Chapter 1021 - 1021 – Reveal (2/2)

Gravis still tried to process what he was hearing.

”Then, Orthar is dead?” Gravis asked.

”No, I'm not,” Orthar answered. ”I went through our experiences, and I still remember everything. Our interactions truly happened, and nothing has changed. My Spirit wasn't overtaken. I fused with the other version of myself, which you know as the highest Heaven. I am both at once.”

This revelation was still hard for Gravis to grasp.

Was his friend dead or not?

He said he wasn't, but was that true?

”He's speaking the truth, Gravis,” the Opposer said.

Gravis looked at his father.

”I noticed that he essentially made a younger copy of himself so that he could come into contact with you.”

Gravis furrowed his brows.

”But if you knew, why didn't you do anything? This doesn't sound like you,” Gravis said.

”This is your life, not mine,” the Opposer answered. ”I don't want to involve you in my conflict, and for you to make the best decision, you have to know both sides. Additionally, even if I didn't think like that, forcing you to come to my side in this conflict will drive you away instead. Freedom is too important to you, and if I don't respect your freedom, I might end up getting on your bad side.”

”Obviously, I don't want to get on the bad side of my son,” the Opposer said.

Then, he looked at Mortis.

”Or sons, in that case,” he said.

Mortis looked at the Opposer with an unsure expression.

Usually, Mortis had a solid hold over his emotions, but as soon as he saw his ”father”, he became uncertain.

Gravis saw the Opposer as his father, and Mortis had Gravis' memories. Therefore, Mortis also saw the Opposer as his father.

”You are Gravis just as much as he is, only from a different time and place,” the Opposer said to Mortis. ”Memories and feelings are what connect us. Therefore, you are my son.”

Mortis felt things he hadn't felt ever since he had come into existence.

Was this a feeling of belonging?

Was this familial love?

Meanwhile, Gravis was looking at Orthar.

”So, you are the highest Heaven, right?” he asked.

”I am,” Orthar said.

”Why did you decide to show yourself now? You've been keeping yourself hidden all this time,” Gravis asked.

”There's no point to keep up pretenses,” Orthar said. ”You will not receive the Brand, and you even know the Major Law of Death. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, you will reach my level. Instead, acting towards you in a fashion akin to acting towards someone beneath myself would only increase your dislike towards me.”

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Now that he had accepted that the highest Heaven was basically Orthar, a lot more things made sense.

The entire Cosmos was created to gather as much Energy as possible.

It was incredibly efficient.

Everything had its use.

Gravis had once thought that he wouldn't want to live in a world Orthar created, but it turned out that he had been in one this entire time.

Yet, there was also a major difference between the two Orthars.

The old Orthar would have run everything like it was a machine, forcing everything into place.

However, this wouldn't create the best result.

After all, the beings would lose motivation and wouldn't be as complicit. A lot of them would also only do the bare minimum to survive.

It would kill motivation.

Yet, this other Orthar had an incomparable amount of experience in running a Cosmos.

He knew exactly what gave the best results.

Gravis remembered the words his father had once said.

The Opposer had once said that Emotions were there to force people to make connections with others, which would result in them not wanting to lose them, resulting in a need for power.

Back then, Gravis had dismissed his father's words as too cynical.

However, knowing Orthar, this actually seemed very likely.

”You said you don't want me to dislike you even more. However, why would you care about that?”

”Tell me, why do you care about my feelings?” Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow.