Lightning Is the Only Way

"Dorian even managed to hit you, Gravis. I guess my loss to him is not unjustified," a beautiful woman with azure-colored hair said as she stepped forward.

"Hey, Azure," Gravis said. "Glad you're still alive. How have you been?"

Azure smiled slightly as she gestured to the old man with white hair to her said. "Styr and I have been quite well. We also became quite powerful, but we both couldn't beat Dorian, which was surprising. We had both been sure that we were more powerful than him, but, somehow, he still won."

Styr also nodded. "His techniques are varied, bizarre, and incomprehensible," Styr said with praise. "He is impressive."

"Did you guys all fight each other before I came here?" Gravis asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Azure and Styr nodded. "We met each other when we waited for you, and we all got talking since we know you. In the end, after seeing that we are all on the same level, we decided to fight each other to compare our power."

"Oh? How many joined the fight?" Gravis asked.

"Twelve."

"So many?" Gravis asked in shock.

Azure nodded. "You built up quite a circle of connections in your life, Gravis," Azure said.

"Who won?" Gravis asked, looking at the group.

Silence.

"You know who won," Azure said with a frown.

Gravis thought about this for a bit.

"Was Stella part of the fight?" he asked.

Azure nodded.

"Okay, that explains it," Gravis said with an uncomfortable smile. "Where is she?" he asked, not seeing her in the gathered group.

"She wants to give you some time to meet your old friends first. She is currently spending most of her time with your three children," Azure said.

Gravis rubbed the back with discomfort. "You mean our children," he said.

"I don't really care. You should know that, Gravis," Azure said evenly.

Gravis had to sigh again as he got to know Azure again.

It still felt weird to Gravis that Azure didn't care about her children.

However, Gravis' three kids also must have had quite a lot of children since they managed to become Nascent Nourishing Beasts in the middle world. Yet, they had never even talked about them.

The familial ties of beasts still felt alien to Gravis.

"I guess they are all somewhere else right now," Gravis said.

Azure nodded. "They all know that you would want to spend the most time with them, which is why they're waiting somewhere else."

Gravis nodded with a weak smile.

This was probably Stella's idea.

Gravis sure had made the right decision when choosing her as his life partner.

"Your friends have become really powerful, Gravis," Arc said from the side with a smile.

He had seen Gravis' life, which meant that he also knew Gravis' friends.

"They have," Gravis said with pride. 

"You think I should fight them?" Arc asked.

Gravis groaned. "Arc, this is not funny," he said. 

Arc only grinned as he saw Gravis' uncomfortable expression. "Yes, it is."

Gravis lightly shook his head as he looked at the people that haven't said anything yet.

Joyce, Dorian, Ferris, Azure, and Styr had already spoken to him, leaving three people that haven't talked to Gravis yet.

Gravis went to the first person.

It was a beautiful woman with green hair and a terrifyingly stunning body. She looked like a seductress that could wrap any man around her fingers.

"I'm a bit surprised to see you here. We've only met one time," Gravis said. "However, I'm happy that you didn't forget me after such a long time."

The woman looked with bedroom eyes at Gravis as she looked him up and down. "Don't talk too much to me, or your woman might get jealous," she said.

Gravis' entire body shook again as he saw her true body with his Spirit Sense.

It was a humongous, green snake.

This was Sary, the Life Ultimate, Meadow's friend. 

She had been the one that had initiated the conflict between the Ultimates in the middle world and also the one that had taught Azure about having children to learn more about the Laws of Life. 

Sary was very open with her desires, and she had also hit on Gravis back then. 

"Where's Meadow?" Gravis asked.

"Still in the higher world," Sary said. "Meadow takes her time in cultivating, and she plans to use up nearly her entire longevity. She will probably remain in the higher world for another 1.8 million years, their time. I can't live that long, and I don't want to wait that long, but you don't need to worry about her. From what I've heard, her status and power are similar to the one called Narcissus in your higher world."

Gravis nodded. Narcissus was basically unkillable in the higher world. However, the total power of Narcissus and Meadow still couldn't be compared.

Meadow was nearly unkillable in her world.

However, Narcissus was nearly unkillable in the most powerful higher world.

There was a huge difference between these two worlds.

But one also had to keep in mind that Narcissus was far older than Meadow.

"We can talk later," Gravis said. "Let me first go to the last two."

Gravis went over to a young man with green hair and a peaceful expression.

Gravis looked at him with a complex expression.

"I thought you were already dead," Gravis said.

The young man chuckled a bit. "The ways of the world are unchanging and unforeseeable. Sometimes, our goals change," he said.

"I see you have gotten more mysterious with age and power, Manuel," Gravis said with a smile.

This was Manuel.

Gravis had fought him in the lower world, but Manuel's master had unveiled Byron's deception. After that, they had become friends and had even entered the Heaven's Trial together.

Before Gravis had left for the higher world, his father had told him that Manuel had stopped cultivating after getting a family.

Obviously, things have changed.

Orthar probably managed to push Manuel back into cultivating.

After all, Orthar wanted as many of Gravis' friends as possible to survive to secure his cooperation in the future.

"What happened to your family?" Gravis asked.

Manuel's expression didn't change, but Gravis could see some sadness in his eyes.

"They all died of old age," Manuel said.

Gravis sighed and nodded. "As tragic as it is, it is the best outcome."

Gravis had feared that Orthar might have killed off Manuel's family, but that wasn't the case. 

"Aion and Lazar have died, right?" he asked.

Manuel nodded. "We weren't close with Aion, but we've kept tabs on him. Apparently, he was not really interested in cultivating and simply stopped. Living like a rich merchant was enough for him."

"Lazar died while tempering," Dorian said from behind Gravis. "He tried to jump two levels above himself. The fight was even, but his opponent comprehended a Law during their fight and barely won."

"I took revenge for Lazar," Dorian said with narrowed eyes.

Gravis nodded with a sigh.

Not everyone made it to the top.

"I've also heard that Nero stopped cultivating," Gravis said.

Manuel nodded. "Nero was fine with teaching the disciples of our Sect."

"Our?" Gravis asked.

"Yes, Joyce, Dorian, Nero, Lazar, and I have made our own Sect. Everyone pushed the position of Sect Master onto my shoulders while everyone else had their fun. We basically never left each other's sides during this time, but we never forgot you. We also often talked about you."

Gravis could understand why everyone pushed Manuel into the position of Sect Master. Manuel had some kind of charisma that made other people follow his leadership.

"I bet controlling people like Dorian and Joyce was stressful," Gravis said with a smile.

"You have no idea," Manuel said with a sigh. "However, we can talk all about this later." Manuel gestured to the last person in the room. "She said she knows you, but she is the only one none of us know. Everyone knows someone else in some regard, but no one knows her. However, she insists that she knows you."

"She also says she is your big sister."

Gravis smiled widely as he walked over to the last person.

It was a girl in her twenties with short green hair and blue eyes. 

She looked at Gravis with a wide grin.

"You haven't disappointed your big sister!" she said with a proud smile.

Gravis remembered the Hurricane Hawk that had followed Gravis in the middle continent in the lower world.

"Hey, Skye. How have you been? I'm glad you still remember me," Gravis said.

PACK!

Skye pulled Gravis over and pulled him under her right arm.

Then, she rubbed Gravis' head with her fist. 

"Look at how many friends you have!" she said. "You think your older sister can't bully you anymore with such a social circle? Nobody here even knows me! Do your job and introduce us properly!"

Gravis only grinned widely. 

Skye was still as playful as always.

"I'm not adopting another child," the Opposer said with a frown from the side.

"Who wants to be your child, old man?" Skye said with an offended expression.

The Opposer only looked at Skye but looked away again.

The Opposer liked Skye quite a bit.

Why?

Because she reminded him of his wife.

They were pretty similar.

On top of that, his wife and Skye were almost best friends. 

They often went out and giggled all day long as they ruined businesses. 

It was mere playing for them but the devastating crushing of dreams for other Cultivators in the city.

The Economistress' overtaking of businesses had become far more aggressive as soon as Skye had appeared. 

The merchants lived in terror each day.