Lightning Is the Only Way

Arc's eyes widened when he heard Gravis' words.

He could survive?

That was possible?

Yet, the more Arc thought about Gravis' words, the more sense they made.

Yes, there truly wouldn't be any reason for the highest Heaven to force the agreement.

Arc had seen that the highest Heaven had taken Gravis' emotions and words seriously in the past. The highest Heaven's conduct regarding Gravis was different than when it communicated with anyone else.

Usually, the highest Heaven didn't care about anyone's feelings. After all, it was the most powerful thing in the Cosmos, and everyone, other than the Opposer, was helpless in front of it.

However, even though Gravis was someone the highest Heaven could kill with a mere thought, it didn't ignore his feelings. The highest Heaven had to consider the Opposer's opinion, but it didn't need to consider Gravis' opinion. According to logic, it still shouldn't care about Gravis' feelings.

Yet, it did.

This meant that the highest Heaven had some plan regarding Gravis in mind that required his support.

This was the only reason Arc could come up with. There wouldn't be any other reason that would make it consider Gravis' opinion.

As soon as Arc saw a chance of survival, his emotions became wild for the first time in forever.

His life could change!

Gravis, Mortis, and Arc waited for some seconds.

"Fine."

The three of them looked to the side.

Someone new had appeared in Arc's clearing.

It was a blonde, middle-aged man with three eyes. He wore white robes, and his hands were behind his back. 

He had a neutral expression on his face as he looked at Gravis.

The three of them couldn't feel his Cultivation.

However, Gravis' and Mortis' eyes widened as soon as they saw the new person.

They knew him!

"Orthar?" Gravis asked in shock.

This person looked exactly like Orthar!

Orthar looked at Gravis. "Hello, Gravis," he said evenly.

Suddenly, Gravis' eyes turned left as he noticed something.

Another person had appeared in the clearing, and he also knew that person very well.

"Father?" Gravis said in surprise.

It was the Opposer.

Right now, the Opposer had his black saber in his right hand as he stood to the side between Gravis and Orthar.

There was no longer any reason to remain hidden.

After all, the person that wanted to stay hidden had revealed himself.

"Later," the Opposer said to Gravis, keeping an eye on Orthar.

Gravis noticed his father's actions and looked at Orthar.

"Orthar, I thought you would become a middle Heaven. What are you doing here?" he asked.

Orthar continued to look at Gravis with a neutral expression.

"My name is Orthar," Orthar said. "However, I'm also not completely the being you know as Orthar."

Gravis furrowed his brows.

"That's the old bastard," the Opposer said.

Then, Gravis' and Mortis' eyes widened.

First, they had expected Orthar to be some kind of agent sent by the highest Heaven.

However, Orthar was the highest Heaven himself?

"How?" Gravis asked.

"I wanted to get to know you, Gravis," Orthar said. "Observation is not always as reliable as experiencing something myself."

"I created a beast after my own image and with my personality and made him meet you. I wanted to experience your personality first-hand. Of course, that Orthar didn't have my memories. In essence, the Orthar that you met was a younger version of myself," Orthar said.

Gravis was still in shock as he listened to the highest Heaven.

"After gaining sufficient knowledge, I fused with the Orthar you know and left."

Gravis still tried to process what he was hearing.

"Then, Orthar is dead?" Gravis asked.

"No, I'm not," Orthar answered. "I went through our experiences, and I still remember everything. Our interactions truly happened, and nothing has changed. My Spirit wasn't overtaken. I fused with the other version of myself, which you know as the highest Heaven. I am both at once."

This revelation was still hard for Gravis to grasp.

Was his friend dead or not?

He said he wasn't, but was that true?

"He's speaking the truth, Gravis," the Opposer said.

Gravis looked at his father.

"I noticed that he essentially made a younger copy of himself so that he could come into contact with you."

Gravis furrowed his brows.

"But if you knew, why didn't you do anything? This doesn't sound like you," Gravis said.

"This is your life, not mine," the Opposer answered. "I don't want to involve you in my conflict, and for you to make the best decision, you have to know both sides. Additionally, even if I didn't think like that, forcing you to come to my side in this conflict will drive you away instead. Freedom is too important to you, and if I don't respect your freedom, I might end up getting on your bad side."

"Obviously, I don't want to get on the bad side of my son," the Opposer said.

Then, he looked at Mortis.

"Or sons, in that case," he said.

Mortis looked at the Opposer with an unsure expression.

Usually, Mortis had a solid hold over his emotions, but as soon as he saw his "father", he became uncertain.

Gravis saw the Opposer as his father, and Mortis had Gravis' memories. Therefore, Mortis also saw the Opposer as his father.

"You are Gravis just as much as he is, only from a different time and place," the Opposer said to Mortis. "Memories and feelings are what connect us. Therefore, you are my son."

Mortis felt things he hadn't felt ever since he had come into existence.

Was this a feeling of belonging?

Was this familial love?

Meanwhile, Gravis was looking at Orthar.

"So, you are the highest Heaven, right?" he asked.

"I am," Orthar said.

"Why did you decide to show yourself now? You've been keeping yourself hidden all this time," Gravis asked.

"There's no point to keep up pretenses," Orthar said. "You will not receive the Brand, and you even know the Major Law of Death. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, you will reach my level. Instead, acting towards you in a fashion akin to acting towards someone beneath myself would only increase your dislike towards me."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Now that he had accepted that the highest Heaven was basically Orthar, a lot more things made sense.

The entire Cosmos was created to gather as much Energy as possible.

It was incredibly efficient.

Everything had its use.

Gravis had once thought that he wouldn't want to live in a world Orthar created, but it turned out that he had been in one this entire time.

Yet, there was also a major difference between the two Orthars.

The old Orthar would have run everything like it was a machine, forcing everything into place.

However, this wouldn't create the best result.

After all, the beings would lose motivation and wouldn't be as complicit. A lot of them would also only do the bare minimum to survive. 

It would kill motivation.

Yet, this other Orthar had an incomparable amount of experience in running a Cosmos.

He knew exactly what gave the best results.

Gravis remembered the words his father had once said.

The Opposer had once said that Emotions were there to force people to make connections with others, which would result in them not wanting to lose them, resulting in a need for power.

Back then, Gravis had dismissed his father's words as too cynical.

However, knowing Orthar, this actually seemed very likely.

"You said you don't want me to dislike you even more. However, why would you care about that?"

"Tell me, why do you care about my feelings?" Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow.