When the whiteness lessened until everything returned to normal, what was visible was a wake of devastation. Much of the land was destroyed, buildings vanishing from the face of the planet, and instead left a barren wasteland. Lakshman and Erza appeared out of the clouds as they were protected from the destructive wave by his Elemental Coated Armour. They stared at the massive destruction that their enemy had done that portion of the planet.

“My world…!” Erza said in a hushed voice, staring at the devastation in horror.

Lakshman did not say anything, but his furious expression gave away the great anger he felt towards his enemy. He could not begin to imagine the amount of damage done to the planet, let alone come to realise just how many people just lost their lives in that destruction.

“Madness,” expressed Asura inside his head in disbelief, which was a feeling shared by his current-self. “So much devastation… and so many lives lost… what a waste.”

He was a proud warrior that had taken the lives of many people, but never in this kind of brutal manner. While he was striving to bring everyone together in order to create a peaceful for the future generations, this devastation was meaningless and it even saddened him to think of the number of children that died because of it.

“Hahahahahaha!!!!!”

Upon hearing the roaring mirthless laughter of his enemy, Lakshman turned and glared menacingly at him.

“Do you see?” The Overlord asked, grinning gleefully at him. “This is the power of a Demigod!” Then he punched his clenched fist into the air and shouted, “I did it! I finally became a Demigod!”

Lakshman was angered by this arrogance and demanded, “At what cost?!”

“Hmm?” The alien asked, turning and looking over at him. “The cost?”

While gesturing around at the devastation surrounding them, Lakshman asked him, “What meaning is there when your goal to achieving supreme power resulted in so many deaths! What was the point of your goal, especially since your rule a world of your own since your soldier constantly called you the ‘Overlord’ all the time!”

“Oh? Them?” The Overlord asked, and he burst into a hilarious laughter before facing him with a maddening expression on his face. “You don’t understand, fool! I didn’t help them survive, I used them to achieve my own ends!”

“What?!” Lakshman asked, looking shocked. “You used… a civilisation?!”

“Correct!” The Overlord said, and he began revealing his backstory with a fiendish grin on his face. “You see, I was born in the planet known as Vizox, a planet for the dwelling of the Demigods. Unfortunately, while I did attain considerable power that made me much stronger than everyone, I couldn’t be classified as a Demigod.”

“See these markings?” He asked, gesturing at the green glowing markings visible on his face and arms. “They are the symbols of me being a Demigod, but I lacked the status, and I was thrown out. Despite all of my power, just because I lacked the status that put me together with them, I was betrayed and deserted. It was… unacceptable!”

When he said those words, he suddenly looked very angry, and had clenched both of his fists tightly.

Lakshman narrowed his eyebrows to make a sharp expression and said, “So, you wandered around the universe, and ended up meeting the aliens with whom you formed a contract to help their dying world prosper in exchange for working for you so that you search for the Power Orb?”

“Precisely!” The Overlord admitted, smiling once again as much of his actions were guessed and summarised by his enemy. “It seems you understand my motives fairly easily.”

“There’s nothing else to think about once you told me about a bit of your back story,” said Lakshman, shaking his head and looking sadly at him. “Why go so far just for a stupid status?”

Suddenly, his enemy became extremely mad and screamed, “Don’t you call it a ‘stupid status’ you bastard!”

His anger manifested itself in the form of a powerful release of power that caused violent wind to blow in all directions. Lakshman and Erza got buffeted as the Elemental Coated Armour defended them despite the attack it might pose to them. Once it died down, they listened to the Overlord exclaim in a loud powerful voice.

“Being born with the status of a Demigod is my birth right, but it never happened. Out of the one in a million chance of failure, I ended up not attaining that status. So, I was shunned from my people, despised by my own family, and I was finally thrown out as if I was a waste! I wanted to get back at them, and I didn’t care of the sacrifices I made along the way just as long as I achieved my goal. Now, I stand before you having finally become a Demigod myself!”

As he finished his dialogue, he burst into a loud laughter that caused him to suddenly surge with incredible power. The wind began blowing everywhere at high speed and buffeting Lakshman and Erza again, however, Lakshman’s expression became stone cold as it became difficult to guess what he was thinking about.

“He’s mad,” commented Erza in a quiet voice.

“I agree,” he replied with a slight nod. Then he turned to his left and found the God of Energy, Engraut, hovering there with a serene smile on his face. “So, what do you want me to do with him? He’s a Demigod, you know? Dealing with my brother is kind of a personal problem, but should I really be the one to take care of his person?”

“Well,” began Engraut hesitantly, eying the Overlord with a sad look on his face. “To be honest, I want you to give him a chance at redemption.”

Lakshman blinked at him without changing his expression while Asura exclaimed in his mind, “No! This bastard, that had caused so many deaths, should be killed! Destroy him like you destroyed so many other bastards before him, Lakshman! Do it now!”

“No, Lakshman!” Said Engraut, countering Asura’s words with a pleading look on his face. “I’m restricted by the rules that were placed on the Gods by The Creator to not interference in the Physical Plane other than to visit your believers and providing some guidance. So, it has to be you to stop him, but don’t kill him. I still believe there is hope.”

“Don’t listen to that idiot, Lakshman!” Asura said inside his mind in a firm voice. “This bastard deserves heavenly retribution from the Serpent of Revenge! There is no other way!”

The opinions were split, and Lakshman was placed in the middle of it all, with both sides trying to pull him over to their end. However, he remained calm and emotionless as ever before he turned to face Erza and asked her in a curious voice.

“Do you think this person deserves death as punishment for what he’s done?”

Erza blinked at him in surprise before she looked around her at the destruction that the Overlord had caused from becoming reckless with his new-found powers. Then she looked back and looked angrily at the Overlord, who was laughing hysterically and suddenly looked sad, sensing that it was mixed with the sadness and grief he felt deep inside.

So, she came to a decision and told Lakshman, “I can’t forgive him for what he’s done to my people. He even tried to kill me, but… I don’t think killing him is the right action to take. He must be punished for the destruction he had wrought, and the lives he had manipulated, but death isn’t a suitable end. This man must face justice based on what is right and not by our own emotions, otherwise, we’d be no better than him; mindless fools believing that we’re the only ones who are correct.”

To her words, he blinked in surprise and smiled as he asked, “A wise decision, Erza.” Then he added with an angry look towards his enemy, “Frankly speaking, I want to kill him for trying to kill you, but… your decision is wiser than mine.”

She blinked at him smiling sweetly at her, making her chuckle and say, “Well, after having experienced the pressure from my father and second brother, I know I must be detached from my feelings in order to make the correct decisions.”

He looked sadly at her and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising for it?” She asked, looking surprised.

“It’s because I love you, Erza,” he said sweetly.

His words caused her to blink in astonishment before her face blushed crimson from the sudden confession she received. It added more confusion to her as she was still confused over why he called her his wife.

“W-What do you mean by that?!” She exclaimed, blinking rapidly at him. “I’m your wife? You love me? I don’t understand!”

Instead of answering her, he simply replied, “I’ll let you know later. For now, just stay here, Erza. It was a mistake on my part earlier for getting distracted and letting him attack you, but I will let that happen a second time around.”

“W-Wait!” Erza called after him, but she could not move from the Elemental Coated Armour that surrounded her as he moved away from both her and the God of Energy, Engraut, whom she cannot see.

“Alright. I’ll defeat him,” he said, hearing Asura sighing in his head and Engraut to smile at him. He sighed and called out, “Phylex! Draga!”

There were a few seconds of silence before two small animals appeared out of nowhere as they removed the invisibility magic that they were using to cloak over themselves. The reason for their lateness was they were busily protecting the other heroes after realising the destruction that was happening and shielded them with their magic. Upon his call, they immediately flew away from them and came as fast they could to reach him.

“We came as you called, master,” said Phylex telepathically.

“Should we go and kick that guy a big one?” Draga asked telepathically in an energetic voice, looking forward to a battle.

“We are to defeat him and bring him to his senses,” he informed them in a firm voice. “I am strictly forbidding you from using spells that could bring harm to his life. Do you understand?”

Phylex nodded his head while Draga’s shoulders slumped as he groaned dejectedly.

“He is considerably a powerful enemy to contend with, but I believe we can do it together,” commented Phylex telepathically in a confident voice.

“I was so hoping to make that man a goner for what his soldier did to us earlier!” Draga complained irritably through telepathy.

“Forget it,” said Lakshman, and turned his attention to their opponent.

Lakshman decided to get his enemy’s attention, and he began surging with incredible power that caused the ground to quake and send wild wind flowing in all directions. This instantly made the man stop laughing and turned to look at him with an expression of astonishment on his face.

“Even after all this, you still want to fight me?!” The Overlord exclaimed, gritting angrily at him. “You could’ve lived!”

“No. I cannot just stand idly by and let you do as you please when you’re clearly in the wrong!” Lakshman said, eying him with a serious expression on his face.

This made the Overlord chuckle and ask, “Fine! Suit yourself, but do realise already that you’re not a match for me, not with who I am currently!”

“Who says I’m fighting you alone?”

“What?”

While his enemy was surprised, Lakshman continued to surge with incredible power before he clapped his hands together. In an instant, he channelled his energy into both of his familiars and giving them. There was a momentary flash of light before it dimmed and revealed the two familiars had materialised in their original forms.

Erza and the Overlord, including the other heroes and everyone else that had survived the wave or were outside of it, stared at the sudden appearance of the two monsters with shock. The Eternal Phoenix and the Spirit Dragon glared down at their enemy, who stared at them in shock. But he soon began to laugh loudly as he found this hilarious and glared menacingly at him.

“Summoned Beasts, ah? Heh! I know this trick as well!” And the overlord clapped his hands together in front of him.

In an instant, there was a flash of light from his end before they dimmed and revealed a large monster with long horns on its forehead with a beastly appearance. Its height matched that with the height that both the Eternal Phoenix and the Spirit Dragon were at, and Lakshman felt that that the beast was somehow even stronger evenly matched if he were to combine the strength of both of his familiars.

“Meet my Summoned Beast, Crimson Gigatros!” The Overlord said, and the beast suddenly let out a humungous roar that created a wild blowing wind that flew everywhere buffeted the two familiars and Lakshman.

Lakshman smiled a little as he said, “I should be more surprised, but for some reason, I’m not. Probably because I kind of had an idea that you must’ve possessed a familiar of your own.”

“Familiar? Is that what you call your Summoned Beast?” When his enemy nodded, he burst into a laughter before his eyes flashed dangerously at him as he said, “Get ready to meet your demise!”

“We shall see!” Lakshman replied in a firm voice.

He and his enemy both surged with power before flying towards one another to begin their battle while the three summoned monsters flew towards one another as the final battle began in earnest.