Lightning Is the Only Way

While Mortis was confused, Gravis only glared at him.

Gravis had so many things to say, but he had no idea how he should start.

On top of that, Gravis knew that this Mortis wasn't the same Mortis.

This was the Mortis from the past.

This Mortis hadn't even thought of sacrificing his life.

"You're probably wondering what happened, right?" Gravis asked with a cold voice.

Mortis looked at Gravis with an unsure expression.

In his mind, Gravis had just happily told Mortis that he would cut their emotional connection and that it would only take a second.

Yet, Mortis was somewhere completely else, and Gravis' feelings had obviously severely changed.

"What's going on?" Mortis asked.

Gravis looked at Mortis as he took out his saber.

BANG!

Black lightning appeared on Gravis' saber, but it wasn't his Void Lightning.

It was Death Lightning.

When Mortis saw that lightning, comprehension of the Major Law of Death assaulted his mind.

Mortis immediately knew what this lightning was and how it worked.

Mortis' eyes widened in shock.

The Major Law of Death!?

How!?

However, Mortis wasn't stupid, and he immediately made several connections.

"I died?" Mortis asked with a shaking voice.

He had died.

Mortis had always won his fights, and he had obviously never died.

Yet, now, Mortis realized that he had died in the Gate of Death.

This was the only explanation that made sense.

Then, Mortis looked at Gravis' cold disposition towards him and made another guess.

Mortis narrowed his eyes. "Have I betrayed you inside the Gate of Death? Is that why you are so angry with me? What, after killing me already, you want to kill me again?"

Gravis gritted his teeth.

"You did betray me alright, but not in the way you are thinking," Gravis said.

Mortis furrowed his brows.

"Explain," he said.

Gravis told Mortis of everything that had happened.

"And then you said that you didn't want to be a burden," Gravis said with gritted teeth.

No matter how much Mortis thought, he just couldn't believe what Gravis was saying.

This didn't sound like him at all!

Sure, he had been nervous about their emotional disconnection, but it wasn't nearly so bad that he would throw his life away.

That was just stupid.

"So, I sacrificed myself?" Mortis asked.

"Yes, you did," Gravis said. "Do you know why I'm so angry right now?"

Mortis wasn't entirely sure since all of this was a bit too much to take in.

Mortis only shook his head.

"I'm angry at you, and I'm also angry at me," Gravis said with a seething voice.

"What, because I wanted to kill myself?" Mortis asked coldly. "Are you saying I don't have control over my life? Is my life up to your decision?"

Gravis' eyes narrowed further.

"Aren't you an advocate of freedom?" Mortis asked coldly. "Aren't you specifically inhibiting my freedom by forcefully resurrecting me, even though the other me obviously didn't want that?"

"You fucking idiot!" Gravis shouted.

Mortis narrowed his eyes.

"You know the level six Law of Freedom!" Gravis shouted. "You know exactly that what you're saying right now is bullshit!"

"Listen, freedom is doing what one wants, right?" Gravis asked with a loud voice. "You wanted to kill yourself, right? Therefore, you're doing what you want, right?"

"Wrong!"

"Committing suicide became what you wanted because, in your stubborn mind, you couldn't get the actual thing you wanted! You want to be happy! You want to have a colorful life! Chasing that is chasing freedom!"

"Yet, you stubborn idiot didn't even try!"

Mortis didn't like being referred to as a stubborn idiot.

"You didn't even attempt it!"

"You didn't try to get to know others!"

"You didn't try to meet Joyce first!"

"You didn't try to search for love!"

"You didn't try to meet our parents again!"

"Do you think father and mom will just throw you to the side because you are technically not their son? No! Not even I am their son, technically speaking! My Spirit has fused with lightning and then has become Void Lightning. Everything that had once been Gravis' Spirit was destroyed at that moment."

"And then, even my body changed when I got my beast body. There are actually no familiar connections between myself, father, and mom. Yet, we are still a family!"

Gravis pointed at Mortis.

"So, you are also a part of my family!"

"And I'm not going to look at how someone dear to me jumps into a hole of nothingness! I might not have cared about that when you split off from me, but I'm certainly caring right now!"

"You think you can't escape the grasp of nothingness? You know what, that's very possible."

"When you only try yourself, that is," Gravis said.

"You think I got over my emotional turmoil after the lower world completely on my own? You think I'm just so awesome that I managed to deal with all of my emotions just like that?"

"No!"

"I cried in mom's arms for weeks! She has helped me through this agonizing period, and I wouldn't have been able to get through this without her help."

"Is it pathetic to see a grown man cry in his mother's arms? Sure, some people might think that, but guess what. That 'humiliation' has helped me in dealing with my emotions, and I'm willing to make that exchange again!"

Silence.

"That was a nice speech, but it doesn't really work since I'm obviously not in the same headspace as the other Mortis," Mortis said calmly. "You are rebuking me for thoughts I haven't even thought."

Gravis' fury rose as he gnashed his teeth violently.

"I know!" he shouted.

Gravis wanted to shout more, but he looked to the side with a pained expression as he took a deep breath.

"I just don't want to make the same mistake again," he said, quieter.

Mortis raised an eyebrow. "Same mistake?"

Gravis sighed. "Yes, the mistake of leaving you alone when you needed me most."

"You know the Law of Emotions, and you know what happens when you leave someone like yourself isolated to stew in their thoughts," Gravis said. "Your knowledge of the Law of Emotions and your ability of introspection should be powerful enough to make quite an accurate simulation."

Mortis' brows furrowed as he thought about Gravis' words.

Mortis still had a nervous feeling about being emotionally disconnected from Gravis, and he could very well imagine what his thoughts would have been.

After some seconds, a pained expression appeared on Mortis' face.

If he took everything into account, he could very well see how he had ended up eventually sacrificing himself.

Mortis took a deep breath out of fear.

This thought was terrifying.

How hopeless must he have felt to do something like that?

Right now, it seemed impossible for Mortis to sacrifice himself.

He had no reason to.

However, Mortis wasn't about to break down and cry.

No, he wasn't that weak mentally.

"And you are blaming yourself for that?" Mortis asked.

"Yes, I am," Gravis answered. "I knew that something was wrong with you, but I wasn't insistent enough to pursue it. I simply said that it was your decision."

"And it was my decision," Mortis answered. "As far as I'm aware of, you probably asked multiple times if something's wrong with me, and I probably just blew you off, right?"

Gravis sighed and nodded.

"Then, how is that your fault?" Mortis asked evenly. "I'm not a kid. I'm not someone that you need to take care of. If I need help, I will ask for it."

"Yet, you didn't, and you failed," Gravis said with furrowed brows. "When you see that you can't overcome this on your own, the only reason why you wouldn't ask for help is idiotic pride and stubbornness. Is that something an adult would do?"

Surprisingly, Mortis didn't get angry. "When you don't even realize that your goal has shifted to a fail-state, how can you realize that you are about to lose when you're continually making progress towards your goal?"

Gravis didn't immediately answer.

That made sense.

"So, you're saying that your logical thinking was so severely influenced by your emotions that killing yourself has become the logical goal. You knew that I would stop you, so you didn't ask me since you knew that I would inhibit your progress towards your goal."

"Yes," Mortis answered. "It isn't pride or stubbornness that stopped me from asking for help. It was the warping of my mind that warped the perception of a problem to such a degree that the problem seemed like a guide to my goal."

"Of course, I can't truly put myself into that headspace since I'm nowhere near this kind of thinking pattern."

"In actuality, in my mind, something like this seems stupid and mentally weak. Yet, I can't ignore the fact that I obviously went through with it."

Mortis was scratching his chin in thought.

"This means that this is another weakness I have to rectify. If I want to reach power, I not only need to protect myself from enemies but from the damaging parts of myself as well."

Silence.

While Mortis was thinking deeply, Gravis released a sigh of relief.

This was the Mortis he knew.

He saw that something was wrong with him, and he quickly started to analyze his issues from an objective point of view.

"Alright," Mortis said after a while. "I obviously don't have enough experience in these topics, so I'm listening to your advice regarding this from now on. If I feel any insecurity, sadness, or things similar to that, I'll talk to you and go over the available options. Is that alright?"

Gravis smiled.

"Yes, that sounds fine, and thanks for being this open. I didn't want to force you."

Mortis nodded.

"Okay, so now with that out of the way, how did you revive me, and what makes me the real Mortis when the real Mortis has been consumed by Death?"