Lightning Is the Only Way

For a second, Gravis' mind remained in a battle-ready state, but eventually, his father's words truly entered his mind.

The current Opposer and the past Opposer looked identical.

The only difference was their eyes.

One pair of eyes had been filled with brutality and a disdain for existence, but nothing had been behind that.

It was like that pair of eyes had only acted on instinct. It was like there had been no actual will or personality behind it.

In comparison, Gravis could see the complex thoughts and emotions in his father's eyes.

Gravis finally realized that the fight was over, and he relaxed.

"Argh!" Gravis suddenly groaned as he grabbed the side of his head with his right hand.

After he had relaxed, he noticed that there were holes inside his Will-Aura, his Spirit, and his Realm.

These things wouldn't endanger him, but he would have to equalize the broken parts with the healthy parts.

Gravis' being stretched over the holes and repaired them by becoming thinner. As a result, Gravis felt his Will-Aura, Realm, and Spirit weaken slightly.

BANG!

Gravis and Mortis fell to the eighth level of the Star God Realm.

Luckily, their Will-Aura had not fallen a level.

And that's when Gravis' Will-Aura increased.

Not only had Gravis gone through an extremely long Samsara, but he had also won a fight where he had nearly died, just like Mortis.

His Will-Aura shot through the roof, and Gravis felt that everything in his surroundings became weaker.

BANG!

Eventually, Gravis' Will-Aura stopped at the ninth level of the Ancestral God Realm.

"The pain you've just felt was the result of using Brutality," the Opposer explained.

"Brutality?" Gravis asked. "Is that what you called it?"

The Opposer nodded. "Death cancels out Energy, and Energy cancels out Death. Usually, no additional force would be generated by this cancelation, but if your mind is attuned towards Death, you can siphon a special force out of the cancelation."

"Energy cannot create this force since Energy can't demonstrate true destruction. True destruction can only occur when Energy completely vanishes, and Energy obviously can't accomplish that."

"However, Death can harness this peculiar force. You can liken it to two beings exploding and vying for the combined forces of the two of them. Yet, only one of the two beings knows how to shape this new form of Energy."

"In the end, that being will create an entirely new being with the same mindset of the previous being. You could also call it an aggressive fusion."

"The resulting force is very similar to Death, but it has a purer form of destruction. Death wants to destroy Energy, but this force, which I have decided to call Brutality, wants to destroy everything. Death is not an exception."

"You have transformed all of your Energy into Death, and to create Brutality, you ground your Death on your being. The two forces clash, and Brutality gets born. Then, you use that form of Brutality to attack your enemy. However, your being will inevitably receive some damage," the Opposer explained.

By now, Mortis had also arrived beside Gravis, and the two of them were listening to their father.

"So, that's the source of your power, right?" Gravis asked. "You grind Energy and Death together in your Cosmos, creating Brutality, which will then be used as your power."

The Opposer nodded again. "Sadly, Brutality is as volatile as it gets, which means that it can't be saved. The only thing I can do is keep a minimum amount of Brutality flowing as insurance for the case that the old bastard tries to pull a fast one on me. The remaining Energy and Death can only be stored separately for when I need it."

The Opposer's words reminded Gravis and Mortis that managing his Cosmos definitely wasn't easy. He truly had to walk the edge between life and death every single day.

However, that pain allowed the Opposer to become unfathomably powerful.

Orthar had already confirmed that if the Opposer were to escape his Cosmos, he would be the most powerful being he had ever seen. The only reason why Orthar could even resist the Opposer was that the Opposer was literally inside his domain.

The Opposer was like a mighty tiger in a cage, in the basement of a fortified castle with guards. The owner of the tiger was the world's strongest man, but he was only a man, while his enemy was a tiger.

The tiger would be able to tear the owner apart if it reached him, but all the other security measures kept it from the owner, and when they eventually met, the tiger would have already been injured to near-death.

If they met outside, the owner wouldn't even be able to resist the tiger.

One could also say that he was literally riding a tiger.

He wanted to get down, but if he got down, the tiger would tear him apart. However, it couldn't injure him while he was on its back. Because of that, he was forced to ride the tiger for eternity.

And the reason why the Opposer was such a fierce tiger?

Brutality.

"Is Brutality stronger than Death?" Gravis asked.

"In a one-to-one ratio, yes, but quality can also be overcome by quantity," the Opposer explained. "I can unleash quite some Brutality, but the old bastard has just far too much Energy. On top of that, he also has a rudimentary control over Death."

"You have seen the Sin Monster. It's a being made of Death. Back when I have still walked my path to power, Sin Monsters didn't exist. Why? Because the old bastard didn't know how to make them."

"That's also the reason why he was willing to watch me create my own Cosmos."

This was the first time Gravis and Mortis had heard of that.

"You want to talk about that day?" Orthar asked evenly as he arrived opposite the Opposer, Gravis and Mortis between them.

"Don't get excited over nothing," the Opposer said with a cold voice as he looked into Orthar's eyes. "I won't talk about the things you don't know."

Orthar's expression didn't change. "I would lose some respect for you if you did something so foolish."

The Opposer looked at Gravis. "You have seen my lives up to the point before I became an Ancestral God, correct?"

Mortis was confused that the Opposer had said lives and not life. Why plural?

However, Gravis quickly transmitted the relevant things from what he had seen in Samsara to Mortis, who promptly realized why the Opposer had framed it like that.

Meanwhile, Gravis nodded. "I know that you have once died. The person that has entered the Gate of Death has thoroughly died, and he has been replaced by a Manifestation of Death."

"Yet, how is it possible that you now have control over Energy again? How is it possible that you have emotions, goals, a will, and a personality?"

"Are you a human, father?" Gravis asked.

The Opposer looked at Gravis calmly.

"Have you already forgotten our conversation before you left for the middle world?" the Opposer asked.

"A body is not what makes you a human. Your Spirit, memories, mind, and personality are what make a human human."