Lightning Is the Only Way

"Like this?"

"No, not like this. I cut off part of my femur to make a blade. You should know what a blade looks like."

"Yes, but I haven't done that before."

"Just imagine it."

"So, like this?"

"Wrong cut. It's more of a diagonal one."

The Opposer frowned.

He was just recreating reality to include Gravis again.

Gravis had told his father his story, and the Opposer very quickly realized that Gravis was speaking the truth.

First of all, the Opposer knew about the ultimate price one had to pay to become the Will of Death.

Second, after Gravis highlighting weird parts in the Opposer's memory, the Opposer realized that his memories didn't make much sense in some parts.

Sure, to him, they felt natural.

However, the Opposer could see that Gravis' explanation made more sense.

The Opposer was still unused to having another son, but he tried his best to accept Gravis.

"Why is our last name Bauer anyway?" Gravis asked.

"What's with that question?" the Opposer asked.

"Well, I just thought of it," Gravis answered.

"Back in the old world, we spoke a different language. Bauer means farmer in that language. I think the old bastard changed the language so that no one would ever think about creating the word Bauer again."

"Wait, so I'm literally called Gravis Farmer? All this time without knowing my last name, and it's just straight-up farmer?" Gravis asked.

"What did you expect? You saw my past. I was born into a farmer's family, and mortals often have very straightforward last names," the Opposer answered matter-of-factly.

"The great Will of Death, Mr. Bauer," Gravis mocked.

"You can change it if you want. Who's going to stop you?" the Opposer asked.

"Nah, I don't wanna," Gravis answered. "It's my name, and I'll just have to deal with it. Also, the entire name thing doesn't really matter anymore. After all, I don't have a Cosmos."

Then, Gravis frowned. "That might actually be for the better. The only time I created a Cosmos, I made a land of suffering."

"You had good intentions," the Opposer said.

"So? You should've seen it. I think I went even crazier than you."

"I doubt that," the Opposer answered.

As Gravis and his father continued to bicker lightheartedly, the Opposer was focusing on adapting the reality of his Cosmos to include Gravis.

It was a lot of work since Gravis couldn't directly create images since he had no access to Energy, but eventually, they managed to somewhat make it fit.

A couple of minor details were different, but everything important was there.

And then, when they were finally done, the Opposer was just waiting for the go-ahead.

"Wait here. I wanna test something," Gravis said before vanishing.

The Opposer lifted an eyebrow, but he quickly saw what Gravis meant.

Inside a room, a grey shadow appeared.

Grey?

Hadn't Gravis been a black shadow?

Well, the Opposer had created a shell of Balance around Gravis. With that, Gravis could interact with Energy without using the filter of the Cosmos.

Gravis would only need to pull the shell of Balance along with his shadow.

The room Gravis had entered wasn't empty.

Someone was in here already.

Stella opened her eyes in shock as she saw a grey shadow appear in front of her.

For a second, she became incredibly confused.

She didn't know what this was, but it also didn't feel dangerous.

Additionally, as the most powerful Peak Divine God together with Arc, she was the most powerful existence in this Cosmos below the Opposer.

So, who could even do something like that?

Because of that, Stella didn't immediately attack.

For a while, the shadow only hovered in front of her.

Then, it slowly went to the door.

Creeaak.

The door slowly creaked open.

BANG!

Then, the door slammed shut.

Then, it creaked open again.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked.

"I'm a spooky ghost," Gravis answered.

"A… spooky ghost?" Stella asked.

"Yes, are you scared?" Gravis asked. "How about I make some of the furniture float? Would that work?"

Stella could only look in shock at the grey shadow.

Her perception stretched to the Opposer. In comparison to Orthar, the Opposer didn't keep his whereabouts a secret.

"Is this your doing?" she asked.

"No, this is a spooky ghost," the Opposer answered with a neutral voice.

Stella couldn't properly react to the Opposer's words.

"Are you playing a joke on me?" she asked nervously.

"Do I sound like I'm joking?" the Opposer answered with a neutral voice.

This threw Stella's mind into overdrive.

He… was he?

Clank, clank!

Stella looked over when she heard a sound, and her eyes widened.

The grey shadow was wearing a suit of armor, and it was using swords as legs and arms.

"Look! I have swords for legs!" the armored ghost said with amazement.

After this assault of confusing situations, Stella could only do one thing.

She could only laugh.

Gravis smiled when he heard Stella's laugh.

Oh, how he missed it.

…

Time passed.

…

Gravis got to know Stella, and their love was reignited. Even though Stella had no memory of Gravis, it was like they had always been together.

Then, Gravis told her about what had actually happened and that her mind had been altered.

When Gravis came to the changed reality the Opposer had created, she had immediately accepted.

She wanted to remember her life with Gravis.

After that, Gravis went to all his other friends and Yersi.

They also all wanted to remember him.

Luckily, all of his friends had been Divine Gods, which meant that they had survived the first and second culling.

The first had been the absorption of the Heaven's Magnates.

The second had been the assault of the Opposer's Cosmos.

They had all been at the perfect level of power to survive both of the dangerous incidents.

In the end, the Opposer replaced the current reality with his altered one.

Gravis' existence had been recreated and added to the reality again.

Everyone remembered him, and they were all so incredibly happy when they knew that he was still alive.

Sadly, not everyone had survived.

Mortis' death hit Azure hard, but Gravis knew that she would recover in time.

Cultivators on their level only very rarely got stopped by the death of a loved one. They had all gone through enough pain in their lives.

They knew how to deal with it.

And survival?

That didn't matter anymore.

The Opposer created separate spaces.

Those that wanted to cultivate could live in the world with the old rules.

Longevity, tempering, Law Comprehension, the entire thing.

However, if they decided to take a break or retire, they could go to a separate part of the Cosmos.

In there, they could live for as long as they wanted, and fighting was forbidden.

However, there was nearly no Energy in that world, and the Laws couldn't be perceived.

After having ruled over a Cosmos of suffering for 50 billion years, the Opposer had created the opposite, a Cosmos that people could live happily in.

Of course, it was still their choice.

Additionally, the Opposer wouldn't hold people back from ascending.

If they were able to become Heaven Breakers, they could leave.

The path was open.

The prison was no more.

And if a Heaven Breaker tried to kill the Opposer?

Well, the Opposer's power had fallen by several levels after the fight. After all, he had no more access to Death inside his Cosmos.

However, he could just tell his son.

He could deal with them.

…

A long time passed.

…

"Hey, I want to have children. Can you do something about that?"

Death in the Primordial Chaos contacted Balance, which contacted Energy.

"Yes," the Will of Energy answered.

"Okay, cool. So, could you?" Gravis asked.

"I'm not gonna."

"Why not?" Gravis asked in shock.

"Because it's boring," the Will of Energy answered with mirth.

"Boring?"

"Yes, boring."

"Alright, what do I have to do to not make it boring?" Gravis asked with annoyance.

"How about you find me in the very first Cosmos? Of course, I won't allow cheating! You have to get through there on the old-fashioned way, by going through all the Cosmoses one by one," the Will of Energy answered.

"Are you serious? Do you know how long that's going to take?" Gravis answered with annoyance.

"Yes, but that's the fun. Come on, you have an eternity ahead of you. Why not use a big chunk of that in a tour through all the Cosmoses."

In the end, Gravis could only sigh.

"You're probably right. You've been in this situation far longer than me."

"Oh, you have no idea," the Will of Energy answered with exasperation. "I'm happy to finally have someone to talk to that's on my level."

After a bit more talking, Gravis turned to Stella.

"Wanna go sightseeing?"

"Sure," Stella answered with a bright smile.

It was a bit weird not being able to touch her husband's body or being able to see him, but she had gotten used to it.

Also, it wouldn't always be like this. After all, the Will of Energy had said that they could do something about it.

Then, Gravis asked his father if he wanted to join them.

"Sure," the Opposer answered.

As the owner of the Cosmos, he didn't need to constantly be present. His human body could just follow along the Cosmoses.

If he wanted, he could send Gravis and Stella back into the Cosmos whenever he wanted.

It was essentially a mobile home.

And like that, Gravis', Stella's, and the Opposer's journey through all the Cosmoses began.

It would take a looooooong time.

But they were happy.

And free.

And that's all that counted, right?