The man stood there while looking in their direction. He was smiling when he suddenly widened his eyes when Lakshman looked at him. The man looked around as if he thought Lakshman was looking at someone else. Then, realising he was looking directly at him, his smile widened.
“Well, well, well...! Someone noticed me...!” he said quietly.
“Crap! Maybe I shouldn’t have looked...!” Lakshman thought angrily.
“I don’t think you could’ve avoided it, master. He came directly here...” Tetra told him in his mind.
Lakshman stared at the man nervously. There was no mistaking it. This was indeed the man Lakshman had fought so many days ago.
The man was emanating dangerous aura as he got closer. As he did, Lakshman casually inched his hand towards his sword. If anything were to happen, he knew he will be needing it.
“Hey, kid!” the man called once he got close to Lakshman.
“W-What?” Lakshman asked while trying to act casual.
“Mind tell me how you how you sensed me?”
“Eh?”
Lakshman was confused. The man was looking at him curiously without any animosity or anything. Yet, he could still feel the dangerous aura the man was emanating.
While looking puzzled, Lakshman said “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lakshman was calm when he spoke and looked natural. Anyone would have believed his words. However, this man did not believe him. There was one thing Lakshman could not completely hide and that was his nervous energy.
Sensing his distress, the girls looked around. They simply saw Lakshman acting nervous in front of a man smiling at him. In that instant, they felt something was wrong and they moved to his side.
“What’s wrong, master?” Ondine asked curiously.
“Oh? Nothing... nothing...” he said distractedly.
Lakshman was afraid, but it was not because of the man. The girls did not know who that man was. They did not even know the fact that he was extremely dangerous.
The man continued to smile as he walked forward and asked “Hey! Come on now... Tell me how you sensed me...?”
“I... Like I said... I don’t-!” Lakshman was about to say.
In that instant, the man’s expression changed into anger. He quickly unsheathed his sword and brandished it. With seconds to spare, Lakshman knew he will not be able to block that in time.
He quickly turned around and shouted “Look out!”
As he grabbed Ondine and Emilia and left to the side, the man swung his sword. In an instant, a powerful wave of energy was unleased and it destroyed that section of the store.
People from other sections saw the destruction and screamed. Then they attempted to escape as the building slowly crumbled. The shop owner was speechless as he saw a man wielding a black glowing sword.
The man held his black glowing sword tightly and nodded in satisfaction. Then he turned in the direction the soft moaning noise was coming from.
As the dust slowly cleared, Lakshman, Ondine and Emilia came into view. They were covered in dust, but looked unhurt. The girls were a little shaken by the sudden attack.
Lakshman turned to the man and angrily shouted “What the hell are you doing, bastard?!”
The man smiled and said “I’m just trying to get you to answer me, kid. So tell me... how did you sense me? I’ll make sure not to hurt you, so don’t lie and answer truthfully, okay?”
“Hurt me...?” Lakshman said slowly and he looked at the section of the store that got destroyed. Then he shouted “You just destroyed part of a store, dammit!”
“Mmm? Is that the problem? Okay then. I’ll just destroy the entire store then if that’s what’ll get you to answer me!”
The man’s smile vanished and was replaced by a dangerous expression on his face. He began to glow in dark energy which caused the wind to blow wildly.
The store owner suddenly realised his shop was about to become history. So he did the most logical option and that was to get the hell out of there.
Then the man began to scream “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
There was a violent flash of black light before an enormous destruction occurred. The entire shop was obliterated in a matter of seconds. Pieces of the foundation flew in every direction and hit other shops.
The people began to scream and escaped in all directions. They were confused and angry at the sudden destruction. Early in the morning, the people going around were certainly not prepared for such an early morning destruction.
One commuter was so mad he began swearing at the one that was causing the destruction. His friends desperately pulled him away to avoid getting themselves hurt because of his anger.
As the dust slowly cleared, the man appeared out of the smoke while laughing happily.
“Ah! That was refreshing! Haven’t had much to do except be on the lookout or guard stupid necromancers...!”
The man actually sounded bored as he spoke to himself. Then he suddenly blinked in surprise as he began to feel the presence of someone. It was the person he was attempting to destroy along with the entire shop.
“Phew...! Made it out aloud!” Lakshman said while breathing quickly.
Just as the man began to glow in dark energy, Lakshman had grabbed Ondine and Emilia. Then he used Flash Step to quickly get out of there just as the store exploded. Thus, they escaped certain doom.
“Damn...! I had no choice, but to use my energy! Now I’m sure he’d know who I am!” Lakshman said with a irritated look on his face.
“Don’t fear, master. While wearing the Phoenix Armour, it changed the feel of your energy when you used it. So energy sensors will not be able to link you and the Sacred Armoured Phoenix Titan!” Tetra informed him much to his relief.
“Thank goodness!” Lakshman said in relief.
“Um... Master... I think you want to hold that thought...! Here he comes!” Emilia said and he pointed with her finger.
Lakshman looked where her finger was pointing and saw the man standing there. He was shaking his head as if he could not believe they had survived, let alone the fact that got out in time.
“Man...! I came to do one thing and I ended up doing something else...! Ha... Whatever! I’ll finish this and then move on,” the man said as if he did not think much about the destruction he caused.
“Master! Why not transform into the Sacred Armoured Phoenix Titan here and defeat him?” Emilia asked in a low voice.
During this three weeks, she had been informed about the plan by Ondine. She then kept quiet about it, but she felt it was the right time for the appearance of that legendary figure.
To her surprise, Lakshman shook his head and said “There are too many people around. If I transform here, everyone’ll know who I am and that includes that freak over there! I don’t want to be discovered... not like this!”
“Ah... okay...” Emilia said and she looked unhappy.
At that moment, the man shouted “Kid! You did well to survive, but unfortunately you’ll have to die for me! I’m an assassin and anyone who sees me never survived! So I hope you said your prayers because you’re about to die!”
With that, he launched himself at Lakshman.
Lakshman quickly turned to the girls and yelled “Go!”
Triggered by his words, Ondine and Emilia quickly rose to their feet before running away. Seeing that they were now within safe distance, Lakshman stood up and instantly brought his sword forward.
There was a suddenly clash of swords as the man and Lakshman squared off. Both warriors were struggling to keep their swords forward while applying great amounts of energy.
The ground beneath gave way as the man began to push Lakshman down. The struggle was causing Lakshman to slowly weaken and he was forced to use both his hands to hold it sword steady.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Seeing his victory nearing, the man yelled “That’s right! Struggle! Struggle all you can! Otherwise, there’d be no way this would be entertaining!”
While glaring at him, Lakshman shouted “You... freak...!”
At those words, the man laughed hysterically laughed and said “You’re right! I’m a freak! I enjoy the despair of others and I thoroughly enjoy causing it!”
Lakshman’s eyes widened slightly. He could not believe such mindless words were uttered by such a man. It was as if this man was twisted to the very core.
At that moment, there was a resounding voice that said “That’s enough!”
The man looked in that direction and saw a wave of energy directed at him. He got out of the way in time and evaded the blasting explosion. The blast caused rubble to fly and hit Lakshman because he did not see that coming.
Several people wearing bird masks suddenly appeared to have surrounded the man. Some landed near Lakshman and helped him to get out of there. The man was looking around gleefully at seeing who they are.
“Ah! The Phintex Rajas! Finally! Worthy opponents to test my limits!”
As the man yelled, he began radiating in dark energy. The wind started to blow fast and wild from all around. The so called Phintex Rajas pulled out their swords and prepared to engage in battle. It looked like this was about to turn into a dangerous battle.
Just then, a powerful loud voice said “That’s enough!”
The strength and the power emanated by the voice shocked everyone. The man jumped in fright at the sound of the voice and he looked into the sky.
Then the voice said “Zenahart! Return!”
“Hah?! You want me to return when I’m about to get into it?!” the man shouted in the air as if he was speaking to an invisible person.
The voice then said even more powerfully “I said now!”
The man winced at the powerful tone of the voice. Then he sighed and sheathed his sword with an extremely unhappy expression on his face.
“Too bad, but it looks I have to go. Thank my master for saving your sorry lives!”
“Stop!”
The Phintex Rajas tried to reach him, but the man merely smiled. The next instance, turned into particles before vanishing completely.
Once they made sure he was gone, the Phintex Rajas began repairing the damage with scrolls that they unrolled on the ground. Along with that, they also healed the injured. Lakshman was one of the few that got healed and he was amazed at how strong each and every one of them were.
Later, when they returned, they told Darian and the rest about what happened. Darian was expecially amazed to hear that the Phintex Rajas presence.
“The Phintex Rajas came to the rescue? Really?” Darian had asked them in amazement.
When they nodded, he sighed and said “That’s surprising. Those guys don’t usually make moves on their own.”
“What do you mean, Darian?” Lakshman asked curiously.
“The Phintex Rajas are an elite unit among the Phoenix Clan. Every one of them are King ranked warriors and are especially loyal to the clan. Normally, they serve the Phoenix Emperor, but I don’t know who they serve now...”
“Really? Doesn’t that mean that Felix’s behind their movement?”
Darian shook his head and said “I’m not sure. Without proof, I cannot be certain.”
So there was no proof that Felix was behind the recent actions of the Phintex Rajas. Lakshman was hopeful that it was really Felix’s actions. Yet again, it made him wonder the man himself was while this was going on.
That night, Lakshman felt yet another random monster summoned into the capital.
“Why do monsters keep randomly appearing around here?!” Lakshman asked yet again as he prepared to go out.
“I don’t know, but maybe someone’s bringing in summoning scrolls in and doing that?” Ondine suggested.
Lakshman knew the Scrolls were used for various purposes. There were the Healing Scrolls, Gravity Scrolls, Summoning Scrolls, Rebuilding Scrolls and many more he did not know yet. Apparently, they were holy relics of the past, but have been almost forgotten due to how modern magic had become.
So the possibility of this happening due to a Summoning Scroll was a high possibility. Lakshman wondered if the scroll summoned the monster and then set itself on fire. It would make perfect sense to destroy the evidence rather than leave it for discovery later on.
After transforming into the Sacred Armoured Phoenix Titan, Lakshman launched himself towards where the monster was summoned at. After the increased gravity training, he was capable of moving even faster than before. Still, he was careful not to overdo since he did not want to destroy the roof of someone else.
While jumping over rooftops, he suddenly sensed several people around him. He looked to his side and was surprised to see the Phintex Rajas jumping over buildings like him. Wondered what this was about, he came to a stop and they surrounded him.
“What are you doing?! You do realise that you are getting in my way!” Lakshman said in his strong adult voice and pointed in the direction of the monster.
“We are aware and we are already taking care of it,” one of the men told him.
That was when Lakshman suddenly felt the battle come to an abrupt end. It looked like they managed to take down the monster with minimum damage to the area. It made him angry that they would so willingly kill a monster when it could have been saved.
Just then, more and more Phintex Rajas appeared and surrounded him. It looked like they wanted him for something, but he did not know what.
“A certain someone wishes to see you. Please come with us,” one of them asked him.
“And? What will happen if I don’t?” Lakshman said and he began to emanate a dangerous energy.
During the beginning of the plan, Darian had told him to be convincing.
“Be convincing! Be convincing! Otherwise, they won’t believe you!”
Heeding to that, he began to release a dangerous aura. It surprised Lakshman just how much progress he made in almost a year after leaving his home.
The Phintex Rajas looked at each other. Then, as if they came to the same conclusion, they said “We have no choice.”
They instantly put their hands behind their back. Lakshman quickly put his hand on his sword, but was surprised see that they pulled a scroll out. Then they quickly spread them on the ground and shouted “Frozen Barrier!”
A barrier suddenly got erected and it surrounded Lakshman. For some reason, Lakshman found He HNffthat he could not move his body at all. This was very different from the gravity training where his body felt a lot of pressure. Here it was as if his body was frozen solid.
While he struggled, they pulled out another scroll and placed it down and shouted “Phoenix Portal!”
In an instant, a black hole opened up beneath Lakshman. He looked down at it in shock and realised that it was the same technique Felix had used back at his home. Now the same technique was being used on him and he could not escape from it.
The portal began to suck him in as he desperately struggled to move. His body did not move to his commands and quickly got sucked into the portal. As he fell, he accidentally let go of the Phoenix Blade.
Lakshman fell into a world of utter darkness. There was nothing, no feeling except the emptiness. The next instance, he felt himself crashing onto hard ground.
“Oww...” he muttered as he slowly sat up.
He was surprised that he could move his body again and surmised that it was because he was no longer within that barrier. Then he looked around as to where he was and began shouting.
“Hey! Is anyone there?! Where is this?! Answer me!”
For a few seconds, only silence greeted him. Then a familiar voice spoke from nearby.
“Don’t shout. It’s annoying.”