Lightning Is the Only Way

This time, Gravis and Stella weren't so lost in their love that they took years to calm down. This time, they had only been in the throes of passion for three days.

After they were done, Stella informed Gravis that she would be checking out the level five Law of Shadow Inferno, the Law that Siral had comprehended by consuming the Law Comprehension Life Fruits. Stella already had used her Law Comprehension Life Fruits, and she couldn't use them anytime soon. Gravis had informed her that she should comprehend five level five Laws the normal way before using the Life Fruits again.

Stella and Gravis embraced each other one last time before they split up. However, this departure was not as bitter as all the previous ones. Gravis had used his Life Ring to build a connection with Stella.. She wasn't under the effects of the Life Ring, but the Life Ring would allow Gravis to always contact Stella if he wanted. 

After Stella left, Gravis looked towards the west. 'The Body Battle Laws should be one of the most sought-after groups of Laws in the beast territory. I'm pretty certain that they have several Law Comprehension Areas for these Laws.'

Gravis transformed into a beast and moved towards the west below the ground. 

However, some minutes later, Gravis got interrupted.

"You going to tell me about that black sun anytime soon?" Mortis asked Gravis.

Gravis stopped as he became confused for a second, but then he remembered the Gate of Death and that he hadn't informed Mortis about it yet.

"You also noticed it?" Gravis asked.

"Of course I noticed it," Mortis answered with a voice bereft of amusement. "After I noticed it, your emotions went haywire, and you moved across the entire world in just an hour. I didn't bother to investigate it since you were obviously already doing so."

Gravis sighed.

Then, Gravis told Mortis about the Gate of Death and its effects.

"Alright," Mortis asked. "Give me 200 more years, and I'll check it out."

"Don't!" Gravis shouted.

This was exactly why he hadn't informed Mortis immediately!

With Mortis' personality, he would directly charge into the Gate of Death with no concern for his life!

"Why shouldn't I?" Mortis asked evenly.

"I've told you exactly why you shouldn't!"

"What, because nearly everyone else died? So? We're constantly tempering ourselves with danger," Mortis answered.

"Yes, I know," Gravis answered with annoyance. On one hand, Mortis was smart, but on the other hand, Mortis could also be stupid beyond belief. "You have to keep in mind which people entered these Gates of Death in the past. I doubt that any of them had been weaker than us."

"Think about it!" Gravis urged. "We have always been at the forefront of our Realm in regards to Laws, which means that probably every single other person that called such a Gate of Death in the past must have been an Immortal Emperor or even a Star God! Their Spirits are far more powerful than ours, allowing them to comprehend Laws even faster. On top of that, they probably also knew several level six and maybe even level seven Laws!"

"If we enter now, our chance of death isn't 99.9% but 100%! With 99.9%, we at least still have a tiny chance, but with 100%, we don't have any chance. If you want to enter the Gate of Death now to comprehend the Major Law of Death, you might as well try to comprehend the Major Law of Death by cutting your own head off with your saber! That should be just as effective!"

Mortis' expression didn't change. Obviously, he wasn't very impressed with Gravis' words.

"That doesn't change anything," he said slowly. "Danger is danger, and with danger comes power."

Gravis tried to ruffle his hair in frustration but only felt scales. He forgot that he was in his beast form. 

"Dude!" Gravis shouted with frustration. "Have you ever considered that not all danger is equal!? There's a thing called time and different power levels. Not sure if you've heard of that before!"

Mortis' eyes narrowed as he heard Gravis' patronizing tone.

However, Gravis only continued with his verbal assault.

"Imagine someone needs to kill someone in the Self Stage in the Spirit Forming Realm to reach the Unity Realm. Sure, that's necessary, and they have to do it to progress. However, that doesn't mean that they should directly challenge someone at the Self Stage while they are still in the Energy Gathering Realm!"

"First, get all the easier challenges out of the way before you take on the harder ones! Oftentimes, you need to have beaten the easier challenges to become powerful enough to even have a chance at the harder ones! You don't enter an inheritance and start with the hardest level! No, you go from easy to hard to gain enough experience!"

"Immediately charging into such intense danger while not under any threat of urgency is idiotic! By your logic, it wouldn't make a difference if I challenge someone in the Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm next or Narcissus!"

"Why don't you go challenge Arc directly!? I mean, what's the difference, right? Danger is danger!"

Silence.

Several seconds of silence.

"You also wanted to enter, didn't you?" Mortis asked.

Gravis exploded again. "Yes! Yes, I wanted to enter! However, Stella and Arc stopped me, and I'm glad they did! I was also close to making the same mistake as you, and that's why I'm so furious! When I'm looking at how you are willing to charge into death, I get the feeling that this is how Stella must have felt! Just like you, I was willing to charge into death, and that's stupid!"

"Someone else needed to stop me so that I didn't do something that ridiculous, and I'm going to do the same thing for you now. Don't go into the Gate of Death! We are not under a time crunch! The highest Heaven is keeping the gate open for millions of years."

"We can enter it when we're nearly ready to fight Arc," Gravis said.

Silence.

"Is that a promise?" Mortis asked.

Gravis took a deep breath, which was filled with magma since he was underground.

"Yes, it's a promise," Gravis said.

"Fine, I'll keep you to it," Mortis answered. "If you break this promise, I will kill you."

Gravis groaned as he rolled his eyes. "Why do you always have to be so stuck-up?"

"It's not stuck-up. It's decisive," Mortis answered.

"Mhm."

Ten seconds of silence passed.

"How long until you're done with the level five Law of Lightning's Speed?" Gravis asked.

"About 200 years should be enough," Mortis answered.

"Good. I'm going to check out the different Battle Laws for the body. I probably have to check out the level three Laws of those first and then work my way upward. I'll inform you when I comprehended one that's at the fourth level or higher," Gravis answered.

"Fine," Mortis answered. "The Body Battle Laws should increase both of our Battle-Strengths by quite a bit. Stella's not with you?"

"No, she's looking at the Mixed Element Laws," Gravis answered. "We decided that it would be better that we both check out different Laws before we combine them."

"That means I get some years of peace and quiet. Good."

Gravis sighed. 

"Yeah, sorry about that. You know that I can't change anything about our connection currently."

"I know," Mortis answered.

Mortis saw that there was nothing relevant to talk about anymore. So, he cut off the connection and continued comprehending Laws.

After some seconds of silence, Gravis sighed again.

'Was I really so stubborn and death-seeking when I was younger?'