“Where are they?!”
“Where are they?!”
“Where are they?!”
Many voices kept repeatedly shouting the same dialogue over and over again in a loud volume. Their voices, filled with worry and discomfort, constantly seeking out certain people inside a certain castle.
Inside the Floria Kingdom castle, everyone was rushing around desperately in search of certain person.
“Have you found Felix?”
“Where’s the Phoenix Titan?!”
“Lucky! Lucky!”
“Ondine! Lucky! Where are you?”
“Has anyone found the Phoenix Emperor?!”
“Where in the world are they?!”
Voices asked, voices demanded, voices inquired and voices shouted desperately, constantly on the search for those three people. The worry and the desperation shown clearly on the faces of the people running around, rushing everywhere to find out where those three have gone to.
While everyone was searching for them, seven women sat down facing the large garden behind the castle. Their faces were filled with a deep concern for those people as no one seemed to remembered what happened during the time the entire kingdom had simultaneously awakened from sleep.
Venezuela, Erza, Emilia, Sumara, Tetra, Silvera and Cantia instantly went to check up on their sleeping husband, Lakshman Reddy, hopping that he had awakened. Instead., he found his bed empty along with a deeply worried twin sisters and their family maid. Then, they found Dominic desperately searching for Felix, who had used a powerful amplification spell to put everyone in the kingdom to sleep.
Now, the seven Destiny Queens sat, looking deeply worried while staring blankly at the beautiful garden. Even the cool breeze of the wind did not stir them from their disposition.
“Where are they-nyaa?” Cantia asked helplessly with a really sad expression on her face.
In response, the wind began to blow faster and faster until it became wilder. Their clothes began to flap due to the wind and they instantly held their clothes together as the wind blew rapidly in the vicinity. A moment later, a huge shadow fell over them and they slowly looked up to see the huge body of a flying bird.
Venezuela instantly recognised who it was and she automatically shouted, “Phylex!”
The Eternal Phoenix slowly descended from the sky while flapping its powerful wings, causing the wind to be blown wildly. A few seconds later, it landed heavily and almost collapsed onto its side, but it seemed to use its wing to hold itself steady as if it was injured.
As the girls rose up and rushed towards it, a light ball of energy rose from its back and gently lowered to the ground. The light glow vanished just as they reached the spot that it landed at and revealed two people inside it.
“Ondine!”
“Lucky!”
The girls cried out in delight when they saw two of their important family members, but their happiness quickly faded away. It was replaced with worried looks on their faces as they stared down at Lakshman, who was lying face up with a pained expression on his face. His entire body was covered with what appeared to be vertical lights that kept changing colours.
“Ondine!” Venezuela quickly demanded in a sharp voice at seeing the pained expression on her husband’s face. “What happened?!”
“Yeah! Where’s Felix?!” Emilia asked in a concerned voice.
“What happened to Lucky?” Sumara demanded furiously.
Ondine, who appeared to be winded, remained sitting there with a look of discomfort covering her face. She did not speak and this agitated the girls even more.
While blinking at her in surprise, Tetra asked her, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“That’s right! What happened to Lucky?” Silvera asked finally with a panic stricken look on her face.
Once again, Ondine did not say anything, but just stare only at the unconscious Lakshman. The sleeping Phoenix Titan continued to make moans and groans with a pained look on his face while the vertical lights continued to change colours all the time.
***
After waiting for around a minute, Lakshman sighed and said, “Finally… He’s gone… Huh?”
He made a surprised sound at the end of his dialogue because of something that was happening in front of him. Spiritual lights began to gather a few meters away from him. They seemed to be forming into a solid object of the sort with the amount gathering there.
Startled and slightly fearful, Lakshman muttered, “No way… He’s returning…?”
In response, the God Slayer sword in his hand telepathically spoke to him in his mind.
“No.”
“Huh?” he said in surprise from her simple reply.
A few more minutes later, there was a flash of light and once it vanished, a transparent body of Lakshman appeared. The actual Lakshman was taken by surprise at suddenly seeing a transparent version of himself standing in front of him.
The transparent Lakshman slowly lifted his head and upon laying his eyes on the actual Lakshman, he formed a small smile on his face. He slowly lifted his right hand and holding his palm out vertically, held it out towards the actual Lakshman, surprising him in the process.
The actual Lakshman, who was quite taken aback at seeing this strange development, raised his sword in defence because he thought it might be dangerous.
Just then, he heard the voice of the God Slayer sword say in his mind, “Go on… Extend…”
“Huh?!” Lakshman exclaimed in a surprised voice at suddenly realising what the sword wanted him to do. “You want me to do what?!”
“It is time…” the sword said in his mind telepathically. “You must resume your form… You must…”
Lakshman hesitated a moment longer thinking that this might be some sort of trap when he suddenly remembered what happened a moment earlier. If it were not for the God Slayer sword, he would be truly gone for good. No matter how strong his words had been, it really would have been the end for him if it had not been for the timely assistance of the God Slayer sword.
“Fear not, for this is your revelation,” said the God Slayer sword’s voice in his mind reassuringly. “It is time your powers return to you.”
Lakshman hesitated a moment longer, but realised that his Elemental Sense did not detect any lies from the voice.
“Fine,” he said simply and he let go of the sword.
It momentarily surprised him that the sword, instead of falling, hovered in mid-air. He shifted his attention to the transparent form of himself and stared at him cautiously. The transparent Lakshman stared back with the same fixed smile on his face as he continued to hold his right hand out with his palm vertically put together.
He took three steps forward and held his own right hand out carefully. It was shaking slightly because he was being very cautious, in case something bad might happen if he ever dropped his guard. He slowly edged his hand towards the transparent hand held opposite to his. As he neared it, he paused momentarily and took a deep breath before releasing smoothly and making contact.
The moment that both hands touched, actual Lakshman’s eyes widened with shock as a flash of light enveloped his surroundings. In an instant, he suddenly found himself in a world of darkness where no light could penetrate.
The next moment, flashes of images, a chain of events and a world of memories began to flash past him. His eyes remained wide as he looked on in shock as memories after memories flowed into him at high speed.
The images flashing past and into him were images of someone who looked exactly like him. It started from the image of a baby being held in the arms of a powerful and respectful looking man. The images to glow after it showed the growth of the baby into a fine young kid. Another image appeared and it showed the young kid holding a baby, who appeared to be his younger brother.
Image after image flashed past him, showing the bond shared by the father, mother, young kid and their new born baby. Then, an image appeared where the parents were killed by their enemies in front of the young kid, who was clutching his baby brother with a shocked expression on his face.
The next to follow were scenes that made it feel like it was being watched from a third-perspective point of view. Scene after scene followed as if it was happening right there and then, but it really did happen in the past. It was the past untold story of what had happened during Lakshman’s first incarnation as the first Phoenix Titan, Asura Rangavardan.
***
The scene of his birth, the scene of his happy time with his family, the scene of him holding a baby boy, who was his newly born younger brother. The family moment out for a walk, which was broken by the parents’ deaths at the hands of their enemies. The scene of his first transformation, the awakening of his powers and his first kill by killing the killers of his parents.
The scene shifted to several years into the future to show that Asura to have grown into a powerful looking young man. Standing beside him was his younger brother, whose appearance is exactly like that of the Calamity Titan. Both fighting together to conquer the world with the Phoenix Clan, ultimately making Asura the ruler of the world.
The scene moved forward to the time when Asura fought against the gods to test his powers. This was the time when he was defeated by the God of Justice, Sangrahan and received Divine Protection from various other gods for his bravery and valour. It was also here that he received the blessing of reincarnation for his firm beliefs in good and righteousness.
The scene steps forward into the time where various clans from all over the world brought their daughters to be married by Asura for support. This is where the Nine Destiny Queens caught his attention and were soon married off to him. At the same time, his younger brother also got married to a fine young woman, who looked exactly like the Demon King, Serabella. The scene lingers on the two brothers firmly shaking hands with their wives respectively standing beside them as the younger brother and wife bid farewell to the Phoenix Kingdom.
The scene shifts to several months after it, where Asura, his wives and army were fighting a mass of monsters and zombies of their previously defeated enemies. Leading this vast army of the undead was none other than the younger brother of Asura, who appeared to be surrounded by a deep violet aura with a mad expression on his face. A while later, the scene shows Asura’s wives being killed in a violet blast by his younger brother and his rage exploding onto the battle field. After a fierce battle that destroyed most of the land, the scene showed him killing his brother and stands over his dead body with tears dripping down his face filled with sadness and grief.
The scene moves forward to a time five years after those events, where Asura was wandering the world. It was here that he met the Great Ancient Evil that was created to destroy the world. Fighting it, he soon was rendered helpless as he lost both his right arm and leg. Realising his defeat, but not willing to risk the safety of the world, Asura plunged his sword into his chest and activated Self Scarification technique, which created a massive blast that drastically weakened the Great Ancient Evil. Before going to rest, however, the evil being put a powerful curse on the resurrecting spirit of the Phoenix Titan and this was where the curse took on the form of the Voice of the Phoenix.
Thus, the life and the history not revealed till now has been unlocked, the memories that were long forgotten have become known and the secrets of his past have been revealed.
***
The darkness slowly faded away and left Lakshman standing in his Unconscious Zone surrounded by beautiful flowers blooming at his feet. He was standing in the same spot as before with his hand held out towards his transparent self, which had disappeared. At the same time, he felt a massive amount of power flowing around him, surging within him along with a strange change in his disposition.
“I… remember…” he said slowly in a quiet voice with his eyes wide. “Those images… The scenes that played out as if I was there… They were—!”
“Your memory of your life as Asura Rangavardan,” said a familiar voice from behind.
He swirled around and looked surprised when he did not find the sword hovering there. Instead, he saw the form of a woman standing there smiling towards him with warm eyes. She was a tall woman with long black hair that fell down to her waist with her hands resting beside her.
“You’re…?” Lakshman slowly asked hesitantly as he felt he knew who she was.
She nodded once at him before she said, “Yes. I’m the God Slayer that saved your life in accordance to the promise I made to my master.”
“A promise?”
“That is correct. Upon seeing the curse of the Great Ancient Evil enter you and realising something terrible might happen with it inside you, my master embedded me into your spirit with a simple task to perform.”
Lakshman narrowed his eyes sharply as she paused before he asked, “What task?”
“If you ever meet, face-to-face against the Voice of the Phoenix, I am to watch you carefully. If you showed signs of weakening or giving up, I am to destroy you and the Voice of the Phoenix, letting this power flow back into my master. If you showed signs of not giving up and are losing, I am to assist you in terminating the existence of the Voice of the Phoenix.”
Lakshman did not appeared to be totally surprised as he nodded slowly in understanding.
“I see,” he said simply.
“You’re not surprised?” she asked with a surprised look on her face.
He shook his head and said, “No. Now that my memories are revealed, it makes more sense that the gods had taken some sort of precaution at that time to handle this very situation. So, it doesn’t surprise me the least to think that there was one or many gods that did think of killing me.”
“Yes, but that is only when all options were out,” said the God Slayer calmly. “My master sides with life and was not willing to allow you, who possess a great amount of power and blessings from the gods, might jeopardise the world’s safety.”
“That’s understandable,” said Lakshman with a nod of his head.
The God Slayer nodded in return and smiled as she asked, “So, do you remember the faces and similarities from the Ancient Era?”
“Yes…” he replied and he closed his eyes for a moment to think of the faces that he still sees to this day. “My parents may be different, but the same love was present. The Nine Destiny Queens, while still one short, all of them are with me right now married happily. Everyone else I met in this life time are people I never met before, but they are still important people in my life…”
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“Yes… Like the Calamity Titan and the Demon King, Serabella,” suggested the God Slayer with slightly narrowed eyebrows.
“Even so, my brother… He’s the Calamity Titan!” Lakshman said and he clenched his fists tightly as power slowly circled around him.
“He betrayed me and killed my wives back then. Now, he’s returned to cause more pain than he already caused during my time! That bastard…! Now, it makes sense why I constantly had this strange feel of hatred towards him! It’s because of what he did to my beloved wives so many years ago!”
The God Slayer sword watched him silently before “Is that what you believe?”
“Yes!” Lakshman retorted angrily with a furious look on his face. “He… He killed my parents and all those innocent peace loving people! He’s gone too far and I must destroy him again!”
He was shaking with anger and hatred towards the Calamity Titan for his past crimes. The God Slayer, however, shook her head with a sad expression on her face.
“Please… Do not feel such hatred towards your brother,” she said and startled him in the process. “He is not doing this of his own will.”
“What?!” Lakshman exclaimed in a shocked voice. “What do you mean?! Explain!”
Instead of explaining, she simply shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, but I cannot speak of it. I do, however, urge you to not hate your brother because he did not do it purposefully.”
“When you can’t explain it to me, how am I to understand?! How am I to forgive that bastard?!” he demanded angrily with his face full of anger and rage.
Strangely, she smiled at him and softly said, “In due time… You will understand…”
Lakshman was slightly surprised by her strange smile and decided it was not worth of him to get angry over. Something was wrong, he was certain of it and if what she said was true, then he was certain he will eventually come to know of what really happened in the ancient times. He could remember the days he spent together with his brother so long ago, very energetic and happy being together.
“Very well,” he finally said with a heavy sigh. “I will believe in your words as you did save my life. If your words are true and my young brother from so long ago is not as evil as he looks, then fine. I’m willing to give him one last chance!”
“A wise decision,” the God Slayer replied and she beamed at him.
He smiled at her and at that moment, everything around them began to glow brighter and brighter. It seemed the Unconscious Zone seemed to be closing and he could feel his conscious surfacing in the Physical Plane.
“Now, with my task complete, I shall return to my master’s side,” said the God Slayer with a look of satisfaction on her face.
He looked at her and saw that she was turning into particles of light as if she was disappearing. In her case, he knew that she was simply returning to the god that sent her to save him. As he watched her slowly disappearing, a question suddenly came to his mind and he opened his mouth to ask her.
“Before you go, would you mind telling me how you were able to restore my spiritual energy?” he asked her in a loud and clear voice. “Surely, the God Slayer doesn’t possess any sort of powers like that, right?”
Her smiled widened as the surrounding background began to become dazzling bright.
“An excellent question,” she remarked and she nodded in acceptance. “Very well. I shall reveal it.”
She looked around for a moment and made sure they were not being overheard by unwanted ears before speaking to him.
“With the help from the God of Life, the God of Power embedded me into your spirit,” she revealed and he blinked at her with a shocked expression on his face.
Quickly recovering from the shock, Lakshman asked, “Wait! God of Power?! What?!”
As the light became dazzlingly bright, the God Slayer disappeared with her last parting words.
“If you want to know more, talk to the God of Justice, Sangrahan.”
With the light becoming so bright that he could no longer see what was what anymore, he closed his eyes and allowed the light to consume him.
***
His conscious surfacing, he suddenly felt like his body was being shaken rather violently. It felt as if there was an earthquake taking place wherever he was. Instead of it being natural, however, he could feel several hands shaking him hard as if they were trying hard to wake him up.
“Wake up, Lucky! Wake up!”
Familiar voices said constantly in desperate voices as they continued to shake his body carelessly.
Feeling slightly annoyed, he said loudly, “S-Stop this shaking!”
Surprised by his voice, the shaking stopped and the multiple familiar voices said, “S-Sorry…”
He sighed in relief and slowly opened his eyes to the dazzling light from the energy crystals embedded in the room he was in. Lying on top of a comfortable bed, he looked up at the ceiling and blinked in surprise as he realised where he was; his room in the Floria Kingdom’s castle.
“What in the…?” he began when, all of a sudden, he felt a mass of bodies fall on him.
“We’re so glad you’re safe!”
“Y-Y-You’re awake!”
“F-F-F-F-Finally! You’re… with us!”
In crying voices, these were the words said to him from the mass of bodies hugging him tightly. He glanced downward to see the familiar faces of his wives; Venezuela, Erza, Emilia, Sumara, Tetra, Silvera and Cantia. They were tightly hugging him as if they did not want to let him go again, causing him to feel a little pain in his chest from how tightly they were hugging him.
“I’m with you, but please stop crushing me!” he blurted out in a tight voice from the pain he was feeling from their tight grip.
Hearing his words and shocked form their actions, they quickly released him and allowed him to sit down. Finally sitting upright, he rubbed his chest and looked at his tear stricken wives reproachfully.
“This is no way to treat your husband…” he told them scornfully.
“W-W-We’re… s-s-sorry…” they said almost together while sniffing simultaneously.
He looked at them and in that instant, his past memories began to rush forth like a wave. The memories of seeing their smiling faces, the triumphant moment when he finally married them all and the blissful moments they spent together while going on picnics. It was a happy time for them, a time filled with joy and bonding as they grew closer and closer as husband and wives.
All of a sudden, he suddenly felt a devastating sense of loss by the memory of his wives being killed by a mighty blast. The tragedy that he always blamed himself for not being able to save them. So, seeing them alive in front of him gave him a sense of joy and happiness like never before. It caused his heart to ache and a small tear began to trickle down his face from his tear filled eyes.
Startled to see him crying silently like that, Emilia asked him, “Lucky…? W-What’s wrong?”
Without a word, he leapt out of bed and while doing so, he muttered, “Dopler.”
In an instant, Lakshman split into eight Lakshmans and they all were leaping towards the surprised girls. The next moment, all seven girls were being hugged by seven of the Lakshmans in a tight embrace. He and his copies were hugging his wives tightly as if he was never going to let them go.
“I’m sorry,” said one copy of Lakshman and the rest began to repeat after him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
The seven Lakshman copies said the same words over and over until it soon became an echo. The girls were totally taken by surprise at him suddenly apologising. Only Tetra appeared to understand the reason behind him acting this way as she patted him on the back the best she could.
“I know,” she said quietly and surprised the other girls. “What happened that time was not your fault. Please, stop apologising because it pains me to see you like this.”
The copies of Lakshman, along with the six girls, looked towards her while blinking in surprise.
“No way… You mean…?” the Lakshman hugging her began to asked hesitantly.
She nodded at him once and said, “That’s right. I have my memories back.”
“What?!” the other girls exclaimed in shocked voices. “Your memories are back? Then, what about ours?”
Tetra turned to shake her head at them before she said, “I don’t know. I don’t even know why my memories returned, but it seems that when Lucky’s memories returned, mine were unlocked. At the same time, I feel this enormous power flowing within me like never before!”
“Your memories returned?” Venezuela asked curiously and Tetra nodded at her. “Oh. Then, explain to me what happened in the past? I feel we all deserve to know the details.”
Tetra formed a small smile on her face before she said, “Of course, but there’s not much to say.”
She took a deep breath and began to tell her story.
“I was the second wife of Asura Rangavardan and I was a Fire Spirit, but our time was short lived by unforeseen events. Anyway, after my death, the Lord of Spirits created a Sacred Weapon and embedded my spirit into it, turning me into a Sacred Spirit, the Phoenix Blade. Afterwards, I was acquired and used in battle many, many times by the reincarnating versions of Asura until now, where I feel I am in the presence of Asura himself!”
“I see,” said Silvera as she slowly nodded in understanding. “That explains why you’re capable of deactivating your sword’s sacred writing while the other Sacred Spirits cannot. Even I’m not capable of completely hiding myself or my sacred writing from unwanted eyes. It explains how you remained undiscovered for so many years!”
“That sort of makes sense,” said Venezuela with a look of understanding on her face. “It also explains about our resurrection and our memories can only return after triggering certain events. Even so, it doesn’t explain how Silvera is a Destiny Queen and a Sacred Spirit!”
“Vena… Isn’t it obvious?” Emilia asked and the girls looked at her curiously. “Silvera also went through the same process as Tetra did.”
There was a moment of shocked silence before it was broken by Silvera slowly saying, “If that so, then why don’t I have any memories of my past? Lucky unlocked all of my past memories, but why don’t I possess any of them?”
This time, it was Lakshman who said, “It’s just the case of the Lord of Spirits erasing your memories of your previous life. Being a Sacred Spirit and a Demon Slayer, the lord must’ve feared you might lose control and go on a rampage if your earlier memories were ever to be revealed.”
“That makes sense,” said Venezuela and the girls agreed with a small smiles forming on their faces. “After all, she did go on a rampage and nearly self-destructed to end her so called misery.”
Silvera suddenly looked uncomfortable as she said, “T-That was a long time—!”
“Per the time in this world, but according to the time we know, only a few year ago,” said Erza and the girls glanced at her with mocking sorrowful expressions on their faces.
Silvera made a shame faced expression and said nothing. At that moment, the eighth Lakshman caught them attention by finally speaking to them.
“I don’t mean to ruin the mood, but where’s my hugging partner?” he asked them curiously.
“Hugging partner?” the seven girls and seven copies of Lakshman asked in unison.
Lakshman deactivated the spell that was keeping his copies active, causing them to turn into light and fly into him. After successfully merging into him, he looked around at the seven girls and realised he was missing one of his wives.
“Where’s Ondine?!” he demanded in a sharp voice and his eyes narrowed.
Startled, his wives looked at each other before parting to give him a look. Looking in the direction they were looking at, he was surprised to find Ondine kneeling on the floor with head down.
“Ondine!” he cried out in a shocked voice.
He darted forward and knelt before her, holding her head up to see if she was okay. With a sigh of relief, he was satisfied to find that she was alive, okay and was looking back at him with life filled in her eyes. Looking over his shoulders, he glared angrily at his seven wives as if they did something to her.
Before he could open his mouth, however, Sumara said, “Lucky. I know what you’re thinking, but we didn’t do anything! She just sat there without saying a word of what happened after… after…”
She faltered as it became very difficult to continue speaking about the situation. Instead, she glanced towards Venezuela to take over the charge.
“What she means is… Ondine hasn’t told us what happened to you after you collapsed… After Felix bravely sacrificed his life desperately to kill that monstrous bastard Calamity Titan!” Venezuela said with a venomous look on her face.
“Felix…” Lakshman said shortly and he gasped in horror.
He remembered of the violent flash of light that destroyed a part of the Demon Continent. Of the boastful words of the Calamity Titan and then the destruction that was caused to that island and its dwellers because of the Phoenix Destroyer, the persona switch when the Voice of the Phoenix took control of him.
While gritting his teeth and clenching his fists tightly, he calmed himself the best that he could while slowly looking back at Ondine. She remained sitting with her head down while holding her legs weakly.
“Something must’ve happened to cause her to become this weak hearted!” he thought and he quickly suppressed the great wave of anger he felt towards the Calamity Titan.’
He gently grabbed her shoulders and asked her in a quiet voice, “Ondine… Tell me… What happened after I collapsed?”
Ondine remained looking down for a few seconds before she slowly lifted her head to meet him. Her eyes were quivering and her body shook with fear that she felt deep within. Realising that she was in no state to say it, he decided to use forceful means of discovering what had happened.
“Memory Dive!” he said quietly.
In an instant, he felt his consciousness dive straight into her head and it felt like he was diving in deep water. He was diving deeper and deeper to see into her recent memories; to see what had happened after he was rendered unconscious.
----------------------------------------
Author's Note
Hello my dear readers. I thank all of you for your patience in waiting for the releases. I'm currently back from holidays, but my real life just became a lot more busier than I expected. Due to this, the release between each chapter will be increased unfortunately. I am sad, really sad, the days of my speed chapter releases are now gone and I'm down to releasing one chapter in so many days that I can't guarantee. So, I deeply apologise for the slow releases, but that's just how it is. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will be patient for the next release as the story continues!