Chapter 452: The Empress (1/2)

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.