Lightning Is the Only Way

The city looked imposing. Gigantic walls that stretched to a height of about 20 meters surrounded it, and Gravis walked closer to touch the walls. They felt incredibly hard, and Gravis was sure that he couldn't break them with his physical strength alone. He would probably need to use several strikes with his weapon while infusing it with lightning.

After touching the walls, Gravis walked away and looked at the city gate from a distance. There was a big sign above the city gate, which spelled "Earth Town". Gravis grew surprised because he had thought this was a city. Apparently, it was just a town.

The town was about as big as Body City, and its walls were even more imposing. If such a fortress counted as a town, then how impressive would a city be? Gravis walked closer to the town-entrance and looked at the guards.

Gravis could feel some Energy coming from the guards, which meant that even the common gate guards of a town in the Middle-Continent were already in the Energy Gathering Realm. This was more terrifying than he had thought.

His eyes narrowed in seriousness. It would be very risky for Gravis to enter the town. He only came here to check on his status in the eyes of the public. Was there a bounty for his head, and if so, how expensive was it? Should he take a stealthy approach or just enter and leave as quickly as possible?

Gravis decided for a stealthy approach and walked towards the entrance of the town in a leisurely manner. Right now, there were no other visitors wanting to enter the town, and Gravis wouldn't need to wait.

"Halt!" shouted one of the guards. "Weapons are not allowed in the town! If you want to enter, submit your weapon into our custody or hide it somewhere."

Gravis narrowed his eyes. 'The weapon thing again?' he thought. In the Outer-Continent, Gravis had enough power to ignore this rule, but here, he might be out of his league. If the guards were already in the Energy Gathering Realm, the elite guards or the town's upper echelon might be in the later stages of the Energy Gathering Realm. Gravis couldn't fight those yet.

Leaving his weapon outside? Forget that! He was a wanted man right now, and not having his weapon with him could spell trouble. Now, Gravis realized why so many towns forbade weapons. It was probably to keep wanted criminals outside of the town. No criminal would feel safe without their weapon.

"Code Blue!" came a shout from the top of the wall, and the expression of the guards changed to seriousness and battle intent as they looked at Gravis.

"Shit!" Gravis mumbled to himself. The guard at the top of the wall had probably recognized him. Code Blue probably meant that there was a wanted criminal in front of them. At least, Gravis could be sure now that he was wanted. 'I need to know what I am being accused of and what my head is worth,' he thought to himself.

The guards readied their weapons, but before they could do anything, they lost their consciousness. Gravis had released his Will-Aura. The guards were only in the first level of Energy Gathering, and Gravis' Will-Aura had increased substantially again. In the two months of training, he had also managed to compress his Will-Aura even more, which would now shoot out in a body-wide line in front of him for around 45 meters.

Gravis rotated his compressed Will-Aura so that every guard received the full brunt of it. They couldn't defend against the Will-Aura and fell to the ground, unconscious. Gravis quickly ran forward and inspected the bags of the guards. He quickly found what he was looking for and took out a crumbled WANTED poster, with his face on it, from the guard's bag.

Gravis immediately fled from the town-gate and sprinted into the wilderness. He didn't steal anything since they were only some guards and hadn't done anything wrong. They were only doing their jobs, after all. If they posed an actual danger to Gravis, he might not be this merciful, but he was already feeling guilty enough, right now. He didn't want to kill more innocent people.

After arriving at a safe place, Gravis took out the WANTED poster and read it.

WANTED!

Gravis

Former disciple of the Lightning Guild.

Then came a picture of Gravis' face.

Crimes:

Destroyed a Proxy-Lightning Guild

Killed his own Guild Master of said Proxy-Lightning Guild

Stole the entire fortune of the Proxy-Lightning Guild

Reward: 1,000 Magic-Stones

Gravis' temper exploded when he read that he had, apparently, stolen the entire fortune of the Proxy-Lightning Guild. He did no such thing! After the incident, Gravis had immediately fled and didn't even look at anything else. He was too emotionally distraught to even think about stealing something!

How could they accuse him of stealing anything? The Exchange Hall still stood in one piece after Gravis' rampage, and he hadn't even entered it! Gravis quickly thought through the situation, and when he realized what had probably happened, he tore the WANTED poster apart.

"Someone has stolen everything and blamed it on me!" he said to himself as he realized the situation. There were many greedy people in this world, and in the chaos, some disciples might have robbed the Exchange Hall. They were also the only witnesses.

If someone had already destroyed an entire guild and even killed the Guild Master, then saying that they had also robbed the guild would be entirely believable. No one would bat an eye in doubt! Yet, Gravis was still angry about that!

Yes, he had committed unforgivable crimes by destroying the guild and killing Gorn, but he never intended to do that! People might also believe him that he had only lost his control. Yet, by adding the robbery charge, people would never believe him. If someone lost their mind, they wouldn't care about stealing anything.

This whole robbery thing changed Gravis' situation from an accident into an actual, planned crime. While it wouldn't substantially increase the weight of his burdens, it would misrepresent his character and emotions on the issue.

Gravis grew angry, but he couldn't change a thing. No one would believe him! Gravis sat down and tried to calm down. "Why does this whole thing have to be so complicated?" he muttered to himself. "I know that I have committed a grave crime, but why does this still feel so unfair?"

Suddenly, Gravis felt some movement in the Natural Energy. When a big object approached someone, they would be able to feel the wind moving. The same thing held true for the Natural Energy if something with Energy approached. Nearly everyone in the Energy Gathering Realm was able to feel the displacement of the Natural Energy.

Gravis knew that something or someone was approaching his position and didn't move. If he stayed still, they might miss his position since he wouldn't displace the Natural Energy. Yet, when Gravis had that thought, he only grimaced.

"With my luck, they probably already run to my position by sheer coincidence," Gravis sighed and stood up. "No point in hiding," he said as he narrowed his eyes. "I'll have to fight!"

Gravis took out his saber and waited.