On the thirty-five of the month of Aporos, 8097 PX, Lakshman woke up in the morning. He felt bleary eyed and really tired while yawning a lot. This was due to him waking up at five-twenty in the morning.

Just last night, he had discovered the existence of a ghost called Spectra. She was apparently killed in that room and, since then, became trapped there.

Spectra was unable to pass onto the next realm because of her regret about her Sacred Spirit, the Demon Slayer sword, seal itself beneath the school grounds. So she had been attempting to find a new master for the Sacred Spirit, but people got scared and never came back due to her being a ghost.

“It still makes me wonder how I can see her in her true form unlike so many others,” Lakshman muttered as he got out of bed.

He walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth cleanly. As per his raising, he brushed his teeth for two minutes before rinsing his mouth. Then he walked out of the bathroom and saw Spectra floating around with a sleepy expression on her face.

“Good morning!” he greeted her brightly.

“Yes, morning,” she replied in a dull voice.

He chuckled and said “You need to cheer up! It’s pretty early in the morning to sound so dull!”

She shrugged her shoulders and said “I’m a ghost. No matter what time it is, it’ll be the same thing for me.”

Shaking his head at her, he walked over to the cupboard. He took out his training clothes and thought about changing into them. It had been more than three days since he trained and he was worried. He was told to constantly train, otherwise he will lose his edge. So it worried him that he might have become weaker since three days of not training.

At that moment, there was a knock on his door and he said “Open.”

His room door automatically opened and a woman was found standing outside. She was the receptionist from down below who looked after the building. The woman walked in while looking around before smiling when she looked at him.

“I’ve come for the laundry,” she said and he immediately understood.

Every three days, the ladies come to each room to pick up laundry. Then they safely deliver it to the owner’s room safely. Lakshman actually had no idea about this until yesterday when he went down for dinner the ladies informed him. He was also not sure how they deliver it when the door is closed, but he guessed they would have some other way of doing it.

The woman walked to the basket inside the bathroom that Lakshman indicated. After taking the basket full of laundry, she bid him goodbye and left the room.

“The services here are really good!” Lakshman said happily. Then he turned to see Spectra looking at the door. Curious, he asked “What’s up?”

She looked at him and said “She didn’t even notice me just now. It looked like I wasn’t even in the room!”

Lakshman wore a puzzled expression on his face as he said “What’s wrong about that? Isn’t that a good thing that she didn’t notice you and then run screaming out of here?”

Spectra chuckled and said “Although that sounds bad, I’ll accept it as a good thing for now.”

“Right. Anyway, I need to change and I need light. Lights On!”

With the command said aloud, the energy crystals magically began to shine around the room. Very soon, the darkness in the room lifted and it was lit as bright as day. Lakshman was just about to take off his shirt when he noticed something odd.

“Um… Aren’t you supposed to be transparent?” he asked when he saw that Spectra was solid looking, even with all the light.

“Huh? What do you mean?” she asked him with a confused expression on her face.

“You know… Ghosts are transparent… right?”

“That’s true, but… I have the form of my body and, on top of that, I look solid like real human. So yeah… I have no explanations for why.”

“Mmm… Let’s see if he knows…” he muttered to himself.

In his mind, he said “Decisive Player? Decisive Player? Are you there?”

Lakshman felt the presence of the Decisive Player, but he was not responding. He knew there was only one reason why he would not be responding to him right now.

“He’s asleep…” he said with a sigh.

“Who’s asleep?” Spectra asked him curiously.

“Ah. Never mind. Anyway, I need to change into my training clothes,” he told her.

She nodded and said “Right, got it. I’ll hide until you finished changing.”

She flew into the other door of the cupboard and disappeared.

Lakshman chuckled and quickly changed into his training clothes. These were clothes Lakshman normally would not wear, but it was something Felix had given him for his birthday. It came along with the books and stuff that Felix had his people deliver to Lakshman on the day he was hospitalised.

“Mmm…! Nice fit. Okay! All done!”

Spectra slowly poked her head out of the cupboard door. Seeing him in those clothes, she smiled and said “Very interesting design.”

Lakshman, who had walked over to put his School ID Card into his pocket, turned around and smiled at her.

“Thanks! Now let’s go do training,” he said energetically.

“Alright. Have a good one,” she wished him with a smile.

He was about to warp out when he looked at her in surprise. Then he said “What are you doing? You’re coming too!”

She looked surprised and asked “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You should train with me. Come on! It’ll be fun!”

“Look… uh… Lakshman, was it? I don’t think I, a ghost, can even like this. Also, please don’t forget that I’m trapped in this room. There’s no way I can get out!”

“That’s no problem,” Lakshman said and he grabbed her hand.  He smiled at her and said “Hold on tight because this teleportation technique is stupid.”

“W-What are you…?” Spectra asked as she tried to break free.

At that moment, he said “Warp to arena.”

With a feeling of being sucked into something, they warped out of the room. The next moment, they appeared in a place with a huge building in front of them. They were standing in front of the arena where they usually do training exercises. He liked how big and strong it looked even though it was not as big and glorious looking as the colosseum located outside of the capital.

“T-This is… the wind… This is the open air… This is the sunlight… Wow… Wow…! I’m outside… I’m outside! Wow!”

Spectra was really happy as she looked around at the outside world. She had been trapped in that room for a hundred years and never saw the outside world again. That was until now and she was so happy, she began soaring through the air while laughing happily.

Lakshman smiled at how happy she appeared. Then he walked towards the arena which had four guards blocking the entrance.

“Identify yourself,” they told him with their spears barring his way.

Lakshman took out his Student ID Card out and showed them. The guards checked the card and then Lakshman before nodding their approval.

“You can proceed,” they said and Lakshman nodded at them before going inside.

“The area sure is big,” Lakshman said as he walked through and arrived at the open. Then he noticed the opposite arena wall and laughed.

“They sure repaired that wall in three days!” Lakshman said as he chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Spectra asked him as she hovered near him.

He pointed to the wall and said “Three days ago, when I was getting judged to see which class I join, I accidentally destroyed that wall. I was only supposed to break ten layered King ranked Barrier Magic Spells and a stupid statue, but I went overboard with my power.”

She looked impressed and said “Really? That’s amazing to be able to destroy ten King ranked Barrier Spells and smash that wall into pieces!”

Smiling happily, he walked down to the arena ground and Spectra followed by hovering above his head.

“What are you planning on doing?” she asked him curiously.

“I don’t have a sword with me to train, but I still have my Gravity Rings. So I’ll just use them and run laps around.”

“Alright. I’ll just sit here and watch,” she said and he nodded at her.

Lakshman walked out onto the arena ground and got ready. He took a running stance and waited a few seconds. Then, with a burst of power, he began running which caused dust to rise into the air. He was running so fast, he went around the arena and came back in less than four seconds.

“Wow…! He’s really, really fast!” Spectra exclaimed in a shocked voice as she saw him running around while looking like a blur. Then she noticed the rising dust and thought something bad might happen if he kept running at that pace.

“Lakshman! Turn it down a notch!” she yelled at the top of her voice.

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Hearing her voice and the words she yelled at him, Lakshman slowed down until he finally came to a stop. His body was heaving and he was breathing quickly as beads of sweat covered his face and body.

“Ha… Ha… Wha? Turn it down a notch? Why?” he asked as his breathing returning to normal.

“Look around you. You’re causing a lot of dust to rise into the air. If you keep it up, you might create a dust tornado because of your running!” she told him severely.

Lakshman looked amazed and said “Oh… I see. Alright then. I’ll go a little slower.”

He smiled at her and began running around the arena again. He was indeed slower, but it was still fast.a..Ha..

“You call that going ‘a little bit slower’…?” she asked before sighing.

At that moment, she heard Lakshman call “By the way, I got some questions I want to clarify with you!”

Spectra flew into the air and soared towards him. She held onto his shoulder and began to soar as fast he ran. Then she asked “About what?”

While running, he asked “Why is her name like that?”

“Who’s name?”

“You know… um… That Demon Slayer Sacred Spirit… Why is she named… uh… Zemitra name thingy?”

“I don’t know…”

“What? You don’t know? You’re supposed to be contracted partners and you don’t know?”

“It’s not like I didn’t bother to know why she was called that. It’s just she doesn’t know either who gave her name or who she really was.”

“Oh man… A memory loss…”

“That’s right. I found her abandoned in a ruined mine down near Ashtra region. At first, she was very hostile towards strangers, but after spending a few months with me, she really began to open up. I was pretty surprised when she told me her name and that was it. The poor Sacred Spirit had no idea who she really was, where she came from or why she was doing there in the first place.”

“That sucks! It must’ve be very hard for her to not know about herself!”

“It sure was…”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you rename her then? That name sounds pretty evil to me.”

“Huh? How do you know about that?”

“Uh… I read somewhere that the masters of Contracted Spirits have the authority to rename their partnered spirit.”

Lakshman was lying when he said he read it somewhere. The truth was that he did not read about it at all nor was it covered in books. It was Tetra who had informed him about the Contract Owner’s ability to rename a Contracted Spirit when he wanted to know how the spirits are named.

“I did think about it, but… I decided not. That was the name she remembers and I have no right to take it away from her.”

Hearing Spectra’s sentimental words, Lakshman understood. If he was a Sacred Spirit and all he remembered was his name, he would not like it to have his name changed. His name gave him a belief that there was someone out there who will know him and want to see him in the future.

“Still… The person who named her like that must be really evil or something…!” Lakshman said angrily and Spectra silently agreed.

After doing more than twenty laps around the arena, he came to a stop. While breathing quickly and his body heaving, Lakshman walked over to the benches and sat down to rest. Spectra hovered in front of him while smiling as she saw him breathing quickly.

“You did a good run,” she told him.

“Thanks, but I feel I’ve gotten a little weaker. I need to get back into my form again!” he said firmly.

Spectra chuckled and said “Really? A little weaker? To me, it felt like you were incredibly powerful! You ran as fast as the wind and even almost created a dust tornado.”

“Yes, but I can’t stop just yet! I want to become stronger and stronger until I reach my final limit!” he told her with a happy expression on his face.

She shook her head and said “You’re incredible,” and it caused him to laugh happily.

For a few minutes, they remained silent as Lakshman’s breathing slowly returned. He sat there with his eyes closed and thought about the events of the past two days. As he remembered the events of last night, there was something he suddenly noticed that he failed to pick up last night.

“Spectra, about your story from last night…”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Who was this Felix you were referring to?”

“Hmm? Felix?”

“You know the one that ordered your small group of Phintex Rajas to investigate a hundred years ago. I was wondering if it was the same Felix as I know. I didn’t think Felix lived a hundred years ago or was he reborn or something?”

Finally realising what he was asking her, Spectra laughed and said “No, silly. Felix was the nickname of the Phoenix Emperor from a hundred years ago. His actual name is Feliaxtor Phoron, but we called him Felix for short”

“Oh…!” Lakshman as he finally understood. He nodded his head and said “Now it makes sense! He is a relative to the current Felix Phoron. They share the same family name after all.”

She shrugged her shoulders and said “I wouldn’t know because I never met this Felt you are referring to. However, I suspect Feliaxtor a hundred years ago is something like a grandfather to the current Phoenix Emperor.”

“Interesting! Now I got something else to ask Felix,” Lakshman said and he grinned at her.

“About what?”

“It’s something about the Death Titan. I’ve been curious about it for all these three years, but Felix kept escaping the subject. It’s like he didn’t want to talk about it and even told me to ask the Death Titan in person rather than bombard him about it.”

“By Death Titan… Do you mean the fifth strongest of the world renowned Nine Pillars of Power?”

“Yes, him. I wanted to speak to Sevedant about something that bugged in these last three years.”

Spectra saw that he looked annoyed. Then she looked at something behind Lakshman and said “Do you mean the person sitting behind you?”

“Huh?” Lakshman asked and he turned around.

There was a person sitting there with a black cloak covering them. The person’s face was covered by a white mask with a red smile drawn on it. He also had gleaming red eyes through the two eye holes of the mask.

The Death Titan, Sevedant, looked at him and said “Hello.”

Lakshman was frozen stiff with shock. Then, realising the person sitting in front of him was really the Death Titan, he exclaimed loudly “S-S-S-Sevedant?!”

With shock, he jerked backward and began to topple. He flailed his arms wildly in front of him as he slowly fell backwards. Just then, his had was grabbed by a hand that was made up of bones. Gripping his hand firmly, Sevedant pulled him back into a sitting position.

“T-T-Thanks!” Lakshman said in relief while breathing quickly. As his breathing eased up, he looked at Sevedant and said “Where the hell did you come from?!”

“I flew,” Sevedant said simply.

“You… flew?”

Sevedant nodded and said “Returned from Demon Continent. Met Felix. Informed me. Teleportation failed. Had to fly here.”

In his own manner, Sevedant spoke in broken words which most people would not understand. Lakshman, however, made full sense of it with a sigh.

“So you returned from the Demon Continent and met Felix. When you asked him about me, he told you I was here. You tried to teleport here, but it failed and that’s why you flew here.”

Sevedant nodded at him in agreement while Spectra was looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

“Why did you just explain what we already understood?” she asked him with a puzzled expression on her face.

Lakshman shrugged his shoulders and said “My brain is taking time recovering from the shock of seeing him here! Seriously… Sevedant, you didn’t make any noise when you came here!”

Sevedant shrugged his shoulders and said “You were training. Did want to disturb. Used Soundless Barrier Magic Spell.”

“Oh… Well you sure did scare the crap out of me!” Lakshman said in an annoyed voice.

Sevedant chuckled and said “Now listen. I must tell you.”

Lakshman quickly shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. Looking angry, he said “No, no, no! You listen to me! I’ve waited three damn long years to ask you this damn question!”

Sevedant remained silent for a moment. Then he simply said “Go ahead.”

Lakshman took a deep breath and asked “Where the hell were you three years ago when I was fighting the Demon Emperor?!”

The Death Titan, Sevedant, looked at him and then up at Spectra hovering above Lakshman. She was also curious about what happened at that time even though she knew nothing about it.

“Very well… I will reveal the past,” Sevedant said and his eyes gleamed brightly.