It had been ten days since the Demon Lord, Delon had been defeated and killed in battle at the hands of the Sacred Spirit known as the Demon Slayer, Silvera. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Phoenix Titan’s wives, the Demon Lord War had come to a quick conclusion without any loss of life from their side.

It relieved Lakshman greatly to discover none of his allies had suffered casualties and ever since then, they had a smooth journey towards the Teleportation Zone. They were not attacked, ambushed by demons or there being any sign of trouble at all.

“Still, it makes me wonder why it’s so peaceful these past ten days…” Erza said quietly on per particular day.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly…” Venezuela said in agreement to Erza’s words.

Lakshman and his seven wives were currently sitting in the room they had taken up inside a deserted building. That day, training was postponed because Lakshman decided it was time to give everyone some rest. He was met with disapproval from many of the Manjuvad Demon Clan warriors, Magic Titan Amaranda Lefrity along with Venezuela, Erza and Cantia.

They finally agreed when Ondine, Emilia and Sumara supported the idea, stating clearly important rest is.

“If you constantly train, you’re going to drain yourself before you face the next enemy!” Emilia had said with an irritated expression on her face. “Do you want to be in a weakened state when you face the enemy?”

“Resting is vital to allow our body to recover from constant training. You’ve already been training continuously for the last ten days, so I believe you all deserve a break,” said Sumara to all of her people. “Otherwise, all this training will be wasted when you suddenly become fatigued from training so hard.”

“We’re not saying training hard is bad, but you also need the same amount of rest! None of you are dolls and most certainly are not soldiers; you are all living beings with flesh and blood like the rest of us,” said Ondine in a reasonable voice and surprised them all. “More than worrying about training so much, take some rest and spend time with your families.”

Lakshman nodded in agreement to her words and said, “It’s more important and fulfilling than training hard every single day! Go on… Enjoy the break because you all deserve it.”

With nothing to say to that, all opposing people agreed before dispersing and during their dispersal, Lakshman slipped away to rest peacefully in his room. Sadly, he could not get any alone time as his seven wives followed after him to apparently keep him company. Tetra and Silvera immediately got onto the bed and leaned against him before quickly falling asleep, as did Ondine and Emilia on his lap.

“Um… I doubt I can sleep like this…” he thought before chuckling while Venezuela, Erza and Cantia talked about the events till now.

“What are you laughing about, Lucky?” Cantia asked him curiously with her eyebrows raised.

“Oh…! It’s nothing!” he said quickly as he flashed a smile in her direction. “Anyway, what were you talking about just now? I’m sorry, but I was just thinking how cute my wives were when they slept.”

He intentionally said that to distract them from asking him further into why he was not paying attention. Although, it was true that whenever he was the first to wake up, he would look at his sleeping wives and think how cute their appearances were as they slept blissfully.

His response earned him raised eyebrows from Venezuela, an expression covering Erza’s face and a startled look on Cantia’s face, causing Cantia to instantly transform into her humanoid cat form.

“That’s so embarrassing…” Erza said and she quickly covered her face with both of her hands.

“Nyaa~!” Cantia purred with a rather strange, but happy expression on her face.

“You pervert…” Venezuela said to him with a stern look, causing him to shrug his shoulders.

“Such a word has no concept between husband and his beloved wives,” said Lakshman with a wink at his irritated wife. “It’s understandable to be creeped out if a stranger is looking at your sleeping form, but what’s so wrong about your own husband doing it?”

Venezuela shook her head and firmly said, “No! I don’t want to be seen by anyone while defenceless in my sleep.”

“Oh…! I see…!” Lakshman said in a very surprised voice and he slowly nodded his head in understanding. “I get it now… So, if I see you,” it’s wrong, but if you see me, its’ correct?”

“Mmm? What do you mean?” Venezuela asked him curiously as Erza and Cantia watched them silently.

Lakshman formed a cheeky grin on his face as he said, “Well, Vena… Sometimes, in my sleep, I can sense you staring at me very intently without making any sound.”

He winked at her once more as Venezuela became shocked with her eyes widening in reaction to his words. Realising her mistake in an instant, she quickly turned her face away from her husband to hide the embarrassed expression forming on her reddening face.

“You… You must’ve mistaken there! I don’t do things like staring at my husband’s sleeping form!” she said hesitantly while resolutely looking away from him.

Lakshman chuckled and said, “Not a chance of that happening. My Elemental Sense is always active and it never lies to me about what’s going on around me.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at the realisation as she thought, “Of course…! That technique…! That stupid technique… I keep forgetting that he constantly has it active in case he needed to act on emergency…!”

Realising there was no way out of her predicament and knowing that Lakshman would immediately detect her lying to him if she did. She took the one alternative left to her and quickly swung around to look intently at Erza, who blinked at her in surprise.

“A-A-Anyway…! Erza, you were saying something earlier. What was it?” Venezuela asked her quickly while twitching her eyebrows.

Erza blinked at her in surprise for a moment before realising what Venezuela wanted her to do. Understanding a little late and distracted from it all, she spoke nervously to them all.

“O-Oh…! Yes… Yes…! I had something… I mean, I thought of something…”

“Nyaa…” Cantia purred as she eyed Venezuela with a comical look on her face.

Lakshman smiled at Venezuela as he thought, “Ah… Changing topics, are we…? Even Cantia realised that… Wow…!” He inwardly laughed before thinking, “Oh well. I better leave it at this because teasing her any more than this won’t earn me love points from her.”

“Yes, Erza. What was that you’re saying earlier?” Lakshman asked curiously with a gentle smile on his face.

Erza took a deep breath and calmed herself down before beginning to speak to them.

“Yes. I was saying how it’s strange that things were this peaceful in the last ten days. In another two days, we’d be arriving at the Teleportation Zone, so I believed we’d be attacked by then or something.”

Lakshman nodded in understanding and he asked her, “Is it because of the death of Delon?”

Erza nodded in agreement and said, “That’s right. He’s a Demon Lord and the ruler of the Demon Continent, so I was expecting his subjects to race here as quickly as they could to take our lives.”

Venezuela nodded at her and said, “I was thinking the same thing. This peace… I don’t like it…”

“Nyaa! If they want to fight, I’ll smash them up-nyaa!” Cantia said with a crazy expression on her face. “Earth or fire, they’ll be all, but alive once I’m through them-nyaa!”

Lakshman raised an eyebrow when he saw her cat eyes glint dangerously, causing him to not like her current attitude. So, he activated Elemental Coated Armour and used his right arm to whack her on top of her head, causing her to wince in pain. He did this because he couldn’t reach her since he did not want to disturb the sleep of his four beautiful wives.

“Nyaa!” Cantia exclaimed in a surprised voice while clutching her head.

“Cantia, don’t ever make such a face in front of me!” Lakshman told her in an annoyed voice. “You’re not cute at all when you give off suck a killing intent!”

“Nyaa… I’m sorry-nyaa…” Cantia apologised with a whimpering look on her face.

“No crying either! It ruins your beauty!” Lakshman said firmly.

“Nyaa!” Cantia exclaimed in a surprised voice as she blushed happily with her ears and tail standing up.

He nodded once at her before turning his attention back to Erza, who was watching his interaction with Cantia in amusement.

“Erza, you have a good point there and I may know the reason for that,” said Lakshman and all three of his wives that were awake blinked at him in surprise. “I sensed Delon’s desperation as I fought him, which was quite something really. It’s almost like a life and death situation for him with the way his mind was so stressed about victory and proving his worth to the Calamity Titan.”

All three of his wives widened their eyes in surprise before looking at each other. As the realisation dawned on them on what that meant, Venezuela turned to speak to him.

“Wait… You don’t mean…?”

Lakshman nodded at her and said, “Yes. He’s been discredited and most likely, put on death penalty if he didn’t return with victory in hand. So, he would’ve been killed either by my hands or at the hands of the Calamity Titan… Well… Most likely killed off by one of his trusted fifteen Demon Kings.”

“That bastard…” Venezuela said and she gripped her hands tightly on her lap with an angry look on her face. “He thinks we’re not worth the time for any of his trusted Demon Kings?! Does he think we’re easy pickings?”

“No, Vena. I don’t agree with your chain of thoughts there,” said Lakshman and surprised her in the process as she looked up at him. “It’s got nothing to do with whether he looks down on us or anything; he’s simply just unwilling to send out his most trusted and powerful warriors after us when he can do it later. Remember that my threat still stands and he doesn’t want his strongest to fall victim to my wrath once the last seal breaks.”

“Ah… You’re warning from that time…” Erza said in a slow voice as a frown appeared on her face. “Seriously… That was quite reckless—!”

“Foolish, you mean,” interjected Venezuela as she looked sternly at him.

“No! Reckless!” Erza said quickly as she threw an annoyed look at her. “That was quite reckless of you to threaten the Calamity Titan in a whim.”

Lakshman simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “What is done is done and besides…” He paused for a moment and looked at his wives with emotions clouding his eyes, surprising them in the process. “If I really do go out of control, please… please, stay safe and well away from me. I don’t want to learn that I had done something—.”

“Oh, stop being so negative-nyaa!” Cantia said as she cut across him in mid-sentence. “We’re not leaving you to run rampaging around like a wild out-of-control beast if what you said comes true-nyaa!”

“As your wives, it’s our duty to steer our husband onto the correct path,” said Erza with a gentle smile on her face. “You cannot take that position away from us and even if you asked, we wouldn’t leave you.”

“Which all boils down to us… all of us... being destined to be together…” Venezuela said and she sighed heavily. “For once, I can see how fate has brought us together with the explanation the God of Energy left us with.”

“Engraut is just a stalker that doesn’t care about privacy and stuff,” said Lakshman as he suddenly looked annoyed. “I do appreciate him coming down to give us the information that he could about the Destiny Queens, but… Seriously… I wish that god learns some humility, but I guess I’m wasting my words…”

“That you are,” said Venezuela in agreement. “He’s a God of Energy and always being full of energy, he won’t listen to advice unless it interests him.”

“Nyaa…” Cantia began hesitantly with a nervous look on her face. “Should we really be talking about him like that-nyaa? He is a ‘god’ after all and requires some respect-nyaa.”

“I won’t respect a god that doesn’t show any interest in following the rules of our society,” said Venezuela curtly, causing Lakshman, Emilia and Cantia to laugh heartily.

***

After two days of calm travel, they finally reached the Teleportation Zone, which was surprisingly unguarded. It appeared that all traces of enemies have been removed from the vicinity, making their trip a lot smoother than the Magic Titan initially suspected.

“I had thought he might send more of his men after us, but I guess he decided not to after losing the Demon Lord,” said Amaranda telepathically to Lakshman as the Eternal Turtle neared the Teleportation Zone.

“Perhaps… Or perhaps, they just didn’t think we were worth the effort of sending more of their men,” said Lakshman with a smile on his face. “We did defeat the 300 that previously came at us twelve-days-ago and that’s quite an impression it would put on any leader’s mind.”

“Coward,” said Amaranda telepathically in an annoyed voice. “Always calling himself the Emperor of the World. But doesn’t do anything to take out thorns out of his sight.”

“Don’t complain. It’s better for our journey to be safer than be sorry to fight and lose precious lives,” said Lakshman in a reasonable voice.

“Mmm… I understand,” said the Magic Titan telepathically and she nodded at him with her eyes closed.

Lakshman looked at her closed eyes since she is blind and cannot speak, which made him feel sorry for her. Unlike the rest of them, she is incapable of speaking or seeing without the assistance of magic spells. Her predicament was because of the curse that was passed onto her

“Have you ever thought of getting the curse removed?” he asked her curiously.

“Yes and there is a way…” said Amaranda telepathically in a quiet voice. “Mixing the boiling blood of the dragon into the ripe form of the young frees the one from the eternal bind.”

Lakshman raised his eyebrows and said, “If I said I understood that, I’d be lying.”

This made Amaranda chuckle before she telepathically explained, “I don’t know either, but it was said that I will understand the true meaning behind those words when the time comes.”

“These riddles and the confusion they create…” Lakshman muttered with an annoyed look on his face. “I think you’re better of being as you are right now than to ponder endlessly about a riddle that doesn’t make any sense!”

Amaranda did not say anything, but she nodded in agreement as the Eternal Turtle walked onto the Teleportation Zone.

For a few minutes, people were moving around on its back as the they arranged their belongings and got together with their families as they were about to make the teleportation jump from the continent. They were prepared to disembark from the Eternal Turtle’s back once the teleportation jump was complete.

The Manjuvad Demon Clan’s original home was the Demon Continent, but they were driven out of there due to how dangerous it had become to stay there safely. Now, once again, they are moving from the place they thought was their new home to elsewhere just to stay safe. It angered and upset them greatly, but Sumara and Lakshman did their best to reassure them that they are strong.

“The strong fight each other and die out, but the weak know how to hide well and survive through it all,” said Lakshman in a confident voice that surprised them. “You may think this is cowardice, but know that this is also a strength to survive that many lack. Be proud of it and stand firmly in your beliefs.”

He was one of the few to tell them this and though he was not one of them, they felt grateful for him being with them. It was thanks to him and his support that they managed to escape from harm when the demons decided they were not worth keeping alive.

“GGGGOOOOOOOAAAAA!!!”

The Eternal Turtle roared and everyone quickly hit the surface of the its back as it activated the teleportation. A large barrier like power surrounded them and enclosed them in a brilliant glow of light as they continued lying down. The body of the Eternal Turtle shook as the powerful magic at the Teleportation Zone activated.

***

The people shrieked in as they felt they had risen into the air for a brief moment, just to slam back down on the Eternal Turtle’s back. The hard impact surprised them and for a moment, its body vibrated like an earthquake occurring around them. A few seconds later, the trembling stopped and all magic power disappeared with the brilliant yellow glow disappearing to reveal a new scenery.

“We are here… The new home that you requested,” said the Magic Titan telepathically to the Manjuvad Demon Clan elder.

The elder bowed deeply and said, “Thank you for your assistance, Magic Titan. We are indebted to you!”

Following his lead, the rest of the clan bowed deeply after standing up as it was safe to do so.

Amaranda could not see being blind, but her senses told her that every Manjuvad Demon Clan member was bowing down to her in appreciation. She was a bit taken aback as this was the first time anyone had ever thanked her for helping them, so it was quite a surprise for her. She quickly recovered to simply nod back at them in appreciation.

Each member was magically surrounded by a magic ball and they slowly descended towards the ground to land gently there. Lakshman watch each group leaving towards the ground after thanking him for helping them become strong.

“I did what was right,” was the common reply that Lakshman responded with as he bid them goodbye.

With each Manjuvad Demon Clan member that left, a great sadness began filling the inside of Lakshman. This was because he assumed that Sumara Manjuvad would also leave with her people. He has not told his wives of this fact, but she was the eighth Destiny Queen and he wished had more time with her. So, he was desperately thinking of some reason to keep her with him.

Once they were all gone, Sumara was the last one to walk towards Lakshman with a smile on her face. Not wanting to show that he was upset, Lakshman smiled back, although he felt really unhappy inside.

“Thank you for everything, Lucky. I appreciate all the help, support, motivation and inspiration you gave my people. I really do,” said Sumara as she thanked him for the effort he and his wives put to train them.

“N-No… There’s no need for all that, Really… It’s the least I can do for you, Sumara,” said Lakshman and she returned the smile. “So… Um… I’ll see you sometime later?”

She blinked at him in surprise before she shook her head and said, “No. I plan on sticking around with your group.”

“Huh?” Lakshman asked and he was very surprised by her words.

She nodded at him and said, “Like I said, it’s better that I stick around with your group than with mine. Now that my clan people are safe, it’s time I put my strength, knowledge and wisdom in a better suited place. I feel it’s well suited to work together with you when you eventually face the demons. I mean… IS that okay with you?”

Lakshman looked very excited at the prospect of her wanting to be with him, which made him completely rule out the thought that maybe she was in love with someone else. He was very happy to discover this and he quickly spoke to her with delay.

“Of course! By all means, I appreciate the extra hands I’m receiving! I really do!”

“Then, let’s start working together as partners,” said Sumara and she held her hand out like what most humans do.

He was slightly disappointed by her choice of words, but it did not matter to him since she decided to stay with him. Instead, he quickly recovered to extend his own hand out to shake hers firmly with a wide smile on his face.

“Yes. Let’s fight together,” said Lakshman and the two smiled at each other with the sun forming a semi-circle as it appeared between them in the sky.

Author's Note

Hey everyone and once again, thank you for reading the chapter after patiently waiting for some time! I'm slowly getting better from my sickness and the proff is that I actually finally got the motivation to write this chapter! Still, it took me a while to write because I kept getting drained every 1000 words. Well, my effort is worth it and I hope my wonderful readers liked it and also hope to see you return as the story continues!