Chapter 136 - 136 – Is This What I Want To Be?
Wendy’s eyes widened when she heard that. "What do you mean?"
Gravis smiled. She had already told all her secrets to him, so why couldn’t he tell her? No one was around, and Gravis could feel the Spirit of others. He also didn’t believe that the upper echelon of the Wind Guild would break their promise. The only one listening was Heaven, and it already knew his background.
"This is a lower world. Above this world are the middle worlds, and above those are the higher worlds," Gravis explained. "I am from the highest world, and every world is below ours. My father is the strongest being, equal to the highest Heaven. They are enemies, and Heaven has used me to hurt my father before. That’s why Heaven is my enemy and why it can’t act directly against me. My father forces Heaven into a fair fight."
Wendy was shocked and couldn’t process all the information she was receiving right now. There were so many worlds above this one? Also, Gravis’ father was this powerful? She couldn’t imagine how powerful he had to be.
Gravis smiled happily. "When Heaven tried to strike me in the Basin of Nature, my father slapped it away. That’s why everything vanished. The Heaven of this lower world is nothing in my father’s eyes," said Gravis with pride.
Wendy still couldn’t fully believe Gravis’ tale, but everything pointed to it being the truth. Why else did these things happen in the Basin of Nature? Gravis remained silent for a while, and Wendy also didn’t say anything. She kept thinking about the whole situation.
After a while, Wendy smiled happily. "If Heaven is forced to fight with you fairly, then you are probably the only person who has a shot at damaging it," she looked upwards into the sky. "I am happy that my gamble and all my hardships paid off. If I gave up earlier, I would have never had the chance to change anything. This is the first time in a long while, where I’m truly happy," she said as some tears rolled down her eyes.
"Here, take this," Wendy said as she passed a jade token, as well as a piece of paper to Gravis. "This is the core of the inheritance. It’s a Formation Array, and everything about it is explained in the piece of paper. You only need to use your lightning on it, and you will understand everything about it. The ascended senior took great care in keeping what the token can do a secret."
Gravis nodded and injected his lightning into the paper. A lot of information appeared in his mind, and he completely understood why the senior kept it a secret. "It’s incredibly powerful, but you shouldn’t underestimate Heaven. I’m sure it already knows that this Formation Array can block one attack, no matter how strong," Gravis said.
Wendy shivered, but could only sigh. "You’re probably right," she said. "Yet, this won’t stop it from working. With this, you could at least block one attack from Heaven."
Gravis nodded with a smile, but inside, he felt incredibly shocked. If one looked at the paper only with Energy, they would learn that the token could block one attack. Yet, when an element was infused into it, the element would return and spell out some words in the user’s mind. It was a genius way of keeping its true secret hidden. Heaven probably never learned about its true secret.
Gravis’ plan for the Pre-Forming technique slowly changed into an even more reckless one. There was a high chance that he would die when performing it, but his goal was the peak. If he couldn’t reach the peak, then he couldn’t reach his goal. His goal was more important than his life. She also passed him a sack, which carried hundreds of Energy Stones.
They both remained silent for several minutes and just looked at the sky. Gravis had accepted Wendy’s wish for revenge. Yet, the situation could only end in tragedy. Wendy wanted to return to her husband and take revenge for him. Her wish for revenge was transferred to Gravis, and now, only one wish remained.
Gravis felt a little nervous, and not even his powerful will could stop these emotions from affecting him. He learned more about Wendy than every other person in this world, which created a special connection between them. Yet, because of that, Gravis knew that her mind was made up.
It didn’t matter what he said. Wendy would go through with it. The closer they got to the moment of goodbye, the more Gravis’ whole being revolted against the situation. He felt a genuine feeling of companionship with Wendy, and he didn’t want to do it. It felt so wrong in his mind. He didn’t mind killing strangers, but it was a different thing if he knew the person.
Yet, what other way was there? It wasn’t like others forced her to go through with it. She had decided it for herself. It was her only remaining wish and her last goal.
What if Gravis decided to spare her? He would blow his cover, and he would probably die. If Wendy actually wanted to keep on living, he would maybe try to find a third way, but what was the point of jeopardizing his goal, if she just decided to end her life some time later?
There was no right way out of the situation. Every decision would end in tragedy, yet, for the first time, Gravis couldn’t blame Heaven for the situation. Yes, Heaven was at fault for how her life went, but it was her own decision, what she would do with her life now. It was her decision, and she made it. Sometimes, one could only choose one of two evils.
"Alright," said Wendy as she stood up and dusted off her robes. She took out a mirror and looked at herself. She took out some water and cleaned up every last piece of dirt on her face and clothing. She wanted to be presentable for her family.
Gravis’ insides shook as he watched her. He also stood up and grabbed his forehead due to the stress that he was feeling right now. The Energy in his head still gave him a massive headache, but he couldn’t care about that right now. Anxiety, rage, frustration, helplessness, a little bit of sadness, and unwillingness all mixed together inside him, and he couldn’t discern what he was feeling anymore. He felt like he was about to take a step into a direction, he didn’t want.
Wendy saw him and smiled slightly. "I know that it’s not easy for you, but you can’t give up your goal for this. I entrusted you with my revenge, and if you decide to give up, I’ll haunt you," she said with a joking tone. "Also, if you manage to get through all this pain, you will only grow stronger. Isn’t your wish to defeat Heaven?"
Gravis didn’t care about the strength of his will right now. He was not his father. His father killed millions of humans just to get one over Heaven, and Gravis was not like that. He wanted to live without regrets and grow strong. ’Maybe I am too naïve,’ he thought as he looked upwards at the sky. ’Maybe it was impossible from the very beginning to have both. If I must decide between having no regret and achieving my goal, then I will choose my goal. Even if it is wrong.’
When Wendy was finished, she took out a letter and nailed it to a tree. "This is a letter to my family. I wrote my whole story down so that they don’t come looking for you in the future. I don’t want you guys to become enemies."
Wendy walked back and stopped one meter in front of Gravis. "Do it," she said, "and I’m sorry."
Gravis’ body shook, and he couldn’t look at her. Gravis wasn’t feeling all these feelings because of Wendy, but because of what he was about to do. With his will, killing another person was not difficult at all, and they had also only talked for some minutes. He shakingly put his hand on her head and closed his eyes firmly. "I’m sorry," he said.
Gravis released his lightning, and Wendy immediately died. Her outside wasn’t injured, and only her brain stopped functioning. She fell over, and Gravis caught her with his arms. One small tear rolled down his right eye, and he could only look at her with unwillingness. He wasn’t crying about her, but about the way he had chosen.
’Is this what I am ready to do for power? I said that I am not my father, yet I see myself becoming more like him the further I progress on my path. Is this truly what I want to be?’ he thought as he laid her down on the floor. Her body smiled happily, and Gravis’ felt her Energy entering his body. He felt incredibly disgusted by the Energy and wanted to reject it, but he stopped himself. She gave Gravis her wish for revenge, and he couldn’t betray that wish.
When Gravis laid her down, he looked at her for another minute and then walked away. While walking, he thought about if that is truly what he wished to become. Was it worth it to do things like this for strength?
After Gravis had left the clearing for a while, a minuscule lightning bolt appeared from above and hit the letter, which had been nailed to the tree.
The letter burned until nothing remained.