Chapter 1000 - 1000 – Arcs Reason (1/2)
”Arc, are you truly only helping me because you want our fight to be enjoyable?” Gravis asked, looking at the horizon.
”Why not?” Arc asked. ”It would be boring otherwise.”
Silence.
”Arc, are you not afraid of death?” Gravis asked.
”Death, huh?” Arc repeated with a distracted voice.
”Death is a distant concept for me, Gravis. I see death all around me, but I never felt like the concept had anything to do with me. It's like watching an animal. I'm not an animal, yet I know a lot about the animal.”
”So, while I do know that death might even come for me, I don't feel like it will.”
Silence.
”Isn't that how nearly everyone thinks?” Gravis asks.
”I guess so,” Arc said with a slight chuckle. ”Anyway, isn't it normal to temper yourself on your path to power? I haven't tempered myself in a really long time. What makes our fight any different from normal tempering?”
”The difference is that I don't want to kill you,” Gravis answered, looking at Arc.
Silence.
Then, Arc sighed.
”I know,” he said. ”I also don't want to kill you.”
”Sadly, there's nothing we can do. You need my Energy to become a Star God, and you won't give up your dream of freedom for my life. We both know that.”
”The thing that forces you into this decision is my Creator, and you're not powerful enough to resist him yet. For now, you have no other choice but to follow his will,” Arc explained.
Gravis also sighed.
”I know,” he said with a bitter voice. ”I might perceive myself as free, but that is only perceived reality. In physical reality, I'm not free. That's why I need power.”
”See?” Arc asked with a smirk. ”So, why ask that question? You can't change anything about physical reality anyway. You're a couple Realms short.”
Silence.
”But why are you helping me, though?” Gravis asked again, looking into Arc's eyes. ”Every living being has the drive to survive, and by helping me, you are specifically going against that drive. You are pushing me out of a burning pit by jumping into it. You can just decide not to jump into the burning pit. No one would fault you for that.”
”We are friends, but we are not so close that we would sacrifice our lives for each other.”
”So, why? Why continually walk closer to your death?”
Silence.
More silence.
”You misunderstood something, Gravis,” Arc said with a neutral voice. For once, his voice didn't sound chipper or lighthearted.
Instead, it sounded serious and emotionless.
”You said that every living being strives for survival, but that isn't the case.”
Gravis furrowed his brows at Arc.
”Living beings don't strive for survival but for life.”
Gravis lifted an eyebrow.
”Someone that is captured and tortured for the remainder of their natural life is surviving, but not living. Don't forget that there is a famous phrase: I'll make you live a life worse than death.”
”Living a life that's worse than death is surviving, not living.”
”If you push a being too far into darkness, they will prefer death over survival.”
”Tell me, Gravis.”
”Am I living or surviving?”
Gravis' insides shook when he heard these emotionless words from Arc.
How would Gravis feel in Arc's shoes?
Forever being trapped in one world, unable to progress.
Not being around beings that know enough about the concepts of the Cosmos to truly talk with you.
Being trapped in the highest world was entirely different from being trapped in a higher world.
There were several beings in the highest world that knew all the Laws.
Several Heaven's Magnates probably knew all the Laws that the highest Heaven knew, except for the Major Law of Death and the highest Heaven's exclusive lightning element.
Only a single step separated the Heaven's Magnates and the highest Heaven.
Yet, what about this higher world?
Arc knew the Major Law of the True World.
The closest person to him had been Exar, who knew the Major Law of the Dead World.
He didn't know the Major Law of Life.
He didn't know the Major Law of Emotions.
He didn't know the Major Law of Perceived Reality.
Comprehending these Laws was integral to understanding the world.
Over ten billion years of being semi-alone.
Arc was not free.
Arc did not have anyone he could truly connect with except for Gravis.
Arc didn't feel any love for anyone.
The Opposer had his wife, his family, and the highest Heaven, even if he didn't like the latter.
The highest Heaven had the Opposer.
Whom did Arc have?
Gravis.