Inside the king's office, the shimmering portal suddenly glowed brightly before people walked out of it. These people were Lakshman, Engraut, Dominic, Nara, ash, Amaranda, Lagron, Tempest, Azar and bringing up the rear was Sevedant. Venezuela and Erza, who had risen to their feet in surprise, made wide smiles of joy upon seeing the people they had yearned for have finally arrived.
“Lucky!” Venezuela yelled, and she ran out from behind her desk and gave him a great hug.
To him,it did not feel like a great hug because of his height and body strength, but he certainly registered the feelings of happiness and anxiety emitting from her in that instance. So, the momentary surprise he felt turned to kindness as he gently rubbed her hair to try and console her.
“It's alright now. I'm here. We're here,” he said reassuringly, and she shook a little while continuing to hug him.
“Welcome back,” said Erza, smiling warmly at them as she came to stop in front of her husband.
He smiled at her and said, “Thank you,” before using his other hand to rub her hair like he did to Venezuela.
A few seconds later, both women stepped back before Venezuela asked, “Has Engraut told you what's happening?”
“Of course,” replied Engraut with a smile.
Lakshman nodded and asked, “Has things changed since he informed me?”
“We don't know. All communications with the Phintex Rajastha have suddenly stopped, and we're having difficulty getting through to them Telepathy.”
As Venezuela shook her head, Erza informed him,both wearing worried looks on their faces.
While the rest of them looked surprised, Lakshman narrowed his eyes and said, “I'll take that as bad news.”
Without a word to them, he began walking towards the exit of the room. Startled and taken aback, everyone quickly followed him out of the room and towards the direction he has intended to go towards.
“Where are we go—?” Venezuela began asking, but stopped herself upon seeing where they were headed towards.
It took them only mere seconds before thy caught the sight of the courtyard, where they found several people standing around. As they drew closer, they discovered a wide range of warriors standing around talking along with several women carrying small babies and a small child.
The first to see them drawing nearer was Indira and Priya, and upon seeing her brother at the lead, the twins cried out in great happiness and relief.
“Annayya!”
They rushed past the crowd and soon we're giving their brother a running hug that almost winded him. He was a little surprised himself because he did not expect that they would give him a running hug and it was so tight that it was as if they did not want to let go of him.
As both twins burst into tears, he tried to calm them by patting on their heads and speaking in a calm voice,”Indira... Priya... Calm down. We're here now. It'll be okay.”
While everyone slowly gathered around them, the twins let go of him while trying to stem their sobbing. Purina was the first to regain herself, and she stared daggers I to the eyes of her brother.
“Where were you this whole time while your allies and soldiers risked their necks defeating the enemies?!” she exclaimed, speaking very quickly as she almost started crying again. “Is this the test that your people deserve from you?!”
Everyone was silent to her demands as they did not know how to respond while Lakshman said, “I know. I know,and I'm very sorry for the delay. It's okay, though! Look! We're here! The Nine Pillars Of Power are here, and we'll beat the enemies for sure!”
Those words seemed to reassure her a little, but her anger continued to make her yell at him. Fortunately, Cantina intervened by grabbing her shoulders and speaking quietly in her ear. Whatever she said seemed to calm the teenager down somewhat as she backed away while keeping her silence.
“Welcome back,” she said, smiling warmly at her husband. “I'm sure you trained hard.”
“Thank you, and I certainly did,” replied Lakshman with a smile before looking around to see where his other wives are.
Understanding clearly what he was searching for, she smiled and said, “They're upstairs with Marilia. I too was with them before I came down because Marilia kept saying Darian was dead or something.”
That information shocked Lakshman greatly and made his eyes widen to display his shock. He might have thought that Marilia was just feeling the negatives and was crying needlessly, but he also understood the strong bond that she and Darian shared.
Fearing the worst, he whirled around and looked at the Death Tina before shouting, “Sevedant!”
That one word got the Death Titan into action as his orders were given before to go and help the warriors on the battlefield on the Human Continent.
“Going,” said Sevedant shortly, and he transformed into a ball of black light before flying off towards where the battle was taking place.
If Darian really had died, it would be a devastating loss for Lakshman since he was one of Lakshman's instructors and was also the one that raised his father, Indra. To him, he was like an uncle that was soft and strict at the same time, so his loss was devastating. Still, Lakshman forced his mind to become firm and put aside Darian's matter because he had more important things to focus on.
“Besides, even Darian wouldn't have been pleased to see me dwelling valuable time over his death,” thought Lakshman and this made him smile wryly. Turning to looks everyone, he said,. “We don't have much time. Amaranda, please begin gathering up the information on the numbers of our allies and enemies.”
“Yes,” replied the Magic Titan before activating her magic.
Turning to face the Sword Titan, he said, “Dom, head over to the Heaven Continent.”
To that, the Sword Titan looked skeptically at his friend and asked, “Uh... I don't know where it is. Sorry. Do you want me to make a wild jump and—!”
He was cut off by Lakshman saying, “Forget it. Your way is too risky.” He turned to face the front and held his hand out while saying, “Transverse Portal.”
In an instant, lightning began to occur a meter or so in front of him as a black whirling space opened up in thin air. Lakshman gestured his friend to it and with a bemused smile on his face, Dominic walked into it and the portal closed behind him.
“Alright. I'll be heading off to Bazaraka Continent,” said Nara, taking the intuitive to act before being told.
Lakshman nodded and began saying, “Let me open—!.”
“No need for that,” Nara interjected with a smug look on his face while glancing sideways at Lagron. “I can fly over there.”
Then, without another word, he surged with power and smirked at Lagron before rocketing into the air and flying towards his destination. Lagron watched him go with folded arms with arrogant expression as if he did not care about Nara trying to show off in front of him. Lakshman watched him go with a smile and activated another Transverse Portal to let Tempest and Azar head over to the Elven Kingdom's continent.”
“Right. You better get going to the Dragon Continent, knucklehead,” Lakshman said, turning to face the Dragon Tina after sending the Storm Tina and Sun Titan off.
Lagron eyes him coldly and replied, “Don't order me around, idiot.”
Amaranda, who seemed to be in the middle of using her spell, coughed and said telepathically, “He's our leader, Lagron. Listen to him. Follow his orders. Besides, the Dragon Clan named you as the head of the clan, and I'm sure your clan in the Dragon Continent could do with your help.”
To that, Lagron snorted and said, “Yes, they certainly did, however, I firmly believe they can take care of themselves. If they truly are having difficulty with that terrible monster, and I mean the entire clan struggling to defeat one enemy, then they deserve to die.”
His cruel words left a strong impression on everyone present as they stared at him in shock and horror.
“They're your own people, and you don't care about them?!” Priya asked, staring at him in disbelief.
Lagron shrugged his shoulders and arrogantly replied, “The strong survive and the weak perish.”
The silence continued to surround everyone as they stared at him as if wondering if he was for real. Only the Phoenix Titan smiled and looked as if he found his rival's words as of they were a joke.
“Knucklehead, can you lend me your hand for a second?” he asked curiously.
“Mmm? Why?”
“I want to show my sister how great you are, and how strong you are just by looking at your hand. I'm sure you remember the greatest of us can easily be known just by looking at their hands, right?”
While everyone stared at him in alarm, Lagron momentarily looked surprised before smiling in arrogance.
“I'm glad you remember the olden days. Sure,” he said and extended his hand towards his rival.
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Lakshman moved forward with a smile and made to grab his hand, but bypassing it, he delivered a powerful blow into Lagron's gut. The blow shocked the Dragon Titan and momentarily rendered him unable to react quickly due to not expecting that to happen. Taking the opportunity, Lakshman jumped backwards and into the courtyard while grabbing his hand, lifting him into the air.
Coming out into the open space, Lakshman landed Don his feet and forcefully swung his body around while still holding onto Lagron by his extended hand. Swung himself in the direction of the Dragon Continent, Lakshman launched Lagron into the air with all the force he could muster.
They stood there and watched him fly rapidly into the air as he could not muster the strength to stop himself from the surprise move made by Lakshman. Still, they heard him yelling, “I hate you,” before vanishing into a star.
“That takes care of that,” commented Lakshman jokingly with a spectacular smile on his face.
Everyone were speechless and it was his younger sister, Priya, who finally broke the silence as she asked, “Annayya… I know what you did is correct, but… it’s still harsh.”
“Call it balancing,” Lakshman replied, putting a little emphasis on the last word. When his sister continued to look reproachfully at him, he merely shrugged his shoulders and said, “Don’t worry about it. He’s actually angry at me for ordering him around but there was no time to waste so I had to push him.”
With that, he patted his sister’s head gently, causing her to blink up at him in surprise. At that moment, Indira came forward looking hopefully up at him and likewise, she also got patted gently on the head, making her smile and blush in happiness. Watching them getting patted on the head caused Cantia to frown somewhat enviously.
“Aren’t you going to rub my hair too?” she asked, frowning at him while looking a bit dejected.
“I’m sorry, Cantia, but I have to go and meet with the other kingdom’s kings to discuss some matters, but don’t worry. I’ll rub you and everyone later, okay? I promise!” Lakshman replied firmly, smiling coolly at her.
At those words, Cantia looked satisfied and smiled with a delighted look on her face as she said, “Very well then. Go on! You’ll be late for the meeting!”
Lakshman nodded and turned towards the direction he intended on going to meet with the other leaders. At that moment, he suddenly sensed something and it sprung forth powerful negative feelings within him. It reminded him of Darian’s death and the imagination of the allied warriors’ deaths rose to the surface. He did not like such thoughts as he believed such are a common occurrence in war, but his principles clashed heavily with him and made him decide on doing something.
Swiftly turning to Engruat, he asked, “Engruat! Can you tell me which direction our enemy is located at? The base of the Calamity Titan, I mean.”
“Sure,” responded the God of Energy, and he pointed his finger towards the opposite side of the castle, which was the open air as seen by Lakshman.
“Thank you,” said Lakshman briefly before taking a stance as if he was going to do something. The next moment, he held his hand out and said, “Electron Blaze Lancer!”
In an instant, a burst of lightning formed out of thin air and as it continued to erupt all around him, a bright red light glow appeared in the middle of his extended palm. An instant later, the bright glowing red light extended to either sides and solidified into a spear with the left end possessing the pointed side.
The energy formed weapon came to hover directly above his outstretched hands, and he gripped it firmly with his hands, causing the lightning to come together and surround the weapon instead. It possessed a great amount of energy, and everyone could sense the destructive power it contained within its layers.
With the Electron Blaze Lancer prepared in his hand, Lakshman looked in the direction and took a stance, readying himself to launch the lance. He paused for a moment, adjusting the aim slightly and waiting for the right time to launch, before he sensed the timing was just right.
Taking a step forward, he pulled the lance back just a bit before launching it into the air with immense force. The energy lance soared through the air at high speed that caused a red stream of light particles to leave in its tracks to show its flight path. Seeing it vanishing into thin air, he nodded in satisfaction and turned around to head over to the meeting.
***
At the Demon Continent, the Calamity Titan appeared to be sleeping with his wife, the Demon King Serabella seated right next to him. The two of them looked like they were very relaxed with not a single worry in the world to pull them out of it. Even their reserve forces waiting for further orders felt the atmosphere to be somewhat peaceful and just hung around talking to one another.
That all changed, however, when the Calamity Titan suddenly sensed something that made him open his eyes wide. It was an intuition, but he guessed it was something more that alerted to the presence of something different. This made him push his wife gently aside to let her sleep peacefully before rising to his feet, but his movement caused her to awaken from her sleep.
“Mmm? Chandra? What’s going on?” she asked bleary eyed, still feeling sleepy as she slowly rubbed her eyes.
“Something’s up, so I’m going out for a moment to check. You go back to sleep,” he said, smiling and gently patting her on the head.
Sera, while being patted on the head, smiled a little and replied, “Being patted on the head like this won’t let me sleep.” With a start of surprise, he stopped his action and removed his hand, which prompted her to start laughing. When he went to apology, she placed a finger on his mouth and said, “It’s alright. Besides, I don’t feel like sleeping without you by my side.”
Realising he was pranked, the Calamity Titan merely smiled and rose to his feet in order to make his way towards the exit of the castle with her right behind him. As they walked, he started up a conversation that made her feel a little differently about him.
“Do you know what makes a strong bond between brothers?”
“Uh… No. Unfortunately, I never had siblings to understand that,” she said with a slight laugh of humour.
“I see. That is a shame.”
Looking interestedly at him, she asked in a curious voice, “Can you explain it?”
He nodded once and said, “Usually, a strong bond between brothers is forged on trust, understanding and respect.”
She blinked in amusement and replied, “Of course. That’s the basic of the basic stuff that anyone can tell.”
For some reason, he merely nodded with a small smile and said, “That’s right. Those are the strong enmity that brothers possess in order to love. So, I have another question. Do you think you can ask me?”
She laughed lightly and said, “There’s no way I could tell you whether I can answer it or not without knowing the actual question.”
To this, he chuckled lightly and asked, “How do the brothers feel each other?”
For an instant, Serabella thought she misheard and asked, “Pardon me, but could you repeat that question once more?”
The Calamity Titan turned towards her and knowing that she had heard it perfectly well the first time, clarified by saying, “I don’t mean it that way. Please. I’m speaking about the family bonds of brothers. Remember?”
“Oh!” Serabella said, finally realising her mistake and hurriedly apologised by saying, “I’m sorry! I got the wrong impression.”
Sighing wearily, he continued to ask, “So? Do you know how the brothers can feel each other?”
For a moment, she remained silent as she thought about it before realising she had no idea how to respond to it with.
“I’m sorry, Chandra. I have no idea,” she admitted, looking ashamed at herself.
She was ready to be reprimanded for her ignorance, but instead, she received a gentle pat on the head. Looking at her husband in surprise, she was amazed to find him smiling softly at her while rubbing her hair gently.
“Don’t be so down. I probably could’ve guessed you might not know since you never had siblings and never watched other siblings before. It’s my fault. I’m sorry for upsetting you,” he said and bowed to her with sincere honesty.
While he was speaking, she thought he was being somewhat arrogant, so at suddenly being apologised to, she suddenly became flummoxed. She momentarily stuttered for words in an attempt to raise his head and say it was not his fault. Afterwards, she cursed at herself for ever thinking her husband would ever be anything but gentle towards her.
Firming her belief in her husband she thought, “He may be the Calamity Titan and might destroy this world, but I have faith that he will never bring harm to me.”
In an attempt to divert the subject away, she quickly asked, “So, um, do you know about it as it seems you obviously know something about it.”
Her attempts failed to create a facade in front of her husband, who merely smiled and decided to flow along with her.
So, nodding his head in ascent, he said, “Yes. I know.” Turning to her, he gravely said, “Strong emotions.”
“Eh? Strong emotions?” she asked, looking surprised.
He nodded again in ascent and explained by saying, “Yes. You see, people can usually tell when someone, near or far away, was feeling strong emotions towards them. We see the result from the person themselves sneezing most of the time.”
“Yeah. It’s legends and myths that sort of thing happens often,” replied Serabella, understanding the explanation, but was not sure how it was related to the family bonds of brothers.
Sensing her doubt, he smiled softly and said, “As for how brothers feel each other… it’s to do with them possessing an acute sensing ability that’s linked between them. Call it a spiritual connection of being born from the same mother or being related to some kind of oath; brothers can feel each other clearly.”
“Oh…” said Serabella slowly, nodding her head automatically.
She felt both amazed and confused as to how such a spiritual thing could work, but she decided she just did not know enough. Even so, she could not understand why her husband was bringing up this topic all of a sudden and what he wanted to do by going outside the castle.
“Um… Why are you—?” she began, but was cut off when he suddenly said in a serious voice.
“I can feel him. Very strongly,” said the Calamity Titan, who walked out of the throne room and out onto the empty corridor before making his way towards the exit. “I know he can feel my presence because of the hatred I have for him, and I know… I can sense him because of his strong desire to kill me.”
By the time he had finished, the two of them had exited the castle and walked out onto the sunlit ground. Everyone outside were momentarily startled to see them master coming out of the castle and stood at attention with firm stances. Serabella looked around at them in happiness, but inwardly she was conflicted with worry and a strange feeling of familiarity of whom her husband was referring to despite not knowing who it actually was.
“Um… Who are you—?” she began when, all of a sudden, she felt a tremendous force from somewhere above.
She looked up in shock as she assumed it was some kind of really powerful enemy and prepared to ready the warriors when her husband waved her down with a hand. Surprised, Serabella started at his face and was startled to find him smiling despite the unknown danger posed by whatever that was headed towards them.
Several seconds later, the clouds parted as a red glowing light burst through and soared straight towards where they stood. The wife of the Calamity Titan could not believe what it was nor the amount of energy it contained, but her husband, on the other hand, widened his smile with a gleaming look on his face.
As the energy lance soared towards them, he extended his hand to his back and gathered a lot of energy into it before hurling it at the object. The two soared towards each other at high speed and collided in mid-air, causing powerful forces to clash mercilessly against one another. Lightning sparks began erupting all around them as a great force of wind and shock waves were sent in all directions, buffeting the warriors, the land and disturbing the surface of the ocean.
The clashing forces lasted for several before a flash of light occurred before an enormous explosion of power occurred. As it started to spread everywhere, everyone yelled in despair and Serabella could only watch in terror, but her husband was different. He was the Calamity Titan and with an arrogant confident smile on his face, he activated his power that caused his eyes to gleam with purple colour.
In an instant, an invisible barrier got spread all around the continent and it completely nullified the blast as if it was not even there. Everyone was frozen in fear before slowly snapping out of it and looking around in confusion as to what had happened. One moment, the devastating explosion was spreading before it vanished on the spot like it was never there. As the air began to return to normality, many sighed deeply in relief as they were thoroughly shaken from the experience of almost dying, some even collapsed on the ground with terrified eyes.
“Phew! You saved us, Chandra! That was close!” Serabella was saying to her husband in a slightly loud fearful voice. As he merely nodded and patted her head gently to calm her down, she looked up at the sky in wonderment and asked, “It was powerful enough to destroy the continent! What the heck was that?!”
The Calamity Titan also looked up at the sky with a smirk on his face before he replied, “It’s the Phoenix Titan. It’s his welcoming greeting and to let us know that he’s in this world and is ready to fight us.”
Serabella was utterly shocked by this piece of information, and she turned to stare at her husband in disbelief. Her husband, however, was feeling a sense of elation at the display of power that his enemy had demonstrated by firing from wherever he was at.
Sensing the distress that his wife was feeling, he hugged her sideways and thought, “Don’t worry, Sera. I won’t let anything happen to you and finally take revenge for what happened so long ago! Yes…! I’m also ready… brother…!”