After discussing about the events, Insekren and Sumara talked about the deals and how best to handle them. The talk somehow became an argument when the one did not want to budge their position for the other. However, they needed each other and a deal was made to supply a decent amount of alcohol from the village if there are no monster attacks were made.
All the while, Lakshman sat there and listened intently because he had nothing else to do. In the public view, he had already received his answer to the question he posed to Insekren. That was before Ballistic Time Stop was activated by Sumara, who did it so that Lakshman is informed about the situation they were in.
“I can’t believe he can’t trust his own people… Or, maybe I’m just too trusting of people…?” Lakshman thought and the negative thought made him feel sad. “Anyway, I have to try and pretend… Try to act this out without causing any problems…”
With difficulty, he made a show of acting like a human who fears the strong Insekren. Luckily for him, the butlers and everyone watching, bought his impression. Inwardly, he was very angry at himself for having to behave in such a way when he was clearly much stronger than Insekren. However, he remained unchipped on the outside with the fake personality he presented to them.
They left right afterwards with a glare from the watching Insekmund, who clearly showed signs of wanting to kill Lakshman. In retaliation, Lakshman waved him goodbye and gave him a thumbs-up. He indirectly told the angry warrior to do his best at killing him, which Insekmund understood and it angered him more. However, he chose to do nothing with his master more than happy to let them leave peacefully.
Once they were gone, Insekmund demanded his master, “Why did you let them go just like that?! You were clearly stronger than him! Why’d you let go of the enemy?!
Insekren turned to glare at him before saying, “Fool… They may be enemies, but they are also our suppliers for alcohol. We need their supplies and they need our patronage to continue living here. Rather than fight like a brutish man, acting like the wise man gets the work done quickly.”
“Oh…! As expected of master!” Insekmund said and Insekren sighed heavily.
Insekren watched them go and thought, “The Phoenix Titan remained quiet, but I can feel the restless energy emanating from him. It seems he is not adapt at deception and he will find himself in trouble if he remains like that, but I’m in no place to tell him otherwise. Oh well… I wish nothing happens for a while.”
***
After returning to the village, Lakshman went to check on how the men of the Manjuvad Demon Clan were doing. After listening to his powerful speech about cowards being stepped on like cockroaches by the strong, they have begun to strengthen themselves and their training was overseen by both Ondine and Cantia. Meanwhile, Tetra and Silvera sparred with the spear wielders to test their speed, agility and the technique used to strike at their opponent.
“Speed alone won’t win the battle! You’ll need strength to back up that speed!” Ondine shouted at them like a drill master. “100 laps around the village to you lot! Hurry!”
Lakshman watched in awe as the men, panicked by the commanding tone of her voice, quickly began running around the village. It worried him slightly that she might overdo them by the usual hate she once had for the demons in general. However, he quickly realised the Manjuvad Demon Clan had bodies that allowed them to quickly adapt to become stronger.
Meanwhile, the women are getting trained slowly in the art of using magic. As it turned out, the Manjuvad Demon Clan were naturally gifted in that department, but they were forced to do hard labour due to how physically they weak to put up a fight against the stronger demon clans. However, the war from 300-years-ago let them leave the Demon Continent for good and it brought them to Bazaraka Continent, where they started over by trying to lead a simple life.
“You must be armed to defend yourselves at any cost! Never get complacent because danger is everywhere and the biggest loser will end up being you,” Venezuela constantly told them while Erza and Emilia went around helping them out by explaining and showing them how they were done.
With nothing for Lakshman to do, he went straight over to the clearing with the tree and sat down on it. He put his hands together and closed his eyes to do some quiet meditating while thinking about what just happened.
“So, that guy’s been watched by these followers of the Calamity Titan. Mmm… That reminds me, nothing happens when I say his name in my mind, which means it only strikes when someone speaks the name out loud. That makes sense since there seems to be a powerful magic at work that seems to be causing people to get zapped by a powerful amount of lightning to kill them almost instantly.”
The conversation that he had with Insekren when the time stoped explained a little more about the troubles going on. It made Lakshman realise there were strange eyes upon them the whole time they were there, even though he could not locate them properly. There are lots of butlers and guards around the place for that matter.
“I can rule out Insekmund and although the guy’s got a bad mouth and attitude, he’s loyal to his master and will never consider betraying him. I don’t know about anyone else in that mansion that could’ve been observing us, except the butlers. Maybe, one of them is a spy and they’re tipping the demons off about the goings on over here?
That would explain the thing about being observed by unwanted eyes and listened to secretly. I would’ve easily crated a barrier to protect us from that, but it would automatically cause the spy to become alert that something is jamming his spell. Which explains why Sumara used Ballistic Time Stop to freeze time for a few minutes so that I get explained about the situation we were in.”
He was surprised by the attitude change of the Insekren during the time stop, which he believed is the true character of that insect master. However, once the time stop was over, he pretended to be someone he was not, just to deceive the eyes of the observer. That made Lakshman notice something else that had been bugging him in the back of his mind.
“That makes me notice that I was watched by eyes from somewhere, but I couldn’t tell where. They’re probably using Long Sight, a Sage ranked Sensor Magic Spell that enables the caster to look longer distances, much further than they could with their normal eyes. That would explain why the source of the observation was coming kilometres from where I am.”
Just then, Sumara walked into the clearing and asked, “Lucky, what are you doing here?”
“Can’t you see, Sumara? I’m meditating,” he replied quietly.
“Hmm… I don’t know how I can call it meditating when you’re wearing such a grim expression on your face,” she said as she folded her arms to look coolly at him.
He finally opened his eyes and smiled at her before asking, “What’s the matter? You don’t look all that happy.”
“Oh… It’s nothing…” Sumara said simply and she returned the smile.
Lakshman silently looked at that smile and noticed how it was rather forced, causing him to doubt her words. Something was troubling her and he quickly went through his thoughts to figure out the reason behind it.
“You’re worried about your people, aren’t you?” asked Lakshman as he was drawn to that final conclusion.
She blinked in surprise by him suddenly realising and she slowly nodded before saying, “I was thinking that perhaps it’s a bad idea for them to live here anymore.”
“Were you possibly thinking of running away with them and living in a place that’s isolated from the rest of the world?”
“Perhaps… That doesn’t sound like bad idea at all, however…”
“They’re currently being trained by my wives to become stronger by following my ideals. This world is a dangerous place to live in and is very unfair because it only lets the strong survive. Weakness will be used easily and it will turn you into mere puppets of the strong. You are nothing, but their play things, Sumara… This can’t go on forever…!”
She chuckled and asked, “What are you thinking? Be a hero that’s slaying the demon king by going over to the Cla— I mean, Demon Emperor? I think, you should already be aware of how strong he is. Remember, Lucky… He’s attained full power and right now, not even the Nine Pillars of Powers possess the power to take him down.”
He nodded and slowly said, “Yes… I’m aware of that… That’s why, I was wondering if I should start gathering the Nine Pillars of Power to wage a full of assault on him. After all, we were once tasked with the duty of protecting the peace of the world by the great Emperor of the World over 8000-years-ago.”
“That is a good plan, but where can you locate them? We can’t even locate the Magic Titan, who was once the ruler of this entire continent. Seems like the other Nine Pillars of Power went quiet after realising they would never win against his power and I can’t blame them.”
“We only struggle as individuals, but we can fight him as a team! We can win if we just combine our effort and fight together to protect the peace!” Lakshman said irritably.
“Lakshman… Aren’t you forgetting something pretty basic here…?” she asked him and he looked confused. She sighed and said, “True warriors fight alone.”
“Ah!”
Lakshman realised the truth of her words from the shock and knew the truth behind those words.
He was a true warrior and as always, he constantly fought his enemies without ever asking for assistance. Even in the time that he and his wives were about to be destroyed by the Calamity Titan’s attack, he did not ask for help. Instead, he used his own effort to activate Dimension Warp and after reaching Bazaraka Continent, the Divine Protection of Time activated and put them all under Frozen Time barrier.
“Maybe, I should unlock the last seal that’s on me…” he said slowly.
“Last seal?” she asked with a puzzled expression on her face.
He began explaining to her about the Four Seals of Darkness that were placed on the previous Phoenix Titan, which got carried over to him. Along with that, he explained to her how Tetra’s true powers are still locked away along with her memories of the past. Sumara quietly listened to his explanation before speaking again once he was done explaining.
“It seems the Demon Emperor was desperate to put those seals on you. He must’ve feared how powerful you would be when he awoke and how difficult it would have been to defeat you once you have fully awakened. Plus, he went as far as to kill your wives as well, which leaves something questioning about his entire motive…”
“That’s what I was thinking…” he said slowly in agreement to her words.
He looked up at her face and saw that she had put her hand on her chin to think through what she just heard. At that moment, he wondered whether he should tell her she is the eighth Destiny Queen or not. He feared how the response would come and it even slightly worried him what he would have to do if she said ‘no’ to it.
“Um… Sumara… Actually…” he slowly began speaking in a nervous voice.
Lakshman had been about to reveal her as the eighth Destiny Queen. He was feeling very nervous about it, but also impatient at the same time for him not take such a decisive action. It made him remember back to the past when the Decisive Player scolded him several times for being nervous around women that he really loved and wanted to be with.
“Don’t hesitate and go with the flow!” was what Decisive Player had said to him and he retained it in his heart.
With such lessons taught to him by the ex-God of Wisdom, Lakshman managed to meet and marry seven of the nine Destiny Queens thus far. However, the eighth was right in front of him and it slightly angered at his nervousness due to his feelings of not knowing what her reaction will be upon learning about her being a Destiny Queen and his own feelings for her.
He went to speak when, all of a sudden, he stopped before he could say anything and became silent with stillness filling his entire body. He focus on his surroundings with great alertness because he had been triggered by an alarm from his Elemental Sense. Something negative was approaching them at high speed and he was sure it was not the Calamity Titan because there were more than twenty as the numbers increased slowly.
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“Actually… what?” Sumara asked him with a questioning look on her face.
He looked at her and smiled before saying, “Actually, I’m hungry! Can you make something delicious? Please!”
“Ah! You should’ve said that sooner!” she said and she quickly brightened up. “I’ll be back soon. Just wait here.”
“Sure!” replied Lakshman and he watched her return to the village in high spirits.
A few minutes passed since she left and he remained sitting there with the same smile etched on his face. However, it soon discovered to be replaced by a smile that he often wore when he had encountered enemies.
“You guys should come out of hiding immediately, otherwise I will beat the crap out of you for sneaking up on me!” he said in a loud carrying voice.
There was a pause for a moment as he waited for them to make their move. Then, the bushes got moved before fifteen warriors stepped out to meet him. He looked around at them all and noticed that several of them are from the Serprad Demon Clan while the rest seemed to be from the Grobula Demon Clan. They were letting off murderous aura that was intended straight for him. It was obvious what they were thinking, which was to kill him.
Lakshman remained sitting there and he wore a broad grin on his face as he looked around at them all. Then, he began speaking to them in a calm voice as he began to emanate a powerful aura from his body.
“My, my… Look at all the warriors that came to greet me…” he said in a slow voice as he looked around at them all. “So, what brings the boys in black and blue here?”
They immediately made angry faces from his comment about their skin colour. Under normal circumstances, Lakshman would not have cared about the different in skin colour and such, which he believed was being racist, however in the situation he was in, he did not mind his manners that much.
A Grobula Demon Clan warrior stepped forward and said, “We came to destroy you, fool…! We’ve been watching your actions the last two days and they have alarmed us greatly! That’s why, as the Demon Squad, we will exterminate you!”
“Exterminate me?” Lakshman replied in a surprised voice. “I’m not a bug to be exterminated, idiot. I’m a human being and like all human beings, I fight to survive! However, there’s a bigger problem to your plan; I’m not afraid of you.”
“What?!” the men exclaimed and Lakshman nodded at them, quite cheerfully.
“Yeah! I’m not scared at all because… you see… you’re already in my trap,” he told them and his voice slowly became firm with seriousness.
Their eyes widened as he lifted his right finger and with a small smile on his face, he clicked his fingers. In an instant, the grassy floor beneath them slowly began to emit light and they quickly looked down to see magic circles appear beneath their feet. The next instance, they all erupted into flames and they screamed in pain as they were slowly burned alive. They attempted to escape, but they were rooted to the spot due to the gravity spell when, all of a sudden, there was a burst of more flames and the demons were turned into ashes that floated to the ground, only to get blown away by the wind.
Lakshman wore a grim expression on his face as he said, “You know… I don’t normally like killing because I think people deserve chances at redemption, but when your hearts are so cold and filled with evil intentions, there really is no way of saving you from the ultimate judgement!”
There was a tense silence around him as his enemies watched him with wide eyes of shock, which slowly began filling with anger. They all began powered up and the shock of their power caused the trees to get uprooted and fly away into the distance. Lakshman continued to sit there as he was surrounded by more than thirty warriors, all of whom were really strong with the way they radiated in violet aura that surrounded them.
There was a short pause as the enemies observed their enemy, who simply sat there on the tree without doing anything. The next moment, there was a loud cry as the signal was shouted by someone among them.
“Get him!”
With a roar, the men began surging with power and they charged straight towards him. Lakshman had his arms folded and remained sitting there as they flew straight at him. He looked to his left and then he looked to his right before finally deciding to fight them for real.
“Dome of Destruction!” he shouted out loud.
In an instant, a white light erupted all around them and blasted the raging warriors away from them. The blast radius slowly expanded until it was fifty meters in diameter. The ground with the grass and trees got destroyed by the blast as it slowly expanded until as it lit up the entire forest in a bright white glow of light.
***
The Manjuvad Demon Clan villagers were either training with spears, training to use magic or cooking to prepare lunch when they saw the light suddenly lit up the forest. It dazzled their eyes and forced them to close their eyes and look away. Afterwards, they
“W-What’s going on?!” Sumara exclaimed in a shocked voice as she quickly came out of her house to look.
Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the large white dome like destructive light suddenly appear within the forest. Then, she realised it came from the location Lakshman was at when she left him.
“Oh no…!” she said slowly in a shocked voice.
“Sumara, what is that light?” said the elder, who had been close by.
“I don’t know, but it looks like trouble to me!” Sumara told him before looking firmly at him. “Get the women and children into the houses and let the man stand outside to guard them. In the meanwhile, I’ll go into the forest to check things out.”
“O-Okay…!” the elder said slowly and he tried to go quickly, but his old age was failing him.
Sumara watched him go and turned to see Venezuela, Emilia, Erza, Tetra, Silvera, Ondine and Cantia standing there. They all were looking at the white glow of light fearlessly, but they would since they had seen far worse things in their lives to be surprised by such dazzling light. Sumara quickly thought about them and came to a decision on what to do next.
“Venezuela, Erza, Ondine and Cantia. Could you please stay behind to look after the village for me while I investigate what the sudden light is all about?” Sumara asked them loudly through the noise of the explosion happening nearby.
“That’s fine by me, but I believe Lucky’s under attack…” Venezuela said worriedly and she looked into the forest.
“Yes, but he’ll be mad if we rushed into help him, leaving the village defenceless,” Erza said in a reasonable voice.
“Yeah, but still…!” Ondine said in an irritated voice. “I want to help out!”
“Help out by staying with us!” Venezuela told her firmly. “I, Erza and Emilia are magic users and if we count Emilia out as doing most of the healing, that leaves only me and Erza. Then, how will we defend ourselves against close combat warriors, if they ever come at us?”
“Oh… You’ve got a point there…” Ondine said slowly in an understanding voice.
“In that case, why don’t you all stay at the village and protect it? Meanwhile, I’ll go and be of assistance to Lucky.”
“That won’t be necessary!” said a loud voice from high above them.
The girls looked up to see more than twenty-five warriors descending from the sky, all of them equally powerful as the girls. A tall bulky looking Grobula Demon Clan warrior landed with several more of his men landing behind him while a lot more remained stationary in the air.
“The order is that man must die and this has to be destroyed,” the warrior, who seemed to the commander of the attackers, told the girls smoothly.
“Damn…! This is just perfect…! I thought I was going to have good time cooking vegetables, but never thought I’d be cooking grobula meat!” Sumara said in a frustrated voice and she threw off the apron she had wrapped around her body.
“Resistance is futile! Be like women and show some dignity,” the warrior said and the warriors all laughed.
Ondine made a wide grin on her face angrily and slowly pulling her two swords out.
“It’s you who should fear us the most…! Any man who dares to say that in front of me won’t get away peacefully…!” Ondine said slowly through as the anger slowly boiled until it exploded. She glared at them angrily and bellowed, “Don’t underestimate the power of women!”
In an instant, all eight of the girls began radiating in their respective colours as they surged with power; Golden aura for Venezuela and Sumara, red aura for Erza, Tetra and Silvera, green aura for Emilia and blue aura for Ondine and Cantia., The warriors, both on the ground and up in the air, were surprised by how much power the girls were able to release. With grins on their faces, the warriors also began radiating in pure violet aura that surrounded them.
“I must admit, I’m impressed. However, it still is not comparable to the power of us powerful men! After all, we’re stronger, larder in size and possess more force than you girls could ever hope for! Just surrender peacefully so that I may not have the ridiculous guilty conscious of harming women unnecessarily!”
“Shut up and bring it on, tough guy…!” Ondine said as she and the rest of the girls prepared to do battle.
***
Once the blast of light was done, it vanished into thin air, leaving behind a lot of destroyed ground. The grass and the trees were gone, leaving behind a ground that appeared to have been hit by something dangerous. The men, who got knocked back by the impact blast, slowly got to their feet to look at their enemy.
Lakshman appeared out of the smoke of the explosion and he was hovering above the tree that he had been sitting on moment earlier. He had his arms folded again and he wore a grin expression on his face as he looked around at the destroyed surroundings.
“Sorry, trees… I promise I’ll restore you back to normal once this fight is over,” he thought sadly.
For a moment, he remained hovering there as he lamented on his actions. Then, he opened his eyes in a flash and looked sharply at the men that had attempted to charge at him earlier.
“Even after all this, if you still plan on killing me, then I will be more than happy to destroy all of you!” Lakshman shouted at them and he began surging with power as he radiated golden-red aura that surrounded him.
The men felt the strong power that he radiated, but instead of turning away, they all began forming wide grins on their faces. For some reason, they were feeling stronger with their desire to kill him because of his sudden display of power, brought on by the madness of battle.
At that moment, Lakshman sensed more enemies coming from the village and he sensed the powers of his wives and Sumara. He could sense the battle had not yet started, but he was confident they could handle these enemies, so long as they do not pull low tricks on them. However, this fear caused him to worry slightly.
“Anyway, the girls should hold them off long enough for me to finish this little skirmish of mine,” he thought confidently.
“Die, bastard!”
“Show no mercy!”
“Kill him!”
“Turn him into ashes!”
“Blow him to pieces!”
“Wipe him from history!”
“Let’s show him the Power of the Demon Squad!”
“Make our name proud by taking his back to our leader!”
“Yes! Let’s get him!”
The army of warriors shouted at him and they charged into the air to do battle against him. Lakshman turned to face them charging towards him and he formed a grin on his face as he saw them coming. He was amused by dialogues and found them to be rather hilarious to listen to. Even so, he began to get serious as they all few straight towards him with a desire for death and destruction in their eyes, mind and heart.
“You can do all that if you can win against me! Now, let’s do this!” he shouted and the battle between good and evil began.