Lightning Is the Only Way

It had been nearly a week since Gravis started living in the Heaven Sect. One would think that Gravis could finally relax in that timeframe since he was not being hunted anymore, but that was sadly not true. When there were quiet moments without a potential enemy to occupy his thoughts, Gravis started thinking about Gorn again.

The nightmares had also started again after they had stopped for a while. When Gravis was on the tree together with Skye, it was bearable since the potential danger occupied his thoughts. At that time, he had no time to think about Gorn. Yet now, having no strong external pressure, Gravis started falling into guilt again.

Gravis felt the pain of the guilt, and he wished that he could turn back the time to make a different decision. Sadly, time didn't work that way, and the only thing that Gravis could do was to do his best to help the Lightning Sect when he was strong enough. But when Gravis thought about the Lightning Sect and the Lightning Guild, he could only laugh pitifully.

"I want to repay Gorn by helping the whole Lightning Sect, yet the only thing I have done until now was killing tens of their disciples. What kind of repayment is that?" Gravis mumbled to himself.

Of course, Gravis knew that he had to kill the disciples that came to hunt him. He knew that he had no other choice in the matter. Gravis would still continue killing his enemies, but that sadly didn't make it any easier. Sure, Gravis could theoretically let them kill him, and they would have gotten their revenge, but would that repay what he has done?

No, there was a difference between revenge and redemption. If Gravis died, then Gorn would have died for nothing. That wouldn't help the Lightning Sect or the Lightning Guild in any way. So, the only goal that Gravis could work towards was getting enough strength to repay the Lightning Sect. Gravis knew that this wouldn't redeem his actions, but it was the most he could do.

He couldn't think of anything else that he could do to redeem himself. He couldn't give up now! There was a way out of this situation! Gravis only had to keep going and keep at it until he reached it. "But it's so hard," Gravis mumbled again.

He could make all this pain and guilt go away if he just gave up. It seemed so easy, actually. Yet, every new day, he decided to keep on going. His family, his own ambition, and the possibility to repay Gorn drove him forward.

Learning the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique wasn't really difficult, and Gravis managed to grasp it in two days. After that, he grew unoccupied again and decided to go outside with Skye. Gravis could come and go as he pleased, and he decided to spend the last couple of days, before his job started, with Skye.

Skye had occupied itself by flying around the area and hunting in the forests. Due to Skye's speed and power, it managed to hunt a lot of food. Additionally, it had also fought two mid-grade Energy Beasts in those days. Normally, there wouldn't be so many mid-grade Energy Beasts in the surroundings, but they seemed to be congregating here.

'It's probably the higher Energy density,' Gravis assumed. Gravis had only noticed the higher Energy density when he had had some time for himself. The closer one got to the building of the Heaven Sect, the higher the Energy density. Inside the building, the Energy Density was around double the average of the Middle-Continent. That was probably Heaven's blessing or something similar. Gravis wasn't sure.

The further one got away from the Heaven Sect, the more the density returned to normal. However, the density was still higher than average at a distance of 100 kilometers. The strong beasts wanted to remain in this high density of Energy, so they all congregated here. Of course, only the strongest beasts could secure a place. The weaker ones would be driven away or killed by the stronger ones. Thus, the surroundings of the Heaven Sect were like a holy training ground for Skye.

Gravis had accompanied Skye in its training and managed to distract his mind from thinking about Gorn and his guilt. Gravis had also attempted to find out Skye's gender but failed. Birds procreated with their cloaca, and Gravis didn't know enough to judge its gender based on that. He only found it out when he had painstakingly explained the concept of genders and bird-sex to Skye.

Skye pointed at the male-symbol, but Gravis was not sure if Skye understood him correctly. Skye had never met another bird of its kind, so the instinct to procreate had not appeared yet. Gravis sighed and wiped the symbols away. "It's 50/50 with or without Skye's input," He grumbled. Gravis just sighed but didn't care any further. They were companions, and that was all that mattered.

After two days of learning the Heaven's Balance Cultivation Technique and five days of running around with Skye, one week finally passed. Gravis had waited for this moment, and he was happy that he could finally do something. Even though he had a lot of fun with Skye, it felt like he had wasted his time.

He had also tried to find mid-grade Energy Beasts but, of course, failed. Even though Heaven had taken a significant loss with Gravis joining the Heaven Sect, it hadn't given up yet. It still tried its best to keep Gravis from finding strong enemies. The only good thing about that was that Gravis was pretty sure that controlling such strong beasts was probably exhausting to Heaven. So, even though Gravis had not managed to temper himself, he could at least say that he made Heaven work overtime during these days.

On this day, Gravis knocked on Aion's office. Gravis waited for a couple of seconds, but nothing happened, so Gravis continued waiting patiently.

"Ugh, just come in," Gravis heard from behind the door and then promptly entered. At this point, Aion's office probably didn't need much description since it was just as luxurious as the rest of the building. Yet, what surprised Gravis was not the office, but Aion.

Aion wasn't really inside his office but on an adjacent balcony. He laid on some kind of mattress and was bathing in the sun. Gravis had thought that Aion had to work, but it seemed like he had been mistaken.

"Man, you really need to stop being so stiff," commented Aion, not looking at him. "You didn't have to come exactly after a week. Why not take some additional days off?"

Gravis decided against that since he was already feeling like he was just wasting his time away. "Senior brother, I would like to start my work," Gravis said directly.

Aion looked at Gravis and groaned. Some documents levitated to Gravis, who caught them. Gravis looked through them, and one of his eyebrows rose.

"Those are your first targets," Aion commented.

Gravis waited for Aion to say more, but nothing further came. "I thought I was supposed to fight criminals two levels higher than me," Gravis said.

A drink levitated over to Aion's mouth, and he took a swig from it, releasing a refreshed sigh after drinking. "Just be happy, Gravis," Aion said. "That's a present from me. I'm sure you will enjoy this."

Gravis furrowed his brows further. "What kind of present is killing two people on the third level of Magic Gathering and two people at the fourth? Don't we already have someone for that level?" Gravis asked.

Aion snickered like he had expected the question. "Sure we do, but those four are special," Aion smugly said. "Why don't you check the crime they committed?"

Gravis read more of the dossier and then finally understood why Aion had sent him. The two on the third level and one on the fourth level had reported about Gravis' whereabouts when he had left Earth Town. A light of recognition appeared in Gravis' eyes as he remembered the three Lightning Guild disciples, which he had spared back in Earth Town.

Gravis looked at the last guy in the fourth level and realized that this was the survivor from his fight with the Lightning Guild and Fire Guild on the tree. Aion was allowing him to take revenge.

Gravis thought for a bit and decided to go through with it. He had given the three from Earth Town a chance to survive, but they hadn't taken it. The other guy had also tried to kill Gravis. Even though it felt like he was bullying children, Gravis decided to go through with it.

'If I were weaker, they would have killed me already,' Gravis thought as he said his goodbyes to Aion.

With that, Gravis left the Heaven Sect with Skye, heading straight for the headquarters of the Lightning Guild.