Lightning Is the Only Way

Silva's emotions weren't calm anymore. A lot of the things that Gravis had said rung true inside his mind. On top of that, he was also sure that he would try to think of his errors in this hypothetical scenario and what he could have done better. Slowly, he started becoming more open to Gravis' words.

"What can I do to take advantage of my strength?" Silva asked.

Gravis smirked and laughed a bit. "You already did without realizing," he said.

This was not the answer that Silva had expected. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Gravis laughed some more. "You have done something that will help you become stronger that Shira won't ever do," Gravis said as he walked over and now leaned on the statue of Silva. "You've asked for help."

Silva wasn't happy with that sentence. "I asked for guidance, not help," he said.

"That's the thing," Gravis said. "When we refer to help, we don't only refer to the aspect of combat. Guidance is also a form of help. Depending on someone else's strength will be detrimental to you, but asking for guidance is learning, and learning is growing. As long as you fight your battles yourself, this kind of help will only be beneficial to you."

"Tell me," Gravis said. "Is it forbidden for Shira to ask for guidance?"

"No," Silva said.

"Do you think that if she were to ask for guidance, we wouldn't help her?" Gravis asked.

"No. I'm sure that you would answer her questions too," Silva answered.

"Yet, why doesn't she ask for guidance?" Gravis asked.

"Because she is too prideful. Asking for help would feel like she has lost against me," Silva answered.

"And that's her weakness," Gravis answered. "She can grow by asking for guidance, but she doesn't. You could sacrifice some of your assets to kill some of hers, but you don't. These are the weaknesses of both of you."

"Now," Gravis said as he stepped towards the middle of the room. "If it weren't for Shira's pressure, would you have realized these truths? If you weren't backed into a corner, would you have learned all of these things?"

he fought with his emotions. It was always hard to concede that someone else was

said. "You can have all the morals, ways, assets, techniques, or whatever else you want. Yet, the end goal is the same for everyone. We all want to become more powerful, and when your

CRRRR!

a few close ones and a countless amount of enemies. There are not infinite resources in this world. Look at these ten statues. Imagine that these statues represent all the beasts in the

Silva nodded.

there are only enough resources for two of them. What

enemies while some will form teams of two,"

nodded. "That would be true if these spots were permanent. Yet, as soon as someone achieves one of these spots, they will ascend

ascension. Some weaker factions will target the one's keeping themselves out of the fight. After all, if they win against the strong factions, the sidelines might get involved and kill them when they are exhausted

want to risk dying and try to take a safe approach. Yet, the strong will never give you a chance, while the weak will first deal with you. By

appeared. Yet, this one was bigger than all

represent Tribes. One group has a Lord and three high-rank Spirit Beasts. The other one has ten high-rank Spirit Beasts but no Lord. What would the second camp need to

thought for a bit. It wasn't that this was a complex solution, but that he didn't

"And if there are

each other until one

Gravis said. Then, five statues in the second camp were destroyed while one of them grew to the same size as the

get annihilated while the second camp would

second camp would have one survivor. Now, if we hadn't sacrificed the beasts to raise a Lord,

sighed again.

action seems cruel to you, but that's only because you have overlooked

with interest at

the most powerful beast of the ten became a

understanding why Orthar and Morn liked the concept of the River Tribe that much. It was basically a slightly fairer version of the wider world. Yet,

freedom to rise to power,"

your offspring that needs your protection. Just like you have decided

others will become more powerful. If you don't allow them to chase their goal, fearing that they would die, they will never be able to achieve their goal. To

fact. You don't need to become as cruel and self-serving as Shira, but you need to realize that when they die by their own decision,

was not his responsibility? To him, it