Lakshman and Gram walked over and took their positions respectively on opposite ends of each other and turned to face one another with their weapons in hand. Gram was holding the sword he received from Bolten, which he had been using it since morning, and Lakshman received his sword from one of the Royal Guards. The two warriors faced each other with grim expressions on their faces, and they were watched from the sidelines by Bolten, Natsu, Vikram, and the Royal Guards.
Bolten took a referee position near the edge of the barrier and said, “Alright!” He looked at them both in turn and declared, “Begin!”
The moment he issued the command, Gram surged with power and activated one of his skills without verbally shouting it out loud. This caused a large number of his exact copies to suddenly materialise on the field and surrounded Lakshman from all sides. While the audience were surprised, Gram and his copies began moving around rapidly in order to confuse their opponent from not identifying the original.
“Wow! Are these After Images? There sure are a lot of them!” Bolten said, looking mightily impressed.
“Yikes! There’s so many of them! Who’s the original?” Vikram asked, rapidly trying to follow their movement without the use of his powers but he realised he was just hurting his eyes unnecessarily.
“It’ll strain your eyes if you try to follow them, Vikram,” advised Natsu, who had realised this very thing a moment ago and gave up following Gram. “Let’s just see what happens instead.”
“Yeah!” Vikram agreed, grinning at him before looking seriously back at them as copies of Gram moved around with
Gram was pleased to hear the prince was impressed with him and found delight in the fact that Natsu and Vikram could not follow him. However, he noticed that Lakshman stood exactly where he was from the beginning without making one move towards him. It made him wonder whether the king from another world was underestimating him and this made him become feel very annoyed.
“Hey! Are you surprised?” Gram said while moving in between his copies to avoid detection, making it sound like his voice was coming from all sides.
Lakshman did not say anything and remained in the same position like before, his eyes narrowed slightly as he focused on the ground before him. Feeling annoyed, Gram finally decided to leap into action and came from behind Lakshman to strike him down with all the force he could muster.
It was then that Lakshman finally made his move, and he slowly moved his sword over his shoulder and positioned it between him and the blade that came from behind. Gram was shocked when his sword clashed forcefully against his opponent’s sword and did not budge as they got locked in place. Gram gritted his teeth and applied his immense strength against the sword but even then, it remained unmoving much to his surprise.
Suddenly, Lakshman applied strength and pushed Gram away with the force of his swing and spun his body around to face him. As he did that, he swung his sword towards him as he was still airborne in a clear intent of taking him down. Momentarily shocked, Gram acted on instinct and bent his body backwards and let the sword fly through thin air harmlessly. Due to this, his concentration was broken and his copies instantly vanished from sight.
The Tempest Hero thought he had successfully evaded Lakshman’s attack, but he was shocked when he felt a sudden impact on his chest and was sent flying away. The Solaris Hero had kicked him in the chest and sent him flying away, only for Gram to crash land several meters away. Lakshman remained in that kicking position for a second before planting his foot down and standing strong while his opponent slowly picked himself off the ground.
“That was an excellent counter, Lakshman,” called Bolten, sounding impressed.
Lakshman did not reply, focusing all of his attention on the opponent in front of him because he knew that in a state of anger, a man can do anything. That was the position that Gram was in, his anger and feeling of humiliation was making him lose his cool and he decided on an all-out attack on him, treating Lakshman more as an enemy than an opponent.
Gram suddenly swung around and the sword at the same time towards Lakshman and shouted, “Storm Dance!”
In an instant, the wind began to blow rapidly around Lakshman and buffeted him in the process, forcing him to brace himself against it. At the same time, Gram aimed his hand at him and started shooting greenish energy blasts at him, and Lakshman retaliated by swinging his sword expertly around, smashing the energy blasts aside with relative ease.
Surging with power, Gram kicked off the ground and soared towards Lakshman before beginning to clash forcefully against him in a close-quarters sword fight. He was using the wind to create a distraction for Lakshman while enhancing his speed and skills to the maximum with their effects. Even so, Lakshman did not show any sign of being weakened by the wind that would normally be a hassle to deal with.
Lakshman was achieving his stable fighting stance through sheer strength and balancing himself against the wind. Several times, he came within striking distance of Gram, but the prince from another world dodged it with fast movement and countered, forcing Lakshman to withdraw while the wind suddenly blew and buffeted him. The reason he was not going all out was to see what else his opponent was capable of doing.
Seeing that the strong wind was not creating the effect he desired, Gram suddenly pulled back to give himself and Lakshman quite a distance to separate each other. Then, he began gathering channelled immense energy into his sword that made it glow dimly in the light of the slowly rising sun. It took him a moment to do this and, feeling satisfied with the energy he had gathered, he kicked off the ground and flew straight towards Lakshman with the intention of destroying his sword.
Seeing him charge towards him, Lakshman understood what his opponent had in mind and decided to put an end to this battle because he had learnt all he needed to know about him. He raised his sword, channelled his Weapon Force into the sword that made it glow as well and, just as Gram was about to reach him, swung it down with a deadly look on his face.
Gram, who was about to reach him, saw the expression on his face and shuddered when he suddenly sensed the energy implanted in the sword swung by his opponent. He was so shocked that his reflexes automatically kicked in and made him forcefully stop just before Lakshman’s swung down and smashed against the ground, unleashing all the stored energy from its blade.
At the same time, Bolten, who had seen this and the energy channelled inside the sword, widened his eyes in shock and shouted to the Royal Guards, “Deploy more barriers! Now!”
Startled at first, the Royal Guards immediately activated more barrier just as the wild energy from Lakshman’s swing took effect and was unleashed onto the field. The unleashed force was so strong that the ground erupted on all sides and the chunks went flying everywhere. They smashed into the barrier and penetrated through several layers before being stopped by the newly conjured barriers that the Royal Guards managed to deploy at the last second.
Smoke spread around the field and it slowly disappeared into the outside, which was the only thing allowed by the barrier to escape. As the view was cleared, they saw that a huge crater was there and Gram was standing several meters away as he was also sent flying from the explosive release of Lakshman’s energy. Before the crater, Lakshman stood with a sword that had a missing blade, broken as it was unable to handle the immense energy he had unleashed all at once.
“Oops. I broke it,” he muttered, staring at the blade with a sorrowful look on his face. He turned to the prince and waved the broken sword in his hand while saying, “Sorry, prince, but I broke it! Do I have to compensate for it too?”
“Ha?!” Bolten exclaimed, looking as if Lakshman was out of his mind. “Don’t be silly! You don’t need to for something like that!”
“Oh… and what about this?” Lakshman asked, indicating the crater as he realised the implications of what he did much to his despair.
“No need for that either!” Bolten replied in a firm voice, smiling at look of sadness shown on the hero’s face. “As this is a battle that I approved, it falls under my jurisdiction, and I was already prepared for this. So, there’s no need for you to pay the cost of these repairs.”
“Oh!” Lakshman replied, looking amazed. Then he sighed in relief and said, “Thank goodness for that!”
Bolten smiled warmly at him, but his thoughts were racing as he thought, “Incredible. With just one swing, he caused such a large crater to occur and even sent his opponent flying away! He truly is a power warrior that should not be trifled with! That’s for sure!”
“Man, what is up with him and his honesty?” Vikram asked, chuckling with laughter as he found Lakshman to be silly.
In the meantime, Gram picked himself off the ground and looked at the crater with an angry expression on his face. He turned his attention towards Lakshman, who had crossed the crater and was walking towards him with a casual look on his face.
“Bastard! You dare to mock me with this show of force?” Gram shouted, looking as if he was robbed of his chance at victory.
His opponent raised an eyebrow and asked, “Mock you? How? If I recall, this battle wasn’t about winning or losing; it’s about you showing me what you got. Since I saw what you had to offer, I decided to end it with a bang. That’s about it, so how could I be mocking you in all of this?”
His statement momentarily stumped Gram, made Vikram snort with laughter, and Natsu to closed his eyes while a smile formed on his face. Even Bolten let a smile creep on his face at the teacher like reprimanding behaviour he was showing towards Gram, who was struggling for words.
It took Gram a few seconds before he finally managed to angrily say, “Dammit! If I had continued fighting, I would’ve shown you what else I got!” Then, seeing the change in Lakshman’s face, which was that of pity, Gram demanded, “Why are you looking at me like that?! Why are you giving me that look?!”
Lakshman, who was no longer feeling like showing any mercy towards the man who was living in denial, decided on what to do as he said, “Right. I think it’s time I put you in your place.”
“What?” Gram asked, not understanding what he just heard.
“Can you power up?” Lakshman asked abruptly and, when Gram appeared confused, he elaborated and asked, “Can you increase your power level?”
“Ha? Of course, I can!”
“Good,” said Lakshman, nodding his head in satisfaction and powering up that caused the ground to shake a little.
Seeing his opponent powering up, Gram got into a fighting stance and asked, “So, you’re going to continue fighting? Fine, but don’t expect me to fight like I did before!”
His words were treated with amusement by Lakshman, who asked, “Do you always think of fighting?” When Gram looked puzzled by his question, Lakshman got serious and asked, “Power up to the very limit! I want to see whether you can reach my level or not!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
With that, he suddenly began to power up so much that the ground began to shake as if an earthquake was occurring. The shaking caused the Royal Guards to lose their footing and fall in surprise while Bolten, Natsu, and Vikram stood firmly but still swayed from time to time. The tremors continued to increase exponentially, and the wind also began picking up speed as it blew around them, seeping out of the barrier and buffeting everyone in the vicinity.
Seeing his opponent powering up so much, Gram did as he was told, and he too began powering up. He clenched his fists tightly and continued to match Lakshman’s power level even as the Solaris Hero continued powering up. Noticing this, Lakshman smiled and clenched his fists and rocketed his powers to heights that he had not attempted after coming to this world.
His soaring power level caused everyone in the vicinity to get shocked as it soared to heights that none of them could ever match. Even Gram was shocked, staring at his powered-up opponent, who was radiating golden-red aura that surrounded him. The wild blowing wind buffeted against him, making him struggling to stand his ground as firmly as he had been up until now.
“Dammit! Not yet! I’m not done yet!” Gram shouted, anger fuelling him to keep going. Hew clenched his fists tightly and began to push himself to reach the level of power Lakshman was currently at and as he did, he began to scream, “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
His power level rose and the already wild blowing wind began to blow more wildly, flowing in a random direction because of two acting forces from both sides. It still was not sufficient enough to wake the occupants of the castle, who mostly were sleeping while the maids and butlers were cleaning, arranging the cutlery, and getting breakfast ready. Only they sensed the power levels radiating from the courtyard, but they treated it normally because they believed it was the heroes training with the first prince, who always trained in the early mornings.
Bolten, who was watching the scene of the two warriors powering up from the outside, had a look of amazement on his face because he could not believe such people existed. Of course, he knew they had this kind of potential, but it was his first time feeling this sensation ever since the heroes were summoned from their respective worlds.
“Incredible…” he muttered to himself.
Despite his valiant efforts, Gram still could not reach Lakshman’s power level and began to lose the rhythm in his breathing. He was breathing quickly now, quickly getting tired as he was reaching his limit, but he did not want to give up. With his breath coming in rasps now, he spurred his power further and, after a few tense seconds, finally reached Lakshman’s power level.
He was breathing rapidly, but he still managed to crack a smile triumphantly and said, “Hah… Hah… Hah… See that…? I matched you…! I… did it…! Hah… Hah…”
Lakshman looked at his enemy and felt impressed that the prince from another world managed to reach his power level, which was the level he had achieved years ago. This made him acknowledge that the man before him had the potential to rise to the challenge of improving himself, getting stronger, and reaching out towards a power he had never dreamed off just as Lakshman had once been at a younger age.
However, he did not like the arrogant and prideful attitude that seemed to be the reason that pushed Gram to reach new heights. Despite thinking like that, Lakshman had the sense that there was something else that was making Gram act the way he does, an act to hide his true self from the world and himself; a lie to safeguard himself from reality.
Due to this, he looked towards the prince for a moment in silence, who did not understand why the hero was looking towards him. Seeing him look confused made Lakshman smile and allowed him to make up his mind on what he must do.
“Wait… What are you doing…?” Asura asked, but Lakshman did not bother to tell him.
Lakshman suddenly remembered the promise he made with his friend and smiled sadly as he thought, “I’m sorry, Stuart, for not upholding that promise of not holding back, but no more. Here I go.”
And so, Lakshman powered up, but this was a power up that was nothing like his previous attempts; this time it was a power up that seemed to blanket everything into total darkness. The ground erupted and exploded, sending the debris flying in all directions, and the thick layered barriers were easily destroyed as the watching audience could not believe what they were witnessing.
Bolten, Natsu, Vikram, and the Royal Guards felt shock and disbelief upon sensing the otherworldly power emanating from him. Their legs gave way under the pressure, and they knelt down on the ground, absolutely overwhelmed by the force of power unleashed by him. The occupants of the castle felt it and felt utter shock and disbelief, and it had the effect of waking up even the people sleeping, who were shocked at the sensation they were experiencing. They all, either in their nightmare or quickly changing into their nightgown, headed out of their rooms and arrived at the courtyard to find a truly unbelievable sight.
The first prince, three heroes from the Nine Heroes of Legends, and several Royal Guards had fallen to their knees amidst a nearly destroyed ground. At the centre stood a silent figure shrouded in a golden-red aura while emitting an enormous amount of power. The pressure in the air was so thick that they felt as if their breath was being caught on something, making them almost feel like choking.
“W-What is this…?”
“This power is…?”
“Wow…!”
“Incredible…!”
“Unreal…!”
“Mind blowing…!”
Alistair, who was watching this scene from beside the king, whose face was filled with horror, formed a small smile on his face and muttered, “Amazing. So, this is your true power, hero.”
His power was felt, not just by all the occupants in the castle, but within the capital as well. They stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the castle as they knew something unbelievable was happening. Even the person that had the least ability to sense things felt terror upon sense the overwhelming might presented to them upon Lakshman unleashing his true power.
Gram, who was at the closest proximity to this otherworldly release of power, had fallen to his knees and stared up at Lakshman with a horrified look on his face. The Solaris Hero did not appear intimidating, but anyone who sensed his power level would be shocked beyond belief, as can be seen from the shaking that everyone else were experiencing.
Lakshman, whose expression was calm and serene unlike everyone else’s there, looked down at Gram and said, “Do you understand now; the difference between us?” As Gram gulped in fright, the king from another world continued to say, “You’re at the bottom of the ocean while I’m at the highest point in the sky. That’s how far apart you are from me.”
The Tempest Hero’s mouth trembled, his body shook, and his hands twitched in fright from sensing this overwhelming might. Lakshman saw this, and turned to see that everyone that had gathered, even the occupants of the castle, were all shaking in the footwear they were wearing. He smiled a little sadly, knowing that it was the first time they sensed a power level of this magnitude that could seemingly rival that of a God.
He breathed a sigh and let his power level drop back to normal, and it instantly returned the pressure in the air back to a normal state. Everyone breathed a heavy sigh while some even wiped sweat off their foreheads due to the extreme fear they felt from the earlier sensation they had experienced. There were several people who had difficulty breathing earlier, who were now breathing deeply and looked towards him in a fearful manner.
“Now you’ve gone and done it!” Asura said, not too sternly but not happily either. “You told me that showing them your true might will cause you problems, and yet you suddenly do it without a second thought?”
Lakshman smiled and thought, “You’re right, and the result is as you see; they’re afraid of me. While I did say that, I realised watching Gram that people will continue to underestimate me and do whatever, so I decided to uphold my promise to my dear friend and take things seriously from here because… I also realised my own weakness.”
“Your weakness? What do you mean?” Asura asked, feeling very curious.
To which, Lakshman smiled and thought, “I’ll tell you later, but first I need to deal with him.”
He looked down at the kneeling figure that was shaking with fright and terror that was installed in him from sensing the overwhelming power at such close proximity. Smiling sadly, Lakshman heaved a sigh as he sat down on the ground and faced Gram with a cool expression on his face.
“Y-Y-You… You had… this much… power… and yet, why…? Why did you make me feel as if I…? I had a chance?” Gram demanded weakly, looking imploringly at Lakshman who sat opposite him.
Lakshman remained silent for a moment, his gaze steadily watching Gram, before he calmly replied, “First, let me get something straight, Gram. I wasn’t born a king, nor was I born into a noble family.”
This startled Gram, who had the impression that Lakshman was from a highborn family to be able to marry a queen. He was aware of how Lakshman became king from seeing his memories when the Solaris Hero shared them with Bolten, Erza, Raze and the rest of the Nine Heroes of Legends.
“Y-You’re not from a h-highborn family?” Gram asked, and when Lakshman nodded, his eyes slowly widened in shock as a realisation dawned on him, and he slowly said, “No way… Don’t tell me… that you’re…?”
Once again, Lakshman nodded and, this time, replied with a small smile on his face.
“That’s right. I’m a commoner by birth. Yes, the very same people that you pass on the street and never look back at.”
There was a stunned silence in the vicinity as Bolten, Natsu, and Vikram watched in silence while the Royal Guards did not clearly understand the contents of which he was speaking about. Natsu and Vikram were surprised and Bolten was amazed upon discovering the background of the man that was the king from another world.
“W-Were you born… with that power…?” Gram asked slowly in an uncertain voice.
Lakshman shook his head and said, “As a child, I did possess power greater than normal human beings, but no, not as much as what I possess now, but that’s not the point, Gram. Do you seriously think that I, who possess a power greater than normal human beings, had been able to reach this far with a snap of the fingers?”
As he asked the question, he clicked his fingers together to create the sound they were all too familiar with. Gram looked at his hands, and then back at the Lakshman with a lost expression on his face.
“It took me a long time, a lot of effort, and a lot of sacrifice to achieve what I possess today,” said Lakshman with a sad smile on his face. Then he pointed his finger at Gram and said, “You too possess the potential for something far greater than what you have now, Gram!”
“Eh?” Gram asked, taken aback at the sudden compliment he received. “I do?”
“Yes,” replied Lakshman confidently with a nod of his head. “You are exactly where I once was in the past, and I had three great masters that trained me, pushed me forward, and made me go beyond what I once thought was impossible. They were my… great masters…!”
While he was speaking, Bolten had walked over to sit next to him while listening intently to his speech, and upon noticing the look of sorrow on his face, he curiously asked, “They were? Why the use of past tense?”
Lakshman turned to him and said, “They’re deceased.” This stunned Bolten as Lakshman continued to say, “They were powerful fighters, who fought for their beliefs and died proudly in battle.”
“I see. I’m sorry to hear that,” replied Bolten apologetically, and Lakshman shrugged his shoulders as he did not mind it.
With a sigh, Lakshman rose to his feet and said to Gram, “I don’t know the kind of life you led or the upbringing you had, but just, just look into yourself for a moment and find what it is that you’re doing wrong. Everyone has faults, even I admit I have some, but it matters most when you identify them, figure a way to solve them, and move on is when you will truly shine. I can promise you that. Just look at me and where I am.”
Gram looked up at him, no longer did he possess the arrogance he once had, but a look of wonder on his face. It was probably the first time someone had given him hope as Lakshman had done, and Bolten realised this as he added a few words of support.
“It’s not too late, Gram. You can change,” said Bolten with a confident smile on his face.
The prince from another world turned his head to look at both Lakshman and Bolten before he turned his head down and said, “I’ll… think about it.”
Hearing such words were satisfactory for Lakshman, who sighed and said, “Well, it’s already morning, and we’d better get ready so we can attend the academy on time.” He turned towards Natsu and Vikram, who had walked over to him during their exchange and said to them, “Sorry guys, but it’s a little late right now to train you.”
“It’s okay, dude! There’s always next time!” Vikram said, giving him a cheerful smile as he spoke.
“No worries. Besides, I learnt quite a bit from what just happened anyway,” said Natsu wisely, a small worn on his face as he looked down at Gram.
Lakshman nodded in reply and headed back to his room, passing by everyone that watched in utter silence. Whenever he glanced at them, the people would shudder and drew away from him out of fear, which was something he had expected from the beginning if his true powers were to be discovered. Still, he was feeling satisfied that he was able to reveal his true powers in a manner to help someone rather than cause harm with it.
“But you know, most people would’ve been traumatized by the extreme power you released,” said Asura as an afterthought, causing Lakshman to stumble. “Be glad that person is stronger than he appeared to be.”
“Yeah… You’ve got a point there,” muttered Lakshman, and he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “Still, they should already have expected it considering the amount I unleashed at that time when the alien ship fired their main cannon down at the academy.”
“Oh, please. You only used power that was enough to return the wave back at the alien ship, but the process of restraining your powers and controlling your energy caused you to get really tired and so you passed out,” said Asura, explaining away what had really happened during that incident in a matter-of-fact voice. “If you did use your true power, not only would you have utterly destroyed the alien ship, but you would’ve wiped this entire city from the planet’s surface.”
Lakshman shrugged his shoulders and muttered, “Oh well. Let’s just hope that day never comes,” and continued walking towards his room, not knowing the future that awaited him as fate had other plans for him.