“Eh?! You’re leaving?!” Erza exclaimed, staring at him with a shocked look on her face.
Lakshman faced her calmly with a serene smile on his face and replied, “Yes. I have to.”
“But… why so soon?” She asked, looking troubled.
He smiled bitterly at her before saying, “I’m sorry to leave but… my family is waiting for me back at home.” Then he glanced out of the balcony of the castle and said, “Besides, I’ve done all that I could for this world and now, I feel I can return home with the full satisfaction on my success.”
She looked at him with a troubled look on her face and thought back to the many deeds he had committed to helping the people and the world itself.
***
It had been several weeks since the king was exiled, and Bolten was unanimously chosen to be the next king. He was the right choice considering the second prince, Santa, did not show the slightest bit of interest in sitting on the throne. As such, the obstacles for Bolten towards being crowned king were cleared, and he became king of the Alzard World.
The first thing he did was call a meeting and projected his speech to the entire world, sincerely apologising to the people on the wrongs that were wrought on them by the bad decisions made by his father. It was there that he brought forward the Overlord, which shocked everyone there. However, they quickly settled to listening to him as he publicly apologised to everyone for the great amount of damage and the lives lost because of his actions.
“Asking for your forgiveness is too much, and I cannot bring back those that have lost their lives. However, I wish for all of you to watch me, observe as me and my people assist in your planet’s restructure, repairs, and restoring your livelihoods to what they were before the destruction. So, I beg of you, please grant me this second chance!”
At that, he bowed his head deeply to all those as his image was being projected around the globe. The people watching this broadcast with split opinions, some wanting them to leave their plant alone while others being willing to give him the chance to redeem himself. But the majority of the people were against the aliens entering their planet and wanted to eliminate them all out of anger because of the great damage they had suffered.
When the situation looked hopeless, and even after Bolten trying to calm down the restlessness failed, Lakshman entered the broadcast. Upon seeing him, everyone quickly fell silent and waited for him to speak, with the other members of the Nine Heroes of Legends standing behind him.
“My dear people of this world, please… open your minds!” He said, a slight stern tone in his voice much to everyone’s surprise. He indicated the alien while saying, “It was not too long ago when I fought against this man, and he was a fierce opponent that attempted to kill me. I too treated him as an enemy, but I soon learnt that he was merely a puppet, part of a bigger scheme set by someone else, someone devious and mysterious. Ever since then, he had brought forth his alien forces here to help the people that were devastated by his actions. Instead, he and his men were met with a hailstorm of rocks, insults, curses, and distrust but they did not retaliate because they were here to help, not cause more damage than what had already occurred.”
Those words caused the people of the capital to shuffle their feet and look troubled. The reason for this was simply because when the alien came with his forces, the surviving people of the capital attempted to assault them with whatever they could. Despite being on the receiving end and the aliens itching to fight back, the Overlord ordered them to stand down, and they stood there receiving their attacks without fighting back. It was not until the Nine Heroes of Legends showed up to quell the fighting and convince the populace that they were there to help before the aliens finally set upon repairing the damaged land.
“I speak supportively of this man because his efforts have truth in them,” Lakshman went on saying, “and that’s why, I implore each and every single one of you to give this man and his people a proper chance to help restore this world to its former glory! He has, after all, lowered his head to us, and by doing so, gave you the chance to tower over him. As such, I firmly believe that it is only fair for us to act righteously and have some faith in him.”
To that, several of the protesters began shouting words like, “How do we trust them?” and “What if they deceive us?”
In response, Lakshman looked firmly at them and seriously replied, “If your worst fears come to be true, I swear I will personally destroy them and restore this world using my full powers! I swear this on my life, my blood, and my soul!”
His speech had a powerful impact on everyone watching this broadcast. They could not help but gulp nervously and feel a slight sweat form on their skin from the pressure he was exuding. Even if he was not there physically, they felt his overwhelming presence bearing down on them with his sincere stance and firm principles.
Thus, concluded the convincing of the people over the aliens coming to their world and assisting in restoring it. The Overlord was grateful to Lakshman, who simply replied that he was merely doing his job as a hero with a serene smile on his face. From that point onwards, many groups of aliens touched down on their planet and began working to bring the Alzard World back to normal with the included promise from the Overlord where he stated that they would fill the world with greenery once more much to the joy of its people.
Thereafter, the Nine Heroes of Legends split up into two groups, one group helping the prince while the other watched over the aliens working on the restoration. Lakshman was part of the group that stayed and helped alongside Bolten, who met up with the other nobles over social conditions, and changes in rules and regulations, and finally the Raven’s Guild leader, Ram.
On the day of the meeting between the Raven’s Guild leader and the king, Ram and his followers arrived wearing their usual masked clothing. Although the guards demanded them to reveal themselves, the Raven’s Guild members were pardoned by the king for their decision to protect their privacy and met with them in the audience hall alongside the alien, Commander of the League of Heroes, Cyde, the king’s aide, Alestor, the Nine Heroes of Legends, and the other members of the ministry.
Upon greeting each other, Ram said with a slight apologetic tone from behind his mask, “Sorry that we hide ourselves.”
Bolten nodded in understanding and said, “It’s fine. You have your reasons, and I’ve known for a long time your group were not a threat to worry over. After all, your group merely interfered in operations of the past king in many of the wrongs he was conducting without thinking through his actions. So, I actually should apologise for letting people like you show yourselves and put yourselves at risk in order to protect our world and the people. Thank you for that.”
With that, he attempted to bow to them, but Ram quickly stopped him by saying, “There’s no need for thanks, king! We did this of our own, and you have no responsibility towards our fate. But we do appreciate your good will towards us. So, please, raise your head. A king must not readily bow his head to his subjects.”
“Perhaps, but there is nothing wrong in admitting your mistakes because only cowards and undisciplined people act all mighty even when they make mistakes because they lack the courage to come forward and admit it,” replied Bolten with a smile.
To that, Ram appeared to be surprised before simply saying, “Yes.”
From there, they proceeded with the discussion, where Bolten wanted to hire the Raven’s Guild to help with the world restoration. Learning from Lakshman, who had lived with them briefly and understood a little bit of how they worked, understood that they knew of the world, the routes, and other things that are hidden from plain sight, which would be useful in restoring the world.
When the plan was laid out to him, Ram immediately replied, “We will assist.”
“So quick!” Bolten remarked, looking amazed. “Are you sure you want to help us despite us causing your people a burden? I assume your group are comprised of people that had suffered directly by the misconduct of the kingdom?”
Ram nodded to that, but he seemed to speak casually as he said, “Yes, but that and this are two entirely things. Our world’s survival is at stake, and for that, we are willing to put our lives on the line once again to help it!”
This made the king chuckle before saying, “I don’t need your lives; I need your expertise.”
Ram nodded and said, “We will gladly assist.” Then he turned to look at the heroes while asking the king, “Will the Nine Heroes of Legend also assist?”
To that, Bolten’s smile faltered a little as he said, “All but one.” As everyone looked at him in confusion, he breathed a sigh and announced, “The Solaris Hero has decided to return to his home world.”
Upon receiving such news, everyone was shocked and remained in the same stunned silence for several seconds. A few seconds later, they began asking him, beseeching him, even going as far as demanding him, not to leave their world and what his reasons for taking such a drastic decision.
For his part, Lakshman merely shrugged his shoulders and said, “I have a family waiting for me back at home.”
No one put up an argument against it, and certainly had a hard time what with that serious look that Bolten was giving the people. So, after discussing further points and agreeing upon scheduled dates for meeting in the future, the Raven’s Guild took their leave with Lakshman following them till the outskirts of the castle walls.
On the outskirts, Ram turned around and asked from behind his mask, “I guess this will be the last time we’ll be seeing each other? Won’t you come and see Aimi one last time?”
Lakshman pondered for a moment before smiling and replying, “Yes. I’ll come by during this week and spend some time there.”
“Great!” Ram said with a smile hidden by his mask with his voice full of pleasure. “See you then.”
He extended his hand out towards Lakshman, who extended his own hand out and shook it firmly while nodding at one another in a silent agreement. Then the Raven’s Guild group departed, and he watched them till they disappeared through the castle gates.
A few days later, Lakshman visited Ram and Aimi by connecting his Phoenix Portal directly into their home. Afterwards, he spent some time with them and wandered around the rebuilding city, where he spoke kindly to the people. They were more than welcoming him and even came to Ram’s house to give him food, drinks, and anything to accommodate him after finding out that he would be leaving their world soon.
“This is too much for one person, you know?” Lakshman asked, staring at the food on the plate in exasperation.
“Hey, it’s their way of showing gratitude towards your kindness,” replied Ram happily.
“Well, we better get into it before it spoils,” said Aimi happily by clapping her hands together.
“So simple!” Lakshman commented, and the couple laughed as they found his remark amusing.
During the meal, they had a good time talking about their family lives, where the topic mainly focused on Lakshman’s family. Ram and Aimi showed considerable envy and laughed when they heard that he was going to spend a lot of time with them.
“All this constant fighting people with less than good intentions cost us a fair bit of time between me and my family, so I want to make up for it when I return,” said Lakshman with a smile.
“Spoken like a true man who cherishes his family!” Ram said, sounding and looking very impressed.
After having their meal, it was time for Lakshman to depart as he had to attend a meeting with some ministers with Bolten and the other heroes. So, Ram and Aimi were the only ones there as they stood by and watched him activate the Phoenix Portal that would take him back to the castle.
“I had a great time spending the day with you today,” said Lakshman cheerfully as he turned back to bid them farewell.
“Yeah. I certainly had a good time talking about your life over there,” said Ram with a smile.
The two men stepped forward and shook hands firmly, where Ram remained holding firmly on the handshake while peering into his recently made friend’s face.
“W-Will we… meet again…?” He asked a little hesitantly as if sensing something.
Lakshman blinked at him in surprise before he smiled serenely and replied, “If we are meant to meet, then we shall.”
When he heard that, Ram could only sigh and nod his head in understanding. It was a vague statement that clearly told him that his friend would not be returning to their world anytime soon.
“Have a safe journey back,” said Aimi, and she waved with a smiling face.
“Yeah and make sure to have a good life!” Ram added with a grinning face.
Their hero looked back at them over his shoulders and gave them a radiant smile before entering through the portal and disappeared into it. A moment later, the portal closed in on itself and left no traces of its existence.
***
By this time, the news of Lakshman’s decision to return home spread like wildfire around everywhere. He was, after all, hailed as the hero that saved their world from a deity that was hell bent on destroying their it. As such, many people wanted to meet with him, news media and journalists wanting to schedule a meeting with him, and other more influential people wanting to pay their respects one last time before he left.
Unfortunately for them all, Lakshman could not be grasped as his previous living quarters was emptied as he was moved to live near the king’s quarters in the castle. The Solaris Hero was grateful for this since Bolten had took it upon himself to order the Royal Guards to move his things and luggage after understanding that the hero wanted to be left in peace.
“Why do you have so much luggage?” Bolten asked curiously when he saw small bags full of random things stuffed in them.
“Oh. I thought I’d take some souvenirs back with me to show my wives, children, and sisters, and everyone else,” replied Lakshman with a smile.
“Really? But I thought your world was a fantasy setting with next to no technology or electricity supply system?”
“You’re right, but I still want to take these with me as keepsakes of the memories of this world that I have.”
“Oh. Alright then,” said Bolten with a chuckle.
He had an inclining that perhaps Lakshman would use this world’s devices and accessories to try and reverse engineer them back in his home world even if the hero did not admit it. Still, he did not feel an ounce of worry or negativity about it because he appreciated the hero for all his deeds and was not against his wishes.
Thus, after moving into his new room and feeling tired from visiting places and meeting with different people until now, Lakshman decided to take a stroll to get in some fresh air. That was how he wandered around the castle and met up with Erza by chance. Or rather, Lakshman felt that they were meant to meet as he had been meaning to meet with her for a while as he also sensed the presence of Alestor somewhere nearby.
“He must’ve foreseen this and made it so that we met here all alone,” he thought and chuckled to himself appreciatively. “Thank you, Alestor.”
***
“So, it’s really true that you are leaving,” she asked again as if wanting to check if that was true. As he laughed lightly, she looked sad as she said, “Please don’t laugh. I was worried after you told me, and I had time to think about it… and it hit me that you will leave for good and probably never come back. It… It hit me really hard.”
“I’m sorry that I sprung it on everyone suddenly, but… I want to go home,” he said in a quiet voice.
She looked at him for a moment before asking hesitantly, “D-Don’t you… want to… stay in this world… with… um…?”
Erza did not continue her sentence and left it hanging while her face flushed red in embarrassment. It was as if she found whatever words she was going to utter to be very embarrassing and it made her falter.
Lakshman looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and replied, “Maybe there are people wanting me to stay here, but… I… I’ve got to return.”
After that, silence fell between them as they gazed out over the castle in the cool evening setting. Finally, the silence was broken when Erza spoke up in a hurt voice.
“You’re cruel.”
“Huh?” He asked, turning to face her, looking confused. “I’m… cruel?”
“Yes,” she said and nodded adamantly, “otherwise why’d you decide to leave after telling me I’m your wife? Even your familiars said I was your wife!” She whipped around to face him with a troubled expression on her face as she continued, “What does it mean? I’m so confused! I want answers, but you suddenly decide you’re going to leave?! It’s cruel of you to leave me in the dark like this!”
Lakshman watched her as she looked up at him with the mood and an appearance that suggested that she was close to tears. Not liking to see her like this, he rushed forward to give her a tight embrace much to her surprise.
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“I’m sorry, Erza. I’m really sorry!” He exclaimed in a firm voice filled with apology. “I didn’t think my stupid mouth and the mouths of my stupid familiars would hurt you like this! I deeply regret voicing such a thing to you on the spur of the moment.”
There was a momentary pause as she absorbed what just happened before, she began patting him on the back while saying, “I-It’s okay. It’s okay,” and patted him lightly on the chest as she tried to indicate to give her some room to breathe. Understanding this, he quickly withdrew away from her in a fluster and apologised once more, which she accepted readily with a small smile on her face.
“It’s fine and all, but please do explain why you and your familiars believed that?” She asked looking curious.
He smiled bitterly and told her of the events of how he met her in the dungeon when the Shadow Dragon King, Razzel, who had kidnapped them along with many others and was using them as test subjects on his many experiments. From there, the events that played out and led to him and her getting married. As he spoke, he witnessed her expression changing from curiosity, to shock, to surprise, to amazement, and finally to wonder.
He actually did not include the information about the fact that the Erza he met was actually someone that came from this world. She had forewarned him about the summoning to this world during a time of crisis, and the fact that they had a child together. The one thing he did lie to her was the fact that Erza in his home world had died during the war that he engaged with the Calamity Titan. The reason for him having to lie had to do with an idea that was proposed by Asura.
“If she learns the truth that she is still alive in your world, then her feelings will fall flat and won’t lead her to come after you and meet you way back when you were a 16-years-old,” reasoned Asura inside his mind. “After all, no one understands how time travel works.”
“Yes, but I don’t like this,” thought Lakshman as he finished lying and trying to pretend to appear sorrowful. “Lying to her of all things is just…!”
“It’s a necessity that you’re lying, not because you’re lying for the sake of deceiving her,” replied Asura in his mind. “Besides, it’s her destiny to be together with you as Engraut had stated so many times.”
“Yes. I know. The Nine Destiny Queens,” said Lakshman in understanding while feeling a little depressed. “I just wish there was another way to go about this.”
“This is the easiest option to take because it leaves her with the lingering hope of coming with you rather than thinking you’re crazy or something,” said Asura in a reasonable voice.
Lakshman understood and reluctantly agreed just as Erza said, “I’m… I’m really sorry for your… loss…!”
He looked at her and saw that she looked tearful and extended his hand out to rub her eyes dry with a smile.
“I am sorry too… that’s why I jumped at the assumption that you were my wife, but I knew my wife had died, and that you couldn’t be her even from the moment you introduced yourself as Raze to me.”
“You knew I was the real Erza right from the beginning?” She asked, looking amazed.
He nodded and replied, “Yes. From the way you speak, your mannerism, and your attitude towards others; it was as if I was meeting the carbon copy of my wife in you. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Really. I understand. I get it,” she said and turned her head down a little to hide her expression. A moment later, she muttered, “There’s still hope,” in a slightly delightful voice.
“Sorry?” He asked her, blinking in confusion as he could not hear her properly.
“No. It’s nothing,” she said, tilting her head upward and smiling sweetly at him. “Um…?”
Upon seeing her look hesitantly at him, he smiled curiously and asked, “What is it? I won’t be offended by your question.”
“If… if… hypothetically speaking,” she began hesitantly with a nervous look on her face as she watched him closely to see how he would react, “if I was… to say… the wife you met in your world… what would you do?”
“Huh? What?” He asked, looking stunned and shaken at this unexpected question.
“Could she be…?!” Lakshman thought to himself, feeling his expectancy rising by the second. “Does she somehow have memories or somehow know the truth already?”
“It’s just a hypothetical question,” she said quickly, looking a little taken aback by how shocked he looked.
“Oh,” he said, and his spirits sank a little, causing his shoulders to slump a little.
Seeing this, she quickly apologised, “I’m sorry! Please forget it! It was stupid of me to trouble you like this!”
“No. No. It’s fine,” he said calmly with a small smile before proceeding to answer her. “Well, if you were truly my wife, then I would hug you really tightly and say ‘I’m back!’”
She was surprised upon hearing that, but she soon giggled and smiled happily upon hearing it.
Then she eyed him curiously and asked, “In that case, if I… um… if I… asked you to remain here… would you… would you… stay?”
With each sentence uttered, her voice became smaller and smaller until it finished on a feeble note. However, he heard her clearly and looked a little taken aback by such a question. It made him feel momentarily lost as what to do before he shook his head in denial and smiled sadly at her.
“Sorry, Erza. I can’t do it. I want to be with my family. I wouldn’t be me without them.”
She looked surprised for a moment before she muttered, “As I thought,” in a sad voice.
“Sorry?” He asked again as he could not hear her words properly.
Erza shook her head and said with a bitter smile, “I’m just saying you’re amazing. Your family must love you dearly.”
“Yes, as I do them in return,” he replied with a serene smile.
Once again, the two of them plunged into a silence that seemed to stretch on from seconds into minutes. Lakshman glanced at her from time to time, wondering what she was thinking. She, on the other hand, merely glanced out into the scenery presented before them with a cool expression on her face, enjoying the cool breeze that touched her face.
With the silence pressing on him, his thoughts went back to recapping all that they had talked about earlier. This, in turn, made him think about Erza back in his home world and worry about how the events that would lead her to come to his world. This worry became a sudden fuel that burned brightly inside him and sparked him into taking action.
“Erza,” he said suddenly, and she turned to him blinking in surprise at him sounding desperate, “When I do return… will you… will you… will you come with me?”
There was a moment of silence between them as Erza stared at him with a shocked look on her face. She did not expect that he would ask her something like this in the slightest. That was why she was utterly shocked to the point that she did not know what to even think of it at that moment. It further did not help when Bolten and Santa suddenly appeared from around the corner while discussing something. Upon spotting the two of them, they called them out.
“Hey, Lucky.”
“What’s up, you two?”
At the same time, the astral form of their mother, Rina, floated behind them and looked momentarily surprised to find her daughter together with another man. Then she smiled serenely, treating them as if they were a couple in her eyes.
“Ah!” Lakshman said, jumping in surprise upon being called suddenly. He turned to face them and made a forced smile as he responded with, “Me? Nothing! Just admiring the view. That’s all.” He turned quickly to Erza and said, “It was nice chatting with you, Erza. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I got some business to attend to,” and he hurried away from there in a fluster while trying to hide the embarrassed look on his face.
He did not know why he felt so embarrassed, but he heard Asura click his tongue and say a single word scornfully in his mind, “Coward.”
***
A week later, Lakshman and the eight other heroes of the Nine Heroes of Legends stood near the outskirts of the capital where the progress of restoration was showing great results. A part of the desolate land started to get filled with greenery and there were sightings of small trees rising out of the ground. All of this were the good signs that showed the efforts the aliens were putting in and the future where the world would return to its normality.
“Do you have to go so soon?” Fred asked sadly.
“Yeah. Couldn’t you stay a little longer and see the completion of this restoration?” Maxwell asked curiously.
“Why the rush?” William asked as if not understanding the hero’s reasons.
Lakshman laughed and responded with, “I have confidence in you guys to see it through to fruition.”
At that, Gram coughed and said, “I see. Well, I thought you were just scared that you might have to live up to your oath, but I guess you’re just admitting that we’re better at this than you.”
“Wow…!” Vikram said, turning and eying him in amazement. “You’re something, you know that?”
“I do know that,” replied Gram firmly with a smug look on his face. “Better than you, obviously.”
“How did it turn into you having to insult me?!” Vikram exclaimed, looking shocked.
As they laughed, Natsu said, “Well, with you leaving, that’ll just leave us with eight members. Should we rename ourselves as the Eight Heroes of Legends?”
Lakshman chuckled and said, “I’m still the Solaris Hero even if I’m not physically here.”
This made him think back what he had done that morning, where he slunk into the summoning room where the others were summoned except for him. There, he held the spear in front of him and communicated with the fairy that resided within it after having moved her residence from his mind back into the weapon where she originated from.
“Is this what you want?” He asked curiously.
“Yes,” she replied telepathically. “This is where I belong, and like you, I have my duty to attend to as the Hero’s Weapon.”
“I suppose so,” he said, feeling a little troubled that she would spend another unknown amount of time in solitude, waiting on another hero to wield her if he were not to return.
Sensing his hesitation, she seemed to smile as she cheerfully said, “Don’t worry. When I took on this job, I fully knowingly agreed on this role with all my heart. So, there’s no need for you to show sympathy towards me. I’m totally fine.”
“Yes, but why did you agree to this?” He asked out of curiosity. “Was it because you were alone, didn’t have friends, or were you bullied?”
To that, she responded with, “I took on this role because I want to serve my life for a greater cause and help those who are unable to help themselves and support them through the turmoil with all my might. That’s all there is to it.”
Lakshman was surprised while Asura commented, “Heh. So simple minded.”
“Better keep it simple than keeping it overcomplicated,” she stated cheerfully.
As such, he stabbed the spear into the circle with her symbol and left silently after bidding her farewell. Now, he stood before the other heroes in the outskirts with a large trunk lying beside him, something that he wished to take back with him to his home world.
“So, how do you plan on going back home?” Vikram asked, looking around as if expecting to see a portal magically appear out of thin air.
Understanding what he was looking for, Lakshman chuckled and said, “By creating a portal.”
“Really?!” The Sonic Hero exclaimed, looking amazed as he was thrilled about guessing correctly. “How do you do it?”
For this one, Lakshman wore a cool smile as he said, “By fusing first,” and winked at them.
There was a moment of silence between them before they all exclaimed simultaneously, “Huh?!”
“Fusion?” Vikram asked dubiously.
“How’s that going to help?” Martin asked curiously.
“Yeah. Fusion and making portals are completely different things,” stated William in concern.
Natsu, on the other hand, seemed to have figured out what the plan was and said, “I see. So, by fusing, you would use our combined powers to open the portal that you are unable to open in your current state. Is that right?” He added a little worriedly as he felt he might be underpinning the hero’s capability.
Lakshman let out a light laughter before saying, “You’re right, Natsu. I’m incapable of opening a stable dimension portal from here to my home world because I lack the power and the strength to manifest it. Whereas, our fusion provides me the perfect opportunity to manifest it and gives me the time to leave for home.”
“Ah. That makes sense,” said Gram, nodding his head in understanding.
“That’s pretty clever,” admitted Vikram, looking impressed.
“It’s obvious,” said Ward telepathically in an emotionless voice as usual.
While they were sounding impressed, Vikram suddenly got an idea, and he asked, “Hey, does this mean we could practically open up dimension portals to our home worlds as well?”
Due to that, everyone went silent and appeared to ponder about the suggestion. Then, one by one, they began denying it as if their answer towards the suggestion was an obvious one.
“I’d be back to killing people left, right, and centre because of the war between countries regardless of whether I died or not over there,” said Maxwell dully. “I’d rather stay here and help people out in other ways than war and constant taking of human life. It’s just too stressful.”
“Well, I’m an orphan, and I’ve always been a silent person in class and had no friends whatsoever, so there’s no reason for me to go back,” admitted Vikram with a shrug of his shoulders.
“I’d be caught and put through an immense punishment that could very well kill me if I returned home, so I prefer to be here,” submitted Fred with a slight smile.
“As for me, going back right after I died over there feels lame, so I’m staying,” supplied William with a grin on his face.
“I can learn many more things if I stay here than return to my life of cold and isolation,” said Ward telepathically in a flat voice.
“The only reason I’d return is to murder the person that had me killed along with making my mother pay for her crimes,” said Gram curtly before sighing and saying in a resigned voice, “but I might cross several lines and do more damage than good, so no thanks!”
“I… I like this world better than my home world, so there’s that,” said Natsu with a chuckle.
“I’m slowly becoming a better person by being here, so I’d rather not go back and revert back to that harsh lifestyle,” admitted Martin with a disgruntled look on his face.
Lakshman chuckled as he looked around at them all and said, “You’ve certainly changed.”
“Well, for one thing, we swore we’d lead a different and better lives here since it’s our second chance,” said Vikram with a smile. Then he turned to the others and asked, “Isn’t that right, guys?” to which everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
“I see,” said Lakshman as he glanced around at everyone. “So, it’s just me.” He nodded and said, “Alright. Let’s do this!”
Nodding their heads at each other, the nine heroes took circular stances while facing each other and performed the fusion dance while shouting out the respective parts of the word to active the spell.
“Fu-sion-zen!”
There was a brilliant flash of light before a singular entity appeared when the light dimmed and disappeared. He was the same being that had appeared during the battle against the God of Calamity, Climax, while wearing different garments that seemed to mix matched with the ones worn by the heroes this time around.
“Alright,” said the fusion warrior as Lakshman took charge of the body.
He held his hand out and two guns materialised out of thin air, which he caught and held firmly with his hands. A moment later, he began exerting his power that caused the wind to blow quickly around them and ruffle their clothes. At the same time, the ground began to shake slightly from the force of the power the warrior was unleashing upon the area.
Holding the two guns firmly with both hands, the fused warrior aimed them in front of him after assessing that he had exerted enough energy with a serious expression on his face. He momentarily closed his eyes and focused on the vision of the house in which he and his family lived in at the Floria Kingdom on the Human Continent. Then he opened his eyes in a flash and pulled the triggers of both guns, causing an incredible burst of energy to get released from the guns.
In an instant, several magic circles burst forth from the guns and soared ahead for a few meters before coming to a full stop. They hovered there for a moment before expanding to the size large enough for a man to enter through, where a strange dark swirling mass could be seen emanating at the entrance to the portal.
“It’s done,” commented the fused warrior in satisfaction. “Dimensional Portal established successfully.” Then he released his grips on the guns, which dematerialised, and he placed a hand on his chest before saying, “Defuse.”
Once again, there was a flash of light before the singular entity divided into nine people that he was made from. The light died down and revealed that the heroes had split apart from the fusion and appeared both surprised and amazed.
“I didn’t know that was possible,” admitted Vikram, looking amazed.
“It was Ward’s idea,” said Lakshman, looking towards Ward, who merely nodded in assent.
“Man, you sure a knowledgeable for a bookworm,” said the Sonic Hero jokingly with a laugh.
“Knowledge is power,” replied Ward telepathically in a quiet voice. “You’d do well to keep that in mind.”
“Ah? Yeah. Okay,” said Vikram, looking and sounding confused as the last sentence felt like some kind of threat.
Meanwhile, Lakshman walked over to the trunk with his luggage and grabbed it by the handle to take it across the dimension as he returns home. It had wheels on all four sides, which made it even easier for him to carry even though it made no difference to him considering the trunk’s weight being almost nothing to the immense strength he possesses.
“Thank you for helping me, everyone,” he said and turned to smile serenely at them. “Bye.”
“Take care!” Vikram said with a thumbs-up gesture.
“Be careful!” Fred said worriedly.
“Make sure to stay strong and fight hard!” William said bracingly.
“Never give up on your principles,” advised Maxwell with a smile.
“Don’t be as nervous as me, although I shouldn’t be the one giving you this advice,” said Martin before he admitted wryly.
Gram did not say anything but merely nodded at him with his arms folded and a firm expression on his face.
“Good luck on your endeavours,” said Ward telepathically in a thoughtfully voice.
“If you ever need help or whatever, we’re here for you!” Natsu said firmly with a determined smile on his face.
Lakshman eyed them all and simply nodded in agreement. It felt strange for him to leave these bunch of different kinds of people behind to return home, but he knew he was doing the right thing. After all, the greater part of him misses being with his family and playing with his children.
So, while dragging the trunk on its wheels from behind, he strolled towards the portal. The dimensional portal was exerting strange aura from it while causing random lightning to burst forth in all directions.
As he neared the entrance, something came to his mind, and he turned back to see the heroes waving at him. He smiled at them, but he was looking at them. His eyes were searching for a certain special person that he loved just as he equally loved his other wives. However, no matter where his eyes roamed and scanned, that person that he wished for, that he wished to see, that he wished to speak with one last time was not there.
This made him feel saddened and depressed. With feelings of regret, he turned around and walked towards the portal and entered it. Inside it was a mysterious path laid out in front of him, which he took to walking along for what felt like minutes, but it was just mere seconds. Soon, he reached the other end of the portal and exited out onto a plain greenery field with a familiar house situated in front of him.
“I’m back,” he muttered as he smelled the familiar scent in the air and knew he had returned to his home world. Then he felt sadness as he muttered, “I came without Erza. I left her behind. Does that mean the Erza with me will cease to exist? Is it… my fault?”
“Lakshman,” said Asura coolly in his mind, “Time travel is a confusing thing that nobody fully understands. So, don’t think about the overly complicated stuff and focus on what we got right now.”
Lakshman did not say anything for a moment as he was torn between turning around and going back to get her, or deciding to let her decide her fate instead of forcing fate on her to satisfy his selfishness. He was feeling distraught between the two options when he suddenly heard a voice calling him from behind.
“Lucky!”
In an instant, he whirled around and was hoping against hope that it was Erza. However, the only thing he saw was the dimensional portal closing in on itself, leaving him with no way of going back to the Alzard World. His heart sank even further than before, and his mind began to feel torment from the guilty feeling of letting her go instead of bringing her with him, but his idealistic belief of letting her choose her fate made him feel extremely conflicted within himself.
“You want to hold onto your thoughts and check your back,” commented Asura suddenly inside his mind in a quiet voice.
At the same moment, he heard someone from behind him say, “Lucky.”
The voice suddenly made his heart stand still for a moment. He recognised the owner of the voice and slowly turned around to see that it was none other than Erza. This time, she had the appearance of the grown-up Erza that he knew before he fell through the void and got summoned to the Alzard World.
“E-Erza…?” He asked uncertainly.
She smiled sweetly and replied, “Yes. That’s me. I’m your Erza.”
He blinked in surprise at her response and felt confusion course through his mind, making him unable to make heads or tails out of the situation he was in. While half of him believed that she was indeed real and speaking to him, the other half was felt as if sure that she was just a figment of his imagination from the craziness that his mind was being driven into.
“You’re overcomplicating things,” commented Asura scornfully in his mind.
As if feeling the same thing, the Erza before him coughed and asked, “Lucky, if I say the woman you met in that world was your wife, what would you do?”
The question came as unexpected and surprising, but more than that, it was very shocking. After a moment of stunned silence, he felt as though a spring that was lessened had put itself back in place to make his brain function properly again.
“This is the Erza! This is the real Erza!” He thought to himself in awe.
He let go of the handle of the trunk and slowly began walking over to her. However, his walk soon began a jog as he hurried over to her and wrapped his arms around her as he gave her a tight hug. The moment that he did, he smelled the same familiar scene that he came to associate with Erza just as he was familiar with each kind of different smell that his other wives gave off. As such, he knew instantly from her smell that it was really her.
“Erza! It’s really you…! It’s really you!” He said happily while giving her a tight hug.
She chuckled as she patted him from behind, but she still had something to say, and she asked him, “So, Lucky, you haven’t answered my question.”
“Huh?” He asked, pulling himself away from her and giving her a confused look.
Erza giggled upon seeing that expression before she asked, “I asked what would you do if I say the woman you met in that world was your wife?”
For a moment, he looked at her feeling the same confusion as before. However, as he thought about her words, it clicked inside his brain, and he widened his eyes slightly. Then he gave her a warm hug and said two words in a quiet voice.
“I’m back.”
To that, she smiled sweetly and replied affectionately, “Welcome back.”
As the two of them continued to hug one another, they heard other voices, and they broke apart to see that Emilia, Sonia, Silvera, Tetra, Venezuela, Ondine, and Cantia had come out of the house and witnessed them hugging. As such, with feverish happiness radiating from each one of them, they raced towards them with joyful cries.
“Lucky!”
“You’re back!”
“It’s so good to see you!”
“I’m so happy you’re here!”
“You finally returned!”
Lakshman watched his wives racing to him with great joy and smiled warmly before looking up at the beautiful blue sky in the evening. He sighed before muttering two words that expressed his contentedly of his situation.
“I’m home.”