Lightning Is the Only Way

"I am really impressed by your rapid growth," Byron said as he reappeared a hundred meters in front of Gravis. "I would have imagined that it would have taken longer for you to become that powerful."

Only Gravis and Byron were in this area. No living thing could be seen for kilometers. The ground, mountains, and trees had long been destroyed by the prolonged fight with the elders. Right now, it was only Gravis and Byron in a wasteland without any life. The only thing that could give one company was the darkness and cold wind.

Gravis looked emotionlessly at Byron. "Would you have ever expected that it would end like this when you decided to scam me?"

Byron sighed. "Initially, no," he confessed, "but after Old Man Lightning saved you, I have expected that something like this would happen. Though, I had expected that it would happen in, at least, five years."

Gravis continued looking evenly at him. "Actually, the opposite is true. It couldn't happen any later," Gravis said. "Right now, I am only 2% away from the Sapling Stage. In just two more weeks, this whole thing wouldn't even be dangerous for me anymore."

Byron's insides shook as he heard that. Then, he laughed a little. "And instead of waiting for that, you decided to use my Sect as tempering." Byron shook his head. "I can't imagine anyone that would be so crazy." Then, he looked with a complicated expression at Gravis. "But, I guess that's why you are growing so rapidly. Such a crazy growth requires an equally crazy attitude."

Gravis smiled a little. "Did you know that your best chance of killing me was directly after I entered the Illusion Array?" he asked.

Byron sighed. "Yes, but I was afraid that you were faking your infatuation. On top of that, if I were to strike you and you decided to blow up, I would be dead. I couldn't take the risk."

Gravis shook his head. "Even when I fought the elders, you kept yourself away."

"That was because of your Lightning Sphere. If I struck you and you managed to summon that, I would be dead," he said.

"And that's why you will lose today," Gravis said. "You have been so afraid of committing a mistake that you didn't act at all, allowing me to kill everyone around you. Now, you are alone. Was it really worth it to sacrifice basically your entire Sect to weaken me to this extent? Do you think it was necessary?"

Byron laughed a little. "But!" Byron shouted with a smirk, "you ARE exhausted and have no weapon. I think that outcome is more than enough. To be honest," Byron said as he looked at the Darkness Sect, "If I could choose again," then he turned back to Gravis, "I would act exactly the same. Exchanging the Darkness Sect to weaken you is worth it in my eyes."

"You really don't care that all your elders are dead, do you?" Gravis asked.

Byron laughed. "No. Everyone in the Darkness Sect is there to use it as a means to an end. No one has any loyalty toward it. Everyone wants to use everyone else to achieve their goals." Byron chuckled a little. "That's just how darkness cultivators are. Don't you already know?"

Gravis knew, but he just wanted to be sure. Hearing it directly from Byron was better than just assuming.

"Let's end this," Gravis said as he charged forward. He didn't use his lightning as acceleration since he had to be careful with it. After all, he didn't have much left.

Byron readied his two black daggers and also shot at Gravis. He had already noticed that Gravis could feel the fluctuations in the darkness. After a full hour of fighting, Gravis had learned to feel the bodies of the darkness cultivators. Being stealthy made no difference anymore.

As Gravis closed in, he swung at Byron from a distance. A leg appeared inside his grip as he threw it. Gravis had cut off way more than just a torso as preparation. He also had a lot of arms and legs inside his Spirit Space.

SHING!

Byron cut the thrown leg apart. He had expected something like this happening. Gravis came closer, and Byron took note of how Gravis positioned himself. He quickly readied himself and slashed at both of Gravis' outstretched hands.

SHIIIIIING!

A small mountain of arms and legs appeared before Byron, surprising him. He knew that Gravis would have more body parts, but not that many! After cutting through many arms and legs, his strikes' power had been used up, leaving him open. Gravis quickly reached his torso and touched it. "Goodbye!"

BOOOOM!

All of Gravis' remaining lightning and Spirit were unloaded into Byron's torso. This was easily enough to kill him. Gravis had kept all these limbs as a secret to kill Byron. After all, he had never forgotten Byron while he had been fighting the elders. Byron was his most dangerous enemy, after all. Therefore, this trump card had been specifically saved for him!

Gravis absorbed some of his lightning back, but it was only a minuscule amount. Maybe not even 10%. On top of that, his Spirit was completely empty. Yet, even though Gravis was sure that this would have been enough to kill Byron, Gravis decided to jump back. That was because he had not felt any Energy entering his body. This could only mean that Byron was still alive.

Crack.

Gravis could hear a small thing cracking apart, and his eyes narrowed as he saw Byron stepping out from behind the lightning and dust, uninjured. Gravis had unloaded everything he had into him, but he wasn't even injured!

Byron chuckled. "Did you know," he said as he showed what was inside his hand. Gravis saw the small, broken Jade Token and knew what this was. He had seen it before. This Jade Token was identical to the one that the priest had used against Old Man Lightning! "I had to do dirty work for the Heaven Sect for 50 years to get one of these. This token is able to block one attack, and it was the reason why I wasn't worried by you. I knew that you only had one last attack left."

Gravis narrowed his eyes, but his breathing quickened. He knew that Byron had something to rely on, judging by the fact that he had attacked Gravis once, but he hadn't expected that it was this! "And even though you had that, you decided against attacking me earlier?" he asked.

Byron laughed louder now. "This token is worth more than the entire Darkness Sect. After all, only the High Priest can make these. This is like a second life! I'd rather sacrifice the whole Darkness Sect than waste this token." Then, Byron shook his head and shrugged, "but I guess I lost both, the Sect and the Token, now."

Then, Byron started smiling, "but that doesn't matter. Your Spirit is empty. Your lightning is empty. You are exhausted. You don't have a weapon. You are helpless now. It seems like I win again, Gravis. On top of that, without lightning, you can't even flee on that funny little board of yours."

Byron walked closer as Gravis lifted his hands in a defensive position. When Byron saw that, he chuckled some more. "Really? Even now, you think you can survive? Where is that coming from?"

After a couple of seconds, Byron stood in front of Gravis. They watched each other closely, and Byron laughed again. "I can't believe how happy I am right now! With your death, I have not only survived a calamity but also got some nice tempering. After this is over, I will be able to reach the Unity Realm! Here I thought that I had committed a grave mistake by scheming against you, but instead, you allowed me to temper myself."

Byron chuckled again. "Over the past year, the fear I had of you has tempered my will, something that I haven't felt for a long while. You know, I am really thankful that you were able to become so powerful. You allowed me to reach the Unity Realm."

Gravis didn't answer as he only looked at him with narrowed eyes.

Byron readied his daggers. "You can't believe how long I have waited for this moment," he whispered.

"Me too," Gravis said back as his face changed to fervent excitement.

Whoosh!

A saber appeared inside Gravis' hand. On top of that, the saber was also bursting with an incredible amount of lightning, Spirit, and, surprisingly, will.

The saber that Byron stole earlier?

That was a second saber! Gravis hadn't used his main saber at all!

This one was Gravis' real saber, and since it could withstand the Lightning Crescent without a problem, Gravis had preloaded a fully powered one in it. 70% of his full lightning storage and 100% of his Spirit were loaded into that single Lightning Crescent. This was the most powerful Lightning Crescent that Gravis could produce.

When Byron saw the loaded saber, his eyes widened.

Gravis struck down.

The Lightning Crescent shot forward.

At the last second, Byron's face changed from shock to a bitter and sad smile. "I guess I-"

BOOOOOOOOOM!

An apocalyptic lightning explosion with a radius of 500 meters appeared and destroyed everything in its vicinity. A gigantic crater formed as the shockwave destroyed everything for multiple kilometers around. If they had been any closer to the Darkness Sect, it would have become rubble.

The explosion vanished as quickly as it appeared while everyone could still see and feel the shockwave destroying the earth, many kilometers away.

Yet, Gravis only stood silently in the middle of the gigantic crater.

When he felt a massive amount of Energy entering his body, he knew…

Byron was dead.