Gravis was a bit surprised by the Red King's words, and he also realized why he hadn't fully believed that the water buffalo was a false snake. Apparently, the water buffalo had been sincere in his words and had actually meant what he said.
Usually, Gravis would talk to the Red King more about his dislike for the buffalo since he was pretty sure of the reason why the Red King disliked the water buffalo, even though the water buffalo was kind in nature. Gravis was also sure that the Red King didn't even know the reason himself. Yet, since Gravis viewed the Red King as his enemy, he saw no sense in trying to convince him.
How did Gravis know the reason for the Red King's dislike even though the Red King didn't know it himself?
The reason for that was that Gravis had been in a similar situation in his past. Back in the Core-Continent, Gravis had thought kindness to be a weakness. He had looked down upon the Freya Clan due to their kind nature and thought it to be a defeatist attitude.
Yet, Joyce had shown him that he had been wrong. Gravis had thought of them as weak because he hadn't been willing to confront the emotional pain that kindness brought with it. After all, if Gravis helped others and something happened to them, Gravis would feel pain.
The Red King had a similar attitude towards the water buffalo for the same reason. The Red King tried to justify his cruelness and willingness to sacrifice everything for power by believing kind beasts to be weak. After all, if kind beasts were able to reach the top, then why had he sacrificed so much? Admitting that kindness could also result in power would force him to acknowledge that there was a better path to power.
Of course, Gravis didn't believe himself to be a kind person. He knew that he had killed a lot of innocents due to his feud with the lower Heaven. Such a person couldn't be considered kind. Yet, Gravis acknowledged that there were many paths to power, some of which didn't require one to sacrifice all feelings of empathy.
This was the difference between the Red King and him. The Red King believed that his path was the only one to power, while Gravis knew that his path was only one of many. Of course, the word "power" in "path to power" refers to different levels of strength depending on who said it.
It was very possible that only one path led to the absolute top, which was the Opposer's level, but for the current horizons of this world, one could say that many paths lead to power.
Usually, Gravis would have told the Red King all these things, but he didn't bother since he viewed him as an enemy. Instead, as soon as he heard that the water buffalo genuinely meant everything he said, Gravis simply stopped caring. It wasn't important what the Red King thought of the water buffalo. It was only important what Gravis thought of him.
Another day passed in which a lot of new beasts arrived. Some of them greeted the Red King, while others simply ignored him. The Red King didn't care about any of them, judging by his conduct towards them.
The next day, no new beasts arrived. Gravis guessed that they were probably very close to the time of the meeting. No beast would want to come late to a meeting with the Empress since that would be a sign of disrespect.
Sure enough, in the evening of the next day, the Red King suddenly looked at the mountain. "It's time," he said. "Follow behind me."
The Red King, as well as all the other gathered beasts, flew towards the mountain. They didn't dare to fly very fast, but they still reached it in a matter of seconds.
"Your candidate is not a Divine Beast," a voice suddenly said from Gravis' front. Without him noticing, a white, silverish ape with a long beard had appeared in front of them. He was only around two-meters-tall, but Gravis had already learned that size meant nothing to Kings and Emperors.
Gravis also noticed that, for the first time, the Red King suppressed his own pride and lowered his head. Due to the Red King's conduct, Gravis was pretty sure of the white ape's power.
The Red King had ignored the Emperors that they had passed, but he had completely suppressed his pride in front of this beast. The Empress probably wouldn't have another level three Emperor among her following, which meant that this white ape was probably a level two Emperor.
"Greetings, Grand Elder," the Red King said politely. "Yes, my candidate is not a Divine Beast."
The white ape looked at Gravis, but no feeling of superiority washed over Gravis' body. The white ape held his superiority back probably because he feared that he would influence the competition of the candidates.
"You know the rules," the white ape said after turning back to the Red King.
"I do," the Red King said politely.
"You're willing to bet your life?" the white ape asked.
"I am," the Red King answered immediately.
The white ape looked at Gravis again, turned back to the Red King, and nodded. "Alright," he said. Then, he seemingly vanished before Gravis' eyes.
Gravis was sure that beasts inside the Law Comprehension Realm weren't able to teleport. This meant that the white ape's speed was just too fast for him to comprehend.
Yet, Gravis had felt something interesting while the white ape had been there. Gravis had felt the powerful lightning inside the white ape's body. If he so wanted, Gravis could have killed the white ape then and there.
Gravis smirked slightly.
"Don't do anything stupid," the Red King transmitted to Gravis. "Just for your info, the Empress has a water affinity."
The Red King said this to dissuade Gravis from killing the white ape. If Gravis believed that the Empress also had a lightning affinity, he might do something unexpected.
"I'm not some brainless brute," Gravis answered evenly. "Just because you can kill someone doesn't mean that you should do it. A good example would be our relationship right now."
The Red King wanted to groan, but he stopped himself. He didn't want to appear disrespectful while being on the Mountain of Pride.
"Also, what was that about betting your life?" Gravis asked.
The Red King wanted to huff but stopped himself for the same reason. "We are only allowed to bring beasts that can confidently win against beasts one level higher than them. Just being able to fight such a beast wouldn't be enough," the Red King explained.
"If I were to bring a beast that can barely win against another beast one level higher than them, I would have disrespected the Empress' orders. Thus, I would pay with my life."
Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "And you have no problem with putting your life in my hands?" Gravis asked.
The Red King transmitted a short chuckle but remained expressionless on the outside. "Our lives are intertwined right now. If I die, you die as well."
"What if I wanted to take my revenge due to your suppression?" Gravis asked.
"Who's the one pointlessly flaunting his power now?" the Red King transmitted with a sarcastic tone. "If you were such a beast, I wouldn't have taken you with me."
"What makes you so sure?" Gravis asked.
"Because of your confidence in your power," the Red King answered. "If you had no confidence in reaching my level, you would believe that you would never be able to realize your revenge. In that case, you might just sacrifice your life to take me down with you."
"Yet, you're sure that you will kill me in the future," the Red King transmitted. "In your mind, sacrificing your life to take out mine would be stupid. After all, you believe that you will become more powerful than me."
Gravis remained silent for some seconds.
"Pretty accurate," Gravis said after that.
After that, all conversation stopped between them since they had nothing to talk about anymore.
In a couple of seconds, all the beasts reached the top of the mountain, which, surprisingly, was flat. There was no peak or anything, and it almost looked like someone had cut off the upper third of the mountain.
The beasts landed at the edge of the plateau and split apart. The Kings flew to the front while the candidates remained behind them. The Red King had also told Gravis to just stay in the back.
Yet, Gravis paid more attention to something else.
Right now, Gravis' full attention was on the Empress, sitting on the other side of the mountain top.
