“What?! Fight the Calamity Titan? Are you crazy?!” he exclaimed in shock before realising something. “Wait… Before that, how come we can say the name without getting zapped by lighting?”
“We are currently inside the barrier created by my Telker that blocks the effects of external factors that are not natural. However, it is not strong enough to hold itself against powerful warriors and we must fight them eventually,” she explained to him telepathically.
“Oh, I see,” he said and he nodded in understanding. “Now, getting back to the point, what did you mean by me try and defeat the Calamity Titan?”
“It’s just as I said,” she telepathically said simply before realising something she had missed to explain. “Relax. I’m not actually asking you to fight him in person. Rather, just fight an illusion of him right here.”
“Ah… Fight him in an illusionary battle you mean…” he said and he breathed a sigh of relief. He turned and pointed to a circle near him and said, “Is that the one I should step on?”
She blinked at him and telepathically asked, “You’re aware of what each of these magic circles do?”
“Actually, I don’t know much of their effects, but I can read the symbols etched in the centre of the circles.”
“Okay. Now, step into that circle and say ‘Battle: Calamity Titan’ and you will automatically battle him.”
“R-Right…”
Lakshman walked over and stepped onto the magic circle, which began to glow slightly in white light. He stood there and stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes and saying the command out loud.
“Battle: Calamity Titan.”
In an instant, he felt something surround him and a tight pressure enclosed all around him. It became difficult for him to move and the pressure was pressing against him was rough. The sensation was like being pressed against two walls to keep him in place without ever letting him escape. For a few seconds, this sustained and then, all of a sudden, the pressure disappeared and the tension was lifted. He felt himself floating in an empty space when he heard the familiar, but dangerous voice.
“Well, well, well…! Look who’s dropped by…!”
Lakshman opened his eyes swiftly and stared, in shock, at the figure of the Calamity Titan standing in front of him. He had not changed at all and appeared to be look just as he did ten years before Lakshman and his wives had gone into sleep due to Frozen Time barrier spell.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen something scary…!” said Calamity Titan with a wide grin on his face as he put heavy emphasis on the last word.
“Calamity Titan!” Lakshman shouted and he clenched both of his fists tightly while gritting his teeth at the same time.
Calamity Titan saw this and began to laugh in his hysterical way that was frightening. Lakshman could not believe he was facing him before quickly realising this was just an illusion, but set to be more realistic to make it tougher.
“Damn…! I know it’s an illusion, but I can’t stand the very sight of him…!” thought Lakshman angrily.
Calamity Titan calmed down and slowly said, “Well then… Let’s get started!”
The moment he finished speaking, he began surging with power while radiating violet aura that surrounded him. The surging of power sent a wave of powerful wind towards Lakshman and buffeted him for a moment as the tension in the air became to thicken. The dark power that radiated out of the Calamity Titan, flowed out in all directions and seemed to cast a shadow onto the battlefield.
Lakshman began surging with power as he shouted, “I’m not afraid of you!”
He powered up and going through a transformation twice, he quickly reached the Phoenix Titan: Burst form. His transformation caused a wild flow of wind to blow in all directions and caused the Calamity Titan to widen his eyes. In this form, he was far more powerful than he ever was before with random lighting bursts happening all around him as he continued to radiate golden-red aura that surrounded him.
Calamity Titan saw him transform and was momentarily surprised before saying, “Let’s go this already!”
Lakshman nodded and shouted, “Yeah!”
He was the first to make his move and he rushed at his opponent while Calamity Titan just stood there with a wide grin on his face. The moment Lakshman reached him, he began to lash out his fists and legs at incredible speed towards his enemy. Reacting to this, Calamity Titan began avoiding all of his close combat strikes and made it look easy to mock his enemy.
“Take me seriously!” shouted Lakshman angrily.
After delivering one final punch that got blocked by his enemy’s hand, Lakshman leapt back and quickly gathered energy. With the energy ball formed, he brought his hands forward and unleashed a powerful blue wave of destruction that soared straight at his opponent.
The wave of destruction headed straight towards Calamity Titan and created a deep groove in the ground in the process. Lakshman expected Calamity Titan to dodge or avoid it in some way, but he strangely just stood there with a broad grin on his face. He watched as the Calamity Titan raised his hand and just like that, stopped the attack from reaching him.
For a moment, there was a struggle in the force of the energy and Lakshman attempted to push it forward, but he soon realised it would not work. He was right and a second later, the wave of destruction got destroyed. There was violet flash of light from the explosion that caused Lakshman to quickly raise his hands over his eyes to cover himself for dear life. Once he reopened them, he was surprised to see the place they were at was utterly destroyed.
“It destroyed the place, but it couldn’t touch him? Damn…!” he thought unhappily.
As the smoke cleared, the Calamity Titan came in to clear view and he was still wearing the same broad grin on his face.
“I suppose that’s a different kind of Positron Wave, I believe? I must admit, I’m… disappointed.” said the Calamity Titan and he suddenly looked upset. “I thought that you might’ve used a really powerful technique, but oh well… Can’t expect for everything, right…?”
As he flashed a smile at him, Lakshman widened his eyes in shock and slowly said, “You… bastard…!”
“Right… Now then, I believe it’s my turn and I’m going to enjoy this,” said the Calamity Titan and his grin broadened.
Lakshman surged with power once more and he prepared himself to defend against this powerful enemy.
For a moment, the Calamity Titan just stood there and remained silent with his hair falling down to throw a shadow over his eyes. Then, he flashed his eyes at Lakshman and shocked him as the air suddenly became intense with pressure. At the same time, the Calamity Titan charged towards Lakshman at high speed.
The Calamity Titan reached him and delivered a powerful punch at Lakshman, who quickly blocked it with a hand. However, he did not react in time to block the second blow that was delivered into his gut, shocking him in the process. After that, Calamity Titan began beating the crap out of him at a rapid speedy close combat fighting style with just the use of his fists.
Lakshman defended himself the best he could, but his enemy’s speed was too great and he soon began taking extreme amount of damage. The Calamity Titan suddenly raised his fists over Lakshman’s face and brought them down hard onto his enemy’s head. From the force of the impact, Lakshman was smashed onto the ground heavily that caused the ground to shake from the impact.
The dust cleared to show Lakshman lying face down on the ground with his fists clenched. His body ached terribly from the powerful blows that the Calamity Titan delivered at him, which he could not believe.
“Damn…! He’s a lot stronger than I last remember…! I doubt I can beat him like this…!” he thought quietly to himself as he lay there.
The Calamity Titan, however was not through with him just yet and he used his magic Levitation to raise Lakshman’s beaten body into the air to hover in front of him. Lakshman stared at his enemy as blood slowly came out of the wounds that he received from the blows.
“Look how the mighty Phoenix Titan had become…! Haha!” said the Calamity Titan while letting out a mirthless laughter. Once he calmed down, he said, “Seriously, though! I am disappointed! I know that destruction will follow with the unlocking of the last seal, but I was hoping you would’ve broken it by now. Anyway… I believe it’s time you become history!”
Without a word of warning, he pierced his right hand straight through Lakshman’s chest to grab at his heart. Lakshman gasped and coughed out blood as the Calamity Titan pulled is heart out a crushed it in front of its owner.
With his fading consciousness, Lakshman glared at him and thought, “Quickly… I must activate Restoration—!”
Unfortunately, he did not get the time became, at the moment, the Calamity Titan raised his left hand and held it in front of him. For a moment, dark energy began gathering there and Lakshman slowly widened his eyes in shock at what was going to happen.
The Calamity Titan grinned and said, “Goodbye forever, loser! Dark Annihilator!”
There was a large purple wave of destruction that was launched and it quickly consumed Lakshman in one whole. It began to expand to grow bigger and bigger before finally reaching the full size of the place they were at. There was a mighty bang of explosion that, if it had happened in real life, forests, trees, mountains and lakes could have been destroyed.
***
Lakshman opened his eyes and breathed quickly in shock as he returned to reality. He was still standing in the same spot as he had stepped in before, but the shock of what happened in the fictional world really made him feel really scared.
“Judging from your expression, you have failed to defeat the Calamity Titan,” said the voice of Amaranda telepathically to him.
He quickly resumed his normal breathing pattern and said, “Yeah… I couldn’t… touch him…!”
“Of course. That is understandable, considering you have been limited to only fifty percent of your true power.”
“Not fifty percent… It’s fifty percent and ten percent more that I received from Decisive Player,” he thought, but did not bother to tell her that.
“Now, I think that was an important lesson for you to know how strong your enemy is, however… Please realise that the one you faced was just an illusion. The amount of power that he had was just the measure that I assumed he was,” she told him telepathically. “I am certain the real Calamity Titan is several times stronger than the one you just fought!”
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
He stepped out of the magic circle and looked at her, aghast from the revelation. There was no way he could have believed the Calamity Titan to be that overly powerful. This made him feel this entire battle was hopeless, but giving up was not an option for him.
“I have a duty to perform for the world… I have to save them, but I’m limited right now…!” he thought desperately and in an angry voice, he shouted, “Dammit!”
She remained silent with her arms folded as she stared at the angry expression on his face. Then, she shook her head and sighed deeply before speaking to him again.
“I suppose the thought of losing to your opponent when a lot of is riding on your shoulders is tough. I can understand that since I was made to carry the burden of the curse that I bear.”
“What? You’re cursed?”
“That’s right. All Magic Titan had been cursed by this strange power for as far as we could remember. I do not know how it came to be the curse of all the Magic Titans that originated from the High Elves. Our people believe it to be a sin of the old and the ones to carry it are burdened by the responsibility of having it. There is an old tale about how the cruse being destruction and although nothing of the sort happened, my people still believe in it.
If I remember correctly, I was still just a kid when the previous Magic Titan died. The curse got passed onto me and caused my beautiful black hair to turn silver along with receiving powers that were very different to that of the High Elves. Due to this, I was disregarded by my family, banished from the High Elves and I came to become the Magic Titan that you see before you now.”
“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” he said in a sad voice.
“That was almost 200-years-ago and I’m sure my people still fear me, but I don’t mind it anymore. After coming to understand their fear, I put myself in their shoes to understand that I’d probably be doing the same if someone else had been chosen. Thus, I live my life doing what I can to do good within the limit that I’m allowed to. I may be cursed, but I’m still a High Elf and I will carry out those beliefs for all my life.
You, on the other hand, have a more different kind of curse, which really isn’t a curse, but one that limits your power. The Calamity Titan feared you might awaken completely by the time he awakened, so he placed the Four Seals of Darkness to limit your powers. However, with your feelings and emotions, you were able to unlock all three seals within no time to acquire fifty percent of your true power.
You’ve become supremely strong and no one can beat you with the power you have right now. You have a duty much greater than I and although you are fulfilling it, you are weakening yourself. You are letting your powers weaken by your weak mentality because you lack the firm belief.”
“W-What do you mean? I’m weakening myself because of my beliefs? Is that what you’re saying?” he demanded as he appeared to be angered by such words.
“Because of your ‘weak’ beliefs,” she told him telepathically. “The Phoenix Titan that I was led to believe is a firm, strong and a calm spirited warrior who would be capable of doing lots of things in the name of freedom and justice that he represents. However, you are yet to reach such a stance and although you are limited to the power you currently have, you don’t stand up the ideal of the Phoenix Titan said to have lived in the ancient times.”
Lakshman got very angry at this and he said, “I’m not him! I’m not Ashura! I know that he’s the first Phoenix Titan, but I know next to nothing about him! He and I are totally different people, even if the reincarnation started right after his death!”
Amaranda looked at him quietly before shaking her head unhappily. She knew this was going to happen and knew something else was stopping him from accepting her reasoning. However, she was aware this weak mindset of his will doom the world because his responsibility was far greater than serving a kingdom as its king.
“I thought this might become troublesome and that’s why, I will not waste my energy and words to convince you. I will let the training show you how weak you truly are,” she telepathically told him finally.
As he watched in confusion, she extended her hand out and telepathically said, “Model Doll.”
In an instant, the magic particles appeared out of nowhere and began to form into something tall in front of her. For a moment, the magic particles gathered there to form into something that Lakshman had no idea what it was about. A few seconds later, there was a flash of light and once it vanished, Lakshman appeared to stand there.
“What the?!” Lakshman exclaimed in shock and he pointed at his copy standing in front of the Magic Titan. “W-What the hell is that?”
“This is what I created using Model Doll,” she began with her explanation. “This form takes on the physical appearance of the one it was used to copy and although it cannot be used in battle, it is the best training partner you can ask for. Its powers are equal to your own and it’s capable of doing what you can do.”
“So, in other words, it’s an exact copy of me, but it’s nothing more than a doll,” said Lakshman and he nodded in understanding as he looked at his copy, which stood there without an expression on its face. “What do you intend to do with him?”
“I want you to fight and defeat your copy to prove that your mentality is better than the mentality of the ideal Phoenix Titan.”
“I see… So, that’s what this was about…” he said as he finally understood the reason he was brought here. “So, I guess it’ll prove that my mentality is better than the mentality of the ideal Phoenix Titan?”
“Yes, but don’t expect it to be easy. This Model Doll of you possess the exact same feelings and emotions like you, but the only difference is the mentality.”
“Right… Let’s see what it can do!” said Lakshman and he flexed his hands before taking on a fighting form.
He was slightly surprised that it also took on a fighting form, but it was slightly different to his. They stood there and stared at each other while Amaranda walked away to let them fight freely. Lakshman sensed the right timing and launched himself towards his copy before a rapid battle of fists began between them.
The Lakshman copy was good as it perfectly blocked each of the real Lakshman’s blows. It attacked back at him and the real Lakshman managed to defend himself by blocking the blows from his copy. Like this, the two of them fought for a minute in close combat battle. Then, the two of them simultaneously flew away and began firing magic techniques at each other using Stone Bullets, Water Jet Stream and Earth Strike.
They both proved to be evenly matched, but that was not accurately true. The copy appeared to be doing a better job at controlling its powers than Lakshman, who was swayed by his mindset on how to fight his opponents. This made itself apparent by their next clash of fists.
The real Lakshman was suddenly punched in the face by his copy and got blasted backwards. He stood there against the door as he slowly recovered and when he looked at his copy, he widened his eyes and got out of the way, just in time to avoid the knee that had been aimed directly at his face.
Getting away safely, Lakshman quickly gathered the energy and launched it at his copy, who had turned towards him. He did not get out of the way and instead, extended his right hand out before activating the magic spell.
“Maga Distrab,” said the quiet voice of the Lakshman’s copy, which was the exact voice of the real Lakshman.
As the energy flew at him, it suddenly got dispersed into millions of particles in an instant. Lakshman was shocked beyond belief the copy had used a technique that he had decided on not using due to its ability to counter almost all energy techniques.
“N-No way…! It used Maga Distrab?!” the real Lakshman exclaimed in shock.
He was so shocked that he completely missed his copy rush up towards him until it was too late. The Lakshman copy delivered ten rapid blows to the real Lakshman’s gut and then landed an uppercut at his jaw. As he slowly flew in to the air in slow motion, the copy Lakshman quickly caught up with him and slammed his elbow across the real Lakshman’s face and sent him hurtling down smash on the building floor, causing dust to rise into the air.
The dust slowly cleared to bring the view back to normal and revealed Lakshman to slowly rising to his feet. He was not wounded the slightest bit, even though he took powerful punches to the body. It amazed at him and it made him wonder why that was happening, which was explained by Amaranda.
“There is a barrier around the training room that transfers all damage taken into your mind, making it all seem illusionary. However, do remember that a powerful blow from the copy is capable of knocking you out.”
“I see…” the real Lakshman said slowly as he eyed his copy. “In any case, I’m not done yet!”
“I’m sure you are not, but I can’t stay here all the time,” said Amaranda telepathically and she suddenly vanished from the room.
“Huh? Hold on! How am I supposed exit then because I believe the door’s locked!” he shouted quickly.
“It is so as to stop you from escaping from here. No matter, it will open when you finally defeat your copy. So, good luck and do your best,” said the telepathically voice of Amaranda, who stood on the other side of the room, which was on the outside.
“Great… Just great…” he said slowly and he turned his attention towards his copy. “Fine…! You want me to prove that my belief is strong? Then, I will!”
With the shout, he transformed into the Phoenix Titan: Burst form and he readied himself for battle. To his surprise, his copy also transformed into the Phoenix Titan: Burst form and it also readied for the battle.
“Interesting…!” the real Lakshman said and a small smile formed on his face.
The two of them stared at each other before lunging at each other to resume their battle to determine who was right and wrong in a clash of ideals and beliefs.
----------------------------------------
Author's Note
I know people might be feeling annoyed at Lakshman with the way he currently is, but I'm excited by the prospect of his change over into something great in the next few chapters to come!