Lightning Is The Only Way

Nira's mind nearly broke with shock.

What was going on!?

Why was she in the body of her mother!?

And was there herself that she was holding in her arms!?

While Nira was going through one shock after the other, Gravis was preparing himself mentally.

Gravis couldn't close his eyes since he was taking the place of someone else.

Gravis couldn't let himself drift away.

He had to be conscious while all the perspectives of Nira that every person in the world had of her played before his eyes.

Nira was far older than Gravis, and the accumulated perspectives of all the people around her would stretch everything even more.

Gravis knew that he would have to force himself through around a million years of memories of someone else.

Gravis was 200,000 years old, but for how many years had Gravis actually remained conscious?

One couldn't really count the Law Comprehension time since Gravis' mind always entered a trance during those.

Gravis had maybe only been conscious for 50,000 years of his life, and those had been all the years he had spent with Stella.

Nira and Gravis watched as the young Nira slowly became older.

Everyone around her looked at her like she was the cutest treasure in the world.

The little Nira was so innocent and pure.

One couldn't connect this cute and innocent child with the bitter and angry Immortal Emperor she was bound to become.

Nira had started cultivating ever since she had been a small child.

Her father and mother were Cultivators in the Unity Realm.

Their grandfather, an Immortal King, had told them that this was too early to have a child. Cultivation was always opposed to family.

The grandfather wanted his son to also become a powerful Immortal King in the Nine Elements Sect.

Nira's father wasn't part of the Nine Elements Sect since the Nine Elements Sect strictly forbade nepotism. Everyone had to work for their position, even if they were related to an Elder.

Members of the Nine Elements Sect were only allowed to support their children with Sect resources for the first 100 years of their life. 

Why?

First of all, it was cheap to support these weak rookies.

Second of all, they couldn't ask humans to directly throw their children away. 

Third of all, there had to be some perks that a Sect offered, or the powerful members might join a different Sect.

Nira's father had become a Unity Realm Cultivator with the help of the Nine Elements Sect, but he had found the love of his life in a very short amount of time.

It was love at first sight, and Nira's father dropped everything to be with his wife.

Nira's grandfather was against it, but he didn't force his will onto his son.

If that was his son's decision, so be it.

The first 30 years of Nira's life consisted of happily Cultivating and fighting against weak, captured beasts for tempering.

She hadn't killed a single human in those 30 years.

When the two parents saw that their child was in the Spirit Forming Realm, they decided that they had waited long enough.

Seeing their daughter become powerful reawakened their desire for power.

So, the two of them joined a mock war with another Sect.

These Sects didn't even have any rankings in this higher world since they were simply too weak. Because of that, the more powerful Sects didn't mind it if those weaker Sects killed each other. 

The Sects sent equally powerful forces into a life-and-death battle.

Sadly, Nira's parents would never return.

Even until the very end, Nira's parents had seen their child as the light of their life, and with good reason.

Nira had been a kind soul.

Yet, the death of her parents had taken a heavy toll on her.

Revenge clouded her mind, and her innocence died.

Nira ran away from her home and joined a power subservient to Underworld.

Why?

She wanted to become powerful, but the rules of the Sects didn't allow her to become powerful quickly. 

Everyone had to work so much for everything!

She didn't have time for that!

She needed to kill the killers of her parents!

From this point forward, all the acquaintances Nira made looked at her like she was a bitter woman, poisoned by the desire for revenge.

She didn't make any friends.

Why?

In her mind, she thought that having friends was a weakness, but in reality, she was afraid of feeling the pain of losing someone dear to her again. 

Eventually, Nira reached a sufficient Realm to annihilate the Sect that was responsible for killing her parents.

She went to the Sect and attacked them.

However, all the Sects united against her, including the Sect her parents had belonged to.

When Nira saw her parents' Sect go against her, her hatred exploded.

She had a deadly battle with several Cultivators and fled in the end, barely alive.

At this moment in time, Gravis had already viewed over a thousand years of memories even though Nira had barely reached 100 years of age.

Nira's past struggles resonated with Gravis.

He had struggled through very similar feelings in the past.

However, Gravis could still deal with 1,000 years of memories.

How did the actual Nira feel during all of this?

She had been pained when she saw the death of her parents again, but everything after that was to her liking.

The Nira of the past was acting just like Nira wanted, strengthening her own being.

Nira returned many years later, many times stronger.

She attacked the Sects again, and her power was so great that the Sects couldn't resist.

Yet, before she could kill anyone, someone from a superior Sect appeared that stopped her.

The Sects had not broken any rules, and this person wouldn't allow Nira to kill them.

Nira barely managed to survive again.

More time passed, and when Nira became an Immortal, she returned again for revenge.

However, all the members that had been alive during her parents' death had already died.

Too much time had passed.

To Nira, it hadn't felt very long, but in reality, many years had passed.

Her revenge became senseless.

Killing the Sect was also senseless.

Sadly, this didn't give Nira any closure. Instead, her grudge and hatred only festered.

Then, she returned to her grandfather for the first time since she had left her home.

Her grandfather had missed her dearly and had even cried when he saw her again.

To him, Nira was still that innocent girl.

When the actual Nira saw how her grandfather looked at her, her heart wavered.

The Nira in the memories showered her grandfather with love.

In turn, Nira had become the most important person in her grandfather's eyes.

Yet, exactly that was what hurt the actual Nira deep inside.

She knew exactly that she hadn't loved her grandfather.

No, she had used her grandfather to gain power.

The innocent Nira had vanished.

Yet, her grandfather still saw her as the innocent Nira.

The actual Nira felt a disconnect from her past self.

How could she have used her grandfather like this?

Her grandfather had loved her with all his heart!

By now, Gravis was repeatedly reminding himself of Freedom, Stella, his father, Arc, and everything important to him.

Over 50,000 years had already passed for him.

This was just as long as Gravis had been alive.

Gravis had noticed that his mindset had become more similar to Nira's mindset.

Gravis was changing into something he didn't want to become.

'Stay yourself!'

More years passed.

As more time passed, Nira's demands for her grandfather became more and more outrageous and frequent.

However, in the end, her grandfather always fulfilled them.

Nira's mindset had changed more and more.

Now, her biggest goal was not revenge.

Her biggest goal was power and status.

She wouldn't allow anyone in the world to stop her from doing what she wanted!

People had stopped her from taking her revenge, and she wouldn't allow anyone to do that to her again!

However, in comparison, her grandfather was going through more and more pains to fulfill whatever wish Nira had.

When the actual Nira saw her grandfather working so hard for her, she began crying.

She wanted to stop her past self.

How hadn't she seen what kind of monster she had become?

As the past Nira started to resemble the present Nira more and more, it also became easier for Gravis to resist.

However, resisting hundreds of thousands of years of memories was still grating on him.

Gravis wasn't sure if he even remembered all his life.

Some things of his past no longer seemed to be connected.

Parts of Nira's life seemed to have mixed with Gravis' memories.

Gravis wasn't sure who he was anymore.

Too much time has passed.

How did he even look like?

He hadn't seen himself in an eternity.

And when Nira became part of the actual Nine Elements Sect, she came into contact with the granddaughter of one of her grandfather's closest friends.

It was Stella.

When Gravis saw Stella, long-forgotten memories returned.

'Stella.'

All of Gravis' memories of his time with Stella struck him, and he remembered who he was.

If Nira hadn't known Stella or if Nira had met Stella much later, Gravis would have stopped existing.

The backlash of Samsara was terrifying.

In Stella's eyes, Nira was her kind aunt.

Stella had always looked up to Nira, and Nira had always supported her.

Sadly, she didn't know that Nira only wanted to build a connection with Stella in order to come into contact with the current Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect.

All of Nira's kindness was fake.

This tore the actual Nira apart.

In her eyes, Stella was only a kid, and Stella looked at Nira with such shining eyes.

Why did she do that!?

Eventually, the current Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect died, and the Holy Maiden returned.

Nira didn't have to fake her kindness anymore.

By now, her grandfather had realized what kind of person the actual Nira was.

Whenever he looked at Nira, he felt a deep pain in his heart.

And one day, many years later, Gravis appeared.

How did Gravis view Nira?

Arrogant. Sinister. Selfish. Idiotic.

Surprisingly, this had been the closest anyone's perception of Nira had ever gotten to the true her. 

When Nira saw herself through Gravis' eyes, she felt herself resonate with him.

Yes, all of these things were true.

Meanwhile, Gravis' being was receiving a boost as he was back in his own perception.

Then, after Gravis left, everyone was looking at Nira like she was insane.

Everyone saw the situation clearly.

Yet, Nira wasn't able to see the truth and started to act irrationally.

Eventually, she became the slave of the Highest Commander.

How did he perceive her?

Sinner.

This was his perception of her.

Many, many years passed.

After nearly a million years of memories, they arrived at the present.

They were viewing Nira from Gravis' and Mortis' perspectives.

Danger. Potential power. Tempering.

This was how the two of them viewed Nira.

And when Samsara touched Nira again, Perceived Reality broke apart, only leaving behind physical reality.