Lightning Is the Only Way

It took several days for Gravis to tell his children all about his background. Usually, it wouldn't have taken so long, but same with Orthar, his children just asked one question after another. It seemed like they were quite curious about the workings of the world.

In their area, they had been the most powerful hegemons, but as soon as they met Gravis, they realized how big the world actually was. Tribes, Kingdoms, and Empires were completely unknown concepts to them. Beasts were congregating and working together in such a large number?

"This is also why you have such an incredible affinity towards lightning," Gravis said with a smile. "My goal is to fight Heaven in the future, which is why I have ignored all other elements and completely focused on lightning."

The three of them were lost in thought. By now, Aris had completely opened up and was just as curious as the other two. He had also accepted Gravis as his father and even felt proud of him. His father was "only" a Lord, but he had already managed to kill level two Kings. This was incredible.

Gravis had also demonstrated his other powers to them and explained how they worked. These were his children, and he wouldn't keep anything secret if it helped them learn something and grow more powerful.

Seeing that they stopped asking questions, Gravis could finally explain the next thing. "Now, let me tell you something about Battle-Strength in the Lord Realm."

The three perked up again, especially Aris. He was the one most hellbent on becoming powerful.

"Starting at the Lord Realm, every level up quadruples the power of your body. This is double the amount of growth of being a Spirit Beast. Think about this for a bit and realize what this means in terms of abilities to fight one level above yourself," Gravis said.

They remained silent for a bit, but then, all three of them look with confusion at their father. "Father," Cera said, "if the power gap is so wide, how were you able to fight someone three levels above yourself? Doesn't that mean that their bodies are 64 times more powerful than yours? You wouldn't even be able to react to anything. Additionally, your attacks wouldn't be powerful enough to injure them."

Gravis nodded. "Exactly. Fighting three levels above yourself as a Spirit Beast is a major difference from fighting three levels above yourself as a Lord. Now, let me break down how I managed to achieve that."

"First of all, you all now know that I am a human and that I have the weapons of a human. This means that I have a Spirit and Lightning that is about equally as powerful as my body. Additionally, since I'm in the Unity Realm, I can move my power around. This means that if I concentrate my whole power into one part, for example, my body, it would be three times as strong."

"If we take this strengthened body as a baseline, the enemy is no longer 64 times as powerful as me, but only a bit over 21 times," Gravis said.

"21 times still seems impossible," Yersi said from the side with furrowed brows. "The opponent is still faster than you can even react, even if you use the pre-dodging technique."

Gravis nodded. "Exactly. That's where the Laws come into play. Laws are the biggest factor that decides your Battle-Strength from now on. A Law represents the natural workings of the world, which, if you can understand it, you can manipulate. Look at this, for example."

Gravis was still inside his weak body while his other, more powerful ones, were hovering in the sky. "Let me demonstrate one of the Laws I know," Gravis said as he stood up.

BANG!

Gravis charged forward with his full speed but only used his physical body. His speed was fast, but not really that fast. It was a bit above average for a Low-Rank Spirit Beast.

"If I only use my physical body, my speed is only a bit above average for my level, right?" Gravis asked.

The three nodded.

"Now, let me add my lightning."

BZZZ!

Now, Gravis used the speed of his body and his lightning movement. This raised his speed to be a little above average for a Mid-Rank Spirit Beast.

"With that, I am about as fast as a beast one level above myself," Gravis said. "Now, I will perform the technique that you all know."

BANG!

Lightning exploded out of his feet as he got shot forward. "This short acceleration makes me a bit faster than the average High-Rank Spirit Beast. If we take the difference for Lords into account, this will increase my speed by one level at the Unity Realm."

The three nodded as they still followed him.

"Now, carefully look at this," Gravis said.

BZZZZZ!

Some streaks of lightning came out of his back as he shot forward with an insane speed. The three of them almost couldn't follow his body. This incredible acceleration shocked them to no end.

"This is the Law of Lightning Speed," Gravis explained. "It allows me to be even faster than with our lightning acceleration. If I were a level one Lord, just this Law would increase my speed to be about the same as a level three Lord. That's a two-level difference."

BANG! BZZZ!

Gravis vanished from in front of them as an explosion happened.

"Now," Gravis said from behind them, making them turn around in shock. "This was a combination of the lightning acceleration and the Law of Lightning Speed. This is close to being as fast as a Lord three levels above me."

"Of course," Gravis said with a smirk, "due to me being a human, I can triple my speed by focusing all of my power into my lightning. This makes me just as fast or a bit faster than a Lord three levels above me."

Gravis came back and sat down in front of them again. "Thanks to the Law and some additional fine-tuning of my other abilities, I managed to close the speed gap. Of course, I can't continually use this. After all, moving so fast eats up a lot of my resources."

"What about defense and attack?" Yersi asked. "It's good that you manage to close the speed difference, but you still can't kill your opponent with only that."

Gravis nodded. "You have felt my lightning before, and I have also told you how I have acquired this lightning. This lightning can also be understood and used by others. This means that this lightning is also a Law."

BANG!

A small ball of lightning exploded in Gravis' hand to demonstrate its power. "Punishment Lightning by itself is already a little more than an entire level stronger than my own level. This automatically elevates my attack without me even needing to spend any extra resources."

"Of course, another issue would be that my lightning would run out before killing a Lord three levels above myself. That's where my other technique comes into play."

"Other technique? Which one?" Aris asked with a sparkle in his eye.

Gravis nodded.

BZZZ! BZZZ!

Gravis transformed into lightning, shot upward, and returned again. "I needed to reload my lightning to show you the full effect of my technique," Gravis said. He had simply reabsorbed his weak body and made a new one with the same power.

Shing!

His saber appeared. "I will use about 80% of my lightning. Watch carefully," Gravis said.

The three of them looked at Gravis with intense eyes.

BZZZZZ!

A Lightning Bomb appeared in front of Gravis. The three of them felt its destructive power, and if they didn't have such an insane resistance to lightning, they would have become nervous. Yet, they could still feel and appreciate the insane power in the Lightning Bomb.

"By fusing my Spirit, Will, and Punishment Lightning, I can create this bomb. Of course, as you have seen, creating this bomb takes some time, and when it explodes, it will unleash its power widely, in an unfocused manner."

SHING!

Gravis moved his saber through the Lightning Bomb, and it disappeared. Yet, the three of them noticed that lightning now came out of the saber.

"Close your eyes. The explosion is very bright," Gravis said.

Yet, the three of them didn't. "Our eyes will recover very quickly anyway," Yersi said.

Gravis shrugged. Then, he slashed into the distance. A Lightning Crescent shot out of his saber and destroyed over a kilometer of his surroundings. One had to remember that Gravis was only using the power of a Low-Rank Spirit Beast right now.

The explosion vanished just as quickly, but it had managed to blind the three of them for a while. Yet, they had been prepared, and it would only take half a minute to heal their eyesight. Of course, their mind wasn't on their eyesight right now but the power of the explosion.

This explosion had been truly powerful! If it had been unleashed with the fire element, all three of them would have been reduced to ashes if it hit them. The pure destruction shook them for many seconds.

"Now," Gravis said, regaining the attention from his three kids. "If I stand in front of an opponent three levels above me, and they don't take me seriously, they will very quickly die to that combination. They wouldn't be ready for me to shoot at them with speed at their same level, which will take them by surprise. Then, I directly unleash that attack into them, and they might very well die or get severely injured."

"This means that my opponent wouldn't even have been able to show any of their power. They hadn't moved, which means that their speed is useless. They hadn't attacked, which means that their power is useless. The only thing standing in my way in killing them was to overcome their defense."

"Aris," Gravis said after his explanation, making Aris look at his father with his newly recovered eyes. "Imagine how you would have reacted if you met me, and I had the fire element. My speed would have caught you off guard, and my attack might have killed you. You would have died a regretful death. You know that you were more powerful than me, but the fight had ended before you could even show a bit of your power."

"That's what I was talking about with the difference between you and Yersi. You aim to win a fight. Yersi aims to kill, just like me. This situation wouldn't even have been a fight. This would have been a one-sided slaughter where the weaker one instantly kills the stronger one. Never take your opponents lightly. There is always a chance that they might surprise you."

Aris nodded. "I understand," he said. "By now, I'm ready to accept that I would have died to such an attack. Staying alive is more important than winning a fight, and killing my opponent is also more important than winning a fight. After all, if I die, I can never fight again."

Gravis smiled proudly. "A great way of putting it, Aris."

BANG!

The powerful body of Gravis appeared in front of them as it absorbed the weaker one. "Now, we've talked enough. It's time for you to become more powerful!"

The three of them stood up with steely eyes.

It was time to see the real world!