Lightning Is the Only Way

The fight Arc had been looking forward to had vanished.

There was no fight anymore.

There was no point in fighting.

In his weakened state, Arc couldn't win.

"Sadly, I can only fight you in my weakened state," Arc lamented.

Gravis snorted.

"If you could use your full power, things wouldn't change. It still wouldn't be a fight. Only the outcome would change. With the Law of the True World, you can probably create 5,000 Arcs, all with their own Spirit. Sure, Mortis and I can do the same thing with our Lightning Fork, but the difference is that we would need to control all of our bodies. Meanwhile, all the Arcs only need to control one body."

"On top of that, your Law of the True World includes the Law of Perceived Reality, which includes the Law of Suppression. Your Law of Suppression would reach the power of a level nine Law, which would suppress all of our bodies."

"This would be an even more one-sided slaughter, but the other way around."

Gravis wasn't stupid.

He knew that he was powerful, and he knew that Arc couldn't beat him in his weakened form.

However, if Arc could unleash all his powers, Gravis and Mortis would be helpless.

If Arc could use the Law of the True World, he would even have the ability to jump one or two levels against Gravis and Mortis. 

The Law of the True World was just ridiculously powerful.

The Law of the Dead World would allow Arc to gather a ton of Energy, severely increasing his Energy regeneration. Additionally, all of Arc's Elements would reach the power of level nine Laws, making them immune to Gravis' Law of Sentience. 

The Law of Life would allow Arc to create a ton of puppets with their own Spirits and wills.

The Law of Emotions would allow the puppets to think for themselves and make use of their physical powers.

The Law of Perceived Reality would allow these puppets to gain intelligence and Laws. Arc would only need to recreate himself several times since he knew all about himself. 

In short, Gravis and Mortis would need to fight a ton of Arcs at once, just with a bit less Energy each, but with way more powerful attacks due to the level nine Elements.

They couldn't even beat one Arc with the Law of the True World. How could they beat several of them?

Arc sighed again. "Also true," he answered.

Arc had shown a different side of his personality today.

Arc had always appeared like a kind elder who knew everything, but today, he was talking just like any other human.

The gap between Arc's and Gravis' powers was still immense, but Gravis' understanding had reached a level of understanding that allowed him to talk with Arc on the same level.

"So, what now?" Arc asked.

He had already put his spear away.

"You still haven't answered my question," Gravis said. "I want to know why you helped me in comprehending the Law of Sentience after you already knew of Mortis' existence. You should have known that the chances were very high that you would die."

"That again?" Arc asked.

"Yes," Gravis answered. "You also said that you harbor selfish desires as well. You haven't elaborated on that yet."

Arc sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you," he said.

Gravis and Mortis waited.

"I've been stuck in this prison for nearly my entire life. Just like everyone else, I desire freedom. However, I'm unable to claim freedom due to my creator. I can't negotiate with him because he is too far above me. In essence, I'm helpless."

"But then, you appeared," Arc said, looking at Gravis. "I've seen your past life, and I have realized that you were able to negotiate with my creator. You've done so a couple of times. Of course, I know that it isn't because of you, specifically, but because of your father. Without your father, my creator would just ignore you."

"Of course, I know that you can't just let me live. After all, an agreement has been made between your father and my creator, and you are sadly stuck with following it."

"However, in the future, if you manage to become a Heaven's Magnate or even more powerful, I would like you to resurrect me. By then, you would have the Law of the True World, which would give you that ability."

"Like this, I would be able to be free," Arc said.

Gravis scratched his chin as he thought about Arc's words.

"But that wouldn't be you," Gravis said. "You would have still died. In essence, it would be a copy of yourself."

"So?" Arc commented.

Gravis raised an eyebrow. "You're fine with that?" he asked.

Arc nodded. "It doesn't matter if it's the current me. It would be just another me, and I'm fine with knowing that at least another me manages to gain freedom. This other me would also just be myself with the same experiences."

"I also know that this other me wouldn't mind. I wouldn't even question my existence. Who cares if I was resurrected? My memories, personality, experience, and being would be identical. I would exist, and that's that. There would be no point in thinking about such useless stuff. Sure, my old me died, but who cares?" Arc said.

Gravis glanced at Mortis as he heard Arc's words.

This sounded nearly identical to Mortis' current situation.

"Sounds about right," Mortis said emotionlessly.

Gravis had to sigh when he heard Mortis.

It wasn't easy to have such an accepting mindset.

Would Gravis be able to accept that?

He honestly didn't know.

He had said similar things to Mortis before, but it was different when it involved himself. 

It simply felt different.

"Was this your reason why you contacted me back then?" Gravis asked.

"One of them, yes," Arc said. "However, I also genuinely felt like you were the only person I could talk to. You also don't have a great relationship with my creator, and you knew a ton of things about the highest world. You also understand the Cosmos far better than anyone in my world."

"You are not someone of my world, which makes you far more interesting. You're someone I can talk to on a relatively equal footing. You also don't just look at me reverently but look at me like you would look at anyone else."

"You were the first being that made me feel not alone anymore," Arc said.

Gravis nodded in understanding.

"I know. I just wanted to make sure of your intentions," he said. "The fact that you had some selfish intentions when contacting me won't sour our relationship. Everyone has selfish intentions, and as far as I'm concerned, your so-called selfish intentions aren't even that selfish. You helped me several times, and you would only like me to repay you with something I can do with the flip of my hand in the future. It would even be something that I would want to do myself."

Arc smiled. "Thanks for understanding."

Gravis nodded again.

Silence.

"So, when are you going to do it?" Arc asked with a nervous expression.

Obviously, he referred to killing him.

Arc had said that he wouldn't mind being resurrected, but dying was still something new to him, which made him a bit nervous.

Meanwhile, instead of sighing in helplessness, Gravis only smiled.

"The agreement between the highest Heaven and my father hasn't been fulfilled yet, but the goals of it have been fulfilled."

"My Battle-Strength has become far more powerful in this world, which should have been the goal of my father and the highest Heaven. I'm pretty sure they wanted me to fight a weakened version of yourself so that I'm forced to increase my Battle-Strength even more."

"A fight between us no longer has any sense, and the goal has been fulfilled."

"I can accept killing you when there's a reason to or if the highest Heaven gets something out of it, but, right now, killing you would actually be against the highest Heaven's interests. It would not only lose its firstborn but also its most powerful higher world while souring our relationship at the same time."

"An agreement is made between two parties, and if both parties agree, it can be changed. If the highest Heaven demands that I kill you, I have no other option but to comply, but that would count as a certified dick-move created out of spite."

"I'm sure my father has no issues with changing the agreement."

"So, everything is down to the highest Heaven."

Gravis looked at the sky with a smile.

"So, highest Heaven, are you fine with changing the agreement? I would like to spare Arc and allow him to go to the highest World. He can surely quickly become a Heaven's Magnate, which would give you even more Energy. You would gain a future Heaven's Magnate, and you would get to keep your world."

"What do you say, highest Heaven?"