“That’s not possible!” Alestor exclaimed, looking thoroughly shocked by the statement given to him by Cyde, the commander of the League of Heroes. “There’s no way this hero is capable of performing treasonous actions!”
“I don’t know any of that, but the king ordered me to arrest him, and I must carry out his will,” replied the commander indifferently. Then he turned to Lakshman and asked, “Surrender now, or else.”
When he heard that, Lakshman chuckled and asked, “Are you perhaps hoping that I’d fight you?” Then he stood up to face the commander, causing the platoon of armed people to take stances while aiming their weapons at him. “Relax. I have no intentions of fighting. Here,” and he extended his arms out in a sign of surrender.
“Lakshman…!” Asura said slowly Inside his mind. “I don’t like this!”
“I know, but let’s see where this will lead to,” thought Lakshman in a quiet voice.
Cyde looked at him extending his arms out and then at his face, wearing an expression of curiosity. Still, he carried on with his mission and produced a pair of handcuffs that he placed around his hands, locking the two arms together.
“Let’s go. The king awaits us,” he said, turning and walking away.
At that moment, Alestor barked, “Stop right this moment!” Cyde stopped and turned to see him as he continued, “I did not receive any word from the king about any of this! He should still let me know first hand as I’ve had business with the hero!”
“He ordered me only a few minutes ago and demanded that I arrest the hero as soon as possible,” replied Cyde in a quiet voice. “It’s not my fault the king decided to not inform you.” Then he turned around and said, “If you’ve got issues, sort it out yourselves. Don’t involve your subjects into it.”
This angered Alestor greatly, and as he went to speak, Lakshman cut across him by saying, “That’s enough.” He glanced sideways at Alestor and suggested, “No point wasting your breath here,” before turning to Cyde and saying, “Lead the way.”
Cyde sighed and said, “This way,” and began walking away.
Lakshman followed behind him and the platoon of men surrounded him to form a solid human wall. Alestor stood there for a moment in a daze before coming to reality and quickly going after them. They walked for several minutes in silence through the castle corridors, down a pair of steps before finally arriving outside the entrance leading into the throne room.
“Please wait here,” said Cyde, and he walked forward to speak to the guard, who granted him to enter.
While they waited, Lakshman thought, “I wonder what sort of evidence they have to back up any treasonous actions that I’ve conducted against them.”
“Perhaps the alien set everything up,” suggested Asura.
“You’re right. That could very well be the case,” replied Lakshman, nodding his head slightly in agreement. “In any case, I can’t just leave Draga and Phylex in the room alone now that there’s something big going on here.” He closed his eyes and activated telepathy to communicate with his familiars, telling them, “Come to me.”
The Spirit Dragon, and the Eternal Phoenix were relaxing in the room when they suddenly heard their master’s voice echo in their heads. They immediately shot up and sat straight on the beds, looking towards the ceiling in surprise before turning to face each other.
“Master must be in trouble,” suggested Phylex apprehensively.
“Don’t be stupid!” Draga said in an annoyed voice. “He’s the Phoenix Titan! There’s no way he could be in trouble! Although,” he added slowly as an afterthought, “he is like a magnet for trouble.”
“Regardless, he called us to come to his side,” said Phylex, ignoring Draga’s second comment. “Let’s go!”
Nodding their heads at each other, the two of them transformed into two brilliant lights of blue and red before they shot out through the door of their room. They flew high through the air, soaring above many people strolling back and forth in the castle corridors while minding their own business, and turned several corners before finally reaching the spot their master was waiting at. The lights shot down and each ball landed on a shoulder before transforming back into their miniature sized bodies.
“We’re here, master,” replied Phylex telepathically.
“Why’d you call us so suddenly? Phylex was worried sick!” Draga complained telepathically.
“You exaggerate, Draga!” Phylex said sharply, shooting a glare at the Spirit Dragon.
The Spirit Dragon shrugged it off and smiled arrogantly back at him, obviously getting back at him for something he probably did in the past to him. Lakshman heard them bickering and smiled to himself as he liked how close they were despite putting on airs of disliking being in each other’s company.
Just then, the door opened wide, and Cyde walked out to say, “Come. They’re ready.”
And so, while surrounded by a platoon of men, Lakshman walked into the room before the wall of humans dispersed to walk away to stand on the side. Lakshman followed behind Cyde, with Alestor bringing up the rear looking around in shock. The upper podium was filled with ministers and commanders from other sectors of their army, who were all silent as they watched the three men walk into the throne room. The king, Fedex Flameheart, sat on his throne chair that was located at the top of a long stairway.
Lined up on the side were many Royal Guards, the three Royal Siblings, with Mike standing next to Santa. Raze stood a little behind the royal siblings, and to their right stood the rest of the Nine Heroes of Legends. Bolten, Erza, Vikram, Natsu, Fred, William, Martin, and Maxwell were looking puzzled as they were confused about the whole thing while Santa watched Lakshman grimly while Mike watched him with a satisfied smile on his face, clearly enjoying the spectacle of seeing his enemy being on the receiving end of this world’s judgement. The only ones who appeared to not care was Gram, who wore an expression of disinterest in the whole proceedings, and Ward, who remained expressionless as always.
“What the heck is going on here?” Vikram asked, looking at Lakshman while blinking in surprise.
“I don’t know,” replied Natsu honestly, feeling as puzzled as the Sonic Hero. “They just told us to come here. That’s all.”
“Yeah, but… no one told me they’re arresting Lucky,” stated Maxwell, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“A-Arresting him?” Martin asked apprehensively, looking thoroughly alarmed.
“What?!” Vikram exclaimed, looking shocked. “Why?”
“Yeah, why?” William asked, looking at Maxwell with concern on his face. “What reason is there to arrest him?”
Maxwell shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but… that’s what it looks to me judging from them cuffing his hands like that.”
This made them turn and notice the hero’s hands tied together in front of him, making them finally realise what was happening.
“This is a trial!” Natsu exclaimed, looking shocked.
“Unbelievable!” Vikram said, looking equally as shocked as Natsu. “What wrong did he do for him to deserve this?!”
“We’ll find out soon enough, I suppose,” stated Fred, looking worried as he looked at the king from another world.
Beside them, Raze looked towards the hero with her mask on, which successfully hid the expression of concern on her face as she worried about the fact that he was being arrested. Beside her, both Erza and Bolten appeared to be looking quite surprised at the reality that was presented to them. On their left, Santa and Mike looked towards the hero with satisfied smiles on their faces, clearly enjoying the sight of him being arrested in the eyes of the ministers.
Cyde, Lakshman, and Alestor walked till they stepped onto the raised dais, which was located in the centre of the throne room. They looked up at the king to see him tap his stick on the ground, making one of his men to the side to step forward and address everyone in the throne room.
“On behalf of the king, I welcome everyone to this session of holding trial to judge the criminal behaviour and treasonous conduct of the man known as the Solaris Hero,” the speaker said, speaking off a piece of paper in his hand and glancing around at everyone as he spoke.
“We demand an answer!” Vikram shouted from where he stood towards the speaker and, respectively, to the king as well.
“Yes! We want to know what crimes he is charged for!” Natsu shouted in support, narrowing his eyes and looking serious.
“We demand to know the truth!” Maxwell shouted as well.
As they continued to shout their demands, the king suddenly bellowed, “Silence,” causing all of their mouths to shut tight and making the room go silent. He looked at the speaker and said, “Go on and inform them. Everyone has the right to know the truth,” before leaning back on his chair.
“Yes, your majesty,” the speaker said, bowing to him courteously and turning to face the heroes. “I will now inform you of the crimes that he has conducted, starting off with this,” and he indicated towards the wall on the left.
Upon his statement, an opening appeared in the wall before it slid back a few meters before sliding away to the right to reveal a large panel stored inside. Once the wall was out of the way, the panel slowly got pushed forward until it was outside for all of them to see. There were a few seconds of pause before the screen in the middle of the panel began to flicker before an image appeared, showing them of a scene where Lakshman was seated in front of two pairs of masked men, shocking Bolten and causing his eyes to widen while Lakshman kept his cool despite the shock he felt on the inside.
“The two masked men in this video are members of the criminal organisation known widely as the Raven’s Guild,” the speaker announced in a loud clear voice. “It was reported earlier that day that these two had attacked the children from the royal family and Nine Heroes of Legends before giving an excuse that they only wanted to talk. After being taken into custody, our investigation team went to interrogate them when we found that they had been released upon orders from the Solaris Hero.”
“They found out,” thought Bolten furiously, remembering the events that happened only yesterday, “but how? I made sure to tell the people to switch off all surveillances there! Could it to be that I was tricked?”
While he was thinking furiously about it, Lakshman thought, “Your worries came true, Asura. They finally found out.”
Asura snorted and said, “It’s not something one can easily hide after all.”
“What are they saying?” One of the ministers asked them, pointing at the video.
“Unfortunately, the audio is damaged and cannot be played back,” said the speaker, making Bolten feel a slight relief, and made Lakshman to chuckle to himself, “however, this footage alone reveals the treasonous actions he has performed, and letting them go is also a crime in itself. Now onto the next one please.”
At his request, the video was changed and flickering occurred once more before a solid video appeared, this time showing a video of a footage that was taken from the surveillance located on the outside of the castle. It appeared to be normal, which confused everyone, but Lakshman’s eyes widened slightly as he realised where the footage was taken from.
“Oh no…!” He thought, feeling worried for the first time since coming there.
Even Raze was feeling as worried as him as she realised what the footage was showing and felt sweat appear on her forehead, which was thankfully hidden by her mask for no one to see.
“This was a footage taken from last night at 22:45 hours as shown on the timestamp in the video,” and he pointed at it, where it held the time at which the footage was taken at. “It was nearly midnight when all of us would be in bed and sleeping peacefully, and but not all as it seemed to appear like shown in this footage. Please watch as we reveal the findings with our latest technology!”
At his words, the video was quickly brought back to the start and begun to be played again, this time a certain filter like substance was forming in the centre as if it was opening a hole in the footage. Sure enough, as the filter widened, a silhouette of a figure appeared from the right flying through the air and it was revealed to be none other than Lakshman before he sped away and disappeared from the edge of the video.
There was a tense silence in the room as the footage came to a stop before the speaker said, “This is an unedited video footage of last night’s recording, with the modification applied was with the latest upgrade in our surveillance system that exposes all objects that are invisible to the naked eye. That was how we were able to find out that the Solaris Hero had been moving last night at this time, which coincides with him releasing the criminals earlier that day.”
As soon as he finished, an eruption of words began from all sides as they hurled their outrage and insults down at Lakshman. As for him, he ignored them all as he thought about what he witnessed, feeling something was strange about that footage.
“It certainly got me,” he admitted to himself, “but I’m not alone. Raze was there with me, but in this video, she’s clearly not there. Why?”
“She must’ve been edited out of the video before it was shown with only you in it,” suggested Asura, making Lakshman nod his head in understanding.
“Yes. That makes sense considering that there are people going so far as to make sure her exposure is kept to a minimum,” thought Lakshman, looking back up at the footage.
Asura sighed and said, “Too bad that we got caught like this, but it was to be expected considering we were running the risk of being caught sooner or later by going out daily to meet up with her during the night.”
“Yes, but it’s remarkable for them to implement this program that reveals those using magic to hide themselves,” said Lakshman, sounding impressed.
“Now is not the time to be impressed about it,” snapped Asura in annoyance.
While they were deep in thought, they heard the speaker say, “Please wait! There is still one more footage to show you to solidify in our justification in arresting the Solaris Hero.” As the room slowly fell silent, he continued on to say, “It would’ve been presumptuous of us to consider arresting a member of the Nine Heroes of Legends based on this, but the third crime he committed goes a long way in causing us concern for the safety of our world. Please watch.”
Once he finished, all eyes turned to focus on the footage, which was the same as what was shown previously. Instead of changing, the footage was being zoomed in to take a closer look at the two distinctive things riding on Lakshman’s shoulders. There was an audible gasp from everyone in the room when the zooming in on the subject revealed two small creatures perched on his shoulders.
This made Lakshman groan as he heard his familiars exclaim, “What?! That’s us! Oh no! They can see us!”
“A-Are those… monsters?”
“They’re monsters alright!”
“No way!”
“That’s impossible!”
“It can’t be!”
“As you have witnessed in the footage, he was not alone; the hero had monsters with him!” The speaker announced, causing a shiver to run through the crowd. “We all know what they are like, vicious, dangerous, and deadly, which is why our predecessors hunted them down to make us, humans, the sole surviving species of this world.”
While the speaker went on to say more, the alien turned his attention from him to direct it at Lakshman with a satisfied smile on his face. Suddenly, he thought he sensed something different about the way the hero stood, making him think of a certain possibility. He turned to Santa and drew closer to him until he whispered something into his ear, making the second prince widen his eyes in shock before nodding in agreement.
Santa raised his hand into the air and said, “I would like to say something!” When all attention turned to him, he aimed his raised hand and pointed it at Lakshman before saying, “I suggest we use the upgraded technology to reveal about the hero here and now!”
As it surprised everyone, Lakshman stared at him in disbelief while he heard his familiars request him urgently.
“Master, we will leave now!” Phylex said quickly to his master telepathically.
“Yes! It’s better if we depart immediately,” added Draga telepathically.
However, Lakshman shook his head slightly and replied telepathically, “It’s no good. It’ll draw too much attention to your disappearance, and it seems like you are necessary to stay here considering the situation that I’m in.”
“I don’t understand, master,” replied Phylex sounding confused.
“What I’m saying is that I’m going to be arrested, thrown in jail, and I may never see the light of day again. In that case, it’ll leave Erza, I mean Raze, in danger considering the alien will be left to freely do whatever he wants. I also suspect that his master has received information similar to the prophecy Erza’s mother made about her daughter, and it coincides with the vision that Alestor had. In that case, I need you two to stay hidden and do your best to protect Raze from danger.”
“Master…” said Phylex slowly, sounding sorrowful.
Draga, on the other hand, quickly accepted the strategy and replied telepathically, “Brilliant idea, master, although I don’t like it that much, but I don’t see any other alternative.”
“Yes, but you’ll be arrested, master!” Phylex said
“I know, but this is probably my chance to do things while I’m in a place the alien can’t reach,” replied Lakshman with a small smile.
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Asura, however, disagreed with that notion and said in his mind, “Lakshman, I do not like the idea of surrendering to these fools and be thrown around as they see fit.”
“It’s the best choice in this situation, Asura,” said Lakshman with a smile, but Asura remained silent as he did not wish to make a comment about it.
While they were speaking, two Royal Guards brought in a large device that was set on top of a table with wheels at the bottom to easily move it around. They wheeled it forward until they stopped in front of where Lakshman stood, who was quickly surrounded by the platoon of guards from before. Alestor stood at their rear, watching in awe as the proceedings went by very quickly.
As the machine switched on, the display on the screen changed to show Lakshman standing there while the speaker said, “Alright. Here is the image of the Solrais Hero standing there, however, let us see if he’s standing there alone. Please reveal the truth!”
When he shouted the command, the screen began to flicker before it widened, revealing that Lakshman was standing there with two creatures perched on his shoulders. As soon as they were revealed, Lakshman jerked his shoulders and caused both Phylex and Draga to lift off into the air and fly away as quickly as they could to hide from the machine’s vision. Sure enough, the device attempted to chase after them but they were too fast for it and lost sight of them. However, everyone caught a glimpse of the monsters and began shouting their shock, fear, and hurled their insults fiercely down at the king from another world.
Alestor tried shouting over the chaos, “This is absurd! How can you be sure this is all real?!”
“This is real because it was tried and tested on several alien specimen that we encountered in the past and experimented on,” the speaker revealed, which made Alestor widen his eyes in shock and caused Mike, who was an alien in disguise, to widen his eyes in shock as well. “The software was unstable at that point, so it took time until it’s finally released!”
While they continued to shout at each other, the alien clenched his fists tightly in rage and thought, “These vermin experimented with members of my race? That means they were the captured unit from the attack force that launched their genocide on this planet before me!”
He was enraged, and he wanted to take his anger out of all of them right there and then, but he tried his best to calm himself and think rationally. If he did that, that would not help him at all, and it would also delay him in completing the mission his master had instructed him with. So, despite the great hatred he felt towards the humans of that world, he decided to contend with the present by letting these humans shun the only hero that could save them from him.
As the shouting became louder, the king rose to his feet and declared in a thunderous voice, “I declare this man guilty and be charged with treason of the highest level! This is my verdict, and it is final!” As Alestor went to speak, the king overruled him by declaring, “No one has the right to change it, not even you, Alestor! If you dare to challenge me any further, I will be forced to relinquish you from your duties and have you arrested for supporting a criminal!”
Alestor’s face froze, and his mouth hung open in shock as he could not fathom what he just heard. Once upon a time, he and the king were close friends that helped each other, but now, Alestor was being treated like an insect with no respect at all, making him feel very depressed. He closed his mouth and looked helplessly at Lakshman as he could no longer assist him in any form or manner.
Lakshman smiled at him and said, “It’s okay,” before turning to look up at the king and asking him, “What will you do with me now?”
The king turned his attention to him and replied, “We will arrest you now and later execute you in public as a demonstration that even heroes can do crimes, and eliminating them out of the picture will lead to a lasting peace.”
This shocked Alestor, but it was greeted with much applause from the ministers and appreciation on him being decisive even if it was one of the Nine Heroes of Legends being the target. Alestor looked at Lakshman with a distraught expression on his face as he had no idea how to get the hero out of this jam. Sensing his dismay, the Solaris Hero turned to him again and smiled reassuringly while repeatedly telling him that it was fine for his king to take that decision.
“Even I would’ve taken that step if I found someone really close to me doing things that they shouldn’t have,” wondered Lakshman to himself. “Well, not without proper justification and knowing the full truth about it.”
“Yes, and that sets you and him apart,” agreed Asura in a strong voice.
Just then, the king sat back down while the speaker took over while demanding Lakshman, “Recall your monsters, Solaris Hero! Do not act any more irrational than you already have, otherwise, we will use force on you!”
As he spoke, the platoon around Lakshman armed themselves and pointed their weapons at him at point blank range.
“Lakshman, I don’t approve staying here any longer,” said Asura inside his mind, which was more of a demand than a suggestion. “Let’s leave now that your familiars have gone into hiding until they manage to reach and stay with Raze.”
“No, Asura. That’ll lead them to labelling me as a criminal outright and cause me problems in the future,” replied Lakshman as he rationalised the problem of an escape. “I think it’s better that we give ourselves up for now and go along with them peacefully.”
Asura, on the other hand, did not want any of it and exclaimed, “No way! I will never agree to surrender, let alone giving myself up! We’re warriors, Lakshman, and such a thing must not be a part of us!”
Lakshman realised that his past-self was agitated and tried telling him, “Asura, listen,” but the first Phoenix Titan did not want to hear anything from him as he forcefully pulled Lakshman’s spirit into the Unconscious World, surprising him in the process. Then, before he could do anything, Asura put both of his hands on either side of Lakshman’s head and applied his power, causing his current-self to scream while widening his eyes in shock. It lasted for a few seconds before Lakshman lost consciousness and fell forward only to be caught by Asura, who gently laid him down on the grassy field that they stood on.
“Sorry, Lakshman, but we’re warriors, and I can’t stand the thought of surrendering, let along giving up, especially to losers like them!” Asura stated, then he closed his eyes and disappeared from there as he took charge of Lakshman’s body.
During the time that Lakshman lost consciousness, he merely stood there with his head bowed, but now with Asura in charge, he lifted his head and looked down at his hands where the cuffs were holding his hands together tightly. He could sense the magic being applied by the cuffs in order to suppress his own power, however, it was not enough to keep him there. So, he gritted his teeth and exerted his strength and easily broke the cuffs apart, freeing his arms in the process.
“What?!” The speaker shouted in shock, disbelief on his face at the feat that the Solaris Hero had performed. “How did you…?” He began to ask, but he clicked his tongue in frustration before commanding the men, “Quickly! Arrest that man!”
Upon receiving the command, the platoon of men around Asura began to take aim with their weapons. However, their opponent quickly reacted by gathering small energy balls in the tip of each finger and aimed them to either side before launching them at the armed men. As soon as the energy balls got launched, they quickly grew in size and smashed into one or two people, blasting them off their feet and carrying them away until they smashing against the perimeter wall.
“Stop this!” Cyde shouted, aiming his hand at Asura and quickly activated the default set magic he preferred, which was a fireball.
The powerful attack soared at the Solaris Hero at close range, but Asura smirked as he lifted his left hand to stop the attack, causing it to explode and send smoke in all directions. Cyde intently watched the smoke spreading, preparing to strike when he next spotted his enemy when he was taken by surprise when Asura rushed through the smoke and reached him without him noticing. Asura shoved Cyde’s arm away and grabbed his head fully with his right arm and lifted him into the air with his feet dangling below.
“Sorry, Cyde, but this will hurt,” replied Asura, and he took a stance before bringing down the commander of the Legion of Heroes and smashing him against the ground, causing large cracks to appear everywhere while knocking the man out cold.
Asura straightened up and looked up at the speaker, who was shocked at how quickly he had taken out with relative ease. Even the watching crowd of the audience was rendered amazed by his capability and that made them begin to fear the man known as the Solaris Hero. Behind him, Alestor watched with worry as he witnessed the hero blast a strong group of armed men away and slam the commander down without breaking a sweat.
“A-Asura…?” He asked tentatively.
This made Asura turn his head sideways and show him a smile before saying, “At last, someone gets my name right. Anyway, leave Alestor, otherwise, you’ll end up getting involved in this mess. Go!”
With the commanding word issued to him, all Alestor could do was nod in agreement and quickly depart from there. Asura smiled a little at seeing the one true ally he had in the room leave to safety before turning his attention back at everyone in the room. All the Royal Guards had picked up their spears and were prepared to take action against him.
The speaker was shaking from the fear of the Solaris Hero, but the king did not as he rose to his feet and asked, “You may be strong, but even with the aid of your Hero Weapon, you will not stand a chance against our newly upgraded weapons!”
“My Hero Weapon?” Asura asked, and he held his hand out to summon the spear he had received during his fight battle with the aliens. “You mean this, right?” When the king nodded, the first Phoenix Titan smiled and asked, “You guys think I’m this strong thanks to this?”
“Yes, because your weapons are granted to you by the Gods, and as such, possess power far superior to ours!” The king declared in a strong voice.
Asura looked up at him in surprise before he closed his eyes and began to let out cold mirthless laughter, a wild laughter that echoed around the room, instilling everyone with fear and worry. They had no idea why he was laughing until they saw him recover and slam his spear into the ground with great force, causing it to sink and become wedged in the ground so that no one could pull it out.
Straightening up from his act, the first Phoenix Titan turned to the king and asked, “There! The so-called weapon of mine that gave me the advantage over the weaklings like you! Now do you think you’ve got the advantage over me?!”
The king was momentarily shocked, but he quickly recovered and exclaimed, “You’re a lot more stupid than I gave you credit for! Without your Hero Weapon, you’re completely and utterly weak!”
At those words, Asura’s smile slowly faded from his face and it was replaced with an arrogant smile on his face as he asked, “I’m weak, you say? I’m weak, am I?” It looked like those words touched a nerve because Asura became very angry, and he clenched his fists tightly as he said, “Let’s see if you’re right,” and began to let out a long drawn out scream while he forcefully brought out his power, which was proving to be a challenge without his Hero Weapon.
“AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Everyone watched in shock and believed him to be insane for screaming like a mad man, however, when the ground started to shake, they quickly dashed out their thoughts. The tremors became violent, causing people to fear for their lives and try escaping from the room just as he let out a roar while tilting his head in an upward angle.
In an instant, he began to surge with immense power while radiating a red aura that surrounded him, sending wild blowing wind and shock waves in all directions. As the pressure in the air thickened and the room continued to shake, Asura breathed a sigh and looked towards the king, who was staring at him with disbelief on his face.
“There? You see? I’m not weak, it’s you!” Asura screamed the last word and pointed his finger at the king, who suddenly got blown off his feet and fell heavily on his chair, causing him to wince with pain.
The attacking of the king became the trigger that caused all Royal Guards in the room to come lunging at him. Asura reacted by aiming his hands to either side and discharging a powerful wave of destruction that enveloped several of the guards and smashed them against the wall while also dealing them heavy damage due to the influence of the wave. Those who evaded the attack, quickly reached him and began waving their spears expertly in order to impale him with it as they no longer cared whether he lived or died.
Asura reacted in an instant to their attacks, dodging and weaving between them at high speed before pummelling each and every royal guard. Some, who saw their comrades get pummelled, stepped back and aimed their spears at the hero before discharging several powerful fire blasts from their spear tips. Their enemy faced them the moment he finished pummelling another of their comrade and aimed his hand in the direction of the attacks, causing them all to get cancelled with the sound of breaking glass.
As the guards stood there in shock, Asura clenched his fists tightly and slammed it down on the ground, causing it to momentarily shake and cause cracks around it. A moment later, several pillars of stone rose out of the ground and smashed into the guards while also putting a large dent in their armour before sending them flying away to get smashed against the perimeter wall.
When the attacks stopped, a few that were knocked on the ground, quickly rose to their feet and grabbed Asura from both sides. At the same time, two more grabbed him from the rear and began pulling him back with all their might in order to stop his movement. For a moment, it looked as though they had effectively stopped him, however, that was far from the truth because the first Phoenix Titan still had a lot of strength left in him.
He glared at the people trying to stop him and exclaimed, “You need more than numbers to stop me! AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!”
He screamed and screamed as he surged with immense power before bringing his arms to the front, smashing the guards against each other in the process. As they staggered backwards, Asura waved his hand towards them and force smashed them across the side, sending them flying off their feet and smashing against the perimeter wall.
Suddenly, he felt himself almost lose balance because of the group of Royal Guards pulling him from behind in an effort to throw him off guard. However, he was much stronger than them and quickly regained his balance before grabbing one of them and swung him over his shoulder before slamming him heavily on the ground. Then he spun on the spot at top speed, causing the other guards to soar into the air and spin with him and it made them feel very dizzy before they let go and were sent flying only to get smashed against the wall on the other side.
As he stopped spinning and faced the front, the remaining Royal Guards managed to pick up their spears and began launching elemental attacks, such as fire, water, ice and lightning at Asura. The first Phoenix Titan was initially hit by a few of them as he was taken by surprise, bruising him and cutting him in several places, which resulted in bleeding and making him cough blood out of his mouth. Despite the drawback, he gritted his teeth and waved his hand, creating a wild blowing wind that swept forward and blasted the remaining guards off their feet and into the wall.
While that was happening, more and more of the Royal Guards began appeared through the entrance, making Asura turn towards them and smile expectantly while saying, “Well, well, well! The cavalry's here, not that it’s of any use,” and he aimed his hand before rapidly firing energy blasts at them.
Several of the guards were struck and blown back into several of their comrades while a few more were knocked out by the explosions. The remainder quickly reacted by stabbing their spears into the ground in front of them to create a firm barrier, protecting themselves from the barrage of blasts in the process. Seeing this, Asura reacted by gritting his teeth, clapping his hands together, and then placing them down on the ground to activate his magic.
In an instant, several parts from the ground around the royal guards rose and coiled around them all, binding their arms and legs in the solid matter. Now immobilised, all the guards could do was struggle helplessly and cry out for help to free them from their predicament.
Asura sighed and turned around while muttering, “Now then.”
It was at that moment that he sensed an attack coming from his left, and he reacted quickly by grabbing the fist that was aiming for his head. Glancing sideways, he saw that the attacker was Gram, who was smiling confidently as he believed he would be able to defeat him in his weakened state due to using his powers with the help from his Hero Weapon. However, he had no idea that Asura still had it in him to dish out damage enough to knock him out.
“Stupid fool,” he said to Gram, slowly crushing his arm and causing the Tempest Hero to wince. “You’re a million years early to fight me!”
He grabbed Gram’s face and pulled him back before throwing him as forcefully as he could with a motion like throwing a ball. The Tempest Hero flew through the air at high speed before smashing against the wall and tumbling down unconscious. Asura’s breathing was a little quicker as he was tiring from the prolonged battle and the damage he had taken, amplified by the fact that he could not muster his full strength under the difficult conditions of the world he was in.
Still, he was filled with pride at the number of enemies he defeated when he finally heard the other members of the Nine Heroes of Legends speak to him.
“You rock, man!” Vikram said, giving him a thumbs up gesture in support.
“Yes. You certainly proved you are the strongest,” commented Maxwell with a smile.
“Yes, but… at what cost?” Natsu asked, looking around at the destruction and the ruined state the room was in as well as the warriors that were lying around, either moaning from pain or completely still from being knocked out. “You’ve just become an enemy of this world, Lucky. You realise that, right?”
Asura nodded and replied calmly, “I do, but I don’t care because I’m not the type to simply bow my head down and do something when I’m not at fault. Besides, I fought these many warriors without the aid of my Hero Weapon. So that counts to something, right?”
“Even so, you’ve become a criminal! How can you prove your innocence by acting like this?” Fred asked in a concerned voice.
This made Asura become annoyed and exclaim, “I’ll figure out a way! Besides, you people should be more worried about yourselves and come to the realisation that you’re being used by this so-called government!” When they all looked surprised, he shook his head wearily and said, “Think about it! What have you been doing all this time, and consider yourself whether you’re doing any heroic deeds or not? From that, you’ll find your answer, and I’m confident you’ll do the same thing that I did today to break free and do what is right!”
As they looked at him in surprise, he finally turned back to look up the king, who had witnessed the battle in horror. Not liking that he had to look up at him, Asura kicked off the ground and flew through the air before landing on the platform the king was standing on. As the king glared angrily at him, Asura snorted and using his Force Control, waved him down with his finger. Unable to disobey, the king found himself kneeling before the first Phoenix Titan, a man that was so great that he became the first emperor of his world.
“Try to know the difference between strength and stupidity when you try and challenge someone that might possibly be too much for you to handle!” Asura advised him, causing the king to close his eyes and grit his teeth in shame. Ignoring how his enemy felt, Asura went on saying, “Your men fought me with the intent to kill, but I fought them with the intent to knock them out. So, tell me, oh proud king, who’s better? You who try to kill, or me who try to defeat?”
Fedex did not say anything, but he had already clenched his fists so tightly that they shook from the intensity. Asura noted this, and he smiled arrogantly before saying, “I can’t believe I was blind all this time, listening to your yapping and feeling a little sorry for this world when, in fact, you were using us, the heroes you summoned conveniently from another world to suit your own purpose, and then you make us go to school to be educated about this world instead of letting us get any experience by venturing out and doing some heroic deeds.”
He lifted a finger and made the king raise his head to face him, and he leaned forward and asked in a deadly voice, “You were doing it purposefully to keep us away from the public, right?” When the king looked alarmed, he smiled and said, “I get it now, and I don’t like it. Obviously, there are a lot of things going on in this world that I’m not aware of, but… I know what you’re doing… is wrong.”
There were a few seconds of silence between Asura, who looked down at the king, and the king, whose eyes darted restlessly. Having had enough of this, Asura sighed and stood up before straightened up his posture and looking down at the king of this world.
“You don’t have to answer any of my questions, and it’s a waste to question you any further, especially after knowing that small fact, however…! However, you will answer… not to me… but to the people,” said Asura in a slow deadly voice, and his eyes bore into the crouched man.
“Father!” Shouted a voice, and he turned to see Santa rushing towards him with Bolten, Erza, and Raze close behind as they hurriedly climbed the stairs leading to the top. As soon as he reached the landing, he rushed over to defend his father while shouting, “Stay away from him, you monster!”
“Santa!” Bolten exclaimed, looking shocked by his young brother’s statement. “He’s not a monster!”
“Look at what he’s done, brother! What else could we call him?!” The second prince exclaimed, looking angrily at his older brother before turning back to glare menacingly at Asura. “Go away! We don’t need you here!”
Asura chuckled and replied, “I wouldn’t stay even if you ask me to,” and turned to face Bolten. “I’m going.”
Bolten, who had expected as much, simply nodded and merely said, “Okay.”
The first Phoenix Titan smiled at him and turned to Erza, to whom he bowed, who looked at him in surprise. He finally glanced at Raze, who seemed to be fidgeting with her fingers as if she wanted to say something. He could not read the expression on her face due to the mask covering it, but he decided to speak to her one last time before he left that place.
“I hope to see you one day without your mask on,” he said simply, causing her to lift her head as if she was surprised by his statement.
He smiled and winked at her before soaring into the air and flying off towards the ceiling, where he punched a hole big enough for him to fly through. Looking back down at them all one last time, he waved and flew through the hole and disappeared from sight. They all watched him disappear through the hole he created before turning to glance at his Hero Weapon, which was glowing dimly as if it missed being with its rightful hero.
In the background, the alien watched his enemy go with a sense of fear in his chest that he could not describe. It was not his battling against the horde of Royal Guards, or proving that he was the strongest despite fighting without the use of his Hero Weapon; it was due to the Force Control that he used on the king. The fact that he was able to use it shocked the alien because it was the same kind of skill that his master, the Overlord, was capable of using.
“No way?!” The alien exclaimed in his mind. “He can control the force as well?! This is insane! I never expected such a puny being being capable of something like that! Master will be more displeased!” But his mind soon calmed down as he realised his enemy had left them, and he thought, “It’s okay. He’s left, meaning that I’d be able to fully search for that which my master seeks! Yes…! The only obstacle in my way is now gone! Hahahahahaha!!!”
He burst into a cold mirthless laughter inside his own mind in the background of everyone else, who did not notice it. And so, Asura flew high through the air as fast as possible to get away from the capital and go to a place far away from them so that Lakshman could do what he was best at, something that Asura knew he was lacking in great quantity. So, he flew, a smile on his face towards the unknown future, but with hope for it to be a bright one.
For the next several hours, he continued to fly endlessly, crossing the capital and flying through the barren wasteland before reaching what was left of a destroyed city. By then, he was running low on energy since he did not have his Hero Weapon to help him with, causing him to slowly lose speed and, finally, altitude. He felt his eyes spin, then he momentarily closed his eyes before losing consciousness. Asura fell towards the ground, smashing through several of the buildings and finally crash landing for several meters before coming to a stop. There he lay, exhausted from the travel and worn out from the battle he faced at the castle.
The crash had woken him up and made him feel pain all over his body, but he still wanted to keep going. So, he crawled a few meters before his hand touched the shoes of an unknown individual. Asura looked up in a daze and saw that the figure was shrouded by a shadow, with the sun behind him, made it difficult to see who the person was.
“Oh my! Are you okay, stranger?”
He heard the man’s words dimly through his slowly collapsing mind, and he looked up to find that it was a man with a handsome face, who was smiling down at him.
“Who?” He croaked with what little strength he had left in him.
“Who? Me?” The stranger asked, looking surprised. Then he jabbed a thumb at himself and said with a big grin on his face, “My name’s Ram Shankar, but you can call me the Infinity Hero!”
Asura could not fathom what he just heard, nor did it matter to him anymore because his remaining bit of energy depleted and finally, he fell into a deep sleep.