“Ah… So bored…” Erza said with a heavy sigh with a dull look on her face.
“I wish they had taken us with them!” Tetra said with an annoyed look on her face. “Now, we have no clue what’s happening at the trail!”
“Relax-nyaa,” said Cantia in a, surprisingly, calm voice while eating a cake. “I’m sure they are extremely sorry, apologising to their best for dragging him and us here-nyaa.”
Erza and Tetra looked at her with raised eyebrows in surprise. Earlier, after Lakshman had left with the escort angels, she had been pacing around worriedly and refused to eat the food brought in by some angels. All of that changed, however, a few minutes back and she sat down to eat happily while they became worried as time passed.
“Really? Cause’, I was sure that, a few months ago, you were pacing around like a restless cat,” stated Tetra while Erza chuckled at the joke she included in her words.
“I was-nyaa,” admitted Cantia without hesitation, “but now, I’m fine now because I know Lucky is fine-nyaa.” She turned to smile at the confused expressions on their faces before she said, “Just call it woman’s intuition on her husband-nyaa.”
“Oh…” Erza and Tetra said slowly and they looked at each other with perplexed expressions on their faces.
“Well… As for as woman’s intuition goes, I can sense that he’s in no imminent danger,” said Tetra with a confident look on her face.
Erza looked at the two of them before she said, “I don’t sense anything.”
Tetra, who was sipping on a glass of water, suddenly spit them out before she clutched her throat while coughing roughly. Cantia, however, goggled at Erza before roaring with laugher and almost falling out of the chair she sat on. Erza stared at them and observed their reactions with mixed feelings of surprise, confusion and annoyance.
“Really?” Tetra asked finally after recovering from her coughing fit.
Erza stared at Cantia roaring with laughter before she turned to Tetra and said, “Yeah. I don’t sense whether Lucky is safe or is in danger. Is it just me that’s lacking in what you two possess?”
Tetra looked taken aback by the question and she instantly threw an annoyed look at Cantia. The humanoid cat girl was still laughing uncontrollably on the chair.
“Such arrogance; it’s hateful to see!” Tetra commented, but Cantia roared on laughing. She turned back to Erza and smiled before she kindly said, “You’re wrong in thinking that way, Erza. Remember back to the day when we felt as if our hearts were stabbed by an arrow? It was a really painful feeling to forget easily, right?”
Erza slowly nodded in understanding as she also remembered the events of that day.
It was during the time when she, Emilia, Tetra, Silvera, Cantia and Sumara were cleaning their dust filled house after being unused for ten years. When Lakshman had gone into self-destruct mode after learning of his parent’s deaths, they all felt a stabbing pain in their chest before they were warped to his location to save him from himself.
“Yeah… I felt it that day…” said Erza slowly and she, naturally, raised her hand and placed it on her chest. “It was really painful… It was as if my heart was being ripped out!”
Tetra nodded slowly with a small smile as she said, “Exactly… You felt it then and I’m sure, if something were to happen to him, you would feel it again like the rest of us! So, don’t doubt your instincts because they will create an inward doubt towards the love you feel for him.”
Erza slowly nodded in understanding and a small smile formed on her face as she said, “You’re right…” She, suddenly, turned to Cantia and asked, “Still, it leaves me wondering why you’re so confident that he’s completely fine.”
Cantia grinned at her as she finally calmed down from all the laughter she just enjoyed.
“I know because he’s here-nyaa!” she said and she cheerful smiled.
“What?!”
Both Erza and Tetra exclaimed at the same time and it was that moment that they sensed the presence of their husband approaching towards them. His approach was quick and in a matter of minutes, the front door opened and he appeared through it. The three of them smiled when, all of a sudden, their smiles vanished by the serious expression they noticed on his face.
“This isn’t good,” thought Erza worriedly. “He usually smiles, but to put on such an expression… Things are not as good as they seem.”
“Welcome back-nyaa!” Cantia said and she quickly walked to hug him.
“Yeah. I’m back,” said Lakshman in a serious voice that surprised them. While Cantia hugged him, Lakshman looked over head at the other two and said, “Get ready because we’ll be leaving for the Human Continent.”
The two girls blinked in surprise while Cantia pulled away and blinked in confusion as she asked, “What’s the matter-nyaa? Why are you so serious-nyaa?”
“Yeah, Lucky. I’ve never seen you this serious,” stated Tetra with a look of concern on her face. “Did something go wrong at the trial?”
“Yeah,” said Lakshman with a single nod of the head.
He began explaining all that had happened in the trail and with each sentence he spoke, the expressions on the girls’ faces changed. They seemed confused at first, which then changed to that of disbelief and finally, they looked shocked as the explanation came to an end.
After a few seconds of pause, Erza opened her mouth and hesitantly asked, “You… You did… what…?”
“You heard me,” said Lakshman in a wry voice. “I manhandled the Commandment of Justice like a ragdoll because of how frustrated and angry I became by what he did.” He sighed heavily and said, “Still do feel I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No way-nyaa! You did the right thing-nyaa! That sort of person deserved what he got-nyaa! Good job-nyaa!” Cantia said cheerfully in short sentences because of how happy she was with him.
“Cantia! Now isn’t the time to commend his actions!” Tetra said sharply and surprised the humanoid cat. “He’s just gone and attacked the Commandment of Justice, the leader of the Nine Commandments of Light and knowing from the past, they will come after us with vengeance!”
“We can handle them-nyaa!” Cantia said confidently, but it soon faded when she saw Lakshman shaking his head with a serious look on his face.
“No, Cantia. You can’t handle him,” he stated and Cantia instantly became crestfallen. “The nine of them are really strong, including that really lazy Commandment of Comfort. Only someone of the Emperor rank and higher is capable of fighting against them. So, for someone like Zen and other powerful warriors of the Emperor rank, they will be a challenge to deal with.”
Erza’s mouth hung in shock and Cantia looked at him with a horrified expression on her face. Tetra, who also felt similarly to them, suddenly noticed something in the way her husband had said those words. She looked at him for a moment and realised how confident he was from his posture and stance.
Noticing this, she spoke to him by asking, “You don’t seem all that worried?”
He looked at her and a small smile formed on his face, confirming what she had thought. She knew him well and knew that he would not smile like that if he knew it to be difficult. Instead, he would try and plan a way to get around it, but the aura air around him notified her of his firm belief and confidence.
“Of course. If it were the Nine Commandments of Light in the ancient times, then I really would be in trouble. A long has passed since our last meeting and I thought their manners had gotten better, but it seems they also suffered a great decrease in their power,” said Lakshman and surprised the girls.
“Hold on a second…” said Tetra slowly in a quiet voice of look of disbelief on her face. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying…?”
He nodded at her and said, “It’s as you guessed. They’re weaklings and for someone as powerful as me; they are not an obstacle. I easily manhandled that justice guy, unfortunately, it’s no difficult task to deal with the rest.”
The girls looked at him for a few seconds in silence with expressions of astonishment written displayed on their faces.
“Wow-nyaa…! That’s amazing-nyaa…!” Cantia said in awe.
“Time sure has taken its toll on those idiots,” commented Tetra as she chuckled.
Erza, on the other hand, clasped her hands together with a sad expression on her face. Lakshman noticed this and he turned to ask her, “What’s the matter, Erza? Are you not happy that I’m stronger than them?”
She shook her head lightly and looked at him before she said, “No. I’m glad you’re stronger than them, but not everyone will think that way. To us and everyone that rely on you, you’re a symbol of light and home, but that’s not the same for others. So many others fear you and with this great increase of power, you are a monster with no equal.”
“Nyaa!”
“Ah!”
Cantia suddenly got very angry by Erza’s words and she quickly walked over to drop a strong karate chop on her head. Erza clutched the top where the blow landed while making a pained expression on her face. Tetra quickly stepped in between them with her hands spread out to stop Cantia’s advance.
“How can you say that-nyaa?! How can you say that about our husband-nyaa?!” Cantia asked in a shrill voice as her eyes were filled with an angry fire of dislike.
“Cantia! Calm down!” Tetra said sharply as she grabbed Cantia by the shoulders to stop the angry humanoid cat from attacking Erza. “She didn’t mean it in the bad kind of way that you think!”
“If she didn’t mean it, then why even speak about it like that-nyaa?!” Cantia asked angrily as she turned to stare Tetra in the eyes.
Tetra understood why Cantia was upset by Erza’s words and she was also feeling discomfort with those words. At the same time, she knew them to be true, but it still hurt her to think of her husband as a monster.
Lakshman, who sensed their discomfort, smiled and said, “It’s okay. I’m already aware of it.”
He calmly walked over to help Erza to her feet. He checked her and noticed that she was a little dazed from the blow on the head, causing him to look at Cantia with a raised eyebrow.
“Still, hurting each other over something this silly is wrong,” he finished while looking unimpressed. “We’re family and she’s like your sister, Cantia. Hurting her is wrong because it’s like hurting yourself."
“B-But-nyaa! She was talking like that as if—!” Cantia said, but she was suddenly stopped by a hand raised by Lakshman.
“I am a monster,” said Lakshman simply and shocked Cantia into silence and Tetra to stare at him with an appalled expression on her face. “Anyone is if they are as strong as me, however, I have the power to make a change and I will do my best for it to happen!”
“Nyaa…” Cantia purred with a sad expression on her face as she hung her head in shame.
Tetra stared at him with a look of amazement on his face as she remembered how it was like in the ancient times.
He would constantly go out to fight battle after battle, getting stronger to fight stronger opponents in his quest to unite the world. Somewhere during the journey, he had become so strong, he stopped training with his comrades because of them viewing of him as a powerful monster with no equal. Even so, he continued to go out to do battle in order to not let down the hopes of the people riding on his shoulders.
She smiled up at her husband happily and said, “You’re still the same like you were back then.”
He smiled at her and said, “I cannot change because it’s in my blood.”
Erza slowly recovered and she looked groggily up at her husband before she said, “I’m… sorry…”
He hugged her shoulders and said, “Such words are wasted between loved ones because I know you spoke out of concern for me. It’s alright.”
“Ha…” Erza said slowly and she staggered before being caught by Cantia.
They stared at each other’s faces and Erza was slightly surprised to see the guilty expression filled in Cantia’s face. It seemed the humanoid cat felt really sorry for her actions and wanted to help the person she angry injured.
“Sorry-nyaa. Hurting family is like hurting yourself,” was the heartfelt apology said by Cantia to Erza.
The wounded girl looked at her with a small smile and still feeling dizzy, simply nodded in acceptance. Seeing this, Cantia smiled and she put more strength into supporting Erza on her feet while smiling at each other. Tetra watched them with a look of amazement on her face, but felt happy none-the-less.
Lakshman was happy, but he had pressing matters to think about and the smile quickly vanished.
“Right. We spent enough time talking and I’m sure the escort angels will be here in any minute!” Lakshman said and he stared at the closed door while his three wives looked at him with a questioning look on their faces. Looking back at them, he seriously said, “We have to leave the continent!”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Huh?!” Tetra exclaimed while the other two stared at him in shock. “Get away from here? How? I don’t believe the Phoenix Portal will work between continents and we’re not exactly outside to use the Summoning Familiars spell to summon Phylex or Draga to transport us.”
“There is a way and the time has come to use it now,” said Lakshman in a serious voice with sharp eyes.
Without saying anything more, he brought both of his hands up and clapped them together while closing his eyes at the same time. In an instant, the room was filled with an intense power as he began surging with power while radiating in golden-red aura that surrounded him. The wind began to blow faster and faster in the room and the girls staggered backwards by it while they struggled to stay on their feet.
A few seconds later, Lakshman opened his eyes sharply and released his right hand to aim it in front of him as he said, “Transverse Portal!”
He channelled his energy and the power got released to activate a spell, making the wind flow towards a point in front of where he stood. The wind began to circulate in a circular motion and a moment later, lightning began to erupt around it before a black space appeared in the hole as a portal opened.
As the portal opened, the door opened and the angel escort entered with Atem leading at the front.
“Phoenix Titan! What are you…?!” Atem began to ask in a sharp voice as he sensed the power build up inside the room.
When he noticed the black hole in the room when Lakshman turned to face him, he instantly realised what Lakshman had planned on doing.
“You can’t leave—!” he began to shout.
“Silence!” Lakshman snapped sharply and he swirled round to glare at them sharply.
The wing suddenly rushed towards the escort group and they were shocked by how powerful it was. A moment later, they suddenly found themselves frozen where they stood and they attempted to move their bodies, but they quickly found that it was useless.
Atem had a fixed expression on his face as he stared at Lakshman and it was then that he noticed the Phoenix Titan’s eyes, which had a golden glint to them. He felt the same kind of overwhelming power from earlier when Lakshman spoke to him while automatically releasing his power.
“Girls. Get going,” said Lakshman without looking at them. “I’ll follow after you.”
Cantia immediately nodded her head in agreement and together with Erza supported on her shoulders, walked towards the portal. The moment they got near it, the two of them got sucked into it by a sucking force. Tetra looked at Lakshman facing the escort angels before following after the girls and got sucked in like them.
Lakshman looked at Atem’s frozen expression and made a small smile in appreciation.
“Thank you very much for escorting, but its time I leave before I cause more trouble.”
Saluting with his right hand in a stylish manner, Lakshman turned around and walked towards the black circling hole. Just as he was about to sucked in, however, he felt something grab his arm tightly. As he slowly turned, he saw a white hand grab his arm and he had enough time to register that it was Atem, who seemed to have created an illusionary third hand that was stretching to grab Lakshman’s arm.
The next moment, Lakshman felt himself get sucked into the black hole and everything went dark. A second later, he appeared standing outside in an open space land and meters in front of him was his house. After noticing his wives slowly walking towards the house, he turned around to see the shadow of Atem as he was shadowed by his bright Angel Glow.
“I’m assigned to escort you and I will not let you get away that easily!” Atem said sharply as he gripped Lakshman’s arm firmly with his physical hand than the illusionary hand he had cast earlier.
Lakshman stared at him with an expression of amusement before he casually asked, “Was the technique, you used just now, called Angel Hand?”
Atem was startled by his question and he blinked in surprise before nodding in agreement.
“Ah. I knew it. You really can use high ranked magic spells, despite being a blue winged angel,” complemented Lakshman with a bright smile on his face.
The angel stared at him with a look of confusion on his face because it was an unexpected reaction. The one he had expected to see was that the Phoenix Titan protests, anger or annoyance. Instead, it appeared that he was completely fine with the angel grabbing and coming along with him.
“Y-You’re not… annoyed or… anything that I’m here…?” Atem asked in a confused voice.
“Why?” Lakshman asked with a bemused expression on his face. He released Atem’s hand off him arm and said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go home.”
He began walking towards his home and Atem, startled by his sudden movement, quickly went after him with a confused expression on his face.
“Hold on a second!” Atem said as he caught up to Lakshman. “You’re not the least bit upset that I’m here?”
“Again, why?” Lakshman asked and confused Atem further. “You grabbed and followed after me on your volition because you seem to take your escort job rather seriously. So, you’re free to follow me around to fulfil your duties and report back to your authorities.”
Atem was utterly taken aback by his casualness and his jaw hung open slightly as he stared at Lakshman.
“By the way, if you don’t mind, please deactivate the Angel Glow and hide your wings. I suspect my wives will not accept your presence, not before ripping those wings out!” Lakshman said and Atem instantly became frightened.
Seeing this, Lakshman laughed and said, “I’m only joking, but seriously, make sure to do that for your own safety.”
He finished the sentence in a serious tone and caused the blue winged angel to look confused.
“Um… I don’t mean to be rude, but… um… are your wives… scary…?” Atem asked nervously as he had expected the wives of the Phoenix Titan to be nice, kind and gentle women.
“Did you expect them to be like that after all that’s happened several hours ago?” Lakshman asked as he referred to the angel messengers that visited him in his house with the message about his trail.
“Ah. That makes sense,” replied Atem and he nodded in understanding.
While walking towards the house, Atem placed his right hand on his chest and began muttering words in a different language. Lakshman, hearing the words, but not correctly understanding, believed it to be words spoken in the Angel Language.
Once the incantations were complete, there was a flash of light before it dimmed and revealed Atem to have lost both his wings and glow. Lakshman stared at him up and down, impressed by how easily the angel managed it.
“I assume you used Wings Out and Glow Out?” Lakshman asked and Atem nodded with a look of surprise on his face.
“Did you, perhaps, understand the incantation I used?” Atem asked and Lakshman shook his head.
“I tried, but you spoke a lot quicker than what I would’ve enjoyed listening to comfortably,” joked Lakshman with a smile. “I did, however, guess what spells you used by their effects.”
Smiling at Atem, Lakshman turned back to face towards the house they were quickly approaching. Atem, on the other hand, continued to stare at Lakshman with a curious expression on his face. Thus far, he had been impressed by the Phoenix Titan in almost everything he did during their interaction, including the manhandling of the Commandment of Justice.
Walking for a bit, they reached the house and Lakshman told Atem to wait outside for his introduction. Atem was a little taken aback as he was keen to meet the wives of the Phoenix Titan, but he agreed anyway.
“Before you enter, please be mindful to watch the queen’s feelings,” suggested Atem and surprised Lakshman as he realised he was referring to Venezuela.
“What do you mean?” Lakshman asked quietly, but Atem shook his head silently and he gestured towards the entrance as if he was confident the Phoenix Titan would find out on his own.
Lakshman entered the house and instantly thought something was wrong by the gloomy aura that hung in the air. It only took him a second to look toward the couches at the front to see his wives, who were all seated in them. As he continued to look, he noticed the gloom was emitting out of Venezuela and it startled him.
She appeared to be sitting with her head down while Ondine and Emilia sat on either side of her. The two of them appeared to be trying to console her the best that they could with soft words. Meanwhile, his twin sisters, Indira and Priya, sat around her with Silvera. Sumara, along with Erza, Cantia and Tetra was standing and informed them of the situation and their faces darkened from what they learnt.
He slowly walked forward and the sound of his footsteps caught the attention of all of them, except Venezuela. Ondine and Emilia suddenly looked mightily relieved as if the burden of consoling Venezuela had lifted off her shoulders. Sumara and Silvera turned to look at him and smiled before they turned to be filled with looks of sadness.
“Annayya!”
“Anna!”
The twins said as they rose to their feet, surprised to find him be with them.
“Lucky,” said Ondine and Emilia at the same time as they rose to their feet.
That name sparked the gloom to suddenly dissipate and gave her the energy to lift her head. Lakshman was shocked to see how tear filled her face was and more tears continued to stream down those reddened eyes.
“Lucky…” whispered Venezuela slowly and she slowly rose to her feet while staring at him.
Lakshman blinked in surprise and began to ask, “Vena? What’s the—?”
Before he could finish his question, Venezuela rushed forward at high speed and hugged him tightly. That action from her took him by surprise because Venezuela always hugged him while retaining her dignity and pride of a queen. So, the fact that she had rushed forward to hug him without carrying about the rules she set, shocked Lakshman mightily.
She began crying her heart out on his shoulders and there was no end to how loud it was. He attempted to calm her down, but he realised it would take a lot more effort for it to happen. Becoming frustrated, he forcefully knocked her out and handed her over to Ondine and Emilia to put her to bed. He was unhappy to hurt her like that, but he realised that sleep was the only solution to settle her down.
He watched as, with the help from Indira and Priya, Venezuela was carried upstairs to bed. Once they were gone, he turned to the other girls with an expression of utmost fury on his face. It had been a long time since they saw such an expression on his face and it slightly frightened them. Sumara was even more surprised because it was her first time seeing him make such a furious expression.
“Tell me what exactly caused her to cry like this!” Lakshman asked in a sharp voice with narrowed sharp eyes.
They remained silent and turned their heads to look at one another. It seemed that all of them were deciding on what to do through eye contact. He looked around at them and got very frustrated by the delay.
“Tell me!” he said in a commanding voice and they winced by his sharp voice.
Sumara looked around at them and noticed that they were feeling very nervous to speak. So, she decided to speak and she sighed heavily in resignation.
“It turns out that Vena’s father, the previous king, appears to have an illegitimate son,” she informed and Lakshman widened his eyes in shock.
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Author's Note
Hello everyone and thank you for reading this chapter. It took me a few days before writing this chapter because I had been really busy that kept my very tired. Still, I managed to squeeze in two days to get this done before christmas. So, I hope that you like it and will continue to see more as the story continues! Until next time, have a merry christmas!
On a side note, I managed to make another AMV and it turned out to be REALLY INTENSE!!! I didn't expect that it would turn out so well, but I kept going and it turned out to be pretty awesome! It is my method of getting an inspiration in writing battle scenes and all. So, I hope that you really like it as much as me!