Lightning Is The Only Way

Gravis had been back in his homeworld for a little over three days. This meant that around ten years had passed in the lower world. He really wanted to know what had happened to the lower world. Would it get a new Heaven? Would it be doomed to die?

"As I said," the Opposer said, "you might be the first one that has killed a Heaven without ascending, but there have been cases of people killing a Heaven after returning from the highest world. Every world that has its Heaven destroyed gets equalized."

"Equalized?" Gravis asked, some nervousness appearing inside his voice. "That sounds ominous."

"No, it's nothing bad," the Opposer said. "The world stays heavenless. Yet, since there is no Heaven to oversee things, the world just continues running on its own without any interference."

"This means that all the Karmic Luck gets evenly distributed across all humans. The parent-Heaven also keeps up the ascension process, but that is everything that happens. Only those two things are being taken care of by Heaven. Everything else is up to the world and its inhabitants."

Gravis scratched his chin. "So, theoretically, everything can happen?"

"Yes. There is no favoritism and no higher power to stop things threatening to destroy the world. There have been worlds where techniques had been created to siphon the life out of mortals to increase one's cultivation. Due to greed, some of these worlds had the human population go extinct. If a Heaven oversaw the world, something like this would never happen."

Gravis felt some guilt inside of him. The lower world had a chance of being destroyed because of his enmity with Heaven.

"But," the Opposer said, "there have also been worlds where the general power of cultivators soared. There were also worlds where cultivation completely died out since all techniques had been lost. A world without a Heaven could become a wasteland, a paradise for mortals, a paradise for cultivators, or anything else. It depends entirely on the world."

"When one of his children dies, the old bastard just accepts it and complies. They want a world without Heaven? Sure, here you go. Then, he lets the world just take whatever course it wants. Whatever happens, happens."

Now, Gravis didn't feel so bad anymore. In actuality, he gave the world more freedom to do whatever it wanted. Whatever the world did with its newfound freedom was on them. More freedom might not result in the best results, but Gravis preferred freedom over being controlled.

Granting someone more freedom was like developing a powerful weapon. Some will use it to protect their loved ones, but others will use it to commit atrocities. It was not the weapon that killed people, but the user of said weapon.

"Are my friends still alive?" Gravis asked.

"Whom do you consider as a friend?" the Opposer asked back.

"Skye, Nero, Joyce, Lasar, Old Man Lightning, Manuel, and Aion," Gravis said.

The Opposer nodded. "Everyone is still alive," the Opposer said, making Gravis release a sigh of relief, "but that Aion fellow has it pretty rough right now."

Gravis grew a bit worried. "What happened to him?"

"Nothing that you didn't go through. The whole world is basically shunning him for being a former Heavenborn. The world is hunting him, and he is constantly on the run. Luckily, the old bastard has given him a ridiculous amount of Karmic Luck, and, with your warning, he had been able to condense a Will-Aura before the Heavenly Pressure vanished."

Gravis sighed again. "So, the highest Heaven is really preparing to make all my friends become powerful so that it can use them as hostages if I ever become a threat?" Gravis asked.

The Opposer nodded. "Possible, but that's not certain," he said.

Gravis furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The old bastard might just genuinely want to reduce your hatred towards what he had done in the past. He might have killed your closest friend in your childhood, but if he can make all your other close ones become powerful, that might count as some repayment. Honestly, I'm not sure. It could be both, either of them, or neither of them," the Opposer said.

Gravis sighed again. Not even his father knew what the highest Heaven was planning.

Whoop!

Something appeared around one of Gravis' fingers suddenly. It was the Obsidian Ring that he had lost in the lower world. "Don't lose it this time. Otherwise, you can't enter the city," the Opposer said. "In the middle world, you can just keep it inside your Spirit Space."

Gravis was a bit embarrassed that he had lost his ring. "Sorry for losing it," he said.

"No big deal. After all, you have already felt the consequences of not having it yourself," the Opposer said with a smirk.

Gravis remembered his three-day "vacation" outside the city's borders, but then, he remembered something else.

"What about the Heavenborn in the lower world?" Gravis asked.

"All dead except for Aion and some hidden spies," the Opposer said. "The Elemental Sects were pretty angry about being suppressed for so long. They hunted down nearly every single one of them. Since there is no Heavenly Pressure anymore, nearly every Heavenborn is completely helpless."

Gravis nodded. He had expected that something like this happened.

"What about Jaimy?" Gravis asked.

"Who?" asked his father.

"The guy that stabbed me in the Proxy-Lightning Guild," Gravis answered.

"Oh, that guy," his father said. "Also dead. Right after he was done with you, he fled the Guild with his younger brother. The lower Heaven saw the supreme tempering that he gave you, got mad, and annihilated them both."

Gravis nodded again. That was what he had guessed back before he went to the Core-Continent. This really fit the lower Heaven's behavior.

"What about my Research Adept emblem?" Gravis asked.

"What about it?" the Opposer asked back.

"Don't I need it to go to a middle world?" Gravis asked.

"Normally, yes," the Opposer said, "but you're my son. I'll just send you there myself. Just consider your loss of the emblem as being fired from your job. You might not get the credentials, prospects for a lucrative job, or eventual payment from it, but these things are not your goal anyway."

Gravis nodded. "I just want power to be free. With enough strength, I can have all of these things."

The Opposer smirked. "That's the right mindset."

Whoop!

The coffee vanished. "I think that covers all the topics that are not related to your cultivation?" he asked.

Gravis thought for a bit and nodded. "Yes. All my other questions are regarding my future cultivation journey."

The Opposer also nodded. "Then you should first speak with your mother before we talk about that. After all, bottled up emotions can be a distraction in cultivation. I'm not good with emotions, so I can't help you with that. Your mother is more in tune with her emotions. Talking with her will help you," he said.

Gravis' insides shivered a bit. He knew that he couldn't run from his emotions forever. He was decisive and cold when necessary, but he wasn't an emotionless machine.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, Gravis knew that many things didn't just go past him. Worry for his friends' and companions' life, Joyce's heartbroken crying, the many grieving mortals that he had created, the death of some companions, and some other things weighed on his mind.

He always shoved these worries away and focused on becoming stronger. Yet, was that the right decision in the long run? It might work out for now, but if some higher Realm required something like being in tune with oneself, this might become a problem.

His father also said that this could become a distraction. He had to confront his emotions at some point if he wanted to have a stable foundation.

Gravis stood up and looked at his father with a melancholic smile. "Thank you, father. I will go to mom now," he said.

His father nodded. "Take your time. You have been under a lot of stress for a long time. A couple of weeks or months of rest won't harm you."

Gravis nodded and left the room. The Opposer just closed his eyes and concentrated on something else. No one knew what the Opposer did all day.

After exiting the big room, Gravis sighed again. 'I wanted to visit mom first. Even though my father has supported me, I feel closer to mom. I really missed her in the lower world,' Gravis thought as he walked to his mother's room.

Without hesitation, Gravis opened the door to his mother's room.