Chapter 569: The Judge (1/2)

The Judge looked at Gravis with solemn eyes. ”Every time,” he said slowly. ”Why is it you, every time? We have more traitors than before, but there are still not that many. So, why is it that it's always you stumbling into them?”

Gravis smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. ”I just didn't want my children to be under potential traitors. It's not my fault that there actually was one,” he said.

The Judge sighed. ”I know,” he said helplessly. ”Tell me how all of this happened.”

Who the Judge was should be obvious by now. It was the Grand Elder of the Icy Pride Empire, the white ape.

This explained several things. The traitorous Emperor had said that only a Judge would be able to punish Gravis for his offense of killing an Inquisitor. However, no Judge had arrived to punish Gravis in the last century. Why was that?

That was because the Grand Elder had been present when the Empress gave him his punishment. The two of them had probably decided on the punishment together. Like this, Gravis had already been punished by a Judge.

Additionally, only Judges could order Inquisitors around. Hadn't the Grand Elder said that he had sent the badger to the southern defensive line to check for traitors when Gravis had been part of the invasion force? On top of that, it had also been the Grand Elder that had sent the Inquisitor with him when Gravis had his brief run-in with the traitorous Squad Leader of the Elite Striking Squad.

Everything had pointed to the Grand Elder. Sadly, Gravis hadn't been able to make the connection since the Grand Elder always took a backseat to the Empress.

Yet, something else also interested Gravis. Based on how powerful a Judge had to be, the Grand Elder would need to have the ability to fight a level three Emperor. Was he truly so powerful? So, Gravis checked the Grand Elder out again, and what he found shocked him.

”You've comprehended Punishment Lightning?” Gravis asked in shock.

The Grand Elder huffed. ”You've finally noticed, huh? I've already comprehended it when you returned from the Plant Ultimate. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when you didn't notice the Punishment Lightning inside me.”

”I mean,” Gravis said awkwardly, ”I have no reason to keep inspecting you every time we meet. You're not an enemy.”

The Grand Elder sighed again as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. ”Just tell me what happened,” he said helplessly.

Gravis told the Grand Elder everything that had happened as soon as he had left the Icy Pride Empire. He told him that he had found it quite suspicious that this defensive line hadn't moved in forever and that he had also suspected the Commander of being a traitor, which had turned out not to be true.

Then, he narrated how he had started to suspect the Emperor and how he had prepared himself for the fight. After telling the Grand Elder everything about the fight, he finally arrived at his proposition.

When the Grand Elder heard Gravis' proposition, he stroked his beard in thought. ”I presume that this Life Ring of yours is from your homeworld?” he asked.

Gravis nodded.

”Can I see it?” he asked.

”Sure, go ahead,” Gravis said as he threw the Life Ring over.

The Grand Elder inspected the Life Ring, but he just couldn't make any sense of it. Things like Artifacts and Formation Arrays didn't exist in this world. To the Grand Elder, something like this appeared way too magical to be real. How could someone use this tiny ring to control another beast?

If Gravis hadn't already proven to be anything but normal, the Grand Elder would have had immense doubts. Yet, if it was Gravis, everything he said was most likely true.

After inspecting the Life Ring for a minute, the Grand Elder looked coldly at the lizard. Surprisingly, the lizard looked rather nervous and afraid now. Earlier, he had had no hope of survival, which was why he had been able to remain calm, but this time, there was a genuine chance of survival. He didn't want to die.

”I need to test its validity,” the Grand Elder said as he threw the Life Ring back to Gravis.

”How do you plan to do that?” Gravis asked.

Proving something like this was difficult. The lizard could simply act like he was under Gravis' control if the Life Ring didn't work. True loyalty couldn't be found out that easily.

”Simple,” the Grand Elder said, ”As a Judge, it is also my responsibility to find new Inquisitors, and for me to do that, I need to have comprehended the Law of the Mind.”

Gravis remembered that Inquisitors had to go through an invasive investigation of their minds to see if they were spies. Initially, Gravis had thought that there were some beasts out there that were responsible for this, but it made more sense that the Judges themselves had this ability.

Gravis gestured for the Grand Elder to start. Then, the Grand Elder turned to the lizard.