Gravis thought about this whole thing for a couple more seconds but couldn't find a long-term solution. Yet, he found a short-term solution.
"Sorry for disturbing you," Gravis transmitted to the white ape. "Forget what I said. I found a different solution. Thanks, anyway."
The white ape became more confused when he heard Gravis' answer. On top of that, it also felt a little weird to have a Lord speak to him this casually. Every Lord and King always talked to him in a very subservient manner. The white ape didn't know if he preferred this method of talking or the other.
"Okay," the white ape answered. "We can talk more later," he said.
"Sure," Gravis answered.
Then, Gravis simply flew back to the arena without talking to anyone else. His short-term solution was to ask the referrer of his future opponent to keep watch over the ore. They would surely accept when Gravis gave them the possibility to kill him and protect their candidate if he came close to the ore. After all, it was in their interest.
"I'm ready," Gravis shouted.
Most beasts still looked at the mountain of ore in surprise and shock. They had just never seen anything even remotely like this.
The Empress nodded and turned to the level five Lords. "Anyone willing to fight him, step forward," she said.
Silence.
No level five Lord was willing to take a step forward. Gravis' first display had already somewhat intimidated them, and the second one was obviously even worse. Right now, none of the candidates were ready to fight Gravis. There were simply just too many variables.
The Empress was quite happy when she saw that. She wanted this whole thing to be over as quickly as possible. There was no longer any reason to test Gravis, and if there were an even more outstanding beast, they would have already stepped forward and proven themselves.
Step!
One beast stepped forward, irritating the Empress. She had just thought that this whole thing was finally over, but a beast decided to show its guts now. Obviously, she was annoyed, but that didn't mean that she would suppress this whole event. It was just a bit more time that needed to be wasted.
A silver wolf stepped forward. He was "only" 500-meters-long, but his fur stood up like it had been electrified. Judging by his color, he was a beast with a lightning affinity.
The Empress released a hidden sigh. Hopefully, this time, nothing went wrong. She didn't know if she could allow Gravis to ask for a fourth opponent. At some point, this whole thing would just become ridiculous.
"I can't fight that one," Gravis suddenly shouted from the arena.
Now, the annoyance of the Empress reached new heights. Why could nothing go smoothly on this day!? As soon as Gravis got involved, this whole thing devolved into some weird one-beast-show starring Gravis. Could this still be considered a contest?
"What?" the Empress asked with obvious annoyance in her voice. She even sounded a bit threatening.
Gravis scratched his metallic cheek in embarrassment. "Well, how do I put this?" Gravis said with embarrassment. "Beasts with a lightning affinity aren't my opponents," he said.
The beasts were surprised again when they heard that. How could Gravis know that this beast wasn't even his opponent if he hadn't even seen anything of the beast's power?
"How can you know that?" the Empress asked with more annoyance. Watching Gravis enrage others was fun, but it stopped being fun as soon as it involved her.
Gravis still had an embarrassed smile on his face. "I kind of… don't want to explain why," Gravis said, surprising the beasts even more. Being casual was one thing, but refusing to answer the Empress' question was a whole different level.
The Empress was a little taken aback when she heard that.
"How about I show you?" Gravis said suddenly before the Empress could react. Then, he pointed at the wolf while still staying in the arena.
The beasts had no idea what Gravis was doing. Why was he pointing at his opponent from that far away?
"Stop! Stop! I won't fight you anymore!" the wolf suddenly shouted in genuine panic and terror. Then, he quickly stepped back and even buried himself in the sea of other level five Lords behind him. It was like he was trying to get as far away from Gravis as possible.
That the beasts were shocked didn't need to be described or explained. It happened so often on this day that it already became boring.
The white ape and the Empress were also surprised. They had seen the genuine battle-intent inside the wolf's eyes. He, obviously, had been ready to put his life on the line. Yet, as soon as Gravis pointed at him, his battle-intent immediately transformed into genuine terror.
A level five Lord was too weak to fake something like this in front of two Emperors. Emperors had far superior senses and could see the tells and symptoms of a lie easily. One first needed to become as powerful as them to lie to them successfully.
Because of that, they realized that the wolf felt genuine terror as soon as Gravis pointed at him. What could have made him so afraid so suddenly?
Of course, Gravis simply made the lightning inside the wolf go berserk. He moved it around a bit inside his body and burned some unimportant things, which could be easily regenerated. The feeling of losing control of one's power was terrifying to everyone. Such a feeling was something that only appeared in nightmares.
After some seconds, the Empress turned to Gravis again. "What did you do?" she asked. Her annoyance had disappeared and was replaced with curiosity.
Gravis scratched his cheek again. "I made his lightning go out of control," he said. Gravis had to tell them something. After all, they could just force the wolf to answer, who obviously knew what had happened. As long as Gravis didn't tell them that it also worked on Emperors, everything should be fine.
The Empress and the white ape were surprised when they heard that. Was something like that even possible? How would that even work? The lightning didn't even leave the wolf's body! One had to realize that not even the white ape was able to feel the lightning inside the wolf's body. It was completely hidden inside of him.
So, how was it possible that Gravis felt the lightning? Even more, how was it possible to control it like that!?
The Empress looked at the wolf, who froze immediately as he saw the Empress looking at him. "Is that true?" she asked.
The wolf quickly nodded his head. "Yes," he whimpered. He had seen how the Empress killed even Kings, and he knew that if he did anything wrong, she would also kill him.
The Empress was a bit taken aback when the wolf confirmed it. Something like this just didn't seem possible. Why were all of Gravis' powers so weird!?
"It's the truth," the Red King suddenly said. "Gravis can control the lightning of every beast and make it explode. As long as a beast has the lightning affinity, he can kill them with only a thought."
Then, the Red King looked at the white ape.
'No, he wouldn't!' Gravis thought in terror.
"No matter how powerful the beast is," the Red King finished.
The white ape's eyes widened in realization.
