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Phoenix Rising
[Arc 14] Chapter 367 - Dragon Past

[Arc 14] Chapter 367 - Dragon Past

They were on their way back from the meeting and were headed towards the courtyard before Lagron spoke to Lakshman.

“You spared their kingdom twelve-years-ago?!” Lagron asked incredulously as he stared at his rival.

Lakshman nodded his head and said, “Yeah. I sometimes wonder if I should’ve, but it wasn’t right for me to punish the kingdom and its people for the mistake made by their king.”

Lagron rasied his eyebrows in surprise and said, “Back in the old days, you would either challenge someone to either surrender to your rulership or be destroyed for getting in your way. It was much simpler and had less problems to deal with afterwards.”

“Back then, I ruled the world with my dictatorship, but I realised now how wrong I was. Many hated me and also hated the clan automatically because we forced them into submission without ever making them understand our reason. This time, I’m going to correct my mistake by doing things right.”

“Don’t you think you’re thinking too much into this?” Lagron asked with an amused look on his face. “Just screw what others thing and do what you want. You did bring peace to the world with your dictatorship until your wives died and you left the Phoenix Clan to wander away for some reason.”

“I was devastated,” replied Lakshman with a small smile on his face. “I felt I would cause problems for my people and the world if I stayed in rulership, so I bid them goodbye and went to live a solitary life alone. That was, of course, until the Ancient Evil decided to attack the world and destroy it. We were both there and we put all we had into killing it, but we failed until I sacrificed my life to destroy it.”

Zen, who was listening intently to their discussion, raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, “You died back then? Does that mean right now you’re the one from back then? The very first Phoenix Titan?!”

As Lakshman smiled and his wives chuckled, Lagron turned and gazed at Zen in annoyance as he said, “Seriously? Seriously?! Are you a baby or what?! He’s been reincarnating this whole damn time and now you realise this important fact?! Unbelievable!”

“I’m sorry, but with each reincarnation, it’s a different person, right? So, I thought the current Phoenix Titan was a different person to the one reincarnated 8000 years ago,” replied Zen with a serious look on his face.

“Zen. Focus on becoming a powerful Phoenix Emperor,” said Lakshman quietly with an encouraging smile on his face. “Don’t think too much into my life because there’s deep seated history into my being which you’ll never understand so easily.”

“Oh,” said Zen and he looked disappointed as his shoulders dropped.

Lagron shook his head and turned back to face his rival as he said, “Anyway. Your sacrifice failed though.” Lakshman made a sad face as Lagron continued to say, “It survived and even vowed to destroy the world eventually before going off to sleep somewhere. After that, I too died a while later due to the effects of fighting that creature and since then, we kept reincarnating, but you never remembered me or your past!”

Lakshman looked apologetically at his rival and said apologetically, “Sorry, Lagron. I wish I could’ve told you sooner,” and he explained to Lagron about the curse the Ancient Evil being placed within him as he died.

“So the curse manifested itself into a dark being that corrupted your mind and ideals?” Lagron asked and his rival nodded in agreement. “Mmm. Interesting. I suppose there’s no way you’d remember me or your past then if you were troubled in the head.”

Zen looked puzzled as he asked, “I don’t get it. How does a curse manifest itself into a being that corrupts someone from the inside? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Lagron groaned and said, “Listen, young Phoenix Emperor. There were many mysterious operations in the ancient ways and they had technology that you couldn’t compare to, what you call, the modern development. You’ll never ever see the brilliance of the ancient ways because they had years of tested methods and knowledge shared by the gods themselves.”

As Zen widened his eyes to look very shocked, Lakshman sighed and said, “All of that was, of course, destroyed or ruined in the great war that erupted with the disappearance of the Emperor of the World. That’s also the reason why there are so few continents around the world for us to occupy.”

“Yes. If memory serves me right, your previous life Phoenix Titan sacrificed his life to summon the World Guardians to stop the war between the races,” said Lagron and Lakshman nodded in agreement.

“I don’t have any memories of my past lives after my first reincarnation and before my current reincarnation,” said Lakshman with a thoughtful look on his face. “Everything I learnt was from people telling me, books holding historical information and a certain energetic god that visited me out of the blue.”

“Who?” Lagron asked curiously.

“The God of Energy, Engraut,” said Lakshman and the name caused Zen to exclaim in shock.

“What?!” he shouted in disbelief. “The God of Energy?! He met you and explained the history of your life to you?!”

“Yes and it’s there that he told me this is my final reincarnation that the God of Life granted me,” said Lakshman and Lagron blinked at him in surprise. “This is my last chances to set things right and help the world one last time as he said the Ancient Evil will surface once again.”

“That’s amazing,” said Zen with an amazed look on his face. “A god visited your home. I mean, I know the history about how you were blessed by the gods and in turn, our clan was blessed by them as well. So, I’m amazed a god chose to visit you out of choice to explain all of this to you.”

Lakshman smiled as Lagron, looking very serious, asked, “What do you mean this is your final reincarnation? Are you telling me this is the last time I’ll ever meet you alive again? That you’ll never reincarnate after this?”

“Pretty much,” said Erza with a sad look on his face. “Engruat said that the Decisive Player pleaded with the gods to give him one last chance to set things right and fulfil his duty to the world before his reincarnation comes to an end.”

“Of course, he scared the living daylights out of us when he visited us by releasing his energy!” Venezuela said sharply with an irritated look on her face.

Emilia smiled and said, “That was because we suspected him to be some random stranger that broke into our house while we were all asleep.”

“Yes, but he turned out to be a stalker that likes spying on anyone without a care,” said Ondine with a disapproving expression on her face. “I mean, sure, he’s the God of Energy, but I just wish he was more ‘normal’ like the other gods.”

“They’re gods and they’re not normal, nor would they be normal,” replied Lakshman with a chuckle. “Anyway, speaking about him too much might make him want to visit us again.”

“No!” Venezuela said sharply with an alarmed look on her face. “The last thing I want is him visiting our house!”

Lakshman and his wives laughed at her reaction while Zen blinked at them in surprise while Lagron stared at his rival with a serious expression on his face. It looked like that knowing that his rival was living his rival life as the Phoenix Titan left Lagron feeling a sense of loss. This made him angry, not at his rival, but at the gods for putting such a limitation on him.

“I hate the gods for taking away my chance to ever face him again!” he thought angrily as they continued to walk towards the courtyard.

***

It took a few minutes to reach the courtyard and they met up with Cantia, who asked her husband if he was feeling okay. Lakshman replied he will once he rests, making Venezuela convince him to get some bed rest while she, Erza and Zen handle the matters at the castle. Laskhman was unwilling as it was his responsibility to look after those matters as their king, but they eventually convinced him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll also be staying for a while to give some training to the soldiers here at the castle,” said Cantia bracingly with a grin on her face. “You just make sure to get rested well and be in a better condition by the time we get home in the evening. Okay?”

Lakshman chuckled and replied, “Okay. Do a good job,” and he gave a thumps up gesture at them in encouragement.

Venezuela, Erza, Zen and Cantia smiled at him and watched him activate the Phoenix Portal and walk through it before disappearing behind them. On the other side, near the house, the portal opened up and they walked out of it before it closed behind them. They walked in silence towards the house and in the meantime, Lagron was thinking deep thoughts in his mind regarding his past with him.

***

Lagron was thinking back to the ancient time when he and Lakshman lived in the same time and world. The first time they met was in battle because the Phoenix Clan thought the Dragon Clan were a new threat to their world. During that battle, however, Asura realised they were not enemies and had just escaped from their world that was collapsing. Thus, he ordered his clan to beat them down and not kill them before he knocked Lagron forcefully to the ground.

As the weakened Dragon Titan, who was the Dragon Emperor of that time, struggled to get back to his feet, Asura landed next to him and held his hand out to him before asking with a smiling face.

“Want help?”

The Dragon Emperor was surprised by this friendly action, but Lagron’s pride made him refuse his help and he got up on his own. Realising that most of his warriors were knocked out, he ordered a retreat and the Dragon Clan flew away to settle down far away. While flying away, he turned back and saw that Asura was staring after him with a smile on his face.

“What is wrong with this guy?” he had thought back then as he believed the man would kill him and his clan, but instead let them go without restraint or punishment, leaving him feeling very confused.

The next time they met was when the Dragon Clan were engaged in battle fighting the Demon Race warriors. They were on the brink of defeat when the Phoenix Clan arrived just in time to turn the tide of the battle. With their combined powers, the Phoenix Clan and the Dragon Titan overwhelmed the Demon Race warriors and caused them to retreat.

As they were all relieved of the victory, Asura spoke seriously to Lagron as he said, “If you wanted help, just ask knucklehead.”

It was the nickname that Asura gave to Lagron to associate him with and since then, he never once called him by his name, except when he was deadly serious. After that, they celebrated the night by inviting the Phoenix Clan for coming to their rescue and there, he believed, he accidentally revealed that he had killed his father back in their original world because he was the one who brought destruction to their world.

Asura did get angry at first, but he quickly understood and said, “You did the right thing. He deserved what he got.”

The thing that had been bothering him was quickly dispelled by those comforting words and Lagron soon regarded Asura with great respect for who he was. After that, they often came together to challenge each other in battle and Lagron lost all of them. The loses spurred him to push himself beyond what he thought were his limits until he eventually became regarded as the second strongest in the world next to the Phoenix Titan, who was the strongest warrior in the world.

Together, as the two of the strongest warriors in the world, they collaborated in many battles, like pursuing and sealing the Eight Disasters, stopping demons from attacking and putting an end to the fierce war raging between other clans at that time. Eventually, they regarded each other as friends and rivals, which strengthened when Lagron’s brother attempted to usurp his rulership over the Dragon Clan.

This time, Asura came alone to help him and together, they took out the rebels before facing Lagron’s brother. The Dragon Emperor was hesitant to kill his own brother, but Asura encouraged him by saying it was the right thing to do.

“If the situation was reversed, he would’ve killed you without a thought!” Asura had said firmly to him.

Thus, Lagron swallowed his family ties and killed his brother, finally bringing an end to the rebellion. It was there that he had learnt of the steel resolve that made Asura so fierce and powerful. He was someone to be respected and someone to be feared because of his drastic decisions. Lagron truly felt happy that he found a friend in him, though he never let on it and always treated him like a rival.

Several years later, when the world was finally under the Phoenix Clan’s rulership, Asura’s brother, Chandra, and his brother’s wife decided to part with the Phoenix Clan and live peacefully somewhere far away. He learnt this from Asura a while later after their departure about how Asura felt regret sending them away, but he resolved to let his brother live his own life. Lagron liked the strong bond shared between the brothers, but he could never the situation would arrive where Asura and Chandra would face each other as enemies.

A year after their departure, Chandra reappeared calling himself the Calamity Titan as he led an army of demons upon the Phoenix Clan to destroy them. Lagron joined Asura, who was very distraught as to why his brother was siding with the demons. Asura’s nine wives, however, decided to make contact with Chandra to change his mind and bring him back to normal without informing Asura of their decision.

It turned out to be a costly decision because Chandra, who had gone along with their plan to meet alone, surprised them by springing a trap on them. By the time Asura and Lagron learnt of this, it was too late and by the time they reached the spot, Asura watched as his wives were completely destroyed by a powerful blast that his brother dropped on them. That action turned Asura to hate his brother so much that he brought the entire Phoenix Clan to fight him and his demon army, joined by the Dragon Clan.

The Dragon Emperor watched the ferocious battle between the two brothers desperately fighting to kill each other. Lagron was overwhelmed to see the strong bond between the brothers turn them against each other so quickly. Eventually, the Phoenix Clan and Dragon Clan destroyed the demons while Asura killed his brother and destroyed him utterly in his rage.

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As rain started falling on the blood covered battlefield, Lagron watched his rival sink to his knees and wail at the top of his lungs at the loss of his brother and wives. It was the first time the Dragon Emperor saw his rival cry out loud in pain from the powerful emotions colliding inside him and he felt helpless to do anything. Afterwards, he learnt that Asura had passed his rulership to another and left without a word. It made Lagron very angry that Asura left without saying anything to him as he felt he was betrayed by whom he felt was a lifelong friend. This made him move the Dragon Clan away into isolation to protect the clan so that they do not feel disappointed with people from that world.

Many years went by and he no longer felt Asura was his friend and began comparing himself to him, why the people had respected him so much and how he had so much power. This caused him to treat Asura as his rival and this, once again, pushed him to reach new heights of power. Still, he was left with the dissatisfaction of being unable to do battle with him.

Eventually, the time came when the Ancient Evil appeared on the world and started destroying it. Lagron went out alone to destroy it as he knew his clan were not a match for it and found out he could not do much against it. As he was about to be destroyed by its unfathomable power, Asura arrived and saved him.

“I told you, didn’t I? If you wanted help, just ask!” Asura had said firmly to Lagron, who could not believe he was there.

Getting angry at him, Lagron had shouted, “How would I ask for help when you disappeared?!”

To that, Asura hung his head and apologised by saying, “I’m sorry.”

Lagron shook his head and said, “Whatever! Let’s take care of that thing!”

“Sure!” Asura replied and the two of them surged with power before attacking the Ancient Evil.

Their efforts were futile as the monster proved too much of a match for either of them and they soon fell before its unimaginable power. Lagron accepted his fate to perish for being weak, but Asura did not and the Dragon Emperor watched his rival begin to glow in a white light as he activated a special technique to kill himself and destroy his enemy as well.

“What are you doing?!” Lagron demanded.

Asura merely glanced at him and smiled, causing the Dragon Emperor to widen his eyes in shock. He realised, at that moment, what his rival was about to do and the feelings of friendship that he had thought were gone, suddenly rose up to make him shout in desperation.

“Don’t you dare do it!!”

As the Phoenix Titan activated his technique, there was a blinding light as Asura screamed and disappeared as Lagron closed his eyes in desperation. The released power was so strong that Lagron feared the world might get destroyed, but his fears were proved wrong. The world survived and unfortunately, so did the Ancient Evil, but it was badly wounded and unable to continue its destruction, it vowed it would return before disappearing in a flash of light.

That was the last time he had seen his rival and he eventually died after the strain of battling against the Ancient Evil, only to be reincarnated in another life. Lagron was surprised to find that he retained his past memories and when he heard of the reincarnated Phoenix Titan, he got excited and went to meet him, only to get disappointed to find that it was a different looking person.

Lagron looked differently, so he put aside that difference and queried the new Phoenix Titan of his past and he was shocked to find that the Phoenix Titan knew nothing of the past or who he was. It tore him apart and in that shock, he left the Phoenix Titan and arrived at his clan feeling very down and lonely. His memory of Asura destroying himself in order to try and defeat the Ancient Evil made him very angry and the himself for being a weakling that needed rescuing from someone like him.

He stopped treating the Phoenix Titan like a friend and treated him as his rival, but not the one that was reincarnated. To him, Asura was the true Phoenix Titan as others that followed him were nothing like him. So, he formed a rule, by utilising the Dragon Control Ring, that a tower must be built for the Dragon Titan in their Dragon World and he was must be isolated in there after each reincarnation.

“He is not a friend. He is just my rival. That is all,” he thought as he walked through the Dragon Gate and isolated himself in the Dragon World.

Many countless years went by and each of his reincarnations were sent into the Dragon World to be isolated at the Dragon Tower as he retained his memories and waited for his rival to return. Time went by and he remained in isolation until the Emperor of the World came to recruit him. At first he refused, but the Emperor of the World proved himself to be very powerful he eventually gave in and went along.

After returning to this world, he learnt that a new group of powerful warrior was formed and it was called the Nine Pillars of Power. The Emperor of the World told him he was the Dragon Titan and will protect the peace that he had brought to the world in just one year. Lagron was impressed and when he met his comrades, he did not care much for any of them and disregarded the Phoenix Titan, who he realised was self-conceited and corrupted.

He did his job as the member of the Nine Pillars of Power under the Emperor of the World’s rulership each and every time he reincarnated and his eventual disappearance. Lagron watched the world face another large scale war that destroyed much of the world and he watched as it was stopped by the Phoenix Titan scarifying himself to summon the World Guardians.

The Dragon Titan did not care for his sacrifice because it was not Asura, though, he was angered the owner of the title could not live up like Asura did. As the war was forcibly brought to a halt by the World Guardians, Lagron left the world and returned to the Dragon Tower in the Dragon World to wait for his rival’s return. For some unknown reason, he knew his rival would eventually come to meet him and he waited for that day to arrive, which finally did that day.

Lakshman showed him to bring him back to this world and spoke to him casually with the same mannerism that Lagron remembered Asura display. The only difference was that Lagron, after much of patience, no longer cared to do battle against his rival. He was, however, provoked and they did battle and even though he remembered them being on friendly terms, his fierce rivalry with him overshadowed it and he fought Lakshman with all he had, which caused Lakshman to lose an arm.

He was shocked by that because it had never happened before as he thought, “What? Did he just lose an arm? To me? What?! How?! How could he be so badly injured?!”

He quickly came to the realisation that his rival was weaker than him and it made him furious, making him go all out against him. Lagron no longer had any interest in associating with him as he wanted to settle the score between them and life his solitary life like he always did. Instead, Lakshman blasted him with his signature technique before succumbing to his body being in extreme pain.

Lagron won, but he was enraged by the fact that he had not felt the satisfaction of winning a battle against his rival. He was furious and it was his fury that spurred him into accompanying his rival and companions back to this world to challenge him one last time. The Dragon Titan did get surprised to see that all of Asura’s wives had been reborn as he met each of them along with someone resembling his wife, which made him realise that everything had come in full circle.

“This is so strange. What are the gods thinking?” he thought as he smiled to himself with unseen happiness.

Even so, despite all of what happened at the meeting, he realised he did not have much time when his rival revealed of this life being his final. He thought it was strange why his rival finally remembered him and his past life as Asura and it finally made sense to him.

***

He came out of his thoughts as he walked out of the Phoenix Portal and found that they were outside his house. To the side, he noticed that a very large phoenix bird was stationed and it was staring towards them silently with its piercing eyes.

“Sorry I left so suddenly. Was everything fine, Phylex?” Lakshman asked his familiar curiously.

“Everything is fine, master. Are you alright?” his familiar said telepathically and asked curiously, surprising Lagron as he realised it was his second familiar.

Lakshman smiled and said, “I’ll be fine as soon as I get some rest.”

He and his companions made to walk into the house when Lagron decided he must speak to him.

“Asura!” he said and they turned around to face him as he stared seriously at them. “Tell me once again; this is your final life as the reincarnating Phoenix Titan?”

Lakshman nodded and said, “That’s what the God of Energy told us ten-years-ago and that my reincarnation will end after I die this time.”

Lagron narrowed his eyes sharply and said, “I see. If that’s the case, I think it’s time we settle the score!”

“What?!” everyone exclaimed and Lakshman looked at him while narrowing his eyebrows.

While gesturing to come at him, the Dragon Titan glared at his rival and said, “Come on! Bring it dammit!”

There was a moment of pause before Emilia said, “Lagorn! Stop! This is enough. You’ve won your battle already with him.”

“No!” Lagron bellowed and startled her while surprising everyone else. “You have no idea how sickening that victory felt like! I didn’t even get to taste it because of the way he handed it to me!” As they blinked at him in surprise, he carried on by saying, “He pushed himself to the brink of his limit and exerted himself so much that he collapsed from exhaustion. That is not something that any true warrior could accept as defeating an enemy by!”

Lagron raised his clenched fist in the air and shouted, “I want to win the battle by beating him up and smashing him down! Not having him knock himself out before I could deliver the final blow!”

He pointed a finger at Lakshman and shouted, “Just before you collapsed, you managed to attack me with your signature technique and blasted me far into the sky when I thought I had won it! There is no way I could feel satisfied when I found you collapsed as I ready to push myself beyond to take you down!”

At his shouts, everyone quickly exited the house and watched the proceedings with surprised looks on their faces. Amaranda walked out of the house a few seconds later to witness him shouting at them.

Silvera narrowed her eyebrows as she got angry before she asked, “Why are you so obsessed with beating him? Can’t you just accept what you get on move on?”

“How can I accept defeat and move on like that?!” he shouted and he suddenly began to surge with power that startled everyone. “He beat me at everything that I tried to succeed in! He was a proud husband, a powerful warrior and even as a strong leader! I was once the strongest warrior until he came along and kicked it aside to make it his! Now, I want it back!”

“Why? What meaning does it hold by defeating him and taking the number one place?” Silvera asked with a serious look on her face.

He glared at her for a moment before screaming, “Everything!”

Lagron surged with wild power and caused the wind to blow quickly around the area, buffeting the girls and Atem. Lakshman, on the other hand, stood firmly on his ground against the wind as he stared at his rival with a fixed expression on his face. As the Dragon Titan calmed down, he looked at them seriously and said in a powerful voice.

“I’ve waited for a very long time, training hard for the singular purpose of surpassing him and finally, I did it! I’m stronger than him, but I still didn’t win! I lost because he denied me victory by collapsing on his own instead of me defeating him my way! I don’t like it! I hate it! That’s why I want to face him once more to settle this matter once and for all because I’ll never get the chance again! If he dies, he will never reincarnate and that means that, even if I reincarnate, I’ll never get the chance to fight him again! That’s why, I want to defeat him right here right this instance so that I can finally move on!”

A stunned silence followed the end of his speech as everyone looked very astonished in the face to say anything. Emilia was looking sad as she stared down at her hands before looking up to ask Lagron a question.

“If you win, what will you do?”

Lagron looked at her for a moment in silence before he replied, “I will return to the Dragon World and spend the rest of my life alone until the gods finally decide to take me away and rest my soul.”

Emilia nodded her head in understanding while looking sad as Ondine asked the next question.

“What will you do if you lose?”

For an instance, the Dragon Titan glared at her fiercely and when she retained her gaze, he softened and replied, “I will stay in this world and live my life like I once did a long time ago. I will participate in any and all activity related to the Nine Pillars of Power and assist the Phoenix Titan. This, I pledge, on my life.”

Ondine briefly looked surprised before smiling in confidence as she nodded her head in understanding. She and Emilia glanced at each other and seemingly shared the same opinion before turning to face their husband.

“Lucky. Defeat him,” they said to him in unison.

Everyone looked surprised and they exclaimed, “Huh?!”

“Defeat him?” Silvera asked as she was the first to recover. “What do you mean you two?”

“Exactly what we said,” replied Ondine with a confident smile on her face.

“Lagron and Lucky fought together many times, helped each other many times and were on friendly terms together for a long time. He was a valuable trusted ally our husband had and once again, he is needed if we want to secure the present so that our future is safe,” said Emilia in a firm voice.

“She’s talking about the Phoenix Calamity War that’ll take place in two years,” explained Ondine with a smile on her face. “Besides, don’t be negative. Remember what Engruat, the God of Energy, once said to us?”

While everyone was looking puzzled, Sumara looked around and asked, “Engruat? The God of Energy?”

“Yeah. How do you know about him?” Sonia asked curiously.

“You weren’t there when he paid us a home visit ten-years-ago when we seven of us got married Lucky,” said Ondine, causing Sumara and Sonia blink their eyes in surprise. “He said that Lucky is stronger when he’s together with us and don’t forget that he’s never lost a battle because we were always confident in his victory.”

Tetra and Silvera looked very surprised as they finally remembered the meeting with the God of Energy while Sumara and Sonia looked astonished. He had explained to them of a powerful magical bond that was connected between the Nine Destiny Queens and the Phoenix Titan. Together, they are strong and the confidence they have in their husband increases his chances of victory.

“You’re right. He did say something along those lines,” said Silvera and she made a sorrowful look on her face. “To think he lost because… because I wasn’t… we weren’t…”

Before she could finish, Tetra came to her rescue and said firmly, “You’re not the only one that was very worried about him. Isn’t that right, Sumara?”

Sumara suddenly looked embarrassed at the mention of her name and Sonia said, “I wasn’t that worried.”

“You’re exaggerating,” said Tetra with an amused look on her face with a raised eyebrow, which caused Sonia to look sheepishly at her. “Anyway, I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Lucky battle just now. I mean, he’s just recovered and had his arm grown with a painful experience.” She turned to face Lakshman and asked, “What do you think, Lucky?”

She remained motionless for a moment while staring at Lagron before forming a smile on his face as he said, “It seems I’ve kept you waiting for a long time, Lagron.”

“Yes. You have, Asura,” replied Lagron with a firm look on his face.

Lakshman smiled briefly before making a serious expression on his face before surging with power while radiating golden-red aura that surrounded him. They stared at each other for a brief moment before kicking off the ground simultaneously and soaring towards a deserted spot for them to do battle.

“There they go,” said Ondine with a confident look on her face.

“Lucky’s going to win this for sure!” Silvera said fiercely with a grin on her face.

“I believe in him,” said Emilia quietly as she placed a clenched fist on her chest.

Their happiness was brough to a stop when Amaranda said telepathically, “They won’t do battle because there are two really strong power levels headed their way.”

“Eh?!” all the girls exclaimed in unison and turned to look towards the direction their husband and rival went off to.

Meanwhile, Lakshman and Lagron flew for several seconds before flying downward and touching down lightly on the ground. They stood firm on their feet and stared at one another with several meters of distance separating them. Lakshman continued to radiate in golden-red aura that surrounded him while Lagron radiated red aura that surrounded him as he stared back at his rival.

“Just before we start, don’t use any power up techniques that exert too much on your body. I won’t do it either,” said Lagron in a loud clear voice that reached his rival. “I don’t want to have to hear your and your wives’ sorry excuse of collapsing because of overexertion.”

“Fair enough,” replied Lakshman as he chuckled at the hint of humour his rival had shown in his speech.

Lagron fleetingly smiled as he pulled his hand back as he began to say, “Good! Let’s—!”

Just before he could finish his sentence, however, he suddenly stopped and his eyes widened as did his rival’s. Both warriors had suddenly felt two immense power levels coming towards them and they turned to face in the direction they were coming from.

Lagron clenched his fists tightly in anger as he exclaimed, “Now what?!”

Lakshman was feeling a sense of familiarity one of the two presences headed towards them as if he knew whom that power level belonged to. He had sensed it a very long time ago, but he was having difficulty remembering whom it belonged to. The trouble for him was saved when he heard a loud carrying familiar voice and a familiar technique being executed.

“Death Wave!”

In an instant, a large black wave of destruction erupted from somewhere far away and it soared towards the Dragon Titan, who was surprised. An astonished Lagron realised he did not have enough time to prepare a counter measure and did not like the thought of dodging such a simple attack either, so he faced it head on by extending both of his hands out in front of him.

The black wave soared towards him and got stopped by his hands as he held it back forcefully by surging with immense power. He was astonished to believe that such a simple technique had so much power into it, but he was not going to give in. So, he struggled to keep the attack there for a few seconds before diverting it upward and sent it flying into the sky.

As the wave soared into the air and disappeared, he breathed quickly at his hands, which were suddenly feeling very hot. Gritting his teeth in anger, he glared at the person that had launched such a technique at him as if they were trying to seriously injure him. Meanwhile, Laskhman was also looking towards the person who did it as he finally realised who the attacker was.

Several meters away from them, two figures hovered in mid-air as they kept their distance from both Lakshman and Lagron. One of them was shorter than his partner as he was covered from shoulder to foot by a dark cloak while his face was full of wrappings that only showed his eyes, which were deep purple. His partner was quite tall and like him, he was also covered from head to foot by a black cloak while the area of his face was covered by a white mask with eye holes that were glinting red and a red smile etched where the mouth of mask was situated.

“Greetings,” said the quiet and sinister voice of Sevedant, the Death Titan.