As Ram, Lakshman, and the tall man were on their way to the construction site, Ram asked the taller man, “What happened? Who started the fight?”
“One of the middle-aged men was moving slowly and collapsed,” said the taller man unhappily. “Instead of giving him a break, the supervisor was shoving him and kicking him to keep going. That’s when a kid, mostly his son, shouted at the supervisor to give them a break and threw a rock at him.”
“Sheesh!” Ram said, looking frustrated.
“Yeah,” the taller man said while nodding his head in understanding. “Being angry as he was, the supervisor began attacking him, but the elderly person there stopped it and requested him to either give them more leeway or hire their own drones to carry the material to speed up the process.”
“And that didn’t sit well with him,” said Ram, looking angry as he imagined what happened after that. “Anyway, I take it that idiot did something to the old man?”
“He basically shoved him aside, and he fell and hit his head, hard,” said the taller man, causing both Ram and Lakshman to wince. “To make matters worse, he didn’t even care to stop, and that’s when people dropped everything and began throwing whatever they could find at the supervisor, who got angry and ordered the men to attack them using their M.E.D.s.”
“How the heck can someone just do that?!” Lakshman demanded, looking furious. “What a remorseless person?!”
His exclamation made Ram chuckle and say, “Well, you’re getting why it’s tough being on this end, Lucky. Anyway, let’s hurry before things get out of control.”
Lakshman and the taller man nodded, quickening their steps and headed towards the construction site. It took them a few minutes to reach the place, and when they climbed over the small hill, they saw ten men with M.E.D.s firing laser attacks at people in all directions, causing them to fall, injuring their bodies, and causing them to bleed heavily.
“This,” said the taller man with an angry look on his face, “is what we’re facing right now.”
“No way!” Lakshman shouted, shocked to see the one-sided violence. “This can’t go on!”
He was about to make his move when his arm was grabbed by Ram from behind him. Turning to him, he saw that the leader of the Raven’s Guild was shaking his head with a disapproving expression on his face.
“Let me go. I have to put a stop to this,” said Lakshman, looking fiercely at Ram.
“And I must heavily disagree with that decision because this doesn’t concern you,” said Ram, looking just as fiercely back at him. “This is the problem that my people caused, and it’s only fair that we handle this ourselves.”
This stunned Lakshman and made him stare at him in disbelief before asking, “Are you serious? I’m a—!”
“A criminal on the run from the government!” Ram said, raising his voice to speak above Lakshman, looking very seriously at him. “Consider what would happen to these unfortunate people who’d get saved by a criminal! Can you even imagine the repercussions that would result from your actions?! Do you?!”
When he demanded that in a fierce voice, Lakshman stared at him for a moment before realising that he made sense. Even though he was summoned as a hero, he was now a criminal on the run from the government, and if he made contact with these people, that were unable to defend themselves, he would in turn bring additional danger to them. As such, the best course of action he must take is to not intervene and hide from them.
With the only obvious course of action staring him in the face, all Lakshman could do was breathe a heavy sigh in anger. He wrenched his arm free from Ram’s grip, folded his arm and turned away as if to avoid witnessing anything happening there. Seeing this, Ram was pleased while the taller man looked troubled, but he did not say anything because he knew his leader’s judgement was correct.
“Thank you for being an understanding gentleman,” said Ram, thankful for him to choose the best course of action for both of them. “Whatever damage these people may do, or may bring harm to us, please just ignore it and stay hidden. I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m done with this.”
“Fine,” replied Lakshman shortly without looking at him.
“It’s not fine if you don’t promise,” said Ram, and he extended his hand out for Lakshman.
The king from another world glanced at him with wide eyes, which were filled with anger. Ram understood that Lakshman was not a man who would break his vow, but he had to make sure that this gentleman would not suddenly step out because of his feelings. The Solaris Hero also understood this, and he disliked it very much because it put him into a bind that ensured he would do nothing.
“Please,” asked Ram in a quiet voice.
Lakshman finally gave in and said, “Okay,” and he extended his hand out and placed his palm on top of Ram’s open palm. “I promise that no matter the damage done to you, the people, or the surroundings, I will do nothing and keep myself hidden. Is that fine?”
“Yes,” replied Ram with a smile, and they shook before letting go. He turned to face the construction area and said, “You might think badly of this, but you’re doing me a great favour by holding yourself back.”
The Solaris Hero did not say anything, and he folded his arms and stood silently as Ram and the taller man went on their way to the place to stop the violence. By that time, many were bleeding profusely from the multiple injuries on them which would leave them with bad scars.
“Why are you doing this to us?!” One of the victims shouted, tears streaming down their grief-stricken face.
“Why?! It’s because of your rebellious attitude!” One of the attackers exclaimed, aiming his hand directly at the man and concentrating his attacks on him.
“Stop this!” Ram shouted, getting in front of the injured man and activating his M.E.D. with a few clicks to conjure a barrier to shield them. “This has gone far enough!”
The victims, despite their injuries, looked at him in surprise and relief covering their faces at seeing their savour. In this city, he was a famous figure to look up to because of his hard working and kind nature that was the complete opposite to the attitude of the government.
The attackers were surprised and were about to aim all attacks on him when their leader shouted, “Halt!” They paused and turned as he walked up to the front to look at Ram with a smug smile on his face. “It’s good to see you’re doing okay, Ram. What bring you here?”
“Can’t you see these people are badly injured?!” Ram demanded, and he swayed his arm to indicate the victims around and behind him. “Aren’t you satisfied yet?!”
The header supervisor chuckled darkly and asked, “You are a good lad. You work hard, and you’ve impressed the previous supervisors with your sincere attitude, however, I advise you to think of your position.” He indicated at the people that Ram was shielding and said, “We wanted to get them their homes back as quick as possible, we are short on resources and had to push them hard. But, instead of getting a thank you, we got hit by rocks by your people. Look at the injuries that these men suffered.”
Raising his hand, he clicked his hand and made four people come out, causing Ram to widen his eyes in shock. One was sporting a bloody nose, the second holding his arm with a pained face, the third with both of his eyes closed, and the fourth showed them his broken jaw that seemed to be dislocated with visible blood near the jawline.
Seeing the state of their injuries, the taller man immediately spoke in a quiet voice so that only Ram could hear him.
“Boss, those aren’t injuries that could be sustained from simply getting rocks thrown at you.”
Ram nodded wordlessly as he listened to the head supervisor say, “These men left their homes, stayed here for a long time, and were doing their jobs to speed up the work for your sake. Instead, your people ungratefully attacked and caused them such injuries. That is why, I judge these people guilty and should be punished accordingly.”
“Even so, this is going too far,” said Ram without giving his opponent the advantage.
The man smirked and asked, “Don’t you think you’re crossing a certain line by sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
“Maybe this doesn’t concern me,” began Ram, in a quiet voice, but it gradually became stronger as he looked at him, “but I’m a man of honour, and many of them call me their brother, treating me with great respect as if I am part of their family. That’s why I can’t let these atrocious acts go on when it’s resulting in so many injuries.”
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“Really?” The man asked, smiling sardonically at him. “You know that if we report their actions to the authorities, all of them would be arrested for an attempt at manslaughter?” When Ram widened his eyes in shock, the man smirked and went on to say, “But we don’t want that because their lives would become ruined, and that’s why we’re doing this the hard way. You must understand our positions as well.”
“Boss,” whispered the tall man from beside him. “He’s trying to play the innocent card on you.”
“I know,” replied Ram quietly while barely moving his lips.
The man sighed and placed a hand on his temple in apparent distress as he said, “This is troubling to be conducting acts of atrocity. Perhaps reporting to the authorities is the best option.”
“What?!” Ram exclaimed, and everyone around him instantly stiffened with fear of being arrested. Ram shouted at him desperately, “You can’t!”
The man smirked and asked, “Why not? You were the one who called our acts atrocious, am I right?”
Ram gritted his teeth and looked frustrated for a moment before he breathed a sigh and said, “I’m sorry,” and bowed his head deeply to them.
There was a moment of pause between the two parties before the man smiled and asked, “We don’t want your apology, Ram, because now our feelings are terribly hurt. Do you think a simple apology would suffice the pain caused to us?” When Ram looked up at him, the man grinned maliciously and said, “If you don’t want us to report to the authorities and want us to accept your apology, then… I suggest that you bear the brunt of the pain that should’ve rightfully been dealt to the people you’re shielding.”
Everyone was shocked by his statement, and as Ram widened his eyes in alarm, the taller man beside him shouted, “Are you crazy?!”
The man shrugged his shoulders indifferently and said, “I gave you a solution to get out of this, but if you don’t want to, I won’t force you. We’ll just quietly inform the authorities and let them deal with you the proper way.”
The taller man became frustrated and turned to speak to his leader, “Boss, don’t listen to him. We can think—!”
In that instant, Ram rounded on him and bellowed, “Shut up!”
The force of his shout caused the wind to suddenly blow at the tall man and made him shut his mouth in an instant. He could see that his leader was very angry and the resolution that he had come to, something that could not be changed no matter how much effort they put to try and stop him.
After glaring fiercely at his subordinate, Ram turned back to the man and said, “Fine. I’ll do it.”
This time, the man smiled widely and said, “Splendid. In that case, I have these conditions.”
“Name them,” replied Ram coldly.
The man smiled evilly and aimed his hand at a spot in front of Ram before pressing buttons on his M.E.D. to cause wind to blow there. A moment later, the wind dissipated to reveal a large circle carved into the ground.
“Condition one: You must stand inside of that circle no matter what. If you fall out, then you lose, and we’ll subsequently inform the authorities of the problem at hand. Condition two: You must remain standing in that circle from start to finish as we attack you from all sides for half-an-hour. Condition three: You are not to support yourself with the help of your M.E.D. or create a barrier that shields you from our attacks in any way or manner. Condition four: No one is to interfere, protect you, or help you in any manner until the time is up.”
“Do you agree to these conditions?” The man asked him finally with a smirk on his face.
There was a moment of pause before Ram nodded and said, “I accept your conditions,” and he stepped forward to stand in the middle of the circle.
“Good!” The head supervisor said, smiling triumphantly.
He waved his hand and caused the ten men to hurry forward and take positions all around Ram, aiming their hands straight at him. Ram stood there with a small smile on his face, ready to take on the attacks that these scumbags were about to throw at him.
The head supervisor raised his hand above his head and then swung it down while saying, “Now.”
With the signal given, the men instantly inputted the appropriate attack required and began firing energy blasts at him from all sides. Ram braced himself and gritted his teeth as the attacks flew over and smashed against him, causing him to cry out initially in pain before he shut his mouth tightly with tremendous force. Like that, the attacks continued to come at him, witnessed by the victims of their attacks from earlier as well as the tall man, who could do nothing but watch in horror as the man they respected took the attacks for their safety.
As seconds turned into minutes, Ram could not hold his teeth anymore and began to let out yells of pain as the attacks continued to fly at him from all sides. The people from the other side of the cliff that had ignored the pained screams of the people, immediately dropped whatever they were doing and hurried over to watch. Standing at the edge of the cliff, the women clapped their hands over their mouth while the men clenched their fists tightly and looked very angry at what they beheld.
Lakshman was the only one who had resolutely remained in the same spot as before, with his back facing towards the horrific scene of Ram being attacked endlessly. He could hear the pained screams of the young man from the attacks and knew that it was taking a heavy toll on him. However, as he had promised earlier to not interfere, Lakshman did his best to ignore it while keeping his eyes semi-open with a sad look on his face.
“This can’t be real!” One of the men said, having had enough of seeing him getting hurt.
“We have to help him!”
“We must!”
“Come on!”
“Let’s do this!”
As the men decided on a course of action and were about to move in to help, Ram saw them and bellowed, “Stop,” and held his hand out in a gesture of making them stop. Sure enough, hearing his commanding voice made them instantly freeze and stare at him in shock.
Ram was beaten and battered, blood protruding out of the many injuries on his body and made him breathe heavily. However, the fire in his eyes remained the same as before as the attacks stopped, allowing him to turn and face them with a fierce look on his face.
“This is my fight! My battle! If you dare to interfere…!” Ram screamed, and he raised his forefinger to wave at them as a warning while glaring fiercely at them.
The men took his warning to heart and gulped as shivers ran down their spines from his threatening posture. Then, as the attacks resumed and they remained there to bear witness to the young man getting hurt, all of the men clenched their teeth tightly and closed their eyes in shame.
The women could not take it anymore and shouted, “What is wrong with you men?!”
“That boy helped us through tough times! Can’t you even think of saving him?!” Another woman shouted at the men.
“Dammit! What a bunch of useless morons!”
“Stupid idiots! Men are so useless when you need them to be useful!”
“He warned us not to interfere!” One of the men, who could not stand it anymore, whirled around and shouted at the women, “What do you want us to do?!”
“So, what?!” A woman cried out, looking angrily at him. “He saved us life, can’t you give yours to save his?!”
“It’s not that!” The man shouted, looking stricken by her demand, “but he would do something bad to himself if we do go out now! You heard him! He’s dead serious!”
This made many of the women groan while an old lady stepped forward to shout, “You men are unbelievable! A kid is being attacked, and you’re trying to uphold some stupid honour? Does it matter more than the life of someone in distress?”
At her question, the one male speaker went quiet, clenched his teeth and fists before turning his head away. The old lady sighed heavily before looking towards Ram getting attacked along with the rest of the women.
Aimi, who was inside of the home at that time cleaning dishes, heard the commotion outside and decided to come out to find that everyone was hurrying in the direction of the construction site. That was where she headed too, and to her horror, she found her beloved husband on the receiving end of many attacks from ten men excluding the head supervisor.
“Ram!” She cried out, despair flooding her face at the sight of him being in pain and hurt so badly. She glanced around at everyone there and shouted, “What are you staring around for?! He helped each and every one of you when you were in distress and gave you hope! Now, go! Help him please!”
“Sorry, Aimi,” said a woman from the crowd gathered there.
“Yeah. Ram told us to not interfere,” said another from somewhere nearby.
“Even the men are too scared to help because of his warning to them,” added another woman from the crowd.
Aimi widened her eyes in shock and shouted, “Stupid! Are you all filled with stupidity?! You’re going to uphold your stupid honourable beliefs and just accept this?!” She pointed towards her husband and yelled, “He’s standing there being attacked obviously because they did something to them, and he’s there to cover you up! He’s being attacked because of you, and here you are acting like you care when you don’t!”
Everyone looked uncomfortable by her statement and avoided making eye contact with her. Even Lakshman closed his eyes and forcefully ignored her statement as he had a promise to uphold. He wanted to go there in that instant and beat the head supervisor and his men, however, his strong beliefs were forcing him to stand by and stick to the promise he made with Ram. As such, even though it pained him greatly, he had to stand his ground and do nothing as it happened.
Aimi breathed a heavy sigh before turning to look towards the spot her husband stood at while being on the receiving end of a barrage of attacks. Unable to bear seeing him in such pain, she broke down and collapsed on ground, crying hard. However, she had not given up hope, and fuelled by it, she closed her eyes and screamed as loudly as she could.
“Please! Somebody! Help!”
Her cry got carried by the wind and it fell into Lakshman’s ears, making him instantly open his eyes in a flash. At the same time, down on the construction site, Ram was staggering slightly as he was on the verge of losing consciousness from the nonstop attacks that came at him endlessly. Still, he firmly believed that it would be over if he managed to keep standing for a little bit longer. However, his body was beginning to not listen as tiredness finally set in.
The head supervisor saw this and formed a twisted grin on his face, feeling triumphant at the sight of the young man being so thoroughly beaten up. He had run-ins with Ram in the past, where he was serving as an assistant to a supervisor and had challenged his authority on numerous occasions. However, every supervisor that came there liked him a little bit and did not show the same cruelty as they did to the other civilians.
“This is my revenge for making a fool out of me,” he muttered with an evil grin forming on his face.
“Hey,” said a voice suddenly, and he was startled a stranger standing in front of him, “can you stop this already?”
The person was Lakshman, and he was looking at the man with a contemptuous expression. The head supervisor stared at him for a moment in a stunned disbelief before looking coldly at him and asked him the same manner.
“Who the heck are you?”
To this, Lakshman blinked once at him and sighed before replying, “Yeah. I’ll let my fist answer that,” and he pulled his fist back before launching it directly at the supervisor’s face.
The impact was so strong that the supervisor’s face got turned sideways and made his mouth gape open while his teeth got shattered. In the next moment, he was blasted away with an incredible force. Everyone was stunned, including his men, who stopped attacking Ram and watched as he flew through the air and travelled several meters before Lakshman appeared in his flight path.
Lakshman took a stance with his elbow extended out towards the enemy, whose body smashed against it with great force. The man gasped, and his eyes widened from the shock he felt from the impact. Then, as he slowly flew through the air, Lakshman grabbed him by his collar and lifted him high above him before slamming him down with great force, causing the ground to shake as the man lay, dug into a groove made to fit his body in.
“Well,” said Lakshman with a satisfied smile on his face, “that takes care of that.” Then he turned to the supervisor’s men and challenged, “Who’s next?”