Lakshman, Erza, Tetra and Cantia were slowly walking up what appeared to be brightly glowing stairs that were climbing into the sky. Their end destination appeared to be a very large continent that was floating high above the ground. It was the Heaven Continent and they were walking slowly towards it.

Lakshman was doing fine while Erza, Tetra and Cantia were looking tired, but they kept climbing.

“How much… further…?” Cantia asked tiredly while wiping sweat off her forehead.

“I… I don’t know…” Tetra replied while breathing a little quickly.

Erza said nothing, but groaned painfully as she looked up to see how far they still have to go.

Lakshman also looked towards their destination and also groaned when he realised they were not even half-way there yet.

“How… in the world… did we… end up… in this situation…?” he asked wearily in a low voice.

***

The light from outside was so bright that it lit up every part of the house might brighter than the energy crystals embedded in the walls. Lakshman, Dominic and Zen stood with their eyes barely visible to avoid hurting them due to the amount of brightness glaring at them. At that moment, several shadow figures with wings appeared to stand before the light and threw shadows at them.

“Did you say… angels?!” Zen exclaimed in a shocked voice while staring at the shadow figures. “What the hell are they doing here?!”

“Maybe, they knew about Felix’s funeral and came to pay their respects?” Dominic suggested questioningly.

Through narrowed eyes, Lakshman shook his head and said, “No. They’re here for me.”

“For you?” Dominic and Zen asked at the same time in voices full of surprise. “Why?”

Lakshman shrugged his shoulders and said, “I did just destroy an entire continent and literally killed all those dwelling on it. So, the angels are most likely here to discuss about the matter and possibly, deliver some sort of punishment onto me.”

“What?! Punishment?!” Dominic exclaimed in alarm, quickly turning to face him. “Are they insane?! You’re the Phoenix Titan—!”

“Dom!” Zen said sharply and startled Dominic into silence. “The Phoenix Clan and the Angels race don’t get along due to something that had happened way back in the past… I think, it’s during the ancient times when the first Phoenix Titan lived…?”

Lakshman nodded at him and said, “Yes. In the ancient times, I and the Phoenix Clan fought for world control and we had a heavy clash against the Angels. They are god believers, but also very proud that they are a perfect beings created by gods to watch over the world. Due to the clash, they had great dislike towards us and we fought against one another on many occasions.”

“Why though?” Dominic asked while looking puzzled. “Shouldn’t you two forces work together since you’re both granted divine blessings from the gods?”

“That’s exactly why we clashed,” said Lakshman with a chuckle. “You know the saying? ‘Like forces repel.’ Due to us both possessing godly blessings and skills, we disliked each other greatly. The Angels hated the Phoenix Clan’s way of trying to rule the world to keep it in peace. Likewise, the Phoenix Clan disliked the Angels greatly due to their arrogant belief of being the perfect beings made by gods.”

Dominic was very taken aback at the history shared between the Phoenix Clan and the Angels. He slowly shook his head in disbelief and looked at Zen with an expression of annoyance.

“That is so stupid,” he said quietly. “It’s like a kid’s argument that’s not worth considering.”

Zen groaned and said, “You’re right, but there’s little to change when there’s such a bad relationship between our forces.”

“Anyway, let’s go out and welcome our visitors,” said Lakshman with a smug smile on his face.

***

Lakshman walked out of the house with Dominic and Zen walking right behind him. While they exited the house, Venezuela, Emilia and Erza came downstairs to see what all the light was about. Upon seeing the three men walk outside, they quickly ran upstairs to get the other girls.

While outside, Dominic and Zen stood right behind Lakshman and stared at the angels standing before them. The light coming from behind them, but they made out a total of seven angels present before them. Other than that, it proved to be very difficult to see anything about them.

Dominic and Zen were very surprised by how pure the light was coming from behind the angels. With Lakshman standing in front of them, they leaned towards each other and muttered into each other’s ears.

“Seriously… I can sense a lot of pure power coming from them,” said Dominic in an impressed voice.

“Yes. I feel the same,” said Zen in a voice of amazement. “It must be due to them being beings of purity or something?”

“I don’t know, but it’s impressive,” replied Dominic and Zen nodded in agreement.

Just then, one of the angels said in a loud voice and caused both the two men to stand straight beside Lakshman.

“We demand the Phoenix Titan to come with us now!”

Lakshman narrowed his eyes for a moment and thought, “Fools… So, they can’t see our faces because of this light? Then, I might as well make things clear between us.”

He brought both of his hands together and when he clapped them, he said, “Flash Out.”

There was an instantaneous flash of light and the next second, the light glowing behind the angels suddenly went out. Without the blinding glare to blind the three men, the angels came into clear view and also startled the angels as they did not expect the lights to disappear.

“Our light…!” the angels exclaimed in shocked voices. “It’s been taken! It’s been removed!”

“Oh no! We’re doomed!” said another angel in a fearful louder voice. “We’re cursed! We’ve been tainted!”

Lakshman got irritated and snapped, “Stop whining, idiots! I just cast Flash Out to hide your Angel Glow from blinding us so that we talk face-to-face without deceit or feeling inferior to one another.”

At those words, the angels stopped yelling and turned to blink at him in surprise. They were very surprised that there was someone who knew of such a spell to hide their Angel Glow. They all wore serious expressions on their faces as they were very unhappy with what Lakshman did. In that instant, they came to dislike him greatly.

Without the glow, the men finally had the chance to see the what the angels looked like. All of them appeared to be handsome with slum bodies while two blue wings sprouted out of their backs. Each of them were carrying a spear gripped firmly in their right hands.

Looking at each of the seven angels standing before them caused Zen to look worried. He sensed how strong they were and although they ae not strong, he feared a problem will take place if they were to displease this group of seven angels. Dominic, on the other hand, was looking at them with a look of exasperation because he was not taking their presence very seriously.

“This is a joke!” Dominic thought in an exasperated voice. “They’re really handsome and all, but I was expecting the angels to be strong! Instead, meet this bunch of weaklings!”

Lakshman did not hear his thoughts, but sensed the lack of seriousness from him. So, he used Telepathy to speak seriously to him.

“Dom, I know you’re not going to take them seriously, but please restrain yourself if they say something that will upset you. This isn’t the time to rupture the relationship that we’ll be building with the angels.”

Hearing those words in his mind caused Dominic to shrug his shoulders and fold his arms with a mute expression on his face.

Lakshman turned back to the angels and politely asked, “How do you do? I take it that you’re the messengers sent by the Angel Council?”

An angel, slightly shorter than the rest, stepped forward to speak to Lakshman.

“That is correct,” replied the leader angel of the group. “We have come in search of the Phoenix Titan. It is you, yes?”

Dominic raised an eyebrow in surprise and thought, “If you knew it’s him, then why bother asking about it?”

“Mmm!” Lakshman said as he quickly threw a sharp look at him, making Dominic shrug his shoulders once again. Looking back at the angels, he smiled and said, “That’s right. It’s me.”

“Ah. Of course,” replied the angel as if it was only obvious that he was speaking to the Phoenix Titan. “The Angel Council has orders for you appear before them regarding the recent incident. Come.”

The way the angel leader sounded as if he was ordering Lakshman to follow after them. It was as if the Angel Council thought they were above the position of the Phoenix Titan, which struck a nerve in Dominic. He instantly became furious at the group of angels and he opened his mouth to tell them just that.

“Huh?!” Dominic exclaimed in a loud voice and surprised them all. “What do you mean he was ordered to appear before those non-present people?!”

“D-Dominic!” Zen said and he attempted to step in front of him, but Dominic easily pushed him aside to fixed a serious state with the angel group leader.

“Come on! Answer my question!” Dominic demanded in an angry voice. “He’s the Phoenix Titan, the ruler of the Phoenix Clan and the king of Floria Kingdom! How dare you order him to come just like that?”

The angel group leader blinked at him in surprise before a member of the group stepped forward to mutter something in his ear. Whatever he said made the leader’s eyes to widen slightly and nod his head once in understanding.

“I see. You must be the Sword Titan,” he said casually as if he did not consider the title anything special. “You better keep your sword out of things it doesn’t belong in, otherwise, you will end up facing a lot of trouble. So, in simple terms; get lost!”

Zen’s mouth dropped in shock and Lakshman placed a hand over his forehead before sighing heavily.

“These idiots…!” Lakshman thought and he sighed once more.

Dominic was looking at the angel group leader with one of his eyebrows raised and it was twitching dangerously. He was smiling, but it was a menacing smile that sent shivers down Zen’s body as he observed the angered Sword Titan.

Over the years that Zen spent studying under the Sword Titan to master the North Sword Style, he had observed how explosive Dominic’s anger was and now, he began to fear as to what the angered Sword Titan would do.

“Stick my sword out of this business, eh…?” Dominic slowly said in a menacing voice while glaring fiercely at the angel group leader. “Get lost, eh…?”

In an instant, he whipped out the Destiny Sword and placed the pointed end directly near the angel group leader’s neck. Seeing their leader in danger, the other six angels attempted to move, but were suddenly frozen in shock. Without anyone’s notice, Dominic had activated the Destiny Sword and made countless sword appear out of thin air. They hovered in mid-air and were pointed dangerously at the six angels.

“I wouldn’t make any reckless moves if I were you…” Lakshman said warningly.

The six angels gulped as they remained standing there like statues in shock while staring at all the swords aimed at them while hovering in mid-air. Their leader, however, was transfixed with fear as he stared at the fierce glare that Dominic was giving him with his sword right in front of his neck.

“I don’t appreciate your words and above all, I don’t appreciate rough necked arrogance!” Dominic said fiercely with his sword held firmly near the angel’s neck.

The angel group leader was fearing for his life, but he still had enough bravery to say, “I-It’s not me… The Angel Council demands his presence for destroying the Demon Continent. I-I just… just delivered their m-m-message!”

“Oh…!” Dominic said slowly and his face hardened. “If they wanted their message delivered, then they should just come directly; not create this foreplay! There is no justice in their cowardly act…!”

At that moment, the voice of his wife shouted, “Dom! What are you doing?!”

Shalany Rutherford, along with Zen’s and Lakshman’s wives, rushed out of the house to their respective husband’s side. Indira and Priya were fast asleep upstairs from crying all day while Shalany’s baby was also sleeping with them. Mariana was with them, but she was standing near the window to see what was happening outside the house.

Shalany took one looked at Dominic holding the sword towards the angel’s neck before knocking the sword away from his neck. This caused the angel group leader to sigh in relief and caused Dominic to fix a stern look at his wife.

“Shalany! What are you doing?!” he demanded in an angry voice.

Shalany glared at him before she said, “No! That’s my question! What are you doing? Holding a sword to the throat of someone defenceless; is that your kind of justice?”

Dominic looked surprise for a moment before he slowly said, “Um… No… But, this angel guy was talking arrogantly to Lakshman!”

“If that’s the case, then let’s solve the matter with words; not wars!” she said fiercely and caused Dominic to look taken aback. “Violence isn’t a solution; Communication is. There is justice in it; not in what you were doing to that angel.”

“Right… Sorry…” Dominic finally said meekly in resignation.

With a simple turn of the sword caused all other swords, aimed at the angels, to disappear instantly. He hung his head with a shame faced expression on his face, making Shalany nod in satisfaction.

This action from him caused Lakshman and his wives to blinked at them in surprise. None of them expected Dominic to give in to such simple words, but they quickly reasoned that it was simply because his wife was in his presence.

“I never thought Dom was so soft when his wife’s around,” thought Lakshman while chuckling to himself.

Shalany turned to the angels and said, “Please forgive my husband’s rudeness.”

“Y-Yes,” replied the angel group leader as he was taken aback at Shalany’s firmness. “Anyway, we must return with the Phoenix Titan.”

“What?!” Venezuela, Erza and Sumara exclaimed in alarm. “Why reason do you need our husband for?”

“You see…” the angel group leader said and he began explaining everything to the women.

***

Once the explanation was done, there was an instant protest from Lakshman’s wives. They were all telling, in various dialogues, the angels that Lakshman was not responsible. It was an ancient evil curse that had taken on the form of the Voice of the Phoenix and it was responsible for the destruction of the Demon Continent.

The angels were looking at each other with expressionless faces and said nothing in return.

“I hear you, loud and clear, but I must comply with my orders,” said the angel group leader firmly and stopped further protests. “The Phoenix Titan must appear before the Angel Council, otherwise, their other orders were to dispatch the Nine Commandments of Light to see and punish him, along with those allied with him!”

“The Nine Commandments of Light?!” Zen instantly exclaimed in a shocked voice and he began to sweat with a fearful look in his face.

At those words, Dominic and the women appeared as if they did not understand what the title signified. Lakshman, however, narrowed his eyes with a serious look covering his face as he understood what the title signified.

The Nine Commandments of Light are the strongest warriors from the Angel race. Lakshman clearly remembered fighting the Nine Commandments of Light back in the ancient times, together with his brother during their years of world conquest. The battle against them was fierce that almost brought both forces to their doom by fighting constantly. It was because the Angels decided to not care about the world affairs anymore, they retreated and gave the Phoenix Clan an almost easy victory.

Lakshman placed a hand on his chin as he thought, “I don’t know how strong the current Nine Commandments of Light are, but I suppose they are not as powerful as the Nine Pillars of Power. Otherwise, why would the Emperor of the World ignore them and create our group instead? Yes… Individually, I might be strong enough to fight all nine of them, but that still possess a problem…”

At that moment, he heard Emilia sigh and say, “Why…? Why must everyone battle it out all the time? Why can’t we, for once, settle matters without fighting it out? Must we solve everything with blood, sweat and tears?”

Those words hammered into Lakshman like a pair of magic bullets that could not be blocked. It made him realise all that has happened till now and realised it was a repeating pattern. He remembered how unhappy the angels were when their homes were suddenly attacked and conquered without any communication between them due to racial beliefs and differences.

“Many mistakes were made in the past that cannot change for it changed history completely. I wanted to secure the world so that we can finally bring peace, but I see now that way was wrong. There were other ways, but I did not think about them and it had led to the strain between the two forces.

I’m finally given the chance to make things right again and I will take it! Like Emilia said, why should I allow my mind to melt and follow through with my fist to solve all issues? I may be a warrior, but I am not a wild animal without a brain! I will take this chance that god has granted me to solve our conflict once and for all!

Besides, the angels might be our strongest allies we can have when it’s time to face the Calamity Titan!”

Lakshman nodded in agreement with the chain of thoughts he just had. Just then, he was lightly shaken by Erza, who was looking worriedly at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked him curiously while his other wives looked anxiously at him.

“Yeah,” said Lakshman and he patted her hand before turning to face the angels. “Very well. I will accompany you.”

***

“What?!” everyone exclaimed while the angels looked very surprised.

“Lakshman!” Dominic said in a frustrated voice.

“Phoenix Titan,” said Zen in an impressed voice while his wife looked at him in amazement.

“Lucky…” said his wives with looks of worry filling up their faces.

Lakshman looked at the angel group leader and said, “Let’s not delay the inevitable by further monologue. Let’s go.”

The angel group leader was momentarily surprised before he nodded in understanding. He turned to face the other angels and they all nodded back at him simultaneously. Together, they raised their spears into the air and fired a blinding flash of light into the sky. It soared away for a moment and disappeared into the murky clouds that seemed as if rain was going to fall soon.

There was a moment’s pause before they heard something roaring and the sound grew louder as if it was getting near them. Everyone was looking around in confusion as the noise grew louder and louder with each second passing by. Lakshman was the only one, along with the angels, that was staring up at the sky filled with moody clouds.

“What’s making that noise?” Erza asked with a confused look on her face.

Lakshman gestured up at the sky and said, “That is making the noise.”

While looking confused, she and everyone else looking up at the sky and what they saw caused them to widen their eyes in shock.

The sky was filled with murky clouds when, all of a sudden, a large area of the sky was cleared. In their place, a gigantic shape appeared in the sky and slowly move forward. It threw a large shadow onto the ground which included the space they were standing at. The large shadowy shape came into clear focus and they realised it was made completely of rock and ground, just floating in the sky.

“The floating continent; Heaven Continent. The dwelling place of the angels,” said Lakshman quietly as he narrowed his eyes sharply.

He has a clear memory of the ancient times, where he watched the angels using their magic in union to lift a large section of the ground into the sky. Since then, they lived in the sky and well away from the affairs of the ground dwelling people. Now, they are getting due to how serious the situation was due to the destruction of the Demon Continent.

As the continent appeared to stop high up in the sky, there was a glow of light before shining stairs appeared. They were leading straight into the sky and towards the position where the Heaven Continent was floating at.

The angel group leader turned to Lakshman and said, “From here on, it’s a no fly zone for non-angel races. You must walk up the stairs to reach the continent.”

Lakshman, along with everyone else, was surprised and he asked, “Are you saying that I’m not allowed to fly up there?”

The angel nodded and said, “That’s correct. Think of this as part of your punishment for destroying the Demon Continent.”

“Oh,” replied Lakshman shortly and he nodded in understanding before he thought in exasperation, “Well… This is one annoying punishment I received!”

“What?!” Dominic exclaimed in alarm and he pointed at the stairs leading into the sky. “You’re saying he has to climb all these stairs to reach that continent that’s floating way up there?!”

When the angel nodded, Dominic looked extremely angry and he began to say, “Seriously? You can fly, but not him?! This is injustice! This is not—!”

“It’s okay,” said Lakshman as he cut across him and surprised everyone else. “Really. It’s also a good exercise for my legs since I am always flying. More than punishment, I’m getting excited to walk up these magically shining stairs!”

“That’s true, but…!” Dominic began and faltered as he struggled for words. Finally resigned to what was happening, he sighed and said, “Do whatever you want.”

“I don’t need you telling me that,” said Lakshman with a smile of appreciation.

“Well, even if he can’t fly up there, we’re still not letting him go alone!” Venezuela said sharply and the other girls agreed by nodding their heads at her.

“You should go with Zen and Dominic,” suggested Shalany hopefully.

Lakshman instantly shook his head at her and said, “I’m sorry, Shalany, but I have instructed them with tasks they must perform while I’m gone.”

“Even so, we’re not sending you off alone!” Venezuela said firmly. “Either we come with you or you don’t go at all!”

Lakshman looked at them for a moment and noticing the firm expressions on their faces, he turned back to speak with the angel group leader.

“Is it possible for them to come along with me?” he asked him with a slight hint of plea in his voice.

The angel group leader looked around at the eight wives surrounding Lakshman and sighed heavily. Then, he began to point at Tetra, Erza and Cantia before turning back to face Lakshman.

“You can bring them along.”

“Huh? Just them?” Sumara asked as she voiced the surprise of others. “Why?”

The angel group leader’s face darkened as he said, “The rest are either incompetent, related to the Phoenix Clan or hybrids.”

“You—!” Dominic began, but he was forced to a stop when Lakshman glared at him fiercely.

With a single shake of the head, Lakshman told him, “Don’t.”

Dominic did not say anything after that, but he continued to glare fiercely at the angels. This made them nervous, including their leader as they prepared to leave. Lakshman released the Flash Out magic spell and allowed the angels back their Angel Glow, which almost blinded them.

As the angels flew into the air and his three wives began to climb the stairs, Lakshman turned back to speak one last time to both Dominic and Zen.

“You two, please remembered to get your tasks done quickly. We don’t have any time to lose,” he told them firmly and received their wordless nods of understanding. “If you need to report to me immediately, contact me through telepathy and if I don’t return within ten days’ time, then come meet me there. Understood?”

“Yes,” said both Dominic and Zen at the same time.

Lakshman smiled at all of them and said, “Right. I’ll see you later.”

He turned back and while facing the shining stairs leading into the sky, he took a heaved a deep breath.

“Alright. Time to meet the a0ngels after a very, very long time!” he said and he began climbing the stairs after Tetra, Erza and Cantia.

Author's Note

Hello my dear wonderful readers and thank you very much for reading this chapter. It normaly would have taken me several days before I released the next chapter, but I felt a little bad about how slow the chapter releases have become. So, I tried hard to finish this as quickly as I could without delaying it, although, a bit did happen. Yesterday, I suffered from overload work and a nagging headache, but today I'm fine. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and will read the next one as the story continues!