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.

there were ten psychopaths among the group, not everyone would be swayed to one side. Naïve individuals might not spot the psychopath, but psychopaths can spot each other very well. So, in order to reach their goals, they needed to

present, the naïve portion of the group might be able to notice the actual situation. They would have more dealings with these individuals

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.

much more experience. His power and knowledge about Laws had helped Gravis immensely. Yet, not everyone lived the same

wisdom, and many other things, the Grand Elder was

"By not acting upon this information because of such an emotional reason, you're endangering

know that," he said back. "I'm not some young and foolish beast that hasn't seen the world. Of course I will act upon this information appropriately. It just hurts me to see

"Then,

you to 99%, but I still need

an eyebrow.

Elder answered as his eyes narrowed. Yet, he turned to Gravis again. "Are

kind of mole that stays at the foot

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

"No," Gravis answered curtly.

said. "Try to remain at a distance for the eventuality that he wants to attack you for some

in no danger. This entire area is under my control, and if I will it so, the

had summoned. If he could gather 20 of these lightning bolts without showing any exertion, he could surely gather more. With that number of lightning bolts, no

will be back soon," the Grand

Gravis nodded.

Elder flew further into the mountain range.

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

looked with narrowed eyes at the snake, who quickly felt like something terrible

me with your lightning,"

me, what? You want me to attack you

traitor that knows a Law related to imitation. Prove that you're not a traitor by attacking me with

the core. This time, the Grand Elder didn't transmit his thoughts but publicly spoke them. All the

this a joke, Grand Elder?" the snake asked with an offended expression. "What have I done to warrant

that earlier, there wouldn't be

snake asked with a sneer. "What evidence?" he