Gravis and the snake looked at each other. Meanwhile, all the other beasts waited for Gravis to speak up again. They noticed that Gravis was speaking with the snake but didn't know what they were talking about. Orthar also only watched.
Suddenly, Gravis smirked. "You sure are crafty. You nearly got me there," he transmitted.
The snake seemed to frown. "I'm not lying," it said.
"I know, and that's why you're so crafty. You're not lying. You're just not telling me all the relevant information," Gravis said with a smirk.
The snake narrowed its eyes, but it felt nervous inside.
"If I were a ruler over a vast territory, and one beast showed incredible power by killing my underlings, I wouldn't directly kill it," Gravis said. "I would first ask it to join my empire. If it declines, then I would kill it."
Gravis swam closer to the snake. "Doesn't that sound logical and efficient?" he asked.
The snake only narrowed its eyes at him. Yet, it was sure that it would survive. Gravis had already shown that he was interested in its cleverness and ambition. Gravis wanted to use it, which gave the snake worth in Gravis' eyes. Due to that, the snake had taken the risk of trying to manipulate Gravis.
Whoom!
And with that, the snake was unable to move.
"If you want to follow me, I need to trust you," Gravis said as he got closer. "I am already willing to give you the majority of command. I am interested in you because you don't want to remain weak and want to further your power. Only by being this greedy will you put in more effort than anybody else."
"Yet…"
CRRRRR! CRK!
The snake felt unreal pain as it felt something essential in its body getting yanked out. Suddenly, a bloody bone shot out of its mouth.
Seeing its own bone leaving its body, the snake became panicked. Its craftiness left it, and what replaced it were fear and terror.
"If I can't trust you, and you try to scheme against me, you're even more useless than a dumb rock," Gravis said as he looked deeply into the snake's eyes.
The surrounding beasts were shocked as they watched. The snake was also a high-rank Spirit Beast, like them. The fact that this strange beast was able to tear a bone out of the snake without using its body horrified them.
"You can leave, or you can stay," Gravis said as he held the bone. "But if you want to follow me, you're not allowed to scheme against me. If that happens again…"
Whoop! CRRRRRK!
The corpse of the chieftain appeared, and Gravis tore the shell of the meat with his Spirit. Normally, his Spirit wouldn't be powerful enough to do that, but he had already prepared the corpse inside his Spirit Space. After all, there was an incredible amount of lightning inside his Spirit Space. Tearing some meat apart in there wasn't an issue.
"This will be you," Gravis finished his monologue as he took a bite off the exposed meat. "Understood?"
The snake was horrified when it saw how easily Gravis tore the corpse of a Lord apart. This strength was unreal! Wasn't this beast just a mid-rank Spirit Beast?
"I understand," the snake said after some seconds. "And I'm willing to follow you."
Gravis smiled and retrieved his Will-Aura. "Good," he said. "As long as you don't scheme against me, I won't mind. You can even ask my friend over there," Gravis pointed at Orthar, "to teach you some interesting knowledge. He knows a lot."
The snake looked over and noticed the colossal octopus swimming near Gravis. Initially, it had believed that this was just another beast in the Horde. Apparently, it wasn't.
"Okay," the snake said deferentially.
"Good. Do you have a name?" Gravis asked.
"Shira," the snake answered.
Gravis nodded. "By the sound of it, you're female, right?" Gravis asked.
Shira nodded.
"Good. I need to talk to my friend for a bit. After that, we can talk about our land invasion," Gravis said as he swam over to Orthar.
"I presume the snake said some things you didn't like?" Orthar said after seeing what Gravis had done. "What you did, didn't match your personality," he also commented.
"I need her to realize the truth of the world. Power is the most important thing, and if I wanted to kill her, all her craftiness wouldn't save her. If I didn't plan on using her, I wouldn't have done that," Gravis explained.
"Oh?" Orthar said. "You're planning on using her? What's your goal?"
Gravis sighed. "Let me first tell you what we talked about," Gravis said. Then, he quickly told Orthar about his conversation with Shira.
"You're playing a dangerous game, Gravis," Orthar commented. "The wild ambitions and greed of the snake may turn the Horde against you. If you require a Horde but don't want to lead, I can act as the leader."
"I know," Gravis said, "but do you truly want that?"
"No," Orthar answered quickly.
"That's why I didn't ask you," Gravis said. "You have a very similar goal to me. Leading something like a Horde will only keep you behind. Don't forget that we'll establish this organization only to enter the more fertile lands, or seas, if you will. Don't get attached to it."
"Normally, I directly understand your goals, but right now, I'm unsure why you want to establish a Horde," Orthar commented. "By entering the lands as prey, you get tempering and can join a Kingdom or an Empire. Why do you suddenly want to create a Horde?"
"Because I want to be free," Gravis said. "By joining a more powerful organization, I'll need to abide by the rules and need to work. I'm cultivating specifically to not get into such situations."
"Hm, that does make sense," Orthar commented, "but what about the danger of Shira turning the Horde against you? Wouldn't all your work be for nothing then?"
Gravis nodded. "The chances are high, but it doesn't matter. Craftiness can enable you to play the political game to perfection, but as soon as someone breaks the rules, it loses most of its power. In the end, strength is the most important factor."
"For example," Gravis said. "If Shira turns the Horde against me and instigates a revolt, I can just kill her. Then, I can offer the beasts to either leave or stay. Some might leave, but many others will stay. At that time, I'll have a pretty loyal following."
"And if Shira doesn't turn the Horde against me, it would be even better. Remember that she has an incredible greed for power. This will drive her to strengthen the Horde with everything she has. One way or the other, the Horde will become more powerful under her rule. Also, the more she learns from me and you, the better."
Orthar thought about this for a while. "It sounds logical based on the foundation of your argument, but that can change. If Shira manages to become stronger than you with the help of this power, you might very well die."
Gravis laughed. "If someone greedy for material authority grows faster in power than me, then I deserve to die to them," Gravis said. "Their goal isn't pure power, but mine is. If I can't even do that, then what's the point of trying to reach my goal?"
"Also, as soon as I reach the Unity Realm, I'll regain the control over my lightning. On top of that, my body will be more powerful than before. I was already able to beat an Early Rank Unity Beast back then. With my more powerful body, I might even be able to beat beasts in the Mid Rank. I'm sure that I won't grow slower in power than Shira."
"Then I'm fine with Shira following us," Orthar said. "After all, for all the danger she brings with her, she also brings powerful advantages."
"Then it's decided," Gravis said. "We're going to establish a Horde that can enter the more fertile lands. What position do you want in the Horde?"
"I think the position of an oracle fits me," Orthar said. "I like the exchange of knowledge, and I don't mind teaching it. I don't want to be involved in the mundane affairs, though."
Gravis nodded. "No problem. I'll just act as some kind of ancestor or something. Do you remember when I told you about the Darkness Sect and Old Darkness?" Gravis asked, and Orthar confirmed that he remembered. "I'll be acting similarly to him. I'm just going to stay in the background and let Shira run the Horde."
"Good," Orthar said. "Then let's plan the land invasion."
"I think Shira already has a good plan. This is probably not the first time that she was part of something like this. Who knows, maybe she even came voluntarily?" Gravis mused. "We should first consult her. After all, she will be running the Horde in the future."
"Sounds reasonable," Orthar said. "I should also introduce myself. We will be talking a lot in the future. I might not be the biggest fan of her, but I can see her uses."
"Good," Gravis said.
And with that, they turned to the beasts again. The beasts were all waiting obediently behind the snake at the forefront. Apparently, they had realized that Gravis had given Shira a lot of authority. Though, it could also be that Shira just directly told them. After all, not many beasts were as smart as Shira and Orthar.
Then, Gravis and Orthar swam over to Shira.
It was time to plan the invasion.
