The barricade shivered again as they saw Gravis lifting his leg again. Their indecisiveness grew with the previous two deaths. Imagining death and seeing death was a big difference. Yes, they went through a lot of life and death tempering, but they hadn't been in a fight where they were this outclassed! On top of that, all their previous fights had always included both their lives and beliefs. Yet, now, they had to choose between the two. This choice tore them apart on the inside.
BANG!
Gravis' kick hit, and another disciple at the Seed Stage shot into the distance. No counterattack came. Just like before, Gravis vanished from the barricade. He quickly reappeared before the disciple that had just landed. The disciple froze in fear, and Gravis repeated the same thing as before. The others didn't stop him. They were still indecisive about their decision. Gravis' hand slowly moved towards the throat of the disciple, who still lay on the ground.
"AAAHH!" the disciple shouted, and he attacked Gravis with his pike. Gravis simply evaded the attack. An attack made out of fear was easy to evade. After evading the attack, lightning appeared around Gravis' hand, and he slapped the disciple.
BANG!
The head of the disciple was reduced to ash. His Energy entered Gravis as his belongings popped out of his body. "Third idiot down!" Gravis said.
Did Gravis feel bad? Not at all! If he were weaker, he would have died to them. If he were weaker, they wouldn't have announced their goal of killing him at that distance. Like this, they would have suddenly attacked him from a close range. Weakness didn't absolve one of their decisions. They wanted to kill him, so he felt no remorse in killing them. They had chosen their path, knowing fully what awaited them at the end.
Gravis cleaned his hand off the blood and ash. Then, he turned around and looked at the barricade again.
"AAAHHH!" three disciples shouted with rage, panic, and fear. They charged forward with all their power, leaving the barricade. They had decided that their beliefs were more important than their lives. When Gravis saw them, he slowly walked closer to the charging disciples.
Whoosh!
The first disciple stabbed forward with his lance, trying to hit Gravis. Obviously, Gravis easily sidestepped the attack. Another lightning-filled hand ended the disciple's life. Then, Gravis turned to the other two.
CRR!
The charging disciples rammed their feet into the ground in order to stop, destroying the ground in the process. One of the disciples hyperventilated, screamed, and threw his weapons to the side.
BANG!
The sound of an explosion happened as the Spirit of the disciple broke into pieces. All his belongings left his body and appeared around him. What the others didn't see was that his element also left his body. The disciple shouted in pain when that happened and grabbed his head.
BANG!
The other disciple did the same. His Spirit broke apart, and all his belongings left him. When Gravis saw this, he smiled. This time, it was in relief. He didn't feel bad about killing people that wanted to kill him, but he also felt like killing those people was a waste. After all, as long as they still had their lives, they could change. Recultivating also wouldn't be an issue. After all, they still retained their Will-Auras and physical power.
"Good! At least two of you have some brains!" Gravis shouted. "You have chosen life, and I won't betray you! You can always recultivate and build new ones." Then, Gravis walked closer to the first disciple and put his hand on his shoulder, making the disciple freeze in place. "You also don't need to cultivate the earth element. Maybe you'll find one that fits you better."
The cultivator wasn't sure how to react as a cacophony of emotions attacked his mind. He could do nothing else but stare at Gravis. Right now, he was lost and had no idea how to proceed with his life.
Gravis walked past him and also smiled at the other disciple. Yet, before Gravis reached the much smaller barricade, someone left it. Surprisingly, it was the younger of the two Sapling Stage cultivators. He looked decisively at Gravis while Gravis looked back with a lifted eyebrow.
Clank, Clank!
The young man threw his two weapons to the side. "I've never agreed with this whole stubborn belief thing," he said calmly but decisively. "Yet, I was forced to accept it. Everyone around me followed that system, and I couldn't cultivate without it. I was afraid of losing all my progress, so I stayed true to this. Not anymore!" he shouted.
BANG!
His Spirit broke apart as his belongings appeared around him, but he didn't shout in pain. He only gritted his teeth. "This whole belief thing is retarded!" he shouted angrily through his gritted teeth. "This whole thing is messed up! We are supposed to create our beliefs when we reach the Magic Gathering Realm, but how could someone at that Realm know how the world works!? Am I supposed to follow whatever I thought was right when I was a child!? That's so stupid!"
The young man sounded incredibly frustrated and angry. All his bottled up anger came to the surface and burst forward. He had been unhappy for a long time, always accepting his current circumstances. He didn't want to lose his progress, so he had forced himself to accept his current situation. His mind had adapted and even started believing that this way was right. Yet, deep inside, he had never agreed.
"Fuck the Earth Sect and its retarded cultivation system!" he shouted with all his power. Even though his cultivation was destroyed, he still had a powerful body. His voice echoed for multiple kilometers and shook some trees. "I have enough of this fucking bullshit! Even if I reforge my beliefs, right now, I am just a child in the eyes of my future self! My future self will think that I am an idiot right now, and my future self is probably right! I will grow, and I won't be bound by the stuff I believed when I was younger!"
Gravis watched this with a smile. The disciple's speech resonated with him. Wasn't he also very different from his past self? Skye's parent's death had shown him how much he had changed, and he also somewhat believed his past self to be a naïve fool. If one always clung to the things they believed in the past, they would never grow.
"Good!" Gravis shouted and even clapped. "I am impressed by your mindset! What's your name?" Gravis asked.
After releasing all his frustration and anger, the young man took a deep breath. "I'm Eros," he said. Then, he walked closer to Gravis. "Can I join the Lightning Sect?" he asked.
Gravis' brows shot upward in surprise. "Why the Lightning Sect specifically?" he asked.
Eros looked in the direction of Quake City with narrowed eyes. "Because everyone has the right to revenge! You don't know, but I have an enemy that has killed someone very dear to me. When my power eclipsed that enemy, the Earth Sect forbade me from taking revenge. I hadn't been part of the Earth Sect when that bastard had taken my mother's life, so I wasn't allowed to take revenge."
Gravis rubbed his chin. "How come?" he asked.
Eros snorted in disdain. "Because he was an administrator of some town under the Water Sect. Since the Water Sect and the Earth Sect are in an alliance, my 'petty revenge' would endanger the 'family'. Therefore, I was forced to swallow my hatred. I think that everyone has the right to seek their own justice. If someone steps on your bottom line, your family shouldn't force you to swallow that enmity. This thing gnawed at me every day, and I finally want to take my revenge!"
Eros' eyes showed an incredible amount of willpower and motivation. His eyes were basically burning with fervor. Gravis also realized that Eros' Will-Aura was rather powerful. He was probably only one or two tempering experiences away from achieving a Unity Will. Gravis guessed that Eros was an Ascender's Talent.
"Good!" Gravis shouted and put his hand on Eros' shoulder. "I am certain that the Lightning Sect will accept someone like you!" Then, Gravis walked to the barricade and stopped in front of it. "Life or Beliefs!?" he shouted again.
Clank, Clank, Clank!
Several disciples dropped their weapons as their Spirits cracked apart. It seemed like Eros' speech had woken them. Hearing something from someone else was completely different than hearing it from their idol. Eros was an Ascender's Talent and the idol of nearly every disciple of the Earth Sect. His speech resonated with them and their minds burned with decisiveness.
Gravis saw this and smiled. "Great!" Then, he turned to the last two people. They still held their weapons. One was at the Seed Stage, and the other was the older cultivator at the Sapling Stage.
"I won't betray my beliefs," the older one said with decisiveness. "I am not as weak-willed as the others. The wills of these traitors are weak, and they won't achieve anything in the future."
BANG, BANG!
Lightning exploded under Gravis' feet as he shot forward suddenly. A lightning-filled kick exploded on the older person's shield, nearly breaking it apart. The power of this kick was multiple times stronger than his previous ones. The older person hadn't excepted Gravis' sudden attack, so he hadn't been able to counterattack. Like this, he flew into the distance.
BANG!
Gravis had regenerated a lot of his lightning by now and shot forward again with all his power. He reached the spot below the flying person in nearly an instant. "I don't know what they'll achieve," he said, and then kicked the back of the flying person with a lightning empowered kick, obliterating him. "But, you'll achieve nothing!"
Clank.
The last Seed Stage disciple dropped his weapons and screamed in terror. He clutched his head and started running towards Quake City with all his power. He still believed in the Earth Sect and didn't want to betray his family. However, he had betrayed his beliefs by not dying to Gravis, so his cultivation got destroyed. He would rebuild his cultivation in the Earth Sect. After all, that was his home.
Gravis saw this and sighed. People were different, and not everyone believed the same thing. There were bound to be people that disliked the Earth Sect's system, but there were also people that agreed with it with all their hearts. Gravis let the person flee. After all, the guy hadn't attacked Gravis.
Even if that guy reported everything to the Sect Master, Gravis wouldn't mind.
Killing the Earth Sect Master would just be more tempering for him.