Bolten’s declaration caused an uproar of shock, disbelief, and anger.

“What did he say?!”

“Kill the king?!”

“No way!”

“It can’t be!”

“The son will kill his own father!”

“That can’t be!”

“What is he thinking?!”

“Has the prince lost all senses and reason?!”

“He’s mental!”

Many of the king’s suporters were enraged by his decision while those on the other side were unsure about taking the life of his own father. Beside him, both Santa and Erza had shocked expressions on their faces as they could not believe what they just heard.

“Brother!” Santa exclaimed, getting in front of his brother and looking seriously at him. “Stop this nonsense! How can you say such a thing so loosely!”

“I’m not saying it loosely, Santa! I really mean to go through with it!” Bolten replied in a cold voice. “He doesn’t deserve anything more after everything he’s done! It’s only fair to hand down such justice when he had done the same to many others without a care for the consequences, which he must pay now.”

Santa stared at his brother as if the older sibling had gone insane. From beside him, Erza said, “Brother, please stop this. He’s our father. You cannot just do that to our only parent.”

Her words made the first prince glance at her and ask curtly, “Is this your decision, or is it her decision?”

To that, Erza gulped and cast her eyes in a downward angle with no response to give. Bolten had spoken so coldly to her because the Erza before them was a substitute to the real one, who was staying elsewhere while getting treated for her injuries. He was also prepared to reveal Erza’s true identity to the public and the great damage the king had caused to this own family, which would further support his decision to kill the king.

Watching from the side, the heroes also appeared to be troubled by the decision that Bolten had come to with what to do with the king.

“Um… This is bad, right?” Vikram asked curiously.

“How can he think of killing his own father?!” Martin exclaimed, looking thoroughly shocked.

“He’s mental!” Maxwell said sharply with a serious look on his face.

“Makes sense to me,” said Gram and they turned to him. “If one of my relatives were to have caused so much damage, I would probably do the same to them.”

“So, removing the problem is the most effective decision?” Ward asked telepathically in a curious voice, sounding as if he was doubtful about the decision.

“It is,” replied Gram firmly. “We cannot allow such a fiend to continue to exist after all that he’s done. And if we did let him live, he would go away and come back after amassing his own forces to fight us back with by playing the role of the victim.”

“Ah. That is true,” said William, nodding in understanding. “That makes sense.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s right to kill your parent! It’s terrible!” Fred exclaimed, looking deeply troubled by the direction the chain of events flowed in.

“He has a point,” said Natsu and everyone turned to him in surprise. “Like so many times in the past, the king would play the role of the victim and gather followers, soon turning their minds to hating what was done to him. After that, chaos as the world, once again, plunges into civil outcry with his followers causing damage while innocent civilians getting caught in the crossfire. So, getting rid of the threat is a good idea.”

“Hey, hey…! You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Vikram in bewilderment. “That doesn’t make it right to kill their own father, you know?”

“If that’s your complaint, then I’ll gladly do it,” offered Gram in a cold voice. “I have no qualms about taking life of the wrong doers.”

Vikram stared at him as if he was seeing a wild man from the wilderness for the first time in his life.

From beside them, Ward moaned softly and said telepathically, “Killing him sounds all good and all, but don’t you know that could also work in a backwards direction. I mean, when all this heat dies down and people start thinking about it, they begin to think that perhaps the king was wrongly accused or was punished more severely than necessary. At that time, those who take advantage of such an uncertainness, and cause the people to rise and rebel against the government, leading to civil turmoil. So, killing him would also not produce a great result.”

“That may be, but we can’t simply just let him live,” said Gram, looking irritated as he glanced at him.

Lakshman, who was silent this whole time, was quietly observing the goings on and getting a feel for things. Honestly, he was not surprised by the decision that Bolten had come to because he understood that the first prince was a fairly serious person who took his duties very seriously. He was also not feeling particularly against it because he remembered the detail of pain caused to his wife, Erza, and that made him unwilling to protect the king full heartedly.

However, a part of him did not like the idea of taking someone’s life just because it serves the notion of justice believed by the executioner. Lakshman was a strong believer in giving people chances to redeem themselves, so his principles were being weighed against his feelings for the suffering his wife had endured. As such, he could not firmly decide on what to act upon and remained silent as he watched the scene upfold.

“You appear troubled, Lakshman,” stated Asura inside his mind in an amused voice. “Is it that hard to decide?” As Lakshman nodded his head, Asura let out a quiet laughter in his mind and said, “If it were me, I would most certainly kill that bastard. He deserves death after all that he’s done and might do in the future. However, I can already guess that won’t sit well with you because you’re also considering other things as well.”

“It’s not an easy option to take, you know?” The fairy interjected in support of Lakshman. “We’re talking about the taking of life here.”

Asura said, “Ah,” and seemed to wave his hand to dismiss her words before saying, “I’ve killed a lot more people than he has ever killed in his lifetime, so I speak from experience. Also, it’s a sign of weakness to be indecisive like this. You’ve got to make a decision sooner or later.”

“Easier for you to say,” said the fairy irritably. Then she directed her words to Lakshman by saying, “Lucky, if you’re still troubled by what you must choose, then I want you to activate your powers and direct your gaze to where the prince and the king are at.”

“My powers?” Lakshman thought in his mind in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The Phoenix Eyes technique or something like that? Just do it,” the fairy replied in a firm voice.

Feeling a little puzzled, Lakshman did as he was told and activated his powers with his Chantless Incantation. In an instant, his eyes changed colours and became orange with a red crown with wings formed in them. No sooner had he turned to look at the prince and the king before his gaze widened to the fullest in shock by what met his eyes. He could not believe what he was seeing, and the same was expressed by Asura inside his mind.

“No way…! Is that… who I think is it…?” Asura asked slowly in a quiet voice.

In response, the fairy stated, “Now do you see it’s more than just their own decisions to make?”

Whatever it was they saw had a strong impact on Lakshman, who quickly narrowed his eyes and deactivated his powers so as to appear normal. Suddenly, the sequence of events had escalated to the point where Bolten had raised his sword above his head with the clear intention of cutting his father down.

“There is no choice,” said Bolten coldly as he steeled himself to perform the act.

“Brother! No!” Santa shouted as he stood before him with his arms stretched to either end, clearly defending his father with great desperation.

“Get out of the way, Santa,” said Bolten, but Santa refused with a determined look on his face.

Sighing, Bolten suddenly kicked him in the chest and sent him flying away by a few meters. The second price crash landed and lay there, groaning from the pain in his chest where it hurt from the impact of the kick. His brother was far stronger than him, and as such, this small display of the difference in their strength conveyed the force in which Bolten was moving in.

“Forgive me, father, but this is for the greater good,” said Bolten, turning back to face down at his father with tears forming in his eyes.

His father widened his eyes in shock as he watched his son bring the sword down with all his might to end his life. No one stepped forward to stop him, He instinctively closed his eyes and expected his life to get thrown away in a split second. However, nothing came and wondering whether it had really happened, he slowly opened his eyes and looked up. The sword was on its way towards his head, but it was being held back by a finger from the most unexpected person; the Solaris Hero.

When he saw that the prince had decided on acting without waiting for decision from everyone there and noticing that no one was willing to step in to stop him, Lakshman decided to act. He kicked off the ground and flew forward in an instant and came to a stop while using his forefinger to stop the sword in mid-air as it came down with full force. Stopping the sword resulted in a release of a strong wind that swept the room and caused his finger to bleed.

“Lucky!” Bolten exclaimed, taking his sword back and looked at him in shock. “What are you doing?!”

“Stopping you before you make an irreversible mistake,” replied Lakshman coolly.

“There is no mistake in what I’m doing, so I please urge you to move.”

Lakshman did not respond to his demand and simply asked, “Tell me, Bolten, are you willing to become the person that you’re trying to kill?”

This startled the prince, who was taken aback as he asked, “What?!”

This time, Lakshman smiled and asked, “I’m asking you: do you realise that you’re becoming the person you’re trying to kill.”

Bolten blinked in confusion and remained silent for a moment before he asked, “I don’t believe I am in the slightest.”

“Then there you are not different from him,” said Lakshman, and he jabbed a finger in the king’s direction, causing the prince to widen his eyes in shock.

“I don’t understand,” said the prince after a moment’s pause.

He began pacing around him as he asked, “Have you ever heard of the story ‘the hero bathed in the blood of the demon’? Probably not considering you guys are more modern than a traditional upbringing.” Not waiting for their answer, Lakshman went on to state, “It’s a story about the hero who went on a journey and slayed the demon with his sword of justice, bringing peace and tranquillity to the world.”

“A good story with great development towards principles, I suppose?” Bolten asked, although he sensed there was more to the story than that.

“Yes. It certainly is,” said Lakshman with a nod and a smile, “but the after story wasn’t that pretty. For you see, the hero was bathed in the blood of the demon he had slain, and in doing so, he had become a demon himself and caused great problems to the society eventually, he ended up doing what the demon couldn’t; destroying the world.”

This ending to the story that Lakshman was telling them shocked everyone listening, especially because the weight of the words coming from the king from another world, such as Lakshman, was heavy. They were well aware that he was the strongest warrior on their planet and had gone through many battles during his life in his home world and possessed great knowledge and wisdom. As such, hearing such a tale rattled their minds and made them become very worried as they turned to look at the first prince.

“Are you stating that I would become like that hero in the story?” Bolten asked heatedly.

Lakshman let out a light chuckle before he replied, “It doesn’t have to be you. It could very well be your brother, Santa, who goes down that path of destruction and all of it is the result of your actions today. A family feud spilling out and dragging the entire world into it, threatening all that we’ve worked so hard to protect today.”

“Huh?” Bolten asked, blinking in surprise and looking towards Santa, who was gradually getting to his feet while clutching the spot where it hurt. “Because of… my brother…?”

Santa slowly looked up at him with a pained look on his face, causing the two brothers to make eye contact with one another. There was a clear exchange of shock and confusion between the two as they each felt differently about the other.

“So, what’s the solution for that? Kill him too?” Lakshman asked, coming in between the two brothers’ exchange and looking keenly into the eyes of the first prince. “Will you kill him?”

“W-What?” Bolten asked, clearly shaken by the question and stumbling in responding.

Seeing that reaction, Lakshman let out a deep sigh and looked bitterly at him as he said, “Maybe. Maybe not. It’s not my call; it’s yours. You make the call, not any of us here watching this, but it’ll be the people who’ll suffer the consequences of the actions you take today.”

Then he stepped away from both the prince and the king as he said, “However, before you do anything, I want you to understand someone’s feelings, someone that is very dear to your family, that someone who continues to weep even now as they helplessly watching this madness unfold while not being able to do anyhing about it.”

As they stared at him in confusion, Lakshman activated his powers and immediately brought his hands forward to clap them together in front of him. In an instant, a flash of light occurred, causing everyone to instantaneously cover their eyes or look away because of how bright the light was. This blinding light lasted for several seconds before it slowly dimmed and brought the view back to normal.

When everyone opened their eyes and looked towards the front, they saw something that shocked them all. Standing in between the standing Bolten and his kneeling father was a woman. She was surrounded by a pale light that emitted small motes that seemed to radiate off her; her appearance was simple and graceful.

Bolten was very shocked, causing his eyes to become huge and round and his eyebrows to shoot up to the maximum that they could. He stared at the woman, who was looking back at him with a serene expression on her face. However, the smile she wore was filled with sadness and bitterness by the scene she had been witnessed till now from the sidelines.

Snapping out of his reverie, Bolten blinked rapidly at the woman before exclaiming in a stutter, “M-M-Mom?!”