Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis and Mortis kept themselves hidden while approaching the Heavenly Divine Sect. They didn't yet know if their friends truly were there or not, and they were uncertain in what capacity they were there.

After they arrived, they noticed that, just like with all the other Peak Sects, there was a striking absence of many powerful presences.

In fact, there were only two Peak Divine Gods. One was someone they hadn't seen yet, but based on context clues, they assumed this was the Ancestor of the Heavenly Divine Sect. The other existence was the Core Plant.

There was no Sect Master, and there were no Vice-Sect Masters.

On top of that, there were only two Core Elders.

After looking through the Law fragments of several people, Gravis realized what had happened.

'They lost the battle but won the war,' Gravis thought.

'Their Vice-Sect Masters and nearly all their Core Elders died. Even Divine Junior died against his three opponents. In essence, the upper echelon is completely crippled.'

'Yet, they won the war since they won the battle between the Ancestors. Under normal circumstances, they would have lost that battle too, but someone has interfered quite a bit,' Gravis thought with a smirk.

'First, Arc killed a Sect Master, and then he made one of the Ancestors go to the True Life Sect. After that, he got involved in the fight. The Ancestor of the Heavenly Divine Sect and Arc killed all the other Ancestors.'

'After everyone realized that their Ancestors had died, they all fled by using emergency teleportation emblems. The Heavenly Divine Sect didn't know where everyone had retreated to, but that isn't a problem anymore. After all, I took care of them.'

For a while, Gravis only thought about the impact this day had on the world.

In all the Peak Sects, only two level nine Divine Gods were left. There were even only a couple of level seven Divine Gods left.

Before Gravis had come into contact with the Peak Sects, every single Peak Sect had at least four Peak Divine Gods. The Ancestor, the Sect Master, at least one Vice-Sect Master, and the Core Plant.

Back then, there had been seven Peak Sects, and several of them had two Vice-Sect Masters.

That came to over 30 level nine Divine Gods.

Now?

Two.

Only two.

'Well, I kept my promise,' Gravis thought. 'I said I was going to destroy the Peak Sects, and I basically did.'

Gravis awkwardly scratched the back of his head. 'Doesn't feel as significant. One would think that turning the strongest Cultivators in the world to ash and remaining as the sole strongest being would do wonders for one's ego.'

'Yet, it only feels natural,' Gravis thought with an awkward smile.

'Every single member of the Peak Sects could have turned me to dust initially, but I somehow still felt like we lived in different worlds.'

'It's like the Peak Sects had never been important in the first place.'

Gravis sighed.

'I guess that's due to our different goals. They wanted to create an empire, but I want to become a Heaven Breaker. I think it's because I'm not seeing this Cosmos as my world, but as the world of someone else.'

Gravis looked at the world around him.

Everything looked familiar to him.

He had lived his entire life in this Cosmos.

Yet, it also felt like it was someone else's home.

'When did this feeling of dissociation appear?' Gravis thought. 'Is it when I realized that I'm actually close to reaching the end of my path?'

'It feels a bit like looking at your parent's house when you're about to move out.'

'It's not your place anymore.'

'I think it's just acceptance. I'm accepting that I'm moving on. I wonder, do the Heaven's Magnates also feel this way?'

'Probably not. They don't know that there is more out there. For all they know, this Cosmos is all that exists. It's actually shocking when I think about it, but I think that most Heaven's Magnates don't even know what the Primordial Chaos is.'

'They've never seen it. They've never heard of it. All they have ever seen was inside this Cosmos, and this Cosmos only has Energy. They don't know that there is another force called Death. They don't know that there are even more forces out there.'

'Energy is all they know.'

Gravis thought about the Heaven's Magnates he had met.

Back then, the Heaven's Magnates had already viewed Gravis as one of their own. In their mind, Gravis was just like them, a visitor to the world.

Yet, at this moment, Gravis realized that he wasn't like the other Heaven's Magnates.

The other Heaven's Magnates were like innocent children in his mind.

Of course, calling Heaven's Magnates innocent children could almost be seen as comical, but Gravis truly felt that way.

It was like Gravis was looking at several children that dreamt of finding a new home. They wanted to find a great place to stay.

Yet, they didn't know that they were actually slaves just waiting to be bought.

Every day, they worked hard for their owner. After all, he gave them silver and gold when they worked hard!

The best of them had so many valuables that it was almost scary!

Yet, when a buyer was interested in one of them, that person would quickly have an accident happen to them. Because of whatever reason, they rightfully lost everything they owned, and they got banished.

At least, that was how the kids perceived it.

In reality, the seller simply took all the money away from the kid and handed them over to a life of hardship and slavery.

The other kids saw none of that.

They had only seen that one of them had made a horrible mistake, and they had been punished for it.

And like that, they continued to work hard. After all, one day, they would be able to buy a new home with their money, right?

This was how Gravis saw the Heaven's Magnates.

The Heaven's Magnates kept playing Orthar's game, becoming more and more powerful during that progress. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Then, the very best of them would even comprehend the Law of the Cosmos.

Now, they finally had enough money to buy a new home.

So, they would attempt to purchase their new home.

Just for everything to crumble into dust.

Orthar would take away their lives and consume their Energy to increase his own power.

All the Heaven's Magnates looked down on the old foggies. After all, they said that there was nothing they could do. No matter what they did, all paths lead to the end of existence.

Of course, the other Heaven's Magnates didn't believe that. That was just loser talk! These three old foggies were only talking like this because they still didn't manage to comprehend the Law of Energy after so long!

They were just mad at their own incompetence.

Yet, in reality, the other Heaven's Magnates were the stupid ones.

The three old foggies were actually right.

No matter what they did, they would never be able to create their own Cosmos.

On top of that, Orthar was so powerful that they couldn't do anything against him.

There was only one possible way for them to kill Orthar.

Everyone had to kill all the powerful Cultivators and then kill themselves.

With all the Star Gods and stronger dead, Orthar's Cosmos would lose 99.999% of its draw.

It would essentially stop absorbing Energy from the Primordial Chaos for millions of years.

During that time, the Opposer would keep absorbing Energy, and eventually, the delicate balance between them would shatter.

However, that would never happen.

Their goal was to survive.

What was the point of anything when they were dead?

Might as well enjoy their last remaining years.

As Gravis thought about all of these things, he realized that the other Heaven's Magnates truly weren't like him.

The normal Cultivators in Orthar's Cosmos weren't like Gravis, and now, even the Heaven's Magnates weren't like Gravis.

That even included Gravis' mother.

It also included all of Gravis' friends.

It included Stella and even his children.

They were all part of Orthar's Cosmos.

The only three people that were similar to Gravis in that regard were Mortis, Orthar, and the Opposer.

It was kind of depressing to think about.

Thunk!

Suddenly, Gravis hit the side of his head in frustration.

"Argh, why am I so depressed all of a sudden!?" he shouted with frustration.

Mortis only shot Gravis a glance.

"I shouldn't think about such bullshit! It's depressing!"

Then, Gravis smiled brightly.

"I want to see my honey again!"