With the entire gang of warmongers beaten, the officers quickly arrested them. The chain that cuffed their hands together was metal with a mixture of Energy Disruption in them.

Their actual name is Energy Disruptor crystal and they disrupt the flow of energy. These crystals were found when adventurers defeated monsters or when they mined for crystals. Out of the many crystals in the world, these have the highest price in the market.

With those special cuffs on, the attackers had no way of breaking free or escaping. The cuffs were also enhanced to paralyse the wearer if they try to do something against law and order. Several attackers became paralysed like this after attempting to break free.

The people of the capital were most upset with the attackers. They viewed them with loathing eyes since mercenaries work for any price and any job. With their drunken actions, their reputation just dropped heavily.

They were angry since so much of their property was damaged. Due to this, many could not control their anger and screamed at the attackers while they were escorted away.

“You scumbags!”

“You bastards! You destroyed my home!”

“My shop’s gone because of you, you!”

“Die dammit, die!!”

“Go to hell you sorry piece of...!”

 Some even swore as their uncontrollable anger washed over them. At one point, there were a group of civilians that charged in and they began beating the attackers senseless. The officers reacted instantly and stopped them before quickly moving the attackers away from public eye.

Once the job was done, many of the officers were speaking to each other. They were sharing their experience of the day with one another in grim voices.

“I never expected this, especially on such a peaceful morning!”

“I was sleeping when this entire ruckus woke me up. I never thought things would be up in flames when I come out!”

“I always dreamed of how hell looked like and today just made my dream look that much real!”

“Idiots! What were they thinking?! Didn’t they realise we’d round them out soon?!”

“Are you stupid? Didn’t you smell them? They reeked of alcohol!”

“Ugh...! The stench is unbelievable! I suspect they’ve been drinking well into the morning since who knows how long?!”

“Curse them...! We got so much cleaning up to do now!”

“Forget that, I’m more worried what the public will think of us right now. It feels like they are angry with us just as angry they are with those fools!”

“No need to feel. Just look outside and see their mad eyes. I think its best we take it easy from here. Any small mistake could turn this whole place into a nightmare!”

“So... what next? I mean, what do we do now?”

“Who knows...?”

With their worried and voiced thoughts, the officers could only predict what will happen next. In the meantime, they do what they must to keep the public unrest to minimal. If they let the people’s anger rise, this hell fire will explode into a riot on the government of the Rodfox region.

The only people not concerned about this were the people of Ronald’s Training Centre. This mainly included Darian Ronald, Rumble, Marilia, Ondine and Tetra. Lakshman was still sleeping off the effects of overusing his energy when he defeated the whole gang and saved the city from utter destruction.

A few days later after the conclusion of the battle, sudden loud exclaiming voices sounded from inside the training centre.

“EH?!”

The voices belonged to Darian, Rumble and Ondine. The three of them were looking utterly shocked as they stared at Tetra. Marilia was also showing her disbelief in the form of hanging her mouth open silently.

They were sitting in a spacious room with a table between them and were discussing about the past events. When the subject moved to Lakshman defeating them spectacularly, Tetra dropped a bomb shell on them by stating something that shocked them all.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Rumble quickly said and he held his hand up in a gesture for her to pause. Then he asked “What do you mean Lakshman didn’t defeat them?”

Tetra nodded and smiled as she said “Like I said, master did not defeat them. Master just isn’t ready to handle those kinds of powerful moves or techniques just yet.”

“B-But...! We saw him defeat those bastards like it was nothing! Isn’t that right, Darian?” Rumble said and he turned to ask Darian.

Darian nodded quickly and firmly said “Yes, indeed. Everyone saw what he did. Besides, how the heck would anyone mistake him to a stranger when it clearly was Lakshman?!”

As they nodded at each other, Tetra chuckled. When they looked at her with confused expressions, she grinned at them and said “It was master, but not himself.”

“Not... himself...?” Marilia asked and she looked puzzled by those words.

“Not himself? Tetra...! What does that even mean?! Stop being so dramatic about it! Just come out and say it already!” Ondine demanded angrily.

Tetra chuckled again. Then she said “It was the Phoenix or, more precisely, the power of the Phoenix.”

They look at her blankly for a moment. They then looked each other before looking back at her and saying “Huh?!”

“Tetra, stop playing with us and explain already dammit!” Rumble said in a frustrated voice.

“Calm down, calm down,” she said and began explaining.

“As you know, I channelled my power into him so that he was strong. I think you should have realised by now that my power is related to the Phoenix clan. Heck, I’m known as the Phoenix Blade! Well~! It seemed the power I channelled into him somehow got stored.”

“Stored?” Marilia and Ondine asked in confused voices.

Darian and Rumble, however, widened their eyes and they looked amazed. Darian slowly asked “So... What he used just then was...?”

“It was the power of the Phoenix,” Tetra finished his unfinished sentence. Then she continued to say “His strong emotions somehow became a catalyst and it propelled him into merging with the Phoenix and fighting like never before!”

“Oh...! So that’s why he was able to fight using King ranked fighting techniques as well as use that Emperor ranked magic spell, Restoration,” Rumble said as he finally understood what happened.

“It also explains why he had those strange eyes. What was it... three star shapes in red?” Darian said vaguely.

Tetra nodded and said "Yes. If my memory serves, master has used that power twice.”

“Twice?! When?!” Ondine asked in alarm.

Tetra looked at her scornfully and said “When you were on the verge of death due to lack of water to keep you alive, master went into desperation. His feelings to save you and his anger at his own weakness boiled up and caused him to do it for the first time.”

“O-Oh... But you gave a different story to Indra...?” Ondine asked suspiciously.

Tetra sighed and said “I had no choice. I didn’t want anyone to find out that I was secretly assisting master by giving him the energy of the Phoenix.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence. Then Ondine shook her head and said “Tetra, you are a sneak.”

Tetra sighed just as Darian said “Still, this is a problem. The people are beginning to call him the ‘Fighting King’. If they find out that he got powerful because of something as this...!”

“No need to worry. Each time master uses the power of the Phoenix, he becomes substantially stronger. That’s how he got so strong from back then and now as well. If my guess it correct, master would have raised into becoming a Sage ranked warrior and as a Sage ranked magician!”

“Don’t you mean... Water Sword Sage and Magic Sage.”

“Mmm...”

Rumble put his hand on his chin and made a thoughtful expression on his face. Then he smiled and said “Those ranks are a little confusing since we don’t know what to call him. Why don’t we just call him what the people are calling him?”

“What? Rumble, are you sure? I think that’s a bad idea,” Darian asked uncertainly.

Rumble grinned and said “Darian, you heard them when the battle finished. They were cheering all three of us as the Three Kings! They were more energetic when they changed his title, the Fighting King. Lakshman deserved it regardless of whether it was his effort or something else altogether.”

Darian looked hesitant for a moment longer, but he knew the truth of Rumble’s words. He was also present when the mass of people cheered for Lakshman after his battle. After not waking up immediately, they bombarded the doctors for news, but were reassured that he will wake up soon.

Remembering those events, Darian had to smile. Seeing this, everyone smiled as they understood. That was when there was a silent agreement between them to keep calling Lakshman, Fighting King. Unaware of this, Lakshman continued to sleep in his room peacefully.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“By the way, what happened about the matter?” Marilia abruptly asked as she looked at Darian and Rumble.

“Yesterday’s matter, huh...?” Rumble said slowly.

He and Darian looked at each other for a moment. Then they slowly began to grin sheepishly.

“It turned out to be something else altogether!” Darian said and his grin broadened.

Marilia pressed him for more details, but Darian’s grin just widened in reply. Ondine joined in and began questioning Rumble, but he also widened his grin and avoided saying anything. Only Tetra stayed out of it as she calmly leaned back on her chair and watched the proceedings.

After a few more attempts to make them talk, Darian and Rumble finally gave in and told them what happened regarding a certain matter. The matter concerned about the magician that got the drunken men together and cause such havoc in the capital.

The magician, that led the attack on the capital with the mercenaries, was quickly captured after the battle. He was pretty banged up, but was okay. It seemed he was knocked out cold after several strong punches that Lakshman delivered.

Afterwards, the officers shifted him a prison called Rodden Prison. It was a high security prison with highly trained security guards, rooms that have Energy Disturber placed in them and a strong barrier that automatically shocks anyone with negative intentions.

The prison was placed in the centre of the capital and was one of the darkest looking buildings within the capital. While the main rooms were situated above the ground, the cells were located underground. When Darian and Rumble made their visit, they thought they were in an underground dungeon prison.

The matter they attended to was meeting the magician. He had regained consciousness and was nonstop creating annoyance for the guards. Without mercy, they tried shutting him up a few times by whacking him or shocking him and he became quiet after that.

Darian and Rumble walked into a room used for interrogation and they sat down behind a desk. A few seconds later the magician entered the room and, when he saw who they were, began screaming curses at them. He was quickly shocked into silence once again by a guard.

“Hi! We’re come to speak with you, Jagav Magrad,” Darian said calmly as the magician reluctantly sat down opposite them.

Jagav wore an extremely angry face as he looked at Darian and Rumble. Darian looked serious while Rumble looked very casual as they leaned back on his chair comfortably.

“Jagav, why did you attack us?” Darian asked with a serious expression on his face.

“Ah? Why?!” Jagav said and he laughed. Then he looked extremely seriously at him and said “To take over! To rule and control everything eventually!”

Darian raised an eyebrow and asked “Why? Why world domination?”

“Why not?” Jagav said flatly and Darian’s eyebrow twitched. Then he went on saying “Right now, our mighty pathetic king of this region is twiddling his thumps as he keeps trying to protect his throne from others. So why not take over?! Why not show them that we’re better than them!”

“But why? Isn’t this the job that you’re doing by choice?”

“By choice?! Hah!” Jagav snapped and he spat on the ground before saying “I only took this job because I had no other choice! I always wanted to be like the Emperor eight-thousand years ago! He ruled the entire world with an iron fist!”

Darian looked at him intently for a moment. Then he sighed and said “The histories of the past and the stories have greatly exaggerated the Emperor. He did indeed control the world with an iron fist, but he never used cowardly methods to do it! He fought with honour without involving anyone else!”

“So what?! The Emperor was weak because he cared about the people, but I’m not the same! People are born to be used and I shall use them however I want once I become the ultimate ruler!”

“You are a fool!”

“Just because you’re in a recognised positions gives you the right to say whatever, I don’t give a damn about those positions! Screw your titles and you to hell! By the God of Destruction, I will destroy this world and create it as I see fit!”

While he was talking, Rumble had his eyes closed. When Jagav finished saying that, his eyes flashed open. He immediately jumped off his seat and, in an instant, moved to stand next to Jagav. The magician was astonished by Rumble’s incredible speed, but he suddenly found himself under attack.

Rumble grabbed Jagav’s head and slammed his face against the desk. The force of impact was so strong, it smashed the desk into pieces. Jagav reeled back in pain as blood began pouring down his face where his face got smashed.

The next moment, Rumble kicked the chair away from under him and grabbed his neck. Then he pushed him back and all the way down until the back of his head smacked hard against the ground. Jagav was literally standing with his legs as his body was bent with the back of his head touching the ground.

Rumble quickly brought his face quickly towards him and angrily shouted “I don’t give a damn about whatever you or your trash god says, I’ll always be here to crush you! If by unlikely chance that I do die, people like Lakshman will be here to stop you!”

Jagav coughed and spluttered as blood rushed to his head, Rumble continued shouting “Try whatever you want and whenever you want, I don’t care! Just remember what I’m saying today because I don’t like repeating myself and I won’t say it again because I’ll kill you! You got that, you trash bag?!”

 Rumble gripped Jagav’s neck tighter as the magician began to have difficulty breathing. Feeling satisfied with the threat he had given, he pulled him up by the neck and shoved him towards the open arms of the guards.

As the guards took him away, Jagav eyed Darian and Rumble with a mad look on his face. Then he shouted at them “You’ve done it now! You’ve just waged war with me! Hahaha! I’ll destroy you! I’ll destroy all of you! If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll destroy every one of you! Mark my words! This isn’t over!”

He became mad and began laughing hysterically as he was taken away by the guards. They could hear him laughing madly as he was dragged away to his cell in the underground dungeon.

When Darian and Rumble finished retelling the events, both of them were grinning broadly. The only people not joining in were Marilia and Ondine. The two of them were staring at them with shocked expressions on their faces. Only Tetra looked indifferent as she had her eyes closed.

“He’s pretty stupid isn’t he?” Darian said with a chuckle.

“Pretty annoying, I say,” Rumble said as he also chuckled.

Marilia and Ondine did not agree as they had different things to say.

“He’s a madman,” Marilia said in a hushed voice.

“He’s a crazed bastard!” Ondine said with a furious look on her face.

Tetra was the only one that seemed indifferent as she said “He’s boring.”

Marilia became angry and said “What is with you both?! When will you learn to change?! You went and picked a fight with that madman. Now I’m worried what he will do...!”

“What the heck can he do when he’s locked several meters below ground?” Rumble asked and he laughed.

Marilia glared at him and said “Not funny!”

Ondine, however, eyed the two of them wearily. From the beginning she knew something was strange about them. No matter how many times they said they had many enemies, she felt convinced. Now she realised why she was so ready to believe their words back then.

“You two never know when to live peacefully, do you?” she asked in a flat voice.

Darian and Rumble looked at each other for a moment. Then they turned back to face Ondine and smiled as they said “Never!”

Ondine sighed and that was that. She knew she will not get anywhere simply by talking to them. So she decided to drop the subject and it looked like Marilia did the same from the expression on her face. Tetra was the only one that did not join in. Instead, she looked very bored at that moment.

“People like them bore me. I’ve heard those lines over and over they are just boring to hear. If they really plan on revenge and world conquest stuff, can’t they be a little bit original?” she asked them.

Rumble grinned and said “I think it’s hard to be original when you don’t have a brain!”

At his words, everyone suddenly laughed. Like this, they spent happily helping each other and the city. They decided to leave departure for Floria region once Lakshman wakes up.