Silence reigned for a couple of seconds, and Gravis lifted an eyebrow.
"It was my fault," Aris said.
"Don't overvalue your power," Cera said like she had been offended. "You might be more powerful than me right now, but that doesn't mean that I was not also a danger."
"It was because of our rapid growth," Yersi said after Cera.
Gravis looked at Yersi. "Tell me more," he said.
Yersi looked towards the raging battle with even eyes. "A little more than a century ago, all of us managed to understand Punishment Lightning together."
Gravis nodded. He had expected something like that. Gravis had been made up of Punishment Lightning himself, and he had already expected them to have a crazy affinity towards that type of lightning. It wasn't shocking to him that they managed to learn a level three Law so quickly.
"The Earthquake Ultimate saw that-"
"Wow, wait a second," Gravis interrupted Yersi. "Earthquake Ultimate? As far as I know, there are no Ultimates left in this world."
Cera snorted. "That's what he called himself after our southern region was cut off from the other regions," she said with disdain. "The Earthquake Ultimate is or was the level four Emperor of the southern region."
"That rhinoceros?" Gravis asked.
Yersi nodded. "Yes, that was the Earthquake Ultimate," she said but then had to chuckle. "It's ironic that you didn't even know his name when you killed him."
Gravis leaned back as he sat on the ground. "Calling yourself an Ultimate even though you're not is kinda ballsy but also conceited," he commented.
The three of them were a bit surprised by Gravis' choice of words, but the phrase was pretty accurate.
"When we managed to understand Punishment Lightning as Kings, we quickly became Emperors," Yersi continued. "When the Earthquake Ultimate saw that he had three new Emperors with a level three Law each, he became troubled."
Gravis frowned. "Why? He just had to ignore you, and you would leave this world sooner or later."
The three of them looked with a bit of confusion at their father.
Yersi sighed. "You've really been away from the world for too long," she commented.
Gravis rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Probably. So, could you explain?"
Yersi nodded. "The issue is food and power," she said. "The world is not the same as it has been in the past. Tempering among land beasts stronger than Lords is nearly nonexistent now due to the constant threat of the sea beasts. This makes it difficult for us land beasts to become more powerful without fighting the sea beasts."
Gravis scratched his cheek. "I still don't get the issue. So what if you have to fight the sea beasts? Sea beasts are also food."
Yersi sighed again. "From an individual standpoint, yes," she said, "but from our region's standpoint, no. You might not know this, but due to the intensity of the war, we are losing more beasts than we gain new ones."
"How come?" Gravis asked with surprise.
"The sea beasts," Cera said from the side. "A couple hundred years ago, their fighting style changed. Back then, they only fought to become more powerful, but suddenly, they changed their approach. Now, they are fighting to eradicate the land beasts."
Gravis scratched his chin. "A couple hundred years ago, huh?" he muttered. "That should have been when Orthar became a level five Emperor."
The three of them were shocked and confused. First of all, who was this Orthar? Second of all, there was a level five Emperor!?
Gravis noticed their expressions. "Oh, Orthar is the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts," he said.
Now, the three of them were even more shocked. "The sea beasts have a level five Emperor!?" Yersi asked with shock.
Gravis nodded. Then, he decided to tell them about his history with Orthar.
They almost couldn't believe that some Low-Rank Spirit Beast that Gravis randomly found in the ocean had become the Supreme Leader of the sea beasts and made them basically the overlords of the world.
"I'm pretty sure that Orthar has no interest in eradicating the land beasts," Gravis said. "He is very logical and only cares about his own power. Eradicating the land beasts brings him no gain. Right now, he is only waiting for me to become powerful enough to ascend so that he can hitch a ride."
Yersi scratched her cheek as she looked at the ground, thinking. "Him becoming a level five Emperor fits the timeframe," she said. "From what I've heard of you, this Orthar probably stopped caring about the land and sea beasts after he became a level five Emperor and stopped doing anything."
Gravis nodded. "Probably."
"This means that someone else must have taken to ruling the sea beasts," Yersi said. "And their goal is different from Orthar's. Now, everything makes much more sense."
"Can we get back to the topic?" Gravis asked. "Why were you losing more beasts than gaining them?"
"Kings," Cera answered evenly. "The Kings started getting involved in the nonessential areas. They know that we have only limited space, which means that our beast production is capped. The sea beasts have the entire ocean outside the continent to recruit new members, but we don't."
"Because of that," Cera continued, "They decided to cut off the tempering for our Lords. Kings started randomly appearing at unimportant areas, killing every Lord they found. This made it very difficult for our Lords to survive, and without a steady stream of new Kings, eventually, we would run out of Kings and Emperors."
By now, Gravis had a pretty good grasp of the situation. "But they still continued attacking," Gravis presumed. "Making it difficult for you to help the Lords to survive. Yet, the Lords still need to become more powerful. This probably means that the Lords are eating each other, right?"
Aris kept himself out of the conversation mostly as he watched the ongoing battle in thought.
Yersi nodded. "That's the only way for us to remain alive as a region. Now, with the background information explained, you can probably find out how the Earthquake Ultimate felt when he saw three new Emperors with level three Laws."
Gravis frowned. "From a beast standpoint, I still can't understand why he would confine you. Yet, from a human standpoint, I can see sense in that," Gravis said.
"Father," Yersi said. "Are there humans that act similarly to us beasts?"
Gravis nodded. "Sure. There are a ton of humans with different personalities. Some of them will- Oooohh!" Gravis suddenly exclaimed as he understood. "Yeah, if there are humans that act like beasts, surely there would be beasts acting like humans. Now, everything makes sense."
As soon as Gravis considered this from a human standpoint, he immediately managed to connect the dots.
"The Earthquake Ultimate saw his position of power in jeopardy," Gravis said. "The fact that he called himself the Earthquake Ultimate already showed how he saw himself. As soon as the regions split apart, he was probably ecstatic since he was now the undisputed leader."
"Additionally, he saw the shrinking number of level four Emperors. There aren't even enough level four Emperors alive to create a single level five Emperor now. This means that if you three were to rapidly ascend the rankings, he would have to end up as food. The lack of food basically forces you three to consume him," Gravis said quickly.
"Yet, killing you would be a huge waste. If the current situation continues, the southern region would sooner or later die out, and he doesn't want his position of power to be threatened. So, logically, he would keep your powers suppressed while using you as labor to weaken the sea beasts as much as possible."
Gravis scratched his chin. "This also explains why you were at the frontlines, Yersi. He probably disallowed you three from tempering yourselves or consuming other Emperors, and he probably forced you to hunt down Kings and Lords without end."
"Additionally, since he had to oversee the southern region, he didn't have any spare time to keep watch over you three, which was why he commissioned the Tornado Emperor to keep watch over you."
Gravis remembered the rapid attack from the Tornado Emperor. "But the Tornado Emperor was a typical beast, and he was probably not happy at all to oversee some, to him, weak level one Emperors. He was probably hoping for the chance that one of you disobeyed any orders so that he could kill you without angering the Earthquake Ultimate. That was why he attacked me so happily and suddenly."
Gravis looked at Aris. "Do you actually know how often it happens that beasts confuse me with you?"
Aris nodded. "A couple hundred years ago, others also constantly confused me with you."
Gravis leaned back. "Man, that must have been annoying and boring," he said, "only being allowed to kill weak Kings and Lords."
Suddenly, the atmosphere shifted.
"Annoying?" Cera said with some rage. "You call that annoying!?" she shouted with more anger.
Gravis was taken aback by this sudden shift. What was up with Cera? Gravis also noticed that Aris gritted his teeth and that Yersi had a bitter smile.
"Our path to power had been cut off!" Cera shouted. "Two of us were not allowed to leave while our sister had to kill unworthy beasts! Killing unworthy and weak beasts disrespects our power and what we have gained in our life!"
Gravis only looked with confusion at his three children. He could very well imagine himself in this situation since he had a lot of experience with Suppression. Yet, he really couldn't see this as more than annoying.
"I mean, I get what you're saying," Gravis said. "That's why I called it annoying. However, I honestly don't get why you three are so worked up over this."
