Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis had been back in his homeworld for a little over three days. This meant that around ten years had passed in the lower world. He really wanted to know what had happened to the lower world. Would it get a new Heaven? Would it be doomed to die?

"As I said," the Opposer said, "you might be the first one that has killed a Heaven without ascending, but there have been cases of people killing a Heaven after returning from the highest world. Every world that has its Heaven destroyed gets equalized."

"Equalized?" Gravis asked, some nervousness appearing inside his voice. "That sounds ominous."

"No, it's nothing bad," the Opposer said. "The world stays heavenless. Yet, since there is no Heaven to oversee things, the world just continues running on its own without any interference."

"This means that all the Karmic Luck gets evenly distributed across all humans. The parent-Heaven also keeps up the ascension process, but that is everything that happens. Only those two things are being taken care of by Heaven. Everything else is up to the world and its inhabitants."

Gravis scratched his chin. "So, theoretically, everything can happen?"

"Yes. There is no favoritism and no higher power to stop things threatening to destroy the world. There have been worlds where techniques had been created to siphon the life out of mortals to increase one's cultivation. Due to greed, some of these worlds had the human population go extinct. If a Heaven oversaw the world, something like this would never happen."

Gravis felt some guilt inside of him. The lower world had a chance of being destroyed because of his enmity with Heaven.

"But," the Opposer said, "there have also been worlds where the general power of cultivators soared. There were also worlds where cultivation completely died out since all techniques had been lost. A world without a Heaven could become a wasteland, a paradise for mortals, a paradise for cultivators, or anything else. It depends entirely on the world."

"When one of his children dies, the old bastard just accepts it and complies. They want a world without Heaven? Sure, here you go. Then, he lets the world just take whatever course it wants. Whatever happens, happens."

Now, Gravis didn't feel so bad anymore. In actuality, he gave the world more freedom to do whatever it wanted. Whatever the world did with its newfound freedom was on them. More freedom might not result in the best results, but Gravis preferred freedom over being controlled.

Granting someone more freedom was like developing a powerful weapon. Some will use it to protect their loved ones, but others will use it to commit atrocities. It was not the weapon that killed people, but the user of said weapon.

"Are my friends still alive?" Gravis asked.

"Whom do you consider as a friend?" the Opposer asked back.

Lasar, Old Man Lightning, Manuel, and

Opposer nodded. "Everyone is still alive," the Opposer said, making Gravis release a sigh of relief, "but that Aion fellow has it pretty rough

bit worried. "What

former Heavenborn. The world is hunting him, and he is constantly on the run. Luckily, the old bastard has given him a ridiculous amount of Karmic Luck, and, with your warning, he had been

my friends become powerful so that it can use them as hostages if I

"Possible, but that's not certain,"

brows. "What do you

friend in your childhood, but if he can make all your other close ones become powerful, that might count as some repayment. Honestly, I'm not sure. It could be both,

even his father

Whoop!

fingers suddenly. It was the Obsidian Ring that he had lost in the lower world. "Don't lose it this time. Otherwise, you can't enter the city," the Opposer said. "In the middle world, you can just keep it inside your Spirit

lost his ring. "Sorry for losing it,"

already felt the consequences

three-day "vacation" outside the city's borders, but then, he

about the Heavenborn in the lower

for Aion and some hidden spies," the Opposer said. "The Elemental Sects were pretty angry about being suppressed for so long. They hunted down nearly every single one of them. Since there is no Heavenly Pressure anymore, nearly

nodded. He had expected that something

Jaimy?"

"Who?" asked his father.

stabbed me in the Proxy-Lightning Guild," Gravis

with you, he fled the Guild with his younger brother. The lower Heaven saw the supreme tempering that he gave you, got mad,

he went

Research Adept emblem?"

it?" the

need it to go to a middle

just send you there myself. Just consider your loss of the emblem as being fired from your job. You might not get the credentials, prospects for a lucrative job, or eventual payment from it, but these things are not