Cynthia couldn't believe what she had just seen. She had been incredibly sure that she had the ability to stop any of the two beasts from dying. After all, she was many levels higher than both of them. Cynthia had also looked at the attack and saw the same thing as the bear. It just looked like a weak and unassuming punch.
In actuality, she was even ready to intervene on behalf of Gravis as soon as the bear attacked him. She knew that he probably had some incredible Battle-Strength, which was also the reason why he was the Empress' present. So, the fight should have been either even or slightly in favor of Gravis.
But she hadn't expected such a one-sided slaughter. This hadn't even been a fight. It was basically just a weak slap, and the bear exploded. This whole fight had caught her completely off-guard.
Yet, her reasoning quickly returned, and she felt incredibly nervous and fearful. Her King had said that Gravis wasn't allowed to kill any beast. This meant that she had failed in her duty!
Gravis saw her mood go from surprised to fearful and laughed a bit. "Calm down, Cynthia," Gravis said. "The Red King has said that you should TRY to keep me from killing beasts. He has dealt with me for a while, and he knows that you can't do much."
Cynthia was still nervous, and her nervousness transformed into anger. "Shut up!" she snapped. "You were not supposed to kill anyone!"
Gravis furrowed his brows. "Oh? I'm not supposed to do something?" he asked with a cold voice. "You're nice, but don't forget our relationship. You're a temporary guard, and I'm just some commodity to you."
Cynthia was still overwhelmed with anger and nervousness. She hadn't failed a task yet, and she feared that this could have dire consequences. "Shut up! We will return to the Red King right now!" she ordered.
Gravis huffed. "So, that's your true face, huh? The whole being nice thing was only an act to siphon information from me."
Cynthia felt slightly hurt when she heard that, but her anger overwhelmed this slight bit of guilt. "It doesn't matter. We return right now!" she ordered.
Gravis snickered a bit. He had already gathered the ore beneath the ground and was fine with returning. Now, only forging it into equipment was left. He could do that wherever he wanted. So, returning to the Red King literally made no difference to him.
"Sure, but you'll have to drag me," Gravis said evenly.
Cynthia grew angrier when she heard that. "Don't act like a child!" she said.
Gravis huffed again. "You blind yourself with being nice and try to look at me like we're friends or equals, but you're only ignoring the reality. I'm your commodity, your slave, your toy, your present. So, go force me to do something against my will," Gravis said evenly.
Cynthia grew more frustrated as she heard that. She could be considered as a friendly beast, and she wasn't a fan of this whole thing. If it were up to her, she wouldn't want to force any beast into doing anything. She quite liked her freedom.
Because of that, she had completely ignored Gravis' and her status. In order to deal with the situation, she just looked at him like he was her client, and she was some bodyguard. It could also be likened to being a babysitter.
So, when Gravis confronted her with reality, she felt like he was attacking and insulting her. She wanted to keep this illusion up, so she didn't have to think about forcing someone to do something. Yet, Gravis had torn that illusion down.
"Stop being stubborn! This won't help you in any way! If you continue being this stubborn, I am just forced to drag you there. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," Cynthia commanded.
"The hard way, please," Gravis commented evenly.
Cynthia gritted her teeth. "You will need to go to the Red King either way, so why are you making this so difficult!?" she shouted.
Gravis snickered a bit. "So that you're forced to recognize reality. You try to be nice, but that doesn't change my current circumstance. You, giving me some emotional solace, might be appreciated by some slaves, but that only means that those slaves have already accepted their position."
Gravis laughed a bit again. "You are complicit and supportive in suppressing me and forcing me to do things against my will. Giving me some respect only grants you some sort of moral justification to keep doing it. After all, you're better than everyone else, right? After all, you, at least, treat me with respect, right?" Gravis sarcastically asked with a sneer.
Cynthia's body shook. It wasn't in shock or realization but anger. To her, it felt like Gravis was attacking and insulting her while she had been nothing but pleasant to him. She had talked to him with respect, even though he was over a whole Realm lower than her. She had followed him and allowed him to go through the Red Kingdom unhindered.
So, how dare he insult her like this!? After all she had done for him, he dared to insult her!? Cynthia's eyes became colder as all respect for Gravis left her. This was an ungrateful and stupid beast that didn't know its place. She tried to be nice, but he wasn't able to appreciate what had been given to him.
WHOOOM!
Cynthia suddenly became bigger and transformed into a powerful and shining panther. Her ethereal shine gave her some angelic qualities that would elicit worship from weaker beasts. She also emitted a holy and benevolent aura. Yet, her eyes currently were only cold as they looked down upon Gravis.
When Gravis saw that, he snickered a bit. 'Huh, it's really true,' Gravis thought. 'In the lower world, I never had the luck to come into contact with the Light Sect. Everyone always called them hypocrites that act all benevolent but are greedy and selfish deep down. Guess they were right.'
The current scene right now perfectly depicted the duality of light. When everything went their way, their holy light healed and helped everyone. Yet, if something didn't go their way, they would suppress it with force.
The holy, benevolent, and angelic cat looked with righteous indignation and disdain at the slave that dared to defy its orders. Why was the benevolent cat so angry? The cat was angry because the slave didn't accept the cat's benevolence. This could only mean that the slave was a depraved and evil being that couldn't comprehend her benevolence and empathy.
PACK!
Her right arm extended, and her claws took ahold of Gravis, injuring him in the process. Then, she flew up and shot back to the core of the Red Kingdom. While doing this, she didn't feel bad at all. After all, Gravis was a lost cause and a depraved beast. He was unworthy of her feeling any kind of emotion but disdain towards him.
After a couple of minutes, Cynthia had dragged Gravis back to the Red King. She landed on top of the Red King's mountain and threw Gravis forward. Then, she contacted the Red King and informed him about what had transpired.
In a couple of seconds, the Red King flew out of his mountain and landed before Gravis.
