Lightning Is the Only Way

The Empress sighed, something she had done a couple of times in the last five minutes. For these last five minutes, Gravis had just stared into space. In the beginning, the Empress thought that Gravis was looking at her, but his eyes were unfocused, which made her realize that he was just looking aimlessly into space.

The Empress wasn't stupid, and even though she hadn't felt this feeling called love before, she could still empathize with it. She thought that, for Gravis, accepting this situation probably felt akin to having heard that he had to stop his path to power. Because of that, the Empress could empathize with Gravis.

"I'm sorry, Empress," Gravis said after these five minutes. Surprisingly, his voice sounded stalwart. "I need some time for myself. I will talk to you later, okay?"

The Empress nodded. "It's alright. You're now part of my Empire. Take all the time you need. My breeders are allowed to visit my Mountain of Pride whenever they want," she explained.

Gravis nodded. "Thank you."

Then, he left the Mountain of Pride as he flew in a random direction. After a couple of kilometers, Gravis stopped. When he stopped, he just frowned as he looked at the floor with clenched fists. Then, he looked at the sky with burning eyes.

Who had decided this rule?

Obviously, it was Heaven, and Heaven was a sentient being. It had a goal in achieving all of these things, and rules allowed it to reach these things. Yet, if there were a better way to reach its goal, then changing its own rules wouldn't be a problem. Heaven had decided the rules, and it could also change them.

What, just because everyone else also had to follow these rules made all of this fair? That's not how the world worked! Rules were always decided by a more powerful party and were used to achieve some goal.

For mortals, these rules mostly existed to allow them to live together, but that wasn't the case for cultivators. Heaven had its goal in making these rules, and just because it was more powerful right now, Gravis was supposed to just accept these rules? Hell no!

Rules could be inherently unjust and unfair, even if everyone had to follow them. Saying that a rule was fair just because everyone was in the same boat only showed the person's weak will.

Gravis wasn't a beast. He was a human! Humans had a completely different relationship with their children than beasts. If Gravis weren't a human, he wouldn't have any issues with this rule. After all, his whole personality would be different.

Yet, since Gravis was a human, this rule became a major problem. The fact that this rule was a problem in the first place already showed that something wasn't quite right here.

So, even though every other beast had to follow this rule didn't mean that it was fair to put Gravis through this rule too! Gravis was sure that he could convince Heaven to change this rule in regards to him.

Gravis had a bargaining chip. His bargaining chip was his potential and his inherent advantage against Heaven. Heaven might ignore all these other beasts since they would never be able to kill it, but Gravis was different. He had the power to kill Heaven! After all, he had done it once already.

Gravis would never accept this rule! He was a human, not a beast! He didn't care that every other beast had to follow these rules!

"Heaven," Gravis said with fiery eyes, "I'm a human, not a beast. You know that. The highest Heaven also watches, and it also knows that I'm a human. This rule shouldn't apply to me," Gravis said.

"Of course," Gravis continued, "I won't be hypocritical and demand the rewards while ignoring the repercussions. I'm fine with you not granting me this extra Law or giving me any other advantage that beasts have over humans. Humans have their own rules, and I'm fine with following those."

"You can take the control over my body size away. This is also something that I can only do because I am inside a beast's body. I'm fine with you taking away all of these things."

"I'm a human!" Gravis shouted. "I only inhabit the body of a beast, and you know that! In comparison to the lower Heaven I have killed, you haven't shown any bad conduct so far. You have kept yourself out of my life, and I have no reason to go against you."

"I know that not all Heavens are the same. Just like people, different Heavens have different personalities. I won't just go against you because of something that one of your colleagues has done to me. Keep your rules and rewards for beasts away from me, and I will leave this world without doing anything to you or your world in the future," Gravis said.

"But," Gravis said as his voice transformed into bottomless rage, "if you force me to go through this ordeal, I won't leave this world until you are dead!"

Gravis waited for a minute, but no answer came.

Then, Gravis released a sigh. "I hope you won't make the same mistake as your colleague. I'm not a beast, and these rules or rewards shouldn't take me into account anyway. I'm simply a human cultivating in your world, so treat me like one."

After that last sentence, Gravis looked around until he found an uninhabited mountain. The Empire was gigantic, and Gravis could probably inhabit anything he wanted with his status. Yet, Gravis would rectify this issue regarding his status soon.

Gravis hated hypocrisy, and if he took advantage of his status as a breeder while not fulfilling his duties, he would be ashamed of himself. Yet, right now, he simply couldn't care less. This whole thing had infuriated him to no end. He needed some time to himself to get his emotions in order.

After digging a hole into the mountain, Gravis sat down and closed his eyes. He took in deep breaths to calm down. He didn't need to breathe with his power, but taking deep breaths still helped in calming his mind.

'I won't follow these rules!' Gravis thought. 'Even if I lose the ability to control my size and everything else that a beast can do, I won't mind. Even if I become an oddity in this world and need to fight against everyone, I still won't accept these rules!'

'Heaven has a goal, and I see the effectiveness of its rules. Without this rule, there wouldn't be nearly as many beasts. Yet, I'm not a beast. I'm fine with giving up all the advantages. Heaven isn't stupid, and it knows that it would be a horrible decision to endanger its own life and world for a mere three newborn Divine Beasts.'

Over two days passed in which Gravis simply tried to get his emotions in order. Yet, even if he was absolutely sure that Heaven wouldn't enforce its rules upon him, there was still his nervousness deep inside him. There was always a chance that this Heaven was another idiot like the lower Heaven.

Holding supreme power over a whole world for who knew how many years sometimes made people and beasts blind to danger and reason. Additionally, such supreme power might also change their beliefs until they thought they were infallible, and everything they did was just and right. Gravis hoped that this Heaven hadn't lost its eye-filled head while trying to shove it as far up its own ass as possible.

Yet, even while thinking all these thoughts, he still felt a deep feeling of suppression. He had felt this feeling back when the Red King appeared and during his time in the Red Kingdom. Surprisingly, even though Gravis was basically forced to follow the Empire's rules, he didn't feel a feeling of suppression from the Empress.

The rules of the Empire made sense, and Gravis had no problems in following them. Additionally, he could always leave if he decided. Yet, this feeling of having this horrible rule dangle over his head made Gravis feel as suppressed as nearly never before.

The only time when he had felt this suppressed was when he had newly arrived in the lower world. Back then, the lower Heaven had tried everything in its power to kill him while he had been nearly helpless. Now, he had the power to bargain with Heaven, at least.

Sadly, this didn't make the situation easier to accept. Gravis still felt like a stronger power was forcing him to go through something he didn't want.

Gravis hated this feeling of being suppressed!

He hated it so much!