Lakshman felt himself soaring through something before coming to land on something solid. He opened his eyes and saw that he was standing in a white space that had strange symbols spinning around in the background. In front of him, he saw two figures; one a small cute looking dragon and the other was Lagron, who was lying face up to the space above.

“Here you are,” said Lakshman with a sigh and began walking over to them.

As he neared them, the cute looking dragon began to growl warningly at him, but it did not worry Lakshman. But he did surmise that the dragon was the link between Lagron and the ancient dragon blood that he boasted about. This suddenly made him realise that this was the dragon that attacked his friends and family.

“So, you’re Lagron’s ancient dragon blood link?” Lakshman asked, stopping near the dragon and lifting it into the air with one hand.

The dragon growled angrily, but he could sense the fear the creature felt towards him. It seemed almost like a creature that was born just recently and looked so harmless, yet it hurt those close to him. However, to Lakshman did not feel it right to hurt the little creature because of its current form.

“It’ll make you look like the bad guy if you hit that thing right now,” suggested Asura, who joined him to look at the small dragon.

“You came,” said Lakshman coldly.

“We are linked, so of course I’d have access to come as well,” replied Asura with a smile. “Now then,” he added and turned his attention to his sleeping rival. He knelt down next to his rival and patted him on the cheek while saying, “Wake up, idiot. Hey! Wake up.”

Lagron remained unmoving and continued to sleep on the ground without feeling any disturbance. Getting annoyed, Asura began slapping his rival left and right on his cheek while shouting at him to wake up. The dragon growled in anger and attempted to break free from Lakshman’s grip, but he held onto the small creature firmly.

“Just how many times do I have to slap you for you to wake up, idiot?!” Asura demanded, raising his hand and rubbing it as if it hurt from hitting him numerous times.

Lakshman saw that the Dragon Titan’s cheeks have become swollen from the numerous slaps he received and snickered with laughter. Then he saw Asura raise Lagron slightly upward to face him before delivering a powerful punch straight to his face, which sent him flying away into the distance.

The past Phoenix Titan and the current Phoenix Titan, who held onto the dragon, flew over to where Lagron crashed at. As they approached him, they saw movement from the, till now, unconscious Dragon Titan before he groggily lifted himself up into a sitting position while holding his cheek.

“Punching him did the trick, I guess,” commented Asura with a snort, which made Lakshman laugh.

“Oww…! My cheeks hurt so much…!” Lagron complained, wincing and looked pained by the injuries he sustained on the cheeks.

“Of course, they’d hurt when they’re hit by yours truly!” Asura announced proudly, making the Dragon Titan to turn and face them.

“Wha?!” Lagron exclaimed, looking stunned by seeing two similar looking rivals. “A-Asura?”

As he asked uncertainly, Asura answered him with, “I’m Asura, idiot. That is Lakshman,” and he indicated towards Lakshman. “Till now, you’ve been fighting him, not me.”

“W-What?” Lagron asked, looking confused as he looked between the two. “Asura? Lakshman? Wait! You’re not the same people?”

“No!” Both Lakshman and Asura exclaimed simultaneously.

“I… I don’t understand,” said Lagron, looking very confused and troubled.

“With each incarnation, I became a different person and lived a different life,” explained Asura with a sigh. “I’ve lived many lives in the past, and the current life is being led by Lakshman, not me. You get it?”

“Y-You’re saying that… with each reincarnation, you became… a different person?” Lagron asked uncertainly.

“Yes. That was why I couldn’t remember you when you came to challenge me in my first reincarnation. That person was not me but a different person that was leading a different life because he didn’t have my memories.”

“What?! How is that possible?!” Lagron demanded, looking shocked. “Each time I died and reincarnated, all of my memories were intact, and I could access them without any special training or skill to unlock.”

To that, Asura smiled bitterly and said, “The Ancient Evil put a curse on me that didn’t allow my reincarnations to have any of my wisdom and it worked to corrupt my every life from the inside. That was why I became such a twisted character in each life that my reincarnation lived afterwards. That was until Lakshman’s time, that is.”

“I see,” said Lagron, pondering for a moment before nodding in understanding, “but how come I don’t have a similar experience in my reincarnation?”

To that, Asura and Lakshman glanced at each other before Lakshman said, “I don’t think reincarnation works the same for everyone.”

“They don’t?”

Lakshman nodded and said, “Yes. I think so because when I fought the Calamity Titan, I sensed that he possessed the memories of my brother but he was not truly him in essence. It was like a different person holding onto the memories of someone else and acting upon them instead of that person being the actual person instead.”

“Yeah. I got that feeling too,” said Asura with a nod of his head. “When you were fighting him, I got this feeling that he’s not the brother I raised; it was someone retaining the memories of my brother.”

Asura looked saddened for a moment before he turned to Lagron and said, “Anyway, all you need to know is that I’m the Asura that beat you… and I am very disappointed in you, Lagron.”

“What?!” His rival exclaimed, looking shocked and quickly rose to his feet. “What do you mean disappointed?! Just how am I a disappointment?!”

“You became me!” Asura snapped and pointed at him. “I don’t know what happened to you while reincarnating many times, or the kind of life you had lived in each of them, but your current attitude is similar to my own and that disappoints me! Where is the attitude that is easy going, free willed and understanding?! You were the complete opposite of me, someone with hope and no arrogance! What happened?!”

At being demanded an answer from, Lagron went silent and they waited for several seconds before he replied, “I… I just wanted to fight you… to prove that I am indeed stronger than you because of that time when you defeated me, I was in a weakened state. I was also hurt when you died saving me, I was ashamed of myself, of how weak I was at that time, and swore I would become strong and one day, defeat you to prove, once and for all, who was the strongest between the two of us.”

“And you thought adapting my personality from back then was the right choice since I was stronger than you?” Asura asked, and Lagron nodded silently. To this Asura clicked his tongue irritably and said, “Idiot! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! By accepting my personality, you’ve also accepted a life where you have nothing to call yours!”

“Huh?” Lagron asked, looking surprised. “What do you mean?”

“Just stop and think about what you’ve done!” Asura berated him. “You made yourself hated by your entire clan by making them think the Dragon Titan was an evil being that should be locked up in the Dragon World. It did make you strong, but you were left all alone till the day you died and reincarnated only to repeat that cycle! Compare that life to what you have now! Compare it and just tell yourself which is better? A life of solitude where you live forever alone, or a lifewhere you have friends to hang out with and be free from such loneliness?!”

The Dragon Titan stared at his rival and once friend with an utterly shocked look on his face. His eyes soon widened as he realised that the life that he had till now compared to being together with Amaranda and hanging out with Lakshman and his family was lacking, he now realised that he had always longed to be with everyone.

This made him remember his wife from the ancient times, and the time they spent together along with the comfortable relationship the Dragon Race, who renamed themselves as Dragon Clan to better mingle with the world, maintained with the Phoenix Clan since both leaders were friendly to one another. Lagron even would express his thoughts and emotions to Asura openly and would often get advised on different things that actually helped him such as maintaining order within the clan and dealing judgement on his brother, who rebelled against him for the control over the Dragon Clan.

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“Take priority over which is necessary and follow it through without letting your feelings cloud your judgement.”

Those were the words he heeded dearly and that helped him overcome the tragedy of killing his own family to protect his clan as he knew the clan would be headed towards destruction in the hands of his brother. It was the reason why he killed his father because he brought destruction on the clan and their entire home world. That concept solidified in him when he witnessed Asura kill his own brother for the betterment of the world and then leave even though Lagron wanted to comfort him like he did for him.

Lagron clutched his head and looked devastated at everything that he had been doing till now, but he was scared of being weak. He thought that being attached to people around you and enjoying that comfort made you weak. Yet, he saw that Lakshman was strong and despite him losing against Lagron in their first confrontation in this lifetime, he knew the current Phoenix Titan was the clear victor because he had people ready to care and protect him whereas he was completely and utterly alone.

That was the reason he was drawn to the cold and strong personality of Amaranda. Her personality reminded him of his wife from his first life as the Dragon Emperor and he felt happy while being in her company. He was starting to enjoy it and that cold personality that he adapted started to crack when he lost in the battle against the Calamity Titan and the insults that he had to endure about him being weak, once again he strengthened his resolve to maintain his persona. This way, he would remain strong and alone but be able to overcome obstacles in the future.

Both Phoenix Titans from their respective lifetime witnessed the sheer struggle that the Dragon Titan was going through and felt saddened. It was then that Lakshman moved forward and released his grip on the dragon to pat Lagron on the shoulder.

“Let it go,” he said softly to him, which surprised Lagron. “Being strong isn’t important; it’s about being strong by having people around you to support you that matters the most. Being alone doesn’t mean much, but being with family and friends and those that care about you means a lot. So, don’t push them away anymore. Please. This is the last life I have to set things right, so please don’t become like Asura and live all alone in the darkness. It’s not worth it.”

His compassionate words bore through the shell that Lagron put around himself, and his exterior was broken. His emotional reasoning made the inner being of Lagron easily give in because that was exactly what he had been hoping for. He was not a cruel person, he cared about everyone related to him and was willing to give his life for their sake.

Thus, Lagron finally accepted reality and nodded in acceptance to Lakshman’s plea. Both Lakshman and Asura smiled happily while the small dragon flapped its wings to fly around and land on the Dragon Titan’s head before growling softly.

“Seems the little guy agrees,” said Asura with a grin while Lakshman chuckled.

“I… guess…” said Lagron, raising his head and patting the little dragon above him, which made Asura and Lakshman smile because this was something that Lagron was fond of doing; petting his dragons.

This, however, reminded Lakshman of something, and he said, “By the way, you better come to your senses and take our fight seriously.”

“Huh? What?” Lagron asked, looking surprised. “What happened? Wasn’t I in the middle of my transformation?”

Lakshman and Asura glanced at each other before they groaned and said, “You’re an idiot.”

“Huh?” Lagron asked, looking bewildered.

“Just come out and see for yourself,” said Asura before he and Lakshman vanished.

They returned to Lakshman’s body, who leaped away from top of the dragon’s head and landed a few meters away. A moment later, the dragon let out a groan and raised its head with what looked like a surprised expression on its fearsome face.

“Oh! The light’s done,” said Sonia with intrigue. “I wonder what happened.”

“I think Lucky used Transcend Talk with the dragon,” said Emilia as she was familiar with the light. “I think he was trying to force Lagron to come to his senses.”

“Oh!” Everyone else reacted with surprise. “Does that mean the dragon is actually Lagron now?”

“It could very well be,” replied Emilia with a nod of her head while continuing to watch what was happening in the arena.

In the arena, Lagron in his dragon form was looking around at the destruction done to the battlefield. He looked mightily startled and then dejected as he was informed of what had transpired by the small dragon, which was his link to his ancient dragon blood.

“I see,” he spoke in a deep powerful voice of a dragon. “I did this.”

“You nearly hurt everyone, almost killed them because of you losing control!” Lakshman berated him angrily.

“Yes…” said Lagron slowly, looking down slightly in shame. “Seems like my ancient dragon link was feeling threatened of your battle spirit and wanted to protect me by destroying everything here. Unfortunately, I had lost consciousness from the stressful transformation and couldn’t inform it of our ongoing battle.”

Then he added in a dejected voice, “Amaranda was right. I… should’ve been careful.”

Lakshman sighed and said, “The past is the past. Stop digging up what’s already buried. Instead, focus on what you should do from here on, Lagron.”

“Yes. I should,” said the Dragon Titan, and he looked towards him and said, “I give up.”

The Phoenix Titan blinked in surprise and exclaimed, “Huh?!”

His reaction was shared by the spectators, who could not believe what they just heard. None of them, in their wildest dreams, believed that the Dragon Titan would suddenly propose to surrender the battle that he had been demanding for a very long time. However, his move was understood and even raised sympathy from Lakshman’s wives, who recognised the mannerism change in Lagron than the others.

“Seems like he reverted to his old self?” Tetra asked curiously.

“It seems like it,” said Sonia uncertainly.

“After all that he did, returning now to the way he used to be? That’s unacceptable!” Silvera complained angrily.

“Let it go, Sil. He probably had his own reasons for becoming like that,” reasoned Ondine softly. Then she smiled and said, “It does seem that Lucky had a heart-to-heart with him and took down that cold persona, and I think it’s for the best.”

“Yes,” they all agreed wholeheartedly, nodding their heads in agreement.

From aside, Amaranda watched them and was smiling as she, too, sensed the change in him. She could tell someone’s personality based on their Spiritual Aura, and now she could see the change in him based on the change in his Spiritual Aura. His aura was no longer fierce and angry but instead was softer, smoother, and calmer, which made her feel very happy and grateful for the Phoenix Titan.

“Seems like talking to Lucky was exactly what he needed to change,” she thought before chuckling telepathically to herself.

Down in the arena, Lakshman asked, “You… give up? Why?”

“I was an idiot for pursuing to challenge and beat you for something that happened in the past, and in the process, I caused this much damage and almost hurt our friends and family. That’s why I’m giving up. Please understand,” said Lagron reasonably in a soft-spoken manner.

Lakshman could sense that the fierce personality had crumbled away from his ancient rival, and Asura agreed with him as well. However, Lakshman was not happy with the thought of him giving up because it actually fired him up to want to defeat him once and for all to prove a point.

So, he refused his rival’s surrender with, “I refuse.” When Lagron looked surprised, Lakshman pointed at him and said, “Don’t go deciding things without the other person’s permission! I won’t accept your surrender. Instead, I want us to resume our battle so that we can finally settle this! Even I am feeling the need to settle this because of the many things that had happened, otherwise I will not be satisfied at all! Got it?!”

His demand to resume their battle took Lagron by surprise, but his reasoning made sense. Honestly speaking, the Dragon Titan also wanted to resume their battle, but felt shame at the fact that he lost control upon his transformation. But with a new chance given to him, he was willing to take it and settle the matter between him and his rival regarding who was the strongest one between them once and for all

“Very well! I accept your thoughts!” Lagron agreed willingly, and the two seemed to share a smile full of meaning.

As they were prepared to resume their battle, Lakshman suddenly broke his stance and asked, “Hold up. You’re going to fight in that form?”

He pointed at Lagron’s dragon form, to which the Dragon Titan replied, “Well… I suppose this huge body would pose a problem in moving around.”

“Yes. It definitely will,” agreed Lakshman by nodding his head. “You better size down.”

“Size down, huh?” Lagron asked and nodded his dragon head in understanding. “That’s for the best.” He breathed a deep sigh and said, “Alright. Here I go.”

He began to surge with incredible power as a red aura surrounded him and he began yet another transformation. In his dragon form, he began to let out a long-winded roar as his huge dragon body slowly transformed and shrunk down. While this was happening, violent winds and multiple shockwaves were sent in all directions as the ground shook from the intensity of his new transformation.

Within minutes, he lost his dragon form and took on a more human appearance while retaining much of his dragon appearance such as his wings, scaly body as well as his tail. However, the dragon scales over his body changed and seemed to take on a more armour like appearance. Soon, he had transformed from a huge dragon to a humanoid dragon with armoured scales all over his body.

Everyone was amazed by the drastic transformation and were impressed by his new appearance. He certainly looked strong and sturdy in his new armoured form compared to the huge dragon that was slow to move around.

Lagron’s face was hidden by an armoured face which had two eye holes that glowed red as he had two horns on either side of his head. He began checking his new body by moving his hands, flexing his muscles and moving around to get accustomed to the new body. Once he was sure of his new body, he turned to face his rival, and Lakshman sensed confidence radiating from him.

“I like this new body better,” he commented, and Lakshman nodded in agreement. “I think I’ll call it Dragon Fighter Form.”

“A reasonable name,” remarked his opponent with a smile.

The Dragon Titan nodded and said, “Alright! Let’s do this!” As the two took fighting stances, he added with what seemed like a smile, “I’ll beat you this time… Lucky!”