Earlier, when Lakshman was put under the Fear Factor spell, he stood frozen solid with a shocked look on his face. His eyes staring ahead blankly as if he had seen something horrifying. This was the state his spirit was inside his Unconscious World.

“Lucky!” The fairy exclaimed, gripping his arm and shaking him to try and bring him to his senses. “What’re you doing just staring into space? Come on! Your enemy is right there!”

“Leave him, pixie,” said Asura, staring at his current-self with a frown.

She instantly became angry at his words and exclaimed, “How many times do I have to say it?! I’m a fairy! Not a pixie! Also, how can you just say to leave him alone like this when he’s clearly in trouble?! We need to help him!”

“And we shall, but not like this,” said Asura, looking seriously at Lakshman standing still like a statue. “I’ve seen this kind of thing happen a really long time ago. It was during my battle against the Eight Disasters, when Lagron ended up getting attacked by this spell and it took him a great deal of effort to break free from it.”

The fairy tilted her head in confusion and asked, “Who?”

“Lagron,” said Asura with a sigh. “He’s like a friend, a rival, and an enemy. I’m actually not sure what our relationship is to be honest.”

As he admitted, he formed a wry smile while she looked at him through narrowed eyebrows. Then he coughed and went on speaking in a serious.

“Anyway, he told me that he was experiencing something akin to mind control, except that he was reliving the worst fears that lurked deep within his heart. So, judging by Lakshman’s current state, I am guessing he must be experiencing something he deeply fears and will not be coming to his senses any time soon.”

“What?!” The fairy exclaimed, looking shocked. “That can’t be! We need to help him!”

Asura shook his head and said, “No. It will only have negative effect. He has to come to terms with his fears and break free on his own. The other option is to break this is by defeating the caster because only by defeating him will his magic weaken to the point of Lucky realising what was happening.”

“Yeah. Makes sense, but what about the enemy?” The fairy asked, pointing at the scene where the Overlord was walking around to face Lakshman from the front. “At this rate, he’s going to kill you!”

To that, Asura smirked and asked, “Aren’t you forgetting there’s more than one spirit inhabiting this body?”

At his question, she blinked in surprise before she looked hesitant and asked, “But… if you fight, you might kill him and we don’t want that.”

Asura chuckled and turned away to face his enemy before saying, “I won’t kill him.” Then there was a momentary pause before he glanced sideways at her over his shoulders and said with a smile, “I’ll try not to anyway.”

“Ah!” She said, widening her eyes and looking shocked.

As she extended her hand towards him, he vanished from the spot as his consciousness rose to the surface and took charge of Lakshman’s body. From there, he grabbed hold of the enemy’s attack and delivered a dialogue before he pulled him forward before delivering a powerful headbutt to shock him.

“I suppose your cowardice comes from the pride of being a Demigod, I guess. In that case, why don’t we crush that pride for yours, your majesty?” Asura said, and he smiled arrogantly before cracking his fingers ominously.

The Overlord was shocked by the blow and shook his head before looking back at him in utter disbelief. He could not believe that his enemy had been able to break free from such a powerful spell. This was also his first time seeing someone break free from that spell, especially when he used it in his Demigod form.

“It can’t be…! You… You broke free…?!” He exclaimed in disbelief.

Asura merely nodded and then smirked before he asked, “Hard to tell?”

Those arrogant words caused the Overlord to become enraged as he had never met anyone that could break free from his Fear Factor spell. For him, that spell took many years to master, and he had used it on a lot of people from the alien race that served him. He made his test subjects experience the spell and learnt the effects from them to improve and refine it before making it as powerful as it was on that day. So, he could not fathom that a single mortal was able to break free from it without breaking a sweat.

“How?! How the hell did you escape from it?!” He shouted, losing all of his cool as this unprecedented occurrence rattled him. “I’m a Demigod! The effects would’ve been tripled, and yet you still break free?! Even though I, a Demigod, used it on you, a mere mortal?!”

He became startled when Asura began to let out a low laughter while he looked at him humorously.

“So, you being a Demigod suddenly puts you on a higher level than me? How funny?” Asked Asura with a smile as if he found the whole ordeal to be rather funny. “If my current-self had fought you seriously, you wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“What?” The Overlord exclaimed, looking shocked and confused.

“Don’t believe me?” Asura asked with a small smile and raised his hand before aiming it at him. “How about I prove it then?”

“What nonsense are you on about? I don’t—?”

As the alien went on speaking, he suddenly stopped speaking as he felt something extraordinary happen to him. The next moment, he felt every joint of his body get separated from each other; his head from his neck, his arms from each other till his shoulders, and his legs from his toes, foot, knees to his waist.

Then he blinked and suddenly found himself standing in the exact same spot as before, looking normal as ever. He reflexively moved his hands to touch his neck, waist, and arms to check that nothing in particular had happened to him. Realising that nothing had happened, he turned back to his enemy with a look of horror on his face as Asura continued to stare at him with a smile, his hand remained aimed at him.

“What’s wrong? You look scared?” Asura asked with a smile that was more like the smile of a devil than a human being.

The Overlord’s hands began to shake as the experience he suddenly had instilled in him a fear he had never had before. For some reason, he got the feeling that if he moved an inch, he would get killed on the spot. This further shocked him because he was confident in his powers as a Demigod, and yet, his instincts were screaming at him that his foe was far too much for him to take on as of that moment.

“What’s the matter? Got cold feet?” Asura asked, lowering his arm and chuckling as he understood what was going through his enemy’s mind. “I guess you sensed it, and to be honest, that would’ve happened if he was serious with you. Too bad though, because he believes in fair chances and feels there is a chance of redemption within you despite you clearly trying to kill us just now.”

He turned and began pacing around with his hands held behind his back as he walked around his enemy, who followed him despite the horrified look he wore on his face.

“You see, my current-self is in a dilemma of wanting to give you a second chance, and to make matters difficult, you are supported by his wife and a certain energetic god. So, he is really pressed hard to defeat you without causing you too much harm. I, on the other hand, want to kill you right here, right now, but it’s not a heroic thing to do, is it?”

At his question, the Overlord suddenly found his mouth and asked, “Aren’t you a hero?”

“Hero? Me?” Asura asked, coming to a stop and turning to look at him in bemusement. He gestured at himself with his thumb and asked, “Me? A hero? I think you’re mistaken about something here, loser. I, and a hero, don’t go together; I am a villain. I destroy to create a better world, I cause suffering to create a peaceful world, and I cause destruction to create a wonderful world. I’m a villain, not a hero.”

His enemy could not believe what he just heard, and he expression his disbelief in a slow quiet voice of, “What…?”

“So, you tell me what you think of this?” Asura asked as he began pacing around his enemy. “A young kid dreams of living in a world filled with peace, but when a tragic event occurs, it warps his belief of the world and takes matters into his own hands to make chances accordingly as he sees fit from his beliefs.” He stopped and turned to face his enemy as he asked, “Do you believe this youngster is right in doing all the destruction he had done, and all the lives he snuffed out to enforce his vision upon the world?”

The Overlord blinked at him in surprise, his earlier fear subsiding and was replaced by doubt as he thought for a moment before giving his response.

“I think he is justified because of a tragic event that changed his way of viewing the world that made him try to change it for the better to match the vision he had because of that change.”

“Even though it cost countless lives as the result of his ambition?”

“I… I guess is it tragic for so many lives to be lost,” the Overlord said, showing for the first-time empathy for the lives lost, “but… it was a worthy sacrifice to make a better world.”

Asura looked at him for a moment before nodding in acceptance. Then he came to a stop once more and looked at him with a deadly expression on his face when he began speaking again.

“With that same logic, you tell me whether a youth that was made fun of because he stood out like a sore thumb among his race, and he wanted to shut them up, so he embarked on a journey to make himself get recognised by them. The result is the suffering of many creatures, and the causalities of many worlds all to get recognition. Is what he did the right thing?”

This made the Overlord realise his enemy was referring to the things he had done in the past that lead him to be there. He instantly grew indignant and clenched his fists tightly as he was fully resolved to accept his fate as he looked firmly back at him.

“Yes! I did the right thing to do because there was no other choice! This was the only way, the only path to move on!”

The two warriors stared into each other’s faces in complete silence for several seconds before Asura closed his eyes and nodded in understanding.

“I see. You have a great conviction in your belief, and I can’t call it wrong, but… it is still… wrong!”

As he said that, Asura flashed his eyes open and shocked his enemy. In an instant, he moved before the Overlord could do anything and raised his fist into the air before bringing it down hard on top of his enemy’s skull. The impact caused his enemy to feel a heavy knock as his legs buckled and forced him to fall flat on the ground, causing it to cave in around them while dust rose into the air.

The dust slowly cleared to reveal his enemy sprawled on the ground, moaning softly from the injury he suffered. Asura stood over him and looked down at him while folding his arms, a grim expression on his face as he stared at his enemy.

“We both experienced tragic events at a young age, but instead of learning the good out of it, we let the negativity get to us and move along a path of destruction without a care for anyone’s life but our own beliefs. It made us delusional, losers to the very end. As such, both our ways of leading our lives is wrong,” he said in a firm voice with great seriousness.

The Overlord rubbed his head and sat upright to look up at him while gritting his teeth in frustration.

“Damn you!” He shouted, and lunged up at him in an attempted to deliver an uppercut from his sitting position.

Asura saw it coming and moved so fast that one moment, he was standing there, and the next moment he was standing a few meters away. This astonishment speed shocked his enemy, who stood upright and glared menacingly at him.

“I don’t care what you say! It was the only thing to do to become strong and get recognised by my people! There was no two ways around it; just the path to attain the power to become a Demigod!” The Overlord exclaimed in a sharp voice.

“What a strong denial, but it’s understandable. In fact, it would be even more believable if those were your true thoughts if you weren’t being manipulated by someone else,” remarked Asura with a chuckle.

This made his enemy blink in surprise and confusion, making him ask, “What? Me being manipulated? What nonsense are you sprouting now?”

Asura let out a low laughter before he looked at his enemy and seemingly spoke to someone else altogether.

“I know you’re in there. Come out now! You better show yourself, or I will force you out. The choice is… yours!”

“Huh?” The Overlord asked, looking thoroughly bewildered. “What are you doing? Who the hell are you talking to? I’m the only one here, and I’m the only one you… you…!”

He faltered in saying the words as he felt some kind of change occur within him. Suddenly, he placed a hand on his chest as if he felt an immense pain from it before he pulled his head back and began to scream in a loud shrill voice. His eyes were wide and round as something within him forcefully pushed his consciousness aside and rose to the surface.

A moment later, the screaming died down, and he remained in that same position as before when he straightened up to face his enemy with his eyes closed. Then he slowly opened his eyes and looked at his enemy with a look of interest on his face. When he spoke, his voice belonged to the Overlord, but it felt as though someone else was speaking instead.

“Very interesting that you figured out about me,” he remarked with a small smile.

“Who are you?” Asura asked, narrowing his eyes and looked seriously at him.

The stranger chuckled lightly in a cool voice and said, “Introductions first, I see. Very well. In that case, you shall call me Amit, and know that my father is none other than the God of Calamity, Climax!”