“Huh?!” Lagron exclaimed, looking quite shocked at the unexpected hand gesture his rival made to him. Then he smiled and said, “Did you suddenly become so confident of your chances just by powering up just now? Don’t be foolish!”

“Aren’t you the one who’s being foolish to think like that about me?” Lakshman asked back with a smug smile that startled Lagron.

“W-What?” The Dragon Titan asked, blinking in confusion.

Something about the way he spoke, whether it was his mannerism or style of speaking, but it reminded him strongly of Asura. This was not Asura as he found out not too long ago when his rival and the current Phoenix Titan entered his mind to bring him to his senses. In that instant, it almost felt as if the person that he knew from the past had taken over or was in control of some parts of the current Phoenix Titan.

“Since you’re so confident, let’s see it in action!” He shouted, then surged with power and rocketed towards his opponent.

He soared through the air at high speed and upon reaching him, lashed his fist out to hit his face, but Lakshman raised his hand and caught the attack. Lagron was a bit taken aback when his attack was caught and held firmly in place by his rival. However, he quickly recovered and lashed out his other fist in order to attack, but it too was caught by the Phoenix Titan.

Both of the Dragon Titan’s attacks were caught by the Phoenix Titan, and the two stood there staring at each other with different expressions on their faces. Lagron wore a look of frustration as his attacks were blocked and held in place while Lakshman smiled coolly at him as he seemed to be at ease in holding his rival’s attacks back.

Lagron gritted his teeth and began to surge with more power as he tried to push forward as he attempted to use brute force to injure his opponent. This caused Lakshman’s feet to get dragged by the pushing force of his rival. Seeing this, Lakshman let out a light chuckle before he began to surge with immense power and held his rival in place once more.

The two of them stared off at close range as sparks began emitting from the struggle between their forces as Lakshman continued to hold his rival in place. This lasted for a few seconds before Lagron suddenly pulled his head back and swung it forward to slam it heavily on an unsuspecting Phoenix Titan.

“Ugh!” Lakshman moaned and let go of his rival as he immediately placed a hand on his head where he was suddenly hit.

This moment of surprise attack released Lagron from his rival’s clutches before he gathered a great amount of power in his hand and unleashed a powerful punch straight to his rival’s face once more. Lakshman was just a second quicker in recovering, and when he saw his rival attacking him, he raised his arm to block.

There was a heavy impact before Lakshman which caused wild blowing winds and shockwaves to be sent everywhere before he was sent sliding away, his feet got dragged on the arena floor. He slid for a few meters before coming to a stop, where he began swinging his arm, that took the attack, up and down while he wore a pained look on his face.

“Ouch!” He shouted as his arm seemed to hurt from blocking the earlier close-range attack.

His opponent snickered at his reaction before he resumed to surge with power and kicked off the ground to fly at him. As he did, he began to unleash a barrage of energy blasts, which made Lakshman react by dodging every single one of them while wearing a pained look on his face because of his injured arm.

After dodging the attacks, Lakshman aimed both of his arms straight towards his rival and fired a massive wave of destruction that caused the energy balls to explode on contact. The wave soared towards its target, and Lagron continued flying towards it before he moved his arm forward and joined his palms before pushing them from the tips onward against the wave. As he did this, he channelled his Energy Force into his fingertips that caused the wave to get separated from where the tips were at before he came out flying unharmed and within arm’s reach of his rival.

“Got you!” He shouted triumphantly.

As Lakshman stared at him in alarm, Lagron instantly redirected the channelled energy from the tips of his fingers into his palms before firing a massive red wave of destruction at point blank range. The wave surged forward and seemingly engulfed its target before he could retaliate. Lagron continued to funnel energy into it, and even increased it as he wanted to settle this battle right there, but his plans failed when Lakshman suddenly began to scream as he surged with an immense amount of power that destroyed and scattered his attack away to all sides.

While sporting bruises and cuts, and bleeding from the point-blank attack, Lakshman kicked off the ground and delivered a powerful punch straight to the face of his rival and then landed multiple consecutive blows before sending him flying into the sky with a powerful uppercut straight to Lagron’s jaw.

The Dragon Titan soared into the air, and the Phoenix Titan soared after him with a determined smile on his face. As he was about to reach him, Lagron suddenly spun around in mid-air and delivered a powerful kick straight down on Lakshman’s head, but missed his target when Lakshman evaded it by soaring to the side and was hit on the shoulder instead.

Grunting in pain from the powerful blow, Lakshman spun around in the air and began a rapid fire of energy blasts against Lagron’s body at close range. The Dragon Titan’s body was riddled with explosions as the energy balls struck him all around his body.

After being riddled with energy blasts for several seconds, Lagron gritted his teeth and suddenly roared while spreading his arms out. This resulted in a surge of power from him that caused a shockwave and wild winds to blow directly towards his opponent, who got buffeted by it and was forced to stop attacking to block the slicing wind from harming him as it already cut him a number of times around his body.

Lagron quickly surged with power and soared down to attempt another powerful punch straight to his rival’s face. However, he was met with an equal force of resistance from his rival as Lakshman recovered and unleashed his own fist directly at his rival’s.

Their attacks met in mid-air and caused a violent struggle between their forces before they exploded, causing the two of them to get sent flying away. They quickly recovered in mid-air and flew back before engaging in a fierce close combat brawl by unleashing fists and kicks at each other while moving at an unimaginable speed. The result was that almost none of their spectators could keep up with their movement anymore except for seeing where the clashes were occurring.

“Uh…! I can’t see them…!” Priya said, looking desperately to follow each blow that echoed around the arena.

“I can barely keep up!” Dominic said, gritting his teeth as his eyes darted left, right, and center at a fast pace.

“Me, too!” Nara added, his eyes following in the similar movement of his friend.

They could see the flashes of attacks and shockwaves that resulted in them hitting one another, but it was all a blur because the warriors were flying all over the arena and not remaining stationary. Even when they were flying in a single spot, their flurry of movements felt like swinging a flash as their speed was just that too fast to keep track of.

“I’m not finding it a trouble,” said Valerian casually much to the surprise of the others there. “See there?”

He pointed at a single direction, which was where Lakshman and Lagron suddenly stopped swinging their fists and moved away before firing energy blasts at one another rapidly. They were startled that he was able to keep track of them and point their exact location with what seemed like little effort.

“Do their movements look like a blur or can you actually see every punch and kick they throw at one another?” Wolfenstine asked curiously.

He was expecting a response like, “I can just about see it,” or, “not everything, just some,” but he was shocked when the Storm Titan said, “I can see everything.”

It was such a simple answer, and yet the most powerful answer that he could have given there. Valerian looked back at the fighting warriors as they closed in on one another and watched as Lagron lashed out a punch that Lakshman dodged to throw his own attack back at his rival, who evaded it only to retaliate with a kick that landed firmly against Lakshman’s chest, but the Phoenix Titan attacked in return by spinning his body around and kicking his rival in the face.

Valerian did not miss a single attack and was able to see all of it, though he did not think that highly of his observation skills. However, everyone else there began to view him in a different light as this was such a difficult skill to improve to such an extend that he possessed.

Meanwhile, the two warriors in the arena continued to fight it out, and their speed began to go higher and higher as the intensity of battle escalated. Each punch and kick they unleashed and made impact caused numerous shockwaves and slicing winds to be sent in all directions. This was slowly destroying the arena walls from the waves that shook the ground and the wind that threw the debris all over the place.

“Damn!” Lagron shouted as he was propelled backwards by another punch from his rival. He forcibly stopped his body from flying before demanding, “How did you get this strong?! Where did you get this strength from?!”

Lakshman smiled at him and replied, “Where else but myself.” As his rival looked confused, Lakshman chuckled and added, “It was Asura.”

“Asura?!” Lagron exclaimed in alarm.

The Phoenix Titan nodded and said, “That’s right. We are now one and the same… like we were meant to be.”

Lagron stared at him in disbelief for only a moment before a smile formed on his face, and he started to laugh. His sudden laughter startled the spectators, who did not know what was going on in the arena. However, Lakshman’s words suddenly made his wives realise what had happened for him to get so strong so suddenly and they looked a little troubled. It made them realise the person that looked towards them and mouthed the words “Thank you” was none other than Asura in his form of bidding them farewell before merging with his current-self for good.

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“Ah…!” The Dragon Titan said, finally calming down and looking impressed. “It seems that my new level of power pushed the two of you into doing that, so I am happy with myself. This shows that I’ve really pushed you back!”

“Yes. Well done,” replied Lakshman, and he clapped his hands a few times, which made his rival chuckle before looking seriously at him.

“Don’t think the fight will go your way just because you two merged! I still have one final trump card to use!”

At his confident boast, Lakshman blinked in surprise and saw as the Dragon Titan extended his hand to either side and clenched his fists tightly before screaming a technique name out loud.

“Dragon Force!”

In an instant, an immeasurable amount of power began to emanate from him, the nerves on his body began to make small popups here and there as he seemed to be pushing himself to perhaps beyond his limit. The wind suddenly blew around at a remarkable speed, causing Lakshman to get buffeted by being so close to his rival. A moment later, a violent flash of light occurred that caused everyone to cover their eyes. A few seconds later, the light dimmed and vanished, allowing them to return to seeing what was happening.

The Dragon Titan was surging with power while radiating a red aura that surrounded him. He seemed to be panting as if he was out of breath from running a long distance so quickly that his heart did not have time to catch up with him. Lakshman looked on in awe as he sensed the substantial increase in his rival’s power by such a simple technique.

“A new technique, I guess?” He asked him out of curiosity.

Lagron smiled and in his reply, he suddenly vanished from the spot. As Lakshman blinked in surprise, he was suddenly kicked in the face and plummeted to the ground when his rival reappeared just hovering above where he was a moment ago. Then he vanished and reappeared just below his opponent before landing another kick that sent him flying in another direction before vanishing once more to reappear there to send flying with another powerful punch before repeating the cycle.

“W-What is this?!”

That was the reaction the spectators had as the Dragon Titan seemed to have unlocked an unbelievable amount of power and speed with that single move from a few seconds ago. This made him so fast that it appeared that their friend, Lakshman, was unable to react to him in time to even put up his defenses.

“What the hell is up with that speed?!” Nara exclaimed in shock.

“Val, can you track his movements?” Wolfenstine asked the Storm Titan.

“Uh,” began Valerian hesitantly as he seemed to be struggling to keep up with the Dragon Titan’s movements before turning to the mad scientist and replying apologetically, “Sorry, but I’m having difficulty tracking the Dragon Titan.”

His words made everyone’s eyes to widen in shock and disbelief before turning to look down at the arena, where Lakshman was being blasted to almost every spot in the arena by Lagron, who was moving at a speed that seemed to break all boundaries.

After flying around for a number of times, as his rival suddenly appeared to punch him away, Lakshman reactivated Elemental Coated Armor as he learnt to keep it in standby mode since his previous fights with his rival. The energy-based armor formed around him and as Lagron’s punch hit it, the energy seemed to take in his attack and stop it in its place while holding him from going anywhere as well.

The Dragon Titan pulled hard, but he could not break free from his rival’s technique when he heard Lakshman say, “That was a good technique to drastically increase speed and all. You did do a good deal of damage to me, but now… it’s my turn!”

With that, the Phoenix Titan surged with power and waved his hand downward. This resulted in his energy-based form gripping Lagron to form like an energy bubble around his opponent before swinging him down and slamming him down hard against the ground. Then he raised the energy arm up and slammed it down hard against the arena floor where Lagron had crashed at. Like this, he repeated the process of raising the energy hand and slamming it down with heavy impact.

As he continued to do this a few times, Lagron suddenly burst out of the arena floor a few meters away and rose to his feet. The two warriors were heavily wounded and bleeding from different places on their bodies, and were running low on energy. They heaved a sigh at each other as the Dragon Titan suddenly shouted at him.

“Let’s stop prolonging this battle and end this already! It’s getting boring!” Lagron proclaimed.

Lakshman was surprised, but he understood and nodded in agreement with a smile on his face as he replied, “You’re on!”

The two rivals smiled at each other and began to power up to their very limit and gathered all the energy they could muster into the palms of their hands. Then they pulled the arms back and began to chant the technique name aloud as they prepared to fire them at one another.

“Pho—”

“Dragon—”

“—nik—"

“—Buster—”

“—ala—”

“—Drive—”

“—chala—”

“—Cannon!!!!”

Lagron was the first to finish his chant first and with his yell, he brought his palms forward and fired a massive red destruction wave at his opponent.

“—RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

Lakshman finished his chant by screaming the last part of his technique as he brought his palms forward and unleashed a massive golden wave of destruction. The change in the color of his attack seemed to resonate with the power he possessed after becoming complete with the merge with Asura, the first Phoenix Titan.

The two massive waves of destruction soared towards one another before colliding in the middle of the arena, which caused powerful shockwaves to be sent in all directions as well as creating wild winds that began to destroy the arena in its entirety.

“T-The arena is about to collapse!” Indira exclaimed as she was afraid of all the shaking.

“Don’t worry. We’re not alone,” reassured her sister, Priya and indicated everyone next to them, who were all focused on the heated beam battle between the two ancient rivals.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?!” Lagron exclaimed in a disbelieving voice as he continued to channel energy into his wave. “We’re evenly matched?!”

His words were heard by his rival over the wild billowing wind, who then shouted back, “Not… quite!”

With that shout, Lakshman began to surge with more and more power before channeling it all into his attack. In an instant, his wave of destruction began to push forward and push back his opponent’s attack. Lagron gritted his teeth in frustration from the struggle he was facing as his opponent began to push against him.

“I’m not through yet!” Lagron shouted, and he, too, surged with more power before channeling it into his attack, making the two attacks to return to center point like before.

Both warriors were releasing an unbelievable amount of power into their attacks to push forward and were unyielding to allow the other to come out on top over the other. As such, the two waves continued to clash violently as sparks of electricity began to exude from this heated beam struggle. Soon, bolts of lightning began bursting from the clashing forces of the two waves and were sent in all directions. One of these almost hit the spectators, however it was blocked by a barrier that the Magic Titan, Amaranda placed around them with a wave of her staff.

As the battle of the waves of destruction raged on, their clashing forces suddenly erupted violently at the center point and this resulted in the release of a dome like destructive energy that was being spread everywhere. Everyone, including the fighting warriors, were alarmed to see it and realized what was about to happen.

“It’s about to explode!” Priya shouted as she guessed what was about to happen.

In an instant, Amaranda waved her staff and chanted, “Field of Dispersal. Sphere of Blockade.” Then she told them telepathically, “We’re safe now if that makes you happy.”

As the twins looked and smiled at her nervously, they looked back as the battle continued to rage on as the dome of energy continued to expand in shape and size. Soon, it covered both the waves and almost enveloped the two warriors. Lakshman clicked his tongue while looking frustrated while Lagron shouted, “Damn it all,” before the two got enveloped by the dome energy, which continued to grow bigger and bigger until it nearly covered the entire arena before exploding with an immeasurable amount of force.

This caused everything to appear as if there was nothing there, making it difficult to understand what was going on. A moment later, the whiteness dimmed and disappeared to reveal barely anything of the arena remaining. At the place where the spectator area was at, there was a large spherical barrier floating in this white space that contained the spectators that were being protected by Amaranda’s magic from the unbelievable dome of destruction.

“What just happened?” Dominic asked in confusion.

“I… think the arena was mostly destroyed by that attack,” suggested Marilia, glancing around.

“I think that’s what happened most likely,” said Wolfenstine in agreement. Then he pointed and said, “Look at the arena. Barely anything remained.”

Other than a portion of the arena floor and a few stumps of some pillars, nothing else remained from the explosion, not even the spectators’ area. However, their immediate concern shifted from the arena and onto the two warriors that were battling it out in an unyielding beam battle.

“Where are Lucky and Lagron? I don’t see them!” Indira raised her concern while looking anxious.

“They’re alive,” replied Sonia with a smile of relief.

“They are?” Indira asked, looking happy while Priya breathed a sigh in relief.

“Yes. You might not see them, but feel them out,” Sonia said to Priya, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Uh… Okay.”

Following her advice, Indira and Priya began to use their senses to feel out the location of their brother. It did not take long for them to locate him, who appeared to be close by. They opened their eyes and looked on in awe as the white drifting smoke cleared to reveal both Lakshman and Lagron hovering in the white-space while completely wounded from top to bottom.

“I… can’t believe you’re… still standing…!” Lagron said through great panting.

“I can say… the same thing… about you,” panted Lakshman with a wry smile before he corrected, “although hovering, I guess.”

At those words, Lagron looked down and was amazed by the lack of an arena there, to which he remarked, “I guess we no longer have an arena to fight in,” and he breathed a deep sigh and suddenly surged with power as he said, “but I’m far from done!”

Lakshman chuckled when he saw his rival surging with power and asked, “You still have energy remaining?”

“Enough to take you out and claim my well-deserved victory!” Lagron declared confidently.

The Phoenix Titan looked surprised for a brief moment and then chuckled as he found it funny. A moment later, he began to surge with the last remnants of his own power, much to the surprise of his rival.

“Huh?!” Lagron exclaimed, not believing his eyes. “You still got more left in you?!”

“Just barely enough,” said Lakshman with a smile, “but it’s enough to defeat you.”

“Hmph! You’re dreaming!”

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?”

“Yes, we will.”

At those words, the two warriors focused their minds and concentrated all of their energies into their hands. Everything went quiet, including even the spectators as they looked on in awe as the two mighty warriors brought out the last remaining energies they possessed. Even the spectators waited with bated breaths to see what happened next.

For a few seconds, everything was silent as the two warriors stared at each other in total silence. Then, as if in response to their need of a starting signal, a lightning bolt suddenly exploded out of the sky and impacted nearby. This sparked the two warriors to rocket towards each other at an incredible speed with all their remaining energy concentrated in their fists.

It took them only a few seconds to fly from their stationary points and reach each other in the middle. As they did, the two pulled their fists back and unleashed them at one another. The fists flew through the air and just as they were about to collide against each other, both warriors reacted by making them divert and miss the other person’s fist. A second later, the two of them landed a heavy blow on the side of each other’s faces with such a heavy impact that a powerful shock wave was released as well as creating a wild wind that was sent in all directions.

A moment later, both of them were knocked back from each other, and drifted away, each one with the whites of their eyes showing. The spectators were shocked to see this, however they soon chuckled as this should have been the predictable result from the heated battle that had raged on between the two ancient rivals.

Thus, the epic battle of the ages between two rivals ended after a long time in a draw as they knocked each other out.