There was a strong surge of power on the battlefield. It caused a great wave of dust and wind to go everywhere. Very soon, the fast blowing wind went wild and the noise it caused deafened the listeners.

Standing close to the strong surge of power and fighting against it was Indra. He wanted to bring his shield forward to defend himself, but experience has told him otherwise. This was no attack, but a mere wild surge of power.

“What power!” he exclaimed as he was buffeted by the strong power.

He looked towards the source of this strong power. The source was coming from a few meters away from him and, at the centre of it, was his son.

Lakshman was standing in the centre of the strong surge of power as it enveloped him. He clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth painfully. In his right hand, the Phoenix Blade began to glow brightly in red colour.

The next instant, he screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!”

As his scream became intense, the power began to increase and the wind blew even harder. However, as soon as he finished screaming, the power immediately stopped flowing wildly. The power surge vanished and the wild wind stopped, but the dust still remained in the air.

Things started to settle, but an eerie silence took its place. Everyone was quiet, unsure of what was just happened and what might happen next. Only Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine were trying to look at the field to see what was happening.

At that moment, there was a strange sound followed by a strong force and it quickly cleared the dust away. As the dust quickly cleared, the field became properly visible and everyone could see what was happening down below.

“What the?!”

“No way...!”

“What?!”

“Hey... Isn’t that...?”

There were mixed reactions from the crowd by what they saw. Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine looked down and could not believe what they saw. Down below, Indra opened his eyes after the intense flow of power and dust. His eyes widened by what he saw.

“W-W-W-W-W-W-W,” he stuttered in trying to find the word he wanted to say. Then, as in a louder voice, said “What the hell...!”

There, standing in front of him, was none other than his son, Lakshman, but he looked different; his hair was suddenly spiky looking, his eyes became narrower and sharper and his sword glowed brightly with in red. However, the important thing was that he was glowing in red energy.

“G-G-Glowing? What?” Indra said in disbelief as he stared at the changed form of his son.

Lakshman was staring at him with a serious look in his eyes and a strong sense of power to back it up. He suddenly smiled at him, causing Indra to become startled.

“Brace yourself, dad. I’m going to defeat you,” he said calmly.

“What?!” Indra exclaimed in shock.

Lakshman readied his sword and took a fighting stance. For a moment, he did nothing, but stay in that position. Then he took a step forward and instantly vanished. He vanished only for a moment because he reappeared directly in front of Indra.

“Oh crap!” Indra yelled and he quickly brought his shield forward.

He just made it in time because, at that time, Lakshman brought his sword quickly in an arc. His sword made impact against the shield. For a moment nothing, then a great surge of power suddenly got unleased and caused Indra to be sent flying back.

Landing back on his feet several meters away, Indra stared at his son in disbelief and said “Wow...! That was strong!”

Lakshman straightened up and looked at his father before running towards him. Each step he took left a deep groove in the ground and caused the ground to shake. In a few running steps, he reached his father and, once again, attacked him.

Still confused about what to do, Indra brought his shield up to defend. He was glad he did because, after the first strike, Lakshman began to rain blow after blow at the shield. The speed at which he delivered those strikes was so fast Indra did not have time to retaliate.

Above the fighting, the voice of the commentators could be heard, furiously commentating about the battle. Down below, Indra defended the best he could with his shield.

Then, having had enough of being on the receiving end, he shouted “Reflector Shield!”

At his command, the shield started to glow brightly and blasted a jet of red light at Lakshman. Just before impact, Lakshman brought his sword forward and used the jet beam to push himself away from Indra.

The he got out of its way and did summersaults in mid-air before landing safely on the ground. Then he straightened up and looked at Indra with a smile on his face.

“Dad, aren’t you supposed to be attacking me instead of reflecting my own energy back at me?”

Indra widened his eyes as he stared at his son. Up in the seats, Lakshmi looked down at her son in disbelief. Without them knowing, she and Indra began to speak almost at the same time.

Indra slowly said “Don’t tell me... you... used...”

Lakshmi slowly said “Lucky... is... that...”

Then, together at the same time, they said “Power Up?”

Mariana and Ondine looked at with puzzled expressions and asked “Power Up?”

Lakshmi looked at them in surprise and asked “Don’t tell me you don’t know?”

While Ondine shook her head, Mariana inclined her head and apologetically said “Forgive me, mistress, but that term is unfamiliar to me.”

Lakshmi waved her hand to push away her apology and said “It’s not surprising. That term is usually known for people above the Sage rank.”

“Above Sage rank?! Wow!” Ondine said in amazement.

“Does that mean...?” Mariana said suspiciously.

Lakshmi shook her head and said “I don’t know, but Lucky certainly ha used it. Power Up basically increases one’s power, speed and strength for a certain length of time.”

“Wow! That’s a useful skill to have around!” Ondine said excitedly.

“It is, but it increases the amount of stamina one will use up as they continue to fight,” Lakshmi said with a unhappy expression on her face.

“Eh? So... Does that mean... that master... won’t be able to fight for long?” Ondine asked anxiously.

 Lakshmi simply shook her head again and said “I don’t know how long he will last, but he has to defeat Indra quickly before his stamina runs out.”

Then she looked down at Lakshman and chuckled slightly. When Mariana questioned her about her chuckle, she simply smiled and said “I’m just impressed my son managed to learn Power Up so quickly. Not to mention the Elemental Glow as well.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ondine looked thoughtfully as she said “Let me guess... Elemental Glow is when a person glows after using Power Up?”

“Yes, but there’s more,” Lakshmi said and smiled. When Ondine looked at her curiously, she said “The person will radiate physical energy that we all could see and that energy takes on the colour depending on their energy type.”

“Energy type? Is it something to do with Power, Strength, Heart, Hope, Freedom, Justice and stuff like that?”

“Yes. In Lucky’s case, his Elemental Glow is red, which means that he has the Energy Type of Power. It’s pretty rare to find someone with that Energy Type since everyone with that class usually end up being inhumanly strong.”

Ondine laughed, but she was looking happy at the prospect that her master will become something amazing in the future. This made her resolve to become strong even stronger.

While they talked more about it, the fight below went up very quickly. Indra and Lakshman were fighting at an incredible speed that is causing them disappear and reappear from time to time. Both appeared to fighting evenly, but there was a clear difference that both identified.

Previously when they fought, Lakshman could not fight as long as Indra did. Now things have changed and Indra found himself fighting a long time.

Each time Lakshman tried to strike him, he blocked it with his sword. When he attempted to strike Lakshman, his son quickly managed to deflect his attack. They continued to fight like this and, very soon, both were becoming tired.

After a lengthy battle, both got away from each other and kept a safe distance. They stood and stared at each other while breathing quickly. Indra could not believe it himself, but there appeared to be a chance that he might lose to his son.

“Ridiculous... I won’t lose to my son... Not like this! I know he used Power Up, but he seems so much powerful than before... Now, what to do...? What to do?”

Indra began to think about what he must do next. While he contemplated on what to do next, Lakshman wiped his forehead and breathed a sigh. Then he looked at his father and smiled.

“Dad is really strong even after I used Power Up. I wonder how long he had been this strong,” he said in an envious voice.

“Master, you must end this before the fight drags on. Remember that your stamina is quickly being depleted,” Tetra told him in his mind.

“I know,” he said softly and narrowed his eyes.

Lakshman knew what he was doing when he took on this match. Initially he did not want to use Power Up since he had never done it before.

It was during one of his training sessions that he discovered the possibility of increasing his power substantially. However, Tetra did not want him to use it since it increased the amount of stamina he burned.

She had told him the price of losing stamina is not worth it. Instead, he should just focus on increasing his power through sheer will and training. So using Power Up in the middle of the fight helped him even things out, but, being his first time, it was unstable.

He stretched his arms out and he could feel his energy slipping away. Knowing he did not have long, he prepared to go at his father with everything he got. Resolving to his decision, he started to gathered energy into his sword to attack.

Indra, who was deep thought, suddenly felt the change in the energy flow. He looked towards his son and saw his sword start to glow brighter and brighter. Then he jumped high into the air and started to swing at him and, as he swung, energy slicing waves were released.

As they rained down, Indra smirked and said loudly “Come on...! Lucky, are you trying to defeat me or bore me? You know these attacks don’t work on me!”

As each energy attack reached him, he swung his sword at it and easily split them away. He did it a few more times until all energy waves have vanished. Satisfied, he looked up and was astonished to see his son diving at him.

Lakshman quickly landed in front of him and tried a jab at his face with his sword. Indra quickly ducked and brought his sword around to hit him. Just before the sword could strike, however, Lakshman quickly jumped.

He soared through the air and over Indra. Then he landed behind him and tried to attack again, but Indra brought his sword around. Even before he got near enough to strike, Lakshman vanished again.

Indra quickly turned around and saw him darting from side to side. In an instant, he saw something that caused his eyes to widen in amazement.

Lakshman began to move very quickly from this side to the other side and quickly moving to another location. The speed at which he was moving was not so fast, but his incredible agility astonished Indra as he could not pinpoint his son’s exact location anymore.

“Hey, hey! Don’t you think you’re being reckless?! Aren’t you pointlessly exhausting yourself by doing this?!” Indra said as Lakshman continued to move around very quickly.

This continued for a few seconds until Indra felt very annoyed. He tried attacking each time he caught a glimpse of his son, but he missed. This continued for several minutes before Indra exploding angrily.

“Lucky, you’re seriously starting to annoy the heck out of me! Fight me like a true warrior dammit!” he demanded angrily.

While continuing to move around, he heard Lakshman say “Sure. Have it!”

The next instant, there was a sudden surge of power followed by multiple energy waves aimed directly at him. Astonished, Indra quickly looked around and realised he was surrounded. He thought to jump out of the way, but saw the energy wave from above.

“I’m trapped...! I’m going to get hit! Oh no! What to do, what to do?!” he said in a panicked voice. Then a smile slowly crept onto his face as he said “Just kidding. Reflector Shield!”

As he shouted, Indra brought his shield over his head. It glowed brightly before it released a blinding flash of light. Once the flash vanished, all the waves vanished. Indra breathed out tiredly and slackened his grip on the shield.

At that moment, Lakshman suddenly appeared right in front of him. He had his sword at the ready and looked like he was seeing victory. Indra widened his eyes and let go of the shield. It slowly fell in front of him and then caught it with his left hand.

“Can’t penetrate my shield, can you?!” Indra said with a wide grin on his face.

He continued to grin, then his grin faltered when he saw that Lakshman’s grin widened. Just before he could strike at the shield, Lakshman vanished. Indra blinked in surprise and looked around, but found no sign of his son.

Suddenly, he made a pained expression and his body moved forward. From his movement and pain, it looked like he was attacked from behind. He staggered slightly and turned around to see Lakshman with a wide grin on his face.

“That was for punching me in the face!” he said before his face became extremely serious.

Getting really angry, Indra moved forward and struck at him. Lakshman quickly ducked around the sword and, with a mighty force, hit the shield out of his father’s hand. The shield flew high into the air and disappeared.

“Ah!” Indra said in surprise.

He attempted to move backwards, but he was suddenly punched in the stomach. Lakshman’s punch was so strong it caused Indra to sail for a few meters before landing back on his feet.

Lakshman looked seriously at his father and said “Get ready for your smack down defeat, dad!”

With that, he rushed at his father and started attacking him without giving him a chance to retaliate. Indra was slashed several times before he quickly reacted and cut at him. Lakshman yelled and he quickly jumped over him to avoid another attack.

Once he landed, he rushed at Indra. As Indra prepared to strike, Lakshman hit the ground with his sword and raised a mass of dust into the air. It covered everything on the field and each other from sight. Indra, however, was not fazed as he knew what his son was thinking.

“Come in from the front in a surprise attack and defeat me! Isn’t that your plan, Lucky?!” Indra shouted into the cloud of dust which began to settle.

There was no reply, but he felt the gathering of energy and knew he was right. He prepared his sword to instantly attack his son as soon as he gets within striking distance. Then he saw a shadow suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Gotcha!” Indra yelled triumphantly and struck.

As he struck, he suddenly found his sword stop. He tried moving the sword, but it would not budge. As the dust slowly cleared, the view came into sight and it astonished everyone.

Lakshman was standing in front of him. He was holding Indra’s sword with his hand while holding his sword with the other. Indra’s eyes shifted to the glowing sword and knew, from how brightly it glowed, he will not be able to survive.

Lakshman quickly pushed forward and threw Indra’s sword back. As if in slow motion, Indra fell backwards as he lost his balance. Lakshman took the opportunity to quickly grabbing his sword with both hands and take a stance.

At that moment, Lakshman looked at his father and said “And this is to prove that I am capable!”

As he spoke, Indra thought he saw a mirror reflection of Felix standing behind his son. Smiling happily, he closed his eyes and said “I’m proud of you, my son.”

Lakshman screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

As he screamed, he swung his sword sword in a wide arc and, as he did, a powerful wave of energy was unleased. The wave was so bright that it blinded everything and blinded everyone watching.

The wave continued to fly towards the wall before making heavy impact. The impact caused the barrier around the arena to shake violently as sparks flew everywhere. The Barrier Magic users desperately tried to reinforce the barrier from breaking because of such a powerful attack.

A few seconds later, the wave of energy vanished and the view became clearer. Everyone, sitting at the top, looked down and was astonished. Indra was slammed into the wall before falling face down on the ground.

Then they shifted their gaze towards Lakshman. His shoulders were heaving up and down as he was out of breath from using so much energy. Suddenly, he staggered slightly, but he quickly retained his ground and stood firmly upright.

Then he raised his hand into the air to signal his victory. As if just realising the fact, the commentator’s voice was heard loud and clear throughout the arena.

“The victor of this amazing battle has been decided. The winner is... Lakshman Chand!”

There was stunned silence for a few seconds. Then the crowd began to yell and cheer for him as they congratulated him. Many people did not see this outcome, but they still cheered for him regardless. They knew he put up an amazing fight and he deserved all the cheers.

Lakshmi was crying happily for her son while Mariana was holding her. Ondine looked down at him with a happy smile on her face. Her eyes were moist, but she was glad for him. Lakshman has proven to Indra and everyone that he was a capable warrior.