Lightning Is the Only Way

The Grand Elder was a bit taken aback for some time while his face went through a lot of different emotions. It went from shock to disbelief, to deep thinking, and then to uncertainty.

"How sure are you about this?" the Grand Elder asked.

"The whole point of my demonstration was to show you how sure I was and that I have no reason to target any Emperor from our Empire," Gravis said evenly.

The Grand Elder looked at the Law Comprehension Area in deep thought. "I have known him for a long time," the Grand Elder transmitted to Gravis while looking into the distance. "I have seen him use lightning and the Laws associated with it also a couple of times."

"And that makes it impossible that he managed to fool all of you?" Gravis asked back.

The Grand Elder sighed. "No, there are ways to fake an element. If someone understands a Law related to imitation, they can fake something like that. To everyone present, it would look like he had a different affinity. Of course, the attacks wouldn't have the imitated powers. They simply look very convincing."

"It doesn't matter that you have seen it. You're only considering the fact that you've known each other for a long time. To me, this sounds more like an emotional reason than a logical one," Gravis answered.

The Grand Elder remained silent for a couple more seconds. "Are emotional reasons so bad?" he asked. "He has risked his life many times for the Empire. If I would doubt him just like that, all his loyalty and hard work will be ignored."

"So, you're saying that if he is a traitor, he has earned his place as a traitor or spy by working so hard," Gravis said back.

When the Grand Elder heard that, he sighed again. "Of course not," he commented, "but I feel like I would be violating my trust in him and devaluing what he has done for us by even considering that."

Gravis shook his head slightly. Beasts were really different from humans. If a human heard that a long-standing member of their group had been working for the enemy the entire time, they would be even angrier than if it were someone new. The reason for such a reaction was that the long-standing member had much more time and opportunities to endanger their goals.

Gravis still believed that most beasts could be called naïve. They were simply too honest, too straightforward, too direct, too forthcoming, and too trusting. They would kill their enemies without hesitation, but if someone managed to become their companion, they would trust them with all their heart.

The reason for that was the relatively small number of traitors in the beast ranks. Yes, Gravis had met some of them before, but those had only been some single individuals among thousands.

Ironically enough, the fewer traitors there were among a group of trusting individuals, the worse it was for the collective whole. This might sound contradictory, but it made sense if one went through some examples.

If there were a group of 100 naïve individuals with one psychopath among the group, the psychopath would quickly be able to become the most powerful individual of the group by manipulating everyone.

can spot each other very well. So, in

group might be able to notice the actual situation. They

to this reason, traitors among beasts proved to be more devastating than traitors among humans. Humans were used to traitors, and it was not a unique occurrence to find one. Additionally, humans often had so much experience with these people that they might even use the traitor to achieve their own goals. Feeding false information

Grand Elder was much older than Gravis and had much more experience. His power and knowledge about Laws had

of Laws, power, wisdom, and many other things, the Grand Elder was superior to Gravis, but in terms of knowledge

Gravis' head in about a second. "By not acting upon this information because of

young and foolish beast that hasn't seen the world. Of course I will act

"Then, that's

need to see it for myself," the Grand Elder

an eyebrow.

turned to Gravis again. "Are there any other

of mole that stays at the foot of one of the

nodded. "That's fine. She's a special case since she has the earth element and quite some lightning resistance.

"No," Gravis answered curtly.

deal with that snake for now," the Grand Elder said. "Try to remain at a distance for

is under my control, and if I

he could gather 20 of these lightning bolts without showing any exertion, he could surely gather more. With that number of lightning bolts, no level two Emperor

be back soon," the

Gravis nodded.

flew further into the mountain range. After some seconds, he arrived in

need something?" he asked with surprise. Obviously, he hadn't heard anything of what Gravis and the Grand Elder had talked

narrowed eyes at the snake, who

with your lightning," the Grand

snake was taken aback. "Excuse me, what? You want me to attack you

suspicion of being a traitor that knows a Law related to imitation. Prove that you're not a traitor by attacking me with your lightning. If you can't, I

the Grand Elder didn't transmit his thoughts but publicly spoke them. All the elders naturally had their

offended expression. "What

to light that you do not have a lightning affinity. If you had told us that earlier, there wouldn't be an issue right now. Yet, you have kept it secret and lied to

snake asked with a