Gravis felt incredible rage and frustration.
He should have known better! When all the facts had been laid out before him, he almost couldn't believe that he had committed to such a devastating and idiotic decision.
"I have received the memories that my Ancestor has of your father, Gravis," Heaven said, making Gravis perk up.
"When I have seen your father's rise to power, I have been truly humbled. His rise to power was even more difficult than yours has been up to this point, and he had managed to manage the dangers beautifully."
"He knew when to battle and when to retreat."
"He knew when to be diplomatic and when to be forceful."
"He knew whom he could fight and whom he couldn't fight."
"His path to power has been pure, untainted by any outsider's interference. In a world where every single human had Elemental Synchronicity, he has managed to stand on top of everyone but my ancestor."
"Yes, you heard correctly," Heaven said. "When your father had cultivated, every single human had had Elemental Synchronicity. Only after his rise has my ancestor decided to stop giving humans this ability since it was one of the keys to reaching your father's level."
"Your father wouldn't have decided to fight me if he weren't sure of his power."
"Yet, that is actually irrelevant," Heaven said as it looked deeply into Gravis' eyes, "because, when your father had been at your level, he had been powerful enough to actually fight me. If I were to fight your father when he had been at your level, I would have felt nervous and fearful."
"But when I look at you, Gravis, I see an arrogant child. You grandly spoke of your potential and power when I didn't allow you to become a Nascent Nourishing Cultivator without having children."
"I would be lying if I would say that I felt nothing back then. After all, your words were true. You actually have the potential to fight me when you became an Immortal, but your mindset has ruined your potential. Your arrogance has been the downfall of your so-called pure path to power, Gravis."
Gravis felt horrible when he heard these words.
Gravis had believed himself to be outstanding! No beast Gravis had ever seen had come even close to his Battle-Strength! He had increased his Battle-Strength to an impossible degree! He had believed himself to be as powerful or a bit more powerful than his father had been back then. After all, his father had said that no one had been able to kill a Heaven yet without ascending. Wasn't this proof of Gravis' power?
"Your father never looked at others," Heaven continued speaking. "He always only looked at himself. What was the point of being more powerful than others if he could still see inadequacies inside him? What do you think? How old was your father when he became an Immortal?"
Gravis remained silent for a while.
"I don't know," he said. Gravis had been mistaken so many times in the past minutes that he had no confidence in his guesses anymore.
"When your father became an Immortal, he was 9.950 years old, 50 years away from running out of longevity," Heaven answered, shaking Gravis' insides.
9.950 years? Gravis had expected his father to have been even younger than Gravis now. After all, wasn't his father the most outstanding Cultivator that had ever existed?
"Your potential is just as good as your father's, Gravis," Heaven said. "Yet, your starting points were vastly different."
"Your father had to temper his body for 20 years since he hadn't had a powerful family that tempered his organs and blood for him. In comparison, your organs and blood had been tempered as soon as you had been born."
"Your father had been born into a mortal's household and learned fighting all by himself. In comparison, you have received systematic training in the highest world on how to become powerful and how to fight."
"Your father had to fight against many opponents much more powerful than him until he finally condensed his Will-Aura in the Energy Gathering Realm. In comparison, you have been handed appropriate opponents until you had your Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm."
"Your father had attuned his Spirit to Energy, just like everybody else. In comparison, your life has been saved by your father and my ancestor, which allowed you to become the only being in existence with a Spirit not attuned to Energy. This grants you an incredible advantage over everyone else."
"Your father never needed to be saved, while you had been saved from death in the lower world twice. Once by your father and my ancestor, and once by a powerful lightning Cultivator when you were about to die to a darkness cultivator."
"Your father had to comprehend all his Laws by himself while you have been handed a level three Law just by killing someone in the Unity Realm."
"Your father had remained completely alone as soon as he reached the Spirit Forming Realm, which forced him to rely entirely on himself. In comparison, you have been protected by the former Empress of the Icy Pride Empire."
"Your father had to fight for every opportunity to learn more Laws while you have been granted free and safe access to powerful Law Comprehension Areas by the former Empress of the Icy Pride Empire."
With every sentence that Heaven spoke, Gravis felt weaker and weaker. Had he truly lived a privileged life? Had his path to power been so much easier?
Without noticing, Gravis' human form began to regress in age.
First, he became a young adult, and in the end, he looked like a teenager.
Gravis no longer felt like a man.
Now, he felt like an arrogant teenager that didn't know the true world.
"Your father has an incredible amount of qualities that make him far superior to you, Gravis," Heaven said.
"But, you have one quality that is superior, and this quality is the reason why you are still alive right now."
Gravis almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had something like that?
Yet, Gravis only bitterly smiled. "Don't mock me," he said. He had heard of his father's life from Heaven, and Gravis couldn't think of anything that gave him an edge over his father.
"Look at your body, Gravis," Heaven said as it pointed at Gravis.
Gravis looked down and noticed that his human form had regressed in age. 'Yes, that's true. I'm not a true man. I'm only a boy,' Gravis thought with self-deprecation.
"Your outstanding quality is your ability to quickly change your mindset," Heaven said.
Gravis looked at Heaven. "What?" he asked.
"Your father has been stuck in his way and wouldn't consider the opinions of anyone weaker than him, which had been everyone. If his mindset hadn't already basically been perfect, he would never have been able to reach the place he is in today."
"You are moldable. Even after living for over a millennium, your mindset still has the ability to rapidly change. With this ability, your mindset can be molded into a shape that is just as powerful as your father's."
"Yet, your strength is inadequate, and you have decided to fight an opponent far above your class. In order to fix that, you must pay."
Gravis felt a deep feeling of approaching doom. He knew that Heaven would say something that he had to accept if he wanted to survive and become powerful. He had no other choice.
"What is it?" Gravis asked quietly, his silent voice echoing throughout the empty world.
"First of all, you must accept that you need help, Gravis," Heaven said. "Your path has never been pure. Every privilege that you have received in the past makes this impossible, and even with all these privileges, you have still failed to achieve supreme power on your own."
"Your pure path to power has never existed, and even if it had existed, it would have ended today. You can't reach supreme power on your own like your father did. You must accept that you can't reach it on your own. You must accept that you need help."
Gravis felt his insides churn as his entire being refused these words. Yet, Gravis knew this feeling very well. This was the feeling of having one's pride hurt when someone else showed one of his inadequacies.
Hadn't Gravis told Aris that this feeling was the enemy?
Gravis took a deep breath.
"My pure path to power has come to an end," Gravis said. "I have tried, but I have failed. This means that I must now travel a muddled path that allows outside help when there is no other option remaining."
Gravis felt like something broke inside of him.
He always had the dream of achieving true power on his own. He had even killed Commander Rime because of that back then when he had interfered in Gravis' fight. Yet, that decision had only been born out of an illusion of grandeur. His path hadn't been pure from the start.
Gravis' dream had been shattered, and reality had set in.
He wasn't powerful enough to achieve his dream.
His mindset wasn't powerful enough to achieve his dream.
He was just like everyone else that looked at the incredible geniuses who managed to do something they could never do.
Gravis had met such a genius today, his father. His father had achieved something that had been thought impossible for Gravis. He had managed to be powerful enough to kill a middle Heaven at Gravis' Realm.
When Gravis had seen the power of Heaven's attack, he had believed it impossible to defeat it.
Yet, his father would have achieved just that.
Gravis was not peerless.
Gravis was normal.
"The second price," Heaven continued.
Gravis' being shook in devastation.