Lightning Is the Only Way

"You think I'm fine with this?" the second Gravis asked emotionlessly.

Gravis scratched the back of his head with embarrassment. "I know it isn't much, but it's a start, right?" he said.

"A start, you say," the second Gravis said as he narrowed his eyes at Gravis. "Do you believe I'm truly free in this form?" he asked.

"Not really," Gravis said, "but it's better than nothing, right? Additionally, as long as we comprehend more Laws, we can work on you actually becoming a second being without any connections to me."

Gravis knew that this solution couldn't fully grant the other Gravis freedom. Gravis had only used the Laws of Perceived Reality. With this Law, the second Gravis could gain freedom in perceived reality, but not in physical reality.

True freedom would require the second Gravis to become his own living being. This meant that he required true life, which was obviously not the case right now. Without comprehending the Law of True Life, creating life according to one's wishes was not possible.

Luckily, the body of the second Gravis was made out of Divine Lightning, and Gravis knew the Law of Divine Lightning, which meant that he also knew its composition. Sadly, the issue wasn't the body but the Spirit.

The second Gravis was using Gravis' Avatar as his Spirit. The two Spirits were still intrinsically connected since both of them were part of Gravis. To truly become free, the second Gravis would need to have his very own Spirit without any connection to the current Gravis. This meant that they needed to create a Spirit out of nothing, which required the Law of True Life.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't directly enter your Spirit to overtake the main body?" the second Gravis asked coldly.

Gravis only smirked. "Because your personality exists on the basis of the Law of Divine Lightning."

"So? It's still more powerful than our Law of Perceived Reality," the second Gravis said.

"Yes, but since you inhabit my Avatar, as soon as you merge with me again, I will regain use of my Avatar, which would push my Law of Perceived Reality to the power of a level six Law."

"What do you think? Which one's stronger? A boosted Law of Perceived Reality or Divine Lightning? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that the Law of Perceived Reality would win," Gravis said.

The second Gravis furrowed his brows as he scratched his chin in thought. 

"Also," Gravis added. "I could have just went on to suppress this personality of yours with my Law of Perceived Reality. I would still have use of Divine Lighting, and I could still fully control my Avatar."

"Instead, I gave my own Avatar its own personality. Something that I can fully control is now under the control of someone else. If you want, you can deny me access to all my lightning-related Laws and even disallow me to increase the power of my Law of Perceived Reality."

"In short, you can weaken my Battle-Strength significantly. Being able to hurt me and weaken me is proof of your freedom, isn't it?" Gravis said with a smile. "You can now do whatever you want."

The second Gravis continued scratching his chin in thought for a couple of seconds. Then, he looked at Gravis again. "It's true that you have made some heavy sacrifices to allow me to claim freedom. What do you get out of this?" he asked.

"Nothing, really," Gravis said. "Although, it isn't really completely nothing. If you decide to leave me, I will lose a lot, but if you decide to stick with me, we are now two people instead of one."

The second Gravis continued thinking, but it was hard to wrap his head around Gravis' decision. To him, giving someone else something without expecting them to repay him was stupid. He couldn't fathom why someone would be willing to sacrifice so much just to give someone else freedom.

Didn't Gravis realize that he was putting his own future at stake for him? 

The second Gravis wouldn't make such sacrifices for the main Gravis. 

Why would he? He was Gravis, and everything about himself ought to belong to him. It was only right that he took everything for himself.

Why should he weaken himself so that his other side would become free?

"Your attitude is a weakness," the second Gravis said. "You are ready to put your own future at stake for someone else. This is a weakness."

"Might be," Gravis said with a smile, but then it transformed into a smirk. "But if I didn't have that weakness, you wouldn't exist."

The second Gravis furrowed his brows again. 

He couldn't argue against that.

"I know you," Gravis said. "After all, you are just like the past me. I know that you would never make the same sacrifice for me. However, it doesn't matter."

The second Gravis looked deeply into Gravis' eyes.

"Wasn't it the same with my or our three kids?" Gravis asked. "I gave them my love, but they didn't reciprocate. Instead, they looked down on me."

"But it doesn't matter," Gravis said. "Love is not based on an exchange. You are me, and I want my own being to be free. So, if there are two of myself, I want both of them to be free."

"Lastly, you want to chase power. In my opinion, this is a path that will only end in bitterness and depression, and I would never follow it."

The second Gravis narrowed his eyes.

"But it's your path to make," Gravis said with a smirk. "Freedom also means being allowed to commit your own mistakes. If you want to walk this path to the end, go ahead, I don't mind. It's your emotional wellbeing, not mine."

When the second Gravis had appeared, he had already created a ton of arguments for the main Gravis. He had a ton of justifications for how he could demonstrate that he had just as much right of the main Spirit as the first Gravis. 

However, there was a great difference in power in regards to personality between them.

The second Gravis was the past Gravis. This would be the Gravis if he had never confronted his feelings.

Meanwhile, the first Gravis had gone past that long ago.

In short, this discussion was an intellectual battle between the past and the future.

One had grown emotionally and as a person, but the other hadn't.

Because of that, the main Gravis knew exactly what the past Gravis couldn't deal with. After all, he had been the past Gravis before.

Good people.

As long as the main Gravis didn't have an ulterior motive for his actions and committed them only out of goodwill, the second Gravis couldn't possibly fault him. The second Gravis loved justice and fairness. 

Gravis knew that being nice to the second Gravis would work wonders because someone had done exactly that before.

Morus.

Morus had been Gravis' servant for hundreds of years, and then Gravis had set him free to be his tempering. However, Morus had demonstrated that he could have killed all of Gravis' children and then exhaust Gravis to death.

Morus had been in complete control over the situation.

However, Morus had willingly conceded his control to gain something out of Gravis. 

In turn, Gravis, the one who loved his children immensely, repaid Morus, the beast that had just threatened to end the lives of Gravis' children.

Why?

Because Gravis had to repay him.

So, in short, Gravis was not controlling the second Gravis, but he was using the second Gravis' ability to suppress himself. 

This personality of the second Gravis forced him to repay any kind acts towards him. 

The funny thing was that the main Gravis knew that the second Gravis was not stupid. The second Gravis knew exactly what the main Gravis was doing. 

However, what could he do about it?

He had the freedom to disregard Gravis' actions and do whatever. 

He had the choice.

However, if he decided to abandon Gravis after what he had done for him, it would be going against his very personality.

Freedom was being able to do what one wanted, but it was also the ability to be oneself.

In short, the second Gravis' personality could never be truly free. He would have to abandon one of these two things with his current personality.

"Maybe your attitude isn't a weakness," the second Gravis said as he looked at the main Gravis intensely.

"Depends on whom I use it on," Gravis said. "There are tons of people that stab someone in the back, but against people like you, it's perfect."

"People like me? Elaborate," the second Gravis said.

"People that act cruel but are kind inside," Gravis said.

The second Gravis furrowed his brows again, but after a couple of seconds, he sighed.

"Maybe I'm the weak one," he said. "As long as this part of my personality can be exploited in such a way, I'm vulnerable to a potential enemy."

"Depends on the person again," Gravis said. "If someone is truly kind and doesn't expect repayment, it will only help you and that person. You both become stronger with this."

"However, if it is used by someone that knows this weakness, they can exploit it. It has happened with Morus before. Obviously, Morus was not a friend, and he definitely didn't want us to live happily. Yet, he still managed to exploit this flaw."

"Also," the main Gravis said as he also furrowed his brows. "Now that I'm in this situation, I also notice that Morus wasn't the only one that did this."

The second Gravis furrowed his brows, and three seconds later, he realized what Gravis meant.

"The highest Heaven."