“Are you okay?” said a voice from nearby.

Lakshman opened his eyes and looked up. Standing about him with gleaming red eyes and a white mask with a red smile was Sevedant. For a moment, Lakshman was puzzled as to why he was kneeling when he remembered what had happened. Unable to cope with the intense pressure that Sevedant unleashed with the Death by Destruction, he had knelt down.

“Thanks,” Lakshman said when he was easily lifted up by Sevedant’s helping hand. “Still, I didn’t expect your pressure to me so intense!”

“Death Titan. Fifth of Nine Pillars of Power,” Sevedant told him shortly.

“I know, I know, but I wasn’t expecting to get affected by that power!”

After straightening up, he looked around and saw the warriors lying down, unconscious. Both enemies and allies alike have fallen unconscious on the destroyed battlefield. Using Elemental Sight, he checked to find all of them to be alive and well. It appeared the intense pressure from Sevedant had done its job in knocking them out.

“Phew. I may have struggled against it, but it was worth it,” he thought in satisfaction.

“How can you say that, master, when you nearly collapsed?” Silvera asked him indignantly.

“Silvera, get used to it because it’s one of master’s reckless actions of being a warrior,” Tetra told her in a flat voice.

“Oh… If that’s the case, then I won’t worry,” Silvera said flatly.

Lakshman clicked his tongue and said, “Seriously… Doesn’t anyone understand how brave I am?”

Sevedant looked at him and asked, “Talking to spirits?”

“Yeah and they think I’m reckless!” Lakshman said indignantly.

“Funny,” Sevedant said shortly. Then, he turned and faced in the direction of the castle. “Castle in trouble.”

Lakshman saw Sevedant’s eyes gleaming rightly and he also turned to look at the castle. Smoke was rising from the castle where the destruction had taken place. Then, they witnessed more destruction and the shaking of the castle as the battle raged inside it.

Seeing this, Sevedant raised his right hand and pointed at the castle. In an instant, he amassed a large amount of dark energy into the palm of his skeleton hand. He was about to fire when Lakshman’s shout made him pause.

“Sevedant! What are you doing?!”

“Attacking.”

“Attacking what?”

“Adebola.”

Lakshman knew it was not an easy task to convince the mighty Death Titan. He looked at the energy in his hands and realised it was the Ballistic Death Wave. With the amount of power that Sevedant had gathered, he realised it would do more than just killing Adebola in one shot.

He quickly said, “Hold on, hold on! If you fire that thing, you’ll end up destroying the castle!”

Sevedant turned and looked at him before sternly saying, “No choice. Must act now.”

“Must act? Mmm…! Fine! Which don’t you launch me with it? After all, I have a bone to pick with Adebola before you decide to kill him!” Lakshman said firmly.

Sevedant stared at him for a moment before asking, “Can you handle?”

“Can I handle Adebola? Ha!” Lakshman said with a snort. “I’m a complete useless case if I can’t handle that coward!”

Sevedant shook his head and said, “No. My power. Can you handle it?”

“Oh… Your power huh…” Lakshman said and he looked at the energy gathered in Sevedant’s hand. Then, he smiled and said, “No problems! Silvera will help me out.”

“Silvera?” Sevedant asked as he did not understand who it was.

“Ah! It’s the name I gave to my newly acquired Demon Slayer!” Lakshman said and he held the sword up.

Sevedant glanced at it once and then nodded in acceptance. He pointed his left hand at Lakshman and made him hover instantly. Then, he moved him to the position directly in front of his hand. The plan was basically to propel Lakshman away while laughing the attack at the same time.

“Ready?” Sevedant asked one final time.

“Yes!” Lakshman said and he nodded his head. Then, he thought, “Silvera, please provide me a dark barrier so I don’t get pain from being propelled by a dark energy attack.”

“Already did it, master,” Silvera told him.

“Go,” Sevedant said finally.

With the gathered energy in his hand, he aimed it and launched the Ballistic Death Wave. It slammed hard into Lakshman’s back and it pushed him forward at high speed.  The speed of the travel was so great, it seemed like seconds before Lakshman reached the castle. He felt pressure coming from the front that kept him in position. Due to his training with Sevedant, he had focused his energy to remain attached to the front of the driving energy wave.

As the wind howling loudly in his ears, he bellowed “This has got to be the wildest feeling I’ve ever had!”

He laughing hysterically as he passed the ground very quickly and neared the castle. Once the castle was in sight, he sharpened his eyes and smiled.

“Wait for me, Adebola! I’m coming for you!” he thought fiercely.

Meanwhile, there was a battle taking place inside the castle walls. Dead bodies of soldiers littered the castle grounds and blood was thrown all over the walls. At that moment, there was a powerful force of impact and it came from the second floor.

“HAAAAA!!!” Felix shouted.

“UUHHHH!!!” Adebola yelled.

Both warriors were fighting furiously against each other while wielding their swords. They were moving at incredible speeds at each other and each blow they delivered sent a powerful shock wave in all directions. Due to their intense battle, the castle walls threatened to collapse at any second, but they continued to fight regardless of the consequences.

Away from the battle and protected by the barrier were a group of people. Venezuela, Emilia, Ondine, Cantia and Erza were present, including the king and his wife. Wolfenstine was also present, but he was acting like a lookout in case of emergency.

The king was lying down on the queen’s lap with a deep stab wound near his chest. There was a dark energy emanating from the wound, which gave off a powerful negative feeling.

“Dad! Dad!” Venezuela was constantly calling for her father, but he was barely conscious.

Emilia and Erza were concentrating hard to heal his would, but it was not working. Erza was using Healing Heart, which seemed to have lessened the pain the king was feeling from the wound. Emilia had used Healing, Healing Wave and Healing Force, but they had no effect. Not willing to give up, she forced herself to use the King ranked Healing Magic Spell, Healing Harmony. The magic spell began fixing the cracks in the walls and ground around them, but it did nothing to the wound in his chest.

“No...! Why isn’t it working?!” Emilia demanded as she helplessly looked at Erza.

“Emilia, calm down. This is a cursed wound and I don’t think these normal healing spells will work on it,” Erza told her firmly.

“B-But... We can’t lose king… We have to do something!” Emilia said as tears slowly.

Erza looked at her firmly and said, “Let’s just do our best and leave the rest to fate. There’s nothing more we can do.”

Ondine got angry and she turned to look at the battle taking place near them. She eyed Adebola furiously and said, “Damn you…!”

Felix and Adeboal were fighting furiously and did not seem to care about anymore around them. Their swords moved in a blink of an eye and slammed into each other before following through with their next clash of swords.

In the middle of fighting, Adebola smiled at Felix and said, “You’re not bad for a Phoenix Emperor!”

“Shut up you foolish brat!” Felix shouted angrily at him.

They delivered a powerful blow at each other and it pushed the both of them back. Their feet got dragged on the castle ground and they eventually came to a stop while glaring at one another.

Felix raised the sword with both of his hands and aimed it towards Adebola.

“Burning Phoenix!”

His sword burst into flames and the fire was launched towards Adebola. As it soared through the air, it transformed into a fiery bird of anger and destruction. It made a loud screeching sound that hurt the ears of all those witnessing the battle. Seeing the attacking soaring towards him, Adebola only laughed.

Adebola raised his hand, aimed it at the fiery bird and said, “Water Rings!”

Particles of light gathered in front of his light and they quickly became circling rings of water. He fired five of them and they soared straight at the fiery bird. The burning force of the Burning Phoenix was high, but the magical water of the Water Rings did stopped it from evaporating in mid-air.

Once the Water Rings soared into and got slimed to the neck of the fiery bird, Adebola closed his hands. In an instant, the five water rings quickly contracted and shrunk in size. With brute force, the fiery bird was compressed out of existence and the burning flames were quickly put out by the water that expelled from the release of the water rings.

Felix, undaunted by the destruction of his fiery bird, quickly followed up with another technique. This time, he used his fist and charged it up another powerful technique. He withdrew his right arm back and the arm quickly became surrounded by flames.

“Phoenix Fist!”

With the shout of the technique name, he brought his right arm forward and launched the attack. The attack got launched in a fiery beam of energy that soared across the ground and quickly took on the shape of a fiery bird and soared toward Adebola at high speed. Like before, it also screeched violently with its fiery rage.

Adebola shook head and said, “You and your phoenix techniques… Fine. I’ll try out a dragon technique.”

Hearing this, Felix said, “What?”

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Adebola quickly withdrew his right hand back and gathered energy into it. Then, in a flowing movement, he brought it forward and unleashed the power.

“Dragon Fist!”

The powerful beam of energy was shot from his right arm and soared straight towards the fiery bird. The energy quickly changed shape and took on the form of a dragon that roared mightily. Soon, the two energies smashed into each other and an energy struggle took place between them. Felix used great pressure on his attack to push it forward, but Adebola’s force kept the two locked in place.

Finally, the resulting clashing powers caused an explosion that erupted in the centre of the room. Dust was lifted into the air and covered the view while a wild blowing wind started buffeting everything within the room. For a few seconds, things were hectic until it all finally started to settle down. As the dust cleared, Felix saw that Adebola was perfectly fine.

“You…! How do you know about that technique? You’re not part of the Dragon Clan to use it!” Felix said suspiciously.

Adeboal grinned broadly and said, “Well, since I’m wearing the Dragon Armours, I’m technically part of their clan and that allows me to use some of their techniques.”

“Damn…!” Felix thought angrily. “He’s basically thwarted all of my techniques with evenly powerful techniques. Now, you’re telling me he can use whatever technique he wants from the Dragon Clan, the fiercest rival of the Phoenix Clan?”

He knew the rivalry between the two clans, which had lasted for a very long time; from the time of the first Phoenix Titan and the Dragon Emperor of that time. Due to this, the techniques of their respective clans have similarly powerful effects and this had caused their rivalry to increase dramatically. Over time, the clans began distancing themselves from each other and eventually cut off all contacts.

“I never thought I’d face the time when their techniques would be used by someone not from their own clan,” Felix thought unhappily.

Adebola was smiling confidently when, all of a sudden, there was a violent impact that shook the entire castle. At that moment, the Ballistic Death Wave slammed hard into the castle and shook it violently, causing all occupants to desperately hold on from the violent shaking. Then, the wall next to Adebola erupted and a Lakshman came into the room.

“Sorry, but I’m borrowing this bastard!” Lakshman said quickly as he winked at Felix.

He charged forward and before Adebola could react, he grabbed him by the face. With sheer force, he launched himself and smashed through the wall while bringing Adebola with him. Together, they smashed through the walls and exited the castle to land several meters away from the castle.

“Lakshman? What?” Felix asked in a surprised voice as he ran to the hole where Lakshman and Adebola exited through.

“Always so reckless…” said a familiar voice from behind.

He turned around and was startled to see Tetra and an unfamiliar girl standing behind her.

“Tetra? Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with him?” Felix asked and he gestured towards the hole.

Tetra shook her head and said, “No. Master has some personal business with that guy.”

“Oh… So, who’s this? Another addition to the list of f Lakshman’s lovers?” Felix asked curiously when he turned to look at the girl.

Silvera was startled by sharpness, Tetra chuckled before she said, “That’s right. He named her Silvera after making an Astral Contract with her.” When he looked puzzled, he added, “She’s the Demon Slayer.”

“Huh?!” Felix exclaimed in disbelief.

Silvera bowed and said, “Hello. My name is Silvera and I’m master’s Contracted Spirit. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Phoenix Emperor.”

Felix quickly recovered and bowed as he said, “Hello, Silvera. I’m Felix Phoron and I am the Phoenix Emperor. It’s also my pleasure to meet you.”

Once they straightened up, he looked at her smiling face and thought, “Damn, Lucky… How the heck do you keep ending up with so many girls that just seem to love you so much?”

Just then, Wolfenstine, who had transformed back into his human form, stepped out of the barrier and shouted at them.

“Hey! Get over here! The king is in critical condition!”

Felix, Tetra and Silvera quickly rushed over to where they were. Wolfenstine moved and Felix knelt down next to the king, who was barely alive. His breath was shallow and the light his eyes was slowly fading away. Felix looked noticed that the stab wound in his chest had not healed. He quickly looked up and saw the expressions on the Emilia and Erza’s faces, which made him understand that they were unsuccessful in healing it.

“Tetra, is there a way to seal this cursed wound with your powers?” Felix asked her quickly when he turned to her.

Tetra glanced at the wound in the king’s chest and shook her headHe .

“I’m sorry, but my ability of Sealing only seals away the abilities of others. It is incapable of sealing away a cursed would of this calibre. We would require the ability of the Armament Breaker, which has the ability to break this curse for good."

“Armament Breaker? Wait! Doesn’t that mean, we just need the help from War Titan, who’s in possession of that Sacred Spirit, right?” Felix asked quickly. When Tetra nodded, he became serious and said, “Alright! I’ll go and get him!”

At that moment, the king said, “No… There’s no point…”

“There’s no point? What do you mean, your majesty? We have the chance to remove that curse and help with your recovery!” When the king remained resolute, he forcefully said, “If you die, the kingdom will—!”

“Felix!” the king said in a firmer voice and caused Felix to stop in midsentence.

“Dad, please calm down! You need rest!” Venezuela said

The king coughed a little and said, “I’m finished, Felix. There isn’t much time left and you can sense it as well; my regressed life energy is about to be extinguished.”

Felix did not say anything, but his mouth was twitching as he forced himself to listen to the king.

“While I do rule the people as their elected king, the Phoenix Clan oversee Floria Kingdom. When I’m gone, make sure you help the people select another king that will not make the kind of mistakes I did.”

“What are you talking about? Those were silly mistakes that every king makes!!” Felix told him fiercly.

The king chuckled and coughed again. Then, he looked up at his daughter and smiled before he said, “Vena, you’ve found yourself a brave future husband, a man that is fighting our enemy eve as we speak. He’s doing it to most likely not face my dead body with a shameful expression on his face. A very wise decision…”

“Dad! Please…!” Venezuela said as tears swarmed her eyes.

“Be happy, Vena. I’m dying now, but you have a bright future ahead of you. Keep on living happily with the man you chose as your life partner. I’ll be more than happy to see that from the heavens above.”

“Dad…” Venezuela said as tears streamed down her face.

The king turned and faced his wife, whom he was resting his head on. They stared at each other for a moment before he said, “I…”

She smiled and said, “There’s no problem. I don’t blame you for anything that may or may not have happened during our married life together.”

His wife, Floria Sargold was a caring, understanding and helpful queen of the Floria Kingdom. Originally, she was from a poor family that got married when the king, Bernard, who was the prince of Floria at that time, fell in love with her at first sight. Since then, they led an almost happy life, which was somewhat stressed by the royal family. Floria had to quickly grow up to meet the standards of a future queen, but Bernard loved her for what she is and never ignored what other people thought about her.

“You are my morning sun and my moon of the night,” was what he told her upon one time.

After giving birth, they became busy with taking care of the child, which was when the previous king had passed the crown over to Bernard. Ever since then, Bernard ruled Floria Kingdom for many years to come while also trying to fit time to be a husband and father. There were difficult times and there were happy times, but they all had each other.

Now, seeing her husband dying in her lap, caused her to cry endlessly without making a sound. To Bernard, that action alone made him unhappy that he forced himself to raise a hand to wipe the tears off her eyes.

Bernard coughed several times and began to rasp for breath. Once it settled, he felt his energy leaving him as an endless sleep began to welcome him with open arms. It was a blissful feeling, much more peaceful than falling asleep in the night. However, he knew he will never awake from this deep sleep.

“Wow… It somehow feels nice…” he muttered quietly. “Maybe, this is what the true meaning of death really is… Wonderful…”

He pleasantly closed his eyes with a small smile on his face. Then, without making further sound, he quietly passed away. His wife closed her tear filled eyes and quietly prayed for the resting peace of her husband. Venezuela leaned on his motionless body and cried her heart out. Emilia was also crying quietly as she watched the sentimental scene while Erza, Cantia, Tetra and Silvera watched from the side lines.

“Dammit… Dammit!” Felix said in frustration and he banged his fist on the ground as he lost his temper.

Wolfenstine watched the scene and finally decided to leave. He felt like he would also end up succumbing to the sad feelings, which was something he could not accept. His firm belief in him being a mad scientist that does not contain any such emotions was something he wanted to keep following with. As such, he rose to his feet and quietly left the room without anyone noticing.

Just before he left, he muttered, “Rest in peace, my king,” before finally leaving the room.