Lightning Is the Only Way

What had been the signal that everything had started?

It had been Orthar.

Orthar had launched an attack on Gravis.

However, the Opposer had quickly intervened and stopped the attack, becoming injured in the process, but at the same time, the Opposer had launched an attack on Mortis.

Of course, Orthar had been prepared, and he used a huge amount of his personal lightning to block the attack.

The Opposer had been injured, but Orthar had lost a lot of Energy.

This was the trade.

None of them had come out on top.

At the same time, Mortis shot at Gravis.

He was now Orthar, and he was crackling with Orthar's lightning.

As soon as Gravis opened his eyes, he acted.

The Death inside his Cosmos clashed with the Energy, reducing the density of both of them.

However, the resulting Brutality was funneled out of his Cosmos and traveled through his human body into his saber.

Gravis had already created his own saber made out of his own Laws and being.

As Brutality washed over Gravis, time seemingly slowed down as Gravis felt infinite Energy enter his being.

While all of this was happening, the highest world also fell into an apocalypse.

All Heaven's Magnates had suddenly turned into pure Energy.

Of course, that included the Economistress.

She had known of her fate.

As soon as her husband and Orthar clashed, she would be converted into Energy by Orthar.

If the Opposer tried to stop that, Orthar would be able to gain the upper hand in the battle, which would result in both of them dying.

Sadly, this was her fate.

Of course, Zero's Essence, Master Linus, Heavenly Senior, the Black Magnate, and even Child of Heaven had also been converted into Energy.

There were no more Heaven's Magnates in Orthar's Cosmos.

The Energy density in the highest world climbed to a level never seen before, but it quickly shrunk again as it got converted into pure power by Orthar.

As Orthar and the Opposer clashed for the first time in forever with their full powers, all the worlds felt the impact.

The lower worlds, middle worlds, and higher worlds were reduced to nothing. Orthar couldn't spare the effort to protect them.

He could only protect the highest world to some degree.

Yet, even the highest world felt its Laws be thrown into chaos as an uncountable number of lives were ended.

Only the strongest Ancestral Gods and Divine Gods managed to survive the impact.

All other life had vanished.

At the same time, Orthar's Cosmos began to shrink rapidly as he converted his reality into pure power.

The attack Orthar had used when Gravis had been a child was nothing in comparison to this clash.

Back then, the Opposer and Orthar had only lightly shoved each other.

This time, they were attacking with the intention to kill.

The devastation between these two incidents couldn't be compared with each other.

At the same time, Gravis was attacking Mortis with the intention to kill.

His saber quivered with Brutality, nearly being destroyed in the process.

Then, Gravis struck down.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Mortis was torn apart vertically.

His Spirit, which had been in tune with Orthar, had been destroyed.

Even though Mortis had been Orthar, he had still had his own Spirit.

His Cosmos had still been under his control.

With Gravis' attack, Mortis' Cosmos had lost its identity.

It was now an empty body without a will.

It wasn't any different from someone that had died to Samsara.

Gravis' and Mortis' power could no longer be compared.

Gravis finally found a ray of hope.

He had to help his father!

BANG!

Suddenly, Mortis' human body exploded into Orthar's Lightning, which immediately entered Gravis' human body.

The attack had been so fast that Gravis hadn't been able to react.

At this moment, Gravis realized that he had fallen into Orthar's trap.

Orthar had expected Gravis to create a Cosmos similar to his father's!

He had never made Mortis into someone that could kill Gravis in an equal fight!

No, he had transformed Mortis into a bomb!

To the very end, Orthar had said that Mortis wouldn't die.

Of course, he had lied.

Orthar's Lightning traveled through Gravis' body into his Cosmos.

It wasn't destroying anything in the process.

When Orthar's lightning appeared inside Gravis' Cosmos, it began to multiply rapidly and took control over a huge part of the Energy inside it.

Gravis' Will quickly suppressed it so that it could only take control of 10% of Gravis' Energy.

Yet, that was already enough.

Orthar's Lightning followed the rules of already prepared principles and immediately sought out Balance, and the only instance of Balance in Gravis' Cosmos was the filter protecting him from the Primordial Chaos.

Orthar's Lightning hit the filter, and Gravis had to use up an insane amount of Energy to counter it. Gravis couldn't use Death or Brutality because those forces would destroy his own Cosmos.

Gravis could only use those forces in an offensive manner outside of his Cosmos.

Eventually, Orthar's Lightning was used up, and Gravis managed to keep the filter intact.

The Primordial Chaos didn't enter his Cosmos.

However, the damage had already been done.

Gravis' Energy had reduced from being 50% of his Cosmos to only being 30%.

Death was still at 50%.

There was now a ratio of 1.66 to 1 in Death and Energy.

The balance of Gravis' Cosmos had been more than broken.

The Death in the center of Gravis' Cosmos violently expanded, suppressing the Energy and getting rid of it.

When Gravis saw that, he knew that he hadn't been able to escape his fate.

It was impossible to recover from that.

When the Opposer saw that, he gritted his teeth.

Eventually, reality had still set in.

They had always expected Gravis and Mortis to die.

Gravis, Mortis, and the Opposer had known that.

All three had known that Mortis and Gravis would die.

This had been Gravis' fate.

Death.

This had been the fate he had wanted to escape from.

This was what he had worked so hard to avoid.

But in the end, it had still happened.

'Has it been unavoidable from the very beginning?' Gravis thought.

At the moment when Gravis' fate had become an inescapable reality, he calmed down.

The cruelty of his Cosmos didn't matter anymore.

His will to survive vanished.

He had accepted death.

His only regret was leaving his loved ones behind.

'Seems like this is the end, huh?' Gravis thought with a bitter smile as he watched his Cosmos. 'Father has his Energy into me, weakening him. With Mortis dead, Orthar can absorb his Cosmos, getting a huge part of his expended Energy back. Orthar will have more Energy than father.'

His Cosmos was being devoured by Death, and when all Energy vanished, Gravis would vanish along with it.

In the end, Gravis found the irony in his death.

'I have tried so hard to avoid death. I have even created a Cosmos that represents the opposite of my values.'

'I have sacrificed so much, and I have done horrible things to survive.'

'Yet, this very thing is the reason for my death.'

'If I had just created a normal Cosmos, this attack wouldn't have killed me.'

'And Orthar knew that.'

Gravis chuckled a bit.

'He outsmarted me.'

'Oh, how foolish I have been, trying to outsmart someone like Orthar.'

'I've never had a chance to survive.'

Then, Gravis smiled peacefully.

'However, even if I die, Orthar will also die.'

Gravis looked into a hidden corner of his Spirit.

There, he found a tiny piece of Perceived Reality.

It had been there for an eternity.

Gravis and his father had never been able to openly plan against Orthar since Orthar could always hear them.

Except one time.

There had been one time when Gravis and the Opposer had been away from Orthar's surveillance.

The Gate of Death incident didn't matter?

It was irrelevant?

It mattered!

It was the deciding factor!

When Gravis had been under Samsara while trying to resurrect Mortis, he had been in the Opposer's perception.

And that was when the Opposer had hidden his ace.

The Opposer had known about Orthar's plan by then, and he had hidden a tiny piece of Perceived Reality in Gravis' Spirit.

Gravis wasn't allowed to know the plan since Orthar could read Gravis' mind.

Because of that, the Opposer had hidden this tiny piece of Perceived Reality in a spot where Gravis could only find it when he was dying.

When Gravis had seen it just now, he immediately knew what it was and where it had come from.

Gravis broke the tiny piece.

A piece of information entered his mind.

Then, Gravis smirked.

Gravis gathered the remaining Energy of his Cosmos and transformed it into a wave of Will.

And then, he unleashed it into Orthar's Cosmos.

Orthar felt the wave of Will, but he couldn't interfere under the Opposer's offense.

The Opposer knew what was about to happen, and he readied himself.

The wave of Will washed over the few survivors.

And in unison, they all did the same thing.

They spoke.

Collectively, they said two words.

"Aren Bauer!"

Orthar's eyes widened in horror.

Aren Bauer.

The Opposer smirked.

Or, more precisely…

Aren Bauer smirked.

Meanwhile, Gravis closed his eyes as Death overtook his Cosmos.

Gravis turned into pure Death and vanished.

He no longer existed.

He had died.