Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis couldn't believe it.

Why did that guy explode!?

He didn't want to kill the guy in order to not create a deep enmity, but that guy just killed himself!? Was he so mad about his weapon being stolen that he wanted to pull Gravis down with him!?

SHING! SHING! SHING!

All the guards teleported into the hall, and it became very crowded suddenly. On top of that, their angry eyes bore into Gravis.

"What guts!" a guard in red armor said. "It has been a while since an Ascender dared to kill one of us!"

"I didn't kill shit!" Gravis shouted as he pointed at the smoldering remains of the dead guard. "I only wanted to teach him a lesson, but that guy just exploded! How the fuck is that my fault!?"

"Stop lying!" another guard shouted. "It's common knowledge that one's path is severed when one loses his weapon!"

Gravis blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Really?" he asked.

"You can't talk yourself out of this one, servant," another guard said as he stepped forward with his weapon. "Today, you will die. Servants that don't respect the weapon are worthless."

"I truly didn't know," Gravis said, activating his Law of Honesty.

At once, all the guards became shocked. Their Will-Aura couldn't keep up with Gravis, and they immediately believed him.

One of the guards sighed. "So you truly didn't know," the guard said. 

SHING!

The guard pulled his saber and pointed it at Gravis. "Then consider this bad luck," the guard said. "You have killed one of us in the most disrespectful way possible. Not knowing doesn't absolve you of your deeds."

'Of course it wouldn't be this easy,' Gravis thought. 'Even if someone confesses to a crime honestly, they will still get their punishment.'

'I wonder, is this because of my Karmic Luck?' Gravis thought. 'Now that I'm among humans again, I will probably run into more instances of bad luck.'

"So you will kill me, no matter what I say. Is that it?" Gravis asked evenly.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Nearly all guards took out their weapons. "We would have given you the privilege of serving us, but a servant that does not know how to respect their masters is worthless," one of them said.

Gravis rolled his eyes. Again with this servant shit. 

"Actually," Gravis said with a slight giggle, "I find it amusing that you value the Cultivator's path over their individual power. I agree that Weapon Cultivators are in general stronger than other Cultivators, but this only refers to the general populace, not everyone."

"Sometimes, there are people that break the convention," Gravis said as he gestured to them with his open palm. 

"Like me, for example."

WHOOOOOOOOM!

An apocalyptic pressure pressed down onto everyone. The bodies of the guards shook as it became incredibly hard for them to move. Their weapons lowered as their arms couldn't withstand the pressure.

Immediately, all guards noticed that they had committed a fatal mistake. This was not a normal Ascender!

Gravis slowly lowered his outstretched arm.

CRRRRRR!

And with the lowering of his arm, his Will-Aura intensified.

Some of the guards lost their footing and kneeled on the ground, but others managed to hold. For the first time, fear and respect appeared in their eyes. They had never seen or even heard about such a powerful Ascender! Over 100 Cultivators, an entire level above Gravis, had been made helpless in front of him.

"There are several paths to power," Gravis said with a smirk. "One of them is Weapon Cultivation, but it isn't the only one. With my Will-Aura alone, I am undefeatable by every Minor Circulation Immortal."

"But there's more," Gravis said with a smirk.

CRRRRRRR!

The hall shook as the ground below Gravis started to vanish. A crater appeared around the standing Gravis as everything around him got its Composition destroyed, transforming everything into dust and Energy. 

A black void appeared around Gravis as everything around him turned into void. Gravis knew all the High-Rank elements and the Hard Pure Law. Light, darkness, earth, air, stone, everything was turned into nothingness as a swirl of white dust and Energy flowed around Gravis.

The power and sound of the destruction of everything assaulted the guards, heightening their fear and astonishment to incredible levels.

Step!

Gravis took one step in the void as the black, destructive nothingness traveled along with him. Everything that touched Gravis turned into nothingness. "Composition is another path to power," Gravis said. 

WHOOOM!

18 balls appeared around Gravis' body, each one representing a different element. The inner circle was comprised of the pure elements, while the outer one was comprised of the mixed elements.

The balls around Gravis started circling as they absorbed the power of the destroyed material all around him. 

"You might look down upon the Elemental Cultivators, but even Elemental Cultivators can reach an incredible power," Gravis said as he stepped forward. 

BRRR!

Suddenly, the entire hall became incredibly hot as the guards even felt their armors and weapons heating up. Yet, no matter how hot their weapons became, they wouldn't drop them. 

CRRR!

Then, everything froze over as it became even harder for the guards to move. 

"The Temperature Laws can also be quite dangerous."

The guards shivered, but they weren't sure if it was because of the cold or fear. 

"But I don't specialize in any of these examples," Gravis said with a smirk. "You wanna know what I specialize in?" he asked.

None of them could answer.

BZZZZZ!

Punishment Lightning appeared in front of Gravis as it unveiled all the lightning-related Laws that existed up to this point. "I specialize in two things," Gravis said as he summoned his saber. 

Gravis slowly moved his saber through the lightning ball and absorbed it with his saber. Now, the saber crackled violently with power as Gravis' impossibly powerful Will-Aura magnified the power of his lightning manifold. 

The guards realized that this was a technique of Weapon Cultivators. Only Weapon Cultivators could infuse their weapons with so much power. They could feel the power in Gravis' saber and grew incredibly shocked.

The power was colossal, but that wasn't the shocking part. After all, there were several people on Gravis' level that could create such a powerful attack. 

What truly shocked them was that Gravis' saber was absent of any Weapon Law!

How was it possible to push a technique from Weapon Cultivation to such an insane degree without using the very thing they all concentrated on!?

"My first specialization focuses on lightning, as you can see," Gravis said. 

"And my second specialization…" Gravis said as he trailed off. Then, he lifted his outstretched hand.

"Are my Will-Aura related Laws." 

And he lowered his hand.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

All guards immediately collapsed onto the ground, a crater appearing around them as their bodies were pressed into the ground with so much power that it couldn't hold.

The guards felt pain as their muscles and bones screamed at them that they were being destroyed. 

Gravis' Will-Aura alone was killing them right now, and the guards felt that their death had come.

Whooosh!

Yet, all the pressure vanished suddenly.

'He stopped?' they all thought in shock. They were alive?

"And I think that Weapon Cultivation will help me more in combining my powers," Gravis said calmly. "I have a powerful body, powerful elements, and a powerful Will-Aura. Yet, all of these things are separate from each other. I want to combine them into one, and I think Weapon Cultivation is just the thing I need."

"So," Gravis said as the guards slowly stood up again. "Take me as a novice of Weapon Cultivation, but an expert in pure power."

Gravis waited some seconds until all the guards stood up again. Right now, everything was identical to the time when the guards had just teleported into the room, with them standing on one side with their weapons and Gravis standing on the other. 

Yet, one thing was different. No guard dared to look at Gravis with anger or disrespect. Instead, all of them feared and respected him. 

These were the legendary heights of Battle-Strength every Weapon Cultivator strived for! 

This was what they had chased for their entire life!

Gravis smiled as he looked at them. "I want to join a Sect to learn about Weapon Cultivation. Of course, I will follow the Sect's rules and will give you access to my abilities."

"So, my question is, will one of you accept me into their Sect?"