Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at the person standing in the middle of the arena. It was a young man, nearly two meters tall. His brown hair, steady body build, and severe eyes were indicative of his element. He was definitely cultivating the earth element. On top of that, the person was at the Self Stage and had an unreal amount of Karmic Luck surrounding him. He was, without a doubt, a priest that cultivated the earth element, the perfect counter to Gravis.

'This will be incredibly difficult. His body is one Realm stronger. His Energy is two Realms stronger. His Spirit is also two Realms stronger. On top of that, his Heavenly Pressure is a little weaker than my Will-Aura, but that's without considering the level suppression. With the addition of the level suppression, his Heavenly Pressure is a full Realm higher than my own. I will probably be slowed to around 70% of my max,' Gravis thought severely.

As Gravis entered, the door behind him closed with a bang. He was locked in the room with the priest.

The priest had already noticed Gravis and looked at him evenly. "Your death has arrived, sinner," he said.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "You think? What makes you so sure of that?" he asked without fear.

The priest showed no emotional reaction to Gravis' words. "I know your techniques. You have revealed them in the Darkness Sect, and our agents have seen them." The priest pointed at Gravis' saber. "This saber is probably already loaded with the attack that you call Lightning Crescent, right?"

Gravis' eyebrows shot up. "Impressive. You even know the name of my attack. Then you probably also know what it's capable of, right?"

The priest nodded. "A fully loaded Lightning Crescent would even be a danger to me. Trust me when I say that I am not taking you lightly, even in the slightest. All my instincts are saying that you are not a danger, but the High Priest has ordered that I should look at you like you are as powerful as another priest, and I will follow that order. The High Priest's words are my belief, and I won't break them."

Gravis smirked a little. "I still don't see what makes you so confident," he said.

Whoop!

Two Jade Tokens appeared in the priest's hand. "Do you recognize these tokens?" he asked.

When Gravis saw them, his eyes narrowed in seriousness. These were the same tokens that Byron and the other priest had used. The priest saw Gravis' reaction. "So, you know them. Yes, these are the tokens that create a barrier around me that blocks an attack below the Unity Realm. Your Lightning Crescent exhibits power in the Self Stage, but after being blocked by one of these Jade Tokens, I won't even feel a thing."

The priest crossed his arms. "On top of that, I was chosen as your enemy because of my element."

BANG!

A humongous shield, taller and broader than the priest, appeared in front of him. It created a tremendous bang as it appeared in front of him. "You are slower than me, even with your lightning. My body is powerful enough to rival your unique acceleration method. I will stay on the defense all the time, and I won't put myself in danger until you are, without the slightest doubt, dead. I won't attack, even when I think there is an opening. That's how seriously I am taking you!"

Gravis grew more nervous as the priest continued speaking. The priest would be able to block two of his Lightning Crescents, and any attack weaker than that wouldn't even penetrate his defense. Gravis had to think of a plan.

"I won't even summon my weapon because I simply won't attack you. My weapon hand will always carry a token so I can activate it at a moment's notice. I won't drop my guard for even a second. Resistance is futile!" the priest said with confidence.

Even though the fight hadn't even started, Gravis was already running out of options. Gravis had thought that he, at least, had the advantage of being underestimated, but he didn't even have that. The priest took him as a dangerous, mortal enemy. Convincing him that his belief was wrong? Impossible! The Heavenborn fully believed in Heaven. It was basically impossible to convert them. Gravis didn't even try.

Gravis stood there for a couple of seconds, thinking.

BANG!

A thundering noise came from the middle of the arena as the priest shot towards Gravis, his unreasonably large shield in front of him. Gravis quickly charged to the side, but with only his body, he was slower than the priest. Because of all that, the priest quickly came closer.

The only thing that Gravis could see was a huge, metal wall charging at him.

BANG!

Gravis burst to the side by unloading 10% of his lightning into the ground. His speed peaked, and he circled the priest. Gravis stretched his arm and swung his saber at the priest's exposed side.

BANG!

The priest hadn't even attacked. As soon as Gravis showed an inkling of movement, the priest stopped and rotated his shield as quickly as possible. Therefore, when Gravis slashed, the rotating shield threw Gravis' arm to the side. The saber never even came close to reaching the priest. Gravis' arm was broken, and if he hadn't retrieved his Saber into his Spirit Space, it would have been flung into the distance.

BANG!

The priest used his full strength and shoved his shield forward, directly at Gravis. The shield was infused with the earth element, and its already ridiculous weight multiplied. On top of that, the shield was just too wide. Deflecting it with magnetism would be absolutely useless. Like this, the shield hit Gravis, and he got shot into the distance with insane power.

BANG!

Gravis' back hit the arena's wall nearly 700 meters away and bounced off, leaving not a single mark on the wall. It was just way too sturdy. The shield bash had further decimated his arms while the wall's impact broke his spine into many pieces. Gravis lay on the floor with major injuries.

"I will only use my shield in a defensive position, even when all your bones are broken. I will not give you any chance to rest. Even if you use one of your Lightning Crescents and intend to recover your lightning, I won't allow that. I will keep charging at you like this until you are dead," the priest said as he ran at Gravis again. "Also, I know that you can heal yourself in an instant, so stop pretending."

Gravis' nervousness increased as he heard the priest speak. He had planned to catch the priest off guard, but that plan also didn't work. If Gravis didn't heal himself now and retreat, the priest would squash Gravis on the arena's walls, like a bug.

BZZZ!

Like this, Gravis used around 60% of his Life Lightning to get back into his peak condition. Yet, what did that accomplish? He had already wasted 10% of his lightning in an attempt to get around the priest's defense. The same thing would just repeat. He could do the same thing and unload a Lightning Crescent instead of a slash, but the priest was ready to break the Jade Token at any moment.

What about a Lightning Spear? That would waste his lightning even more. Cultivators with the earth element could increase their body's defense significantly. On top of that, the priest's body was two Realms higher than Gravis' lightning. Even a Lightning Spear with 60% of his lightning would only, at most, injure one arm of the priest. Like this, Gravis would basically use all his lightning. What then?

Gravis ran around the arena, but he was just not as fast as the priest. Could he use his Lightning Board? Sure, with the Lightning Board, he would be faster than the priest, but it cost him lightning to operate it, so he wouldn't be able to recover at all. On top of that, it was very difficult to turn while traveling at such insane speeds.

To put the Lightning Board's speed into perspective, it would go from one end of the arena to the other in less than a second. Even if Gravis drove around the edges, the priest would just need to stay at one wall. Gravis wouldn't be able to turn fast enough to sidestep the priest. He would just hit the priest's shield like an insect. After that, Gravis would turn into nothing more than a stain on the shield.

The shield came closer again, and Gravis waited for the last moment to sidestep without his lightning. He couldn't waste any more of it. Yet, the shield of the priest just followed him. It didn't smash forward but just continued pointing at him, increasing Gravis' nervousness.

Suddenly, the shield shot forward, and Gravis jumped in the opposite direction. He used his lightning again to reach his maximum speed. This was his chance!

Whoop!

The shield immediately stopped and retreated. The priest had used a feint! The shield quickly turned to Gravis' new position and shot forward. Gravis' eyes widened in shock and terror. 'FUCK!'

BANG! BANG!

The shield hit Gravis with full force, and he hit the other side of the arena again. At least, he managed to protect his spine somewhat, at the cost of other bones. Like this, Gravis was nearly incapable of fighting again!

BANG!

The priest charged forward again. "I don't know how often you can fully recover, but just to be on the safe side, I will assume that you can recover yourself to your full health for around 200 times. Maybe I will become reckless after you recover yourself 201 times, but until then, my tactic won't change. I also won't assume that you are dead until your torso and head are split into over 50 pieces with a distance of at least three meters between each one."

'200 times? What monster does he think I am!? Even someone that cultivates Life Lightning can, at maximum, heal themselves only around 20 times. 200? That's ridiculous!' Gravis thought in panic as he used the remainder of his Life Lightning to heal himself. He was completely out now.

Gravis stood up and looked at the approaching shield with panic.