“Ah. Life in the hospital is so boring,” complained Vikram as he lay on a white bed in a large room inside the castle.

Lying on a bed beside him was Gram, who groaned and declared, “The next time you complain, I’ll seriously come over and shove this paper down your throat to shut you up.”

“Wow! So violent!” Vikram said, looking surprised. “Cool down dude. Your B.P. will go through the roof at this rate.”

“I wouldn’t have any problems if you just be silent already,” said Gram wearily.

“Stop bickering, you two,” said Natsu from the bed he lay on nearby. “You’re disturbing everyone else.”

“What ‘everyone else’ are there when it’s just us, the so called Nine Heroes of Legends,” stated Vikram as he looked around at the room.

True to his words, the only people currently occupying the beds in the castle hospital were the nine heroes. Fred, Martin, and Maxwell were eying them with pleasant expressions, Ward was ignoring them completely as he quietly read a book he got hold of, and William was watching them with a bemused look on his face.

Fred laughed and asked, “Even so, the doctor told us to relax, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. I suppose so,” agreed Vikram as he relented a little, then he looked keenly at her and asked, “but still, no one would’ve guessed that you truly were a girl. I mean, the way you dressed and presented yourself is so, um, how do I put it…? Manly?”

As Fred looked embarrassed by his statement, William scowled and said, “Hey now. No need to be rude or anything to her.”

“What? Did I come off as being rude?” Vikram asked, quickly looking at her apologetically.

“No. You didn’t,” she replied with a smile.

“That’s good, but I’m still curious as to why you acted the way you did? Like, was there specific reasons, or requirements, or so on that made you dress and behave like a man?”

Fred was quiet as all heads turned to face her before she smiled sadly and said, “Well, there are, but the biggest of them all was that my world is ruled by the males dominating where the women don’t have much of a social standing. In fact, we are treated as more of a commodity than actual living beings, so my parents raised me to escape my fate of being treated as nothing more than a tool for the men’s entertainment.”

The silence that followed her explanation of her world was riddled with tension and was very uncomfortable to endure. Everyone in the room, other than her, were male, and upon hearing her details, they were transfixed with an expression of disgust on their faces. They could not believe such an atrocious world existed somewhere out in the universe that would look down on women in such a cruel manner.

“That is horrible,” said Vikram in agreement.

“No kidding,” muttered Maxwell with sadness on his face.

“What a world…? What sort of trash men would do that…?” William asked angrily.

“I think they fear what would come if women were given authority,” supplied Gram, causing everyone to look at him.

“Huh?” Vikram asked in surprise.

“What?” Martin asked in confusion.

“Seriously?” William asked, eying him with narrowed eyebrows. “How can you say that?”

“Because, the current ruler of my world is the king, but from behind the scenes, the strings are pulled by my mother, the queen,” stated Gram much to everyone’s surprise. “So, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one that ordered my death, seems to fit her character perfectly to choose the greater good over the life of her son.”

There was a moment of stunned silence as Gram finished with a matter-of-fact look on his face before Ward said telepathically, “When you look at history, you’ll certainly see large spaces where men were cruel to women, or that women manipulated from behind the scenes. There was never an equal balance on either side as they tried to up one over the other, and during all of that, the people in the middle were always handed the bad end of the stick. It’s sad.”

“That’s just the state of which our society currently runs in,” agreed Vikram with a sad look on his face. “Back in my world, some women are coming out and finding inventive ways to ground popular figures from the film industry or other sectors. In reaction, the men are unwilling to mentor women or act cordially with them like they do with fellow men, and this kind of treatment ends up labelling the men as being unreasonable to women.”

“That is messed up,” said Natsu sadly, “but there’s nothing any of us can do about it. Instead, why don’t we be smart about it and focus on something else?”

“You call that being smart; avoiding the problem?” Vikram asked with a raised eyebrow in incredulity.

“I know, but when you can’t fix it, it’s better to avoid it entirely. That’s my take on it,” admitted Natsu with a sad smile. Then he turned to Fred and said, “The good thing is that, whatever may have happened to you on your original world, now you’re in a better world where you can express yourself freely, although I would advise you to be careful lest you offend the wrong person and end up being hit massively for it.”

Fred chuckled lightly and said, “Yes. I’m well aware of that already. Those were many life lessons that my world had taught me, and I’m confident it will help me live a more peaceful life here than over there.”

“You won’t be alone,” added William, and he looked sincerely at her. “I’m here for you.”

At his words, Fred looked surprised before she blushed and became embarrassed.

Seeing their reaction, Vikram eyed them shrewdly and asked cheekily, “Oh? What’s this? Are those hearts coming from the two of you?”

“Huh?” William asked quickly, turning to face him looking flustered while Fred did her best to hide her face. “There’s nothing emanating from us, you silly fool.”

“Oh, but I see them though,” Vikram further said with a cheeky grin.

Seeing this, William let out a deep sigh while rolling his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. Everyone else either chuckled or laughed at this light banter of humour between Vikram and William.

“I wonder what his reaction would be when he finds out about this,” said Martin, and he along with everyone else turned to glance at the last bed on the corner of the room.

Lying there sleeping peacefully was Lakshman, his eyes closed as he rested in a comfortable position.

“He hasn’t woken up since he got here along with the rest of us,” said Vikram curiously.

“At least, he’s getting a well-deserved rest,” commented Natsu with a smile.

“Yeah. I can definitely agree on that,” said Maxwell pleasantly.

“It’s even more amazing to think he has connection to the Gods,” said Martin in amazement.

“Yeah,” everyone agreed and fell silent as they remembered the events that had transpired after the Goddess of War, Kalkitha, was summoned.

***

As the Goddess of War, Kalkitha was summoned, the fusion of the Nine Heroes of Legends became undone, and all nine heroes appeared sitting down on the ground. Lakshman seemed to glance fleetingly up at the goddess before muttering something and collapsing sideways on the ground, knocked out from complete exhaustion.

While the Goddess remained motionless with her eyes closed, everyone on the spot was very silent and still. They were waiting for something to happen, which soon did when she slowly opened her eyes and gazed at the battlefield before her.

She blinked once and then glanced around at her surroundings as if trying to come to terms with what had happened and where she was. Then she seemed to nod her head as she came to an understanding of what had happened for her to be there.

“I see. Divine Summoning,” she muttered, and her voice was soft and so smooth that it contradicted with her title as the Goddess of War.

She shifted her body slightly to look at the people sprawled behind her and sweetly at them.

“Greetings, children. Were you the one who summoned me?” She asked elegantly with great dignity and curiosity.

“Uh. Well, yeah but technically he did,” said Vikram as he braved to respond to her and pointed one finger towards the spot where Lakshman lay on the ground.

She moved her eyes to follow in the direction he was pointed and rest on the spot Lakshman was at. In an instant, her expression changed to that of great surprise at seeing whom that had summoned her before a motherly expression formed on her face. At the same time, Lakshman had seemingly regained consciousness as he sat upright and looked towards her with a sad expression on his face.

“Mother,” he said in a quiet voice.

“My child,” she replied soothingly.

“Eh?!”

Hearing their exchange, the other eight heroes blinked in surprise and exclaimed in a shocked voice.

There was a momentary pause before the God of Calamity, Climax, said in a carrying voice, “Hello there, Kali.”

At his call, the Goddess turned around and faced towards him with a pleasant smile on her face.

“Greetings to you too, Climax. What brings you to the Physical Plane? Were you also summoned as well?” She asked in an elegant voice that was filled with curiosity.

Climax shook his head and said, “No. I’m here on my own accord to hammer down some payback on these fools that made a fool out of my son.”

This made the Goddess’s smile to falter a little, but she still maintained her cool as she asked, “Really? But if that is the case, then how come you are personally here? If it is a fight between your son and his enemy, then I do not believe it warrants for your intervention in their conflict.”

To those words, Climax clicked his tongue and looked at her through narrowed eyes. He was trying to be careful with his choice of words because she was a peculiar kind of Goddess that could easily get angry at the simplest of things. Once angered, she would become a driving force so deadly that she would not stop at anything to eliminate what she perceives as a problem. As such, if she becomes angry, he would have a difficult battle on his hands.

“Perhaps, but as a father, I cannot ignore such things happening to my family. Even you wouldn’t condone such things, would you, Kali?” Climax asked her, attempting to convince her with sympathy.

However, his plan did not work as she pleasantly replied, “Before you are a father, you are a God. A being of higher existence. You should be mindful of your actions as they would reflect on your surroundings. Besides, it is not our place to interfere in matters happening in the Physical Plane unless we were summoned. As such, you have crossed your boundaries for selfish reasons, and I was summoned to contend with you.”

“What?” Climax asked, looking irritably at her.

He knew he must be careful with her, but her words hit a nerve somewhere in him and made him forget all about not making her angry. At this rate, she was pointing the blame on him for crossing the line as a God and not fulfilling his duty as a father of a Demigod.

“It seems like your position as a father seems to be blinding you of your duties as a God,” said the Goddess coolly.

“No, I’m not,” said Climax firmly. “This planet was also in one of my duties to destroy as I deemed it did not meet the requirements for existence by The Creator. As such, I deemed it was my duty to come down personally to first hand down judgement on these fools before laying waste to the entire planet.”

At the end of his speech, he smiled confidently as he firmly believed that these words would indeed make his actions acceptable. Truth be told, this world was indeed part of the many worlds he had the duty to observe and destroy when necessary. As such, his position gave him a stronger might to convince the Goddess of War to not interfere and proceed with his planned destruction of this world and eliminate the last bloodline of his greatest enemy since coming into existence.

There was a momentary pause from the Goddess of War, who had seemingly lowered her head a little at his words and said, “Is that so? Then, are you implying that my work 200-years-ago was a complete waste of time?”

Climax blinked at those surprising words and reacted with, “What?”

“I said, are you implying that my effort in balancing this world 200-years-ago was a complete waste of time and effort?!” She demanded, raising her head and voice at the same time.

Her expression no longer showed the kind smile she was wearing previously and instead showed a furious look that completed changed how she was presented. As if to reflect in the change in her mood, the weather began to alter rapidly as the crystal-clear sky began to get filled with clouds that were becoming murky grey, indicating that a storm was coming.

Everyone looked up at the changing sky as the wind began to blow chilly air that caused them to shiver and hug themselves. Climax widened his eyes slightly as he watched her facial expression becoming angrier and angrier with each passing second.

“200-years-ago, this world had been heading towards destruction, and I was summoned at that time to bring balance to this world. As such, I carried out my duty to protect this world by pushing the world forces into a full-scale world war that ended with mankind realising their mistake and throwing away weaponry to choose to lead a peaceful life as was required by my task.”

He gulped reflexively as he watched her skin slowly glowing slightly and her long black hair going wild with the wind that begin to blow around them. She was going into an explosive rage that was far more violent than a hundred volcanoes exploding at the same time. No God would wish to stand before this insurmountable rage other than Gods that are in the similar power scale like the God of Calamity.

“Now, I’ve been summoned once more to obviously defend this world from your selfish actions, and yet, even after being aware for what reason I was summoned for, you continue to dare threaten the safety of this planet right before me?! Haaaaaaaaa?!”

As she screamed the last word, multiple bolts of lightning seared through the clouds and struck the ground that was quite a distance away from them, causing a mighty explosion of sound. A moment later, her fair skin began to peel off into bits and pieces as if it was being shed. In its place, pure black skin appeared, and within seconds, all of her skin was peeled away and was replaced by pure black skin. She held her right arm out and firmly gripped a trident that had appeared out of thin air while two more arms protruded out of her back holding different types of weapons, like an axe and a knife. Her eyes had become round and wide, and her tongue extended out of her mouth, giving her a demented look that was terrifying to behold.

A sudden pressure began emanating from around her, causing the nearby people to feel overwhelmed by it. They were so scared that they felt they might have a heart attack and people like Martin, who could simply could not handle it, keeled over and lost consciousness automatically. Soon the entire planet sensed this overwhelming pressure of a dreadful being with unsurmountable rage that could very well destroy them both physically, mentally and spiritually.

The Goddess of War’s body heaved up and down with each breath she took while giving off a mad glare towards the God of Calamity. For his part, Climax stared back at her with a fearful look on his face. Her expression and change in attire made him think back to the amount of sheer carnage she had unleashed on many worlds with her unbridled wrath, severing the heads of all who got in her way and collecting them as trophies while spreading fear and chaos across all who faced her.

He knew that if he and she clashed, the battle would not end with just the destruction of this world. She would chase after him, from planet to planet, world to world, even to the further reaches of the God’s Plane, until she finally had his head. That is the kind of Goddess she was, a Goddess who cannot be married because, once angered, she cannot tell the difference between who was good or bad, and who was her friend or foe.

As such, unwilling as he was, Climax decided on a course of action and said, “It seems I am mistaken, Kali. I am sorry. I am deeply sorry for upsetting you. You are correct that I indeed overstepped my bounds and have done something bad. As such, please, calm down. I do not wish to see you destroying this world in your quest to destroy me. I do not want to see you lose yourself like you did many times before. So, please… calm down.”

Once he finished, he waited for something to happen, and he prepared himself for the worst. However, as time went by, nothing happened, and the Goddess continued to remain there, gazing at him with the same destructive fury in her face. Seeing nothing happening, Climax realised something and decided that she would calm down if he were to leave. That was what she was waiting for, and if he continued to remain there, she would indeed lose whatever self-restraint she had and plunge into a bloody massacre.

“Right,” he muttered and smiled bitterly.

The moment he closed his eyes, his body began to lose its form and quickly turned to dust as he left the Physical Plane and returned to the God Plane. All that was left in his wake was the destroyed battleground from his battle with the heroes, and an extremely angry Goddess of War, who continued to gaze at the spot where he stood with an extremely destructive anger emanating from her eyes.