Lakshman breathed out a sigh of relief, but he made sure to check his surroundings one last time before deactivating Elemental Sight.
With the completion of the battle, he returned to his base form along with the return of his short slightly spiky hair, just as Tetra and Silvera transformed into their human forms in a flash of light. The next moment, they were hugging him tightly from either sides with great smiles on their faces. They were really happy and glad, which he could sense with his Elemental Sense as he patted them on the head.
“We did it! We did it!” Silvera kept saying happily while hugging him tightly.
“That was amazing, Lucky! Combining the powers of light and darkness to cut down that thing. Really superb!” Tetra complemented him in a bright voice.
“I suppose that’s true in a sense, but the main credit goes to the two of you. All I, Phylex and Draga did was destroy its main body to reveal its core. Even then, we couldn’t have destroyed the core due to it using this twisted darkness power to shield itself.”
“Which is where we came in handy,” said Tetra with a small smile on his face.
“Yes and I’m grateful for that. Thank you, Tetra… Silvera…” he said softly and he hugged them back.
For a few seconds, they remained airborne while hugging each other happily, but that interrupted by Draga as he loudly cleared his throat. The sound it made was so loud that it almost felt like a roar in their ears.
“Excuse me for interrupting, but would you pause it for a moment? You’re wives are worried about you!” Draga told him telepathically.
“My thoughts exactly, master. I can sense the fear gripping the hearts of your wives from over there,” said Phylex telepathically.
“Yeah, I know. I can sense it too,” said Lakshman with a nod of his head.
He separated from Tetra and Silvera much to their sadness before flying towards the Eternal Turtle. The feeling he was sensing from the place where his wives and the Manjuvad Demon Clan had gathered was indeed filled with worry.
Turning to Tetra and Silvera, he asked, “Did the two of you explain what’s going on when you came to me?”
Silvera shook her head and Tetra said, “Not really. We just said that you called for us before coming to you.”
“Ah. That explains it,” he said before letting out a sigh.
It seemed that Tetra and Silvera did not tell his wives that he wanted to use them for their powers. Due to being told such vague words, the girls became very worried. For all they knew, he could’ve been in danger and all they did was stay there following his firm instructions.
“Looks like I’m in trouble…” he muttered as they all landed on the Eternal Turtle’s back.
In front of them was a building with a barrier placed around it, but it got lifted upon their arrival. The next moment, Erza, Ondine and Cantia, who was in her humanoid cat form, rushed towards him while Venezuela and Emilia slowly walked towards him. When they reached him, they leaped into his arms and he caught them before stumbling backwards and falling back due to the force of their impact.
Hitting the ground, he winced and said, “Ouch! You didn’t jump into my arms! When will you three learn to hug me the normal way?”
He was startled when he saw them hugging him tightly with their eyes closed while letting off a heavy load of worry into the air. This feeling was intense and it made him realise just how worried they were about his safety. It made sense considering a lot of battle ensued and they had no idea what was going on other than being only able to sense the battle taking place on the outside.
“You left us and went out charging into battle on your own again! Do you know how worried we were?” Venezuela told him sternly with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.
While patting Erza, Ondine and Cantia, he looked up at them and said, “Yeah. Sorry…”
Emilia came to his defence and said, “Vena, it’s alright now. Nothing bad has happened and Lucky is totally fine.”
Venezuela rounded on her and asked, “How can you be fine with this? He practically ordered us into defended ourselves and he didn’t even bother to leave an explanation as to what was going on…!”
“He was just in a hurry… There was no time to explain the details. I’m sure that was the case,” said Emilia quickly.
“Okay. Fine. That’s understandable, but Erza couldn’t hold it! She was practically crying her heart out at the thought that her beloved might die! Seeing that, how am I supposed to not get angry at him as his wife?!” Venezuela demanded irritably.
Lakshman widened his eyes in surprise and he quickly checked on Erza, whose hair was a mess. Her eyes were very red and she wore a miserable expression on her face. Staring at him, more tears gushed out and she sniffed before going back to hugging him tightly. It was as if she did not want to let him go again.
“Erza…” he said weakly at seeing his wife crying over him.
Venezuela sniffed and said, “Emilia, I can understand that you have great faith in him and I also do, but… Sometimes, I feel that we should be informed about the things going on. We’re his wives and the definition basically means that we’re all a part of each other!”
Emilia looked at her coolly and said, “Yes, I know. After all, you were silently crying as well. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be those crying marks on your face.”
“Eh?” Venezuela said in surprise and she quickly sniffed before wiping her face. “I’m not crying! I’m… I…” Hesitating for a bit, she turned towards the building and said, “I’ll go and check out if there are any injuries.”
With that, she quickly walked away while doing her best to wipe the tears off her face. Lakshman watched her go and he blinked in surprise before looking up at Emilia.
“Emilia, explain to me what happened,” he said and she nodded once.
“Well, after that rather massive explosion from earlier, we couldn’t sense your life energy anymore. I and Sumara surmised that it was simply that our sensing ability is being interfered by the cluster of energy. I, Sumara, Tetra and Silvera were confident you were alive and are winning However, the others didn’t think like that and ended up giving in to their feelings. Ondine and Cantia became enraged at the thought that you had died while Erza broke down into tears. Vena was also crying, but tried her best to not show it because of her character.
Then, Tetra and Silvera said you were calling for them and they quickly left without saying anything. This angered Vena greatly and that’s why, she her anger out on you. So, don’t feel too bad since she was just feeling very frustrated at being powerless to help you and then being let out while being told nothing.”
“Ah. That makes sense,” said Lakshman with a smile and he turned to look at Tetra and Silvera standing at his side.
Seeing him looking at them, they widened their eyes and together said, “Are you blaming us?”
“I’m not blaming you or anything here. I just realised how critical the situation would’ve been if I hadn’t called for your help. I mean, what great victory would help me when I my own wives became like this?” he said and he gestured towards Erza, Ondine and Cantia. “I’m fighting to keep you all safe and happy from danger while fulfilling my duties as the Phoenix Titan. All I want to see is you girls smiling happily, not crying like this.”
Erza sniffed and hiccupped before looking up at him and saying, “I-I’m sorry I’m… I’m like this, but… but I just couldn’t… I just couldn’t stand… I won’t like it…”
She was crying once again as she struggled to form words with the grave wave of emotions colliding inside her. Lakshman looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes and he became worried at seeing his wife crying like that. He sighed before finally doing what any normal husband would have done in that situation.
He grabbed her tightly around the shoulders and looked at her with a serious expression on his face. As he brought her closer to him, she opened her just as he planted a kiss on her lips. Her eyes widened to the maximum in surprise as he a passionate kiss on her lips.
“Ah!” Tetra and Silvera exclaimed in surprise.
“Oh my!” Emilia said before she clutched her mouth with her hand.
Ondine and Cantia watched him kissing her with their jaws dropped in shock.
After that, he separated from her and looked at her with a smile on his face while she looked back at him with a totally confused expression on her face.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Thank you for worrying about me, Erza,” he said softly, but it carried the happiness he felt on the inside.
“Ah…? Ah…? Ah…?”
Erza stammered for words as she stared at him and for a moment, her eyes appeared to be swirling out of control. She began to blush deeply until finally, her emotions hit he maximum meter and a great cloud exploded out of her head. The next moment, she was knocked out and her body slowly fell backwards, but he quickly grabbed her in surprise.
“Erza? Erza! Erza!”
He called her name repeatedly while gently shaking her body, but it was no use. She was completely and utterly knocked out from her emotions being overloaded from feeling so strongly about it.
“Um…”
Lakshman had no idea what to do, so he leaned her body on him just as his wives began talking to him.
“H-H-How could you kiss her like that?!” Silvera exclaimed in a shocked voice as he clutched her cheeks with her face.
“Huh? I shouldn’t have done it?” he asked in a surprised voice.
“No. That was quite the manly thing you just did, so it’s wonderful,” said Emilia with a happy smile on her face.
“Still! K-Kissing in public is just… just…!”
Silvera could not finish her sentence due to feeling unstable with her feelings, but Tetra began patting her on the shoulder with a hand. Tetra was also greatly surprised by his action of kissing Erza, but unlike Silvera, she understood that he did it to cheer her up.
“Public?” Lakshman asked and he blinked in surprise. Then, he looked at his two familiars and said, “There are only two familiars and they don’t give a damn about it.”
Earlier, when he kissed Erza, both Phylex and Draga looked away as they understood about decency.
Lakshman sighed and said, “Fine. You two, thanks for your help earlier. I’ll call you again later… whenever…”
“Sure. There’s no point hanging around a husband and his troubled wives,” Draga said before disappearing in a flash of light.
“Understood and good luck, master,” Phylex said to Lakshman before disappearing like Draga.
“Damn… I’m even receiving support from my familiars!” Lakshman said before laughing out loud.
“This isn’t funny!” Silvera said uncomfortably. “We’re riding on the Eternal Turtle! Remember?”
“So what? The Eternal Turtle doesn’t care about it. Right?” Lakshman asked and he raised his voice at his question.
“GGGOOOOAAAAA!!!” replied the loud voice of the Eternal Turtle.
“See! He doesn’t care!” Lakshman said before winking at her.
“Ah…! That’s not the point!” Silvera said indignantly.
“Lucky, she’s just feeling jealous that you left her out,” Emilia said shrewdly and she turned a curious eye on Silvera.
“Yeah. I realised that too,” said Lakshman with a knowing smile on his face.
Silvera stepped back at seeing his expression before she was firmly grabbed by the shoulders. Looking around, she was surprised to see Tetra standing there with a smile on her face.
“T-Tetra… What are you…?”
“I think it’s alright to want one, right? I mean, he’s our husband and you’re his wife,” she said with a cheeky smile on her face.
“N-No…!” she cried out and attempted to free herself, but Tetra held her firmly.
“Um… Somehow, this situation makes me feel bad…” said Lakshman with a raised eyebrow.
Just then, he felt a nudge to his side and he saw Ondine looking at him with an imploring eyes.
“C-Can I…?” she asked while Cantia also looked at him with the same exact expression on Ondine’s face.
He finally sighed and energetically said, “Fine! Let’s do this!”
***
A while later, Lakshman woke up to find himself lying in bed surrounded by his wives. They were covered by a large blanket and he remembered what had happened. After exchanging kisses, he and his wives entered the bed and had a passionate time together. Now, they all slept from the exhaustion, except for him due to him possessing more energy than them.
“Makes me wonder how the other husbands around the world behave with their wives. I know dad was rather strict and sharp with mum before her second pregnancy made him become soft on her. Mmm… I think it might be embarrassing if I ask them if what I’m doing is right or wrong, but it looks like my wives aren’t upset about it.”
As he thought about his parents, he had this strange empty sensation in his heart. It was a strange feeling that he could not explain with words, but he reasoned it was just him feeling lonely from missing them. He did miss his parents greatly and he worried what might have happened to them after he and his wives disappeared for ten years.
“Ten whole years… I wonder how they are doing right about now… I think my sister’s would probably be around fifteen years right about now… Wow. It won’t be long before they come off age when they turn sixteen and start looking after themselves. I wonder if my parents could easily let them go like they did with me.”
With such thoughts, he got out of bed and quickly changed into clothes. Luckily, he still had his Item Box that he always carried in his pants. He made this a habit after observing his father and the Sword Titan, Darian Ronald, carrying them in their pockets. It came in handy as he was able to change into new clothes and dumped the used clothes into the box and put it back into his pant side pocket.
He activated Sneaker and slowly walked out of the room before carefully opening the door. Turning around, he checked one last time to make sure his wives were all asleep before quietly closing the door behind him. Once outside, he used Elemental Sense to detect what everyone was doing and finally was satisfied to know that they were all asleep.
Walking normally, he exited the building and walked for a few minutes. As he walked, he saw through the window holes that it was night outside, a perfect time for him to do what he wanted to do. He feared that he might be stopped if they learnt of what he wanted to do, so he chose to wake up in the night to get working on his plan.
After walking for a while, he arrived outside and walked towards the stairs leading to the upper level on the Eternal Turtle. He could feel the slow movement of the Eternal Turtle below him and he was well aware that the giant turtle was aware of his presence, but was pretending to not notice him, which he was grateful for.
He arrived at the location where the training building was once located, but now was now just a pile of destroyed rubble. Extending his hands in front of him, he activated Restoration to restore the building to its original state. He tried to do it as silently as he could while creating a Silencer barrier spell around the area he was in.
Finally, the building was restored to what it originally was and he walked into it through the door. He walked for a bit until he was standing in the middle of the room before closing his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, but the air began to slowly flow around him as he slowly released his energy to surround the room with it. This was a new technique he was going to use and he did not want to be interrupted, so he was making use of his energy to create a powerful barrier around himself.
“Now then,” he said and when he opened his eyes, they had changed to red crown-shaped eyes. The next instance, he clapped his hands together and said, “Broadcast!”
In an instant, there was a flash of light and everything became white. The next moment, he found himself standing in what appeared to be a dark room that was lit from the light that he was radiating in. Through the windows that he could see through, he saw two moons hovering near each other in the darkened sky.
At that moment, he heard a familiar voice say, “You finally came…”
Lakshman turned to face the front, where he saw a figure sitting on what appeared to be a well decorated chair. In the darkness, his red glowing eyes made the person frightening to look at, but Lakshman was not afraid. Instead, he formed a small smile as he looked at the shadow figure before speaking.
“I’ve come to speak to you, Calamity Titan,” said Lakshman in a firm voice with a serious expression on his face.
“Yes. I’ve been waiting, Phoenix Titan!” the Calamity Titan said with a wide grin on his face.