Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis' Spirit Sense encompassed the Life Ring, showing to Stella and Liam that he was currently in there.

Stella and Liam were currently just sitting in front of each other, probably talking with voice transmissions.

"We should be safe," Gravis said. "I'm just in front of the northeastern river. Whatever happens outside shouldn't include this region."

"We'll come out in a second," Stella said. Then, she looked at Liam with a knowing look and nodded.

Liam nodded back.

After that, both of them left the Life Ring and appeared in the small underground room.

This far down, the temperature and gravity were still far more powerful than on the surface, but Gravis wasn't so deep down that they couldn't resist. 

It was just a bit uncomfortable for them.

Gravis sat at one side while Liam and Stella sat on the other side, side-by-side.

For some seconds, everyone only looked at each other.

Then, Stella sighed.

Gravis' heart began racing.

"Gravis," she said slowly. "I need to know everything about you."

Liam nodded on the side.

"I know that you have saved both of us, and we are immensely grateful, but there are too many unknowns about you," Stella said. "For example, you know this powerful plant, which brings up several questions about your affiliation with the beasts."

"You also have a beast body, and we don't know where you got it from."

"I know that you trust me, but I want you to also trust Liam," Stella said as she gestured to Liam. "Liam is my closest person, and I don't want to keep secrets from him."

"If you want us to stay in contact, you need to trust my brother too," Stella finished.

Gravis closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Trusting Stella was easy, but trusting Liam?

Difficult.

Liam and Gravis weren't close, and if he told the humans Gravis' secrets, it would become very dangerous.

Maybe even people from Arc's clearing would want to target him.

After all, Gravis knew a lot about the highest world, which was the next world that every Ascender would go to. 

They would want to know everything about the highest world, and they would also want to know the secrets of the highest world. 

Some people might even believe that Gravis had things from the highest world with him, and that was actually the case. 

Even more, they would know that Gravis could make World Weapons, which would put an even bigger target on Gravis' back.

Maybe a powerful Ascender or Ancestor of the All-Matter Sect would want to kill him.

Maybe some other Sect coveted Gravis' World Weapon to sell it.

Maybe even the beasts would become interested.

In that case, Gravis could go nowhere in this world. 

Telling Liam everything would put Gravis in a lot of danger. 

Sure, maybe Liam would keep everything a secret, but what if Stella accidentally died?

What then?

Would Liam still keep Gravis' secrets?

Maybe he would fault Gravis for Stella's death, and unveiling all his secrets would be the best way to take revenge.

It was risky.

Gravis waited for some seconds as he deliberated.

He also looked at Stella during this time, but he couldn't read her thoughts.

Was Gravis willing to take such a risk for a chance to be with Stella?

Was he willing to put his life on the line for her?

'What is there even to think about?' Gravis thought suddenly.

'Haven't I already put my life on the line?'

'Haven't I already probably offended the entire world?'

Gravis took another deep breath.

"Fine," Gravis said. "I will share everything with you two."

Stella's expression relaxed. She knew that someone like Gravis probably had world-shaking secrets. Otherwise, his Battle-Strength wouldn't be so powerful.

The fact that Gravis was willing to share these secrets also with Liam showed how important she was to him, and she appreciated it.

Liam only furrowed his brows.

"I will not tell anyone else of your secrets," Liam said. "Even if we two don't see eye-to-eye, I want my sister to be happy. I might betray your trust, but I won't betray my sister's trust."

Stella put a hand on Liam's shoulder.

She knew that Liam disliked Gravis immensely. However, for her, he was willing to work together with Gravis.

That was also not something easy to do.

Both of them were making sacrifices for Stella, and she felt happy. She also felt a bit guilty, but she knew that there was basically no other way.

It was impossible to like everyone.

Stella and Liam turned to Gravis.

Gravis nodded.

"I was born in the highest world, which is the world above this one…"

The first sentence was already a shock to Stella and Liam.

The highest world?

Gravis was from an even higher world?

Gravis told them about his life in the highest world and about his background.

One shock after the other hit Stella and Liam.

Gravis' background was as powerful as it got!

However, the more Gravis told his story, the less believable it seemed.

A person that could fight the most powerful Heaven?

As Gravis told his story, Liam and Stella became skeptical.

Was Gravis really telling the truth?

However, they didn't interrupt him. No matter how unbelievable his story was, they wanted to hear the entire thing. 

Even if it was fiction, it was still interesting to hear about it.

Another thing that made them doubt Gravis' words was when Gravis told them about his Elemental Synchronicity.

Gravis hadn't shown that ability before.

Did he truly have this ability?

After that came Gravis' tale of the lower world.

While listening to Gravis' experiences in the lower world, even Liam felt bad for him.

Not being able to get close to anyone while being surrounded by good people.

It was depressing.

However, this also made Gravis' story even more unbelievable. After all, wasn't he intending to come close to Stella?

Then, did he intend to kill Stella by being close to her?

It made no sense.

When Gravis told them about Gorn's death, they felt even worse for him. 

Accidentally killing the only person close to oneself was one of the most horrible things one could go through.

Just the guilt alone might kill someone.

The next surprising part was Wendy's death at Gravis' hands. 

Gravis had to choose between power and going against his own will and emotions. He didn't want to kill Wendy, but he had to.

This was an intense conflict that obviously left scars in Gravis' mindset back then. He might have recovered by now, but Stella and Liam knew exactly how something like that could affect someone.

After all, they had lived for over 100,000 years.

They knew that there was a high chance that Gravis would suppress his emotions. He had felt too many horrible feelings in too short of an amount of time. A teenager couldn't get through these experienced without being changed severely.

And, sure enough, they noticed that the Gravis in the story became colder and colder. He became cold, bitter, cynical, and emotionless.

However, the biggest surprise came when Gravis told them that his Spirit had been adapted to Destruction Lightning instead of Energy.

How was something like that even possible!?

It made no sense!

They both knew a ton of Laws, and they knew how a Spirit worked. 

They also knew that the Elements had temperaments. The only reason why Cultivators could adapt their Spirits to Energy was that Energy was basically devoid of any temperament. It adapted to any situation, always cooperating. 

Destruction Lightning would fill Gravis' mind with a different temperament and will.

Someone couldn't survive that.

Not even they could do that, and they were Peak Immortal Kings.

They wouldn't even know how to combine lightning with a Spirit.

It just wasn't possible.

It was against the very Laws and principles of the world!

That was the first time Stella interrupted Gravis.

"You should know that we can't believe something like that," she said with furrowed brows.

"I know," Gravis said. By now, he also knew far more about the world than back then, and he also realized that something like this should be absolutely impossible.

"I can prove it," Gravis said.

"How?" Liam asked.

"Summon some Punishment Lightning," Gravis said.

Liam furrowed his brows, but he did so. 

A small ball of Punishment Lightning appeared on his hand.

BZZ!

Stella's and Liam's eyes widened as the ball flew over to Gravis.

Liam had lost control over his lightning!

"You can summon more if you want," Gravis said.

Liam did just that and used up 50% of his Energy to create Punishment Lightning.

BZZ!

And that bolt also flew over to Gravis. 

After that, both bolts entered Gravis.

It was like they had vanished into nothingness.

One should never forget that it was impossible to absorb such a destructive Element as Punishment Lightning. It would immediately explode if it hit a Cultivator's body, even if that Cultivator had summoned the lightning.

It was no longer in the form of Energy, which made it unabsorbable. 

"But that's impossible!" Liam shouted in absolute shock.

"You can test me however you want," Gravis said. "You can also use a Weapon Technique with lightning. Nothing will change."

Liam shook his head violently while Stella only watched without being able to react.

This was too shocking.

A wheel appeared in front of Liam, the Weapon Technique of the Nine Elements Sect.

Liam touched the violet orb in the wheel, and a powerful bolt of Punishment Lightning appeared. 

After that, Liam infused his sword with the bolt and aimed at Gravis' arm.

Gravis stretched out his arm for him.

Then, Liam struck.

Clank!

Liam obviously didn't strike with his full power, which meant that his physical power wasn't enough to get through Gravis' powerful defense.

However, the most shocking thing was that the lightning didn't explode.,

It just… vanished.

"Ho-How?" Liam asked in shock.

He couldn't wrap his head around what he was seeing.

"Now, can I continue?" Gravis asked.

Liam and Stella still needed time to recover. 

All of this was reality-bending. 

It was like one walked through a field, and a random apple from an apple tree fell towards the sky.

It wasn't possible.

This had been the most unbelievable part of Gravis' story, and Gravis had just proven that he hadn't lied.

This meant that the other parts of his story were most likely also authentic.

Liam and Stella quickly evaluated the earlier parts of the story with more seriousness.

If that was true, then the person in front of them was the son of one of the two most powerful beings in existence.

Ancestors didn't even count as ants.

Gravis saw that the two of them had recovered and nodded.

"I noticed that Aion was still close to me, and I reached out to him…"

Gravis' story continued.