“Adebola Gramstone!” Lakshman exclaimed as he stared at the man in shock.

“So nice of you to remember my name as well,” Adebola said and he smiled at him.

Although he was smiling, Lakshman could tell it was a fake. Adebola was playing with him and he did not like it one bit.

At that moment, the Demon Dragon King, Razzel, spoke to Adebola in a flat voice.

“So I see. You really hate this guy. Then there is no point in pretending to be formal.”

Adebola glared at him and said “Don’t forget that you’re still my subordinate!”

“So long as our alliance remains! Otherwise, I don’t need you or anybody!” Razzel said as he glared back at him.

Lakshman looked at them and demanded “What? What alliance? What is this? What the hell is going on here?!”

Razzel smiled evilly at him and said “Why should we tell you anything? You’re just my test subject! I will use your to understand your powers and then harness them for myself to control the Demon Slayer!”

Lakshman’s eyes widened as he suddenly remembered the thing he had forgotten earlier. He struggling in his bind as he asked “Where is it?! Where is the Demon Slayer?!”

“In a safe place, far away from your bound libs can reach! So count yourself lucky to be a test subject.”

“Before you do that, I have some business with him,” Adebola said and he looked fiercely at Lakshman.

Razzel nodded and said “Whatever, but make sure not to break him. He’s useless to me if I can’t experiment on him.”

Adebola laughed and said “Ha! I doubt this filth will break so easily!”

Nodding in understanding, Razzel left through the open door. Once the door closed, Adebola and Lakshman were the only ones left in the room. Lakshman suspected there were guards just outside in case something were to happen to their master.

Adebola grabbed a chair and dragged to where Lakshman sat with his hands and legs bound. Then he set the chair straight and sat down while he faced Lakshman. The two men stared at each other as the silence stretched on as each second passed.

“You know… I am surprised that you got yourself caught so easily! Maybe I misjudged you,” Adebola finally said to him.

Lakshman snorted and said “I’d like to see how you’d do in a frozen time environment! Getting frozen in time, then getting electrocuted until it knocked me out! Seriously… That’s quite the cowardly method of defeating someone if you ask me.”

“I see… So he used a Time Crystal. Well…! I’m not surprised. I hear he was forced to fight both the Phoenix Emperor and the Death Titan! I think he would’ve easily managed with at least one of them, but two on one is hardly fair now, is it?”

“And you call tasking hostage for the sake of experiments is justifiable?!”

Adebola shrugged his shoulders and said “I don’t know, but I don’t care. People are subjects that should be stepped upon when they do not yield to the awesome powers of their king!”

“A king who killed another king to become a king! You’re not a king! You’re a murderer!”

“Yes, yes, yes! Our history is filled with the bloodshed of king killing kings, queens killing queens, brother killing brothers and sisters killing sisters! Our history is full of it if you aren’t aware.”

“I don’t need a history lesson because I’m not talking about the history here! You killed the previous king before you to become king! What’s worse… is that the king you murdered also happens to be your father, dammit! You killed your own father to ascend to the throne!”

Adebola laughed hysterically and said “He’s my father? So what? He’s a king and he got in my way and I got rid of him. Getting rid of obstacles by exerting your full might is the true force of a king!”

“You heartless monster! You are his flesh and blood! Killing him was like killing yourself!” Lakshman said angrily.

Adebola looked surprised and he began checking his body for any deathly wounds. As he did, he said “Really? Cause’ I could’ve sworn that I’m still alive. Killing him didn’t kill me. Why would it? He may be my father, but so what? He’s a bastard that deserved to die by my hands and I gladly did it!”

“You arrogant fool! Your own pride will be your undoing!” Lakshman said in a threating voice.

Adebola’s eyes widened and he suddenly looked livid with anger. The next moment, he brought his hands forward and grabbed Lakshman by the throat. As Lakshman began to choke and splutter, Adebola rose to his feet and lifted Lakshman by his throat. Then, with tremendous force, slammed him against the wall.

Lakshman groaned in pain from the impact against the wall. His back ached greatly as Adebola let go of his throat and stepped back. He was breathing quickly as he angrily glared at his prisoner.

“You got a lot of nerve to speak to me in that way! It’s almost like you’re not afraid of me!” Adebola said as his breathing calmed down, but not the rage in his eyes.

Lakshman looked at him fiercely and said “Fear? You? Why? What’s so fearsome about you that I should fear?”

Without a word, Adebola walked forward and slapped Lakshman left and right six times. The impact caused Lakshman’s head to dangle helplessly. It caused him to recoil from the sudden slapping his cheeks received. Then he lifted his head and angrily glared at Adebola with gritted teeth.

“What, fool?! Feeling angry?! Feeling humiliated?! I felt ten time worse back when you insulted me in front of Venezuela! ARGH!” Adebola screamed at him.

Without a second though, he began punching Lakshman in the stomach and face. He was fast, his blows were hard and the impact was painful. After a whole minute of nonstop punching and kneeing Lakshman, Adebola took a break.

Lakshman coughed out blood and his breathing was haggard. Blood slowly dripped down his mouth as he had difficulty getting his breathing right.

“Why…? Why does it hurt so much? I’m a lot stronger than this bastard, but… why am I so badly injured…?” Lakshman thought painfully.

Then he heard the Decisive Player say “There is something that’s supressing you’re power and strength. Right now, you’re nothing, but an ordinary man. I doubt you will even be able to transform into the Phoenix Titan if you wanted to!”

“What? What sort of thing is making me feel so weak?!” Lakshman demanded, but the Decisive Player did not respond which only meant the he did not know.

Just then, Adebola walked forward and grabbed Lakshman’s head. Lifted it to look directly into his eyes, he shouted “Do you have any idea the kind of humiliation I suffered because of you! You, that wench and that damned king! Even my father got in my way and I took care of him! Now I will pay back the humiliation ten times- no, a hundred times!”

Lakshman weakly looked at him and asked “W-What are you… planning to… do…?”

At that question, Adebola grinned and said “Revenge! My first revenge was against my father and it went successfully. Now I will turn my attention to Floria Kingdom and destroy it utterly! I will show those fools for daring to mock me and my power!”

Lakshman coughed painfully and said “Stop this madness, prince-!”

The next moment, he lost his words in his mouth. In a wild rage, Adebola began banging Lakshman against the wall several more times which caused cracks to begin appearing there. Then he began lamenting all his anger and hatred on him by beating him black and blue.

Unable to respond or protect himself, Lakshman was forced to take all the blows. No one came to stop them and no one tried to protect him. Beating after beating ensued with Adebola using everything he got against Lakshman.

Adebola finally stopped to take a breather. Lakshman’s feet trembled due to losing so much blood and energy. His energy finally failed and he slowly toppled sideways when Adebola suddenly grabbed him by his hair.

Caught by the hair and weakened severely, Lakshman winced as Adebola easily lifted him up. Then he began slapping Lakshman across the face at the end of each sentence.

“I’m not a prince anymore! I’m now the proud king of Mardana Kingdom! There is no one who’ll dare to challenge my authority now! No one would dare to stop me and my followers! We will march on and destroy Floria Kingdom! Then I will force the entire world to bow before my knees!”

Lakshman immediately could not respond. From the previous assault, Lakshman lost a lot of blood. It was dripping out of his hanging mouth as he desperately fought to stay conscious. He did not know what will happen to him if he fell unconscious there and the fear made him stay awake.

As he heard the words spoken by Adebola, he slowly looked at him. His visibility was blurred as he could not clearly see anymore. The tears in his eyes from the pain and suffering he just endured also made it difficult for him to see properly.

Then, he mustered his last remaining energy and said “That’s a fool’s dream. You will never obtain it…!”

With that, he went limp. Lakshman fell unconscious. Adebola got really angry and raised his fist back. He began gathering large amount of energy into his fist while glaring at the unconscious face of Lakshman.

Just as he was about to unleash the power, the door suddenly banged open. The Demon Dragon King entered the room and said “That’s enough, Adebola! Stop this right now!”

“Why?! He dared to insult me before going limp on me! This damned bastard!” Adebola shouted and he punched Lakshman’s unconscious face.

“Even so, I cannot let you hurt him anymore! I need that test subject to be alive!” Razzel told him seriously.

Adebola let go of Lakshman’s hair and he limped fell flat on the ground. Then Adebola turned to face Razzel with an equal amount of seriousness in his eyes.

“This guy’s a waste of life! All blood and muscle with no brains at all! I would thoroughly enjoy taking the life out of him for you!” Adebola said to him.

Razzel shook his head and said “Like I told you, the Demon Slayer responded to him. I want to find out why and possibly harness his energy so I may wield the Demon Slayer!”

Adebola walked right up to Razzel and they were staring at each other. Both of them did not back down nor showed any sign of being afraid of one another.

“Are you talking back to your king?” Adebola asked him fiercely.

Razzel glared at him and said “I might behave formally when everyone is around, but you are not my king and I’m not one of your subjects! Make sure to remember that! I allied myself with you because our goals are similar! You want to destroy Floria Kingdom and I want to destroy both the kingdom and that accursed Death Titan!”

“But-!”

Razzel held his finger to Adebola’s mouth and said “I promised I will assist you in empowering your soldiers with the equipment they need for an invasion. In return, you will assist me by providing with me with the required materials! Are you planning on breaking our alliance over this guy?”

Adebola did not respond immediately, but he glared at him unhappily. He was unhappy, but he had to agree to the terms and conditions of the Demon Dragon King if he wanted to fight against the Phoenix Clan. The clan’s specialised armour protects the users and empowers them.

Adebola painfully was aware that his kingdom does not possess the knowledge or the skills to fight against them. This is why Adebola allied himself with the Demon Dragon King. The armour made by the Dragon Clan are really powerful and also empower their users. If they are to start an invasion, he knew they will need Razzel’s help for it.

With the obvious decision made, Adebola sighed and said “Alright...”

There was no other way, but to listen to Razzel right now. Razzel smiled at him and nodded in approval of his decision. Razzel was aware of how frustrated Adebola was and this only made him feel more confident in his ability to make the man listen to him.

With the talking done, Adebola clapped his hands twice. Several men walked into the room and bowed before him. Then, as they straightened up, Adebola pointed at Lakshman’s unconscious body lying on the ground.

“Take him and throw him with the lot!” he ordered his men.

“We will, sir,” the men said with another bow.

They walked over to where Lakshman lay motionless. After nodding at each other, they lifted Lakshman by the shoulders and dragged him out of the room.

Lakshman was not aware of what was happening anymore. His breathing was shallow, but he will survive. However, the painful experience of not being able to use his powers for the first time made him feel helpless. His mind and heart were still firm, but his body was not in such a good shape.

The men dragged him out of the room and disappeared. Then Adebola turned to Razzel and asked “When will you start experimenting on him?”

“Soon. I’m still preparing some things, but right now I’ll let the test subject rest. I don’t want him complaining about a lack of sleep and rest,” Razzel replied before making an evil smile.

“Alright. In the meantime, I’ll manage the politics and all. There is so much work to be done. I need to bride the nobles and threaten so many others. Ah… I feel tired already…!” Adebola said with a sigh.

Then he walked towards the door, but stopped right before exiting the room. He turned around and looked at Razzel one last time.

“Don’t do anything funny while I’m away…!” Adebola warned him.

Razzel raised an eyebrow and said “You’ve got some nerve saying that to me, the Demon Dragon King!”

“Hmph!”

With that, Adebola walked out of the room and disappeared.