The light slowly dimmed and revealed a scene of complete calm and peace, with no sign of chaos or destruction that the explosive power should have wrought. Everyone slowly opened their eyes and glanced around their surroundings, quite startled to find that nothing has changed. Only the smoke remained, spreading around and slowly disappearing into thin air.

“Ah…!” Moaned Lakshman, who was in a kneeling position, with his arm held in front of him in a defensive position. “It stings…!”

The arm, that he used to defend him and his dance partner shielded by his back, received the full brunt of the destructive wave. It scorched his skin and left a deep burn mark on the forearm, but being the powerful warrior that he was, the damage was minimal and it only stung him with slight pain.

“This is nothing compared to being completely hopeless and bleeding uncontrollably,” he muttered, remembering the difficult situation he found himself under heavy injuries and was unable to use magic.

“Dammit, Lakshman!” Asura’s voice boomed out of nowhere in his mind filled with anger. “Why didn’t you do as I said?!”

“I told you, Asura. It’s not like me to let others suffer when they’re crying out for help,” replied Lakshman in his mind.

Asura seemed to breathe a deep sigh in anguish and said in his mind, “Why care about the people that had us summoned to this world at their own convenience, and then lay down your life for them? Why do you care when it’s Erza, your future wife, that you need to worry about?”

Lakshman smiled smoothly and stated, “Call it a sense of duty, a purpose that’s as important as my role as a husband.”

“They don’t care one bit of what you did for them, Lakshman! Why even care?!”

“It’s not about them, Asura. It’s for my own satisfaction. I couldn’t save my family, I couldn’t save my master, but I will not fail a third time in saving people’s lives that are directly under my care!”

Asura seemed to get frustrated by his response, which made him ask, “Then, what about the many soldiers that died during the Phoenix Calamity War? Would you consider it your fault for failing to protect them?”

His current self’s eyes flashed at those words, and he replied in his mind, “No. I won’t consider it that way because I gave them a fair warning beforehand; ‘if you fight in this war, there is no guarantee that you will return alive. If you want to back out now, I will support your decision wholeheartedly.’ They chose to remain and fight, rise up to tyranny and fight for what is right. They are true heroes and more than what we’ve ever been in the lives I led in the past.”

At that moment, he was reeled back to reality when the king’s voice boomed out of the smoke, “Is everyone alright?! Is there anyone injured.”

“No, your majesty.”

“We’re completely fine!”

“Yes! We’re all alive!”

“We’re saved!”

“But how?! How did it happen?!”

“What saved us?”

“Who saved us?”

The smoke slowly cleared to reveal the entire proportion of the room intact as well as the people that were pushed to either ends of the room along with the other heroes. Only Gram, Lakshman and his dance partner remained near the center of the stage, where the explosion occurred. Lakshman glanced around and saw the look of confusion in everyone’s faces, making him come to a decision and act upon it.

“It was the Tempest Hero!” He called to gain their attention. “He saved us by using one of his amazing skills! He’s our hero!”

They all turned to look at him for a moment before switching their gaze towards Gram, who was still wielding his hero weapon, the Golden Sword. For a moment, there was silence before the room broke into a loud cheer as they celebrated his victory and thanked him for saving their lives. Many rushed towards him in an attempt to speak to him, gain his attention and favor.

While everyone was cheerful, Gram wore a stoned face and remained silent as he slowly digested what just happened. Then, he turned his attention to focus on Lakshman, giving him a piercing look that seemed to get ignored by many that had eyes only on him.

“What did that man do?” He thought silently.

At the time the dead body was about to self-destruct, Gram had swung his sword and stabbed it into the ground, activating a defensive spell that would protect only him. However, as the explosion occurred, he saw Lakshman jump in between him and catch the wave with both of his hands in an effort to stop it. While that was happening, he caught sight of a lot of Lakshman’s copies rushing forward to block the wave. When it finally stopped, the copies vanished into smoke and left no sign that they had been there.

Quickly realizing that it had been a spell that Lakshman used, his piercing glare strengthened while he thought, “Who is he?”

Lakshman noticed the glare and looked back with a look of coolness on his face, slowly widening his mouth into a cheerful smile. Just then, he was pulled to the side by his dance partner, who inspected his blistering arm and cried out in concern.

“Hero! You’re wounded! Please, you need to be healed! I’ll go call a Medician.”

“Medician?” He asked, looking confused.

“Yes. They are magician doctors that use restoration magic to heal the victim’s injuries,” she explained calmly. Then, she tried to put her arm around him while saying, “Please, get up. I’ll take you to the Hospice Ward.”

“Ah! No need for that, please. I’ll be fine,” he said quickly, trying to push her away and turning to see where Erza was.

“No! I insist!” She repeated firmly, making him feel a sense of something familiar that happened to him in the past, but he could not remember what exactly it was.

She reached out and pressed several buttons on her wrist, allowing her to easily lift him up to his feet. He was astonished by this feat, causing him to earnestly protest. Thankfully for him, the Royal Guards saw what was happening and quickly came to support him, freeing him from her support.

“I’m not that badly injured! Please. I can walk!” Lakshman protested his hardest, but no one paid it any attention.

“Don’t be silly, hero! You’re injured and need a Medician! Please, leave it to us to take you there!”

Annoyed by their treatment off him, Laskhman thought, “They’re taking this way too seriously!”

It did not help when Asura replied, “Serves you right for disobeying my advice,” making Lakshman sigh in resignation.

“I will accompany you,” his dance partner said in a firm voice.

“Young miss, you do not need to worry. He is in good hands.”

“We won’t let any harm come to him!”

The lady, however, shook her masked head and said, “No. He saved my life. At the very least, I can stay by his side until he settles. That should be fine, right?”

The gentleness that she spoke to Lakshman was not used when she spoke to the Royal Guards, who were surprised. Not only that, but the air of authority about her and the strong mannerism of a person of great importance was emanating from her. Thus, they concluded that it was alright for her to accompany them as they took the injured hero out of the hall.

While Lakshman continued to protest, they departed for the Hospital Ward while Gram watched with a serious look in his eyes. Then, he thought, “That guy… He summoned a lot of his copies, made them to stop the wave with brute force and disappear as if they weren’t there, making it seem like I did it.” Then, he cursed and thought, “Damn! I underestimated him. He’s strong… Very strong!”

***

Far far, away from the planet of Alzard, a large destroyed space ship was stuck to semi-destroyed planet, whose surface was filled with an ashen gray color. The ship was squashed and hurled into space with incredible force by Lakshman and it travelled quite some distance before colliding against the small sized planet and end up stuck to its surface. There was no sign of life that came from the ship, as all of its occupants were either already killed by Lakshman or crushed to death when he crushed the ship using his Elemental Coated Armor spell.

Amidst the floating decapitated bodies of the monsters and their floating blood, a light suddenly burst forth from beneath. In the next moment, a wild explosion of power occurred and the three-eyed person came out of the midst. The bodies and blood moved out of his way while he was surrounded by a powerful barrier that did not let him get in contact with them.

“That… bastard!” He fumed telepathically, clenching his fists tightly as his rage slowly rose to the surface. “He… did this… to me….?! Me…?! How… How… How… HOW DARE HEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!”

He screamed telepathically the last sentence with a roar and suddenly unleashed an unbelievable force of power. Light gathered at the center of the barrier, which quickly formed into a large sphere around him before it expanded to beyond the size of the squashed ship. In an instant, the ship was vaporized into nothing and the light disappeared to show the three-eyed person still floating there, huffing quickly inside a deep crater, the mark of the destruction he had done.

The three-eyed person clenched his fists again and thought, “That’s it! I don’t care if I die, I’ll kill that bastard!”

It took him a while for him to calm down before telepathically saying, “This is distasteful, but I must report to master.”

He closed his eyes and clapped his hands together, causing the surrounding sphere to glow along with the rest of his body. In an instant, he felt his senses leave his body and go to somewhere far, far away from where he was at. Within moments, he arrived at a place that was like a hall, but so large that a spaceship could easily fit into it.

The room was empty, except for the stairs in front that led up to the top, where a chair was located. On it a shadowy figure was seated, that had his back turned to the three-eyed person. It was impossible to make out who the seated person was, nor the frame of his body due to him sitting in near darkness.

The three-eyed person knelt down and telepathically said, “I have come to relay my report, master.”

“What?” Asked a deep and reverberating voice that suddenly seemed to pierce into his follower’s mind.

The three-eyed person became startled upon hearing the voice and instantly froze up upon recognizing whom the voice belonged to. Sweat quickly formed all over his body, and his eyes widened in shock, causing his mind to go blank with sheer fright.

For a moment, there was silence in the quiet environment of space before the voice asked in a deadly voice, “What?”

Realizing that he had made a mistake, the three-eyed person tried to keep a calm voice when he telepathically said, “Ah, sir! How are you today, sir? I hope you are doing well. I hope I found you in good health.”

This seemed to lessen the pressure, and the voice said, “Good.”

His follower breathed a deep sigh in relief, realizing he had been on the verge of executing himself not properly greeting his master. In the past, he had seen his master easily decimate his followers just because they forgot to properly greet him.

“Answer… my… question…” the voice asked in a calm and cool voice.

“Ah! Yes! Actually,” he began a little nervously.

He recounted all that had happened during his visit to the planet of Alzard and once he came to an end, there was only silence within the large, near empty space. For a few seconds, his master did not seem capable of responding, as if taken by shock. When he spoke again, the whole room shook with intense pressure and the three-eyed person widened his eyes in shock and alarm.

“You… are telling me… that you… with all your might… with all your numbers… lost to… worms…?”

Fearing that something bad might happen to him, the three-eyed person opened his mouth and began to telepathically say, “No, sir! Actually –!”

He suddenly felt a strong chocking sensation around his neck, causing him difficulty in breathing and cut him off from giving his response.

“I… don’t want… excuses…!”

The choking feeling tightened and the three-eyed person felt like he was going to die because his actual body was being choked, not the illusion that was present before his master. The unknown entity was so strong, he was managing to slowly choke the life out of his follower by stretching his powers across time and space to reach his follower’s body.

“You disappoint me,” the voice of his master said, causing it to reverberate around the room several times.

By this time, his follower was on the verge of crossing the threshold and pass away for good. However, the man with special kind of powers refused to die just yet and managed to muster his strength to plead telepathically.

“Pprrreeze… wwweeeiiitttt!!!”

The choke hold sensation suddenly vanished and the three-eyed person felt air coursing through him once more. He was able to breathe again, but his breathing came in rasps as he struggled to regain the rhythm of his normal breathing. It took him a while, but he managed to continue speaking using his telepathic voice.

“Master, I… I have a plan that will destroy those worms for good!”

He paused, waiting to see if his master would interject or prod him to continue. When no response came, he got the hint and proceeded to explain anyway.

“They were weaklings, none of them stood a chance, but this one person suddenly came out of nowhere. He possessed incredible skills and a power that I haven’t seen anywhere! He’s very strong and dangerous! I underestimated him!”

To this, his master’s voice said, “No. You did not underestimate him. You lacked information about him.” When his follower looked surprised, the shadowy figure went on to say, “The key strategy to win a battle is to know your enemy, and it will be that much easier when you know their weaknesses.”

Suddenly, the pressure in the room thickened when his master issued an order in a deadly voice.

“Return to that planet, spy on those creatures, observe this individual and know his weaknesses. Then, and only then, I will send you reinforcements. Next time, you win.”

While it came as a shocking order, the three-eyed person was overjoyed at the chance to redeem himself. He quickly bowed to his master and spoke words of gratitude and praise.

“Yes! I will perform splendidly in my mission, master! You are a great and merciful being! Thank you for giving me, a defeated man, a chance to redeem himself! Thank you very much!”

Silence greeted him, and the man realized it was his cue to leave the room, which he did after bidding his master goodbye. Once his image left, the room became quite still, with no wind to blow, or noise to be heard. The shadowy figure, seated behind the chair, seemed to suddenly click his tongue and say one word.

“Worthless.”

As soon as he said that word, the lights in the room vanished and put the room in complete darkness.