Lakshman touched his face and shifted his glances this way and that way to ensure he was not seeing things. His physical appearance definitely felt like he was 18-years-old, which was something he totally did not expect to see. It did not make sense, and he direction a question to his other consciousness that dwelled within him.

“Asura, do you—?”

“I see it as well. You’re definitely 18-years-old,” replied Asura before Lakshman could finish.

“This is so strange! How in the world… did this happen?” Lakshman asked, feeling strange about his change in appearance. “How did I turn back to my 18-year-old self?”

“I don’t know,” replied Asura flatly, feeling just as confused as his current self. “Maybe it’s do with the transfer between worlds? The travel through time and space affected your physical appearance? So much unknown science and physics.”

Lakshman observed himself for a moment before he heard William’s voice say, “Hey! You’re coming or what?”

Startled, he whirled around and, noticing that their group were walking away, realising his mistake and said, “Yeah! Coming!” While he hurried to join them, he continued to think, “That’s most likely it because I don’t feel any changes internally, like my Force and all.”

“Except that we couldn’t use the Force naturally without the use of that weapon,” stated Asura, thinking back to the time they were forced to fight via normal means. “That was rough.”

“Yes, but we got a clear idea of how weak we were after relying too much on solely our powers,” said Lakshman, admitting the faults he discovered when he could not rely on his powers.

“Still, we showed those bullies a thing or not about relying on their stupid devices. What were those anyway?”

“I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

As such, they went silent as Lakshman followed the group from behind, which was being led by the princess. The Royal Guard escorts led them for a few seconds straight, then turned a corner and headed several meters straight before coming to a halt in front of large doors. They nodded at the stationed Royal Guards and allowed them to open the doors, allowing the princess and the Nine Heroes of Legends to enter.

The first thing that several of them said was, “Wow!”

The room was very large, almost the size of a mini-stadium, where there were seats placed all around in a circle that looked on them. In the front was a beautifully build staircase that lead up towards where the kind sat on his throne chair decorated with wonderous ornaments. At the centre, there was a dais for them to walk towards and stand on for them all to see them and address everyone in the room.

“We have arrived, your majesty,” said the princess, announcing their arrival to the king and the audience at large in a loud carrying voice once they reached the dais.

“Welcome back, princess,” said the king, smiling genially at them. Then, becoming serious, he asked, “So, these are the heroes?”

As Erza nodded, Vikram raised an eyebrow and muttered, “Why is he pretending to see us for the first time when he already saw us a while ago?”

“I think it’s to do with the other people present,” suggested Fred, glancing around nervously around at the spectators.

“They all have such serious expressions…” murmured Martin nervously.

“What you got to be nervous about, kid? They don’t scare me!” William said, throwing a sharp look around him.

“Don’t be nervous!” Maxwell said in a firm voice. “We are heroes, so they wouldn’t do anything negative to us.”

“I hope you’re right,” replied Martin, trying his best to believe in his words.

While everyone was feeling differently, Natsu was the only one that looked cautiously around and said, “I don’t like this.”

“Can you name the heroes?” The king asked his daughter politely, but his eyes flashed to make it as an order.

“Yes,” said Erza, nodding her head and informing their names and their titles while indicating each of them at a time.

* Tempest Hero - Gram

* Sonic Hero – Vikram

* Titanium Hero – William

* Dynamism Hero – Martin

* Zeklock Hero – Natsu

* Gundas Hero – Maxwell

* Bulwark Hero - Fred

* Walmeky Hero - Ward

* Solaris Hero - Asura

Nodding in accordance to his command, Erza began to explain about the details of what had occurred at the battlefield. Many were surprised that the heroes were capable of such feats, especially being able to destroy and make an entire alien ship vanish. Truth be told, Lakshman did not fully inform them that he hurled them back into outer space because he thought that might shock them more than making it vanish on the spot.

While the explanation and questions were going on, Vikram fidgeted while he stood on the spot and muttered to Maxwell, “What is up with their relationship?”

“Whose relationship?” Maxwell asked, barely moving his lips.

“The king and the princess obviously! They’re father and daughter and, yet, they speak to each other as if they are complete strangers!”

Maxwell was surprised by that question, but it was Gram who replied, “A king of a world can’t show favouritism to anyone and that includes family members.”

“Because he has a world to govern?” Vikram scoffed. “What a load of bull-crap-nonsense.”

“Well, why don’t you try ruling a world and understand the situation from his shoes?” Martin asked curiously.

“No way! Too much work!” Vikram replied, looking wildly at him as if he was out of his mind. “I’d rather spend my time out and about than stuck to some chair going through mountains of papers and work!”

“When you can’t do the same work as them, then you have no room to complain about them,” said Ward telepathically, making Vikram look at him with an exasperated look on his face. “It is correct to complain if they are overworking you, but when we don’t know how this world works, we need to keep our silence, observe and learn.”

“Man! You sound like one of my teachers!” Vikram said in annoyance. “Always do this, always do that, never do anything. Ugh!”

“Shut it! I’m trying to concentrate,” said Gram, cutting him off with a sharp voice and made Vikram glare at him, causing Lakshman to smile a little at his youthful energy.

Lakshman remained silent, showing no change in his expression, but he was surprised by contents of Erza’s report. She was stating as if he and the eight others were summoned at the same time, possibly to thwart the idea that he could be an outcast since he ended up summoning elsewhere. He was grateful for her thought to protect him and made him feel a twinge of regret that the Erza, who stood before him, would not be able to remember him at all.

“That is the end of my report,” finished Erza, bowing to the king and all four sides to address the spectators as well.

“Very well, Erza. You did a good job managing all of this,” the king said, praising the princess, and she smiled up at her father in great happiness. He looked at the Nine Heroes of Legends, who stood behind her, and asked, “Who might be the one you mentioned to have defeated the aliens single-handedly?”

“Yes,” replied Erza, turning to gesture for Lakshman to walk forward while saying, “This is the man.”

Lakshman obediently walked forward and stood beside her, revealing the similar heights that they were in. He kept his calm, composure and attitude in a manner that would not make him out to be anything great because of his desire to not reveal too much of himself. However, judging from the unnatural attention he was receiving from all sides, he realised he would need to explain away his powers than he did with the princess.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He bowed to the king and said, “Greeting, your majesty. My name is Asura.”

The king nodded, smiling in satisfaction by the introduction and asked him, “Asura. That is one powerful name. In the legends, there was a warrior with that name and he was said to have fought and won after fighting an army of thousand warriors! Maybe you’re his reincarnation?”

“I… wouldn’t be sure, your highness,” replied Lakshman, smiling genially up at him.

“Wow. This king is actually smart; he got closer to home than he realised,” said Asura inside of Lakshman’s head while chuckling.

Inwardly, Lakshman smiled as he thought, “He’s doesn’t know about me; he’s just talking about a guy who went with that name, coincidentally similar to yours.”

“Oh? Coincidence… or…? Is there more…?” Asura replied in a knowing voice, to which Lakshman just smiled a little on the outside out of reflex than anything else.

He was reeled back to the present when the king asked, “What sort of world did you come from, Asura?”

“Your majesty, my world is not as well developed as your world, nor has advanced technology by its side,” began Lakshman with his explanation in convincing him and everyone else in the room. “We got by developing our inner ability to sense the Force and use it for magic.”

“Force?”

“As in the matter that controls all?”

“Really? They knew about that despite not being as developed as us?”

The spectating people stirred at his words and spoke different words with different expressions; shock, surprise, amazement, fear and so on. There was no end to it until the king raised his voice and called for silence, which instantly fell, allowing him to speak his mind.

“Let us clarify that we didn’t evolve as a race to feel the force around us despite it being there. We are a race that relies on technological advancement in order to use magic with the devices that everyone has in this day and age. So, it’s not strange to think that there are worlds, where the norm for the people is to evolve their senses, feel their surroundings and control the force more naturally than we do.”

He looked around at everyone as if saying, “Don’t you dare show prejudice to him.”

Lakshman smiled at the king and thought, “He’s a good king.”

“Mind you, this all could be just a front,” suggested Asura in his negative manner. “All too often, we find the other person to be a believable normal caring person only to be completely wrong and that they are a sadistic bastard all along!”

“Point taken,” thought Lakshman, understanding the logic behind it.

The king turned back to Lakshman and asked, “So, is that how you were successful in defeating the monster?”

Lakshman went to respond, about to tell them that he was unable to use his magic when he came into this world, when he suddenly froze. He realised that would actually expose a weakness of his, which would mean that taking away his hero weapon was what it will take to leave him in a vulnerable state. Giving away this weakness would put him in a position that attracts people wanting to either control him or destroy him, making him decide to make them believe he can use magic even without his hero weapon.

“Yes, although it proved to be not enough,” said Lakshman, making his expression as believable as he possibly could to make sure they didn’t think of anything else. “So, I was glad when my hero weapon suddenly called out to me and aided me in defeating that monster.”

“It called out to you?” Someone from the spectators asked in a surprised voice. “You mean your weapon was almost useless until you were in a seriously dangerous situation??”

Lakshman turned and focused on the speaker, realising instantly that he did not like the man one bit. He was slightly fat, who seemed to enjoy his food, and had a face that was slightly blacked out in colour. It’s not his appearance that made Lakshman dislike him on first look, but the way he eyed them made him realise the arrogance and overly superiority feeling the man was giving off. Now that he took a look at the spectators, he realised there were many that were similar to that man.

“He’s probably thinking of suggesting that you’re not a true hero or something,” suggested Asura, becoming very irritated by look in that man’s eyes. “Let me take over. I’m the perfect guy to handle this moron.”

Lakshman sighed, but before he could speak, Erza raised her voice and said, “Truth be told, his hero weapon materialised just like it did for the others, however, it wouldn’t activate. That’s why he initially struggled to fight the aliens.”

She turned to Lakshman, giving him look that said, “Play along.”

A little taken aback, he went along with their flow and said, “That’s right. I found that I can use my magic, but it still wasn’t enough. When we were in a bad situation, however, I heard this… voice in my head, calling out to me. Then, the weapon activated and I managed to use magic powerful than I ever could and defeated the monster. I am grateful for my comrades in keeping the aliens at bay until I charged my magic and destroyed them.”

He turned and smiled faintly at the other heroes, who merely nodded their heads in return. They immediately understood that the princess was creating a fake scenario of him being with them and fighting alongside them before receiving a support boost to his powers, allowing only him to take out the aliens for good.

Only Vikram showed a lightly exasperated look on his face as he thought to himself, “Honestly, why are you over exaggerating it, princess? I can understand that you want to protect him from possible oppression, but this is taking it a little far, don’t you think? He managed to defeat them all on his own!”

Unable to say any of it, he could only sigh in resignation to the predicament they were faced with. Even Gram looked displeased but this was because of the name of Asura, that Lakshman is using with them, which he was still not happy with due to its meaning in his language.

“Facinating!”

“So, the heroes are all powerful, but would need practice to perfect their skills and prowess.”

“It seems that way.”

“But what’s to prove that they are truly that powerful? We have no means to ascertain these statements.”

“There is one,” said one of them, raising from his seat to address them all, who turned out to be none other than the commander of the Legion of Heroes, Cyde.

“You have something to prove, Cyde?” The king asked, and the man nodded in ascent.

“Yes, your majesty. Earlier, while we detected the activity of the alien ship, we have also detected an unknown object heading towards it at an alarming rate. Its speed was uncanny, the likes of which we have never detected before.”

“That’s because the heroes were flying there as fast as they could!” Erza replied firmly before anyone could. “Surely, you would’ve realised that after making contact with me, Cyde?”

“You’re right, princess. Perhaps the readings of our instruments need further calibration,” he said, bowing to her in agreement, but he straightened up with a firm look and continued to say, “however, we did detect the alien ship to have fired its main cannon on the identified signal, which was much further away from the other signals that would clearly belong to the heroes. Can you explain that for me please?”

There was silence within the room as all eyes focused on Erza, who tried her best to keep a cool expression on her face. Unfortunately, she cannot seem to hide the pressure she was feeling, as her eyebrows kept twitching and so was her mouth, clearly stumped on how to answer that question.

Their rescue came from the most unexpected person when Gram stepped forward and spoke while shoving Lakshman aside.

“Greeting, your majesty and to the fellow members. My name is Gram, and I was the one who stopped the majority of the main cannon’s destruction.”

“Oh?!”

“Gram? Isn’t he the Tempest Hero?”

“He managed to do it?”

“He claims it but is it the truth.”

Gram, ignoring the comments, spoke in a louder voice that quelled everyone into going silent and hearing him out.

“I sensed the danger and raced ahead of the rest to the location, intending to stop the attack. While I wasn’t fully successful, I kept the damage to minimal. Then, my comrades arrived and we began our battle with the aliens, where he was successful in activating his powers and decimating the aliens.”

“Oh~! So, it’s a joint effort, on your part stopping the cannon, your comrades fending the aliens away and his part in defeating them,” the king said, sounding impressed. “Do you object to this, Cyde?”

Cyde, who was a little taken aback, quickly recovered and said, “No, your majesty. I believe this makes sense,” before eying Gram with a suspicious look on his face.

Gram bowed a little to the king and said, “While that is true, your majesty, I believe the full merit of the victory goes to him,” jerking his head sideways at Lakshman, who raised both of his eyebrow in amazement.

“What is this guy doing…?” Lakshman thought, which was also echoed by Asura a moment later.

“He’s plotting something! He’s definitely plotting something against us!” Asura thought in a deep negative voice. “Otherwise, no one in their right mind would shift all the success to someone else, especially when he got such an opportunity to make fame of himself!”

Lakshman did not say anything, but look seriously at Gram, whom he was unable to figure out as of yet. The king, in the meantime, seemed to be pondering about Gram’s request, as seen by him stroking his white beard. Then, coming to a decision, he raised a hand and announced his verdict.

“Very well! I declare Asura to be the champion that saved us from a dangerous threat! He deserves a Medal of Honour, Courage and will receive plenty for his services as a summoned hero! Not just him, but the Nine Heroes of Legends will receive rewards befitting their merits!”

This caused the audience to murmur for a few seconds before coming to a unanimous agreement. They were looked down at the heroes and were all plotting their own agenda in having one or many support them in their grand schemes in things. For now, they all acted together in deciding to appease the king and present the heroes with their rewards.

When the commotion died down, the king proclaimed that the reward ceremony will be held tonight followed by a grand party to celebrate this victory. With the dismissal, everyone rose to their feet, bowed to their king and slowly filed out through the doors on their level.

Gram smiled, but it became a deadly look when he glanced at Lakshman, a look that clearly said, “You should be grateful that I saved your life, filth!”

Lakshman was alarmed and, just as he was about to speak to him, Erza grabbed Gram’s hands and raised them to her chest level, a glimmer of admiration on her face.

“Sir Gram! Thank you for supporting me at such a crucial time! I really appreciate it!”

Gram appeared to be momentarily surprised before he smiled and said, “It’s an honour to serve you, your highness. Besides, I don’t like seeing a cute princess face such a pressure. It’s not right.”

“C-Cute~?!” Erza exclaimed, taking her hands away from Gram and placing then on either side of her face, blushing deeply. “I-I’m c-c-c-ute~?!”

“Naturally, yes,” replied Gram, smiling genially at her, causing Lakshman to become shocked by the action.

“No…! No way…! I-Is he trying to steal Erza… from me?!” Lakshman thought in a furious voice, his hands clenched tightly in anger.