"Arc, are you truly only helping me because you want our fight to be enjoyable?" Gravis asked, looking at the horizon.

"Why not?" Arc asked. "It would be boring otherwise."

Silence.

"Arc, are you not afraid of death?" Gravis asked.

"Death, huh?" Arc repeated with a distracted voice.

"Death is a distant concept for me, Gravis. I see death all around me, but I never felt like the concept had anything to do with me. It's like watching an animal. I'm not an animal, yet I know a lot about the animal."

"So, while I do know that death might even come for me, I don't feel like it will."

Silence.

"Isn't that how nearly everyone thinks?" Gravis asks.

"I guess so," Arc said with a slight chuckle. "Anyway, isn't it normal to temper yourself on your path to power? I haven't tempered myself in a really long time. What makes our fight any different from normal tempering?"

"The difference is that I don't want to kill you," Gravis answered, looking at Arc.

Silence.

Then, Arc sighed.

"I know," he said. "I also don't want to kill you."

"Sadly, there's nothing we can do. You need my Energy to become a Star God, and you won't give up your dream of freedom for my life. We both know that."

"The thing that forces you into this decision is my Creator, and you're not powerful enough to resist him yet. For now, you have no other choice but to follow his will," Arc explained.

Gravis also sighed.

"I know," he said with a bitter voice. "I might perceive myself as free, but that is only perceived reality. In physical reality, I'm not free. That's why I need power."

"See?" Arc asked with a smirk. "So, why ask that question? You can't change anything about physical reality anyway. You're a couple Realms short."

Silence.

"But why are you helping me, though?" Gravis asked again, looking into Arc's eyes. "Every living being has the drive to survive, and by helping me, you are specifically going against that drive. You are pushing me out of a burning pit by jumping into it. You can just decide not to jump into the burning pit. No one would fault you for that."

"We are friends, but we are not so close that we would sacrifice our lives for each other."

"So, why? Why continually walk closer to your death?"

Silence.

More silence.

"You misunderstood something, Gravis," Arc said with a neutral voice. For once, his voice didn't sound chipper or lighthearted.

Instead, it sounded serious and emotionless.

"You said that every living being strives for survival, but that isn't the case."

Gravis furrowed his brows at Arc.

"Living beings don't strive for survival but for life."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

the remainder of their natural life is surviving, but not living. Don't forget that there is a famous

that's worse than death is surviving,

a being too far into darkness, they will

"Tell me, Gravis."

I living

insides shook when he heard these emotionless words from

feel

trapped in one world, unable to

know enough about the concepts of the Cosmos to truly

the highest world was entirely different from being trapped

in the highest world

knew all the Laws that the highest Heaven knew, except for the Major Law of Death

single step separated the Heaven's Magnates and the

about this

Major Law of

had been Exar, who knew the Major Law of

the Major Law of

the Major Law

know the Major Law

integral

years of

Arc was not free.

could truly connect

any love

his family, and the highest Heaven, even

highest Heaven had

Whom did Arc have?

Gravis.

Gravis would

time, Gravis realized that Arc wasn't truly

of unchanging loneliness had

a battle to the death over the

Arc?" Gravis asked,

and slowly

really," he answered. "I just want to make the most of my time. Seeing someone else grow and teaching them about the

looked at

for an eternity, even the smallest glimmer of light shines as

Gravis' heart, but he wasn't able to

it pity? Empathy?

Gravis wasn't sure.

only thing he did know was that he didn't like that feeling

danger. If you

"Is that it?"

his head

you could phrase it like

words made Gravis sigh

life

and situations can create terrible lives

envy the Heavens and want to be

many Heavens want

looked at the sky with furrowed

the highest Heaven that forced

like the highest Heaven, I can't put all the blame

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