Lightning Is the Only Way

There were seven people currently near that wall, and Gravis recognized all of them.

As soon as he saw them, he was filled with disbelief and excitement.

Nearly everyone was here!

Nearly all the friends Gravis had made during his life were in this room!

They all still remembered him?

They had all remembered where they could find him, and even after such a long time, they had come to greet him when he came home?

"You… you're all here?" Gravis asked with shock.

BANG!

The man in red robes with red hair jumped forward and stopped just before Gravis with excitement.

"Hey, Gravis! Have you seen how powerful I became? Look! Look, I blocked Joyce's attack! Isn't that great? Are you powerful, Gravis? How powerful have you become? How many Laws do you know, Gravis?" he quickly said with excitement, bopping up and down in front of Gravis.

Gravis smiled widely. 

"I'm glad you're doing well, Ferris, and yes, I have seen that you've gotten quite powerful," Gravis said. 

This was Ferris, the wolf that had accompanied him for a long time in the middle world.

Ferris grinned with excitement as he circled Gravis, inspecting him from all angles.

BANG!

The sound of a collision came from behind Gravis as Mortis caught another one of Joyce's sabers.

CRACK!

Mortis broke the saber in half and grabbed Joyce by the throat.

Gravis took a deep breath through his teeth when he saw that.

Mortis sure was vicious.

"And what makes you think that I will just stand here and take whatever attacks you decide to launch?" he asked coldly, looking into Joyce's eyes.

Joyce only glared back. "You?" she said as she spoke for the first time. Her tone was filled with disdain. "A mere clone? A fake?"

Gravis cringed in discomfort as he heard that.

These words were vicious.

However, Joyce's words unveiled the fact that she already knew about Mortis' existence.

That also explained why she was so angry.

She had probably heard it from Stella.

Yet, Mortis' expression only remained neutral. 

He hadn't lied when he had said that he didn't care about what other people thought of him. 

These words had no effect on him.

"A fake, huh?" Mortis repeated coldly. 

CRACK!

Mortis' grip tightened around Joyce's throat as her neck nearly broke. A human of the same Realm couldn't compete with a beast when it came to physical power. 

BANG!

Then, Mortis threw Joyce at a wall, breaking her spine in the process.

The walls of this room were not things that just anyone could break.

Joyce's being was shaken with pain, but physical pain was not something that could stop someone of her caliber.

"Don't sit on your righteous horse," Mortis said coldly, not looking at her. "Your promise with Gravis was made when you guys were barely 20 years old. We are all far older now. Don't take a careless promise made as children as a binding contract for eternity."

Mortis glanced at Joyce coldly. He might have been stunned by her beauty, but he wouldn't allow himself to be played. 

"If you believe that such a promise holds any weight after having lived for so long, you are truly naïve. Is your show of brutality only there to convince yourself? Are you still as naïve as you have been in the lower world?" Mortis asked coldly.

Joyce glared at Mortis with hate.

"What?" Mortis asked coldly. "Will you now complain about me striking you? You just attacked me twice with your saber. Am I supposed to just take something like that?"

Joyce's body had already healed as she glared at Mortis.

Then, her gaze traveled from Mortis to Gravis.

Gravis only smiled with discomfort.

BANG!

Joyce charged forward with all her speed as she attacked Gravis with her saber.

BANG!

Gravis easily caught the saber in his hand, just smiling at Joyce with discomfort.

"Hey, we can talk about this, alright?" he said. "We don't have to immediately grab our weapons and attack. We're all adults here."

Joyce was doing a good job in hiding her true feelings right now.

In reality, she was frustrated beyond belief, and this, surprisingly, had nothing to do with their promise.

She was frustrated with her power.

She had been the most powerful Cultivator in her higher world, even in Battle-Strength.

She had been known as a timeless genius!

She had been able to fight three levels above herself nearly the entire time!

Yet, as soon as she came to the highest world, she met one powerful Cultivator after the other. 

All the previous Ascenders could already fight one level above themselves, increasing the average power of Cultivators as soon as only those Ascenders were left.

Joyce's power had fallen from being able to jump three levels to only being able to jump maybe one or two levels, depending on the person. 

Then, she had met Liam and Stella.

Liam's power was about the same as her own, frustrating her even more.

However, Stella's power was ridiculous.

Joyce hadn't even had a chance against her.

Then, when she heard about what had happened in Gravis' higher world, she became frustrated again.

This lowlife Gravis wanted to hand her off to a mere copy of himself!?

Was she just some commodity!?

Then, when the Opposer had called everyone over to receive Gravis, she had immediately unleashed an attack.

She would show Gravis that she wasn't just some commodity!

Yet, the first person she struck hadn't even taken her attack seriously.

On top of that, it wasn't even Gravis.

Even worse, Joyce couldn't even feel the combat power of that person, only his Realm, which confused her quite a bit.

She had never experienced anything like that.

Then, she had attacked Mortis, but his mother had gotten involved, making her even angrier.

She wasn't someone that needed help!

Even worse, when she struck Mortis, she also couldn't feel his combat power.

What was going on!?

And now, even Gravis stopped her attack like it was nothing!

All these Cultivators on her level didn't even take her seriously!

Joyce only glared at Gravis, who smiled back with discomfort.

"Wow, Gravis! You've become really powerful!" Ferris said from the side, completely ignoring the awkward and oppressive atmosphere in the room.

"Just take your saber back, and we can talk about this, alright?" Gravis repeated, lightly pushing the saber away. 

"Talk about this?" Joyce repeated with a cold tone. 

"Yes," Gravis repeated.

BANG!

Joyce attacked again, and Gravis blocked again.

By now, Gravis' expression turned into a frown.

He could tolerate one attack, but two was going a bit far.

Clink!

Another one of Joyce's sabers was broken as Gravis frowned at Joyce.

"Stop acting like a child," Gravis said. "What are you trying to accomplish by attacking me?"

Gravis had way more scathing remarks in his mind, but he didn't voice them.

Joyce's glare transformed into disdain.

"What happened to you?" she asked with disdain. "You've let me attack you twice, and you didn't even voice anything at the first attack. The Gravis I knew would never have allowed something like that."

"You know, I could use these exact same words to criticize you, but I'm not that childish," Gravis said. "I can understand your anger, but you should also realize that you're acting out of line. Yes, we made a promise, but over 270,000 years have passed for me. I don't know how much time has passed for you, but it should be comparable."

"The promise of children holds no weight when they become adults," Gravis said. "I admit that I hold some amount of guilt for breaking my promise to you, but I'm not the same Gravis anymore. I found my partner, and I won't betray her for a promise I made when I was a kid."

Silence.

"You asked what I wanted to accomplish by attacking you," Joyce repeated as she pulled back her saber. "I'll tell you."

"I don't care about our promise. I'm not some naïve child that believes that we are meant to be together or anything," she said neutrally.

"By attacking you, I wanted to see if you were worthy of me."

"I wanted to see how you have changed, and I have to say that I'm disappointed with you."

"You are more powerful than me, yes, but instead of attacking back, you only smiled at me submissively and tried to dissuade me from performing another attack."

"Someone that lets himself be trampled on by anyone is not a man."

"Did you not dare to strike back because I am a woman? A man is someone that shows his power whenever challenged, but you only spoke to me in a friendly and humble tone. Then, when I attacked you the second time, you only spoke in a displeased tone."

Joyce huffed.

"Someone like you holds no attraction to me."

"You don't need to feel bad about breaking our promise. I also don't hold any importance to it."

"I just wanted to see if you're worth it, and you're not."

"Hmph! Disgusting weakling!"

SHING!

With that said, Joyce teleported away.

Gravis only lifted an eyebrow.

He didn't chase her.

Why would he?

Joyce had changed by quite a bit, and she was no longer the Joyce he knew.

On top of that, Joyce also put no importance on their promise.

Gravis had still cared about her opinion before he had met her again, but now, that feeling vanished.

In Gravis' eyes, Joyce was truly a child.

So what if she thought he was weak?

Her opinion held no weight.

Gravis glanced over at Mortis.

"So, still interested?" he asked.

Mortis' eyes narrowed.

SHING!

Then, he also teleported away.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in surprise.

Mortis had chased after Joyce.

'I guess that's a yes,' Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. 'I mean, Mortis also feels a bit like a child to me. Maybe they truly fit together in a way? Weird!'

WHOOOM!

'Another attack!?'