Lightning Is the Only Way

It took some time for Gravis to recover, but he knew that this separation was necessary.

He had been too relaxed the past couple of years. If he wanted to, he could simply stop cultivating, but he also couldn't.

If he stopped, he would feel guilty beyond comparison. 

Mortis' freedom depended on it.

His own freedom depended on it.

And lastly, he would feel like he would be disappointing his father.

His life had been filled with happiness and warmth for the past years, but this happiness could only last if he continued on his path to power.

Even more, time was passing so quickly in his perception that even if he stopped Cultivating right now, it would feel like nearly no time would have passed when a tribulation arrived that would kill him.

Now, more than ever before, Gravis could truly empathize with Orpheus.

Gravis truly understood why Orpheus had stopped.

Yet, after hours of melancholy, Gravis' eyes opened again with determination.

'How ironic,' Gravis thought. 'When Stella left, my feelings told me that progressing further on the path to power was meaningless. Yet, as soon as I calmed down, I felt my resolve strengthen.'

'I want to go back to being with Stella, and for that, I need to survive the Gate of Death and Arc!'

'Now, I have an actual goal. I've tasted true happiness, and I will do anything that's necessary to reclaim it!'

'Anything!'

Gravis wanted to return to Stella, and, even more, he wanted to stay with Stella forever.

And to accomplish that, Gravis needed to become as powerful as the highest Heaven. Only then would he have enough leverage to pull Stella with him to true immortality.

Gravis wanted his time with Stella to hold forever!

'Enough moping around,' Gravis thought as he cracked his neck.

'It's back to comprehending Laws, and after that, the Gate of Death!'

BANG!

Gravis immediately charged into the ground.

In no time at all, Gravis was a million kilometers deep. 

At this depth, space was already being warped by the sheer power of Gravity, but he continued.

Gravis activated a couple of Laws that protected him and continued diving down.

That was until he hit something.

BANG!

Gravis came to a sudden stop as he hit something hard. 

After healing his body, Gravis looked down.

A wall.

It was a silver wall.

'Why is a silver wall here?' Gravis thought in confusion. 'It's not made of any kind of matter. It's also not made from an Element. However, it definitely is made of Energy, and it also uses the Space Laws.'

Gravis touched the wall and inspected it closer.

Surprisingly, the wall was giving off Energy!

'It's giving off Energy? Is something behind it?' Gravis thought.

SHING!

Gravis took out his saber to test the wall.

"Don't touch that!"

Arc had appeared beside Gravis with a frown.

Gravis looked at Arc, not surprised that he had appeared.

However, when Gravis looked at Arc, his entire being froze.

Gravis couldn't move his body and couldn't make any coherent thought as he looked at Arc.

Arc felt very different from before.

Usually, Arc always gave off this leisurely, friendly, and calm feeling, but this time, Arc felt very different.

The feeling Arc gave Gravis could only be described with one word.

Terrifying!

It was like Gravis was looking at a supremely powerful Ancestral God.

Just the slight movement of a toe might end Gravis' life.

Gravis felt like he was completely helpless in front of this terrifying being.

Arc noticed Gravis' strange expression and sighed.

"You've come that far already," he said with a conflicted tone.

This woke Gravis up again as he regained his faculties.

Yet, Arc still felt like a terrifying giant to Gravis.

"Is this your power?" Gravis asked, trying not to stutter.

Arc nodded. "Your Battle-Strength and Realm are high enough that you can actually feel my power. This is the first time this has ever happened in my world."

Gravis took a deep breath.

And then coughed violently as the burning magma surrounding him burned his lungs.

"Pfft!" Arc immediately broke out into laughter.

"Fuck! This isn't funny!" Gravis transmitted as he healed his body.

Yet, Arc only continued laughing.

Gravis only looked at Arc, and as he saw him laughing, Gravis' tensed nerves relaxed.

So what if Arc was powerful?

They were still friends.

This was still the same Arc.

Nothing had changed.

"Okay, maybe it's a little funny," Gravis admitted.

Arc answered by laughing.

"Are you done yet?" Gravis asked with a frown.

"Yes, yes, I'm done," Arc said as he slowly stopped laughing.

Gravis groaned. 

Sure, it was funny, but it wasn't that funny.

"Anyway," Gravis said, changing the topic. "Feeling your power gave me quite a shock."

Arc's chipper mood vanished as the original topic returned. "It's understandable," he said. "After all, I have the Law of the True World as my Avatar, and I control Heavenly Lightning. The Heavenly Lightning might not frighten you, but the Law of the True World does. After all, it's not something you can contend with, no matter how hard you try."

Gravis nodded. "Yes, it felt like I couldn't even fight you. It was like I would be completely helpless in front of you."

Then, Arc's smile returned. "However, that already shows your progress."

"That I can feel your power?" Gravis asked. "Isn't that only logical?"

"That's not what I meant," Arc said with a shake of his head. "Before the middle Heaven had unleashed their level five Law, have you felt their power?"

Gravis thought back and blinked a couple of times.

"No, I haven't," he said.

"See?" Arc said with a grin. "Back then, the difference between you and the middle Heaven was so huge that you couldn't even feel their power."

"However, now, you are able to feel my power, and my Battle-Strength can't be compared to any other Heaven."

"Want to know something interesting?" Arc said. "There are a lot of higher Heavens that know the Law of the True World, but not all of them. In fact, less than 10% know it. Most of them only know the Law of the Living World."

"And as soon as you know the Law of Sentience, you are more likely to win than to lose in a battle against an average higher Heaven."

Arc raised a finger.

"Keep in mind, I'm not counting Mortis. I'm talking about only you with the help of your Avatar."

"If you add Mortis, only the higher Heavens that know the Law of the True World would be able to win against you two."

"In comparison, the middle Heaven you have fought was only average."

"So, depending on how long it takes Mortis to comprehend the Law of Control, you will be stronger than 90% of all higher Heavens in just 10,000 years or so," Arc said with a grin.

"Isn't that exciting?"

Gravis was taken aback as he listened to Arc's words.

It felt… unreal.

Gravis still remembered how helpless he had been in front of the middle Heaven, but now, Gravis was basically more powerful than 90% of higher Heavens?

Somehow, Gravis felt like his progression of power was only natural.

Was it truly that exaggerated? 

"Anyway," Arc said. "I just wanted to tell you that."

"Oh, and also," Arc said as he remembered something. Then, he pointed at the silver wall below them. "Don't touch that!"

'Oh right, the silver wall!' Gravis remembered. "What is this wall?"

"It's the bottom of the world," Arc said.

"The bottom of the world?" Gravis repeated.

Arc nodded. "Yep. This is a simplified filter of the wall around my creator's Cosmos. As you know, Primordial Chaos is a mixture of many different kinds of forces, and the wall of my creator filters the Energy out of the Primordial Chaos."

"Of course, since my world isn't in the Primordial Chaos but in my creator's Cosmos, there is no Primordial Chaos surrounding my world. There's only the vast emptiness."

"Emptiness?" Gravis asked, but then he remembered something. "Do the black holes lead to that place?"

Arc nodded. "Yep. When you destroy the space of a world, it connects to the vast emptiness. It's the space between worlds, and it has no Energy. So, as soon as Energy comes into contact with the emptiness, the Energy violently flows into it."

"Breaking the space in a world is easy to fix. Any Heaven can do that. However, breaking this wall is something completely different."

"If you break this wall, not even I can fix it."

"Not even you?" Gravis asked with shock.

Arc nodded again. "Yes, because the Law of the True World isn't enough to create such a wall."

"Wait, what? How can it not be enough!?" Gravis basically shouted.

Arc only smirked. "Gravis, if the Law of the True World were everything, why are the Heaven's Magnates so much weaker than your father? After all, they all know the Law of the True World."

Gravis felt like a sledgehammer hit his mind.

Yes, why?

How had he never thought of that!?

It was actually so obvious!

"So, there's an even superior Law?" Gravis asked.

"There is one other Law that is on the same level as the Law of the True World, and the highest Law is the one created out of these two Laws," Arc said. "However, I'm not telling you. It's funnier if you find out yourself."

Gravis frowned when Arc suddenly refused to elaborate.

However, it wasn't difficult to guess what kind of Law was above the Law of the True World.

All the living beings, Elements, matter, and so on, lived in a world.

So, where did a world live in?

The Cosmos!

"Anyway, don't touch that!" Arc said, pointing at the wall again. "If you break it, my creator needs to fix it, and I don't think that you want to annoy him."

Gravis nodded.

The two of them talked for a bit, and Arc teleported away again.

And then, Gravis started focusing on the Laws of Space and Gravity.