On one screen, one person clicked the device on their wrist several times before aiming their hand at their opponent and said, “Icicle Blaster!”
In an instant, a magic circle appeared at the end of his extended hand and several sharp rocks made of ice shot out. They flew towards the target at super speed, but then the opponent reacted by clicking the device on his own wrist and placing his hands on the ground before saying, “Wall Stopper.”
A magic circle appeared on the ground in front of him before a strong wall rose to match the height of its caster. The sharp pointed icicles smashed into the wall and crashed, spraying the smashed pieces of the icicles in all directions. In retaliation, the opponent clicked the device on his wrist a few times and aimed his hand at the attacker and said, “Flame Buster!”
With the appearance of a magic circle, a powerful flame ball burst out of it and it flew straight towards the other person, who dodged by jumping out of the way. He rolled over twice and came to a kneeling position while facing his opponent with a glaring look on his face.
On another screen, someone was rapid firing water balls that exploded upon impact as soon as it came in contact with any solid object. The opponent was dodging and jumping around these volatile attacks. As soon as he was clear, the victim swirled around, pressed the buttons several times on his device and aimed his hand towards the targeted person before shouting the attack name out loud.
“Blaze Cannon!”
A large magic circle formed in front of him vertically before a blazing fire erupted out of it before soaring straight towards the victim at super speed. The opponent saw the attacking coming, pressed his device several times and aimed at it before shouting his own attack name out loud.
“Water Stream!”
Like his opponent, the magic circle appeared vertically and a large stream of water burst out of it to soar towards the oncoming attack. The two attacks soared towards one another and collided against each other at centre, causing both warriors to exert their powers and keep their attacks going to overcome the other. It quickly became apparent that they were evenly matched and the colliding forces suddenly exploded, sending fire and water in all directions.
In a different screen, another warrior was wielding a long wooden sword that was glowing with magic power. It was clearly an enhancement to sharpen and improve the performance of the weapon, which he was swinging against a similar weapon used by his opponent. They clashed a few times and pushed each other before they started to swing their swords around to unleash slicing waves at each other. The intensity of the battle and the explosions from the collisions caused wild blowing winds to be sent in all directions, causing the video to shake as well.
Just like the three battles shown on three different screens, there were five more battles taking place in other screens as well. Each one of the fighters was apparently stronger than they appeared, using spells and techniques in a unique style and manner in an effort to defeat their opponent and win the battle. However, their opponents were equally strong and it was proving to be a tough battle for either sides to achieve victory in this intense battle.
“For some reason, I feel I’m watching myself fight my dad back when I was still an Intermediate Ranked Swordsman,” thought Lakshman, a slight smile appearing on his face as he watched the battles displayed on the multiple screens.
“Yes and, after that, you magnificently defeated him with the help of Tetra and managed to adventure out of your home,” replied Asura in his mind with a light chuckle. “So, I guess to you, who has gone beyond the limits of anything that you one had, these fights look like child’s play.”
“They’re all strong in their own way,” thought Lakshman in support of the warriors he saw fighting on the screen. “If they train hard enough and push themselves beyond the limits, they will really be strong.”
“A pity that humans are limited, unlike us members of the Phoenix Clan.”
“About that… Basically, I have a very little Phoenix Blood in me, so how come I was able to achieve this much?”
“All Phoenix Clan members are born with large power levels and those with leadership roles are born with an immense power levels, however, their bodies must be able to contain it. You, who has low Phoenix Blood in you, had great difficulty containing the massive power that was the power of the Phoenix Titan. The sickness that you endured most of the time during childhood was due to the instability, but you know this already, right?”
“I figured as much already, but I was just a bit concerned as to why that happened. I even thought maybe it was the side effects of the Four Seals of Darkness that the Calamity Titan placed on my previous incarnation.”
To that, Asura merely sighed and responded in his mind, “That is difficult to tell. I mean, I don’t even know fully whether what the Calamity Titan did was for our own good or not. After all, the reason that Decisive Player was able to manipulate your life into keeping you as innocent and pure hearted as possible without the interference of the Twisted was because our powers were sealed in the first place. I mean, controlling someone is wrong, but making sure they don’t become corrupted justifies their actions.”
“Yes. You’re right. I owe Decisive Player a lot for taking care of me,” thought Lakshman, smiling a little sadly as he misses the constant chatting voice of the Decisive Player, who had been his constant companion before Asura. “Although, I believe his morale is much stronger than yours and so is his ideology to protect life.”
“I saved his life when the God of Destruction nearly destroyed him because of the shame of losing to some mortal,” replied Asura heated, but Lakshman merely laughed in his mind since he found his past self’s reaction to be funny.
While beside them, the royal siblings watched the stalemate of a battle occurring on the battleground, which was starting to bore them. That was when Bolten came up with a plan, and he smiled as he rose to his seat and walked out of the seats to speak with a staff stationed inside their room. The man nodded hurriedly and went out of the room for some reason, leaving the prince to return to walk to the front of the room.
A moment later, the same man returned with a small object in his hand and another larger object, which he pointed towards the prince. At the same time, all the screens changed to show his smiling face as he breathed easy and started speaking to the viewers.
“Greeting, everyone. This is the first prince, Bolten, speaking. I would like to first apologise for interrupting the wonderful battles that you are watching.”
He instantly received a hail of protests from the viewers, who were all stating that he had nothing to apologise for. He waited for a moment for the people to settle down in his room before continuing to speak.
“The reason for my interruption is because I feel the battles are at a stalemate. No side will win at this rate. That’s why, I wish to settle the final battle by having the Nine Heroes of Legends decide on a verdict.”
He turned to look towards the nine heroes at the back and so did everyone in the room while, at the same time, the man holding the camera turned to point it towards them.
“Huh?” Fred, William, Natsu, Martin and Maxwell said in unison, looking surprised.
Gram was silent as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, Ward kept his face expressionless as usual, and Vikram looked sceptical. Lakshman was the only one that looked at the camera with interest because he was amazed that such a small device was capable of wirelessly displaying what it was seeing directly into all the screens.
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“I propose that two of the strongest warriors from our other worldly heroes to represent a class and fight it out to decide who the winner is!” Bolten declared, which was immediately met with awe and a round of clapping from people seated in every room watching him live on screen. He looked towards the nine heroes and smiled faintly as he announced, “I would like to have the Tempest Hero, Gram and the Solaris Hero, Asura, to come forward please.”
At his request, both Lakshman and Gram rose to their feet and moved towards the front, with everyone’s gaze following them. They came to stand on either side of the prince, who beamed at the both of them before speaking to the audience in front of him and those watching him on the television screens.
“I would like for these two gentlemen to fight on behalf of a class of their choice and win,” he declared in a firm voice. He turned to them and asked, “Is it possible within your powers to do so, heroes?”
Gram did not speak immediately and Lakshman remained silent, but he was thinking of how clever the first prince was. Not only did he trick everyone into accepting the thought of having these two warriors fight but involved them in such a way that it would be very difficult to refuse at this point in time. As such, the only option they have left with was to fight.
“He clearly wants to see us fight,” said Asura in his mind in a shrewd voice. “Quite the clever guy.”
Inwardly, Lakshman nodded, but he remained normal on the outside and smiled at everyone. Suddenly, he felt a great ill intention towards him, and he glanced towards Gram and found that the Tempest Hero was glaring at him menacingly. Actually, it looked like he was just normally looking at Lakshman, but the person himself can sense the great animosity emanating from Gram.
“So, will you—?” Bolten began.
“I will fight!” Gram proclaimed firmly while facing the front before the prince could finish his sentence.
“be able to—Oh… Oh?!” The prince exclaimed, quickly realising what just happened and smiling in delight. “You will participate?! Fantastic!”
“I will,” began Gram with a determined look on his face, “because I want to see how I fare against my comrades and,” he paused and turned to face towards Lakshman before finishing with, “battling the Solaris Hero is the correct choice.”
The prince nodded in satisfaction at the choice of words and said, “That is a well-thought-out reason. Excellent,” and he began clapping for them and the sound was echoed from everywhere, as everyone began clapping for the two of them.
While everyone was overjoyed and excited while clapping their hands together, Lakshman and Gram eyed each other in complete silence. They did not need to exchange any kind of words or the use any form of communication to understand what the other person was thinking about them. It was plain and obvious that the two-shared great dislike towards each other, which was a given from the moment they met for the first time on the battlefield, when Lakshman successfully defeated the aliens singlehandedly.
“I repay you for looking down on me,” thought Gram, who felt his pride was hurt during a certain incident at the night party.
“Looks like this guy’s very angry at us,” thought Lakshman, looking a little concerned at the sheer dislike he was receiving from Gram. “I don’t know what I did to upset him so much.”
“He didn’t like you from the moment you said ‘hello,’ so what’s the point thinking about it?” Asura asked him with a lack of interest in his voice. “I say just beat him up and show off your powers!”
“Perhaps, but let’s see… I’ll have to figure things out when such a situation gets raised.”
“Don’t be stupid and think that you need to go easy on him just because he is weaker than you! Remember your priority! Erza! You need to impress Erza!”
Lakshman sighed inwardly and thought, “You don’t have to repeatedly remind me the same thing, but I can’t do things I don’t like doing. Anyway, Erza isn’t the type of person that likes people because of how powerful they are; she likes them for who they are and loves the greatness of their heart.”
Asura remained silent because he knew his current self’s statement to be true. And so, the two of them, Lakshman and Gram, were lead down to the battlefield through a side-door that blended in with the wallpaper of the room. They reached the ground floor and were led outside, causing them to hear a tremendous applauding sound that was emitting from the speakers positioned on all sides around the arena.
“Wow…! This place is huge!” Lakshman commented, looking around and up at the tall structures in awe.
“It was the intention of allowing warriors to fight to their heart’s content. That is why several powerful barriers are erected around this space in order to protect the people indoors,” explained the man leading them towards the battleground.
The battleground was specifically just a small strip of land that was surrounded by only grass on all sides. Upon receiving the explanation, Lakshman could sense the faintest trace of energy being deployed in sustaining powerful shockwaves and explosions from causing harm. While it did make him feel a little relieved, he also knew they would not be able to contain it if he chose to unleash all of his power.
The person that led them out there told them to wait and departed to head into the safety of the indoor shelter. As soon as they were the only ones standing outside, the two took on their fighting stances on opposite ends, and Gram glared menacingly at him.
“I am going to say this once, so listen! I am going to beat you like a trash bag because of what you’ve done to me!” He said in a sharp voice.
Lakshman was amazed, and he asked, “Why?”
Gram’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and he replied, “During that explosive incident at the night party held by the king, you were the one that saved everyone. I am no fool. I may have not understood what you did, but you saved everyone and then pinned that credit on me when I was trying to save only myself? Were you showing pity on me, or was it to show me of how arrogant you truly are, demon?”
Those words stunned the Solaris Hero into going silent for a few seconds before he sighed deeply and responded with, “Look. Think of it however you want, okay? I did it for my satisfaction, not because I pitied you or anything. To make matters more complex, you helped the princess explain away how I managed to fend off the alien invasion when, in truth, none of you were even there when it happened! So, treat it as me returning a favour.”
Gram’s eyes flashed, and his face contorted with an unseen fury that was never seen before in him.
“I… am a prince, the next to be king of my world! I only offer when I feel like it, but I will never accept anything from those below me. It hurts my pride.” As Lakshman raised an eyebrow in surprise, Gram summoned his Hero Weapon, the Silver Sword, out of thin air and said, “It’s unacceptable what you did, and I will return the favour, ten time, no, a thousand times and make you feel the same of being on the receiving end from someone above you!”
For a moment, Lakshman did not know what he should say. A moment later, however, he recovered and summoned his Hero Weapon, the Golden Trident, out of thin air before saying in a disbelieving voice.
“I can’t believe I’m meeting a guy that’s very similar to Lagron! Totally unbelievable!”
“Lag-who?” Gram asked, looking confused.
“You don’t need to know him, just that you and him are quite similar.”
“How?”
Lakshman went to say, “You’re both arrogant and proud of yourselves,” but Asura suddenly took over and said in a sneering voice, “Both of you are royalty; you being a prince while he is a king.”
As quickly as he took over, Asura left Lakshman in charge of his own body, which surprised the young warrior quite a bit. At the same time, Gram instantly widened his eyes in shock at the jab that his opponent had used on him. It made him clench his fists tightly and begin to exert his powers, which were slowly radiating around him in the form of a low glowing light.
“Asura! What are you doing?!” Lakshman exclaimed in a sharp voice.
“Sorry, Lakshman, but your response would’ve been too weak, and I’m quite annoyed by this man’s unbelievable ego, so I went for the jab. From the looks of things, it worked!” Asura replied in his mind in a satisfied voice.
Lakshman shook his head disparagingly and looked towards his enemy, who seemed to be literally fuming with rage. Even so, the self-proclaimed prince did not retort or say any remark, which Lakshman found was quite strange. Often, he is used to being on the receiving end of the other person’s violence attitude and abusive verbal language, but this was different. It was as if his opponent was choosing to use his actions to do the talking instead of any dialogue.
At that moment, they heard the booming voice of the first prince, Bolten, over the speakers as he addressed everyone in the arena and inside the buildings.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Here we are, the final showdown between classes 1A and 1B. Due to their struggle in being unable to overwhelm each other, the heroes have agreed to step in to decide the victor for their class by doing battle with one another!”
A round of applause followed his proclaim, and Lakshman looked around with a smile on his face. Gram also did the same, but Lakshman could see the shadow of irritation that he was doing his best to mask behind his handsome features.
Before coming down to the battleground, the two were asked to check which class group they belonged to. Much to their surprise, Gram belonged to Class 1A and Lakshman belonged to Class 1B. While it did not bother Lakshman, he did catch the glimpse of satisfaction from Gram, who seemed to have been very pleased that he was placed in the highest classroom order.
“Get ready, everyone, because you’re about to witness two legends battle it out!” Bolten said and huge cheer erupted from the speakers as everyone in the rooms were very excited. Bolten waited for the voices to slowly die down until it there was complete silence before he issued the command by saying, “Our heroes… Our legends… Fight!”