“Damn that man, trying to take everyone with him. What a lunatic? Isn’t that right, my king?” Commented Alistair, who dusted his clothes and slowly walked casually towards his king.

The king turned to glare at him fiercely and asked, “This all started because you weren’t thorough with your check of the Royal Guards!”

“Oh? I wasn’t thorough?” Alistair asked, raising an eyebrow in a mocking astonishment. “Well, I’m sorry, your highness, but I believe that’s out of my hands after you shifted that over to the H.S.A.”

“I believe corruption and underhanded methods decreased when I put that job under the Hero Security Agency,” replied the king, wearing a firm look that clearly exerted in having no doubts in his decision.

Alistair remained silent, unwilling to voice his thought of, “And where did that almost lead?” because he knew of his king’s temper. Fedex Flameheart is the steadfast man that follows his principles and never goes back on promises, making him extremely dangerous if something were to upset him. Deciding to drop the subject, he shrugged his shoulders and asked about the heroes instead.

“That hero is pretty good, managing to save us all from such a disaster.”

“Indeed,” replied the king, nodding in agreement with a soft smile worn on his face. “A brilliant warrior, no doubt.”

While nodding his head, Alistair turned towards the entrance, from which a few Royal Guards, the Solaris Hero and his dance partner left through.

“It’s strange that the Solaris Hero, who supposedly defeated the aliens, was sacrum to injuries of this level?”

“He probably isn’t proficient in using his magic yet like the young man over there,” replied the king in a matter-of-fact tone. “I mean, the Tempest Hero admitted that he created the diversion that allowed the Solaris Hero to deliver the final blow. So, I think it’s safe to say that the Tempest Hero is the strongest among the heroes.”

Alistair chuckled and agreed by saying, “Yes. That’s true. Anyway, I’m taking my leave, otherwise, I’ll end up becoming an eyesore to these people.”

The king turned to look at him, a hurt look on his face, but Alistair merely nodded and departed while being escorted by a few Royal Guards. Meanwhile, the rest of the other members of the Nine Heroes of Legends, who stood nearby, clearly heard the praise that the king had made about Gram and were each expressing their annoyance in their own way.

“Damn that show off! Always getting the spot light! Why can’t I get one for a change?!” Vikram demanded.

“Yeah. It’s annoying that I was of no use during this time again,” said Martin, looking gloomy with his arms folded in front of him. “Gram has more guts than me on this. Same on me.”

“Yeah. I failed to be a successful hero,” said Fred, looking depressed, “even after I promised the princess I’d do my best.”

“Uh… Um…” Martin said hesitantly, looking sadly at each of their faces.

Vikram suddenly jolted them by saying firmly, “Guys, guys! Don’t look so gloomy! We’ll get our chance to shine! I just know it! We just have to surge that courage, jump at the next opportunity and do something heroic! Then, we’ll be recognized as heroes. That way, we’ll be popular with everyone, more importantly, with the ladies!”

While everyone either smiled or chuckled, William threw him a dark look and said, “What a vulgar language! Do you not have any shame in feeling that way about the women?”

“What can I do? I’m at that age!” Vikram replied boldly. When William’s facial expression slowly shifted to that of disgust, the Sonic Hero became annoyed and demanded, “What’s with that look? I’m not a fiend! I just like women in a romantic way! That’s all! I’m not one of those idiots that likes to do with as many as possible!”

William stared at him for a moment in silence before turning his head away and saying, “Right.”

This clearly annoyed Vikram more than anything, and the young hero began berating the older man for doubting his sanity. William would retort that it was Vikram’s fault for being so childish, watched on in amusement by Maxwell, nervously by Martin, surprise by Fred while Ward did his best to telepathically break their argument up. Only Natsu had his mind focused on something else, something that everyone had clearly missed.

“No dead body is capable of causing such a devastating attack to activate, not that I know off, but that timing... it’s too perfect!” Natsu thought, looking at the floor with his eyebrows knitted together to form a frown. “It’s as if that man was used as a placeholder to launch that surprise attack, with the intent of killing everyone and make it look like the dead man did it as a last resort of things. A cunning plan indeed, which means… everyone here is not to be trusted.”

Natsu came to that conclusion and began to eye everyone with a cautious suspicion that would not easily be noticed by a single glance. He is the most cautious out of the lot and would approach any problem with a clear mind and a tact that did not leave him feeling like he overlooked something. In other words, a true genius.

***

Elsewhere, in the hospital room, Lakshman was gently led by the Royal Guards and let down to sit on the comfortable bed. The room’s temperature was cool, maintained by three of the same large object that Lakshman noticed in his room. The space was large and one portion of the place was dedicated to a table with utensils for medication while the rest was divided into sectioned rooms like the one he was sitting in.

“Please rest easy,” said his dancer partner that he has not heard the name from, noticing his glances and mistaking it for worry. “You’re safe here.”

“Uh… Thanks,” replied Lakshman, a little surprised but decided to go with the flow. “So, this is what the hospitals are like in this world.”

“Yes. Are they different in your world?”

“Sure. There are separate rooms, but mostly they are shared. We never really had this small sectioned rooms that give the victim some privacy,” then, he scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “but I must admit, this is neat.”

She seemed to smile behind her mask when she said, “Thank you for the compliment. We take pride in our goal in providing comfort and happiness to the people of our world.”

A few seconds later, someone with a lengthy object around their neck and spectacles, wearing an overcoat that surprised everyone. Lakshman was amazed to find that the dress wear for a doctor is so similar to the ones worn by doctors back in his world.

The doctor was friendly, asking him about how he was feeling and checked his injury for a few seconds. He stated that it was quite a deep burn mark and would take time to heal and will wrap it up with bandages to let it heal for a few days. This surprised everyone and Lakshman wondered whether there was a restriction in healing people in this world.

“Doctor! Why can’t you heal him immediately? Can’t you see that he’s in pain?” His dance partner protested indignantly.

Lakshman, was in fact, wearing a slight pained look on his face, but he was faking it. Truth be told, he was perfectly fine despite the deep burn that was left on his arm from the explosion. In his life, he had experienced electrocution, his arm almost cut off and then really losing his arm in a battle against his rival. In addition to that, his battle accustomed body was not faced by such a simple injury when he faced heavy blows from criminals, tyrants and evil doers.

At her asking, the doctor turned towards her and said curtly, “Young miss, I don’t know how many times this was stated, but using healing on something of this level is seriously unhealthy. Please remember that the more healing magic we use, the lesser your body reacts in healing itself. That’s a very dangerous predicament. So, we are helping him in the long run because he’s young and has a long road ahead of him to live.”

Everyone was taken aback and one of the Royal Guards asked, “But, doctor, we’ve been getting healed on a regular basis. Will that cause a problem?”

The doctor sighed heavily and said, “Well then, soldier, you best be prepared for a hard-pained retirement because what you enjoy today will be your suffering when you get older. Believe me, you’ll only know the effects when you grow older and then live to regret what has happened today. Healing magic is basically like a drug, relying solely on it to recover yourself will render your body so badly. You hear me?”

“Ah…!” The Royal Guard stuttered, clearly shocked with the rest of everyone in the room.

Only Lakshman looked amazed and thought, “So, their civilization hadn’t reached an evolution of that stage yet and focused on evolving the things around them. This explains better why they use those devices to use magic instead of the natural way like me”

“Yes. It also explains why this world doesn’t seem to have any kind of force that exists in our world. Possibly because of the drastic change in environment and their technological advancement that led them to this,” said Asura in Lakshman’s mind in a matter-of-fact voice. “So, overall, it’s their own fault that they can’t use magic and have to face this struggle until who knows when they will develop and evolve.”

Lakshman smiled to himself and said to the doctor, “Thank you for your concern, doctor. When can I expect for my injury to be healed?”

“Possibly a week or two,” said the doctor casually. “Until then, don’t put stress on it, okay?” Then, as an afterthought, he added with a slight chuckle, “You may be a hero, but your body isn’t made of steel. Do remember that.”

“Of course, doctor. Of course. Thank you for the advice,” replied Lakshman cheerfully.

The doctor patted him on the shoulder gently and left the place, who was followed out by the Royal Guards. This left Lakshman and his dance partner to be the only ones still remaining in there. She gently helped him to shift his position on the bed and slowly lie down on the comfortable pillows, causing him to feel like he would get sucked in by the bed’s softness.

“I’m sorry for troubling you like this,” he said to her apologetically.

“No need to worry, hero. This isn’t much compared to the life that you saved,” she replied sweetly.

“You know it’s Gram who saved us—?”

“He saved others, but you saved me, hero. You staked your body against that attack in order to shield me and ended up with that injury. To my eyes, it’s clear who’s the hero.”

Lakshman focused on her and thought the woman before him was a very nice person because, for one thing, his Elemental Sense was not detecting any ill intentions from her. His skill with that spell had improved so greatly that he was now able to detect the intentions of others, even if they were clearly masked by either their own skill or magic.

“Ah… Your world has so much comfort compared to my world. I should learn a thing or two to improve back in my world when I eventually return,” he said quietly with a smile. “Really, I am learning so much that I never thought I would when I came to this world.”

She remained silent for a moment before saying, “That’s good. I’m sure your world will change for the better with this.”

He smiled and then there was silence for a few minutes within the room because he did not know what topic to speak to her about. While thinking of a topic, he suddenly realized that the party was still ongoing and that she is missing out on the fun and food just to stay by his side.

“Miss, please return to the party. I’ll be fine on my own now,” he said reassuringly.

“Oh no! I can’t just leave a wounded person in this state here all alone!” She replied vehemently.

“Really? Do I look like a child or something in her eyes?” He thought sadly while Asura chuckled in the background of his mind.

“I’m fine! Please! Return, otherwise, I’ll be in a lot of pain for keeping you here when you could be enjoying yourself at the party. I believe it had resumed by now.”

“No!”

“Please!”

“But… why? Am I being a nuisance?”

“Never! It’s just paining me to see a young lady here instead of enjoying herself. Please, go. I’ll be fine on my own.”

The two were protesting with conflicting feelings, but eventually, Lakshman won the bout. She agreed to go on the condition that she is allowed to check on his condition every now and then, to which he agreed to. Rising to her feet, she bid him farewell and was just about to leave when he suddenly realized something and called after her.

“Miss!” He called, causing her to pause and turn around to face him. “I haven’t caught your name. Can you please let me know?”

She seemed to hesitate for a brief moment before seemingly smile as she spoke, her voice slightly quieted by the mask she continued to wear.

“It’s Raze. Call me Raze, hero,” she said in a sweet voice that would have made any man’s heart flutter at the sound of her voice.

Lakshman nodded in understanding and said, “I see. Raze. In that case, please call me Asura. That’s my name.”

“Mmm… Asura…” she said slowly, trying out the sound of that name. “You have a strong sounding name. However, I think I prefer to call you ‘hero’ from now on.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because you’re the hero that saved my life,” the girl said sweetly and turned around while walking out of the hospital room, leaving behind a few Royal Guards stationed outside to guard.

He was finally the only one remaining in the hospital room, so he fell comfortably on the bed and sighed deeply.

“Man… What a hassle…?” He muttered to himself.

“This is what you get for ignoring my advice,” reprimanded Asura. “I mean, you were so close to following my advice, so why did you suddenly decide to help those cretins and hurt yourself like this?”

Lakshman sighed again and muttered, while placing his hand over his eyes, “Look, Asura. Life is life, no matter what form it takes; be it human, demon, alien or whatever and this includes them being good or evil. It doesn’t matter. If they cry out for help, I’ll save them. I may not save everyone, but I’ll save those that I can. It’s the least I can do with my power.”

Asura remained silent for a few seconds after such a statement before saying, “Really? Is it really just that, or is it because of your guilty feelings for the people you couldn’t protect in the past that you’re being so firm on this point?”

This made Lakshman smile softly and say, “Asura, the past cannot be changed, but the future… is in my hands.”

“Right, but we just lost our golden opportunity to get into Erza’s good side,” said Asura in annoyance.

“Erza wouldn’t have liked it to find that her husband had left the others to die just to save her life,” replied Lakshman flatly.

“Yeah, yeah. Making yourself look like you’re correct. Man, your pride is just like mine.”

“It’s not pride, Asura. It’s honor; to accept reality takes a great amount of courage. I do that, so why can’t you?”

“I’m not—!” Asura began heatedly, but Lakshman cut him off with a swift dialogue.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves, Asura, otherwise history will be repeated,” said Lakshman, noting the life of war and bloodshed that Asura lived through in the ancient times. “Anyway, this is not the end. Opportunities will continue to present themselves to us, and we’ll do our best because I don’t want to leave it to fate to decide our future for us.”

Asura was silent for several seconds before he finally said, “Yes and this is why you’re better than me; whereas I accepted my fate, while you’re trying to change it to suit the outcome you’re strongly desiring. You’re definitely a better man than me, Lakshman.”

For that, Lakshman simply smiled and remained lying on the bed, as silence surrounded him. It lasted for several minutes and just as he felt he was drifting into sleep, he heard footsteps coming towards where he was from outside the room. He instantly became alert, not because of the sound, but because his Elemental Sense triggered an alarm in his mind, a warning to notify of him about the approaching presence of a slightly hostile person.

“Is it an enemy? Hard to tell because the hostility isn’t even properly formed,” muttered Lakshman, sitting upright on his bed.

“Wait and see what happens. I think that’s better than jumping to conclusions,” said Asura in his mind, which made Lakshman nod his head in a silent agreement.

A few seconds later, the sound of footsteps came to a halt and a familiar voice asked, “Is anyone inside?”

“Yes, sir. The Solaris Hero is inside, resting.”

“Good,” said the voice, and its owner entered the room, instantly being recognized as Alistair.

The man noticed the occupied sectioned room and walked towards it to find the hero sitting upright, causing him to smile and say his greeting. Lakshman instantly felt a foreboding feeling, as if he was about to face a great obstacle that did not have a lower or upper limit or the sense of defeat.

“Greetings, Solaris Hero. My name is Alistair, and I’ve come to talk.”