The army comprised of Vampires and Werewolves flew through the air at high speed with the Magic Titan and the Death Titan flying in front while the Phoenix Titan flew ahead of the flock. It was an impressive sighting to see such powerful warriors soaring through the air in such a well spread out group. Meanwhile, the other members of the Nine Pillars of Power were also soaring towards their intended destination, which was the Demon Continent.

Amaranda, who could not see with her eyes closed, but managed to see through using her senses, grew concerned due to the amount of energy that her group were releasing. The plan she had in mind was to fly towards their enemy undetected and take them by surprise before launching their assault. It felt like an excellent logical plan, but it looked like Lakshman had a different idea in mind.

Using telepathy to connect with him, she asked, “Lakshman, can you explain what we’re doing flying so openly like this? Surely the Calamity Titan would’ve noticed our approach by now.”

Lakshman merely smiled while continuing to look at the front while telepathically replying, “I’m well aware of that fact. I take it you probably thought we should sneak up on the enemies for the attack.” There was a moment of pause which he took as an agreement before continuing to say, “I also thought of such a method, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t work. For one thing, the he would’ve sensed our approach no matter how much we concealed ourselves.”

The amount of conviction with which Lakshman spoke made Amaranda a little nervous, making her ask, “You sound like you know exactly what he’ll do. Has he really gotten so strong that he can detect us despite us lowering our power levels to the point of being undiscoverable?”

He inwardly chuckled at her question and replied in her mind, “Let’s just say I have this feeling… We’ve been enemies for a very long time, so long that I am pretty sure of myself when it comes to predicting what he’ll be doing.” He paused for a moment as he prepared to respond to her other question before saying, “As for whether he’s gotten strong or not… Well… He certainly gotten stronger, but I really don’t know how strong. That’s why I’m confident in predicting what he might do against us.”

Amaranda remained silent for a moment as she digested this piece of information before saying, “Alright. I’ll follow your lead, Lakshman. Sorry for asking.”

This time, Lakshman burst out laughing and replied telepathically, “Not at all! Those were good questions you’ve asked and as another smart person other than me and Sevedant, that’s as being part of the Nine Pillars of Power.”

“Especially Lagron. Wild dragon. Doesn’t listen. Does whatever,” said an unexpected voice belonging to the Death Titan, who had suddenly joined in on their conversation.

Amaranda chuckled and telepathically replied in reflex, “He listens to me. That’s what matters the most.”

“Oh? That sounds like the two of you are getting together nicely,” commented Lakshman telepathically.

When she suddenly heard Lakshman and Sevedant, who unexpected chuckle lightly, Amaranda came to realise that he had connected between him and the Phoenix Titan’s communication, making her ask in surprise, “Sevedant…? How…? How did you…?”

“Please. Easy. Existing established connection. Open connection. Just join. Same magic. Simple,” replied Sevedant in his short sentences, making Amaranda smile wryly as she was defeated by the Death Titan’s ability to enter into almost anything.

They continued to travel for several meters when a violent surge of power was felt from somewhere behind them. Recognising whose that energy belonged to and knowing why they were in such a rush to catch them, Lakshman could only smile after letting out a chuckle.

“Asura!” Lagron yelled, his voice could be heard quiet clearly despite the distance separating them. “Stop! Dammit! Wait for me! I want to beat yo—pft, pft, pft!”

As if something had entered his mouth, he began violently spitting the bug before continuing to fly towards them at high speed, allowing him to gradually catch up to them. Even so, realising he might accidentally allow a bug to enter his mouth, he activated telepathy with Lakshman and began yelling at him.

“Dammit! Wait for me! Coward!”

“Coward? We’re on our way to face our enemy and here you are, lagging behind us, and calling me a coward? I find that strange!”

Lagron finally caught up with him and the two of them exchanged glanced with Lagron looking irritably at him while Lakshman staring coolly back at him.

“Why did you hurl me across the continent to the Dragon Continent?! I would’ve gone anyway even without your assistance!”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m sure, but I got a little annoyed and angry, so I vented my anger on you.”

“Why you—!”

At that moment, Amaranda cut in as she telepathically said, “Lagron, stop. You can settle your dispute later. We’ve got an enemy to defeat right now.”

Lagron turned towards her for a moment before he faced the front and made a crazy grin on his face while telepathically saying, “Of course! I’ll smash those bastards’ thill they’re nothing more than bloody meat bags!”

“That’s dark, Lagron,” said the voice of Dominic, who descended from high above them to join their flying ranks. “I know you’re insane, but please don’t cross the line of madness.”

“Ah! Now you’ve done it, fool! I’ll show you! I’ll show you all what happens when a Mad Dragon goes on a man hunt!” Lagron yelled in his mind, causing Dominic to wince and made him sigh in resignation, but he was glad the second strongest of their group was still feeling lively despite the danger they were about to face.

The Dragon Titan suddenly glared at him as if he thought the Sword Titan was undermining him, which made Dominic mutter with his turned away, “He’s too sharp…!”

Several minutes later, they were joined by Tempest and Azar, who immediately engaged in a telepathy war with Lagron. Still, they were lively as they crossed a large space of distance in more than half-an-hour before seeing the large space of land that was isolated from all sides. Seeing that, Lakshman and the rest narrowed their eyebrows since they all could feel the large amount of powers stationed there, including the power signal that of the Calamity Titan.

“Hey guys,” said Nara, whom they soon ran into and stopped in mid-flight to greet them. “You made it in just about good time. It seems there were multiple warriors were coming out of that Demon Gate all this while.”

Ash was hovering next to him and upon seeing her master, she immediately rushed over to speak with Sevedant.

“Fancy seeing you alive,” said Lagron with his arms folded while wearing a smirk on his face.

“Yes, and I find it amusing to see you still breathing,” retorted Nara, immediately going on the attack against the Dragon Titan.

Watching the two warriors glare fiercely at one another, Dominic sighed and thought, “I wish these two just get along already…”

Amaranda, who seemed to sense the friction between them and understand that they will never get along well, sighed and turned to Nara before telepathically asking, “What brings you here? I thought we might see you already landed on the continent.”

“Yeah… About that…” Nara began and hesitated, scratching his cheek in the process.

“Oh? I guess the poor little beast couldn’t land due to fear and decided to curve its tail and wait for us,” commented Lagron arrogantly.

As Nara glared at him, Lakshman instantly became annoyed at their friction and snapped, “Enough!” As the two began avoiding each other’s gazes, Nara looked at Lakshman and said, “Sorry. It felt really awkward for just the two of us to land all on our own, so we decided to wait for you guys to catch up.”

Lakshman understood immediately and smiled before saying, “It’s okay. Anyway, let’s get going?”

He looked back towards Ash and Sevedant, who seemed to be talking in the Demon Language. As he did not understand that language, he merely waited only a few seconds before they nodded at each other and separated to return into the group. With a nod of the head from Sevedant, Lakshman received the signal and once again, he set off towards the continent with the rest bringing up the rear.

As soon as they reached the continent, Lakshman noticed the waiting enemy army and nose-dived towards the ground away from them for the rest of his allies to follow. They descended rapidly and as they neared the land, he broke his fall and landed firmly on the ground while firmly standing. At the same time, the other members of the Nine Pillars of Power descended as well as the army of Vampires and Werewolves.

Touching the ground in an incredible fashion, they all stood to face the front. Standing far away from them was the opposing army comprised fully of demons. Standing in front of the lot was none other than the Calamity Titan, their sworn enemy.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

He was smiling widely at seeing his enemies touch down near the battlefield right where they were positioned. He even suspected that his enemy, the Phoenix Titan, had purposefully landed there in a show of power and possibly intimidate his army. Unfortunately, if such a strategy was used, it failed miserably since the demon army did not budge one millimetre.

“Welcome, enemies! Welcome… to your demise!” the Calamity Titan said, his eyes flashing evilly at them.

Lakshman, like the rest of his allies, wore a serious look on his face, but Lagron seemed rather composed as he stared at their enemy and said in a casual carrying voice, “Wow! It’s him, the guy that had always been under the shadow of his senior!”

His statement did not make any sense to those listening, but it made perfect sense to Lakshman and the Calamity Titan. With his memories intact, Lagron decided to call out to the Calamity Titan for being a sheltered younger brother of the Phoenix Titan that was always hidden in the shadows of his elder brother.

The Calamity Titan instantly recognised that face and the arrogance that was befitting of the Dragon Titan. Even so, despite the insult, he merely shrugged it off and replied in kin by saying, “Look who it is; the sore loser than never won against my senior!”

Lagron instantly stiffened at those words because he loathed the reality of those words and as such, he instantly became angry at him. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before saying in a quiet voice, “You shouldn’t have said that!”

He instantly attempted to rush at his enemy, anger clouding his judgement as he was furious enough to kill him on the spot. Fortunately, as he took one step forward, an arm by his rival was placed across him to bar his path. Lagron looked at the arm blocking his way and then at his rival for daring to interfere, but he soon rethought his action from what happened next.

“Taunting my allies and goading them to attack you directly will not work! Not on my watch!” Lakshman said firmly, his expression full of deadly seriousness.

Being faced with such firm stance, the Calamity Titan began to let out cold laughter from his mouth before saying, “Ah…! I was going to have some fun before we fought, but you ruined it. I’m starting to get angry.”

“Then, fume all you want, but I don’t care!” Lakshman said in a firm voice. He pointed a finger at his enemy and said, “We’re here to defeat you and protect our world!”

The Calamity Titan snorted and replied, “Ha. Classic line, Phoenix Titan. Bravo, but do remember that actions weight heavier than mere words!”

“In that case, let’s do this!” Lakshman said and almost instantly, both sides took fighting stances as they were prepared to lay down their lives and defeat each other no matter what.

A tense silence ensued between both forces as the Phoenix Titan and the Calamity Titan stared quietly into each other’s eyes. Their armies began to grow restless as they eyed their respective leaders, awaiting the order to engage in battle. The signal never came, however, as the two leaders stared into each other’s faces with one looking deadly serious while the other appearing to be very relaxed.

At that moment, Lakshman felt a familiar presence suddenly near him and heard a familiar voice say energetically, “Wow. This seems interesting.”

While everyone was surprised to see him there, Lakshman sighed wearily and asked, “Engraut, what are you doing here? I thought you had left already.”

The God of Energy smiled brightly at him and replied, “I was curious about the war, so I came. Am I interrupting?”

Meanwhile, the Calamity Titan was a little taken aback at seeing the stranger standing next to Lakshman after appearing out of nowhere. He could sense that strange, who was Engruat, was no ordinary being because the energy coming from him was different. As he thought about it, his eyes widened in shock upon discovering a plausible explanation to that man’s sudden appearance.

“He’s a god…! There’s no mistaking it…!” the Calamity Titan muttered in a hushed voice as he stared at the figure standing next to and seemingly speaking very friendly with the Phoenix Titan. “It means…!”

“Leave already. We’re about to fight, and you suddenly drop in at your immeasurable sense of bad timing,” said Lakshman, looking irritably at him.

Engraut chuckled at the Phoenix Titan’s obvious annoyance and replied, “Alright. Alright! I’ll leave, but remember I’ll watch from afar, so if you need me, just call my name, and I’ll come racing.”

Lakshman stared at him for a moment in silence as if he did not know whether to believe those words or not, but he realised a second later that did not matter because, as he said, “Even if I do call you, I doubt you can do anything but watch helplessly, so it’s okay. At least, I know you’re supporting off me. Thanks for the offer though.”

The God of Energy hesitated for a moment as if wondering whether he should act or not, but seeing the expression on Lakshman’s face made him finally decide. Patting him gently on the back, Engruat transformed into small butterflies of energy that quickly escaped from that place, allowing Lakshman to turn back to stare at his foe.

It was the Calamity Titan who finally spoke first after the god’s departure by muttering, “Great. The thing I had expected occurred far sooner than expected…! Great…!” He inwardly sighed, but he kept a firm facial expression as he said to his foe, “In that case, I have a proposition that all of you might like.”

At those words, Lakshman’s eyes twitched, Dominic narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he asked, “Proposition? What does he mean…?”

No one replied to him and there was no time because, at that moment, the Calamity Titan raised his forefinger and middle finger to shoulder height and waved at them while saying, “Oh, by the way, attack.”

His issued order was said so calmly that anyone could have missed it, but not his army. Roaring with wild rage and fury, they charged towards their enemies with bloodthirsty pressure emanating from them. Lakshman clicked his tongue and waved his fingers silently while shouting a single command to make the army of Vampires and Werewolves to attack.

“Charge!”

With the issued command, the Vampires and Werewolves smiled with delight as they finally charged forward into battle. The two sides ran at one another and began firing energy blasts while others used magic techniques to attack one another. The giants stomped the battlefield with their gigantic presence, but some portion of the Vampires and Werewolves tore away from the rest to deal with them.

As the battle was underway, Lagron became impatient and was about to go when Lakshman grabbed onto his shoulder firmly and said, “Stand your ground.”

“Ha?!” Lagron exclaimed, looking at his rival as if he lost his senses. “Our army is engaged in battle, and you want us to just stand here and watch?! Are you really as idiotic as I think you are?!”

As the stared at each other seriously, the response came, not from him, but from above and the voice belonging to the Calamity Titan said, “Hey! Follow me!”

 They looked up and saw their enemy hovering above the battlefield while waving cheerfully at them. Alarmed by his behaviour, they were utterly shocked when he suddenly took off to fly towards the reader of the demon army.

“Bastard!” Lagron shouted and before Lakshman could stop him, he kicked off the ground and followed after him.

“Lagron!” Dominic yelled, but the Dragon Titan soared away at high speed as he showed no sign of stopping.

As he sighed wearily, Amaranda turned to Lakshman and asked telepathically, “I don’t sense the whereabouts of the other members of the Nine Testaments of Darkness. Should we follow him? This could be a trap.”

Lakshman shook his head, thinking quickly about his enemy’s possible scheme and said, “No. I don’t think he wants to trap us at this point in time. I mean, sure, he will trap us, but not in the way we expect it to and since we’re directly here, I don’t believe he’ll use an underhanded tactic to get an advantage over us.”

“That sounds fair and besides, we can’t just abandon a poor dragon that’s possible all alone in the wilderness filled with rage,” said Nara, smirking as he imagined Lagron roaring wildly in anger.

Coming to a unanimous agreement, they all kicked off the ground and followed after their comrade. It took only a few seconds before locating Lagron, who seemed to be standing outside what appeared to be a tall tower made of stone. They each landed smoothly behind him, and Nara was disappointed to find that the Dragon Titan had cooled off already.

“I’m glad you made it because, let me tell you straight; you’re about to face the biggest challenge of your life,” said the Calamity Titan, once again attempting to play with their minds.

Before anyone could say anything, Lagron retorted with an annoyed look on his face, saying. “Yeah, yeah. Big deal and nobody cares. Anything new to say to me?”

Lakshman and the rest were a little surprised by how coolly he was replying despite how annoyed he looked The Calamity Titan realised that his taunts would not work while Lagron was on guard against him, so he decided to get directly to the point.

“You see these towers? There are nine of them, each for us individuals to fight against one another,” said the Calamity Titan and upon his gesture, they turned and finally noticed the eight others lined neatly next to it with some distance in-between.

“I see. So, each of you are in each tower so we can have a one on one,” said Dominic, narrowing his eyes with seriousness.

As the Calamity Titan smiled brightly, Lakshman eyed him coldly and asked, “Tell me… Did you had this planned from the start because I couldn’t see these until I came here and you pointed out the rest.”

To that statement, the Calamity Titan made a dark expression and said, “Well… I was going to play around with you, but… things changed…” He suddenly brightened up much to their surprise and said, “Now then, why don’t you each pick a tower to enter?”

Lakshman found something off about his statement and asked, “That’s great and all, but explain more like who is in each of the towers and what they represent.”

As Lagron snorted at those words, the Calamity Titan chuckled darkly and replied, “Choose whichever to battle, however, you’re to fight with me only, Phoenix Titan. I’m sure you know that already.”

His arrogance radiated out of him, despite him being completely calm in their presence, caused Nara to become angry as he shouted, “Damn you! Why should we do anything you say?! We can just take you down right now!”

“Don’t try it, fool! I tried and failed already,” said Lagron warningly, glaring fiercely at the Calamity Titan with a loathing expression on his face. “He isn’t even here! This him here is just his projection and these towers seemed to be protected by something extremely powerful!”

“Yes! Proved it after he went straight through me and banged his fist against the tower wall. Not a single scratch nor dent, except for his bruised knuckle,” said the Calamity Titan, cheerfully glancing towards his glaring foe.

“Shut up!”

His enemy laughed before turning back to face them and said, “Your choice. Pick one, go in and you only come out if you defeat your enemies because the doors will shut automatically. Of course, do feel special because I spent a good deal of time erecting these towers to honour your deaths as a symbol to show the world to never oppose me again!”

In an instant, his personality switched from jolly to fierce as he stared intently at them. Lakshman decided he had heard enough and looked up at the tower he was going to enter, knowing full well the Calamity Titan was in it. The others as well began taking their positions in front of the towers they had decided to enter and face whoever was inside it.

“Alright. Good luck everyone,” said Lakshman, turning towards his allies who were also glancing at one another.

They all wished the same and as they began entering the towers before the doors closed behind them like promised, Lagron turned to gaze at his rival who was right next to his tower.

“You better win! Alright?! I didn’t come all this way, trained so hard and ready to face my enemy just to see you lose to someone else! Got it?! I will be the one to defeat you! Keep that in mind and win no matter what!” the Dragon Titan said in a firm voice with a fierce look on his face.

Lakshman smiled as he realised his rival was trying to encourage him in his own way, making him smile at him. Disregarding his smiling face, Lagron walked into the tower where it closed right behind him. With the eight of them already entered, Lakshman was the only one still outside and after sighing deeply, he too entered the tower and the door closed behind him.