Lightning Is The Only Way

"Why do you look so troubled, Cynthia?" Gravis asked with a voice transmission so that the bear didn't hear their conversation.

"You should search somewhere else for your ore, Gravis," Cynthia answered.

When Gravis heard that, he furrowed his brows. "But you said we are already reaching the borders. I might not find the ore I require somewhere else."

"I understand that, but this beast is troublesome," she answered.

"How is he troublesome? He's only a level three Lord," Gravis answered.

Cynthia sighed. "It's not about his power, but about his background. He is a follower of one of my King's most outstanding disciples. You can still find some ore somewhere else, but if you force this bear to comply with you, the disciple of my King will go after you. You have no chance against that disciple."

Gravis scratched his chin with his right claw. "I mean, I don't like to rely on others, but the Red King said that he doesn't want me to die."

"It's different when it involves his disciple," Cynthia answered. "He values the freedom and choice of his disciples greatly. If that disciple is hellbent on killing you, my King might allow it. After all, you are only a present to his Empress for him, while his disciple is the beast he's most proud of."

Gravis continued scratching his chin in thought. "Would the Red King show favoritism if that disciple and I were to fight?" Gravis asked.

"No. My King believes that everyone should bear the consequences of their own actions. He wouldn't involve himself in that fight," Cynthia explained.

Gravis just continued thinking for a couple of seconds as the bear started to become annoyed. Those two were obviously talking, but their presence was still annoying him. Yet, he didn't interrupt them. He knew that he didn't need to do anything. At some point, those two would leave.

"Then, how powerful is this disciple?" Gravis asked.

"In regards to absolute power, he's many times weaker than I, but that's not why he's my King's disciple," Cynthia explained. "He is a Divine Beast and incredibly talented. Very few Lords manage to understand a Law, but he's one of them. A Divine Beast that has comprehended a Law is mighty and talented."

Gravis hummed a bit. "So, that disciple is still a Lord, right?"

When Cynthia heard that, she sighed helplessly. "Gravis, I know that your Battle-Strength must be incredible. After all, you have become the present to the Empress. This means that my King thinks your Battle-Strength is superior to his disciple. Yet, you're still too weak to fight him."

Gravis hummed a bit more. "What's the power of this disciple?"

Cynthia sighed again. Gravis was just not giving up. "He's currently a level four Lord, but he might soon become a level five Lord. Additionally, he is already able to win against level five Lords."

Gravis continued scratching his chin. In actuality, if he managed to create his new equipment, such a fight would become manageable. It might also serve as some good tempering. Yet, Gravis still wanted to remain careful.

"What's the affinity of this disciple, and how do they look like?" Gravis asked.

Cynthia realized that Gravis planned to fight that disciple and grew a bit worried. Gravis' health was her responsibility, and if he managed to infuriate the Red King's disciple and died, she would have failed her task.

"He has the metal affinity and has comprehended a Law in regards to metal as well. This Law allows him to control that stuff you call ore and shape it into powerful projectiles," Cynthia explained.

When Gravis heard that, his eyes widened in surprise. "What?" he asked.

Cynthia continued her explanation. "He's five-kilometers-long and has a long and slender body. He is very powerful, and his species is called the Golden Dragon."

Gravis had a weird look on his face when he heard that. That sounded quite familiar. This also reminded him of the fact that he hadn't eaten the Golden Dragon yet. Gravis found this turn of events quite funny and ironic.

Gravis snickered a bit, confusing Cynthia. Nothing she said could've been considered funny. Didn't Gravis realize how dangerous the Golden Dragon was?

"Hey, bear," Gravis suddenly shouted, eliciting a disgusted side-eye from the bear. "I just remembered that I haven't eaten my food yet. You might want to watch."

Whoooop! BANG!

"Why would I-"the bear started saying, but stopped talking as he realized that a colossal corpse had appeared in front of him. A pristine, golden body appeared in front of him, and he quickly noticed that he was very familiar with this corpse.

"Ma-master?" he asked in shock.

Cynthia's eyes widened in immense shock as she saw the corpse. Wasn't this the disciple she just talked about? How did he suddenly appear? Also, was he dead? What was going on!?

When Gravis saw their shocked expressions, he broke into laughter.

After some seconds of laughing, Cynthia looked with shock at Gravis. She remembered that he had said that his legs had been cut-off due to his last battle. Did this mean that his last battle had been against the Golden Dragon?

"Are you trying to intimidate me!?" the bear shouted aggressively. "This is a level three Lord! This beast might look similar to my master, but it's way weaker!"

Now, Cynthia also noticed that this corpse was of a level three Lord. The Golden Dragon had been a level four Lord. So, this meant that this couldn't possibly be the Golden Dragon. Yet, she didn't remember a second Golden Dragon. She had only ever seen one.

Gravis continued laughing. "No, that is your master. He unleashed some kind of powerful beam, which made him drop to the third level."

Cynthia remembered that Divine Beasts really had the ability to unleash their Realm in an all-or-nothing attack. This could actually be possible. Though, having an identical-looking, second Golden Dragon corpse had a higher chance of being true than a level two Lord killing a level four Lord Divine Beast. It was just too unbelievable.

"Anyway, time to eat," Gravis said.

BZZZZZ!

Suddenly, Gravis transformed into lightning, and his lightning quickly engulfed the whole corpse. Since the corpse was only a single level higher than Gravis, it didn't take him more than two seconds to fully consume it. So, in about two seconds, the whole corpse vanished.

BANG!

Gravis transformed back and stood in the same position as before. "Yummy," he commented with a smirk.

Cynthia received one shock after another. Did Gravis just transform into lightning? Also, did he just eat this massive corpse in two seconds?

The bear also had no idea what to say. What was going on? Yet, the bear would never believe that this weak beast, which even he could kill, would be able to kill his master. This whole thing had to be some kind of elaborate ruse.

The bear looked at Gravis with cold and bloodthirsty eyes. Then, he turned to Cynthia. "This beast has violated my master's honor. I will kill it now, so keep yourself out of this," he said.

Cynthia had no idea how to react right now. If Gravis had really killed the Golden Dragon, killing this bear would be nothing difficult. Yet, did he really kill the Golden Dragon? If he didn't, this bear could be a fatal threat to Gravis.

Luckily, Cynthia wasn't some naïve girl. She had been a powerful commander for a long time, and she was able to make a decision quickly. She decided to let Gravis fight the bear. Her King said that Gravis wasn't allowed to kill other beasts, but with her speed, Gravis wouldn't be able to kill the bear under her watch. As soon as a winner was apparent, she would intervene.

"Imma kill it," Gravis transmitted to Cynthia.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes in seriousness. "You can't, not under my watch," she said.

"Imma do it," Gravis transmitted with a smirk.

"You can't," she answered.

The bear saw that Cynthia didn't react and took it as a go-ahead.

BOOOM!

The earth under the bear exploded as he jumped forward with his full speed. Gravis only grinned and pulled his fist back. Then, for some reason, his body seemed to become way weaker. Cynthia was shocked when she felt Gravis' body becoming weaker. What was going on?

Whoop!

Two gauntlets appeared on Gravis' hands. He had lost the shield and the boots to the beam, but he still had his gauntlets.

"Lightning Punch!" Gravis shouted as he punched forward.

The bear only sneered as it saw Gravis' slow and easily avoidable punch. Also, why did he shout Lightning Punch? The bear saw nothing threatening in the punch, and he also saw no lightning.

The bear aggressively swiped Gravis' hand away with his paw…

BOOOOOOOOOM!

And promptly exploded.

Gravis had loaded the gauntlets with a Lightning Crescent, which erupted as soon as they hit something. Sadly, since the gauntlets didn't have any fitting Formation Arrays on them, they also got destroyed in the explosion.

The huge explosion vanished quickly, while Cynthia watched with an opened mouth. Fragments of the bear's body had been scattered into the surroundings since Gravis had no interest in eating the bear. If he had, his lightning would have consumed the corpse.

"Man, I always wanted to use that attack," Gravis said with satisfaction. Ever since he had seen the fight between the priest and Old Man Lightning, Gravis wanted to try that. Shouting the name of his attack kind of felt exhilarating. It was like some hot-bloodedness from his youth had returned.

Then, he turned around and looked at Cynthia with a shit-eating grin.

"What was that about not being able to kill it while you were around? Could you repeat that?" Gravis asked with a mocking voice.