As they headed towards the capital, they were joined by many Phintex Rajas. It seemed they wanted to escort them while keeping Felix informed of activates.

While they ran, Emilia looked back over her shoulders. She could see Rumble and Zoremar battling. Zoremar hit Rumble numerous of times in the face, but he retailed by either punching or kicking at the monster. One time the monster fired a blast at him, but he easily whacked it away before he knocked the monster away.

“What is it, Emilia?” Lakshman asked when he noticed the worried expression on her face.

Emilia looked at him and asked in a concerned voice “Will Rumble be alright on his own?”

At her question, Darian laughed and said “It’s Rumble we’re talking about here! He’s really strong and just grew several times big! Naturally that monkey will be perfectly fine against that monster!”

“Besides, he’s using the Divine Ring of Strength which will protect him!” Wolfenstine said with a grin on his face.

“Divine Ring of Strength? What’s that?”

“It’s an ancient ring told to be worn by the God of Strength, Hanuman. Since then, the ring was passed down through the Monkaggy Beast Clan! Now Rumble has it, although he doesn’t use it often in battle because of his desire to fight on his own.”

“Not only that! Rumble’s been forbidden to use it because of some sensitive matter which involved his entire clan!” Darian said and he looked unhappy.

Emilia widened her eyes and said “Well then! I’m glad he’s on our side!”

“Aren’t we all? We’re just glad we don’t have a giant monkey going around and smashing things!” Darian said before he and Wolfenstine laughed.

At that moment, Felix said “Let’s focus now, people. Let’s leave the Monkey King to handle that ancient monster! In the meantime, let’s make sure we’re ready in case we end up fighting some really strong fighters!”

“No problems there! We’re bread to do battle!” Wolfenstine said and he bumped his fists together.

Felix nodded at him. Then he turned to a Phintex Raja next to him and asked “How is the battle in the capital?”

“So far the battle has been in a stalemate! The Grobula Demon Clan are wielding these sinister looking lances! I don’t know, but it’s made them far stronger than before!” the Phintex Raja informed them.

Felix nodded and said “Must be some sort of enhanced lances which means they are extremely dangerous! Alert everyone to not get hit by them because I have a hunch something is wrong with them!”

“Yes, sir!” the Phintex Raja said and he disappeared.

Then Felix spoke to another Phintex Raja and asked “What’s the status on the Phoenix Clan? Are they showing any movement?”

The Phintex Raja shook his head and said “No, sir! They seem to be unwilling to listen to us and make their move. Some even began telling how the Phoenix Emperor has brought destruction their city. Most of them are just lazing about and not feeling up to fighting, sir.”

Hearing that, Felix’s eyes widened. He looked very angry as he said “Then tell them if they don’t move their lazy bones, I’m going to turn those lazy bones into ashes!”

“Y-Yes, sir!” the Phintex Raja said hastily and he disappeared.

“You have it tough...” Darian said to him as they neared the city.

Felix sighed and said “I got a lot of rebuilding to do once this is over!”

Half-an-hour later, they arrived at the city. They were astonished to see multiple battles going on between people in grey skin and the Phintex Rajas.

Lakshman assumed the grey skinned warriors were from the Grobula Demon Clan. It was his first time meeting such warriors and he did not like how brutally they fought. Even while getting injured, their black lances glowed darkly and shot a dark energy blast.

Just then, a Phintex Raja reached them and said “Sir! Those lances are firing this strange dark energies at us and, each time they hit, we’re going out of control! Then the rest of us feel like our energy is being drained by something!”

Felix nodded and said “As I suspected...! Dark Lances! So the Demon Emperor gave his own clan such crude weapons... Unbelievable”

Felix shook his head and then he asked “Has the Demon Emperor been sighted yet?”

“Not yet, sir! It seems his army’s come, but not himself! The Phintex Raja said.

“Right, but first! Our priority is the safety of the people! Make sure they are not getting harmed while fighting off the invading army! We mustn’t let out people pay the price for this cowardly attack!”

The Phintex Raja nodded and he disappeared. Felix looked a little annoyed as he said “Damn... Where is he?!”

Lakshman did not like how he was anxiously looking around. Darian, Wolfenstine and Marilia ran off in a direction to escort the people to safety. So it left only him, Ondine and Emilia with Felix surrounded by destroyed buildings.

“Is it bad the Demon Emperor didn’t appear?” Lakshman asked him.

Felix shook his head and said “Yes! He always comes first because he is a hot tempered one. Always taking the first attack and then leading his army has always been his way of doing things. So he not appearing at all is... mysterious...!”

“Anyway! In the meantime, why don’t we deal with them?!” Ondine said and she pointed at a numerous of enemies heading their way.

“Let’s deal with them!” Felix said firmly.

They all pulled out their swords and held the mat the ready. As the enemies neared them, Ondine and Emilia nodded at each other. Then they stepped forward and stood in front of them which surprised Felix and Lakshman.

“What are you two doing?” Lakshman asked in a surprised voice.

“We can’t fight if you’re in our way, girls,” Felix told them as he urged them to move aside.

“Yes, but we’re always being protected! So it’s our turn to fight back!” Ondine said firmly.

“It’s time to return fire with fire!” Emilia said confidently.

Ondine gathered plenty of energy into both of her swords and held the mat the ready. Then, when she felt the time was right, she swung them at the enemies while shouting “Cross Slash!”

In an instant, a slicing energy wave, which like an x character, was unleashed. It soared straight at the enemies and decimated them with a big explosion.

Emilia raised her sword and aimed at the incoming enemies. Lakshman was surprised to see her holding it like a staff a she gathered energy into it. Then she shouted “Mega Buster!”

An energy ball gathered at the end of her sword which grew bigger and bigger. Then it got released and it soared ahead while rotating in it spherical shape. It soared towards the enemies and destroyed them with a massive explosions.

Feeling satisfied by their performance, they turned around and asked “How was that?”

Felix nodded and, in an impressed voice, said “Mmm... Impressive...!” Then he turned to Lakshman and said “You’ve got some pretty cool companions.”

Lakshman nodded while looking surprised. He had not realised that the girls had been taking private lessons from Darian and Marilia. Ondine perfected her sword skills and energy control while Marilia chose mainly to use magic while wielding a sword.

“I’m surprised you used a sword as a medium to execute magic!” Felix said when he spoke to Emilia.

Emilia shrugged her shoulders and said “I wanted to fight like master, but my sword skills were not that good. So I followed his example and started using whatever method I could to use magic. That’s when the sword came in handy and my magic works fine and I can also fight if I have to!”

Felix chuckled at her words and said “Lakshman’s fighting techniques are very crude! There is no style or perfection in them! He simply uses them as he sees fit without a care in the world!”

At his words, Lakshman smiled and said “It’ll probably take quite a while before I can do it right. For now, I’m stuck with my crude fighting styles!”

Felix laughed and said “I’m not saying it’s bad or anything. I’m just telling Emilia how your technique is crude and it might not work for most people. After all, everyone has their different styles of using their techniques and skills.”

Then the four of them laughed heartily, but came to a sudden stop. Felix suddenly sensed something the other three did not. Instantly realising what it was, he raised his hand and swiped at them. With the force he unleashed, he sent the three of them hurtling away.

As they crashed, Felix turned around to see black energy balls heading his way. The black energy balls began raining down on him.

Lakshman, Ondine and Emilia slowly recovered from the shock of being blasted. When they looked to where Felix stood, he was covered by a cloud of dust as black energy balls rained down on him. Once it was over, only the cloud of dust remained which slowly spread.

Lakshman was the first to recover from the shock and he yelled “Gah! Felix!”

He quickly rose to his feet and looked at who did that. Then he heard a loud laughter from high above. He and the girls looked up and saw someone or something flying up there. They were not sure whether it was someone or something because of its appearance.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

It had a grey body with black markings which had red outlines. It also wore long pants, but was shirtless with showed it strong muscles and abs. Looking at it, Lakshman was at a loss to figure out how to identify it.

At that moment, it let out another roar of laughter and said “Don’t call me an ‘it’ because I am someone and not something!”

Then he smiled and bowed in as he introduced himself.

“How do you do? I’m the Demon Emperor, Halquza!”

For a moment, there was only silence. Then Lakshman, Ondine and Emilia screamed “EEEHHHHH?!”

The Demon Emperor, Halquza, smiled and said “Good! That’s the kind of reaction I like seeing! The terror it puts into your hearts and the fear of destruction that you go into really makes me happy!”

At those words, Lakshman pulled out his sword and said “Actually, I’m only shocked because it’s my first time seeing someone as strange as you!”

Then he gathered a large amount of energy and swung it as he shouted “Slicing Crusher!”

As a slicing energy attack was sent, he followed it up by another attack. He raised his hand into the air and shouted “Bursting Cannon!”

A large beam of energy was released and soared straight at the Demon Emperor. The man did not even defend and took the attacks head on with a big smile on his face. There was a big explosion after another as Lakshman sent energy attack after energy attack continuously.

After firing numerous energy attacks, Lakshman breathed a little quickly like he just sprinted. They looked up to where the smoke was filling the sky.

With nothing happening, Emilia excitedly said “Master! You did it! Isn’t that right, Ondine?”

Ondine, however, looked thoughtful as she said “I’m not sure... I think the best master could’ve done is scratch him...”

Lakshman continued to look up as the dust cleared. Then, as the Demon Emperor appeared wearing a big grin on his face, Lakshman sighed and said “Not even a scratch...!”

He quickly turned to the girls and said “Girls! Leave! I’ll deal with him! Take this opportunity to get as far as away as possible!”

“Eh?! Master?” Ondine said when she felt the urgency in his voice.

“Now! Go!”  Lakshman yelled at them which shocked them.

That was they realised they will get in his way. If he was to fight the Demon Emperor, he must not have anything near him to worry about. They understood his intentions, but it still made them sad.

At that moment, Lakshman suddenly felt a massive load of energy being gathered. He whipped around and saw the Demon Emperor gathered energy above his head. A large energy ball was forming as more and more energy got fed into it.

“Your attacks are great, but this is the kind of attack you’ll need to take me down!” Halquza said before letting out laughter.

Lakshman instantly reacted and gathered a large energy ball above his head. Then she threw it at Halquza, who looked surprised for a moment. The energy ball he threw headed his way and then suddenly got absorbed into the growing dark ball of energy.

“What?!” Lakshman exclaimed in shock as Halquza laughed hysterically.

“Idiot! I just told you! You’ll need something of this power or stronger to take me down!” Halquza said as he chuckled darkly. Then he looked down at them and pointed at them before saying “Death Ball!”

The pulsating dark energy ball soared down at them. Lakshman realised the ball was too large to escape the blast radius. So he decided he will stand his ground and fend the attack off with an Energy Barrier.

“Force Wall!” Lakshman shouted and a dome-like barrier formed around them.

The Death Ball came down and slammed into the Force Wall. Lakshman desperately fought for control as he held his ground firmly. Behind him, Ondine and Emilia were looking worried and they kept looking between him and the Death Ball.

His face contorted and he gripped firmly to keep the barrier up. However, the Force Wall could no longer withstand the force of the attack. It suddenly shattered into pieces with a loud noise. Lakshman was shocked to see it shatter like that before realising he will not be able to protect the girls.

He swirled around and released a powerful wind in their direction. Taken by surprise, they flew into the air and sailed several meters before crashing. Lakshman turned around and faced the attack with a wide smile on his face.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

Lakshman screamed as he grabbed the Death Ball with his armoured hands. He held the attack there as he applied great strength and power to keep it there. Then there was a flash of light followed by a massive explosion which completely covered the entire area.

Once everything settled down, everything came into view. The whole place was destroyed. The Demon Emperor, Halquza, laughed heartily when he saw the destruction.

“This is even more fun than I realised!” he said with a grinning face.

Then his smile slowly faded when he saw a figure still standing as the dust cleared. Lakshman, still as the Sacred Armoured Phoenix Titan, was standing with his arms out. It looked like he survived the devastating impact of the Death Ball.

Then he suddenly collapsed backwards and crashed on the ground just as the armour was destroyed and he appeared back in his thirteen year old self. Ondine and Emilia rushed towards him while screaming his name.

“The Phoenix Titan was a thirteen year old kid? Wow! That sure was a surprise!” Halquza said with a surprised expression on his face. “Hmm?”

At that moment, he looked own as Tetra transformed into her human self. She was shaking in anger as she faced him. Then, in a loud voice, she yelled “How dare you...?! How dare you hurt my master?!”

“Wow now! Being warriors, it’s only natural we come under attack! He was my enemy and I was his enemy. It’s only natural to kill your enemies without pause!” Halquza said in a reasonable voice.

Tetra jumped to her feet, aimed her hand at him and shouted “Infinity Blades!”

In an instant, blade after blade poured out of the golden portal that appeared above her. Many countless swords poured out of the portal and soared straight at him. Halquza widened his eyes and he quickly began dodging them as he flew around. The swords followed him around as if they were drawn by hi,

“What the?! What’s with all these swords!? They’re annoying!” Halquza said in a frustrated voice.

Then he realised Tetra was the source of all the swords. Deciding to take her out, he flew directly at her and destroyed swords with his bare hands.

As he reached her, he said “I’m sorry, but you’re going to die because you’re swords are annoying me.”

He extended his hand towards her, but his hand suddenly gripped by another hand. His hand instantly got crushed by the powerful grip of that somebody. Halquza turned and saw Felix, the Phoenix Emperor, glaring at him fiercely.

“Oh my... You live-?”

Halquza was saying something when Felix suddenly grabbed Halquza’s face tightly. Then he kicked off the ground with immense force and flew away from there at super speed. This left Ondine, Tetra and Emilia trying to take care of the unconscious form of Lakshman.

That was when they realised he was bleeding from several parts where his skin could not handle the attack.

“Oh now! Master’s losing a lot of blood!”

“What do we do? Should we wrap them up with a cloth or something?”

“No! That won’t stop the blood! We need to heal him quickly!”

“Marilia! We need to find Marilia!”

Emilia began crying and said “Curse me! Curse my stupidity fort not learning any healing magic spells!”

Tetra suddenly grabbed front and pulled her close. Looking at her closely with a firm expression, Tetra said “Stop being a cry baby and help out! Master won’t be happy to see you crying like this so get a grip!”

Emilia was stunned by her words. Then reason returned and she immediately wiped the tears off her face. Then she told them to rip up their shirts and hand them over. They did as they were told and she began wrapping Lakshman’s wounded body with it.

“Ondine! Go get Marilia! Hurry! Our master depends on you now!” Emilia said to her firmly.

“R-Right! I’ll be back as soon as I can!” Ondine said and she jumped to her feet and ran in the direction she knew Darian, Wolfenstine and Marilia went.

Emilia turned to look at Lakshman’s unconscious face. Seeing him like that caused tears to appear in her as she said “You can’t die without fulfilling your promise to me! I won’t let you! You’re all that I’ve got now! So please don’t die and leave me... Please...!”

Emilia leaned on Lakshman’s body and cried. Tetra patted her gingerly while keeping quiet herself. She watched her master’s body quietly, but her eyes had tears which indicated her desperate measure to not cry.

Lakshman lay on the ground wounded and beaten. He heard none of their words or cries. At that moment, he was diving deep into his mind where he never went before.