis had unleashed, they fully realized the gulf between them and an Emperor. Emperors were truly powerful.
An Inquisitor, a level five King that was more powerful than the three of them combined, only had the Battle-Strength of an average Emperor. Additionally, an Emperor was two levels above an Inquisitor. Emperors were the true elite of this world, and their father now counted as one of them!
In the days they spent together, Gravis taught them every concept about Laws he had found out. He told them about how different Laws could be combined and how combinations were even possible across elements.
The Composition Law of Lighting especially interested them. If they could comprehend this Law, they would be able to regenerate themselves to their peak while only spending some lightning. Something like this was a massive advantage in a battle.
Gravis also told them about his fight with Morus and how he had been able to use the Body Growth Laws to use up his Life Energy and then refill it with his Life Lightning. Together with their powerful scales, such an ability would give them a supreme defense.
After talking with Gravis for several days, they no longer wanted to become Emperors as quickly as possible. Now, they also understood why Gravis hadn't bothered to become an Emperor yet. Right now, their Battle-Strength was above average, and this was the perfect time to comprehend Laws.
One had to remember that the three of them were Divine Beasts, which meant that their bodies were twice as powerful as average level five Kings. Yet, that advantage would vanish as soon as they became Emperors. After all, every Emperor counted as a Divine Beast.
After around a week, Gravis said goodbye to his three children again as he returned to the Icy Pride Empire. The three of them would continue staying at the defensive line until they had enough Contribution Points for a hundred years of Law Comprehension Area access. This meant that they would need to stay here for an additional 150 years.
The access to Law Comprehension Areas was expensive, and it wasn't easy to gain it. One had to remember that Gravis only got 50 years for finding and "killing" a traitorous Emperor. Additionally, his actions had also brought a lot of intel about the sea beasts to the land beasts. Other beasts didn't have it as easy.
The easiest way for Kings to gain access to Law Comprehension Areas was becoming an Inquisitor. Sadly, the three of them were not powerful enough for that job. On top of that, it wasn't even certain that their mindsets were fit for the position of an Inquisitor.
They had to gain access the hard way, which was spending a long time in service of the land beasts or donating corpses of their slain enemies.
Yes, that was right. Beasts could also donate corpses to gain Contribution Points.
Why was that?
Because the Bulwark required food. The sea beasts attacked the Bulwark incredibly rarely. The reason for that was the power of the Bulwark. Yet, to keep the power so high, the Bulwark needed a lot of food, which came in the form of corpses.
Yet, finding enemies was not up to the beasts. As long as they didn't infiltrate the sea beasts' camp, they couldn't just randomly find an enemy sea beast. So, the three of them were stuck with wasting time in a defensive line.
But that was their story, not Gravis'.
Just as promised, Gravis had returned to the Icy Pride Empire in a week. Without doing anything else, Gravis directly went to the Empress on the Mountain of Pride. As always, the Empress sat on her throne. Gravis really wondered what she was doing here the entire time. He had never seen her leave the Mountain of Pride even once.
"I'm back!" Gravis announced cheerfully as he arrived in front of the Empress. This time, the Grand Elder was also present beside her.
The Empress looked at the silently following Morus behind Gravis in an interested manner. Then, she nodded towards Gravis. "You receive another 50 years of unrestricted access to the Law Comprehension Areas," she said, unceremoniously.
Gravis only smirked when he heard that. This would be useful for comprehending the Composition Laws of Light and Darkness. Additionally, he could visit a Law Comprehension Area for the metal-equivalent to Punishment Lightning. That place would surely have all the necessary materials for Gravis to comprehend the Hard Complex Material Law.
Gravis didn't forget that his armor had only been able to resist Morus' level two Law because of Gravis' comprehension of the Fire Composition Law. This Law had weakened Morus' fire by a total of 50%! Additionally, Morus' level two Fire Law wasn't even a fully attack-oriented one. Its most powerful strength had been the ability to fight alongside him, which had been severely countered by Gravis' Will-Aura.
Gravis couldn't count on the fact that he would only fight Emperors that he perfectly countered. If he had fought someone that had comprehended a defensive level two Law, Gravis wouldn't even be able to injure them with his Lightning Crescent. He needed more level two Laws.
"So, I've heard you've got a special job for me?" Gravis asked. "Even the Grand Elder had reminded me of this task when we met about a week ago. It seems rather important."
The Empress leaned back on her throne. Usually, the Grand Elder would have objections to that, but he had grown used to it when it involved Gravis. He didn't even attempt to keep up any form of formality in front of Gravis.
"I hadn't expected that you would have a run-in with a traitorous Emperor when you visited your offspring," the Empress said as she threw a glance at Morus. "The task would have been perfect for you as a level three King, but with your increase in strength, it lost parts of its impact for you."
"So, you say that I'm too powerful for this task?" Gravis asked, confused.
"You were already more than capable of taking care of this task when you were a level three King, but it would have still had, at least, some excitement. Yet, as you are now, there won't be any excitement," the Empress said.
Gravis raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that you want me to fight Kings? That's the only possibility I can think of," Gravis said.
The Empress nodded. "Exactly. Every 250 years, the five Ultimates gather to exchange their comprehension of Laws. For 50 years, all five Ultimates will reside in the same place in the core of the world and release the comprehension of their Laws for the other Ultimates to understand."
"As you might have already guessed, an area where five level five Emperors release all their comprehension would become the best Law Comprehension Area of this entire world. This also means that every beast would want to go there and watch."
"Of course, the Ultimates have their pride, and they won't allow just anyone to watch. Only the level four Emperors are allowed to watch and only in shifts of ten years each. We can't let our territories remain defenseless, after all."
"Yet, there are two more spots, and these two spots are for the most powerful King of this world and their respective Emperor. So, two years before the Ultimates meet, every Empire will send their most powerful King to battle with the other Kings. The winner will then be declared as the most powerful King and will be allowed to watch the meeting of the Ultimates together with their respective Emperor for its full duration."
"You see what I'm getting at, right?" the Empress asked after her long explanation.
"Huh," Gravis uttered. "I can't say that I'm not interested in this meeting. What are the elements of the Ultimates?"
"The five Ultimates are: The Plant Ultimate, the Lightning Ultimate, the Metal Ultimate, the Water Ultimate, and the Life Ultimate. You can guess the elements of the first four Ultimates. The Life Ultimate doesn't have an elemental affinity but has incredible knowledge in Life Laws, which allows her to keep regenerating herself in a fight."
Gravis scratched his chin in thought. 'This means I can probably learn about the Hard Complex and Medium Complex Materials. Additionally, I should look more into Life Laws. Alrighty then.'
"Well, I guess it's time for me to beat up some Kings," Gravis said as he cracked his knuckles.
