Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis concentrated on creating his Avatar, but he was torn between two paths right now.

On one hand, Gravis had comprehended the Minor Law of the Dead World, and this Law would boost his power to incredible levels. He could unleash the Laws of Space, Time, Gravity, Matter, and his Lightning with the power of level four Laws. The power that such an Avatar had was ridiculous.

Yet, this was Heaven's chosen best path. Heaven wanted him to follow this path like a formula.

Gravis had already seen how everything would evolve naturally and why this Law would be the best one to start with. First came the dead world, then came life, making it the living world. After that, one could combine the emotions and situational Laws like Control, Suppression, and Freedom to create the Law of the True World. This would create a perfect world and would probably be the end.

But Gravis really didn't want to follow the path that Heaven chose. Heaven had forced him onto this path, and he had just defied Heaven. If he went back to doing this, what would have been the point of defying Heaven?

Taking the Law of the Dead World as an Avatar was the logical and most powerful choice.

Yet, Gravis really wanted to make his Avatar the Law of Freedom.

Gravis desired freedom above everything else, including supreme power. If Gravis had the ability to gain true freedom without having supreme power, he would choose freedom. The only problem was that one was required to have supreme power to be truly free. When one wasn't the strongest, one would always be suppressed by the more powerful beings.

Obviously, the Law of Freedom, even if it was a level four Law, wasn't nearly as powerful as the Law of the Dead World. The Law of Freedom allowed Gravis to ignore every kind of suppression. This included cages, Space Confinements, Will-Auras, and probably also Formation Arrays and something similar.

This was truly powerful, but was it as powerful as the Law of the Dead World? Certainly not!

Additionally, to create the True World, these situational Laws came in last. Sure, in the very end, Gravis would be able to create the True World regardless of what he chose, but the path to that point is difficult.

If Gravis decided to create his Avatar with the Law of Freedom, he wouldn't be able to access the true power of the different World Laws until he already was one of the most powerful beings in the highest world.

Gravis' head told him that he should take the Law of the Dead World.

Gravis' heart told him that he should take the Law of Freedom.

Gravis' mind had been able to accept defying Heaven. After all, being apart from any other living being for thousands of years was incredibly damaging to his personality.

If he had remained in this situation, he might have forgotten who he truly was. He might even have forgotten how to laugh or feel excited. In the end, he would have become like his father, cold, unfeeling, and surrounded by greyness. The desire for more power would have been the only thing driving him forward.

Was this what Gravis wanted? No!

Yet, the matter of the Avatar was different. Not choosing the Law of the Dead World might give him a hefty disadvantage against other Cultivators in the highest world. Sure, he would still be powerful in the higher world, but not in the highest world.

'I really want to condense an Avatar with the Law of Freedom, but no matter how I think about it, it would just be too stupid,' Gravis thought.

'I mean, I could still combine the Law of Freedom with the Law of Suppression later on, and sure, I could probably also include emotions at some point…'

Suddenly, Gravis' eyes shone.

'How have I not seen this before!?'

Gravis made his decision and condensed his Avatar. It took him several minutes, but when he was done, Gravis' Avatar appeared behind him.

"What have you done!?" Heaven shouted in anger. "Are you that dead-set on defying my ancestor that you choose this garbage Law over the Law of the Dead World!?"

Behind Gravis floated his Avatar. It was light blue and looked like it had wind inside it. The form of his Avatar changed like wind blew upon grass.

"Are you unable to see my path, Heaven?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

"You can't combine this Law with the world until the very end!" Heaven shouted. "Your power will be crippled until the very end, but with that disadvantage, you won't even be able to get to the end!"

Gravis laughed again. "So, you truly can't see my path! How interesting," Gravis said.

"Your ancestor knows best!" Gravis shouted with a smile. "Your ancestor has shown me the way! You have shown me the way!" Gravis shouted as he bowed mockingly.

"I will follow the path of your ancestor," Gravis said.

Heaven felt Gravis' mockery in its very being. "No, you can't-"

"Backwards!" Gravis interrupted Heaven.

Heaven was taken aback. "What?" it asked involuntarily.

"I will tread the path backwards!" Gravis repeated.

"I will start with freedom. Then, I will take all the situational Laws to create the Law of Situations. After that, I will take the Life Laws to create the Law of True Life, and lastly, I will combine the Law of True Life with the Law of the Dead World, creating the Law of the True World!" Gravis shouted.

"Stop being stupid and stubborn!" Heaven shouted in rage. "The Situational Laws are the hardest to understand! You can't watch them like matter, the elements, or life! Understanding these Laws relies on pure chance! You are making this far harder on yourself than it needs to be!"

"Fuck you, I do what I want," Gravis shouted as he laughed loudly. "This is my choice, and it's my decision to make it! If my choice is to die right now, there's nothing you can do to stop me! If I want to make my path even harder, you also can't stop me!"

"I'm not your fucking pet!" Gravis shouted as he pointed at Heaven aggressively. "Stop trying to push me onto something! I do what I fucking want, and if you continue trying to shoehorn me into your so-called best path, I might just decide to fucking cripple my own path to annoy you!"

Heaven saw that it couldn't force Gravis onto the path it wanted. If it still had its old power, it might have been able to force him under threat of his life. Sadly, its Avatar had been destroyed, and Heaven had no level four Law remaining. It could only unleash some basic, element-neutral level three Laws.

It was far weaker than Gravis right now.

"Fine," Heaven said. "You have made your choice. There is nothing I can do to change it."

"Come!" Heaven shouted. "Finish it and return home."

The only thing remaining was consuming Heaven and understanding the level six Law of Divine Lightning.

Heaven inspected Gravis with its Spirit, and it clenched its fist when it saw Gravis' expression.

Gravis only grinned widely.

"Sorry," Gravis said slowly, his mirth coating his words, "but I don't wanna."

Heaven's body shook in a cocktail of emotions.

Even now, Gravis was defying it!? Was he truly that petty!? He wouldn't even kill and consume Heaven right now!?

Gravis had once made a vow to his lightning that he would kill Heaven. Yet, what was this vow in front of the Law of Freedom? Freedom didn't allow suppression, and that included Gravis' own self.

Gravis was free.

He didn't have to follow what some guy in the past swore, even if it was himself. His lightning just had to deal with it.

Heaven's body continued shaking.

"Fine!" Heaven shouted.

BANG!

Heaven pointed at Gravis and unleashed a terrifyingly fast lightning bolt. It was so fast that Gravis couldn't possibly evade. His body halted as his mind was overwhelmed with knowledge.

"But you WILL understand the Law of Divine Lightning if you want to or not!" Heaven shouted with anger.

Days passed, but Gravis only felt like seconds passed.

"What?" Gravis said as his mind returned to him. Then, he realized what Heaven had done.

Gravis released a sigh. "Alright, might as well," he commented.

Gravis inspected the new knowledge he had gained, but it somehow felt… incomplete.

"Huh?" Gravis uttered. Then, he opened his palm and tried to use Divine Lightning, but it just didn't work.

"You can't," Heaven said. "This is a level six Law, and even with your special Spirit, you can't fully combine it yet. I can only use this Law because my Ancestor made an exception for us Heavens."

"Normally, you would need to have a Will-Aura on the level of a Star God, but in your case, the Immortal Emperor Realm should suffice," Heaven explained.

Instead of looking at Heaven, Gravis frowned at his hand. He tried every conceivable way to comprehend this Law, but it just didn't work.

Then, his Avatar began to shine.

And Gravis smirked.

"Fuck you, I do what I want!"

BANG!

A spark of Divine Lightning appeared on Gravis' hand, shocking Heaven beyond belief.

Then, Gravis laughed loudly again.

"Your stupid rules can't suppress me!" Gravis shouted between laughs.

Yet, Gravis felt light-headed, and the lightning disappeared.

"Okay, maybe I follow them a little bit," Gravis said weakly.

He had defied the rules and comprehended the Law of Divine Lightning, but he couldn't use it. His entire being felt utterly exhausted. Gravis was lightning, but this Divine Lightning was just too overbearing.

If Gravis decided to become Divine Lightning, the power of Divine Lightning would win. Then, Gravis would literally become Divine Lightning. His will and being would vanish, and he would lose his individuality. He would become a mindless body filled with the will of Divine Lightning.

This would be the same situation as back when he had become the Avatar of Lightning in the lower world. Gravis would truly die.

'But hey, that's a small victory!' Gravis thought with a smirk.

Then, he waved at Heaven with a wink. "Anyway, goodbye. I'll be going now," he said with a laugh.

Gravis looked at the sky with a smile.

After that, he flew upwards and vanished.

The Opposer had called his son home.

Heaven looked at the ground, its dead child.

It moved its hand through the sand as it touched it.

"I have failed you, ancestor," Heaven said, its voice filled with sadness and grief. "My child is dead, and I have no reason to continue living."

"Ancestor, please destroy me along with my child."

The highest Heaven looked at its child, but it wasn't angry. This had been one of its most loyal, hardworking, and best children. Not even the highest Heaven had been able to foresee this development.

Its child had performed as well as possible. If not even the highest Heaven had been able to foresee this development, it would be foolish to expect others to foresee it.

Slowly, the entire world turned into white dust.

Heaven stood up and looked at its dead child.

Then, it sighed one last time.

"I truly hate you, Gravis," it said.

And then, it too, transformed into white dust.

The white dust vanished as it was transformed into Energy to feed a different middle world.

Like this, an entire middle world had been destroyed.

And Gravis' journey in the middle world had ended.