BANG!
The arrow hit Arthur's chest and exploded. A fountain of blood and organ pieces exploded into the surroundings, and it was hard to tell if he was still alive or not.
SHING!
Liran charged out of the storm of destruction of their previous attacks as he pulled out a new arrow. In an instant, Liran pointed his bow at Arthur's remains again.
Everything below Arthur's chest was destroyed, but his upper chest, arms, and head were still in one piece.
Arthur was still alive, and Liran wanted to end it.
CRACK! BANG!
Arthur immediately summoned an emblem and broke it into pieces. As soon as he did that, a translucent barrier appeared around him, which blocked the new arrow from Liran.
Liran grimaced as Arthur summoned another emblem and broke it.
SHING!
A seemingly translucent sword cut through the frozen space around Arthur and left behind a deep cut.
"Tch," Liran spat, knowing that he wouldn't be able to kill Arthur today. This madman just spent more money than he was worth. Where did he even get all this money from to buy these two emblems?
Arthur threw one last, cold glance at Liran before he flew into the space cut. In an instant, the cut closed, and Arthur was gone.
"Great," Liran spat. "This will get ugly now."
Liran scanned the surroundings one last time to see if anyone was looking.
SHING!
And then, he vanished.
Ten teleportations later, Liran stopped moving. He looked around again to see if anyone was watching before taking a ring off his finger. If Arthur had paid close attention, he would have known that Liran hadn't always worn this ring. This was something that appeared a bit after Arthur had arrived.
Clink!
Liran flicked the ring away.
PACK!
A hand appeared that caught the ring in midair.
This was Gravis' hand and just beside him stood Liran's son.
What had happened?
When Arthur had appeared, Gravis knew that he could help Liran win the fight if Liran played it right. As long as Liran managed to provoke a clash of powerful attacks, Gravis could consume the lightning from Arthur's attack, weakening it tremendously. At that point, it would be one level four Law against another one.
Of course, that wouldn't be the only thing that would change. Another thing was that taking away the element from an attack would severely weaken it. Like this, Liran's attack would be more powerful than Arthur's. Due to the clash of the attacks, Liran's attack wouldn't be powerful enough to kill Arthur immediately, but it would injure him heavily. With another attack, Arthur would be dead.
Sadly, Arthur managed to flee by spending a ridiculous sum of money.
How did Gravis manage to stay hidden in front of Arthur?
Simple, he put himself and Liran's son into the Life Ring and gave it to Liran. This had two advantages. First, Gravis would be directly in the middle of the fight and could intervene at the perfect time. Second, Gravis would be hidden inside the Life Ring. Immortal Kings could see Gravis' real body, and Gravis already had a suspicion that humans and beasts were not the best of friends here, based on context clues.
As long as Arthur didn't closely inspect Gravis, he wouldn't notice that Gravis had a beast body. Arthur obviously hadn't done this since he had ignored everyone but Liran. Liran was the one that had killed his son, and the surrounding Immortals might as well not exist.
"I am unsure if I stand in your debt or not, young friend," Liran said with a smile. "On the one hand, you are the reason why all of this happened in the first place, but on the other hand, you saved my life."
Liran suddenly laughed loudly. "You know what? Screw all this complicated nonsense of debt and gratitude. Let's just say that we are friends from now on. Does that sound good?" he asked with a smirk.
Gravis also chuckled slightly. "I don't think so," Gravis said with a smile.
Liran's eyebrows furrowed.
Then, Gravis bowed slightly in respect. "You're my Sect Master, not my friend," Gravis said with a smirk.
PENG!
Gravis felt the flick of Liran's finger on his forehead, but it didn't hurt. "You just arrived and are already teasing your Sect Master," Liran said with a smirk, "but that's exactly how a disciple of the Unrestrained Sect has to act."
"Do what you want! Feel what you want! Say what you want!" Liran shouted. "This is our philosophy for the Unrestrained Ones."
Liran didn't ask how Gravis had been able to influence Arthur's attacks. If Gravis wanted to tell him, he would be happy to listen, but it was Gravis' decision.
"Sounds great," Gravis said with a smirk.
Liran's son came closer to Gravis. "I also want to welcome you to our Sect, senior brother," he said. "I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Surem, and I'm responsible for getting new recruits," Surem said. "At least, for now. Dad told me I should get out more and talk with others, which is why I'm currently on cultivation break."
Gravis nodded. "Hello, Surem. I'm Gravis, the new Ascender. I'm not used to being inside Sects, so don't mind it when I don't call anyone senior or junior brother. It feels weird to me," Gravis said.
Liran and Surem were a bit confused. "You are not used to being inside a Sect?" Surem asked. "Does that mean that you cultivated alone all your life?"
Gravis scratched his chin. "Not entirely," he said. "I was in a Sect when I was a Spirit Forming Cultivator, but after that, I exclusively lived among beasts for some thousand years or so."
"Is it because of your body?" Liran asked. "Of course, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Gravis shook his head. "Kind of, but not in the way you think. If I didn't live among beasts for so long, I wouldn't have this body, but it was also my decision. I'm sorry, but I really don't want to tell you too much about my background since we have just met. This is a world of humans, and far too many humans are fickle beings that lie and change their loyalties."
"Dad isn't like that," Surem said with a frown.
"Surem, enough," Liran said. "He's right to doubt me. He doesn't know me, and I don't know him. Immediately trusting someone you have just met is naïve. Give it some time."
Surem sighed. He knew his father, and he knew that his father was awesome! It hurt him that Gravis doubted his father, but Surem also knew that it was only normal for Gravis to act like this.
"What about Arthur?" Gravis asked as he looked at Liran.
"That's for me to worry about," Liran said with a smile. "You're obviously incredibly powerful, but you can't fight someone like Arthur yet. However, if you agree to be on call if Arthur appears again, I would thank you very much. You don't have to, of course."
Gravis nodded. "No problem. I don't want my Sect to be destroyed."
Liran smiled and nodded too. "Great!" he said. "Well then, I have to talk with the elders about this situation. Surem, would you please show Gravis his new home?"
Surem nodded. "Yes!" he shouted.
Liran nodded. "See you later, you two," he said.
SHING!
Then, he was gone.
