Lightning Is the Only Way

The Opposer flew into the sky. He flew for thousands of kilometers until he finally stopped. He released his cultivation base, and the whole world shook. Everyone, no matter how weak or strong, sensed an oppressive aura radiating from his direction. The world stopped. Everyone was frozen solid and did not dare move. Animals, monsters, demons, devils, gods, humans, plants, the wind, the heavens, and the earth stilled.

"Heaven!" An imposing voice resonated throughout the world. Everything heard and felt it.

The ancestors of the high and peak sects were familiar with this situation. This was not the first time this happened. The ancestors felt fearful, for they knew: A calamity was descending. An unimaginable amount of blood would dye the earth. Many lives will be lost. The only thing they could do was hope that it wasn't them this time. With their divine sense, they observed their disciples and the people close to them. They were checking their cultivation bases and hoping that they were not on the list this time.

They hated the heavens, and they hated the Opposer. Whenever those two clashed, the weak ones suffered, and besides those two, everyone was weak.

Heaven did not react to the Opposer's voice. Heaven did not break its rules. Actually, by enraging the Opposer, it achieved its goal. Would the Opposer go overboard, even though Heaven did not do anything wrong? No, the Opposer also had to play by the rules, or everything would become his enemy.

"Heaven! You can't suppress me, so you take your frustration out on my family. Today, I will make sure that this does not happen a second time!" The Opposer shouted. All the energy in the air was flowing towards him, but before it could reach him, it stopped. Heaven did not allow him to gather its energy. It still did not attack him. Instead, it showed him that it did not want to fight. It just stopped the energy.

"Today, you will pay!"

Suddenly, an oppressive divine sense covered the world, encompassing everything.

The heavens thundered. The whole world trembled. Everyone knew that Heaven was warning him not to go too far. Heaven was angry. It did not break any rules, so how dare he try anything?

The Opposer laughed in rage. "Today, you will pay the most painful price." His divine sense solidified and locked everything in place. Heaven gathered all energy in the world above the Opposer, threatening him.

The Opposer stood in the sky, looking down at the earth with a cold expression. Everything stilled. The ancestor's hearts nearly stopped, and fear took ahold of them.

After a couple of seconds that felt like years, the Opposer finally spoke. "Star Gods!"

Some of the ancestors sighed in relief. Some of the ancestors sighed in a mix of regret and helplessness. Some of the ancestors blanched completely. Some ancestors looked at a couple of their disciples in grief and helplessness. Disciples in other sects looked at their masters in terror. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Heaven instantly exploded in power, but before Heaven could do anything, it was already over.

Every Star God in the world closed their eyes and their souls scattered, never to be reborn again. It was like all the Star Gods fell peacefully into eternal sleep, yet everyone knew they would never wake up again. Grief, anger, and indignation shrouded the world. Millions died, and millions of families wept for their loved ones.

Suddenly, the earth shook. Pillars of unimaginable size broke through the surface from all around the world, all attacking the Opposer. Seas froze, and all the water transformed into spires that flew at the Opposer. Lava broke through the earth and shot towards the Opposer. All the air in the world pressed together with the Opposer at the center. The mountains transformed into giant beasts that threw all their might at the Opposer, and in the sky, Heaven was still gathering energy.

Surprisingly, even though the earth completely transformed, no one, not even the weakest ant, got injured. It was like they were in a separate space.

The whole world attacked the Opposer. The Opposer took out a black saber and slashed. Every slash, the earth spires were split apart, the seas evaporated, the lava crumbled into dust, the air vanished, and the mountains were destroyed. The world was obliterated.

After everything was over, the Opposer looked toward Heaven. All the energy in the world was gathered together at a single point. The Opposer let out a bestial howl. All his energy shot into his weapon and, in a slash, shot towards Heaven. The energy of Heaven transformed into lightning and shot towards the Opposer. The slash and the lightning bolt clashed.

An enormous explosion, the likes of which was never seen before by any living being, destroyed the world. The light, being able to burn everything to nothingness. The sound, breaking apart the most durable materials. The shockwave, destroying space and time itself. Everything vanished. The only things that had not changed were the living beings. Everything passed them by as if this was all just an illusion. Even though no one was physically affected, trillions of beings still died due to the emotional impact.

The explosion ended, and everything was silent.

"Never touch my family again." They heard the voice of the Opposer, still sounding as imposing as ever. "And go repair your world."

Heaven showed no reaction. It did not want to waste more energy. Energy was not infinite, even for Heaven.

A small ball of earth appeared and quickly grew to the old size of the world. Steam condensed into the seas and rivers again. Air appeared from the void, and all the mountains retook their form. The world

had not changed. Every town, road, forest, and plane was the same as it was before, everything, except the energy in the air. It had lowered.

But then, Heaven shuddered, and the energy in the air increased again. It grew until it returned to normal, and the people could finally feel the earth and wind again.

The calamity had passed.

The Opposer flew back to Stella's house and landed in her room. Stella's family and Gravis were still there. They had not recovered from the shock of what just happened. Gravis looked at his father, and his father looked back.

"Why do you need strength?" The Opposer asked his son.

Gravis looked at the lifeless Stella, thought back to her predetermined fate that Heaven imposed, and thought back to what his father did. His father killed millions. The whole world probably hated him, yet the world did not dare to voice their hate. Heaven had attacked him, and he struck back. It did not matter what he did. Even though all the lives in the world were changed, for the Opposer, nothing changed. Everything was the same as before.

Gravis clenched his fists, a fire burning in his heart and eyes.

"Freedom! To not be oppressed. To not be under someone else's reign. To protect what I want and attack what I want!" Gravis looked towards Stella, pain, and anger in his eyes. "And to never feel today's pain again." Gravis looked back into his father's eyes. "I need power!" he shouted with rage and ambition. All pain was buried into his heart, fueling his fire, his hatred toward Heaven exploding.

His father looked at his son and nodded. "Then, earn your strength and step into the cultivation world!"

Gravis' eyes shined and decided to do everything to not be under Heaven's reign again.

Heaven made a grave mistake that day.