Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at Gorn's remains and couldn't process what had happened. Gorn had been alive some seconds ago. He had just been standing there, and now he was dead? How could this happen? Why did this happen?

Gravis took some step backward. Why was Gorn dead? Gorn had helped him unconditionally. He had even sacrificed the whole Lightning Guild for Gravis! Gorn had supported him with everything he had, and Gravis had sworn previously to pay everything back. So, how could Gravis have killed him?

This had to be a bad dream! This couldn't possibly be real! Gravis shook his head and took some steps back. "I didn't mean to!" Gravis shook his head in denial. "I didn't want to kill you," Gravis said as he looked into the remaining eye of Gorn's head.

"Aaahh!" A shrill scream came from his right, and Gravis saw the woman from the Lightning Tower looking at the remains of Gorn and Gravis with terror. Gravis' heart plummeted. The scream took him back to reality.

"I didn't mean to! It wasn't on purpose!" Gravis shouted as he looked at her.

The woman looked with fear at Gravis. Gravis took one step closer, and the woman immediately pulled out her weapon in fear. "Monster! Don't come closer!" she shouted with a shaky voice.

Gravis stopped. The word "monster" had hit him hard. 'Am I a monster?' he asked himself, and he grew afraid of the answer. He had killed the person who supported him the most. He had killed the person that was ready to bet their own life on him. If he wasn't a monster, then who was?

Gravis' eyes grew teary, and he shook his head. He grabbed his head with both hands and violently shook. He didn't mean to! It wasn't on purpose! Gravis' body shook. "This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real," he continuously mumbled to himself.

More and more disciples returned to the guild as they didn't hear any more destruction. Yet, when they saw Gorn's remains and Gravis, their shock and terror only increased. They looked at Gravis like he was an insane murderer.

Gravis looked around, and every disciple showed the same emotions. Gravis saw fear, terror, and disgust in their eyes. Every time he saw someone looking at him like that, he felt like someone had stabbed his heart.

Gravis couldn't take it anymore and ran away. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't kill any more innocent people. He just wanted to flee. He wanted to get as far away as possible from this place. Everything else didn't matter.

The disciples watched as Gravis left with relief. Yet, their home was still destroyed. Their Guild Master was also dead. What were they supposed to do? The disciples felt lost and looked around in confusion and pain. They were homeless now.

Though, not all disciples acted like that. Some of the disciples gathered in a small group and discussed with each other. After a while of discussion, they looked at the Exchange Hall with greed.

Some Humans were inherently greedy.

-----

"Insolence!" shouted a tall man with white hair. Lightning erupted from his body and hit the walls of the lavishly decorated, blackish-blue room. The room trembled, but nothing was destroyed. The other people in the room looked down with furrowed brows.

The tall, middle-aged man looked at the nervously kneeling disciple in front of him. Lightning was shooting through his eyes, and he breathed angrily through his nose. The others didn't dare to say anything to their Guild Master. They only had to wait for him to calm down.

Surely enough, after about 30 seconds, the middle-aged man calmed down slightly and sat back down on his chair. He took a deep breath to relax. "So, to summarize: The third Proxy-Lightning Guild took in a Heavenborn. That disciple broke through in three months, and with his new power, he killed his Guild Master and stole all the resources of the destroyed Proxy-Lightning Guild?"

The disciple only nodded but didn't lift his head. The Guild Master grew angry quickly. He never hurt anyone when he grew angry, but he would destroy stuff and shout at people. Who could even stop him? He was the Guild Master of one of the parent Lightning Guilds in the middle continent. On top of that, he had already reached the Spirit Forming Realm. He could do whatever he wanted. Everyone else had to adapt.

The Guild Master grabbed some small steel balls and squeezed them in his hands. Over the years, he had developed multiple methods to keep his explosive temper in check. The balls were made of an extremely strong material, and even the Guild Master couldn't destroy them.

The stronger the person, the stronger the element's influence. Every element had a specific temperament associated with it, which influenced the user. Lightning was calm and distant normally, but if something came too close, the lightning would explode with all its power.

"When did this happen?" asked the Guild Master.

"About three weeks ago," replied the kneeling disciple.

The Guild Master narrowed his eyes in thought. After a while, he stood up. "I hereby declare that the offending disciple is to be eliminated. He has not only killed the Guild Master that has supported him, but he's also stolen the entire wealth of the guild. Such a despicable and greedy mindset won't be tolerated!" he declared.

One of the elders' narrowed his eyes. "Guild Master, the offending disciple is a Heavenborn. Are you sure you want to kill him? What of the Heaven Sect?" the elder asked.

The Guild Master had expected the question. "He has not joined the Heaven Sect yet, and he has attacked our Lightning Guild. The Heaven Sect may be the hegemon of this world, but it won't go too far if we kill this person. Though, we have to be sure to kill him before he reaches the Heaven Sect. If he joins them, we won't be able to avenge our fallen disciple."

The elder thought for a bit and then nodded. "What will be the reward for killing the Heavenborn?" he asked after that.

The Guild Master thought for a bit. "Make it 1,000 Magic-Stones," he said.

The elders looked at each other. That was a lot of money. One Magic-Stone could be exchanged for 1,000 gold. With 1,000 Magic-Stones, one disciple could compress their Energy Vortex for the eight-time.

The levels in the Energy Gathering Realm were divided into how many times a person had compressed their Energy. When the Energy Vortex reached its maximum saturation, the person needed to compress the Energy to make it denser. One compression would double the Energy.

If someone on the first level of the Energy Gathering Realm had one Energy, then someone on the second level would have two Energy. The third level would be four, and the fourth level would be eight, and so on. The highest level for the people in the middle-continent was the ninth. Only a select few supreme geniuses in the Core-Continent would have the luxury of getting an improved dantian, which allowed for one additional compression.

To reach the ninth level, one would need to go through eight compressions. A person on the ninth level of the Energy Gathering Realm would have 256 times the amount of Energy as someone on the first level. This showed how much Energy 1,000 Magic-Stones could provide.

The Guild Master looked around and saw no more objections. "Send the disciples! The murderer must not reach the Heaven Sect!"

The elders stood up and saluted. "Yes, Guild Master!"