Lightning Is the Only Way

It was difficult for Gravis to comprehend his current situation.

The things Peaceful Serenity was talking about were as far away from the truth as they could get.

Heaven wants allies?

Definitely not!

Gravis knew how Heaven Breakers got their power, and letting someone with so much Energy and power leave their Cosmos would weaken them massively!

Sure, the new Heaven Breaker might repay their previous Heaven, but that was an uncertainty. It relied fully on trust.

Was Orthar a trustful person?

Was Orthar someone that gave others a selfless present just to hope that they might repay him in the future?

Definitely not.

Orthar valued control above everything else!

Everything must be within Orthar's control at all times.

After a while of trying to grasp his current situation, Gravis realized that Peaceful Serenity's thoughts actually weren't absurd.

If one didn't know about the Primordial Chaos and Heaven Breakers, one might actually believe that Heaven wanted allies.

After all, why would Heaven allow them to reach the Heaven Realm if it didn't want them to succeed?

It would just kill them.

Of course, one might still doubt Orthar's sincerity. After all, there were also the three old foggies. They believed that they were destined to die, no matter what they did.

If someone knew all the information, one might believe Peaceful Serenity's beliefs to be ridiculous. However, if one were in the same situation, the chances were very high that they would believe the same thing.

Why?

Ambition and optimism.

If one had strived to reach their goal for their entire lives, the realization that the goal led to a dead-end would be too hard to handle.

It would invalidate their entire existence.

The Heaven's Magnates had worked harder than anyone else to reach their current spot, and that realization would hit them that much harder because of that.

They couldn't accept that, after everything they had invested, they would walk right into death.

There had to be a different reason, right?

Life couldn't be this hopeless, right?

And with no one directly telling them the truth, they were more likely to believe something that was easier to swallow.

As Gravis thought more about this, he realized how terrifyingly effective Orthar's conduct had been.

Orthar was raising valuable crops just to harvest them.

And even more, the crops happily jumped into the sickle.

Peaceful Serenity was the perfect example. She had told Gravis all of the secrets of the Cosmos.

Sadly, these secrets weren't the actual secrets.

These secrets were a dream.

They were a perceived reality.

They didn't exist.

Peaceful Serenity had painted a beautiful picture of the outside world, filled with purpose and light.

But that picture was a picture of death.

Gravis wanted to tell Peaceful Serenity the truth, but he couldn't. This was still Orthar's Cosmos, and Orthar wouldn't allow any interference.

These were Orthar's crops, and he wouldn't allow anyone to ruin them.

They belonged to Orthar. They were his!

In the past, Gravis might have decided to try to make Peaceful Serenity understand regardless. After all, he didn't need to say any specifics. Maybe he could just steer her mind in the correct direction?

But now, it didn't really matter anymore.

Gravis knew what was coming.

Whether Peaceful Serenity died now with illusions or a bit later while knowing the truth didn't make a difference.

Might as well let her go on her own terms.

"You want to show me how to overcome the lightning tribulation?" Gravis asked neutrally.

"Yes," Peaceful Serenity answered. "The lightning tribulation is the last obstacle before the Heaven Realm. Only after overcoming the lightning tribulation can you make your Cosmos a reality."

"The lightning tribulation, as the name suggests, is a tribulation that involves Heaven attacking your Cosmos with lightning as you try to create it. This might sound like an attack, but it is actually very similar to forging."

"The lightning strikes allow you to feel out the weakest parts of your Cosmos. Without them, our Cosmos might be born in an incomplete state."

"With the lightning tribulation, Heaven is helping us create our own Cosmos. It is sacrificing its own Energy to help us. This is the last and most costly sacrifice Heaven can give for its children," Peaceful Serenity explained.

Gravis didn't really react to anything Peaceful Serenity said.

In Gravis' perspective, the surroundings were mired in grey and black.

Peaceful Serenity was like an optimistic child shortly before the enemy army raided their gates.

It didn't matter.

It made no difference.

It changed nothing.

"Do whatever you like," Gravis said neutrally.

In a way, Gravis felt a bit of pain and melancholy as he saw Peaceful Serenity.

Her power was so grand.

Her purpose was so bright.

She was so filled with purpose that it was difficult to dislike her.

Yet, when one knew the truth of the situation, seeing someone like this only felt tragic.

Gravis pitied Peaceful Serenity.

When Peaceful Serenity heard Gravis accept, she took a deep breath and nodded with a smile.

"Today is a good day," she said with a bright voice. "I have remained in this Cosmos for far too long. It is interesting to watch life go on, but there is more for me out there."

"Today, I can finally leave this Cosmos and see the wider world. What else is out there? Are the previous Heaven's Magnates that managed to leave this Cosmos still alive? Will I meet them? How unimaginably powerful are the people out there? What have they gone through in their lives to reach that level?"

Peaceful Serenity's mind was filled with dreams.

Gravis only silently watched her with a bit of pain in his eyes.

"Watch closely, Gravis," Peaceful Serenity said. "I will show you how to overcome the lightning tribulation!"

Gravis only absentmindedly nodded.

With an excited expression, Peaceful Serenity flew far into the sky.

WHOOOM!

Her world appeared behind her, but her world was different from the worlds of the other Heaven's Magnates.

It was a black sphere, which was nearly empty. Only in the middle of it could one see the actual world.

This was a Cosmos.

The spherical border represented the filter. This filter protected the Cosmos against forces other than Energy.

The emptiness inside the sphere represented space that one could use to create worlds. At the moment, there was only one world inside Peaceful Serenity's Cosmos. Later, all of the empty space would be filled with different worlds.

When Peaceful Serenity summoned her Cosmos, the sky began to darken with clouds.

Violent, black lightning bolts shot throughout the clouds, slowly gaining power.

When Gravis felt these lightning bolts, he released a sigh.

'Just as I've thought,' Gravis thought. 'How na?ve I have been.'

'As long as I am one with lightning, I can stop Heaven's lightning, huh?'

'No. This is not just lightning. This is Orthar's lightning. I can't control it.'

When Gravis realized this, a tiny ember of hope that hadn't been extinguished yet left him.

Then, Peaceful Serenity began to expand her Cosmos.

The lightning attacked her Cosmos, nearly breaking it. However, Peaceful Serenity had already seen that coming, and she had managed to shape it into a form that resisted lightning.

Then, the second lightning bolt struck.

And the third.

The fourth.

The fifth.

By now, it became much harder for Peaceful Serenity to withstand the lightning, but her Cosmos began to glow and take form.

BANG!

The sixth bolt of lightning nearly broke her Cosmos. However, the cracks on her Cosmos mended, and its shell became even harder.

With every single bolt, her Cosmos nearly got destroyed, but it always came out far stronger than before.

Then, after the ninth bolt, no more bolts came.

The other Heaven's Magnates had returned to witness the spectacle. They had believed that Peaceful Serenity wanted to take Child of Heaven's place, but apparently, they had been mistaken.

She was actually attempting to reach the Heaven Realm!

They all watched with rapt attention. This was valuable knowledge, and they had to learn as much as they could. After all, in the future, they would also have to undergo the lightning tribulation.

After some minutes, the world calmed down again.

Peaceful Serenity had survived, and her Cosmos was shining behind her.

A bright and happy smile was on Peaceful Serenity's face.

Her Cosmos landed on her open palm, and with a smile, Peaceful Serenity let it fly away.

In just a bit, her Cosmos vanished from the world.

It had left the highest world, and after that, it left Orthar's Cosmos.

After the Cosmos vanished, Peaceful Serenity started to become transparent.

She was phasing out of Orthar's Cosmos.

She threw one last smile at Gravis.

"Please, help Heaven. I will repay you when we meet outside."

Gravis only nodded without motivation.

Then, Peaceful Serenity vanished.

Silence.

The other Heaven's Magnates were excited and happy that one of them managed to reach the Heaven Realm and reach the outside.

Even the Black Magnate was excited.

The Black Magnate might be the Opposer's friend, but he sadly also wasn't allowed to know the bitter truth.

"She has died, and her Cosmos has been absorbed by the old bastard's Cosmos," the Opposer told Gravis with a voice transmission.

"Her Cosmos will be used to create a great number of lower, middle, and higher worlds. In the near future, the number of ascendants will grow by a lot."

Gravis wasn't shocked when he heard that.

He knew all along that it would play out this way.

In order to keep up the illusion, Orthar had allowed Peaceful Serenity to leave his Cosmos, but as soon as she was outside, he killed her and absorbed her Cosmos.

Her Cosmos expanded Orthar's Cosmos, and her Energy would slowly be fed back into Orthar's Cosmos to keep the illusion alive.

And in the meantime, the other Heaven's Magnates were excited for their friend.

She had made it!

She was free!