“Master!” Ondine shouted and she shook Lakshman's body once more.

Tears began to form in her eyes. Sumara placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Felix, on the other hand, eyed them strangely.

“Why are you two so distraught?” he asked them.

“Why do you ask 'why’? Isn't it obvious?!” Ondine exclaimed, looking at him with a teary face.

Felix looked at them and signed. Then he shook his head and said “For crying out loud, Lakshman isn't dead!”

“Eh?!”

“He's just unconscious!”

Ondine suddenly looked shocked at his words and Sumara's eyes widened in surprise. Sure enough, when Ondine checked for a pulse, she felt it. Instantly, she became relieved and let out a sigh of relief. Sumara also looked relieved to know Lakshman was still breathing.

“Don't just assume the worst because it looks like it!” Felix said, sounding annoyed.

“Sorry...” Ondine muttered and Sumara nodded with her head.

Felix simply sighed. He suddenly stood up and faced in the direction of the monster. Sumara observed him with her normal expression, but there was a trace of apprehension.

“What will you do now?” she asked him.

Felix did not immediately answer. He closed his eyes and looked like he was thinking about something. Then his eyes flew open and a serious expression formed on his face.

“It looks like I have to fight seriously!” he said firmly.

“What?” Ondine said, startled by his words. “You mean... you weren't fighting seriously up until now?!”

She was shocked by this discovery. As a Phoenix Emperor, he was an extremely powerful person. So, knowing that he held back made her very angry. Sumara, however, reacted different.

Looking at him curiously, she asked “Would you mind telling us why you were holding back?”

Felix looked at her and smiled slightly as he said “If I fought seriously, this very landscape would change. I think you are aware... my power should not be taken lightly!”

“I see, yes,” Sumara said in understanding while nodding her head.

“And I didn't really feel like fighting seriously against a D Rank monster.”

“What?!” Ondine said, shocked by his statement.

Felix looked at her apologetically as he said “A Two-Headed Cerberus is a D Rank monster. So I didn't feel it necessary to fight seriously.”

“No way is a monster like that a D Rank when it did this to master!”

She indicated the unconscious form of Lakshman. Felix nodded in agreement. During the fight, he felt the boy's latent power and was impressed. So, a monster capable of knocking out such a man is not normal.

He turned back to the monster which was looking around. It was obviously looking for them. He suddenly became angry as he remembered how the monster smacked Lakshman away. Now he lay, badly injured in Ondine's arms.

“Okay!” he exclaimed as he came to a decision. “You two,” he said and indicated Ondine and Sumara. “Stay here and heal Lakshman.”

“Okay, but what are you going to do?” Ondine asked, surprised by the change in the surrounding air.

Felix narrowed his eyes as he glared at the monster as he said “I'm taking the fight to that filth! No more playing around!”

With that said and done, he removed the torn shirt and threw it aside. Then he stood still with his eyes closed and fists clenched. A moment later, his body jerked as the muscles in his body expanded to a certain extent.

“Wow!” Ondine said reflexively at the sudden increase in mass of Felix's body.

A moment later, Felix opened his eyes and shouted “Alright! Here goes nothing! Phoenix Mode!”

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Felix's eyes began to glow completely in red. Markings, like tattoos, began to appear on his body, arms and face. He suddenly gritted his teeth and his red glowing eyes were wide open. He suddenly looked frightening.

Felix was breathing uneasily, but quickly recovered his breath. Then he shouted “Phoenix Drive!”

A great surge of power erupted from within him and spread around him. The ground began to tremble as the powerful force caused cracks in the ground to open. The air became heavy and the pressure was like suffocation.

With energy surging around him, Felix straightened up. The monster, sensing the great surge of power, turned its attention towards Felix. Being noticed, Felix made a crazy smile as he stared at the monster.

He suddenly raised his arm and pointed a finger at it as he said “I'm coming for you.”

As if it heard his words, the monster lets out a roar of fury. This caused a strong wind to blow at them. While Ondine and Sumara struggled to hold their ground, Felix was unperturbed by it.

Suddenly he vanished in a flash. The next instance, the monster was sent flying for several meters. Hovering in the air with his fist outstretched was none other than Felix.

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“Wow...” Ondine said quietly. “W-What just happened? One moment he was here, then he disappeared and the monster was sent flying!”

Sumara looked at Felix and said thoughtfully “Felix moved so fast that it looked like he vanished.”

“What?!” Ondine said in disbelief.

“Then he raced towards the monster and, punched it so hard, the monster was sent flying.”

Ondine stated at Sumara, unable to believe her statement. Sumara turned around and she shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s what I am able to believe and understand from what I’ve seen,” she said, sounding slightly apologetically.

“Right...” Ondine said, unsure what to say. “In any case, please hurry and heal master!”

Sumara nodded and she began to activate a magic spell to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, Felix was battling it out with the monster.

Felix, after delivering several blows to the monster, landed back on his feet and clapped his hands together.

“Phoenix Shift!”

The instant that he shouted, he began to multiply. Very soon, there was a whole of Felix and they surrounded the monster.  The monster looked around, quite confused by the sudden increase in manpower.

“Here we go!” the many Felixs shouted.

They lunged at the monster at the same time. The monster still in its confused state was not prepared for their assault. The many Felixs began to land their punches on the monsters body and then jump away.

The monster roared in pain as the blows they delivered were painful. This was not like when he fought with Lakshman when he had been holding back. Now, with his powers activated, the monster really is feeling the pressure.

They continued assaulting the monster by delivering physical blows to its body while some of them unleashed their swords to cut up pieces of the body.

“What’s the matter?!” they said as they taunted the monster. “Don’t know how to handle this many of me?!”

They landed back on their feet, but quickly lunged straight at the monster. They were grinning wickedly as they reined blows on the monster.

“RAAAAARRR!!!”

Suddenly, the monster let out a roar so loud, the force of the roar caused them to brace themselves. Then the monster trashed its tail around and smashed it into them while it fired energy beams out of its mouth.

The number of Felixs began to drop rapidly as each was decimated by the monster’s attack. Then the monster spun around in three-sixty degrees while firing it energy beam. Every Felix caught in its path were destroyed.

“Dammit!” Felix shouted as he was the only one left.

He soared higher and successfully evaded the beam. The monster began to look around as it was still able to sense him. Felix stretched his arms out and aimed directly at the monster. Then his red eyes suddenly flashed as he prepared to fire his attack.

Energy balls began to form in the palm of his hands and he threw them at the monster. He began to throw rapidly and, very soon, multiple energy blasts were flying towards the monster. It suddenly sensed danger and, looking up, saw the barrage of energy blasts headed straight for it.

As each energy blast made contact, they exploded and the cycle repeated. The monster roared in pain as the explosions of the energy blasts caused it great pain. The explosions were also shredding the skin away and the monster fired an energy beam at him, but he easily deflected it with his hand.

“You better come up with something new if you plan on defeating me!” he shouted.

Then he raised his hands above him and began to gathered large quantities of energy. In less than a second, an energy ball began to bulge between his hands. Then he grabbed it with the palm of his hand and prepared to throw it.

“Eat this!” he bellowed and threw it at the monster.

The monster saw it coming and was not going to quietly let itself get hit by the attack. It gathered large quantities of energy in its mouth and fired a large energy beam at the attack. The energy beam collided with the energy ball, but it began to push the energy beam back.

The monster could not believe that its strong energy beam was being pushed by back by a puny energy ball. A few seconds later, the energy ball finally reached to a certain point and finally detonated. The explosion that followed was intense. A dome like shape took place at the location of the explosion.

Ondine and Sumara found themselves holding onto each other and the ground for dear life as the force of the explosion threatened to send them flying away. A few seconds later, the dome like shape disappeared into the wind and all settled down.

Felix landed on the ground and he stared at the location of the explosion. He was breathing a little fast, but was unhurt as he watched for any signs of the monster. Then his saw movement from within the veil of smoke that was raised because of the explosion. There was fire in several parts of the destroyed area.

“No... Way...!” he said disbelievingly as he stared at the movement.

The veil of smoke cleared and the monster came into view. Its body was badly burnt as the flesh was quite visible. His attack had done great extensive amount of damage to it. However, he had been hoping his attack might have killed it.

“What the heck is up with this monster?!” he said as the monster’s wounds began to regenerate and the destroyed skin began to grow back.

“Phoenix Emperor! You must possess some sort of attack that is capable of destroying that monster for good!” Sumara asked him with a serious expression on her face.

“I do and it’s called the Light Wiper, but I don’t want to use it. It’s just too darn powerful!”

“What do you mean?”

“It has a destructive radius of three-hundred kilometres and that is if I’m capable of controlling it. I made a mistake several years ago, on a faraway continent, during my early years in training to become the Phoenix Emperor. The magnitude of its destruction has left an impression on me since then!”

“No way…!”

Felix nodded and said “Yes! The towns and nearby villages, including the one where Indra and his family lives. It’ll destroy the monster and everything else! Which is why I labelled it a forbidden attack which is never to be used again!”

Sumara was shocked by the information Felix revealed. Light Wiper was indeed a fearsome technique and she assumed it has got to be one of the most powerful Emperor ranked techniques. Although it was good to use, the result was the destruction of everything. The technique will destroy the towns and villages, countless lives will be lost and so much land gone in a flash.

“This is bad… Is there no way of defeating the monster without using it…?” Sumara asked aloud.

“Perhaps, I can help,” said a familiar voice from behind them.

Felix and Sumara turned around and his eyes widened in disbelief. There, standing with the support of Ondine, was none other than Lakshman. He was breathing slightly heavily and his injuries seemed to have been healed. Even so, Felix could not help, but notice the sudden drop in his energy levels.

“Lakshman, what are you doing?” he said, looking angry. “You are badly injured and need to take rest. Don’t worry! I can do this. I’m the Phoenix Emperor after all!”

“No, only I can do this,” Lakshman said and he let go of Ondine.

“Master...” Ondine said uncertainly as she watched him with concern.

“And why is it that only you can?” Felix asked, looking frustrated.

“Because of this,” Lakshman said shortly and he held his sword vertically in his hand.

Felix glanced at it. Then his eyes widened in disbelief.

“The Phoenix Blade...” he said softly as he stared at the blade.

Lakshman’s sword was emanating a light glow as it surged with power and strength. Then, inscriptions of some sort glowed on the side of the blade. Felix looked at the sword and at Lakshman, looking shocked.

“I swear upon this blade that I, Lakshman Chand, will defeat that monster!” Lakshman said firmly with a serious expression on his face.

Holding the sword at his side, he walked unsteadily past Felix who made no move to stop him. Instead, he continued to stare fixatedly at the sword. It was almost as if he could not believe what he was seeing. Then he opened his mouth and asked the first question that came to his mind.

“How did the Phoenix Blade activate?”