“So, basically, because he had lost his parents at a young age, he saw a motherly figure in the Goddess and started calling her ‘mother’?” Natsu asked with interest.

“Yes,” replied Lakshman with a smile. “Deep down, he had been looking for a motherly figure to turn to so as to check that he was doing the right thing. I mean, our mothers tend to be more right about a lot of things than the kids after all.”

“Ah. I can understand that feeling,” remarked Maxwell with a smile as he thought about his mother. “When I joined the army, my father was adamantly against it, but my mother fully supported me and said that it makes her proud that I had joined the effort to fight for my country. She’s a wonderful mother.”

“She supported you?!” Vikram exclaimed, looking stunned. “I thought a mother would be shocked if any of her child did that.”

“Yes, but she was from a fighting family background, and running away from the problems was never her style. So, when my father died a few years ago in a war involved three different countries, I decided to join the army, and she fully supported me. She truly was a wonderful mother.”

“Yes. Mothers are wonderful,” admitted William, smiling fondly as he remembered his mother from his home world.

“You can say that again,” agreed Vikram from beside him with a grin on his face. “My mother always gave me these pep talks about this and that and whatever else she worried over me for and when things go as she had predicted, I just couldn’t help but feel more confident in trusting her words, although, there were times when she made blunders that put me through some difficulty,” and he smiled wryly with a bemused look on his face.

“I don’t see my parents in different light since both had did their best to raise me safely in the kind of world I came from,” stated Fred with a bitter smile.

“That was good for you,” said Gram with a nod of his head. “Your parents supported you through those difficult times, whereas my mother never really cared anything about us. In fact, I firmly believe she ever saw her sons as a commodity and her husband as a means to an end to keep her rich, pleased with the riches, and that she would never have to become a commoner again.”

“Wait. Your mother was a commoner?” Vikram asked, looking and sounding surprised.

“She was from a commoner’s background, yes,” said Gram with an indifferent tone, “and she grew up through the ranks when my father, who was still a prince at that time, was drawn in by her beauty.”

“Sheesh!” Vikram exclaimed in shock. “Talk about appearances can be deceiving.”

“Yes, and it’s even sadder than father never realised he had picked to fall in love with a beautiful apple that had rotten insides,” commented Gram with his eyes downcast. “It’s become evident to me now after knowing the method of my death was that she was merely throwing away what could possibly become a thorn for her to touch and use. My siblings are not as clever as me, as she raised them in a more obedient manner, and my father is being used because his eyes are clouded by the thing called love.”

“Man… I… I don’t know what to say,” said Vikram finally as he was at a loss for words.

“I’m sorry about your family’s background,” said Fred in a low voice.

“Save it,” snapped Gram in an irritated voice. “I personally don’t care about them anymore. If she viewed me as a threat instead of her son, then I no longer need to treat her as my mother. Besides, with no way of going back, all I can do is focus on the present and live the way I want to from now on. Well, as soon as I figure out what I should do from now on.”

There was a moment of pause before Lakshman said, “Well, let’s find out about that after we attend this gathering that Bolten asked us to attend.”

“Right,” said Gram and nodded in agreement.

The group were currently walking through the castle corridors while being escorted by several Royal Guards. It had been a day since they had been admitted to the hospital before a request came in the form of a guard. He brought the request that was sent by Bolten to attend a very important meeting the very next day if possible. As such, the doctor checked them thoroughly and told them to not exert themselves too much because of not recovering fully yet.

“I wish we can put this off, but…” the doctor said and trailed away while letting out a sigh in resignation. “It’s an important matter after all.”

“Do you have any idea what it’s about, doc?” Vikram asked curiously.

“I wish I knew,” the doctor replied with a sad look on his face. Then he looked sternly at them and said, “But still, just because you’re free to go doesn’t mean you should exert yourselves too much. Especially you!” He thundered as he directed his attention towards Lakshman, who looked surprised. “You're badly hurt to the point that no ordinary human could’ve gotten back up and walking like you. Seriously! Do not, and I emphasise, do not push yourself any more than the minimum required! Got it?”

Lakshman blinked at him in surprise while the others heroes smiled from behind him at the sharp treatment he was getting.

“Alright, sir. I’ll be careful,” he replied finally, a bitter smile formed on his face.

The doctor stared fixedly at him for a moment before he closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh in resignation. It appeared as though the doctor was only taking the word of the hero at face value while being aware that such a thing might not be possible for him. As such, all he could do was hope nothing happened after this for his patients regardless of whether they were heroes or mere soldiers.

Once they were discharged, the group was escorted by the guards who were merely there to provide them with guidance to where to go rather than imposing on them. Even though the heroes knew where to go to attend the audience hall, the guards refused vehemently.

“We’re strictly ordered to keep you company till you read the place, sir!”

That was the response one of them had given to Natsu when he had asked them why they were necessary. This puzzled them as something felt off, and matters only got confusing and a little unsettling as the guards around the castle were moving around restlessly.

“Something big must be going on,” commented Vikram quietly.

“I guess so,” agreed Maxwell, glancing around at the maids, butlers, and guards moving around in a hurry. “Must be very important.”

“Well, no point speculating till we get there and find out for ourselves,” said Gram briskly.

They nodded in agreement with his words and looked forward as they continued walking along the corridor. They turned several times before reaching the large front doors of the audience hall. Stationed there were two guards as usual, who quickly pulled the doors opened in a hurry the moment they saw the arrival of the heroes.

“Okay…?” Vikram asked curiously, glancing at the guards and noticing their nervousness.

Everyone, but the guards escorting them, walked through the large doors and entered the audience hall. Walking a few meters in, the group drew a collective breath in shock at the sight that greeted them.

The first prince, Bolten, was standing firmly with a sword in hand with a deadly serious look on his face. Standing on his left was Erza, who was looking uncomfortable at the situation that was presented before her while on his right stood his brother, the second prince, Santa. In front of the siblings and kneeling with chains bounding him tightly was none other than their father, the current king and the ruler of the Alzard World.

“Unchain me, you imbecile! Do it now!” The king demanded furiously, glaring up at his son.

“Sorry, father, but that’s not possible,” replied Bolten curtly with a cold look in his eyes.

Just then, he heard footsteps and turned in the direction of the heroes, to whom he smiled graciously.

“Ah. The Nine Heroes of Legends. Welcome,” he greeted them in a slightly more formal tone than he normally would greet them with. He quickly walked over to them and said with a sad smile, “I would like to first apologise for the inconvenience caused to you by my unreasonable request of wanting you to be present here today.”

“Ah. It’s fine man,” replied Vikram with a smile in a cheerful voice. “Rather, I’m more curious about what this is all about.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Natsu, glancing at the chain bound king as he was apparently treated like a criminal. “What’s going on? Can you explain, please?”

Bolten nodded and smiled sadly at them as he responded with, “Yes. That’s the reason why I had gathered everyone here, including you because, you see,” and he began walking away to stand before the kneeling king and finished with, “this man has committed a heinous crime.”

“A crime?!”

“What crime?!”

“What did he do?”

“What’s going on?!”

“The king did something terrible?!”

Those were some of the words began circulating around the hall as the ministers and other important people sat on the spectator seats. On the other hand, many more people began voicing their doubts of the sanity of the prince for treating the king, his own father, in such a terrible manner.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

“He’s our king!”

“He’s the ruler of this world!”

“Release the king! It is unsightly to treat the king in such a manner!”

“Has the prince lost his mind?”

Bolten glanced around at everyone seated there and raised his voice by saying, “I have not lost my mind; he has when he ordered the activation of The Bomb!”

This news shocked everyone and rattled the supporters of the king the moment they heard “The Bomb” being used. Everyone in the government knew that it was a device constructed on a satellite some 200-years-ago during the war that had ravaged their world. Having no use for it anymore, all parties had agreed on deactivating the cannon and moving the satellite towards the location where it would not bring harm to anyone if any irregularities had occurred.

Bolten swung his sword and pointed it at his father, with the sword being mere centimetres away from touching the man’s forehead as he claimed, “This man had ordered the destruction and the eradication of the capital along with all the precious lives that lived here without any hesitation at the amount of casualties it would result in.”

“What?!”

“Is that the truth?!”

“No way!”

“The king did that?”

“I… I don’t know if I can believe it…!”

Bolten glanced around at them and said, “I present you the evidence to back up my claims. Commander Cyde!”

Upon his call, Cyde, who had been standing slightly behind him, cleared his throat as all attention fell on him. He bowed to the prince and to everyone else that was present there.

“Thank you for giving me this chance to speak to everyone here, your highness,” said Cyde in a professional manner.

He looked up at them and put on a serious face as began to explain his side of the story.

“A while after we detected the presence of an unknown entity battling with the heroes, the king had arrived at the headquarters of the League of Heroes. I went to greet him, and on our way to the control room, he informed me of his plan to initiate The Bomb protocols. I vehemently rejected his proposal and repeatedly asked him that we must consult with his sons, daughter, and the other ministers before coming to such a conclusion. However, upon seeing that the heroes were gradually losing the fight, he took matters into his own hands and ordered the execution while issuing the order of silencing me by his guards.”

There was a collective intake of breath from all around upon learning of what had transpired. At the same time, Cyde held his right hand out and pressed the buttons on the M.E.D. device several times before activating it. In an instant, a large screen began sliding up from the ground to the side before a picture emerged on it. Soon, a video began to play and showed everyone present as recorded version of the exchange between Cyde and the king, shown from Cyde’s point of view. As he had described in his story, the video played back exactly till the point where Cyde had escaped from the control room.

“Although upon notifying the prince and being ordered to go back and somehow stop the firing sequence, I was too late in stopping it. By then, the launcher had already been activated and the cannon had fired its energy down at the planet’s surface.”

“No way…!”

“It can’t be!”

“That’s absurd!”

“The king really did that?!”

“But… that cannot be!”

“But the evidence is right there.”

“The video speaks for itself. The king was really planning on killing the citizens at the capital… even us just to save the planet and everyone else?”

“Damn him!”

“How can he be so cruel?!”

“Has the king lost his mind?!”

Hearing their doubts and worries, the king gritted his teeth and glared up at his son before shouting, “You selfish bastards! I did it in order to save our world! My plan is to eliminate the threat that even the heroes couldn’t handle and in doing so, protecting our planet and saving the people around the world. But you seem to think I’ve made a mistake, Bolten, don’t you?”

“Yes, father. You didn’t just make a blunder; you almost committed genocide for your so-called plan! You seriously think your actions in order to protect the millions by sacrificing the thousands are justifiable? To take the lives of so many?!” Bolten demanded angrily.

“We have to prioritise with our choices, and I made the toughest choice! You couldn’t do it! No one ever could, but I took it and yet, you treat me like this?!” The king demanded furiously.

“They are not your subjects, they are people, and you are their king. They expect choices from you fitting of a wise man, not that of a madman! That is why you are in your current position because you ignored the basic principle of not realising how it would affect your populace!”

“You are a fool, Bolten!” The king said in a sharp voice, glaring angrily at him. “In life, you cannot have everything! You must make compromises where necessary and when it is required. To save millions, it was the requirement of me, the king, to sacrifice the thousands. Would you have been able to do it if it meant saving our planet and our human race from certain extinction?!”

Bolten shook his head and replied, “No. I would not have done it because I would’ve tried to find an alternative and even then, I would have resorted to firing The Bomb only when I knew that innocent people would not get caught in the crossfire! That is the responsibility I hold as a king to first prioritise the safety of my people before myself or the world!”

The king glared up at his son and exclaimed, “You… ungrateful swine! Our world is still here because of my leadership, otherwise the new order would’ve collapsed many years ago if I had given up when I lost my wife!”

Bolten’s eyes hardened while both Santa and Erza looked sad, glancing sideways at their elder brother.

“I’m not ungrateful, father,” said Bolten calmly with a sad smile forming on his face, “but you’ve stopped looking at your mistakes and kept going on thoughtlessly without realising what you are doing.”

As the king looked at him in confusion, Bolten took a deep breath and began explaining the faults that his father had made so far, including the one where a member of the higher society had attempted to assassinate the king during the party held in the honour of summoning the heroes and the first victory for the humans.

“I dug deep into the man’s history and found that he threw away his old name after his father’s death and worked his way back into the higher society with the sole reason of seeking vengeance against you for his father. You punished a man and had him killed because of his failure in protecting a city, but you never realised that it was beyond his capability at that time to do anything and you clearly ignored the fact that he did not have the fighting force to protect the city. That is why the man’s son sought vengeance against you to the point of turning his own body into a bomb to kill everyone there just to get rid of you. All of that are the results from the mistakes you kept making without one noticing that you were making them in the first place.”

The king stared at him in disbelief before exclaiming, “All lies! Everything is a lie! All of it are bull crap nonsense made up just to frame me as being guilty when I did no wrong! I performed my duties as king to the letter and did my best for the people! That’s why, with the greater responsibility I held for my people and our world, I took the decision of ordered the firing of The Bomb to protect what we can!”

Bolten remained silent for a moment before he said, “You actions weren’t that of a king, they were that of a madman.” As the king stared at him in shock, Bolten went on to say, “Besides, the ones who truly saved us are the Nine Heroes of Legends! Despite your foolish actions of interfering with their battle by launching The Bomb, they still fought hard and continued to focus on fighting the enemy while ensuring no casualties would result from your foolishness!”

At those words, the heroes all glanced at Lakshman and muttered, “It’s all because of him though.”

Lakshman chuckled and said, “It was a joint effort, everyone. We’re a team.”

As they marvelled at his positive attitude, they heard Bolten who went on to speak more praises about them.

“Truth be told, they didn’t need to fight so hard for us. They could’ve just as easily as left us to fend for ourselves and departed to a place far away so that they remain safe and unharmed. Let us not forget that it was we who summoned them at our own convenience and requested them to fulfil our selfish requests that we couldn’t deal with ourselves. They had every right to ignore us and leave our planet, possibly seeking shelter elsewhere considering the extreme power they have at their disposal, and yet, they chose to remain and fight for our sake, and in doing so, risking their own lives for the sake of ours and the wellbeing of our planet. It is because of them that we still have a planet to call home!”

Upon hearing those words, Vikram became uncomfortable as he muttered, “Oh man, I feel complicated now. I mean, if it wasn’t for their summoning, all of us would’ve probably be dead and remained that way. So, by summing us, they gave us a second chance, so yeah… I feel very complicated about his choice of words.”

“Shush,” whispered Maxwell with a small smile, and they continued to listen to Bolten continue speaking.

“That is why I had requested their presence as I declare to pronounce capital punishment to the current king for abandoning his people and committing the heinous crime of genocide in the name of his selfish ego of being a king!” Bolten declared in a firm voice while looking around at everyone seated high above. “As such, I declare that this criminal must be sentenced to death!”