No beast dared to answer. All these Emperors and Kings were very experienced and wouldn't fight a freak like Gravis. Gravis had played an Emperor to death. What could the Kings do against that guy?
"Ruler, I think Gravis should be disqualifie-"
BANG!
Well, there had to be at least one idiot among thousands of people or beasts. A King had spoken up but was quickly slapped to the ground by a level three Emperor.
"Shut up!" the Emperor shouted as he severely injured the King. This was his candidate, and he didn't want his candidate to die to his own stupidity, which was why he had severely injured him to shut him up. If he let Meadow do the punishment, he wouldn't even be able to find a piece of his candidate anywhere.
"Eh," Meadow commented with an annoyed but dismissive tone. She had already grown a bit excited that an idiot had shown himself, but the Emperor had put a damper on things.
Several more seconds of silence passed.
"Alright, then Gravis is the winner. We're done here. You can all go," Meadow said casually.
Yet, surprisingly, no one actually left. Instead, they looked with complicated and reluctant looks at Meadow.
"Meadow," Sary said with a chuckle. "Yes, we already have a winner, but the competition is also an excellent opportunity for the Kings to temper each other."
"Eh?" Meadow said with an annoyed voice. Then, she groaned. "Fine! Dickhead!" she shouted as she turned to the Lightning Ultimate. "You go arrange the competition. I can't be arsed to do that shit."
The Lightning Ultimate bowed respectfully to Meadow. "Yes, ruler," he said. Then, he turned to the Emperors and Kings with authority radiating from his being. "Gather in camps according to your region," he commanded.
The Ultimates, Emperors, and Gravis watched as the Kings split up into three regions. The sea Ultimates, especially, were interested in this event. They hadn't watched the competition of land Kings before.
Surprisingly, even though the western region had the most beasts in general, they had the least number of Kings. The absence of war did wonders for the growth of average beasts, but their most powerful beasts were less numerous.
The Lightning Ultimate made Kings from different regions fight each other. Most of the time, the northern and southern regions fought with each other, with the western region also getting a couple of fights.
Of course, there were rules. After the opponents were chosen, they both had to agree if they wanted to fight and if they wanted to fight to the death or not. If one of the two didn't want to fight their chosen opponent, they would lose the round and be disqualified.
If both were willing to fight, they had to decide if they wanted to fight to the death or stop when there was a clear victor. Most of the time, the parties came to a consensus, but in the rare cases that they couldn't come to one, a fight to the death would occur. Of course, before the fight started, they both had one more opportunity to pull out.
So, as long as one of them wanted to fight to the death, they would either fight to the death, or one beast would win without a fight. This rule was in place to see the mindset of the competitors. Someone willing to risk their life for supreme power was worth more than someone who wasn't willing to. Thus, they deserved an advantage in the competition.
Multiple days of fighting passed.
Around 30% of fights didn't take place since one of the two competitors conceded. Around 50% of fights were to the death, with the remaining 20% just being spars.
If this had been a competition between humans, such a ratio would not occur. The ratio for such a competition for humans would most likely be 10% not fighting, 10% fighting to the death, and 80% sparring. Yet, beasts were simply more direct and brutal in their path to supreme power.
Of course, if humans could eat other humans to advance their cultivation, the ratio might resemble the beasts' ratio in this competition more.
On the last day of the competition, something surprising happened. In the finale, the King from the western region managed to comprehend another level two Law. With this level two Law, this King had actually comprehended three!
Even if Gravis counted his Punishment Lightning as a level two Law, he would still only know two. This showed how incredible it was for a level five King to have comprehended three level two Laws.
Of course, this King won the competition.
"Who's that?" Gravis asked Azure, who had returned by now.
"This is the favorite for winning the competition," Azure answered. "He has been a King for over 2,000 years in an effort to win this competition and visit the Ultimate Law Comprehension Area. Of course, this year, he will also go home without being able to get there."
Gravis nodded. "Spending so long for this Law Comprehension Area. I honestly don't know if it's worth it or not."
Azure didn't answer since she also didn't know if it was worth it or not.
The King was a brown and mighty gorilla. Obviously, he had an earth affinity. The gorilla consumed the corpse of his enemy and, surprisingly, became an Emperor. Apparently, this had been the last corpse he had needed to become an Emperor.
After he was finished evolving, he looked at Gravis.
Gravis only raised a questioning eyebrow.
After some seconds, the gorilla sighed and turned away again. He had been tempted to fight Gravis for his spot since he was a powerful Emperor with three level two Laws now. With so many level two Laws, he could even fight level two Emperors.
Yet, for some reason, he felt like he would still not win against Gravis. Because of that, he decided to be careful and not fight him.
This had saved his life.
One shouldn't forget that Gravis was a level five King now, which meant that a level one Emperor was only two levels above him. His Will-Aura and Law of Suppression would suppress a level one Emperor by over 90%. This wouldn't even be a fight.
"Ruler, the competition has ended," the Lightning Ultimate said respectfully.
The small flower nodded. "Alright! Shit's over. You can all fuck off now," she commanded.
"Wait!" Sary suddenly shouted, making everyone stop.
"What?" Meadow asked.
"We need to announce the ceasefire for Emperors," Sary said.
A root came out of the ground and slapped it. "Right! I totally forgot about that," Meadow shouted. Then, she turned to the Emperors. "All Emperors are forbidden from invading the territory of the sea beasts for the next 55 years. Anyone that defies this order has to receive a slap from me!"
This was the first time that the gathered Emperors heard about this since the Ultimates only talked to each other. Humans would have asked for explanations and reasons, but beasts simply followed the command of a stronger beast. Because of that, no one said a thing. Then, everyone bowed respectfully to show that they understood and left.
When everyone had left, Gravis turned to Azure. "I will spend the next two years here, in the core of the world. I can find the materials I need to comprehend my next level two Law here."
Azure nodded. "I haven't left my throne in a long time, and I have no intention of going back to the Icy Pride Empire until the Ultimate's Meet is over."
Gravis scratched the back of his neck in confusion. "Does that mean you'll follow me?"
"No," Azure said.
No further answer came.
"Well, okay then," Gravis said. "Then, see you," he said as he left.
Azure only nodded again. Apparently, she had fallen back into thought.
"Ruler, I request to leave for a day to take care of some business," Gravis heard the white snake say to Meadow.
"Sure, sure," Meadow said with a dismissive wave with one of her roots.
The white snake had a cold gleam in her eyes when she got the permission to leave. Then, she shot into the Grand Lake.
Surprisingly, Gravis had a crafty smile on his face. 'You're too late,' he thought.
Gravis flew for a couple of thousand kilometers and landed in the middle of a mountain range.
Whoop!
The Life Ring appeared inside his hand. Then, a second Gravis appeared and entered the Life Ring. Morus remained outside without any word.
The second Gravis landed inside the Life Ring and looked at the only other living thing inside it, except for the CMO.
"Just as you've expected, she has left. She looked rather eager to deal with you," Gravis said with a smirk.
"Logical. My appearance has changed the general philosophy of the sea beasts. The Light Ultimate is a believer in an open war strategy instead of the subterfuge and political path I decide to employ. With my backer dead, I would be a fool to remain with the sea beasts," the beast in front of Gravis said.
Gravis chuckled a bit. "I wouldn't have expected you to contact me during the competition. You also still remembered my Life Ring, which is probably the only spot in the world where the Light Ultimate can't find you. I bet she will be quite frustrated when she can't find you," Gravis said with a laugh.
In front of Gravis, a small octopus with all kinds of different tentacles could be seen. Some of his tentacles ended in spikes, while others had hands that carried different kinds of weapons.
"Her frustration is irrelevant to me," Orthar said.
