Lagron appeared to be walking through a surrounding of black swirling haze with only a white line of path leading them forward. He glanced around briefly with a bored expression on his face before he walked through the other end of the portal and found himself standing at the courtyard of the castle.

He looked around his surrounds for a moment before saying to Zen, who just made it out of the portal before it closed, “A well-built castle. Nice.”

“The people of this kingdom tried their hardest for generations to keep this kingdom high and mighty,” replied Zen with a smile on his face.

Just then, Cantia appeared around the corner as she suddenly sensed two presences within the courtyard and had come to check on them. Seeing Zen, she smiled and turning to look at Lagron, the smile faltered and was replaced with a look of surprise.

“You’re here?” she asked as she reached him.

“Why do you sound surprised to see me?” he asked her while narrowing his eyebrows.

“No. It’s just that I’m surprised to see you after, um, a really long time,” replied Cantia with a small smile on her face. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise, but I’m not happy with your husband,” said Lagron and Cantia looked at him in surprise. “He lost to me by getting knocked out from pushing himself too hard. Of course, he’s not some kid to push himself so hard, but I am disappointed that he had grown so weak. Mind explaining it?”

Cantia blinked at him in surprise before she said, “I’m sorry my husband was like that, but there is a valid reason. We’ll explain it a bit more in the evening. I take it you’ll be staying for a while?”

Lagron nodded his head and said, “Naturally. I’m not satisfied with my win, so I’ll have a rematch with him as soon as he fully recovers!”

“Your choice,” said Cantia shortly while making a sad face.

He stared at her for a brief moment before turning to Zen and asking, “So, where’s the meeting room we’re supposed to go to?”

“This way,” replied Zen and he began to lead Lagron away while leaving Cantia standing there looking upset.

Lagron knew she was upset because he was disregarding a lot of their past friendships, but he did not care. Times have changed and he decided to change with it, but something about her words made him think more about why his rival was so weak. Her stating that they would explain the valid reason later made him realise there was more to Lakshman being weak.

“Trouble follows Asura like a curse,” he thought to himself before inwardly sighing in exasperation.

It took the two of them to reach their destination several minutes and while on the move, they were accompanied by a squad of soldiers. Lagron looked around at the impressive armour they were wearing and how united they seemed to be while matching their walking pace and keeping a protective formation.

He looked at Zen and said, “I don’t need protection.”

“Protocol dictates we guard all kings with utmost regard and create a safe passage,” replied Zen without looking at him. “Sorry if this is inconvenient, but please bear with it since you’re here in Lakshman’s place instead.”

“Mmm. Fair enough,” replied Lagron in an understanding voice.

They finally reached their destination a few minutes later, which appeared to be a dead end with no door anywhere to be found. Lagron thought that these people were pulling some grudge trick on him when Zen placed a hand on the wall and activated his magic, causing the wall in front to vanish and reveal a walkway into the insides.

“Impressive,” muttered Lagron while blinking in amazement.

He walked after Zen into the room with the rest of the squad following behind before the wall closed itself as soon as they all entered. The room appeared to be very large in diameter and height with a large round table with people sitting on front of them. There appears to be three sides that people chose to sit at and he immediately recognised that the sitting people were the kings while the ones standing around were either their guards or supporters.

As they walked forward, he noticed that there were two chairs in front of him and one of them was occupied by a woman while another woman stood next to her. He understood the standing woman was the sitting woman’s assistant, but what he was not expected to see was that they were the two other wives of the Phoenix Titan.

Venezuela turned towards them and began to ask, “Zen. Did you bring—?” She faltered at the sight of the Dragon Titan standing beside him and her expression changed to that of great surprise as she asked, “You’re here? Does that mean my husband is okay?”

“Your husband is fine,” he said before shaking his head in disbelief. “Geez. How do you women even know he’s injured without prior knowledge?”

Erza smiled and replied, “Our bond with our husband is far greater than one can imagine. Besides, since you’re here, it’s easy to guess that my husband will be fine by the time we get back home.”

Lagron raised an eyebrow in surprise and said, “I don’t know if I should be happy or feel strange by your confidence in me, but know that it’s your husband’s fault for getting himself hurt so badly by for being weak!”

“Oh, not this again,” groaned Venezuela while Erza smiled at her with an understanding look on her face. Venezuela looked up at him and with a serious look on her face, she said, “Listen. He isn’t weak. He’s just not as mighty as he once used to be because of powerful reasons, which you don’t know about.”

Lagron raised an eyebrow sceptically and said, “Are you calling me ignorant? Don’t blame me for mistakes that I don’t have a hand in because I’ve been isolated in the Dragon World for a very long time.”

“Sure, but why didn’t you ever decide to return to this world? Hmm? Explain that,” said Venezuela in a sharp voice.

He looked at her with an irritable look on his face before he said, “I disliked how Asura kept forgetting about me and our history together, so I kept myself in that world and made sure the clan did the same until the day he finally remembered me and came after me.”

Venezuela and Erza linked at him in surprise and Erza asked, “Asura? You’re calling Lakshman by the name he had back then?” When he nodded in acknowledgement, she smiled and asked, “Okay, but what about you? Are you also going as Lagron Rodriagun?” When he nodded once again in agreement, she chuckled and said, “Not going to change even when times did? That’s so like you.”

“Yes and him being annoyingly arrogant hasn’t changed at all as well,” said Venezuela as she took a jab at him.

As Lagron glared at her and Erza smiled a little, Zen blinked at them in confusing as he asked, “Do the two of you know him from somewhere? I thought this was the first time you’ve met him.”

The three of them stared at each other for a moment before turning to him and saying in unison, “A long time ago.”

Zen raised his eyebrows in surprise by their response and at that moment, their attention turned away towards the table when they heard a loud angry outburst.

“Enough! Can we get this meeting started already?! Our king is a very busy man and hasn’t got time to waste just sitting around here!”

The speaker was the secretary standing the side of the chair his king was seated, who had his eyes closed while a bored expression was formed on his face. This was to the right of where the Floria Kingdom queen and her companions sat at while facing towards the front. While everyone got chairs for each other and sat down, Lagron glared fiercely at the man that shouted so arrogantly at them.

Erza noticed him still standing and she insisted by saying, “Sit down!”

He narrowed his eyebrows angrily and looked at her, but she continued to stare firmly back until he finally decided to sit down. Even so, he continued to stare at the secretary to the right side because he felt as if he was forced to follow orders of someone.

While the meeting got started, Lagron used telepathy and asked Venezuela, “Explain who’s who.”

She replied using telepathy as well by saying, “We’re representing Floria Kingdom, the ones to the left is the king and his representatives of Ashtra Kingdom and the ones to the right are the representatives of Mardana Kingdom along with their king.”

“Mmm. Mardana Kingdom,” he thought with an expressionless look on his face as he stared at them before realising something was missing. “I thought there were four kingdoms. Why are only the three of us here? Where’s the fourth kingdom?”

Venezuela glanced at him momentarily before she telepathically said, “The Rodfox Kingdom was destroyed ten-years-ago by the Calamity Titan when we were preparing to wage war against him.”

Lagron raised an eyebrow momentarily in surprise before making a normal expression as he telepathically said, “The strong survive and the weak perish.”

“Don’t say that. Lucky’s parents were there when it happened and got caught up in it as they were… um,” she said and faltered while leaving the sentence hanging as she was unwilling to finish it.

“Lucky? Who’s Lucky?” he asked telepathically with a puzzled look on his face.

“That’s the nickname of Lakshman— I mean, Asura,” she said as she corrected herself so that he understood whom she was referring to.

Lagron looked incredulously surprised and he turned to look at her as he telepathically asked, “Oh god, his nickname!” He shook his head to clear away weird thoughts and said telepathically, “Anyway, even after the death of his parents, he’s still weak. Pathetic.”

“I told you there were reasons behind him being that way and you be patient until we tell you once we get out of this meeting,” replied Venezuela heatedly and he nodded in understanding without replying.

“Now, getting on with the meeting,” began the secretary in a brisk voice. “I’m sure that everyone understands this meeting was to decide on our next course of action regarding the details left with us by the Phoenix Titan.”

The King of Mardana Kingdom nodded his head and sat up straighter in his chair as he said, “I, for one, am not too sure of whether to believe what the Phoenix Titan said was true. After all, he’s been asleep for over ten years and things have changed since then. Reports have come in from reliable sources that the Demon Continent was completely destroyed and it was done by Felix Phoron, who seemed to have gone to try and kill the Calamity Titan.”

Venezuela’s eyes widened in shock and just when she was about to exclaim, Erza placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She looked over at her in surprise and Erza shook her head warningly as she did not want her to reveal it was actually done by the Phoenix Titan. Erza returned her gaze to the speaking king with narrowed eyes as she wondered what the king was getting to.

The King of Ashtra Kingdom leaned forward and asked curiously, “The previous Phoenix Emperor did that? Why? Why would he do something as reckless as destroying an entire continent, even if it was the home of the Demon Race.”

“I’m not sure, but as I said, I received this information from reliable sources and they’ve said that even the Phoenix Clan have no idea why he did that. It seems that he put the entire kingdom under sleep before going off to battle with him. Of course, it was a failure and he died, but in the process he injured the Calamity Titan so much that he left this world to go back to the Demon World to recuperate.”

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“Mmm. Are you sure?” asked the King of Ashtra Kingdom slowly. When the King of Mardana Kingdom nodded in return, he looked puzzled as he asked, “Okay, but why is it that we haven’t heard anything about this since then?” He turned towards the Floria Kingdom side and asked, “Please explain your reasons behind not informing us of these actions.”

Venezuela gulped a little in surprise and was just about to respond when Erza quickly said, “We are unaware of his decision to act alone and as such, we are not responsible for his behaviour.”

While the King of Ashtra Kingdom made a puzzled look on his face, the King of Mardana Kingdom spoke to him by asking, “Not your responsibility? Why? Isn’t your kingdom filled with Phoenix Clan members and as such, their behaviour affects your kingdom as a whole? Am I right?”

“He’s right, but why is he pointing that out right now?” Erza thought as she responded, “Yes. That is true, but he put everyone to sleep and acted alone. There is no way we could’ve anticipated what he was about to do and the destruction he was going to cause.”

She was surprised to see that the Mardana Kingdom King smiled as if he was expecting her to say that as he said, “Exactly!” He turned back to face the Ashtra Kingdom King and said, “King, I must point out that, just from her response, it’s clear that the Phoenix Clan are growing more restless and are moving beyond the realm of their command. In short, they are becoming a dangerous group to work with.”

“What?!” Venezuela exclaimed sharply in shock as Erza stared at him in disbelief. “You’re saying my clan, who protected the peace around the continent for so long, are losing their senses?!”

“Isn’t that the behaviour shown by the previous Phoenix Emperor?” the Mardana Kingdom King asked flatly without even looking at her.

“No!” Venezuela said sharply and this made him turn to face her. “He did it because he was ashamed of his failure ten-years-ago when the Calamity Titan took over the world. It made him act on his own and take responsibility for his actions without putting the blame on anyone.”

“You state that, but he went and destroyed an entire continent because of his pride!” the Mardana Kingdom King said in a powerful firm voice that surprised her. “What’d you have to say for yourself about that?! It was indeed occupied by the Demon Clan, but he could’ve just killed them and did his best to make the Calamity Titan leave for his world. He didn’t and his actions caused the destruction of an entire continent!

We all know the continents in this world are limited due to the many great wars we fought over the years, but we finally decided to make a truce. Our actions were causing our world to suffer and we decided to stop this pointless battles to regain peace across the world. Yet, the Phoenix Emperor breached all of these rules, acted on his own and upset the balance of the world by destroying the Demon Continent!”

Venezuela was enraged by his speech and she turned towards Lagron for some support only to see that he had his arms folded and eyes closed. It looked like he was deep asleep because of the lack of interest he got out of the overall meeting and this angered her greatly as she turned back to face the king again.

“The Phoenix Clan are not responsible for the action he had taken that day to battle the Calamity Titan! Besides, he wasn’t the one who destroyed the continent, so stop pointing the finger at us!” she said just as Erza looked at her in alarm because she slipped up where she feared Venezuela would.

The Mardana Kingdom King smiled triumphantly as the Ashtra Kingdom King narrowed his eyes sharply as he asked, “Felix didn’t do it? Then who? Who was it that was cruel and reckless enough to destroy the continent?”

“Ah,” said Venezuela and she blinked in surprise.

She realised what just happened and the Mardana Kingdom King made her do without her realisation. Knowing her mistake and being unable to take her statement back caused her to grit her teeth and clench her fist tightly in anger. She has to respond and not even Erza could help her out of that situation, but help arrived in unexpectedly in the form of the Dragon Titan, who suddenly acted.

Lagron made a huge yawn that could be heard within the room and stretched his arms out and made everyone look at him as he opened his eyes. Noticing that everyone was looking at him, he grinned arrogantly before he started speaking to them.

“Sorry. I think I fell asleep because of how boring this meeting turned out to be. I mean, seriously,” he said and he turned to face the Mardana Kingdom King, “your efforts to put dirt on the Phoenix Clan is pretty good, but it’s quite boring. Even trained dragons are better at it than you, stupid human.”

Those words sparked an angry to surge within the Mardana Kingdom King, who glared at him fiercely as he exclaimed, “What’s that?!”

“I said it and you heard it, now believe it,” replied Lagron with a crazy smile on his face.

As the Mardana Kingdom King was stumped for words, his secretary rose out of his chair and shouted, “How dare you talk in such an insolent manner with our king!”

“I got a mouth and lot of brain to speak however I want to anyone that I don’t like,” replied Lagron with a grin on his face.

As the secretary looked surprised, the Mardana Kingdom King asked curiously, “I didn’t catch your name. Who are you exactly?”

Lagron made a smooth gesture with his hand and said, “I’m Lagron Rodraigun and I’m also the Dragon Titan!”

His declaration shocked everyone in the room, other than the Floria Kingdom representatives, and the Mardana Kingdom King exclaimed, “You’re the Dragon Titan?!”

Lagron groaned and said, “I said it the first time, so pay attention fool.”

“How dare you say that to our king?!” the secretary shouted with a shocked look on his face.

Once again, Lagron groaned and pointed to his mouth and brain as he said, “Like I said, I have a mouth and a brain.” He turned to look towards Venezuela and Erza before saying, “Seriously. These idiots need to have their brains checked because they seem to keep asking me the same thing over and over again!”

As the Floria Kingdom side sniggered with laughter and the Ashtra Kingdom side smiled a little, the Mardana Kingdom side looked furious. The secretary of their side glared fiercely at Lagron for humiliating them so badly in front of the other kingdoms. His king was signalling him to calm down, but his anger had gone over its peak and he decided to attack the man that humiliated them.

He pulled his hand back and gathered energy to form an energy ball in his hand as he furiously said, “How. Dare. You—?! Gah!”

He was just about to unleash the attack when, all of a sudden, a powerful wind blew at him before something hard and strong slammed into him. The force of the impact was so strong, it lifted him into the air and propelled him backwards, causing his companions to get out of the out as he flew back and slammed hard into the back wall.

Everyone was shocked to see him fly back like that before turning to look at who had caused that to happen. Lagron hand his hand out towards him with a serious expression on his face as he had sent a powerful force blast towards him before the secretary could unleash his attack. As the secretary slowly slid to the ground and lay slumped on the ground, a wide grin appeared on his face as he rested his hand beside him.

“I dare because I’m awesome,” he said smoothly while everyone stared at him in surprise. He looked around at the round table and curiously asked, “Is there anyone else daring me to do something? Please, just give me a reason and I’ll prove you wrong.”

Everyone was quiet as they did not expect him to be so powerful and arrogant to the point that they could not stop him. Just then, though, a wide hole opened up behind them and Lagron turned around just in time to see Lakshman, Emilia and Ondine enter through it. The hole closed as soon as they entered and drew closed towards them as the Phintex Rajas quickly got them chairs.

“Lucky!” Venezuela and Erza said happily as he sat down next to them with a grimace. They were surprised to see that he was nudging his left arm as if he was causing him some pain. So, they asked, “Are you alright? You look hurt. Did this guy do something bad to you?”

“Hey!” Lagron said indignantly as he stared crossly at her. “Getting wounded in battle is a common thing, so don’t blame me if he got beaten up like the weakling that he is!”

They all sighed and Lakshman smiled as Lagron turned to him and asked, “I see you’ve gotten your arm back.”

“No thanks to you, yes,” replied Lakshman with a grimace as he nudged his arm again. “Amaranda used Restoration spell to regrow my arm back and it was painful like I expected it to be.”

“You regrew your arm?!” the two girls exclaimed and Ondine explained it to them and once it was over, they turned to glare angrily at Lagron. “How could you do that?!” they exclaimed sharply.

Lagron shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s not my fault he was too weak to defend himself properly! Anwyay,” he began as he decided to divert the topic to avoid their angry gazes and pointed over to the Mardana Kingdom side, “I hit that guy over there that was being too idiotic because he was trying to get dirt on your clan’s reputation.”

Lakshman looked over to see the secretary of the Mardana Kingdom being supported by his fellow comrades as they glared angrily at them. He sighed and turned back to Lagron and asked, “Thanks, but I don’t think attacking representatives from other kingdoms help matters.”

Venezuela touched her forehead and sighed as she said, “Yes and now, it’s left us in a state where we don’t know how to proceed forward.”

Erza smiled a little as she said, “Well, at least, Lagron acted out of defence because that person didn’t control his temper and was about to attack him.”

“Yes, but still, attacking on their representative isn’t going to get us anywhere with them,” said Venezuela with a deep sigh.

“Calm down and be positive because everything’ll be okay,” said Emilia soothingly to Venezuela with a smile on her face.

“Emilia’s right, Vena. Leave it to Lucky,” said Ondine and she winked at Lakshman with a small smile on her face.

Lakshman returned the smile before he turned to face the Mardana Kingdom King and asked, “Since the Dragon Titan is part of our kingdom, his actions also represent actions taken by the Floria Kingdom. What will you do now since we attacked your men since he was about to attack us?”

The Mardana Kingdom King furrowed his eyebrows and said, “It all started because the Dragon Titan provoked my man into attacking him out of respect for me.”

Lagron snorted and said, “That’s his fault for letting his anger get the best of him.”

Lakshman looked fleetingly at his rival before turning back to the Mardana Kingdom King and said, “I understand how you feel, but he would not act out of order if your men didn’t try to do something heavily negative towards us.”

“We were in the process of asking your people why Felix Phoron destroyed an entire continent in his battle against the Calamity Titan,” said the Mardana Kingdom King with a serious look on his face. “Your man was clearly defending your kingdom in our questioning your people of his actions.”

Lagron smirked and said, “You’re just a moron with an idiotic plan to ruin their reputation.”

“See! That behaviour!” one of the Mardana Kingdom representatives said angrily as he pointed a finger at the smug look on Lagron’s face. “That arrogance is painful to handle, especially from a Dragon Titan!”

“He’s a member of the Nine Pillars of Power!” Lakshman said in a powerful voice that startled everyone as he stared seriously at them. “If he had taken your man’s behaviour seriously, none of you will be still alive right now and your kingdom would be in ruins! Just be thankful of his kindness to just knock your man out senseless!”

“What?!” the Mardana Kingdom representatives exclaimed in unison while their king looked at him narrowed eyebrows.

“Also, Felix wasn’t the one that destroyed the continent; it was me,” said Lakshman and both the Mardana Kingdom’s and Floria Kingdom’s representatives looked shocked at his confession. “Felix went and destroyed himself in order to beat the Calamity Titan, but failed and while the Calamity Titan mocked his honourable death, I lost my temper and accidentally destroyed the continent.”

“So, that was why the continent was destroyed,” said the Ashtra Kingdom King slowly with a disbelieving look on his face.

“I’m sorry that happened, but my anger was extreme on that day and it was on that day that I badly wounded the Calamity Titan so much that he challenged me to the Phoenix Calamity War to take place two years from now,” said Lakshman with a serious look on his face. “It involves the entire world and I’m gathering everyone for it, but I’m not forcing anyone. That’s why, I left Zen to organise another meeting to convince you to join us one last time before leaving you to your own lives.”

“I see,” said the Ashtra Kingdom King slowly and he nodded his head in understanding. “That is understandable, though, I wish you didn’t destroy the continent because it will affect the world soon.”

“I am aware of what I did and I will rectify the mistake before the war takes place,” said Lakshman confidentially and they exchanged smiles in an understanding way.

The Mardana King stared between them in surprise before saying, “You’re going to excuse his actions just like that?!”

“Emotions play a heavy role in anyone’s behaviour,” said Ashtra King as he turned to look at the Mardana King in the eye. “Even you and I would be very angry and upset, causing us to use all of our power to fight someone. He did that and in the process, the Demon Continent was destroyed. It can’t be helped and besides, he says he can fix it and I’ll believe it. He’s the Phoenix Titan after all!”

“Huh?!” the Mardana King exclaimed in disbelief as he could not believe what he just heard.

“As for aiding you in the Phoenix Calamity War, it’ll take time,” said the Ashtra King after speaking with his secretary quietly. “So, it’ll take time for us to help you out.”

“That’s alright. Even if you come at the last minute to help out, that would be wonderful,” said Lakshman with a smile on his face. “Don’t even think I’m forcing you to join, though, because I’m not a dictator.”

“No worries,” replied Ashtra King with a smile on his face before rising to his feet. “Now then, I think there’s nothing more to discuss in this meeting.” When Mardana King did not say anything and the other remained silent, Ashtra King nodded in recognition and said, “Very well. I’ll take my leave then.”

The Ashtra King walked over to where the Floria Kingdom representatives were at and shook hands firmly with Lakshman, who rose out of his seat to shake hands with him. His wives, Zen, the Phintex Rajas and Lagron rose and stood behind him with smiles on their faces, except for Lagron, who was staring intently towards the area covered by the Mardana Kingdom representatives.

“I’ll look forward to working with you soon,” said Ashtra King and Lakshman nodded in reply.

After bidding his farewell to them, the Ashtra King walked back to his representatives before being escorted out of a hole that appeared behind them by a couple of Phintex Rajas. As they disappeared, Lakshman told his people it was time they took their leave as well and began to walk towards their way out where the hole opened up.

Just then, Laskhman heard a familiar voice say from behind, “Phoenix Titan!”

It was the Mardana King, who had risen to his feet whiel his kingdom’s representatives gathered around him and stared angrily at Lakshman.

“The Ashtra Kingdom might’ve given their okay to supporting you, but I won’t help you!” the Mardana King said firmly with a serious look on his face.

Lakshman’s wives, Zen and Lagron looked at him with serious looks in their faces while Lakshman did not even turn to face him. Instead, he decided to close his eyes and speak in a powerful firm voice that showed no hesitation.

“Very well. I won’t beg for your help. You also don’t need to repay my kindness to let your kingdom go unpunished twelve-years-ago for trying to wage war against the Floria Kingdom! Instead, if you dare to attack us again, this time I’ll destroy you all!”

As he finished, he looked over his shoulders and gave the Mardana Kingdom’s representatives and their king a glare so powerful that shook them slightly. They could not believe he could make such a face or make such a threat, causing each of them to gulp while staring at him. A moment later, he turned around and began to briskly walk away towards the exit with the rest of his representatives following behind him as they left the meeting room through the opened hole.