Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis knew that look inside the Lightning Ultimate's eyes. It was the look of disdain, envy, and hatred. The lower Heaven had looked at Gravis the same way when he had held it in his hands. Yet, Gravis couldn't be sure about the reason behind the Lightning Ultimate's feelings.

He noticed that the Lightning Ultimate only looked at the other beasts with disdain, but only Gravis had the luck to receive his envy and hatred as well. Obviously, this Lightning Ultimate had issues with Gravis, but Gravis had no idea why. He hadn't even met or talked to the guy. How could there already be enmity?

Borro, the grey elephant, released a sigh of relief. He didn't want to fight Gravis since he couldn't gain anything from it. He knew that Gravis was a danger to his life, but even if Borro won, he would gain nothing. Gravis' corpse would be worthless to him. Taking a fight without a possibility of a payout was stupid in his eyes. That was why he didn't want to fight Gravis.

"The Lightning Ultimate has spoken, Gravis," Azure said from his side. "He has the authority as one of the Ultimates to make such a decree. Don't worry, after the Ultimate's Meet is over, you can search for the elephant."

Gravis was not a fan of this at all. Gravis felt a familiar feeling that he hadn't felt for a long time.

He felt suppressed!

The grey elephant, obviously, had promised to fight him. This was a life and death challenge, and no beast would care about something like that, even at this particular time. The Lightning Ultimate was targeting him for some reason.

"The Lightning Ultimate is jealous of your Punishment Lightning, Gravis," Azure transmitted to Gravis as she noticed his confusion. "Even after thousands of years, he never managed to comprehend it. Yet, you were able to comprehend it as a Lord. He knows that, and he hates that you have something that he can't have. That's why he's making your life difficult."

Gravis' eyes shone. Now, this made a lot of sense. Yet, being envious of someone that had something that they didn't was a weak mindset. Everyone had the ability to comprehend powerful Laws. They only had to risk their lives to comprehend it.

This weak mindset was probably also the reason why the Lightning Ultimate was an Ultimate and not an Ascender. He had probably sought power above anything else, but instead of pursuing Battle-Strength, he pursued the power that came with his Realm. Yet, the Striders blocked his path forward since he wasn't powerful enough to battle them.

The Lightning Ultimate had sacrificed long-term gain for short-term gain. Now, he was stuck in this situation due to the errors he made earlier in his life, which made him bitter. This was precisely the same situation as Old Man Lightning and the High Priest had been in.

Both of them had had issues with becoming more powerful and were stuck at the peak of the world. Yet, the power of one's personality could be seen when one compared the High Priest with Old Man Lightning.

Old Man Lightning had helped the Sect and the future generations while he tried to find a way to temper himself. He never gave up. Meanwhile, the High Priest had gone insane. Instead of risking his life to become more powerful or fight Heaven, he had used his power to satisfy his urges and distract him from his shortcomings. This Lightning Ultimate was more akin to the High Priest than Old Man Lightning.

Silence came upon the beasts, and they started scattering again. With the Lightning Ultimate watching over them, there would be no fight. Posturing also might give the Lightning Ultimate a bad impression of them. So, without much noise, every beast started scattering.

"Oi, fuck your decree," a harmonious voice suddenly transmitted to everyone.

All the beasts stopped what they were doing as they looked at the tiny flower with shock. Was the Plant Ultimate about to confront the Lightning Ultimate?

The Lightning Ultimate frowned as he looked at Meadow. Obviously, he was not happy with her interference. He had already shown his respect towards her by letting the earlier incident pass by. Meadow should have realized that, but she still insisted on going even further. This was unreasonable and childish in the Lightning Ultimate's eyes.

"I have respected your judgment on the earlier incident, Plant Ultimate. So, respect my judgment in this incident. Everyone has gathered to find the most powerful King in the world, not to fight each other. We are all land beasts, and we are one united force against the sea beasts," the Lightning Ultimate declared grandly.

"The fuck are you on about, mate?" Meadow asked. "United force? Dude, have you smelled the shit that's coming out of your mouth? Everyone knows that we let the sea beasts live to create more level five Emperors for us to fight. Yet, you come walking out here with these shitty-ass dicks on your head and try to tell everyone that you're not a dickhead?"

The beasts took a collective deep breath in shock. The Plant Ultimate was really going all-in with the disrespect.

The Lightning Ultimate narrowed his eyes in rage as the lightning between his antlers became more violent. "Don't push me, Plant Ultimate," the Lightning Ultimate said coldly. "I might not be able to defeat you, but I can outrun you easily. Think about your Empire and if that's not enough, think about yourself."

"You are a plant. I am a beast. You are bound to a location and need to grow to spread. Yet, I, as a beast, can attack you, flee, regenerate, and attack you again. Don't mistake the other Ultimate's kindness for weakness. You might be the strongest in theory, but in practice, every other Ultimate can kill you with enough time."

All the Emperors and Kings scattered into the distance. If they got caught up in such an intense fight, they wouldn't know how they died. Even if the chances were rather low that the two Ultimates would fight, they just couldn't take the risk.

Gravis furrowed his brows. 'Sadly, he's right,' Gravis thought. 'Meadow can only spread in the ground. The Lightning Ultimate can use nearly all his lightning, run away, and attack again with all his lightning. Life Energy takes much longer to regenerate than lightning. It would only be a matter of time until Meadow would die.'

"Oh?" Meadow asked with a provocative voice. For the first time, there was no harmony in her voice. Now, it sounded like the echo of a world that was about to erupt. "You say you can defeat me? You? The four-legged, furry thing with dicks on your head?"

The Lightning Ultimate became even angrier. "Disrespect me one more time and see what happens," he said threateningly as the lightning around his body seemingly went out of control, striking the mountain below him and grinding it to dust.

All the beasts fled even further. Now, the chances of a fight were rather high. Was this the first time that the Ultimates would ever fight?

"You're over 6,000 years old, boy," Meadow said. "You are the second oldest beast and fourth oldest being in this world. In these short 6,000 years, how often have you seen anyone fight me?"

The Lightning Ultimate huffed in disdain. "As I've said before, don't mistake the fact that we didn't attack you out of kindness for weakness. You and your Empire are important for our core defense. Killing you would only hurt us. Yet, if you continue, I will find a reason to kill you."

"So, the answer is not a single time, right?" Meadow asked. "Not one single Ultimate has attacked me during these 6,000 years of your life. And you say that it's because of your kindness? Did you honestly think that I have never fought an Ultimate in my 50,000 years of life? Do you think that every Ultimate in the past has been so 'kind' as you?"

"Enlighten me," the Lightning Ultimate said with hostility.

"I have killed and consumed five Ultimates in my life, boy," Meadow said with a threatening voice. "Every couple thousand years, the Ultimates forget the previous fights I had with them and become disdainful towards me again because I'm a plant."

"Have you ever talked to Sary? Due to her mastering of the Life Laws, she has lived for over 12,000 years and is the oldest beast in this world. She has seen my last fight. You know that Sary and I are good friends. Yet, you don't see her here, do you?"

"In actuality," Meadow continued, "She was here but fled far into the distance. Why is that?"

The Lightning Ultimate wasn't deterred by Meadow's empty boasts. "That's because Sary is the Life Ultimate and knows how to conduct herself as an Ultimate. This is our conflict, not hers. And, as for your question, no, we don't talk much."

Meadow chuckled, her chuckle appearing way colder and more threatening than any chuckle Gravis had ever heard.

For some reason, Gravis got the feeling that Meadow was very powerful. Of course, as the Plant Ultimate, she was very powerful, but that was not what he meant.

Right now, Gravis felt a feeling he hadn't felt before. This feeling was unreal. It felt like a mix of helplessness, respect, and even a bit of envy. Gravis almost couldn't believe that he was feeling this feeling right now. He also quickly knew what this feeling was.

This was the feeling of being inferior to a peer.

Gravis felt like, even if he were at the same Realm as Meadow, he might not win. For the first time in Gravis' life, he felt like he found someone that had a Battle-Strength even more powerful than his own. Meadow was terrifying, no, beyond terrifying.

The other beasts didn't react to her words, but Gravis felt it.

Meadow was a monster!

"You all might want to move back a couple 10,000 kilometers," Meadow announced to the beasts.