The streets were full of people bustling around to get somewhere. They stopped and talked to people they knew or to find out about something. While they were minding their business, the sun showered them with a ray of light.

On this summer’s day, a group of four were moving through the streets. A man was stuck between three girls as they pulled him along.

“Master! Would you look at that?” Emilia said as she pointed at a display set.

“Yes. That looks interesting,” Lakshman responded with a smile.

Just then, he was pulled away to look at something else by Ondine.

“Master! Wouldn’t this earing suit me?” She asked him while she and Tetra dangled it near their ears.

“Yes. Both of you will look wonderful wearing it!” He said with a nod of his head.

“Boo! Master! Pay more attention to me!” Emilia said as she tugged on his arm.

“No! Master has to look at us first!” Tetra said as Ondine tugged on his other arm.

“Don’t worry, master. When we return, I’ll be gentle with you,” Emilia said with upturned eyes while hugging his arm.

“That’s wrong! Master isn’t as vile as you think he is!” Ondine said as she hugged his other arm.

“Master!”

“Master!”

“Master!”

The three of them were pulling him back and forth by his arm. Then there was a snapping sound as his limbs snapped.

“AHH!” Lakshman yelled as he suddenly opened his eyes.

He was covered in sweat as he lay in bed. For a moment, he was confused about where he was. Then he sighed as he realised it was just a dream. Then he shuddered at how such a thing was possible if it were to happen.

“Mmm... Heavy...” He muttered as he realised.

There was something heavy lying on him and two bodies on either side of him. He lifted the blankets to see Ondine, Tetra and Emilia sleeping there; Ondine and Tetra slept on either side of him while Emilia slept with her head on his chest.

“Master... Don’t be rough...” Emilia suddenly muttered and she caressed his chest.

“HIII!!! Flash Step!” Lakshman exclaimed and he got out of bed in a flash.

“Phew...!” He said in relief and he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

The girls moved around restless without the feel of his body, but they did not wake up. Lakshman sighed and walked over to the door. He quickly opened it and, before he left, he looked back. The girls were still sleeping and he smiled

“Sleep well...” He said quietly before leaving and closing the door behind.

It had been a few days since Emilia Serabell was bought by Lakshman. She was a Human Slave bought from the Slave Market located in Phelaton, the capital of the Floria Kingdom. Since then, she had gotten to know everyone and began to take strong actions towards Lakshman.

It had become a habit of hers to always sleep on top of him while Ondine and Tetra slept at his side. At one point, their argument almost escalated into a fight, but Lakshman knocked them on their heads and told them to stop. Then the idea to sleep like that, given by Rumble, seemed to work out.

Lakshman sighed as he brushed his teeth. Although the plan worked, he still disliked how Emilia behaves. He took her to be soft, simple and nice like him, but she turned to be strong, brave and a little cunning. This reminded him again that women are scary creatures.

“How are you fairing?” Marilia asked when he came out.

Marilia often got up early to start making breakfast. A few minutes later, Ondine would wake up to help. He was diligently learning how to cook human food even though she cannot taste any of it. Ondine was a Water Spirit and, as such, she can only digest water and that causes her to not eat human food.

Lakshman remembered what happened earlier and scowled as he said “I want to whack Rumble across the face!”

Marilia chuckled and said “No need to worry then. I, Darian and Wolfenstine have already taken care of that. I’m sure he’ll be feeling the pains right about now...!”

With that, she walked into the bathroom and closed the door with a strange smile on her face. Lakshman winced when he remembered the violent shakes Marilia gave him by her shaking him forcefully.

He sighed and walked over to the front room where there was a white hole in the wall. That was the doorway to the Rumination World. It was a world Sevedant, the Death Titan, often lived in when he took breaks.

Lakshman walked through the white hole and found himself standing in a magnificent looking building. He walked out and quickly hid his eyes to avoid seeing the full glare of the sun in the horizon.

As his sight got adjusted to the bright line, he looked around. Clouds of white were floating around the place he was at and they were stretching as far as the eye could see. He walked along the footpath and looked over the barrier to see only clouds below as well.

Then he heard the shouts of voices and the sound of a battle. He ran towards the noise and saw two warriors fighting each other at incredible speeds and strength.

Darian and Rumble fought each other fiercely. Darian wielded two swords while Rumble fought with what looked like a spherical head mounted on a shaft with a spike on the top.

Both warriors were fighting each other with speed, strength and power Lakshman had never seen before. Yet, at the same time, Lakshman realised they were not fighting at full power. It seemed this was nothing, but a sparring match between them.

They fought fiercely at raging speed that Lakshman found himself unable to keep up at. Then the battle suddenly came to an end when Rumble smashed the swords out of Darian’s hands. They flew through the air and landed with their pointed ends on pierced into the ground.

“My loss again...!” Darian said as he breathed quickly.

Rumble laughed and said “Always! You’ll never win against me!”

“Keep dreaming, monkey brain! I’ll beat you some day!” Darian said and they flashed grins at each other.

Then, sensing someone nearby, they looked around and smiled when they saw Lakshman. As he walked towards them, Darian went over to pick up his weapons while Rumble swung his weapon and held it on his shoulders.

“That’s was an amazing fight!” Lakshman said enthusiastically.

Rumble waved his hand and said “Not really. We weren’t fighting at full power. Otherwise, this whole place wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Ah...! I thought so! I mean... The Sword King and Monkey King fighting at this level just seemed unreal to me...!”

Rumble laughed and said “Don’t push your luck, Lakshman. Warriors, like us, will think of that as a challenge and will fight you head on!”

“Yikes! I don’t want to fight with people strength I just am not ready to fight yet!” Lakshman said and they laughed together.

Then Lakshman looked at the weapon Rumble was carrying over his shoulder. It was a magnificent weapons with jewels embedded into it in a design pattern. Rumble noticed Lakshman looked at his weapon and he smiled as he realised he was wondering what it was.

“This is a Gada and, among the warriors of my clan, it symbolises great strength! After all, it was seen in legends as wielded by our Mythological God that we worship.”

“Your god? Who’s that?” Lakshman asked curiously.

“The God of Strength, Hanuman.”

“Eh?! Hanuman?! B-But Rumble... That’s your name, isn’t it?!” Lakshman exclaimed and he stared at him with wide eyes.

Rumble laughed and said “The fact is, my true name is Hanumaya, but I didn’t like how it sounded. So I shortened it to Hanuman instead.”

“Wow...!” Lakshman said in awe as he stared at him.

Just then, Darian came to them and said “Alright! Lakshman! It’s time to start your training!”

“Right!” Lakshman said energetically to him.

Lakshman began his training by exercising his body. He did this by doing ten laps around the place. Then he swung his sword up and down over a hundred times. He marvelled at how strong he had become to be able to swing so many times without feeling tired.

Then he fought against Darian. The main point of his training was to improve his movement speed. Lakshman he trained hard to reach his current strength, but he still lacked in speed. He barely managed to dodge or block Darian’s attacks.

After an hour of this, it was Rumble’s turn to train him. He did it by forcing him to flex stretching his body. This allowed for easy movement of the joints so they do not get cramped.

Later, he was joined by Ondine and Emilia. Darian got the girls to train away from Lakshman because of the difference in their training methods.

At first, Emilia was astonished to find how draining the training was. Within one hour, she could barely stand with how much energy she burnt. Then the fight of Ondine continuing the training as if it was nothing caused her to put more effort into it. So the girls became rivals when it came down to training.

Darian clearly stated how Emilia had potential to obtain greater strength due to having the blood of a human and Serprad Demon Clan in her. This boosted her confidence even more as she continued to train her hardest.

“Ah. Everyone is training,” said a familiar voice from nearby.

They paused their training and looked to where the voice came from. There, standing in the bright sunlight of that world, was none other than Sevedant. It looked like he had returned after

Seeing him, Emilia suddenly took a few steps away in fright. Initially, she was amazed about the existence of this world. Then she was equally shocked upon discovering the owner of this world was none other than the fifth strongest member of the Nine Pillars of Power, the Death Titan.

A day ago, she was cheerfully assisting Marilia with the cleaning. At that time, Sevedant had briefly appeared to speak with them about something. She was taken aback at seeing a stranger wearing a black cloak. Then Marilia informed her that his name was Sevedant and he was the Death Titan.

At first, Emilia was perplexed because she thought the Death Titan did not mix with normal people. When she asked him to prove himself, Sevedant automatically activated Death by Destruction. The shocking power and pressure he emitted was so intense, it easily knocked her out.

Thinking about the past events, Emilia made sure to stay away from him. She thought of him to be an extremely dangerous person since he was from the Nine Pillars of Power. Then she was stunned when Lakshman and everyone else spoke to him so easily. It was as if he was one of their friends.

Seeing her expression and correctly deducing what she was thinking, Ondine said “Don’t overthink, Emilia. Sevedant does indeed appear like an emotionless person from the way he talks, but he is a good person. He is actually pretty cool once you get to know him a lot more.”

“R-Right...” Emilia said nervously before they returned to their training.

Sevedant was informed that Emilia was the new slave Lakshman bought recently. After being told the reasons, he walked over and apologised to her much to her shock. She quickly told him it was fine and returned to her training while looking a bit happier.

As they spent their morning training, Sevedant sat down and watched. Lakshman was now fighting Darian and Rumble simultaneously. They were trying to push him to improve his speed in battle, but it does not seem to be working.

This training was to prepare Lakshman for the Battle of Prematria. It was a tournament that will decide who will obtain the ownership of the Legendary Sword of Justice. Although he knew about this and even trying his best, Lakshman still could not improve his speed.

Getting tired of watching Lakshman struggling, Sevedant sighed and stood up. He had decided what needs to be done and will act on it.

After going to them and telling them his plan to fight Lakshman. Everyone was stunned to hear it, but Darian and Rumble readily agreed to the idea. It looked like they actually wanted to ask him to take over.

Thus, it was decided that Lakshman was going to battle Sevedant, the Death Titan of the Nine Pillars of Power.