"I disagree," Gravis answered.
The Sect Master furrowed her brows.
She hadn't expected that answer.
"So, you're saying that you're justified in attacking one of my Vice-Sect Masters with the intention to kill?" she asked with a cold voice.
"No," Gravis answered.
The Sect Master waited for clarification.
"According to your standards, I wouldn't be justified. In the mind of the Eternal Fire Sect, I was basically a visitor that demanded something without offering something in return. It was a demand, nothing else," Gravis explained.
"However, I'm not part of the Eternal Fire Sect, and my priorities are not your priorities."
"Your priorities are material. You are interested in resources and people. You're right in the fact that my action is going against the optimal way of getting cooperation and profits."
"However, as I've said, my priorities are not your priorities," Gravis repeated.
The Sect Master looked at Gravis with narrowed eyes. "And what are your priorities?"
Gravis looked into the Sect Master's eyes.
"My priorities are whatever I want," Gravis said. "I want to meet my friends, and if you stop me, I will do everything in my power to change things."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Yes," the Sect Master said, "and the best way to accomplish that is to discuss the matter and talk."
"I don't want to discuss the matter," Gravis said. "I will meet my friends, and I don't care how you accomplish it."
"That's unreasonable," the Sect Master said. "You can't just demand something without anything in return."
"I just did," Gravis said. "Additionally, I don't need to offer anything. After all, you are the very people that are stopping me."
"You act like you have the right to stop me from meeting my friends, but you don't. People can meet each other whenever they want. You say that it's for security reasons, but that doesn't matter to me. I'm a single person, and the only thing I want to do is to see my friends and family."
"That's one of the most basic things in existence, and I should have no problems in meeting them. Yet, you artificially put a blockade in my way and act like tearing down the blockade is a kind act from your part that demands compensation."
"The same thing is true for your Law Comprehension Areas. You own them, and you demand resources so that people can look at them. Yet, who decided that you are the owner of these Law Comprehension Areas?"
"Yourself, and why does no one disagree with that assertion? Because you are more powerful than the people that are actually interested in these Law Comprehension Areas."
"So, by that logic, if I have the power to declare that I own the entire Eternal Fire Sect, I should also have the right to do so."
"However, I'm not doing that. The only thing I want is the ability to visit my friends. Your people have stopped me from doing so. They've stepped into my way while I was minding my own business. This doesn't concern them, and it makes no difference to them if I see my friends or not."
"It's not their business, but they stepped into my path anyway."
"Because of that, I don't think that I have acted incorrectly, even if I had killed the Vice-Sect Master."
"I do what I want, and everything and everyone that stands in my path will be warned to go to the side, and if they don't comply, I will simply walk through them," Gravis finished.
"The fact that I'm warning them is already more polite than necessary."
The Sect Master had let Gravis finish his explanation while looking at him with cold eyes.
She had expected that Gravis would be rational, but he wasn't.
"Ownership and actions are common conventions," the Sect Master said. "Everyone agrees on how ownership works and what right the owner of said things has. Saying that we only own our Law Comprehension Areas because we have the biggest fist is undermining the very basics of how our society works."
"If everyone acted and thought like this, we would all be barbarians that continually kill each other for the most minor of infringements. At that point, Sects might as well not exist."
"Your assertions are anarchistic pure to the degree that everyone you don't agree with becomes your enemy, making basic human cooperation impossible from your end. Even the beasts have integrated into human society in this world, which shows that having basic human cooperation is more efficient than a mindset saying that everyone is reliant on only themselves."
"Your ideology isolates you from everyone, leading you to a lonely road which will lead to a dead end. At some point, you won't be able to advance on your own anymore. At some point, you will meet enemies with a quantity beyond of what you can handle."
Gravis looked at the Sect Master as she finished her sermon. "And that's why you're not a Divine God already," he said.
The Sect Master's eyes opened wide in angered shock.
What did he just say?
Was he criticizing her!?
"What about the Opposer?" Gravis asked.
"What about the Heaven's Magnates?"
"What about the strongest Divine Gods?"
"Which one of those cares about organizations and basic human cooperation?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Have you not heard of what had happened in the most recent Heaven Clash? The Peak Divine Gods handed over Peak Sects like they were nothing more than some fancy toys. The strongest organizations in the world are nothing more than fancy trinkets to these people."
"All of them don't need your basic human cooperation. The power of a single person is enough to overwhelm all other organizations, which shows the truth of what organizations actually are."
"They are a gathering of beings, which gives them protection against enemies that are beyond the individual's power. The very few Ancestral Gods that can fight three levels above themselves can't win against two Ancestral Gods of the same power as them, forcing them to find cooperation and protection."
"For over 99.99% of all beings, your idea of cooperation is the most optimal path to power."
"However, I'm not part of the 99.99%."
"My Battle-Strength is great enough that everyone that could threaten me doesn't attack me because whatever I own doesn't even enter their eyes. Additionally, I only go against the people and organizations I can fight."
Gravis looked at the Sect Master with a cold expression.
"Your Eternal Fire Sect is the home of my friends, which means that I don't want to go against you."
"However, the Eternal Fire Sect doesn't belong to my friends yet, which means that not everything is under their control. Even more, the Eternal Fire Sect is so big that a minor wave on one part of the lake doesn't reach the other side."
"Your Sect is too big and diverse, which makes it hard for your Sect to achieve Unity."
"The only ones that will care about the death of the Vice-Sect Master are his friends, family, and you."
"You can cling to your belief of basic human cooperation, but that won't change my mind and my actions."
"I will have the opportunity to see my friends whenever I want."
"Your cooperation isn't a requirement."
"I'm only letting you know out of politeness."