“Asura, wake up. Asura! Come on! Wake up!”

To the shout of a familiar voice inside of his head, Asura’s body jolted alive, and his eyes slowly fluttered open. For a moment, he was confused to find himself lying down in an unrecognisable place while being surrounded by total strangers. Then, as realisation of his situation dawned on him, he fully opened his eyes, and his mind became active as he attempted to push himself up, only to get pushed down by several hands.

The owners of the hands were gently with the pressure they applied on him and spoke in an unrecognisable language, but Asura easily understood just by their gestures. They wanted him to lie down because of the multiple injuries that he was previously inflicted with, which were somehow cleaned and wrapped with some kind of thick white cloth.

“What the?” Asura thought, looking amazed by the method of which these people chose to treat his injuries. “They wrapped me with these to… stop the blood?”

“Reminds me of the way Marilia treated my injuries during my stay at Darian’s old training centre,” replied the familiar voice that was responsible in waking him up.

“Well, you were at fault for acting rashly,” replied Asura to the voice by speaking in his mind.

“Hey! I was a kid, and I thought I’d help out!” The voice replied while sounding embarrassed and then, in a regretful voice, he finished by saying, “Although, that decision didn’t turn out so well.”

“It certainly didn’t. Now, mind explaining what you’re doing, Lakshman? Being active and everything despite that you should be sleeping.”

“I am the original host of this body, Asura. Unless you lock me into a sleep and take full possession of my body, I’ll always be active. Even now, I can easily take control of my body at will,” replied Lakshman’s voice cheerfully.

“Feel free to anytime,” thought Asura jokingly, forming a small smile on his face before becoming serious. “So, what’s the situation while I was asleep?”

“These people, out of gratitude I think, helped you when you collapsed and moved you here with many countless people. In fact, this feels like some sort of facility or an evacuation area to protect them from some sort of attack. Also, there was this really large object in the sky that slowly descended and caused the buildings to shake violently like some sort of earthquake,” Lakshman explained. Them, as an afterthought, he added, “I think seeing the details helps in understanding the world than simple words of explanation.”

“Mmm. That’s true,” thought Asura in agreement.

He began pushing himself up and the many hands came to push him down and spoke words of protest for him to lie down. Asura ignored it and continued to push himself to his feet until he was kneeling before, in one push, rose to his feet. The stretch caused a stinging pain in stomach, where the injury was the most devastating, but he endured the pain and looked around.

The area was large and almost in semidarkness, with yellow lights turning on and off in a pattern while a voice spoke in intervals as if announcing something. Many of the populace in the room were huddled together and muttering to each other in low voices, while their eyes are focused on him suddenly standing up. Two people, a man and female that were kneeling beside him with several others, rose to their feet as well with anxious looks on their faces.

Asura began to glance around the room for something he could use to see what’s happening outside. While glancing around, he spotted and window and gradually made his way through the mass of people huddled on the ground while some remained standing. Finally reaching the window to see into the outside, his eyes widened in shock at what he found.

There was a really large object, which looked like it was completely made of metal, hovering high in the air. Jets of light continued to rain down from the sky while explosions occurred from here and there, a clear indication of a fierce battle in progress.

“A flying metal transport, clearing designed for destruction. It’s from out of this world,” thought Asura, sharing his first impression.

“We’re from out of this world!” Lakshman replied firmly in his mind. “By the looks of things, it could be an experiment of this world’s advanced technology gone wrong, or… you could be right that it’s not from this world. In any case, that thing’s causing quite the damage. Shouldn’t we lend these people our help? They did tend to our wounds in their own way and didn’t leave us to die out there.”

Asura remained silent for a moment before replying in his mind, “No. Let’s stay out of this.”

“What?! Why?”

“Think about it, Lakshman. We’re from another world, we don’t know the language of this world, and we certainly don’t seem to be able to use the Magic Force. The Force is there, I can sense it, but the Elemental Spirits are so few that it’s pretty much non-existent. Right now, what we have is ourselves and our inhuman strength. Despite us saving those people from before, I now think it’s better we keep a low profile, otherwise, we’ll draw unneeded attention.”

Lakshman remained silent for a moment before he said in his mind, “You got a point. Who knows what these people will do to us after learning that we’re totally different from them, who built their world on technology. I mean, we don’t even know the weapons they use, let alone what they could do to us once we’re discovered.”

Asura smiled a little and thought, “Good. That’s another point that I hadn’t thought of.”

He heard Lakshman sigh and say in his mind, “Dammit. I wish we still had Elemental Sense active to help us out here.”

“While I do agree that spell would’ve been handy right about now, I think the fault lies in you, Lakshman.” When Lakshman was surprised, Asura continued to explain, “Back in the ancient times, we never had convenient spells like those to help me understand a person’s nature and only until later in my life that I discovered these spells and made full use of them, otherwise, I believe it’s a liability to depend fully on convenience.”

“Oh. Well. I doubt you’ll be saying that if we’re back in our world,” replied Lakshman confidently, making Asura inwardly laugh.

“You got me there,” replied Asura in his mind, realising the tactful come back that Lakshman came up with.

At that moment, several people shouted and pointed out of the window, towards the place the battle was taking place at. Everyone stirred, rising to their feet and moving towards the window to witness something about to happen while speaking in their own language. Asura, once again, did not understand a thing they were saying, but he grasped that something was about to happen and, likewise, turned his attention towards the battlefield.

“W-What is… that?” Asura asked, his eyes widening at something he saw, which shocked him.

While he could not make everything out completely, even the sight of the middle section of the flying object starting to glow in red light was obvious in plain sight. It glowed brighter and brighter as if it was gathering energy for some sort of discharge, which he had seen many times in the past. Sure enough, a moment later, a massive wave from underneath the flying object came roaring down and struck the area full of buildings, causing a wild billowing wind to blow in all directions and nearly decimated the city.

“What the hell are they doing?!” Lakshman’s voice was heard in Asura’s mind, who was staring at the scene of destruction in disbelief. “Are they here to destroy this world? Are you kidding me?! Asura! We have to interfere!”

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“Don’t let your emotions control your judgement, Lakshman. I told you before. Don’t become like me,” thought Asura, trying his best to remain calm despite clenching his fists tightly while his face contorted with rage.

“No! It’s not about feelings anymore! If we let them destroy this world, which we’re a part of now, then what will we have left to find a way back to our world?! Come on! Think, Asura! What can we do to get back when everything’s destroyed while we’re too busy trying to run away and hide from it all!”

Asura instantly became enraged by the words ‘run away and hide from it all,’ and he shouted in his mind, “Lakshman! I’m not hiding and running away! You think I’m not angry or infuriated by what they’re doing?! They’re destroying the land that these people live in, and they’ll surely move to destroy the rest of the world once they’re done here!”

“Then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“But…! We won’t be able to use the Magic Force or the Energy Force and we don’t have a weapon to fight with!”

“Now, you’re giving me excuses, Asura. Why are you hesitating? Is it because you’re worried you’re going to get carried away by your emotions like you did all those years ago? Don’t fear! You’re not alone! I’m here for you! We’re here for each other, so let’s go!”

Asura remained silent, struggling in his state of indecision when a thought struck him and made him ask in his mind, “What if we fail and die? How would that look?”

This time, it was Lakshman who remained silent for a few seconds before he replied in a calm voice, “In that case, we die as heroes and if you’re worried that people won’t remember us, then I’ll ask you again; how many people in our world know that the first Phoenix Titan’s name is Asura? None! So, think that we’re doing this for our satisfaction and not for anyone else! I think that makes this easier to fight and, besides, why be so negative? We’ll survive! We will because of who I am! You do know who I am, right?”

The question surprised Asura and made him chuckle with laughter before he muttered, “Yeah. Lucky.” With the decision made, Asura began to look around the room for some sort of door to go out while muttering, “Now. Where’s the exit?”

“We could break through the windows, although… that’ll leave the people exposed to the danger…” suggested Lakshman and lowered his voice in realisation that his suggestion was not advisable.

“Exactly,” said Asura, still looking around the room until he found a pair of doors that were shut tight. “Good. I’ll use that.”

He quickly weaved through the people and reached the doors, examining it for any possible thing that he can do to open it. Just then, someone approached him from the side and seemed to be ordered him to move away from the door. Ignoring that person, Asura continued to search for any handle or the such he could use to open it, but there was none. The door was made of metal with a strong build to withstand strong damage and can only opened by operating it with the technology that he did not understand.

“Force it open,” suggested Lakshman, and Asura nodded in agreement.

He moved forward and grabbed the frames of the door, which showed that there was a split in the middle. Then, using all the strength he could muster, began his attempt to prise the door open by pushing it to either side. The tightness that the doors were shut proved itself as metallic sound of metal getting dragged against its frame was heard, while the split slowly opened and gradually grew larger.

Suddenly, a voice shouted something and several hands came down to him Asura in the back. This surprised him, and he automatically let go of the frames, which quickly came together and closed tightly. Turning around, he saw that a lot of people were glaring at him angrily, while the people that helped him looked anxiously at him. Deciding to not waste his time with them, Asura merely raised his hand and waved it in their direction very quickly, causing a strong gust of wind to blow in their direction and knock them off their feet while, at the same time, pushing them away from him.

Turning back, Asura resumed his case of pulling the door open and within a minute, the door opened to the size that would allow him to exit. Remembering that the door would close itself automatically like it did previously, he kicked off the ground and let go of the door at the same time. Just like that, he soared through the door before it quickly came together and shut itself tightly behind him.

“Phew! I’m out!” Asura said, sighing in relief and wincing from the pain in his stomach.

“Good, but the problem is still ahead of us. Can we fly over there?”

“No. I just can’t seem to gather my energy like I normally could in our world.”

“Then, let’s run like hell!”

Asura snorted and made a dubious expression on his face, but he took his stance before kicking off the ground and started running towards the foreign object in the sky as fast as his legs could carry him. He passed many buildings in a matter of seconds until he was well and truly on his way, leaving a trail of dust behind, heading towards the massive light that was coming down from the sky.

***

In the control room, consisting of the commander and the officers, a loud ringing sound went off and it constantly repeated without pause. Glancing up once at the sound, the people, in the room and those, coming in and out of the room, quickened their speed in performing their duties. The officers spoke urgently through the microphones attached to their headsets, exchanging information and then passing it to each other.

One of them seemed to have received some vital information, because he quickly swivelled on his chair to face the commander and said, “Commander! The Summoning Magic for the heroes is a success! There are eight heroes!”

“OOOOHHHHH~~~!!”

The room echoed the sound of surprise, awe and amazement from the people that sat around, pausing in what they were doing to turn to face the speaker. The commander, who leaned forward towards the speaker, asked in a serious voice while keeping his facial expressions in check.

“It’s good it worked, but the real problem starts now. Who are they? What are their weapons? What are their strengths? Do they have any weaknesses? Gather any and all intel about them and report back! Now!”

“Yes, sir!”

The speaker said, turning back to face his screen and speaking rapidly to the other person. What he heard startled him, and made him slowly swivel around to face the commander, who wore an anticipated expression on his face. He looked hesitant and nervous, clearly showing signs that he did not wish to disclose what he just heard but he knew he had to inform the commander as it is his duty.

“Sir…! The princess seems to think that we don’t need to know all those details.”

As he had expected, the commander instantly knitted his eyebrows and formed a frown on his face while he asked, “Really? Does the princess think I can work with people I have no clue about? As far as I’m concerned, they might as well be complete idiots without a clue on how to do battle, let alone work with us! Patch me through to her!”

The officer command and turned around to type quickly on the keyboard in front of him. This resulted in the large screen, which was showing the live map of the world, to vanish and be replaced by a live video recording of the princess on the other side. The commander rose to his, bowed a little with his right hand to his left chest and addressed her courteously.

“Princess! I am glad you are in good health!” He began, getting the formaltise over with as quickly as possible before getting down to the subject. “I would like to know why you are not willing to inform me of the details on the summoned heroes.”

The princess’s voice was slightly altered as it came through the speaker, saying, “Commander, please understand that their privacy is a top priority right now, even if we are in a difficult situation. However, I can assure you that they will succeed in fending off our enemies! Please! Trust me on this!”

Keeping his irritation as minimal as possible, he tried to reason with her by saying, “It’s not about trust, your highness. I am worried that these heroes might not coordinate well with our men and might even get in their way.”

“In that case, please order them to pull them back. These heroes will be making their way to the site as soon as they have geared up.”

She was doing her best to reassure him, but he was clearly not taking her words seriously because he knows the consequences of suck actions. Still, it was not in his mindset to ignore her request and do as he pleases because he knows she was doing her best to help her people and the world at large. So, he simply nodded and replied with a single word before cutting the communication.

“Understood.”

Once the chat ended, however, someone else shouted while still facing their screen, “Sir! Massive rising in energy levels are detected from the alien ship! It’s preparing to fire its main cannon on the city!”

“Dammit!” The commander shouted, feel the tension rising at the urgent situation. “How far as the evacuation come?”

“All are evacuated to the outskirts, sir! They are safely in the Evacuation Sanctuary Block!”

“Good! Order all men to withdraw! The city is lost!”

Having received the orders, the officer merely nodded and turned back to issue the given orders to the troops on the line of fire. The commander sat back on his chair with a heavy sigh, glaring menacingly at the screen, which was displaying the scene of the alien spaceship charging its main cannon.

A few seconds later, after going into the firing sequence, the space ship unleashed a massive jet of red light from its belly and shot it towards the vacated city. The impact was strong, causing a massive cloud of dust and debris to rise into the sky to cloud the video’s visual. At the same time, the people inside their headquarters also felt a light tremor run throughout the building, a sign of the devastating impact that was dealt to that city.

“Damn your kind!” The commander muttered in a hushed voice that was full of rage and hatred.

Just then, an officer shouted, “Sir! Sensors indicate that a small projectile is on the move and it’s heading straight towards the area covered by the alien ship!”

“What?” The commander exclaimed, turning to look in the direction of the officer that spoke. “What is it? Can you tell?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but our visual is clouded by the dust and smoke. Then, his eyes widen with shock as he said, “Wow…! Sir! Whatever this thing is, it’s so fast that our sensors are having difficulty keeping track of it, let alone calculate its speed!”

This thoroughly baffled everyone and this included the commander as well, who turned his face the map on the large screen and ask of no one in particular, “What in the name of brazens is going on out there?”