Lightning Is the Only Way

BANG!

The surroundings exploded as earth shot throughout the horizons.

"How dare you!" the badger shouted in uncontrollable fury.

"You say that you didn't want to do this!? You kill one of my companions and say that you didn't want to do this? You had a choice! If you genuinely didn't want to do this, you would have decided against doing it!"

Gravis remained calm as he turned his gaze to the Inquisitor. "You are right," Gravis said. "I had a choice. Some beasts might blame the circumstances and say that they were forced to do this, but that is not the case. I had a choice."

The Inquisitor gritted his teeth as his frustration became so powerful that he even injured his gums by gritting them so hard. "Then how dare you say that you didn't want to do this!?"

"Because I had to," Gravis said. "I could have let him live and let bygones be bygones. In my opinion, Commander Rime didn't deserve to die for this."

"Usually, I judge situations based on the beast's intentions rather than their actions. If they intend to hurt me, it doesn't matter if they actually managed to hurt me or not. They are an enemy in my mind. Yet, I haven't done that in this case," Gravis explained.

"Because it suits your selfish goal?" the badger asked with disdain.

"Yes," Gravis said, surprising the Inquisitor. "The goal to reach supreme power is inherently selfish. We kill others to become more powerful. Yet, this goal is more important to me than my morality. In order to achieve this goal, millions of innocents have died under my hand," Gravis said as he thought back to the apocalypse he had wrought when he had fought the lower Heaven.

"I don't want to kill beings that have done nothing to me, but if that is necessary to become powerful, I will do so regardless. I avoid killing friendly and innocent beings, but to keep my path to power alive, I need to do so regardless."

is a danger to my path. I have chosen power, and I

asked with a cold

if I had to choose between my close family and supreme

with confusion and disdain. To beasts, family was irrelevant. So what if they shared their blood? They hadn't fought together with them, and they had no feelings for each other. Companions have proven their loyalty

important as my goal," Gravis said. "Our values do not match, and we won't find a middle-ground, Inquisitor. Instead

betrayal? If you return to the Empress, you will be executed as a traitor. Though, you don't have a

shook his head lightly. "Inquisitor, you don't realize the

words made the Inquisitor angry again. "And what, pray tell, is the way of the

our Icy Pride Empire. Yet, in front of her, the rules don't matter. She has decided the rules

has realized this truth. As his title says, Commander Rime was a Commander, which is a position of leadership.

this truth, he wouldn't have sacrificed himself. After all, if the Empress executed me, his sacrifice would become meaningless to the land beasts. You are

the Inquisitor shouted. "In the end, Commander Rime has sacrificed his life to uphold the rules. If he

not what makes a traitor, Inquisitor," Gravis said. "The intentions of the beast and its loyalty decide if someone is

Even if Commander Rime hadn't accepted the duel, I would still not be branded as a traitor by the Empress. My reasoning is understandable, and she

has broken the rules first by interfering in my fight. He knew fully well

the rules would do more good than bad for the land beasts if he managed to save my life by doing so. Sadly, in the end, his interference had been unnecessary, which made the gains void while making the consequences heavier. Yet,

eyes. "He was willing to break the rules for the greater good, and that's what made

in what Gravis was saying, but it was frustrating to acknowledge. Had his loyalty been incorrect? He had always followed the rules in the past and believed them

conviction was shaken. The Empress had made the rules, and if she decided to, she could