Gravis almost couldn't believe that Morus was throwing his life away to get revenge on him. Was he really willing to sacrifice his life for a mere moment at revenge!? That was stupid!
Yet, in this heated moment, Gravis hadn't realized that he had done the same thing as Morus in the past. When Gravis had decided to temper his Spirit with Destruction Lightning, he had also been willing to throw his life away for revenge. He had done the same thing.
Gravis had three choices in front of him now.
First choice: Find and kill a level two Emperor to become an Emperor himself.
Second choice: Trust that his children were powerful enough to, at least, stall Morus.
Third choice: Ask Orthar or Meadow for help.
All three of these choices were terrible. If Gravis found and consumed a level two Emperor, he would need several minutes to finish his evolution. During that time, he was also very vulnerable.
It was very possible that this was just a ploy of Morus to force Gravis into an evolution. During that time, Gravis would find it difficult to resist since all his being would be focused on his evolution. This might very well end in his death.
Trusting his children was incredibly risky. Even if they had already become level two Emperors by now and could fight a level three Emperor, they would still have huge issues against Morus.
Morus probably knew three level two Laws by now. This made him very powerful for a level three Emperor. Gravis didn't care about the strength of someone inside their Realm since his Will-Aura suppressed a lot of their fighting power, but other beasts cared very much.
As for asking Meadow or Orthar? Meadow would probably just tell him to fuck off. Even though Meadow was Gravis' friend, she respected power, and she wouldn't help Gravis with an issue he had created himself.
Orthar would probably help, but Gravis would feel like that would endanger his path severely. As soon as someone relied on someone else with an issue they could resolve themselves, they might fall into a habit of always seeking outside help.
Not being able to defend oneself against something was one thing, but Gravis had the power to kill Morus. Being protected against something overpowering like Heaven was one thing, but being protected against something one could solve themselves was fatal to one's mindset.
'I have to risk it!' Gravis thought with gritted teeth.
Then, Gravis shot into the Grand Lake in search of a level two Emperor. He couldn't let his fuck-up endanger the life of his children! If someone had to risk dying, it was him.
BOOOOM!
Suddenly, a wall of fire appeared in front of Gravis, and he came to a stop.
"You are truly foolish," Morus said. He had stopped flying towards the south and had returned as he stood before Gravis.
"What are you planning now?" Gravis said with narrowed eyes.
"Even in this situation, you believe you have a choice?" Morus asked with a sneer. "Do you truly believe that you have a choice right now? Having a choice implies having control, but you don't have any control."
Morus slowly circled Gravis from a distance. "You are not in control, which is why you have no choice. Meanwhile, I am in control and have all the choices, and one of these choices is to remain by your side and slowly grind you to death."
"What do you mean?" Gravis asked with nervousness.
"I am faster than you, and you can't kill me as long as I fight from a distance and very defensively. If you consume a level two Emperor, I will kill you. If you try to comprehend more Laws, I will attack you and break your focus. If you decide to flee, I will chase."
"I am not forced to fight you openly, while you are forced to fight me if I so want. Your life is in my claws," Morus said as he clenched one of his claws.
For the first time in a long while, Gravis felt suppressed again. An opponent that he could defeat was suppressing him like he was more powerful. This was the first time this had ever happened to Gravis. It had always been someone more powerful than him that suppressed him.
Yet, Gravis had learned a lot, and he also saw the way out of this situation.
"You are in control," Gravis conceded, "but not completely."
Morus smirked. "And why is that?"
"Because even this situation of being suppressed can allow me to comprehend Laws," Gravis said. "I already know the Law of Suppression. If I remain in this situation, I might as well learn the Law of Control or manage to upgrade my Law of Suppression."
"Additionally, you do not know of all my methods. I have a way of becoming an Emperor without you being able to kill me," Gravis said coldly.
"So, yes, you are in control, but only partially," Gravis said. "You can influence an outcome, but you can't make sure of the outcome."
CLAP!
Morus suddenly clapped into his claws loudly one time. "And that's exactly what I wanted to show you," Morus said.
Gravis immediately grew confused. Morus had surprised him multiple times in the last minutes, and he did it again just now. "What do you mean?" Gravis asked coldly.
Morus sighed as his body relaxed. "It's true that I have a ton of hatred for being under you for so long, but I am not an emotional beast. Just like you, I mostly follow logic and seek my own gain."
Morus looked towards the Grand Lake, a rare show of an opening. "When I regained my control, I was reminded of your talk with the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts. You have talked openly with him, not even taking note of me. So, I've heard everything you had talked about."
"He is a powerful level five Emperor. Yet, he does not dare to go against you. If he weren't supremely smart and crafty, he wouldn't have been able to lead such a huge faction and achieve so much success. I concede the fact that he is probably far craftier and smarter than me."
"So, if even he doesn't want to make you his enemy, how could I dare to? This got me thinking. You are speaking of your experiences and powers so freely, yet what is to say that you do not have even more stashed away in secret? There are too many unknown factors about you."
Gravis realized that Morus wanted to teach him something, but he didn't lower his guard. This could just be another one of Morus' tricks.
"I hate you," Morus said coldly, "but I won't let my emotions impede my path to power. The reason why I betrayed the land beasts and went to the sea beasts was for my power, and for the same reason, I will betray my emotions today."
"Trust me when I say that it takes everything out of me to not kill you right now, but I see this as an opportunity to become more powerful. Emotions are a weakness, and I need to resist and fight them to become more powerful. The success of your friend, the octopus, has shown me this. He has managed to eliminate his emotions and follow cold logic. I am still emotional, but I want to solve this issue," Morus said coldly.
"Get to the point," Gravis said as he relaxed a bit.
Morus still looked at Gravis with killing intent. "You have won against me previously, and my life has been in your hands. You have decided to spare me, and I have paid that debt by being your servant for 700 years. My emotions do not want to accept this, but my mind tells me that we are even now. All debts have been repaid."
"So," Morus said coldly, "as two strangers with no open debts between us, consider my lesson about control as a down-payment for our future cooperation."
And once more, Morus surprised Gravis. "Cooperation?"
Morus nodded. "If there is a lot that your octopus friend can gain from a cooperation with you, there should also be plenty of it for me. My goal is not revenge, but supreme power, and if you can help me in achieving it, I'm willing to do nearly everything."
Gravis sneered. "What if I don't want to?"
Morus only smirked. "You must," Morus said.
"Why?"
"Because I have given you a lesson in control out of my own goodwill. You are a very honest beast, or human, Gravis. If someone helps you, you feel the need to help them back," Morus said with a smirk.
Then, he flew closer without any fear of any of Gravis' attacks.
"I don't know if that is a weakness or a strength, but right now, it is a weakness, and I'm going to exploit it," Morus said. "If you want it or not, you are stuck with repaying me."
Gravis remained silent as he wasn't sure what he should feel right now. On one hand, he was happy that his children were safe and that he had seen another weakness of his, which was the illusion of having too much control. Yet, on the other hand, Morus was exploiting Gravis' honest personality.
"Okay," Gravis said. "I will repay you this once. What do you want?"
Morus only smirked.
"Once is all I need. As for what I want…"
"I also want to go to the highest world," Morus said with a smirk.
Gravis narrowed his eyes further. He wasn't a big fan of bringing Morus to the highest world, but he needed to repay him anyway. Additionally, Morus would no longer be even close to a match for him when the time came. At that time, Gravis would just leave.
"Deal."
