Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at all of this with an even expression. 'The Sect Alliance is truly beyond saving. The minority of disgusting, selfish people have the entire Sect Alliance in control. Even if I wanted to waste my time by slowly investigating the entire Sect Alliance, I still wouldn't be able to root out all of them.'

'The fact that Arthur was able to influence the entire Sect Alliance with such a flimsy reason showed as much. What protecting the Sect Alliance? What playing favorites? All of this is nonsense that has no bearing on the greater picture. This entire reasoning only relies on status and on feeling superior to others.'

Liran slowly lifted his head and looked at the three Sect Masters in front of him. 

He didn't care anymore.

He had lost everything.

So what if he died today?

Liran didn't resist.

"One life is not enough to pay for your crimes," one of the three said. "You will pay for your crimes in your next life too. However, I'm not a monster. I still wish you peace on your journey."

Then, that Sect Master flew closer and unleashed a wave of darkness with his two daggers.

The wave closed in on Liran, and Liran only looked at it.

CLANK!

"How dare you resist your just punishment!?" the other Sect Master shouted.

Liran had taken out his bow and had blocked the attack.

Liran's expression had changed.

He no longer had a weak and self-loathing expression on his face.

What expression did he wear now?

Rage? Hatred?

No.

It was fear.

Liran was deathly afraid.

"I… I can't die!" he said more to himself than to others.

Liran had wanted to give up his life, but as soon as the enemy had attacked, his survival instincts kicked in. 

He didn't want to die!

He wanted to live!

He was afraid of dying!

Arthur only sneered and also shot forward with his saber. "There's no saving a sinner like him. Just get it over with."

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several attacks clashed, and Liran was barely able to hold on. However, this wouldn't continue for long.

"Gravis, help me!" Liran transmitted to Gravis. 

"You didn't help me, so why should I help you?" Gravis transmitted back.

"What are you talking about!? I took you in when everyone tried to kill you!" Liran answered. "It is your duty to protect your Sect!"

"I did protect my Sect," Gravis answered. "However, you didn't."

"As your Sect Master, I order you to help me!" he transmitted back in rage.

Gravis didn't answer.

Liran defended against some more attacks.

"Fine!" he transmitted with hatred. "Then, if I'm going down, you are going down with me!"

"Gravis is a Variant Black Demon in disguise!" Liran suddenly shouted to everyone.

The attacks stopped for a second.

"Variant Black Demon?" One of the watching Sect Masters asked in shock as he looked at Gravis.

"Yes!" Liran shouted. "When I just met him, his Will-Aura hadn't been this strong! Thus, I was able to see through his disguise!"

The Sect Masters talked to each other with voice transmissions. Was this true?

Did a beast infiltrate their ranks?

What did this mean?

Gravis' expression didn't change. He had expected that something like this would happen.

"It's true," Arthur said with a smirk. "I've also seen it back then."

Gravis snorted. 'Bullshit! You didn't even look at me,' he thought. However, Gravis knew that words wouldn't help him.

Even if Gravis perfectly managed to explain everything, it didn't matter. The truth only mattered if someone was willing to find it. If someone wasn't interested in the truth, they wouldn't care about it. 

Even if Gravis didn't have a beast body, he would still be condemned as a beast and killed. It literally made no difference. 

"Let's first finish this," Arthur said.

The other two nodded.

Like this, the fight resumed, and 30 seconds later…

Liran was dead…

His last words had been the name of his son.

It was over.

The entire Unrestrained Sect had been killed.

Arthur had completed his revenge.

Liran had killed his son, so Arthur had taken everything from Liran.

'Who would have expected that it would end like this?' Gravis thought.

'When I joined the Unrestrained Sect, I had believed that we would fight against the Lightning Cleaver Sect in a soft war. I thought we would slowly suppress them and kill Arthur. I also thought that I would be able to teach freedom to the Unrestrained Sect.'

'Originally, when I joined the Unrestrained Sect, I was thinking about making them become more powerful, maybe help Liran along the way. As the most powerful member of the Sect Alliance, I would have had protection and an endless amount of resources and Law Comprehension Areas.'

'Then, I could have spent thousands of years on my Laws while the Unrestrained Sect would slowly become bigger and bigger. After that, we could have gone to the Core Regions. Get new people, new disciples, more resources, and so on.'

'I would have had a temporary home, friends that have a similar mindset to mine, an organization with enemies that would serve as tempering, and a place to go back to if I ever felt alone.'

Gravis looked at some hair that fluttered to the ground.

This was the last thing that remained of Liran.

Everything else had been consumed by Arthur's lightning.

Gravis sighed once again. 'So often do we have plans for the future just to be thrown for a loop by reality. Instead of making my temporary home more powerful, I doomed it.'

'Do I regret my actions?'

'No.'

'Even if I hadn't been there, Liran would have run the Sect into the ground. The Sect was already doomed to die. The only difference is the number of casualties and time.'

"Now then," Arthur said with a satisfied smirk as he turned to Gravis. "Would you mind explaining yourself, beast?"

"Why?" Gravis asked flatly.

Some Sect Masters were surprised by Gravis' conduct. He was, by far, the weakest person here, but he didn't show any nervousness or fear. Anyone in his situation would have talked on and on about being wrongfully accused.

Did that mean that this was no ploy from Arthur?

Was Gravis actually a beast?

SHING!

Suddenly, some kind of jewel appeared beside Gravis, but he didn't mind.

WHOOOM!

The jewel started shining red, and a collective gasp of shock went throughout the gathered Sect Masters.

"Beast!"

"He's a beast!"

"A beast!?"

One Sect Master after the other cried out in shock. They had believed that this was another one of Arthur's ploys, but it had actually proven to be true.

The jewel they had just summoned was a Formation Array that reacted to beast-specific Laws in the blood. Beasts kept their Energy and elements inside their bodies, not their Spirits. This was one of the main reasons why beasts had such powerful bodies.

Therefore, when the jewel shone, there was no doubt anymore.

Gravis was a beast!

Arthur was also surprised.

Wait, Gravis actually was a beast?

Liran hadn't lied?

Some seconds in silence passed as the Sect Masters tried to wrap their heads around this new revelation.

"So, what now?" Gravis asked.

The Sect Masters' expression recovered, and a stern look appeared on their faces. Gravis could see genuine hatred in their eyes.

'They really don't like beasts, huh?' Gravis thought.

"Vote!" one of them shouted as he summoned a light circle.

DINGDINGDINGDING!

120 green, 0 red.

'Not a single one voted no,' Gravis thought as he looked at the gathered Sect Masters.

"Kill it!"

"Kill the beast!"

"Kill the traitor!"

"Kill the spy!"

Arthur smirked and pointed his saber at Gravis.

"Gladly!"