“Erza…” Lakshman muttered, staring wide eyed at the woman that is one of his nine wives.

Vikram, who was standing next to him at that time, heard him and responded with, “Yeah. That’s Erza Flameheart. Princess of the kingdom that rules this world apparently. But wait, how do you know her name? Hey? Hello?”

Lakshman did not listen to him anymore, as shock settled in and made his mind reel back from its effect. He could not believe that she was there, nor fathom that she was some kind of princess in this world. The beautiful clothes she wore, the amazing ornaments that caused her beauty to shine, and the aura that was very different to how her aura normally was. It felt as if he was staring at a completely different person to the one he knew off back in his home world.

As he made to move forward, Asura quickly shouted in his mind, “Stop!” Shocked by the sudden loud voice, Lakshman froze, and Asura continued to say, “She’s not the Erza we know, Lakshman. She’s a different person.”

“Different… person…?!” Lakshman thought in a fierce voice. “How can that be?! Look at her! She’s clearly the Erza we know off! She’s my wife!”

“First of, calm down!” Asura said firmly.

“B-B-But—!”

“Lakshman, I want you to remember something that Erza told us two-years-ago, something related to us being summoned to her world when it was in danger. Do you remember?”

Lakshman furrowed his eyebrows and thought about it, trying to remember the detail that Asura mentioned. In an instant, as if it was waiting for him to reach out, he remembered Erza telling him and the rest of his wives that she came from another world, where he, Lakshman, was summoned to save it from something very dangerous.

“Ah! I remember now!” He thought, finally realising her statement at that time to have come true. “So, this is what she meant by me coming over to her world. Mmm. Now that I take a good look at her, she seems younger and her aura was somewhat like the first time I met her in the dungeon that bastard threw me in fourteen-years-ago.”

“Yes… because I as like feeling just the same as you; ‘What the heck is she doing here, and she’s a princess?! Hah?!’ Then, I remembered her words to you back then when she briefly explained about her origins and about her meeting with you.”

“Yes, but… there’s one problem… I’m twenty right now, and I clearly remember her stating that she met me when I was eighteen. Does that mean there was a time skip or some sort of miscalculation of the time that I was supposed to get into but missed?”

“No clue, and I doubt we’ll know just by thinking about it. Anyway, focus on the present because I think she’s taking a roll call of the so called Nine Heroes of Legends,” said Asura, his voice fading into the depths with his last word.

Lakshman resumed his present state and listened as she spoke to the other heroes, congratulating them for their hard work.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for your grand efforts in defeating the aliens and saving our world from utter chaos. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart,” she said and bowed fully to them.

The other heroes smiled and some told her not to bow to her like that. Lakshman felt a sense of happiness and pride at the pure honest feelings that Erza presented to them, which was exactly like she always did back in his home world. This made him suddenly feel like speaking, but he shut his mouth tight as he did not trust himself with any words to speak to her with.

Fred, however, raised a hand and politely said, “Princess, please raise your head because we didn’t do anything. It was, in fact, this person apparently.”

As Erza raised her head and straightened up, she looked in the direction that Fred gestured towards. She slowly turned her head and faced Lakshman for the first time, meeting his eyes for the first time. In an instant, Lakshman felt his heart beat faster and something catch in his throat, causing him to forcibly swallow. He tried to smile the best that he could, however, he realised it was a strange smile that even made Asura comment on it.

“That’s one hell of a fake smile. Put some effort into it!”

“Give me a break! I’m doing the best I can here!” Lakshman thought back in a whimpering voice. “This feeling of meeting my wife before she became my wife is so weird… it’s totally weird…!”

As they stared at each other, she looked surprised her expression caused him to worry whether she recognised him or not. Then, she opened her mouth and asked, “That weapon…? Is that… the Golden Trident?”

“Eh?” Lakshman asked, blinking twice in surprise before he, along with everyone else, glanced towards it.

“Yes! It is! That must mean you’re the Solaris Hero!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together in great happiness. As he raised an eyebrow in confusion, she elaborated by saying, “You see, I used the summoning circle to summon all of you heroes here, however, one of the heroes was missing and that hero is you That trident is proof that you’re one of the Nine Heroes of Legends.” She hesitated for a fraction of a second before asking, “What is your name?”

Lakshman, thrilled that she finally decided to ask his name, almost blurted out his real name when Asura said in a sharp voice, “Hey! Remember you’re going by the name of Asura now!”

His words made Lakshman sigh and say a downcast look on his face, “Asura. That’s my name.”

Just as Erza looked pleased and was about to introduce herself, Gram interrupted by saying, “He’s a demon.”

Erza was surprised, widening her eyes in alarm, and Lakshman glared at Gram for ruining the pleasant mood, but before he could say anything, Vikram came to his support by saying, “Gram, it’s becoming a bad habit of yours to call someone something that they are not!”

“You think any normal person would’ve been able to single headedly defeat the aliens and make them disappear, especially when they were summoned to this strange world out of nowhere?” Gram asked back, looking intently at him with narrowed eyebrows.

“Are you serious?!” Vikram asked in disbelief. “For all we know about him, he’s from a world with magic and sword? Why can’t you assume that way?” Then, he turned to glance at Lakshman and nervously asked him, “Did you come from another world that consisted of magic and sword?”

Lakshman was amazed by the quick deduction skills that the young man showed despite his first impression being that he was immature. Realising his mistake, Lakshman smiled at him and replied, “Yes. My world has magic and sword.”

“Oh,” said Vikram, looking rather surprised that his theory actually was true all along. “I’d like to hear your story sometime later.” When Lakshman nodded in agreement, the Sonic Hero turned back to the Tempest Hero and said, “See? He’s definitely experienced magic and sword in his world, so surely he knows how to unlock the hidden potential of our weapons!” Then, as an afterthought, he made a cheeky smile and asked, “Or, are you jealous that he defeat the aliens before you?”

“What?!” Gram exclaimed, looking utterly disgusted by the words he heard. “Who would be jealous of something so stupid?!”

With that, he turned away and folded his arms, resolutely keeping his back to them. Vikram smiled and turned to the princess before speaking in a casual voice, indicating Lakshman in the process.

“Princess! This person is normal! You have nothing to worry about!”

“Yes. I also didn’t believe that man could be a demon because only heroes are summoned from other worlds,” said Erza, causing Lakshman to look up at her in great happiness. Then, she turned to look pleasantly at Lakshman and introduced herself by bowing gracefully and saying, “Greetings, Sir Asura. I am Erza Flameheart. I am the princess of the kingdom that rules our world and am responsible in summoning you from your world.”

Lakshman went to speak when his throat suddenly went dry because he was unsure on how to speak to her. Up until now, he had spoken in a familiar tone to her as she was his wife, but this past self of her clearly has no recollections of her time with him as this was before she became his wife. Since this was the case, Lakshman was unsure how to approach her in thinking she was a stranger when his memories of her future self-kept popping up in his mind.

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She continued to smile at him and asked, “I believe in your words of you possessing knowledge of using magic from your world, however, how were you able to call the weapon and use it so efficiently?”

Lakshman felt stumped at that question because there was no actual answer to explain it away. In his desperate time of need, the weapon simply flew to him and allowed him to wield it, allowing him to use the Magic Force to its fullest. He wondered whether he should tell her about this when Asura stated his disagreement.

“No, Lakshman. Let’s not tell them how strong we are, otherwise, who knows what sort of attention and trouble we’ll land in. Let’s just make them assume that we tapped into the potential of these special weapons because we had an idea of how it worked.”

Lakshman understood the sense in the advice and decided to go with it, however, he changed his version a little when he said, “Actually, I heard a voice in my head and it told me what to do.”

When everyone there showed expressions of surprise, shock, or astonishment, he quickly went on to elaborate how the weapon flew at him and told him what to do. Unfortunately, it only possessed the power to destroy the alien ship and send it flying into space. Due to its weakened state, he was unable to hear its voice anymore, causing the others around him to nod their heads in understanding.

“I see. The spirit of the weapon guided you,” said Erza, smiling in happiness. “I am glad the legends about the weapons possessing a spirit of their own was true. As expected, the almighty gods are powerful beings are thoughtful.”

“But we didn’t hear any voice in our heads. You lied to her,” said Asura inside Lakshman’s mind disapprovingly.

“Technically, I’m hearing your voice, and I’m not really lying; just hiding the truth,” replied Lakshman in his mind, making Asura sigh in resignation. “Besides, I think it’s easier for them to believe in some spirit medium inside their weapons than believe in my potential since, you know, everyone here is clearly from peaceful worlds.”

“How can you tell?”

“The air around them… Other than that person wearing those strange metallic clothes, and the other person wearing the green patterned clothes, the others haven’t seen live combat at all,” said Lakshman, indicating William and Maxwell as those two have the air about them that they were constantly involved in battle, similar to himself.

Just then, the princess realised she was keeping them all standing out there when they should be returning to the kingdom. So, she turned to her aide and said, “Prepare for immediately departure for home.” Then, she turned back to the heroes and said with a smiling face, “Please come, heroes. Let us return now that our work is over here.”

“What about this place, princess? The people?” Fred asked, gesturing around at the semi-destroyed city.

“For now, the Legion of Heroes are checking for any remnants of the aliens, like sending a small unit of heroes to check on the area before giving the green light for the release of the people from the evacuation centres,” explained Erza with a smile on her face, causing Fred to sigh in relief.

“That’s a relief,” said Fred, stating his feelings with a smile on his face.

“Now, please come inside and seat yourself comfortably so that we return to the kingdom,” said Erza with a cheerful smile on her face.

As Fred, William and Ward began to walk up the stairs, Gram suggested, “I think it would be faster for me, Maxwell, Martin and Natsu to fly back there. The rest of you can get on since riding this thing may slow us down.”

“Huh?!” Vikram exclaimed, rounding on him with an indignant look on his face. “Are you kidding me? You’re about to get taken in a very comfortable looking plane, and you’re going to reject it? Are you insane?”

“I don’t want to be at the mercy of relying only on these things,” replied Gram curtly. “If we rely too much on this and not on our efforts, then we may find ourselves degrading in our ability.”

Vikram was left speechless by such strong words, but it was Erza who spoke with a pleasant smile on her face.

“It’s my desire to take you back in this, Sir Gram. I made the mistake of allowing you to fly here on your own, but I’m not going to let that happen again. I insist that you come with us. Please!”

She and Gram looked at each other for a moment in silence while everyone else watch, looking between them. Then, Gram sighed and combed his hair with his hand before heading towards the stairs. Just like that, he went after Fred and disappeared into the plane. Soon, the rest followed suit, with Lakshman being the last one to walk into it, wearing a goofy smile on his face, feel it strange to get on it due to him relying on portals and flight to get to his destination.

Once inside, he found that it was quite spacious for all the Nine Heroes of Legends, the four Royal Guards and the princess to sit comfortably. There were windows on either side of the vehicle for them to see out of, although, there looked to be no way to open them. As he walked to the rear end and sat down in the middle, sitting between Vikram and Martin, he experienced a sinking feeling as if the seat was about to suck him into it, causing him to look around and see that the others were seated similarly, feeling it safe to sit like that as well.

He heard the roaring sound of the engines coming to life and heard the pilot ask the princess, “We’re ready to launch, princess.”

Erza, who was seated at the front, nodded once and commanded them with, “Please, go ahead and launch!”

Following the command, the pilot and his co-pilot both activated their magic by placing their arms on the screens attached at the end of their chairs. In an instant, energy started to surge through the plane, causing the stairs to retract and the door to automatically close. Then, Lakshman felt a lifting sensation as the plane slowly rose off the ground and high into the air before the pilots shifted their hands from the screens to the control wheels in front of them.

In the next moment, they were flying away at high speed, causing the plane to vibrate slightly, but it was so small that it got completely ignored. Lakshman, wanting to see what was going on, shifted slightly to look towards his left side to see the scenery quickly changing as they sped past at super speed.

“Wow…! What is this thing called?” He asked of no one in particular.

Vikram responded by saying, “This is an airplane. Normally used for long distance travels since, you know, normal people can’t fly for hours on end or fly fast.”

“But, you ran all the way here, right? Isn’t that draining?” Lakshman asked curiously.

“That’s why I said normal people can’t fly long or fast like us and that applies to running as well. Since we have super powers, granted to us by the gods, we are practically super human!”

“Okay… but, for a super human, you sure are bleeding.”

Realising this, Vikram waved a hand and said, “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it later.”

Ward, who was seated next to him, telepathically said, “Turn and face me.”

“What’re you going to do? Wish my injury away?” Vikram asked exasperatedly.

Upon turning to face the Walmeky Hero, he was surprised when Ward aimed his hand at the injury on the Sonic Hero’s forehead and telepathically said, “Repair.”

In an instant, Vikram felt a pained sensation as the blood slowly disappeared, and his wound started to heal. New skin grew and started to cover the flesh wound before it appeared as if he was not injured at all. Once it was over, Ward released his hand and breathed a deep sigh in tiredness, looking wearily at his colleague.

“Feeling better?” Ward asked telepathically in a slightly breathless voice.

Vikram touched his forehead, feeling no pain and his forehead being in normal conditions, then looked at his hand to find no blood there. Surprised, he turned to grin at his saviours with sparklers appearing in his eyes.

“You healed me! That’s so awesome! Can you teach me how to do that too?” He asked eagerly.

Ward breathed twice before telepathically saying, “Each to their own devices,” which caused Vikram to looked dejected.

While the two of them spoke to one another, Lakshman was eying Ward with a shrewd expression on his face. He could see Ward acting normal, but he did not miss the extremely painful look that he showed while healing Vikram’s injury, almost as if he was experiencing pain while using the spell. It felt strange for him to see such a thing happen and wondered whether it was do with the choice of spell or the rules of this world being slightly different to his own.

They flew for several minutes in total silence, except for the sound of the vibration, before they finally arrived at their destination; a very large castle. William, Natsu, Martin and Gram looked out of the windows, while others crammed in from behind, to see the large landscape of which the castle was occupying with its brilliant futuristic imagination structural design brought to life.

“Wow! That’s one grand appearance of a castle!” William commented, sounding impressed.

“I’ve never seen a castle before. It looks so… majestic!” Fred said, leaning in from Natsu’s behind to see the castle.

Soon, their airplane came to a stop and descended to land gently on the ground. A few seconds later, the door of the airplane slowly opened and the stairs automatically descended towards the ground, which they all used to exit out of. Once having their feet firmly on the ground, some of them stretched their leg muscles while others walked around the airplane to observe the view of the castle in all of its glory.

“I must admit, this is one amazing castle, princess,” said Fred, causing the princess to smile happily at him.

Erza walked to the front and called to them, saying, “Follow me, everyone. I’ll lead us to father—I mean, the king.”

Getting all of their attention, she smiled and turned around before heading towards the castle. It had a large lawn filled with fountains and statues of powerful looking animals, such as the lion. Within few seconds, the escorting Royal Guards left them at the outskirts of the castle and they were greeted by the Royal Guards from the castle entrance, bowing to the princess and escorting them onward.

Up on the sides of the walls were paintings, portraits of people that were clearly the past rulers. All of them seemed to have been painted to look strong, graceful and majestic with a powerful appearance to boost their figure. While on the way, there were mirrors hanging on the wall that reflected them as they went by, which Lakshman did not take notice at first. After a while, the reflecting sun from the mirrors caught his attention, and he turned his attention to stare at the passing mirrors. That was when he realised something was very wrong.

“Ah!” He exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks and rushing towards one of the mirror to look at himself in it.

William, who was at front, stopped and turned to watch him rush to the mirror with a quizzical look on his face, making him ask, “What’s the matter?”

Lakshman did not hear him because he was too busy touching his face here and there, and then turning it sideways to check it all over. He could not believe the appearance that reflected within the mirror as it did not make any sense to him. As his actions were reflected in the mirror, he soon realised what he was seeing was the exact image of his current appearance.

Widening his eyes in shock, he quietly said, “N-No way…! This isn’t happening…! Why…? Why do I look like I’m eighteen years of age?”