Lightning Is the Only Way

Everyone looked at the new arrival. It was a young man with whitish-blue robes and a saber on his back. Gravis also felt some Punishment Lightning inside of the person, which confirmed his identity.

This was probably one of the Core Disciples of the Punishment Cleaver Sect, the Sect that Gravis would join.

"Junior brother?" Gravis asked. "I'm not your brother yet, so please refrain from addressing me like that."

The expression of the new arrival remained kind, but Gravis could feel some slight changes in him. It was difficult for Gravis to properly evaluate the inner thoughts of someone so many levels above him, but he was sure that this person wasn't as kind as he showed himself to be.

"Junior brother," the man said. "You have already agreed to join our Sect, and with this, you have become my junior brother. As far as I am concerned, you are one of us already, and we need to help each other."

Gravis didn't like that this guy called him junior brother but decided to let him finish his explanation.

"But you can't keep on doing this, junior brother," the man said with a smile. "We of the Punishment Cleaver Sect are kind and respect others, but you are bullying someone weaker than you right now. This is not the way of our Sect, and I know that you are better than this."

"Look at this poor guy," he said as he gestured to Gravis' opponent. "He can only retreat into his shell and hide from you. Do you not feel guilty when you see someone weaker than you cowering before you in fear? This poor guy only made a mistake, and you have punished him enough."

"Let bygones be bygones. People make mistakes, and we shouldn't kill them for every minor mistake they made. Let him retreat and lick his wounds. I'm sure that he will become a better person because of this. Yet, if you kill him, he has no chance to rectify his mistakes in the future. Give him a chance to repay you."

"Kindness begets kindness. Never forget this, junior brother," the man said with a kind tone.

"Eh, yes, yes!" Gravis' opponent shouted. "I acknowledge my mistakes, and I won't repeat them again. I'm sorry for attacking you, but my intent has never been to kill you. I only wanted to gain some justice for my dead soldier."

Gravis looked evenly at his opponent and then turned to the new arrival.

"Come on, junior brother," the new arrival said with a smile. "We are all one big family, and we need to stand together against the armies of beasts. Families bicker from time to time. If every family started killing each other because of a mistake, there would be no families left."

Gravis looked evenly at the new arrival.

Then, he sighed.

"I was mistaken," Gravis said with regret.

"That's good, junior brother!" the new arrival said. "Only when we realize our mistakes can we grow from them."

Gravis looked unamused at the Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect.

BANG!

Gravis moved his hand forward, and the spear shot with incredible speed at his opponent.

Before anyone could react, Mortality hit Gravis' opponent's shield.

BANG!

A violent explosion appeared as the shield barrier was destroyed. Yet, Mortality didn't stop and hit the shield.

CRACK!

Mortality dug through the shield until it was stuck inside it, half of it behind the shield and half of it in front.

Everyone looked with shock at the spear. Gravis' opponent couldn't even process what had happened. Right now, he was looking at a spear tip just centimeters in front of his eyes.

Had he survived?

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

And then, the spear tip exploded. The surroundings of Gravis' opponent turned into lightning as he was completely consumed. Yet, just a second after the explosion, everything vanished, and a violent storm appeared as the vacuum was filled with Energy and air again.

Gravis never looked away from the new arrival, the right side of his face lighting up in blueish light due to the explosion, and his eyes narrowed.

"I was mistaken when I attributed your mindset to your element," Gravis said coldly. "I preferred a lightning-based Sect because of the mindset that lightning brought with it, but I was mistaken. As far as I can see, you act more like Light Cultivators."

When Gravis had returned from the lower world, he had learned that mindsets being influenced by the elements was actually not normal. The clerk from back then said that the elements were a weapon, and a weapon should not change the user.

In the middle world, Gravis was among beasts, and beasts had very close connections to the elements. Because of that, their mindset was also fitting to their element.

Yet, now that Gravis was among humans again, he finally saw with his own eyes that this was not the case. The elements had no effect on anyone's mindset in this world.

When Gravis heard the Core Disciple speak, he had to hold himself back to not puke at this disgusting hypocrisy.

Bullying the weaker ones?

That guy was an entire Circulation above Gravis!

Not trying to kill Gravis?

That guy unleashed his most powerful attack against someone an entire Circulation below him in power!

Learning from mistakes?

What, so everyone can just try to stage an assassination on Gravis, and he had to let them go!?

Repayment with kindness?

That worked for some beings, but not for these kinds of people. This guy would probably just go to his superior and tell lies about Gravis to protect his flimsy reputation.

Yet, in Gravis' mind, he hated this Core Disciple even more than his previous opponent. At least the last one was honest with his intentions. It was a normal fight, something that happened all the time.

But this guy was talking grandly about kindness and twisted the facts to unbelievable degrees. Suddenly, Gravis was the aggressor, and Gravis was in the wrong by defending himself against someone trying to kill him.

"I'm not your junior brother, and I won't join your Sect," Gravis said. "It's obviously not the Sect for me."

Gravis glanced at the ground to Roger. Roger was different from this Core Disciple, and Gravis could feel that difference clearly. If everyone in the Punishment Cleaver Sect were like Roger, Gravis would be more than happy to join.

Yet, Roger was only a guard while this guy was a Core Disciple. Roger was a mask and representation, but this Core Disciple showed the true face of the Sect.

And that face showed "individual sacrifice for the greater good".

The Core Disciple's body shook in rage as he glared at Gravis. This guy looked just about ready to explode.

Gravis only looked back with narrowed eyes.

This guy was powerful, and he definitely wasn't one of the weaker Mid Major Circulation Immortals. There was a 90% chance that Gravis would die in such a fight, but that wouldn't be the first time.

But on the other hand, one had to choose one's fights carefully. Going into a fight with a 50% chance of victory was excellent tempering but going into a fight with a 10% chance of victory was far too risky. Gravis would only want to enter such a fight when he had no other choice.

After some seconds, the Core Disciple seemingly calmed down and sighed.

"Junior brother, you are obviously talking out of a very emotiona-"

"Don't! Call! Me! Junior! Brother!" Gravis seethed slowly and powerfully, his rage and disgust very evident in his voice. He wouldn't want to enter this fight, but he also wouldn't lick this guy's boots.

The Core Disciple felt Gravis' rage and disgust and became angry himself. How dare this Early Minor Circulation Immortal feel disgusted towards him!? Everyone had to be respectful in front of him! No one talked like this in front of him!

Why had the Core Disciple wanted to stop Gravis earlier?

Because of money.

If Gravis killed an Early Major Circulation Immortal, the Burial Ground Sect would want reparations from the Punishment Cleaver Sect. Such an Immortal was worth a ton of money, and for the good of the Sect, he couldn't possibly accept such a cost.

Yet, he also really really needed this new Ascender. This Ascender was definitely worth more than some Early Major Circulation Immortal!

Sadly, the Core Disciple was too greedy and wanted both. He didn't want to pay for Gravis' deeds, but he also wanted Gravis. That was why he still called Gravis his junior brother. One of the two options had already flown out of the window, and he couldn't lose the other one too.

"Very well," the Core Disciple said as he crossed his arms. "I will take you back to the Sect so that you can calm down. You will thank me in the future."

WHOOOM!

Immediately, the Core Disciple felt a powerful hit in his Spirit.

Gravis had activated his Will-Aura, the Minor Law of Death, the Law of Major Suppression, and the Law of Control.

"No," Gravis said slowly.

Meanwhile, the guards on the ground felt like the world had stopped. They weren't the target of the Will-Aura, but they could feel its fluctuations from a distance.

What was this Will-Aura!?

How was it possible that a Will-Aura could be so incredibly powerful!?

The Core Disciple was also shocked, but he quickly narrowed his eyes and activated his own Will-Aura.

WHOOOM!

Gravis' Will-Aura was pushed back, and Gravis felt suppressed. The level difference was just far too great!

Right now, Gravis was suppressed by 20%, even though he had used everything he had on his Will-Aura!

'Doesn't matter,' Gravis thought. 'My Avatar of Freedom ignores even Will-Auras.'

Gravis glared into the Core Disciple's eyes.

"I will not join your Sect!"