Lightning Is the Only Way

It was apparent who these two were.

Gravis' father and the highest Heaven.

However, when Gravis heard that his father managed to come out of such a gate alive, Gravis felt some excitement. 

It was inevitable that Gravis compared himself to his father. After all, Gravis had no one else he could compare himself with. 

The normal Cultivators were not even close to his level anymore. So, he couldn't compare himself to them.

This only leaves the Heaven's Magnates, his father, and the Heavens.

Gravis had only met one Heaven's Magnate before, which was the Black Magnate, but he hadn't heard anything of his past. The lives of the Heaven's Magnates were still a mystery to Gravis, which basically made it impossible for him to compare himself to them. One can't compare oneself to something that one knew nothing about.

That left his father and the Heavens.

However, the Heavens had received their incredible powers via a special inheritance area for new Heavens. Additionally, the Heavens didn't have a finite lifespan. With an infinite amount of time, even a pig would eventually become a God.

This only left Gravis' father.

His father was the only being Gravis knew that had managed to achieve his level without any of these advantages. The Heaven's Magnates probably also achieved something like that without such advantages, but Gravis simply didn't know them.

Because of that, Gravis always felt a slight feeling of rivalry with his father. They weren't enemies or opponents, but Gravis wanted to at least keep up with his father. Achieving something like that was already more than difficult.

Gravis wanted to enter the gate.

Stella and Arc looked at Gravis, and they both knew what he was thinking.

"Gravis," Stella said as she pulled his arm. "Don't do it. We've just reunited, and I don't want to lose you again."

Gravis closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry," he said as he looked at Stella. 

Right now, Gravis felt a horrible feeling of guilt.

Tempering was one thing, but entering this gate would be suicide. 

For a second there, Gravis had completely forgotten Stella while evaluating if he should enter the gate or not.

"I forgot that I'm not living only for myself anymore," Gravis said as he embraced Stella. "Don't worry, I won't enter the gate blindly. I will only enter when I am certain that I will survive, and right now, I can't be certain of that."

Some tears appeared in Stella's eyes, but at the same time, she also felt guilty.

Without her, Gravis would have entered this gate, and he might have comprehended something supremely powerful.

Yet, Gravis had been willing to throw this chance away so that he wouldn't need to leave her.

"Power is not my goal," Gravis said to Stella and also to himself. "As far as I know, this Law is not necessary to reach the power of my father. Right, Arc?" Gravis asked as he looked at Arc.

Arc nodded. "The Major Law of Death is very powerful, but it's not necessary to reach the level of your father. Additionally, it's only a level seven Law. Such a Law might be powerful in this world, but there are a lot more powerful Laws in the highest world."

"How useful could a level seven Law be for someone on your father's level?"

Gravis nodded. That sounded about right.

"Actually," Arc said as a smile returned to his lips. "I'm glad that you didn't enter. Otherwise, I wouldn't have anything to look forward to anymore. I still want to fight you, you know?"

Gravis chuckled a bit.

"Anyway," Arc continued. "Since you're not entering, I'm going to cut off the gate from my world. Its effect on my world will already be tremendous in 2,000 years, and I doubt that you would grow so much in 2,000 years that you would be confident in comprehending the Major Law of Death before dying to its effect."

Gravis sighed and nodded.

200,000 years? Probably.

20,000 years? No.

2,000 years? Impossible.

Gravis would need to push his experience in Law Comprehension to an insane degree. Gravis would only feel somewhat confident if he already knew two or more level seven Laws.

Additionally, this gate probably wouldn't be the only one. 

Gravis knew that he had summoned that gate himself. Why else would it have appeared in this world?

So, couldn't he just summon another one in the future?

"Come, let's exit the cave," Arc said. "I'm going to cut off the entire cave, and if you're still in it, you will be cut off too. Luckily, we managed to find the gate in less than an hour after it appeared. Seems like this time I don't have to cut off a huge chunk of my world."

Gravis and Stella nodded. After that, they began exiting the cave.

Arc followed them, but he suddenly stopped as his brows furrowed.

Gravis and Stella noticed that Arc stopped and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" Gravis asked.

Arc only continued frowning.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Two seconds later, Arc looked at Gravis with a skeptical expression.

"My creator declined," Arc said.

Gravis blinked a couple of times. "What do you mean with that?"

"I mean that he said that he doesn't want to get rid of the gate," Arc said.

This surprised Gravis. 

"Wait, so does the highest Heaven want its Cosmos to be consumed by Primordial Chaos?" Gravis asked.

"Of course not," Arc answered as he shook his head slightly. "He said that he would suppress the gate personally and slow down its expansion considerably."

"He said that a couple million years shouldn't be an issue for him."

Gravis' brows also furrowed, mirroring Arc's expression. "But why?"

Arc looked Gravis in the eyes. "For you."

When Gravis heard that, his eyes narrowed.

'What's it scheming this time?' Gravis thought. 'Obviously, comprehending the level seven Law of Major Death isn't necessary to reach my father's level. This Law would only increase my Battle-Strength even more. This would only make me an even greater danger to it. Additionally, suppressing something like this probably cost quite a bit of Energy.'

'If keeping this gate suppressed didn't require more than a wave of the highest Heaven's hand, I could accept it, but the highest Heaven is obviously making some sacrifices for me.'

'But why? Why would it sacrifice its precious Energy for me?'

Gravis could only think of two reasons.

'One reason would be to use me as a weapon against my father. However, becoming father's enemy is basically impossible. Even if the highest Heaven takes everyone I know as hostages, I would probably still not attack my father. After all, I'm more of a neutral party, and suppressing me like this would push me to my father's side. Then, the highest Heaven would have to deal with two Opposers.'

'The other reason would be to kill me. I assumed that the highest Heaven wants me to become powerful, but it could just be a very well hidden scheme. Maybe it treated me with kindness in the past to create a chance where I would die 100%. After all, if it isn't 100% certain that I would die, the risk would be too high. After all, I might actually become its enemy then.'

'So, until that time arrives, it has to treat me perfectly so that I remain neutral.'

'Keeping this gate going just for me would also perfectly fall in line with that scheme. It would be treating me with kindness since it wouldn't force me to enter the gate. Additionally, I already know of the dangers. Lastly, it's making a sacrifice to keep the gate in this world.'

'Yet, if I decide to enter, there would be a 99.9% chance for my death.'

'So, no matter if I enter or not, just this gesture alone would not ruin its plans.'

'It would still treat me with kindness, no matter if I decide to enter the gate or not, and if I manage to comprehend the Law of Major Death, it would be in part thanks to the highest Heaven's sacrifice.'

'However, by using genuine kindness, the highest Heaven is also basically throwing me into a situation where my death is basically certain.'

Gravis sighed.

'The highest Heaven's schemes are terrifying.'

'It's basically killing me with kindness.'

'However, I can also just not enter the gate. No one's forcing me. I'm still free to make my own decisions.'

Gravis' brows furrowed.

'Yet, is it truly my own decision if the highest Heaven can look so far into the future that it knows that I will eventually enter the gate?'

Gravis shook his head.

'That's too abstract and philosophical. For now, I should just roll with it.'

'In the end, the decision is still in my hands.'

"Fine," Gravis said neutrally. "If the highest Heaven is willing to make such a sacrifice for me, okay. However, the chances that I will enter the gate are very low. I won't see this sacrifice as a reason to enter the gate. You basically put food on my table, even though I'm not hungry, and I didn't want any. I hope the highest Heaven won't be disappointed when I'll just ignore the food."

Arc sighed.

"I think I know what you're thinking about, and I also think I know what my creator is planning."

Then, Arc laughed bitterly.

"This scheme is deeply hidden, but at the same time, it's also open, obvious, and everyone can see it."

"Yet, in the end, it's your decision, Gravis," Arc said.

Gravis nodded. "Thanks for understanding, Arc," Gravis said.

"No thanks necessary."

After that, the three of them left, leaving the Gate of Death behind. 

What the three of them didn't know was the fact that two other beings had been with them in the cave.

The highest Heaven stood at the gate's right side, while the Opposer stood at its left.

The Opposer looked at Gravis' back as he was leaving.

'I wonder what you will decide in the future.'

At the same time, the highest Heaven was looking at the gate.