It was currently dusk, and the last light of the sun appeared behind the massive throne of the Empress. The seat itself was relatively small, only about two meters wide, but the throne itself stretched over 100 meters into the sky.
On top of this throne sat the Empress. She had a long, snake-like body with ocean-blue scales covering it. Her lower body had no legs, which wasn't surprising for such a snake-like body, but her upper body was completely different from what Gravis had expected.
The Empress had a very human-like upper body, which surprised him. Her upper body had two arms, shoulders, a waist, and a chest. Yet, in comparison to human women, she lacked the additional weight on the chest. That was probably because the additional weight would only serve as a hindrance in a fight.
Her face also looked similar to a human's, but she had no hair. Instead, she had some black spines going along her head, which stretched nearly all the way to her tail.
Gravis was so surprised about her appearance because a human body generally wasn't seen as very effective regarding combat. Yes, she had her two arms that could help her use weapons and tools, but they could be longer for combat efficiency. All in all, Gravis found several things that could be improved.
Yet, exactly that was what surprised him. Someone as powerful as the Empress should be able to see these deficiencies. So, why did she choose this particular body? Gravis saw no advantage in having a human-like upper body if it wasn't paired with the other strengths of a human, like powerful legs for acceleration.
A human-like upper body with a snake-like lower body created several problems in regards to speed and acceleration. Sure, a snake body was flexible, but if one weren't fast enough to make use of this flexibility, it would all be wasted.
'There must be a reason for her to choose this kind of human-like appearance,' Gravis thought. 'This can't be pure coincidence.'
Right now, the Empress had her eyes closed, but not for long. Soon after everyone stopped moving around, the Empress opened her snake-like eyes and looked upon her visitors.
WHOOOOOOM!
Gravis felt an incredible feeling of pride wash over him, and it became incredibly hard for him to remain rational. His feelings told him that she was superior. His feelings told him that nothing could possibly kill such a powerful being.
WHOOOOM!
Gravis activated his Will-Aura but kept it only around his body. Like this, no one else would be able to know what he was doing.
'This was close,' Gravis thought with some nervousness. 'Her pride has nearly infected me. It almost made me believe that I would never be able to reach her level. Luckily, for once, my Will-Aura can fight against this feeling.'
Gravis' eyes narrowed.
'This is different from the inherent superiority of a beast. Her feeling of power and pride has manifested and can manipulate the world around her. This is probably the effect of the Law of Pride that she has comprehended,' Gravis thought.
Suddenly, the Empress smirked. She wasn't looking at anyone in particular, but Gravis felt like she was focusing entirely on him.
Gravis felt his insides shake a little. 'Has she found out that I can resist her? How?' he thought.
Yet, as he looked at his surroundings with his Spirit, he noticed something. Every beast had lowered their head a little and looked with shame onto the ground. Gravis was the only beast that didn't look down at the floor. Not only that, but Gravis' eyes were also narrowed.
Surprisingly, no other beast noticed Gravis' situation. Gravis guessed that they, including the white ape, were all concentrating on the Empress instead of each other.
"Rise," the Empress said with a quiet voice that seemed to stretch over the entire world.
Immediately, all the beasts recovered and raised their heads. The pressure of pride vanished, and everything was back to normal again. It was almost like this moment had never happened. Only the white ape and Gravis remembered the moment while everyone else completely forgot the last couple of seconds.
Gravis watched the other beasts and noticed that they weren't different than before. Based on how they appeared, Gravis was rather sure that this situation had no impact on them. The Empress probably only wanted to play around and test her powers.
"23 level five Lords, 64 level four Lords, and 147 level three Lords," the Empress commented.
These were all the candidates that were present. Gravis had already known the numbers as soon as they had all gathered.
"Which level five Lord can fight a King?" the Empress asked.
Everyone remained silent for a couple of seconds.
The Empress seemed to have expected this. Theoretically, the power difference between a level five Lord and a level one King were two levels. Sadly, that only considered the power of the body. As soon as a beast became a King, they received a gift from the world, which increased their Battle-Strength immensely.
There might be beasts present that could fight two levels above themselves, but none of them dared to say that they could fight a King.
"Is there a level five Lord that can't fight a Half-Step King?" the Empress asked.
A couple of seconds passed in silence.
"I can't," a beast shouted from the back. It was a grey wolf whose whole body shook in rage and fear. It had taken all of his power to say this.
At the front, one of the Kings felt his world crumble. This couldn't be real! This was a nightmare! He knew for a fact that his candidate could win against a Half-Step King! Why was his candidate lying!?
The King turned around and looked at the hateful eyes of his chosen candidate. The King lost his control and shouted. "Why are you lyi-"
SHING! SHING! BANG! BANG!
Two ice spears appeared out of nowhere and penetrated the wolf and the King. Then, their bodies froze, and they exploded into a shower of ice.
"And that's why I wouldn't have taken you if you didn't have confidence in your future," the Red King transmitted over to Gravis. "Because that could have been me."
Even though the Empress was much more powerful than anyone here, her power wasn't strong enough to intercept Voice Transmissions. To do that, one needed to be an Immortal, at least. That's why the Red King wasn't afraid of appearing disrespectful by talking with Gravis.
"I'm guessing that the wolf was forced into this scenario and wanted to take revenge?" Gravis transmitted back.
"Definitely," the Red King transmitted. "Some Kings want to receive the reward for finding a powerful beast and ignore the mindset of their candidate. All these beasts fulfill the Battle-Strength requirement, which was why this other King was so shocked when he heard the wolf's words. The wolf was obviously lying about his Battle-Strength."
No other beast moved while they talked.
"This makes both of them unqualified," Gravis transmitted. "A participant that uses schemes to kill their opponent doesn't value true power while a King that doesn't notice such a flaw dug their own grave. Therefore, the Empress killed both of them, right?"
"Exactly," the Red King answered with a Voice Transmission.
After some more seconds in silence, the Empress continued. "All level five Lords go to the side together with their respective Kings. If there is no outstanding candidate among the other Lords, I will take you into consideration."
The level five Lords, as well as their respective Kings, flew over to the side of the mountain, away from everyone else. While all this was going on, Gravis had another question.
"What's a Half-Step King?" Gravis asked the Red King with another Voice Transmission.
"In terms of Realm, Half-Step Kings don't exist," the Red King answered. "As you know, a level one King can be considered as two levels stronger than a level five Lord. This leaves a full level unaccounted for. We refer to beasts that can fight on this level as Half-Step Kings. You are one of them."
Gravis took that in and realized that it made sense. He also realized that he should be able to fight someone on that level. After all, he was a level three Lord now.
After some seconds, all the level five Lords had flown to the side and were waiting for the Empress to call them.
Then, the Empress looked back at the gathered participants in the middle.
"Every beast with the power of a Half-Step King will go to the other side, together with their Kings," the Empress said.
One had to pay attention to a specific fact right here. A level four Lord who was able to beat level five Lords easily didn't necessarily have a Half-Step King's power. It just meant that they were very powerful compared to level five Lords. A Half-Step King was an entire level higher.
All level three Lords stayed, while seven of the level four Lords walked to the side.
Yet, no one paid attention to these Lords because they were all focused on Gravis since he was also walking to the side.
The beasts weren't able to believe what they saw right now. Did this level three Lord really claim that he had the power of a Half-Step King? On top of that, this beast was the only participant that wasn't a Divine Beast!
A level three Lord Divine Beast that had the power of a Half-Step King was unheard of, but a normal beast claimed to be that powerful? What was happening!?
The whole mountain remained silent as Gravis walked over. No beast dared to say anything while in the presence of the Empress. After a while, Gravis stood together with the other level four Lords, who sent disdainful gazes towards Gravis. In their minds, Gravis was only another beast that tried to get its King killed.
Pack!
Yet, the sound of two feet hitting the stone surprised everyone.
That was because the Red King had taken his position in front of Gravis, which showed that he agreed with Gravis' claim that he was a Half-Step King.
On top of that, the Red King smirked victoriously, something no other beast dared to do right now.
