Lightning Is the Only Way

It was currently dusk, and the last light of the sun appeared behind the massive throne of the Empress. The seat itself was relatively small, only about two meters wide, but the throne itself stretched over 100 meters into the sky.

On top of this throne sat the Empress. She had a long, snake-like body with ocean-blue scales covering it. Her lower body had no legs, which wasn't surprising for such a snake-like body, but her upper body was completely different from what Gravis had expected.

The Empress had a very human-like upper body, which surprised him. Her upper body had two arms, shoulders, a waist, and a chest. Yet, in comparison to human women, she lacked the additional weight on the chest. That was probably because the additional weight would only serve as a hindrance in a fight.

Her face also looked similar to a human's, but she had no hair. Instead, she had some black spines going along her head, which stretched nearly all the way to her tail.

Gravis was so surprised about her appearance because a human body generally wasn't seen as very effective regarding combat. Yes, she had her two arms that could help her use weapons and tools, but they could be longer for combat efficiency. All in all, Gravis found several things that could be improved.

Yet, exactly that was what surprised him. Someone as powerful as the Empress should be able to see these deficiencies. So, why did she choose this particular body? Gravis saw no advantage in having a human-like upper body if it wasn't paired with the other strengths of a human, like powerful legs for acceleration.

A human-like upper body with a snake-like lower body created several problems in regards to speed and acceleration. Sure, a snake body was flexible, but if one weren't fast enough to make use of this flexibility, it would all be wasted.

'There must be a reason for her to choose this kind of human-like appearance,' Gravis thought. 'This can't be pure coincidence.'

Right now, the Empress had her eyes closed, but not for long. Soon after everyone stopped moving around, the Empress opened her snake-like eyes and looked upon her visitors.

WHOOOOOOM!

Gravis felt an incredible feeling of pride wash over him, and it became incredibly hard for him to remain rational. His feelings told him that she was superior. His feelings told him that nothing could possibly kill such a powerful being.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis activated his Will-Aura but kept it only around his body. Like this, no one else would be able to know what he was doing.

'This was close,' Gravis thought with some nervousness. 'Her pride has nearly infected me. It almost made me believe that I would never be able to reach her level. Luckily, for once, my Will-Aura can fight against this feeling.'

Gravis' eyes narrowed.

'This is different from the inherent superiority of a beast. Her feeling of power and pride has manifested and can manipulate the world around her. This is probably the effect of the Law of Pride that she has comprehended,' Gravis thought.

the Empress smirked. She wasn't looking at anyone in particular,

little. 'Has she found out that I can resist her? How?' he

Spirit, he noticed something. Every beast had lowered their head a little and looked with shame onto the ground. Gravis was the only beast that didn't look down at the

including the white ape, were all

with a quiet voice that

all the beasts recovered and raised their heads. The pressure of pride vanished, and everything was back to normal again. It was almost like this

different than before. Based on how they appeared, Gravis was rather sure that this situation had no impact on them. The Empress probably only wanted to play around and

level five Lords, 64 level four Lords, and 147 level three Lords," the Empress

present. Gravis had already known the numbers

can fight a King?" the Empress

for a couple of

level five Lord and a level one King were two levels. Sadly, that only considered the power of the body. As soon as a beast became a King, they received a gift from

levels above themselves, but none of them

level five Lord that can't fight a Half-Step King?"

of seconds

a grey wolf whose whole body shook in rage and fear. It had taken all

world crumble. This couldn't be real! This was a nightmare! He

King turned around and looked at the hateful eyes of his chosen candidate. The

SHING! SHING! BANG! BANG!

and the King. Then, their bodies froze, and they exploded into a

your future,"

here, her power wasn't strong enough to intercept Voice Transmissions. To do that, one needed to be an Immortal, at least. That's

guessing that the wolf was forced into this

the Red King transmitted. "Some Kings want to receive the reward for finding a powerful beast and ignore the mindset of their candidate. All these beasts fulfill the Battle-Strength

moved while

Gravis transmitted. "A participant that uses schemes to kill their opponent doesn't value true power while a King that doesn't notice such a

answered with a Voice

the side together with their respective Kings. If there