Ch. 91..100

Chapter 91

It had been two months since the incident at the Proxy-Lightning Guild, and Gravis was running along a road to the north. He had wallowed in guilt for several days after the incident. Every morning, Gravis woke up in a cold sweat as the scene from the Lightning Guild repeated itself in his dreams. Even two months after it had happened, he still felt deep pain whenever he thought about Gorn.

Even though Gravis had realized that part of the reason why Gorn had died was probably Heaven, it still didn't make him guiltless. Yes, Heaven had probably stolen all the karmic luck from Gorn, and that had been a major contributing factor, but Gravis still couldn't push the blame away. If he hadn't acted without thinking, Gorn would still be alive. This matter weighed heavily on Gravis' mind.

Yet, Gravis still decided to keep on going. Even though Gravis couldn't ever repay what Gorn had done for him, he could still take a partly revenge. Gravis looked at the sky in rage. The only reason why his mindless attack killed Gorn in one attack was probably Heaven. Gravis could only do two things for Gorn: Help the Lightning Sect and destroy Heaven.

Gravis also didn't forget about Jaimy. Jaimy had tried to kill Gravis and threw him into a cesspool. He was also part of the reason why Gravis went insane with anger and hatred. Jaimy also had to pay!

Even though Gravis was plagued by guilt, he never neglected his strength. His Energy Vortex automatically sucked in the Energy in the atmosphere, and after a lot of time, it would reach saturation. At that point, Gravis only needed to compress the Energy with his will.

Meditation also helped in expediting the increase in Energy. If Gravis meditated, the Energy Vortex's power would be increased by about five times. Gravis had concentrated on increasing his realm first, before venturing to the Middle-Continent.

Gravis expected that his Will-Aura, his extremely strong physical body, and his Destruction Lightning probably allowed him to win against people three levels above him. This might not sound like much, but

it was important to note that every level doubled the previous Energy. Someone three levels higher than Gravis would have eight times the Energy.

After training for two months, Gravis' realm had increased by two, and he was now on the third level of the Energy Gathering Realm. He could fight people on the sixth level now, and those people were probably already pretty influential in the middle-continent.

Gravis would have increased his realm even further if there weren't two issues. One issue was the speed of his cultivation. Since the Energy always doubled at each level, the requirement for the next level would also double. The ambient Energy in the atmosphere didn't increase, after all.

In the Outer-Continent, Gravis had needed a whole month to increase his realm to the second level of Energy Gathering. After that, he had realized that he would need two months for the next level. After seeing that, Gravis had traveled to the border of the Middle-Continent and started cultivating there.

The closer Gravis got to the Core-Continent, the higher the density of the Energy in the air. At the entrance of the Middle-Continent, the Energy had already doubled its density. Like that, he only needed one month to reach the third level.

Gravis had done some math, and he felt a pit in his stomach when he realized how long he would take to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering. In the Outer-Continent, he would have to meditate for over 21 years! He would be a middle-aged man by then. Even on the border of the Middle-Continent, Gravis would still need nearly eleven years.

With Gravis' will, he would be able to boringly cultivate for over a decade, but what was the point of that? With that said, the second reason why Gravis entered the Middle-Continent also grew apparent. If Gravis only cultivated in seclusion, wouldn't that be precisely according to Heaven's plan?

Heaven tried to make his journey to the Spirit Forming Realm as easy as possible. Without life and death tempering and without enemies, Gravis would start losing his advantage. While someone with a

Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Stage was unprecedented in the lower world, there were some people with Will-Auras in the Energy Gathering Realm.

In the Spirit Forming Realm, there would be lots of people with a Will-Aura. Gravis would lose one of his most important weapons by losing the advantage of his Will-Aura. On top of that, his body's strength would grow increasingly unimportant as the Energy increased.

His body might still be relevant right now, but as soon as he could fight people in the eighth or ninth level, it wouldn't matter how strong his body was. People on that level had so much Energy that their attack, speed, and defense were already several times higher than Gravis' body.

It would only be a matter of time until Gravis' body strength grew irrelevant. That was unstoppable. Yet, he could stop the degradation of his Will-Aura, and for that, he needed powerful Enemies. Gravis wasn't stupid, and he had already guessed that it was already public knowledge that he destroyed the Proxy-Lightning Guild. The Lightning Guild wouldn't ignore such a slap in the face.

As Gravis thought about that, he sighed bitterly. He didn't want this to happen. He never intended to kill Gorn. Yet, he had done exactly that, and the Lightning Guild was probably enraged, rightfully so. Would Gravis spare the person if he were in the position of the Guild Master of the parent lightning Guild? No, he wouldn't.

What if he explained it to the Lightning Guild? Would it even matter? Even if they fully believed him, he had still killed a Guild Master of a Proxy-Lightning Guild. That was probably the worst crime someone could commit. In the cultivation world, killing one's master was the same as killing one's parents.

Even if they fully believed him, they would still kill Gravis. Yet, Gravis couldn't let his father and the rest of his family down. Gravis was tortured continuously by what he had done, and dying really seemed appealing to him right now, but he couldn't give up on his family. His father and his brother Orpheus had supported him fully and wanted to see him shine.

Gorn had also wanted to see Gravis shine. William and Jeros were also part of this group of people. They had seen Gravis' potential and wanted to see him going all the way. Gravis couldn't give up! That would betray all the other people's hope and would also betray their sacrifices and investments in him.

Gravis also remembered Joyce and the old man who was following her. She had given him the opportunity to temper his skin by giving him a mission and selling him a Formation Array. Without that, Gravis might not have reached the Elemental Guilds' entrance exam in time. He still had to repay her for that.

Even if Gravis had no friends in this lower world, he still had people who had invested in him, and if he broke those promises too, he would feel even guiltier. He couldn't give up now! He had to grow strong enough to show them that they didn't make a mistake!

Gravis stopped as he saw a city on the horizon.

"This city will be my first contact with the Middle-Continent!"

 

Chapter 92

The city looked imposing. Gigantic walls that stretched to a height of about 20 meters surrounded it, and Gravis walked closer to touch the walls. They felt incredibly hard, and Gravis was sure that he couldn't break them with his physical strength alone. He would probably need to use several strikes with his weapon while infusing it with lightning.

After touching the walls, Gravis walked away and looked at the city gate from a distance. There was a big sign above the city gate, which spelled "Earth Town". Gravis grew surprised because he had thought this was a city. Apparently, it was just a town.

The town was about as big as Body City, and its walls were even more imposing. If such a fortress counted as a town, then how impressive would a city be? Gravis walked closer to the town-entrance and looked at the guards.

Gravis could feel some Energy coming from the guards, which meant that even the common gate guards of a town in the Middle-Continent were already in the Energy Gathering Realm. This was more terrifying than he had thought.

His eyes narrowed in seriousness. It would be very risky for Gravis to enter the town. He only came here to check on his status in the eyes of the public. Was there a bounty for his head, and if so, how expensive was it? Should he take a stealthy approach or just enter and leave as quickly as possible?

Gravis decided for a stealthy approach and walked towards the entrance of the town in a leisurely manner. Right now, there were no other visitors wanting to enter the town, and Gravis wouldn't need to wait.

"Halt!" shouted one of the guards. "Weapons are not allowed in the town! If you want to enter, submit your weapon into our custody or hide it somewhere."

Gravis narrowed his eyes. 'The weapon thing again?' he thought. In the Outer-Continent, Gravis had enough power to ignore this rule, but here, he might be out of his league. If the guards were already in the Energy Gathering Realm, the elite guards or the town's upper echelon might be in the later stages of the Energy Gathering Realm. Gravis couldn't fight those yet.

Leaving his weapon outside? Forget that! He was a wanted man right now, and not having his weapon with him could spell trouble. Now, Gravis realized why so many towns forbade weapons. It was probably to keep wanted criminals outside of the town. No criminal would feel safe without their weapon.

"Code Blue!" came a shout from the top of the wall, and the expression of the guards changed to seriousness and battle intent as they looked at Gravis.

"Shit!" Gravis mumbled to himself. The guard at the top of the wall had probably recognized him. Code Blue probably meant that there was a wanted criminal in front of them. At least, Gravis could be sure now that he was wanted. 'I need to know what I am being accused of and what my head is worth,' he thought to himself.

The guards readied their weapons, but before they could do anything, they lost their consciousness. Gravis had released his Will-Aura. The guards were only in the first level of Energy Gathering, and Gravis' Will-Aura had increased substantially again. In the two months of training, he had also managed to compress his Will-Aura even more, which would now shoot out in a body-wide line in front of him for around 45 meters.

Gravis rotated his compressed Will-Aura so that every guard received the full brunt of it. They couldn't defend against the Will-Aura and fell to the ground, unconscious. Gravis quickly ran forward and inspected the bags of the guards. He quickly found what he was looking for and took out a crumbled WANTED poster, with his face on it, from the guard's bag.

Gravis immediately fled from the town-gate and sprinted into the wilderness. He didn't steal anything since they were only some guards and hadn't done anything wrong. They were only doing their jobs, after all. If they posed an actual danger to Gravis, he might not be this merciful, but he was already feeling guilty enough, right now. He didn't want to kill more innocent people.

After arriving at a safe place, Gravis took out the WANTED poster and read it.

WANTED!

Gravis

Former disciple of the Lightning Guild.

Then came a picture of Gravis' face.

Crimes:

Destroyed a Proxy-Lightning Guild

Killed his own Guild Master of said Proxy-Lightning Guild

Stole the entire fortune of the Proxy-Lightning Guild

Reward: 1,000 Magic-Stones

Gravis' temper exploded when he read that he had, apparently, stolen the entire fortune of the Proxy- Lightning Guild. He did no such thing! After the incident, Gravis had immediately fled and didn't even look at anything else. He was too emotionally distraught to even think about stealing something!

How could they accuse him of stealing anything? The Exchange Hall still stood in one piece after Gravis' rampage, and he hadn't even entered it! Gravis quickly thought through the situation, and when he realized what had probably happened, he tore the WANTED poster apart.

"Someone has stolen everything and blamed it on me!" he said to himself as he realized the situation. There were many greedy people in this world, and in the chaos, some disciples might have robbed the Exchange Hall. They were also the only witnesses.

If someone had already destroyed an entire guild and even killed the Guild Master, then saying that they had also robbed the guild would be entirely believable. No one would bat an eye in doubt! Yet, Gravis was still angry about that!

Yes, he had committed unforgivable crimes by destroying the guild and killing Gorn, but he never intended to do that! People might also believe him that he had only lost his control. Yet, by adding the robbery charge, people would never believe him. If someone lost their mind, they wouldn't care about stealing anything.

This whole robbery thing changed Gravis' situation from an accident into an actual, planned crime. While it wouldn't substantially increase the weight of his burdens, it would misrepresent his character and emotions on the issue.

Gravis grew angry, but he couldn't change a thing. No one would believe him! Gravis sat down and tried to calm down. "Why does this whole thing have to be so complicated?" he muttered to himself. "I know that I have committed a grave crime, but why does this still feel so unfair?"

Suddenly, Gravis felt some movement in the Natural Energy. When a big object approached someone, they would be able to feel the wind moving. The same thing held true for the Natural Energy if something with Energy approached. Nearly everyone in the Energy Gathering Realm was able to feel the displacement of the Natural Energy.

Gravis knew that something or someone was approaching his position and didn't move. If he stayed still, they might miss his position since he wouldn't displace the Natural Energy. Yet, when Gravis had that thought, he only grimaced.

"With my luck, they probably already run to my position by sheer coincidence," Gravis sighed and stood up. "No point in hiding," he said as he narrowed his eyes. "I'll have to fight!"

Gravis took out his saber and waited.

 

Chapter 93

Gravis waited with his saber readied. If the arriving force didn't decide to attack, he would ignore them, but if they came here to hunt for him, he would not show any mercy. If it were a beast, he would kill it. If it were bounty hunters, he would kill them. If it were disciples from one of the guilds, he would kill them.

Some seconds later, three people charged out of the trees into the clearing, their eyes focused on Gravis. Gravis saw their eyes and knew that they had come for him. Yet, there was an issue.

They were disciples of the Lightning Guild. This was an issue since Gravis wanted to support the Lightning Sect to repay them for everything. Yet, ironically enough, they were hunting him, and Gravis didn't want to fight them. They were his brothers and sisters, and even if they didn't look at him that way, he would still see them as such. Gravis would have already attacked if those people weren't disciples of the Lightning Guild.

"Betrayer!" a tall male disciple on the front shouted. "Finally, we've found you!"

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "I don't want to fight you," Gravis said. "I regret what I have done, and I will repay it all in the future."

The disciples looked at each other in surprise since that was not what they had expected. They had expected some cruel monster who would immediately attack them. After a while, they looked with disdain at Gravis.

"Now that you see that there is no way out, you want to claim that you are innocent. Don't joke around!" the same disciple said again. He was the leader of the three disciples, and he had reached the fourth level of Energy Gathering. According to intel, Gravis had only recently reached the Energy Gathering Realm.

Gravis released his Will-Aura but didn't compress it. The disciples immediately shook, and their breathing grew heavier. It felt like they were standing before someone who could kill them with a turn of

his hand.

The leader gritted his teeth. "You can't intimidate us with your Heavenly Pressure! We know that it is only an empty shell and does not symbolize your true strength. We also know that it takes a lot of energy to release it! Give up and return to the Lightning Guild with us!"

Gravis sighed helplessly. "I can't! I still have many things to accomplish, and I will repay the sect in the future. Don't force me to get violent!"

"Arrogant!" shouted the leader and shot forward. Lightning appeared under his feet, and it increased his speed several-fold. Starting at the Energy Gathering Realm, people could use their elements for a lot of different things. Increasing one's movement speed was one such thing.

The disciple attacked at the front, while the two others flanked Gravis from the side. The leader attacked from the front with a stab of his spear, while the others shot their lightning from the side.

CLANK!

Gravis blocked the spear and didn't budge an inch, while the lightning hit his body. The disciples' jaws dropped as they saw how Gravis' body didn't care about the lightning. How was this possible?

The two disciples were only at the third level of Energy Gathering, and their lightning was natural lightning. Gravis' lightning resistance had increased with his breakthrough in the Energy Gathering Realm. His body had to be able to bear his own lightning, after all.

Gravis' body was able to resist his own lightning, which was Destruction Lightning of the third level of Energy Gathering. Even natural lightning from someone one level higher than him would not hurt Gravis. Only natural lightning from someone two realms higher would slightly injure him.

As for the disciple attacking from the front, he didn't even use his lightning to add damage to his attack. By trying to match Gravis with only his bodily strength, he was begging to be humiliated.

Gravis narrowed his eyes further, and his voice grew colder. "This is my last warning. Leave!" he shouted. Gravis used some strength and shot the attacking disciple back. The disciple flew for some time and created a ditch in the ground while trying to keep his footing steady.

The two other disciples looked at their leader and weren't sure if they could take Gravis. He had proven to be quite powerful. The leader looked at Gravis with a more serious expression. "You are stronger than I thought. Seems like I have to get serious."

After he said that, lightning came out from all over his body, and it all converged on his spearhead. With a shout, he shot forward, even faster than before. This time, he was not holding back. The lightning infused Energy Weapon shot towards Gravis' chest.

CLANK!

Gravis knew that this attack would be more powerful and decided to parry instead of blocking. Blocking it might stun him for a moment, and the others could take advantage of that. The spear passed Gravis, and the eyes of the leader shrunk to pinpricks.

SHINK!

Gravis slashed through both arms of the leader, and his arms and spear fell to the ground. The leader screamed in pain, and the others froze in shock. Gravis was way out of their league! They couldn't hunt someone like that! Which idiot said that he only recently reached the Energy Gathering Realm? Were they trying to get them killed?

Gravis looked on neutrally. "If you were anyone else, I would have ended your life already," he said and put his saber back. "Because you are from the Lightning Guild, I will spare your lives once," he said,

and the fear of the disciple's reduced slightly, yet they were still prepared for an eventual battle.

"But," Gravis shouted. "This is the only time I will spare you! If you come after me again, I will not hesitate to take your lives."

The disciples to the side took a deep breath, while the leader was still screaming in pain. With some good medicinal pills, his arms could be reattached, but it still hurt like hell.

"You two," said Gravis to the disciples, who immediately froze in fear. Gravis' Will-Aura was still active, and they felt terror. "I have lost control in the Proxy-Lightning Guild, and I have committed the two grave sins of killing my Guild Master and destroying the Proxy-Lightning Guild. I can only repent by helping the Lightning Sect in the future as a payback."

"But," Gravis continued louder and with more seriousness. "I have not stolen anything from the Proxy- Lightning Guild! I confess to the previous two crimes, but I won't confess to me robbing the guild. I regret everything deeply, yet because of some reasons, I can't die yet. Tell that to the people in the lightning guild!"

The disciples looked at each other, unsure if what he said was the truth. Yet, even if that were the truth, it still wouldn't matter. Gravis had killed the Guild Master, and that was enough to kill him.

Gravis turned around and quickly left. He promised to repay the Lightning Sect, and he would not kill their disciples just like that. 'But,' Gravis thought while coldness shone in his eyes. 'If they return or someone else comes, I will kill them.'

The disciples looked into the direction that Gravis left to and then turned to their leader. They quickly collected his weapon and his arms. Then they supported him and started walking to the town. There, he could buy some medicine to reattach his limbs.

After some minutes, the leader stopped screaming. Instead, a cold look of hatred could be seen on his face. "A betrayer and murderer trying to get our sympathy?" he said as he spat on the floor.

"This isn't over!" he said through clenched teeth.

 

Chapter 94

"How come the esteemed Lightning Guild deigns to visit our poor little Fire Guild," said a red-haired man with thick sarcasm dripping from his voice. He was cleaning his nails with his red sword while talking, clearly showing his disdain for the uninvited visitor.

"Don't be an ass, Flern!" said a woman with long silver hair, annoyed at the leader of the Fire Guild in Earth Town. She carried a long and thin spear on her back as she sat in front of him. She wore blackish-blue robes, clearly showing that she was from the Lightning Guild. "You already know why I am here."

Flern only smiled slyly as he continued to clean his nails. "You tried to hunt down a rogue disciple of yours and failed," he stated plainly. "And now you want to work together with us to hunt him down, yes? I did get that right, right Escura?" he asked rhetorically as he put down his sword and turned to her. "But what's in it for us?"

The woman, Escura, narrowed her eyes. "He has stolen everything from one of our Proxy-Guilds. If you manage to be of actual help, I'll give you half of it," she offered.

Flern laughed lightly. "Half the wealth of a Proxy-Guild? That could give us a lot of contribution points if we hand it over. That's an interesting offer. Are you actually able to make such a call, Escura? You are only the head of a town, after all."

Escura's expression didn't change. "I can make the call. Taking revenge for our Proxy-Guild is more important than the stolen wealth. So? Will you accept to cooperate or not?" she asked directly. They both sat a distance away from each other, clearly showing that they were not on friendly terms.

"Don't tell me you can't hunt a newly advanced disciple? You're in the sixth level of Magic Gathering, after all. Why would you need our help?" Flern still wasn't finished being a dick.

Escura showed immense patience by keeping up her neutral look. "He has a strong body and immense lightning resistance. I would definitely defeat him in a head-on fight, but I can't guarantee that he won't get away. I don't want to defeat him. I want to kill him!"

Flern laughed as he heard that and lifted his sword. He stood up and grinned at Escura. "The Fire Guild is always ready for a fight. If it also brings treasure, even better. When do we go?" he asked as he looked at her with battle-intent.

Escura also stood up. "Right now. Our disciples fought him some hours ago. If we hurry, we can still catch up," she narrated as she took out two black leather gloves and put them on. "I hope you can keep up."

Flern grinned. "We might not have your lightning's speed, but we have our own ways." Flern turned to the center of the hall, where 40 disciples currently sat, ready for battle. "To battle!" Flern shouted as he raised his sword.

Twenty of the disciples lifted their own red weapons and released a synchronized battle-cry. The other twenty disciples looked at them with disdain. People from the Fire Guild were always such hotheads. No wonder their sect in the Core-Continent wasn't even in the upper half of the Elemental Sects.

"Let's go," said Escura plainly as lightning shot out of her eyes. Lightning crackled as every disciple released curved lightning bolts from their bodies, which hit the ground. Everyone was lifted off the floor for about half a meter, lightning continually hitting the ground around them, including Escura.

Suddenly, Escura shot away, being pulled along by the lightning. The other disciples from the Lightning Guild also shot away in a similar manner. Their feet were not touching the ground, as the lightning seemed to pull them forward.

Flern only grinned maliciously. "Ready the Fire Wheels!"

Gravis was running along the ground. With the help of his lightning, his speed could double, but he wanted to keep his Energy reserves full for all eventualities. Gravis' next target was finding an Energy Beast since Gravis had not tested his strength properly ever since breaking into the Energy Gathering Realm. Additionally, he needed to sharpen his will.

Gravis ran through the forest, listening for beast roars. He had met some demonic beasts along the way, but he wasn't interested in those since they were of no help anymore. He continued searching until he saw a gigantic bird flying in the sky.

Its wingspan was nearly 30 meters, and its green feathers glimmered as green wind pushed them forward. It carried a ten-meter-long high-grade demonic beast in its talons as it flew into one specific direction, which probably meant that it was returning to its nest.

Gravis narrowed his eyes. 'I want to test my strength, but hunting such a beast is not an easy task. Birds are already the fastest existing beasts, and this one also has the wind element, which is also the fastest element. While its physical body and ranged attacks should be below average, its speed should be at the pinnacle,' he thought to himself.

Gravis sighed and prepared himself for a battle. "It's the only one I could find. So, might as well hunt it," he grumbled to himself, as he chased the bird. Gravis' body released curved lightning bolts all around, but in comparison to the disciples of the Lightning Guild, his body didn't leave the ground.

When the curved lightning hit the ground, it immediately straightened as the earth absorbed it and pulled. The straightening of the lightning bolts shot Gravis' body forward. The more powerful the lightning, the stronger the force. Earth didn't care about the Life Energy and only absorbed the Destruction Energy.

Every lightning disciple in the Energy Gathering Realm used this method to move incredibly quickly. Their Energy was more powerful than their bodies, so the physical body's addition to speed would not

make much of a difference. They would rather keep their stamina up than to waste it for a negligible increase in speed.

Yet, Gravis still used his body since his body was multiple times stronger than other humans of the same rank. At this moment, Gravis' speed on legs and his speed on lightning was about the same. If he used both at the same time, his speed would nearly double.

His lightning consistently moved him forward like he had a hundred legs crawling forward. His physical legs always shot him forward with incredible speed every time he took a step. Gravis followed the bird, and if he didn't use his lightning, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

Even when Gravis used all his speed, he could still only barely keep up with the casually flying Energy Beast. Just by seeing this, Gravis could imagine its terrifying speed if it got serious. It was definitely much faster than him.

After some minutes, the bird flew up onto an absolutely massive tree. The tree's trunk would need over 50 people to hold hands to surround, and its crown shot through the clouds in the sky. Gravis could guess that this tree was special since its size dwarfed everything in the forest surrounding it.

Gravis could also see no beasts in its surroundings. This was probably the territory and nest of the bird. Gravis watched the bird as it stopped on a gigantic branch just some meters below the cloud cover. The sky was very cloudy right now. It didn't look like it would rain, but the grey cover made everything seem colder and desolate.

"I never fought on a tree before," mumbled Gravis, watching the bird further. It didn't seem to leave anytime soon. When Gravis saw that it didn't come out again, he ran to the tree.

GRMBL!

All of a sudden, a thick root shot at Gravis, surprising him. Luckily, he had enough battle experience to be ready for every eventuality. His saber quickly split the root in two, and it fell on the floor. The two halves wiggled around and went back to the tree.

Gravis waited for something else to happen, but nothing did. 'So this is the reason why there are no beasts around,' he thought. 'The tree should be an Energy Plant. Just like Energy Beasts, they count as life forms with the strength of an Energy Gathering Realm expert. Luckily, they do not want to fight. They only want their food, and if their food is too strong, they won't attack. The tree probably won't care anymore about me.'

Gravis stopped before the tree and looked upwards at the towering "wall" of wood before him. He couldn't see the top from here, and his excitement built. He also grew a little nervous.

"I haven't had a proper life and death battle since the Basin of Nature."

As Gravis concentrated on the fight, his guilt and shame slowly vanished. He forgot all his sorrows for the moment and only looked forward to the battle.

"I missed this feeling."

 

Chapter 95

Gravis readied his saber and ran along the surface of the tree. His feet might not be able to keep him to the tree, but his lightning easily kept him there. Gravis was careful not to use too much power in his lightning since that could injure the tree, and it might decide to attack him again. He didn't want to fight two beasts at the same time.

It took nearly half a minute to reach the branch where the wind bird landed. When Gravis reached it, he circled around it and stepped on top. The branch itself had a thickness of a little over ten meters, and the walkable area on top of it was around five meters wide. A little tight, but Gravis could manage.

Gravis looked at the tree and saw a big hole inside of it. Due to the clouds and the light's angle, Gravis couldn't see much in the hole, but he was sure that the wind bird was inside. Gravis grinned.

"Come out and play," he shouted as he shot a weak lightning bolt into the hole. Gravis quickly heard some shuffling and some angry cawing. Directly after that, the bird came out of the hole, looking at Gravis in rage. How dare this insect disturb it?

It shot a wind wave at Gravis to push him off the tree, but Gravis stuck to the branch by using his lightning movement to push against the wind. Gravis readied another lightning bolt, this one stronger than the previous one, and shot it at the bird.

BANG!

The head of the bird shot back, and some blood came out. It quickly recovered, and Gravis could now see rage in its eyes. Finally, it was taking him seriously. He didn't specifically want to kill it, but only test his strength. If it was too weak, he could just go again. There was no reason in killing something just for sport. He wouldn't even know how to sell the corpse due to him being wanted.

The bird screeched and shot forward with incredible speed. Gravis was already prepared and lifted his saber.

BOOM!

The bird's talons hit the saber, and Gravis got pushed back. His blood jumped around in his body, and Gravis felt some pain in his arms. He had wanted to test the physical strength of the beast in comparison to his own.

'The bird shouldn't feel any better than me. Our physical strength should be about equal since it has used its wind as a boost. I'm pretty sure that it's a low-grade Energy Beast,' he concluded. Gravis had a lot of experience in fighting against demonic beasts, but Energy Beasts were something new for him. He still couldn't properly assess their strength. He could make some guesses, but they couldn't always be accurate.

The bird was shocked by the strength of the insect in front of it. It quickly changed its strategy and jumped up into the sky, and it started circling Gravis as it increased its speed. Its speed was incredible, and Gravis could barely keep up.

Suddenly, the bird seemed to move sideways out of nowhere and shot a talon at him. At the same time, Gravis also felt a strong wind pushing him to the bird. Gravis didn't expect the wind, and he got thrown at the bird.

CLANK!

Gravis parried the talon and pushed it downward while using the counterforce to jump higher. Gravis readied his saber to hit the wing of the bird with the saber's blunt side. He didn't want to cripple the poor thing. Yet, the bird pushed itself back with its wind and left his attacking range.

'What a cunning bird,' he thought as he started falling down the tree. Gravis threw his saber at the tree, and it quickly stabbed into its bark. Gravis then connected his saber and his body with a thick strand of lightning, which he then used as a rope to swing back to the branch.

Using his lightning movement would take too much Energy. The further the user was away from something solid, the more Energy it needed. Additionally, the increase of consumption of Energy in relation to the distance wasn't proportional but exponential. From this distance, Gravis would need to waste his entire Energy to get back, if he did that.

Luckily, Energy Weapons could build some kind of connection with the user. This made it way easier to move the elements to and from the weapon. The Formation Arrays on good Energy Weapons made the weapon act the same as the user's body.

When Gravis nearly reached the branch, he suddenly felt like he lost his hold. The smart bird had hit the saber with its talon and broke it off of the tree. Gravis wanted to applaud the bird for its smart move.

"Scree!"

Sadly, the lightning also hit the bird when it touched the saber, and it seized in the air for a bit. Gravis simply pulled his saber to himself and threw it at the branch again. Since he had fallen a bit, the saber hit the branch's underside this time, and he easily pulled himself up.

The bird also fell for some seconds until it finally managed to regain its stability and flew up again. Gravis stuck to the underside of the branch and looked at its attack. This time, it violently shot its beak at him.

BANG!

Gravis easily sidestepped with the help of his lightning, and the bird's beak got stuck in the bark of the tree. Gravis grinned, "Let me help you," and kicked the bird's head. The bird got shot to the side, its beak leaving the tree, as its body rotated in the air.

'It seems like I can fight against low-grade Energy Beasts without using my Destruction Lightning as an attack or my Will-Aura. If I use both of those things, I might even be able to fight a middle-grade Energy Beast. Though, that bird is brilliant. I wonder if all Energy Beasts are as smart as this bird,' he pondered as he watched the bird regain its balance.

Gravis waited for the bird to attack again. The bird used its element in ingenious ways, and Gravis had already learned some stuff from it.

BZZZT!

Gravis heard the sound of lightning from the tree and turned his head. His eyes narrowed as he saw twenty people in blackish-blue robes climbing the tree the same way he did. He sighed as he watched them. 'I wanted to be nice and maybe believe in those disciples I have spared. I guess this situation is my own fault for sparing them,' he thought.

Gravis also realized something else, and he grew angry. He didn't grow angry at Heaven or the disciples but at himself. 'The only Energy Beast I find has a nest in the most noticeable place for kilometers around. I should have realized that Heaven sent it so that I would run into the Lightning Disciples again.'

Gravis always thought about Heaven's schemes, and he really tried not to fall for them, but Heaven's schemes were incredibly sinister. It was always a step ahead of him, and no matter what he planned, it would easily find a hole. What was he supposed to do? Never fight any beast again because they could have all been sent by Heaven? He had to take some risks. If he were cautious the whole time, then he had to evade every single beast he met. How was he supposed to temper himself like that? It was inevitable that he would fall for some schemes.

It had lured him with an opportunity to test his strength, and he had taken the bait like a stupid fish. 'Seems like I need to grow even more paranoid about Heaven,' he thought as he saw the disciples

reaching the branch. 'But if I don't take any risks, how will I ever increase my strength?'

'This won't be pretty.'

 

Chapter 96

The disciples came to the branch and surrounded it on all sides, so Gravis couldn't flee without jumping off. The wind bird looked at the humans and kept itself away. It already had immense difficulty in fighting one. If there were more, it would be helpless.

"Betrayer, give yourself up," shouted one of the male disciples.

Gravis looked at him and the others and realized that this wouldn't be an easy fight. There were 15 people in the fourth level of Energy Gathering, four people in the fifth level, and that woman in the front was even in the sixth.

"I have done unforgivable crimes, and I will do my best to repay the Lightning Sect, but I can't die yet. So, I am sorry, but I can't come with you," shouted Gravis while readying his saber.

Some of the disciples were surprised since they had imagined a bloodthirsty monster, yet, compared to the others, the woman in the lead didn't bat an eye. "Attack," she coldly commanded. The disciples immediately readied their weapons, most of them spears, and charged forward.

Gravis grimaced. He wasn't afraid of the fight, but he was already regretting what he was about to do. If they didn't retreat, he could only kill them. One of the disciples charged at him and thrust his spear towards him. Gravis easily sidestepped.

WHOOM! SHINK!

He activated his Will-Aura and concentrated it on the disciple, who immediately froze. Gravis used this chance to cleave him in two diagonally. The disciple managed to release one last scream before his two halves fell down the tree.

The disciples on the branches stopped advancing and looked at Gravis carefully. He had killed someone easily, and that showed his strength. If he managed to kill someone in the fourth level of

Energy Gathering that easily, he could probably also fight people on the fifth level.

"Go back!" shouted Gravis at them. "I don't want to kill you, but if you keep coming after me, I am forced to! I do not want to hurt the Lightning Sect! I want to help! We both want the same thing, so stop!" he shouted in a last bit to stop the confrontation. Even if he didn't want to kill them, he would do it if he had to.

The disciples looked at him more seriously now. Many disciples would die if they fought him. Escura looked at Gravis also in seriousness now, but the coldness in her eyes only increased when she saw how Gravis had killed a disciple.

Gravis, on the other hand, really didn't want to kill the Lightning Guild's disciples. He wanted to help them, and this was the first time that he had killed someone on the Lightning Guild on purpose. He didn't want to, but he knew that he had to be coldblooded if he wanted to survive. If he let them go again, only stronger people would come for him later.

Due to distance, the main guild couldn't be informed about every single little thing. If the disciples didn't return, people would believe that they were still chasing him. That would delay the main guild's reaction for multiple days. Yet, if someone returned and reported on him, an immediate hit squad would be sent for his head.

Escura looked at Gravis with a sharp look. "Today, only one party will survive. Everyone Attack!" she shouted with more fervor than before. Gravis gritted his teeth and readied himself. The disciples all increased their lightning powers further to increase their speed, blackening the branches.

CRRK!

A new branch came out of the current one and swatted one of the disciples away. The disciple hadn't known that the tree was an Energy Plant and was too shocked to react appropriately. He got flung

away for hundreds of meters and was out of range of his lightning movement. The disciple blanched when he realized that he would die since he couldn't survive a fall from a height of several kilometers.

The other disciples looked at him in shock and grew wary of the tree. "Don't worry. As long as you keep your lightning under a certain threshold of power, the tree will ignore us," said Escura calmly. Everyone calmed down a little, and they started moving towards Gravis.

Gravis was still sticking to the underside of the branch, being ready for the battle. The earth was above and the heavens beneath him. Gravis concentrated on the fight, and this sight had stopped looking odd to him.

The disciples came closer. Gravis could only see eleven of the remaining 18 disciples. The other seven were on the other side of the branch, cutting off his escape route. After a short moment, one of the disciples on the fifth rank readied his saber, infused it with lightning, and shot forward.

CLANK!

Gravis had also infused his lightning into his Energy Saber and parried the attack. Gravis' body slightly trembled. 'His Energy is already as strong as my Energy and physical strength combined,' he concluded.

BZZZT!

The disciples on the fourth level of Energy Gathering had surrounded him and shot all their lightning at him. As long as the lightning didn't hit the tree, they could use their full power, so they did. Gravis was bathed in lightning and shook. The disciple in front of him realized his advantage and stabbed at Gravis' chest with his spear.

PUCHI!

Gravis had only acted like the lightning was stunning him and jumped half a meter away from the branch. If he jumped further, it would be a hassle to get back to the branch, since he was currently upside down. The spear went cleanly through his stomach, and Gravis used that opportunity to attack the disciple.

SHING!

From Gravis' perspective, he saw the shocked head of his enemy falling upwards towards the earth, his body quickly following. The other disciples grew shocked, and their jaws dropped. How could someone a whole level weaker than them have this much lightning resistance?

"Stop, you fools!" shouted Escura as she charged forward. "Don't you know that all this lightning is useless?" she shouted as her spear shot forward with unreal speed. Gravis did a mix of a sidestep and a parry, yet still got shot away. 'What power,' he thought.

The lightning ended, and they grew shocked when they saw no injury on Gravis. The stab wound had already fully healed. They felt like they were in a dream. Wasn't he stabbed through by a spear just now? How did this happen?

One thing had to be known about lightning resistance. Lightning had a ratio of Destruction and Life Energy, yet it also had a density of both. If disciples used their lightning, they could create more of the lightning, but they couldn't increase its density.

Theoretically, Gravis could bathe in their lightning as much as he wanted, and he wouldn't care, yet the lightning of a fifth rank, or higher, disciple would injure him severely. The whole concept could be compared with 50 children with daggers trying to stab through someone's armor. It didn't matter how many there were. They couldn't damage the armor due to their limited strength.

Yet, one adult with a dagger could damage the armor. Was one adult person stronger than fifty children? The children's combined strength would be several times stronger than the adult's, but strength didn't work that way.

So, when all the lightning hit Gravis' body, and all its Destruction Energy was depleted, what remained? Life Energy remained and got absorbed by Gravis' body. With all their lightning, they were essentially all healers healing him. That's how he regenerated from his wound, that quickly.

Was the wound necessary? Yes, because Gravis wanted to keep his condensed Will-Aura as a trump card. They might not suspect anything with just the first disciple dying like this, but if more disciples froze up while fighting him, they would adapt their battle strategy. As long as his Will-Aura was hidden, he still had a weapon to fall back on.

'And I'll need that,' he thought as he watched Escura, readying for another attack.

 

Chapter 97

The other disciples all charged at Gravis, but Gravis chose to fight the disciples, which stood far away from the others. The remainder tried to reach Gravis, but their speed was limited due to the tree.

Gravis shot himself back with his lightning as a disciple on the fifth level of Energy Gathering tried to use his sword to slash him. Most of the disciples of the Lightning Guild used spears, but that was not exclusive. Another disciple at the fourth level waited for him and stabbed her spear at him.

Gravis sidestepped the thrust and shot his lightning at the disciple of the fifth rank, from earlier. The disciple sneered and sidestepped the lightning.

BOOM!

The fourth rank disciple, who was currently behind Gravis due to him attacking the other one, got suddenly hit by lightning. Gravis had controlled his lightning so it would move around the branch and hit her in the back. If he directly shot his lightning at her, she might sidestep, so he feigned attacking the disciple at the fifth level to get her by surprise.

She screamed and seized, but still remained on the branch. Gravis was shocked because, according to his experience, the disciple should have been blown to ashes. She was only at the fourth level, and Gravis controlled Destruction Lightning. He had been sure that even with her lightning resistance that she shouldn't have survived that.

'What happened?' Gravis thought, but couldn't continue pondering as she stabbed her spear at him, again. The other, stronger disciple, also used his sword again as he attacked Gravis from the right. To make it even worse, Escura charged at him from the front with her spear.

CLANK!

Gravis ran forward into Escura's attack, dodging the other ones. Escura's power shot Gravis back to the others, and he used his newly gained speed to throw the fifth rank disciple away with another attack. The fourth rank disciple and Escura charged at him from his back and left, as another disciple came from his right.

Gravis quickly charged into the only free direction, which was the direction of the fifth rank disciple. Gravis quickly reached him and slashed again, which the disciple blocked. Because of blocking, the disciple lost the initiative, and Gravis continued attacking.

Escura and the female disciple on the fourth level gained ground on Gravis, while another one charged from a different side. Gravis slashed again at the fifth level disciple, but only with his left hand, while he used his right hand to shoot lightning at the newly approaching disciple.

BANG!

The disciple stopped, and the lightning hit the wood before him. The disciple sighed in relief but was shocked as a new branch came out of nowhere and slapped him into the distance. The tree didn't have eyes and thought that this disciple was injuring it. Gravis only grinned as he saw the disciple flying into the distance. His plan had worked.

The fifth rank disciple Gravis was currently fighting saw his chance and slashed his saber at Gravis' waist. Gravis narrowed his eyes, ignored the attack, and used his saber to attack the disciple's head. The disciple grew fearful. Was this guy a madman? Didn't he care about his life?

The disciple, not willing to trade his life with Gravis', changed his attack into a make-shift block. Gravis saw his chance and quickly followed up, but at the same time, he used his lightning to stealthily crawl to his back.

PUCHI!

Instead of continuing his attack, Gravis used his lightning movement to move his body to the right. Not too soon, because Escura had arrived and had tried to stab him in the back. Instead of stabbing Gravis, she had stabbed the disciple in the fifth stage, and her face whitened.

Was she so stupid to not take the disciple in front of Gravis into account? Of course not! Yet, she had accelerated suddenly out of nowhere. That was due to the creeping lighting that Gravis had released. He had let it crawl to Escura and then used it like lightning movement, but on her instead of on himself. Her speed increased, and she accidentally stabbed the disciple in the fifth rank.

The disciple looked at Escura in shock, and she looked back at him with the same eyes. The two froze for a second.

SHING!

The other fourth level disciple from earlier, who had caught up by now, was quickly frozen by Gravis' Will-Aura and was beheaded. No one had paid attention to her right now, and Gravis had used that opportunity to use his Will-Aura, compressed on her. Since everyone was distracted, the Will-Aura still remained hidden.

CRRK! BOOM!

Due to Escura's involuntary increase in speed, the lightning exceeded the threshold of power and provoked the tree. Escura blew the new branch apart with her lightning, and the tree didn't dare to do anything else again. The disciple in front of her lost his life and fell upwards towards the earth.

She turned around and looked at Gravis, now burning rage and hatred in her eyes. She shot forward with unreal speed, no longer caring about the tree. The tree was provoked again and shot one branch after the other at Escura, but she only blew through them. Gravis charged away from her and noticed that she was even slower than before since the tree was actively restricting her.

Gravis saw his chance and moved to the left and then from the branch's underside to its left side. A disciple with a saber was in his way, while most other disciples followed behind Gravis. Everyone's speed was the same, due to them not going over the threshold of power with their lightning. That was the only reason why Escura had not overwhelmed Gravis yet.

The disciple slashed with his saber, and Gravis moved his hand to grab it. The disciple grew shocked. Why was Gravis sacrificing his hand? Yet, to his shock, Gravis' hand released lightning to weaken the slash and then caught the saber with his hand. The saber cut deep, but couldn't injure the bone. With Gravis' strong body and his lightning, he had weakened the strength of the slash enough so that he could catch it.

SHING!

Gravis cut the disciple in two with the saber in his free hand, the disciple's body falling to the side, towards the earth. Gravis quickly continued running because the other disciples started catching up. He went over the side and reached the upside of the branch. Gravis quickly spotted a fifth rank disciple on top of the branch, in the distance, who charged at him.

Gravis did the same and charged at the disciple. They were about to clash, but suddenly...

SHING!

Gravis immediately cut the fifth rank disciple in two. How was this possible? Gravis shouldn't have been able to do that since they had about the same strength. That was because, since Gravis was now on the upside of the branch, he could now also use his feet for speed, which increased his speed dramatically. Everyone was used to Gravis' speed by now, and this sudden increase came out of nowhere, catching the poor disciple by surprise.

The disciples, who just arrived at the upside of the branch, saw their dead brother and gasped in shock. How had Gravis killed that disciple so quickly? They just saw him going over the edge, and now he had already killed someone at the fifth level. What happened?

BOOM!

A huge lightning bolt hit the middle of the tree and destroyed a huge chunk of it. The hole and all the surrounding wood started burning wildly. Escura had enough of the tree. It had constantly stopped her when she was pursuing Gravis, and her hatred towards Gravis also extended to the tree now.

All branches of the tree went wild, and everything shot at Escura. The attack was incredibly imposing, and Escura completely stopped pursuing Gravis and, instead, started battling the tree. Earlier, the tree had only tried to warn and stop her from damaging it, but now it was afraid and enraged. It entirely concentrated only on her.

The surroundings started getting blurry as the heat and moisture in the air increased. The fire was humongous and raged wildly on the tree. What was even worse was that the fire was nearly exactly below the branch, which meant that the fire and the heat started to creep towards the branch.

'Seems like the fighting area will change,' thought Gravis.

 

Chapter 98

Gravis saw some shocked disciples and threw his lightning at one of them. The disciple got hit and screamed in pain, yet he managed to resist.

SHING!

Gravis had, by now, learned that, for some reason, his lightning was much weaker against those people. He hadn't intended to kill the disciple with the lightning, but to blind and stun him. With an impressively quick charge, Gravis cleaved the disciple in two.

The others quickly recovered and attacked Gravis from all sides. Gravis chose one of the disciples on the fourth level and ran towards him. The others could only follow behind, but Gravis' sudden increase in speed meant that they couldn't follow him.

Gravis reached the disciple, who quickly stabbed his spear at Gravis. Gravis put his already injured left hand in front and let the spear stab through it. Gravis then moved the spear to the side and also killed that disciple. 'With that one done, there should be eight on the fourth level, two on the fifth level, and one on the sixth level remaining. About halfway done.'

Gravis quickly turned the spear in his hand towards one of the chasing fifth rank disciples and punched the spear on the back. The spear shot out of his hand, and the chasing disciple had to block. The others continued charging.

"SCREEE"

The still watching wind bird released a loud shout as it started attacking Escura together with the tree. It had kept watch all this time, and with its intelligence, it was able to understand a lot of things. Initially, it had intended to wait for them to end their fight, but when it saw that those humans were burning down its home, it started attacking Escura.

It had realized earlier that Gravis could have killed it in their previous fight. Beasts were also very sensitive towards killing intent, and it had felt nothing from Gravis. Yet, those other humans were burning down its home. That was something completely different!

Escura was already fighting equally with the tree, and now the bird also attacked. Due to its brilliantly calculated timing on its wind waves, Escura lost her balance multiple times, and the tree had already hit her once with a branch. The branch hit her chest and smashed her backward. Escura had trouble breathing, and her chest hurt immensely.

Gravis noticed this and smirked. 'Can I call this luck?' he thought, but only sarcastically. If he had actually tried to kill the bird, it might have already attacked him in all this chaos. 'Well, let's go all out.'

Gravis no longer restricted his lightning movement. He suspected that the tree was too preoccupied with Escura to care about him, and he was right. Gravis' speed increased even more, and he caught another disciple on the fourth level by surprise.

A disciple in the fifth level used his poleaxe to stab at Gravis from the side.

SPLASH!

Gravis used the still open wound on his left hand and squeezed some blood out. Then, he threw the blood into the disciple's eyes, who shouted and closed them. Gravis was easily able to dodge the uncoordinated attack and slashed. Surprisingly, the disciple was smart enough to retreat and used his free arm to block in desperation.

SHING!

His arm got severed, and the disciple screamed in more pain as he swung his poleaxe wildly in an attempt to keep Gravis at bay. Sadly, the disciple couldn't see Gravis right now. Gravis quickly ran around him until he was diagonally behind the disciple.

SHING!

The disciple was only swinging at the height of Gravis' torso, so Gravis slid on his butt and severed one leg. The disciple lost his balance, and Gravis punched him far away from the branch. The disciple couldn't survive a fall from this height.

Another disciple quickly slashed at Gravis from behind with his saber. Suddenly, the disciple felt an incomparable pressure pressing down on his body. For him, it felt like Heaven was about to strike him. That was Gravis' Will-Aura, and he no longer planned to keep it hidden.

There was only one disciple in the fifth level left, and Escura was too preoccupied to watch his battle. When the disciple froze, Gravis quickly stood up and killed that disciple too. Gravis quickly noticed how there were way fewer disciples than in the beginning, and he smirked. 'I should be done soon.'

Gravis quickly charged at another one, and this disciple used his lightning to strike the wood in front of Gravis. The disciple used the same trick that Gravis had performed earlier, but nothing happened. The disciple grew shocked, and Gravis quickly ended his life. What a joke! As if the tree could care about something like this now.

Some of the disciples slowly lost their battle intent and started being more passive. Gravis had killed two-thirds of them, and they were only able to injure his left hand. With Escura preoccupied, they realized that they probably couldn't take Gravis down. Suddenly, Gravis noticed something and jumped back.

BOOM!

A huge fireball hit his earlier position, and everything in its surroundings blew up. A massive chunk of the branch was destroyed, and everything was burning in its surroundings. Gravis looked to the attacker and saw multiple people. They were riding on unicycles while fire came out of their feet. They left trails of fire as they drove upwards on the tree, towards the branch.

They completely ignored the fire and rode straight through it. The tree was continually trying to stop the fire by slamming its branches into it, but every time a branch was about to hit the people, a fireball destroyed the branch.

'Fire Guild,' Gravis concluded as he watched them with narrow eyes fille with killing intent. They were also twenty people with the same power levels as the original arrivals of the Lightning Guild. 'Another four in the fifth level and another one in the sixth.'

"Rejoice! Your knight is here to save you, princess," shouted Flern, the leader of Earth Town's Fire Guild, at Escura with thick sarcasm.

"Kill the bird!" Escura shouted at Flern immediately.

When the disciples of the Fire Guild started reaching the tree, they had seen one Lightning Disciple after another getting thrown off of it. By then, they had realized that the wanted former disciple of the Lightning Guild was stronger than they anticipated.

Yet, what kind of people were the disciples of the Fire Guild? They were hotheaded, battle-hungry maniacs who never ran away from a fight. Every other guild might have retreated, thinking that this would risk their disciple's life, but the Fire Guild never had these thoughts. The stronger the enemy, the more their battle intent would burn.

Flern started helping Escura by fighting the bird. A lot of pressure was taken off of Escura's shoulders as she started gaining the superiority in her fight against the tree. The bird also had issues while fighting Flern. Someone on the sixth level of Energy Gathering was more than a match for a low-grade Energy Beast.

On the other hand, the other disciples charged at Gravis, leaving a violently burning streak on the tree's bark. The fire was getting completely out of control, and nearly the whole tree was burning below the

branch. Everyone falling down would be roasted, except the disciples of the Fire Guild.

The disciples of the Lightning Guild had to train their lightning resistance to use their element. The same thing held true for the disciples of the Fire Guild. Something like a wildfire was nothing to them.

The towering tree was fiercely burning with intense fire everywhere. It was so hot that even the clouds above the tree started vanishing due to the heat. Black smoke started appearing everywhere, and it made it very difficult to see.

As the people of the Fire Guild arrived, they threw away their unicycles and started charging at Gravis, fireballs shooting out of their hands.

'Guess it's not over yet.'

 

Chapter 99

Gravis jumped left and right to evade all the fireballs and fire beams. His lightning resistance would be useless in this fight, and if he got hit by any attack from someone in the fourth level of the Energy Gathering Realm, he would receive a grave injury. This fight would be incredibly difficult under normal circumstances.

Gravis smirked. 'But this is not a normal circumstance,' he thought to himself. Gravis quickly went over the edge on the branch. The disciple of the fire guild grew shocked. Had Gravis jumped? Was he suicidal?

BOOM!

A disciple exploded into ash as a lightning bolt hit him, which came from the branch's underside. They quickly looked over the edge, but they couldn't see Gravis anywhere. Where was he?

"You idiots!" shouted Flern in anger. "He can stick to the underside of the branch with his lightning!" Flern had grown angry when he had seen the confused faces of his disciple brothers. They didn't have much experience in fighting the Lightning Guild, so they also didn't know that lightning could keep someone stuck to the underside of the branch.

BOOM!

Another disciple on the edge of the branch exploded due to lightning. Gravis' lightning might not work as he had expected against the lightning disciples, but it worked just fine against the fire disciples. Even if it didn't work as intended, they still couldn't survive a half-assed blast from Gravis. Just like Gravis had no fire resistance, the fire disciples had no lightning resistance.

They now knew where Gravis was, but could they do something against him? They tried to find a solution but couldn't since they couldn't stick to the branch's underside. The best they could do is use

their fire wheels to climb a wall, and even that used up a lot of Energy. What were they supposed to do?

BOOM!

This time, a fifth rank disciple of the Fire Guild exploded. He had tried to shield himself with fire, but that helped only so much. Fire was the weakest element regarding defense. They could theoretically throw their fire at an approaching attack, so both attacks detonate when they hit each other, but those lightning bolts came out of nowhere.

The lightning bolts moved along the surface of the branch, and Gravis stood right under them. The lightning bolt only needed to fly for ten meters to hit them. On top of that, they could only see the approaching lightning bolt when it was only five meters away from them due to the curvature of the branch's side.

If Gravis stood before them at a distance of five meters, they could see him moving and controlling his Energy and anticipate what he would do, but they couldn't even see him. They couldn't react to such an instantaneous attack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Another three disciples exploded. "Cowards of the Lightning Guild!" shouted Flern in rage. "Go below and chase him to the top!"

The Lighting Guild's disciples looked at each other, not sure if they should comply. "We must kill the betrayer! Everyone, follow me!" shouted the last remaining fifth level disciple of the Lightning Guild. The fifth level disciple took the lead and charged over the edge, and the other disciples clenched their teeth and followed him.

Yet, the disciples immediately stopped and looked on in shock as the head of that disciple flew away in an arc. They could see the head when it flew above the branch's height, and they couldn't believe their eyes. Their senior brother hadn't even left their sight for over a second. How was he already dead?

Gravis had used his Will-Aura to freeze the disciple and quickly killed him. It was late enough in the fight that he could use it without having a bad feeling that he was unveiling his trump card. The two sixth level disciples fighting the bird and the tree were gaining the upper hand, and Gravis didn't have much time remaining. With this disciple killed, there were no more disciples in the fifth rank remaining on the Lightning Guild's side.

Gravis used the short moment where the disciples were shocked to kill another two of them. The others turned around to run, but one got hit by Gravis' lightning and seized. Gravis quickly finished that one too. Gravis saw the last two disciples fleeing in front of him and ran after them. Gravis turned to his right and saw a lot of fireballs shooting towards the floor in front of him.

He was on the top of the branch again, and the fire disciples could finally attack. Only a couple of meters were between Gravis and the two disciples he was chasing. The fire disciples used perfect timing to hit the spot where the lightning disciples just left and where Gravis would shortly be.

BOOM! BOOM!

The disciples that Gravis was chasing suddenly froze up, and the fire disciples couldn't react to the impromptu stop. They had targeted their fireballs perfectly, including the lighting disciple's speed. The fire disciples always shot their fireballs at the lightning disciples' current location, because they would have already left the spot when the attacks arrived. That would hit Gravis perfectly.

Yet, the lightning disciples had stopped suddenly, and the thrown fireballs had exploded them into many small pieces. What about Gravis? When he froze them with his Will-Aura, he immediately turned

around and fled to below the branch again. Every single disciple of the Lightning Guild was dead, except for Escura.

Escura noticed this, and she clenched her teeth with so much anger and hatred that blood was flowing out of her mouth. She was the leader of the Lightning Guild in Earth Town, and she had worked with all of those disciples for years. She knew all their first names and what they all liked and hated. In order to not let Gravis escape, she had taken the entire elite of the Lightning Guild in Earth Town with her. She was the last remaining member of the whole town, except for the new, low disciples.

Escura no longer cared about her Energy expenditure and wildly shot lightning around. The tree had to die before she could take revenge on Gravis.

In the meantime, Gravis was reaping the lives of the fire disciples one after the other. After multiple people died, the fire disciples banded together to obliterate the branch. A lot of lightning bolts started missing because there were no longer as many fire disciples remaining. Just like they couldn't see Gravis, Gravis also couldn't see them.

The fire disciples started fiercely burning the branch, but it was sturdy and thick. They managed to sever half of it before three more disciples died. The last three disciples looked at each other and jumped over the edge in panic. If they remained on the branch, they would definitely die.

"Idiots!" screamed Flern in absolute rage.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Gravis could see the falling fire disciples, and his lightning picked them off in the air. The fire disciples couldn't dodge in the air, and they were easy targets for Gravis. With that, the Fire Guild and the Lightning Guild only had one member remaining, respectively.

Flern and Escura.

 

Chapter 100

Gravis looked over at the other two battlegrounds and saw Escura running along the tree's trunk, destroying everything in sight, while Flern used his fire wheel to chase the bird. The only reason why the bird was not yet reduced to cinders was that it mainly tried to dodge and keep Flern at bay.

Gravis quickly used his full power and charged towards Flern's current location. Flern was moving very quickly with his fire wheel, but it was obviously not optimized to charge along a vertical surface. Gravis gained ground quickly.

BZZT!

Gravis shot a weak lightning bolt at the bird. The bird got hit, but it didn't hurt at all. It only noticed the lightning and turned to Gravis. Gravis then shot a small bolt to Escura's location. The bird watched a little but then understood what Gravis wanted. It had already seen that Gravis was fighting the other humans, so, for now, it thought of him as an ally.

The bird quickly charged towards Escura's location, passing Gravis. Flern, of course, followed. Gravis' and Flern's eyes locked onto each other, and they both radiated battle-intent.

BOOM!

Gravis could easily move in an unpredictable manner with his lightning movement and easily evaded the fireball. Flern didn't have this luxury, and Gravis destroyed his fire wheel with a well-placed lightning bolt. The fire wheel blew apart, and Flern used one last kick to catapult him towards a lower branch.

The branch was a hundred meters below him, but fire disciples had it very easy to survive high falls. Fire came out of his soles, and his descent slowed.

BZZT!

A lightning bolt flew at Flern as he was in the air, but Flern was very experienced in fighting. He quickly held his arm up and shot fire out of his hand while stopping the fire on his feet. This accelerated his descent again, and he evaded the lightning bolt.

Gravis saw this and narrowed his eyes. Hitting Flern was difficult. Gravis shot more lightning bolts, but they were always either on Flern's direct position or slightly above him. Flern could only evade by accelerating his fall to not get hit.

Flern realized what Gravis was planning. He wanted to stop Flern from mitigating the fall, and if Flern tried to slow his fall, he would get hit by a lightning bolt. On top of that, if he threw his fire against the lightning, he would be pushed back and might miss the branch entirely. Without his fire wheel, he would have incredible difficulty in getting back to the top of the tree.

"Tch," spat Flern as his whole body was encased in flames. Every direction had the same push back, and he only needed to stop the flames in one direction to shoot into it immediately. This gave him a lot more control in the air. Theoretically, he could even wholly halt his fall, but that would need an unreal amount of Energy. Even this fire armor already wasted a lot of Energy.

Yet, Flern started moving around gracefully in the air. It looked as graceful as a flying bird, except that Flern never rose into the air. He was not flying. He was only falling gracefully.

Gravis also slowly got issues with his Energy. He had used a lot of lightning and had also kept up his lightning movement for the entire time. He didn't have the massive Energy resources of Escura and Flern. It would be incredibly difficult to fight Flern in his current condition.

Gravis quickly thought of another plan and shot down at the branch, where Flern would land, with all his power. He quickly reached it while Flern was still 50 meters away. Flern looked down at Gravis with a bloodthirsty smirk. "Yes, no more running," he shouted to Gravis. "Let's have a proper fight to the death, AHAHA!"

Yet, Flern's expression changed when he saw what Gravis was doing. Gravis was infusing his weapon with lightning and started hacking at the branch. This branch was only three meters wide and way smaller than the earlier one. Gravis quickly severed half of it and went into the newly created ravine in the branch.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" shouted Flern in rage.

Gravis ignored him and angled himself, so his feet touched the branch, and his hands the trunk. Then, he used all his strength, and the branch started cracking loudly.

"Stop that, coward! Fight like a man!" Flern shouted in rage, but Gravis didn't stop and quickly tore the half-severed branch off. The branch flew away into the distance and fell to the ground. Gravis looked at Flern and stayed on the tree, while Flern was falling.

Flern's rage exploded, even more, when he saw Gravis producing lightning in his hand, daring him to come closer. Gravis might not be able to hit Flern when he was so far away from the tree, but if Flern came closer, he would be dead.

Gravis could move around on the trunk of the tree like a squirrel thanks to his lightning movement, but Flern was currently in the air, and even if he reached the tree, he would have incredible difficulty chasing Gravis on the tree. If they were on the floor, this entire scenario wouldn't have happened.

Even though Flern was a hothead, he wasn't stupid. He knew that if he decided to boost himself to the tree, that Gravis would already be waiting there. Gravis was following Flern's descent to the floor and was always on the same height as him. Gravis even charged through the fire like it didn't exist, which slightly surprised Flern. Yet, he only grew more frustrated.

"Cheater, you're playing dirty!" he shouted loudly, his voice filled with absolute rage. "Fight fair like a man and face me head-on!"

"No," Gravis said.

Flern waited for more, but nothing more came from Gravis. For some reason, this only made him angrier. "When I return, I'll tear you to pieces! You better never leave this tree again, or you'll be dead!" he screamed in anger as he continued falling to the floor.

Some seconds later, Gravis stopped chasing Flern and turned around. Gravis quickly shot up the tree again.

"Hey, where are you going? Stay here and fight!" shouted Flern as Gravis left his vicinity.

Gravis simply ignored him and charged up the tree towards the other battleground. Flern continued cursing him as he continued falling. Flern was already nearly two kilometers below the other battleground, and he knew that he couldn't return that easily.

Flern looked around, but his expression turned from rage to shock as he saw an intact fire wheel falling pretty close to him. That was one of the other disciples', and he couldn't believe the coincidence that it was intact and falling so close to him. "Huh, that's some dogshit-luck, alright."

Flern quickly boosted himself over to the fire wheel and managed to catch it before it hit the ground. He then slowed their descent and landed on the floor with the fire wheel in his hands. With practiced ease, he climbed it and started ascending the tree again.

"Just wait for me!"