“M-Mom?!” Bolten exclaimed, staring at the suddenly materialised women in shock.

There was a moment of stunned silence within the audience hall as everyone stared at the woman in utter shock. Then, someone screamed, “Ah! It’s a ghost!” and that triggered complete chaos to occur in the hall.

“A ghost?” Lakshman reacted in surprise and chuckled. “They’re silly.”

“Well, we’re more used to seeing ghosts and spirits in our world after all, so it’s no biggie for us,” stated Asura inside his mind. “That just goes to show destroying the environment causes these ghosts or spirits to seem far scarier than they actually are.”

Lakshman nodded and turned to everyone seated around, who were panicking, and said in a loud carrying voice, “Please, calm yourselves! She is not a ghost; she is the spirit of the person that had died many years ago, and from what I’ve witnessed so far, she must be the mother of the royal siblings and the wife of the current king.”

His words startled everyone, and the panic slowly died down while getting replaced with surprise and confusion. They could not completely make sense of what he had said at that moment, but they could tell that the glowing figure did not appear to have any evil intentions. All the while, she quietly stared at her son with a serene look with a bitter smile on her face.

“Mom…?” Bolten asked again in an uneasy voice. “I-Is that… r-really you?”

This time, she smiled sadly and said, “Yes, Bolt.”

Her response made him blink in surprise and feel a gush of emotions spring forth within him. He could see the same forming on the king’s face, who attempted to rise to his feet but could not due to his hands and legs being chained tightly. However, a moment later, Santa came rushing forward while yelling, “Mama! It’s really you!”

He rushed forward and tried hugging her from tightly from behind, but he went right through her much to his surprise. Bolten caught him and steadied him, while the second prince turned around and faced his mother with a bewildered expression on his face.

“Mama?” He asked nervously.

“She isn’t solid for you to touch her, Santa,” said Lakshman from the side, and they turned to look at him.

This confused both princes as the first prince asked, “So… she’s an illusion…?”

Lakshman shook his head and replied, “No, she’s not. She is a manifested spirit that had remained stuck in this plane of existence because of her regrets, whatever they are anyway.” He turned towards the woman this time and asked, “Isn’t that right, madam?”

“Yes,” she said promptly as if she had been expecting that question from someone there and appeared to be glad that it was him. She turned to him and responded with, “When I died, I regretted leaving my family so soon, especially after the prediction I had about my daughter’s future. Thankfully, watching you rise up and take care of my daughter eased my worries slightly.”

“Why are you so worried about such a person, mama!” Santa exclaimed angrily with an intense look on his face. “She was the reason you suffered greatly before you passed away. She was the cause of it all! If she hadn’t been born, then—!”

“Stop it!” His mother exclaimed in a loud voice that drowned out his speech while startling everyone there.

As she yelled, she had instinctively moved her hands to cover her ears as if not wanting to listen to his speech. A moment later, she uncovered her ears and stared at her son with a sad look on her face that startled him.

“Santa, my child,” she began in a soothing voice as she moved to bend to face him, “she is your sister. Just as you and Bolten are my children, she too is another child that I bore. So, please, don’t treat her that badly. I don’t like it.”

“But… mama… your passing away… it was all her fault…!” Santa said slowly as if unable to accept his mother’s words.

“Who said that?” She asked him directly with a stern look on her face. “Is it him?”

When she asked, she jabbed a finger towards her husband, who became startled by the treatment she was giving him. It almost as if she was speaking about a person she greatly disliked and that surprised both of her children and husband.

“Y-Yes,” Santa said, his voice sounding weak by seeing his mother’s reaction. “Father always said that your worry for her caused you to strain yourself and that brought about your end. That’s why, I honestly believed it was her fault.”

As she sighed upon hearing her son’s words, her husband said, “It’s the truth!”

“What truth?!” She exclaimed, rounding on him with a fiery glare that felt as though it could tear right through someone.

Seeing his wife’s hot angry expression caused him to falter and cower in fright.

“You speak nonsense and cloud our children’s point of view based on your own stupid beliefs?! Haven’t I told you many, many times that Erza is a child that is special and must be treated with special care!” She thundered down on him without the slightest bit of hesitation of the fact that he was her husband.

She turned to her oldest son and asked, “Did you believe any of his nonsense, Bolt?”

“No, mother,” he replied quickly after getting over the fact that he witnessed his mother berating his father in front of everyone there. “I remember your words of how important Erza would be to our family and that we should cherish her well. I even tried to explain the same to Santa, but he just couldn’t accept it.”

They turned towards Santa, who was taken aback and said quickly, “But, mama, dad told me himself. There’s no way he would lie, right?”

He was looking imploringly at his mother, who looked sad as she said, “You shouldn’t have believed in your father, Santa. He outright lied to you about her. The decline in my health condition was somewhat the result of the stress I was put through because of your father’s stupidity.”

“What?!” Santa exclaimed in shock.

“It’s my fault?!” Fedex exclaimed, staring at his wife and children in shock as they turned to look at him as if he was the one at fault. “I was doing my duties as a king and as a husband as perfectly as I was expected to! I couldn’t visit you that much because I as busy most of the time and—!”

“I don’t care anything about that!” She thundered, cutting him off and giving him a swearing look. “What stressed me out was the fact that you had begun to isolate my daughter and began telling lies to all those around us. That, in turn, caused her to become shunned, isolated, and disliked by everyone alike. After learning about what you’ve done behind the scenes, do you honestly think that I wouldn’t feel stressed for the wellbeing of my child?!”

“B-But… Rina…” he said slowly, his voice becoming feeble at her powerful dominance over him, “your health wouldn’t have degraded so much if it weren’t for her.”

“Who’s to say that’s the exact reason?!” His wife, Rina, said furiously. “The doctors told you repeatedly that the reason my health was getting worse was primarily due to my ability eating away at my life force. It was not the direct result of the prediction of my daughter’s future! Yet, you ignored all of their explanations and came to your own assumption and acted based on them!”

“That’s not right, Rina! The doctors were trying to cover up the problem, but I saw right through them!” He replied firmly.

His firm attitude, despite cowering before her moments before, startled Lakshman and made him smile wryly at his shamelessness. This was a person that did not know when to quit with his stupidity and firmly kept going while ignoring anything that others offered him. However, he seemed to have some supporters from the ministers gathered there as they began seeking support from her wife.

“Madam, please convince the prince and stop him what he’s doing!”

“The prince has lost his mind, madam!”

“The prince is overlooking the fact that the king had provided new job openings and vacancies for businesses to prosper.”

“Maybe mistakes were made, but we simply cannot govern the society by only looking at the negative.”

At that moment, as if a nerve had been touched inside of Bolten, he glared up at the supporting king’s faction and bellowed, “Shut up!”

His bellow was so loud that it echoed inside the hall, causing everyone to go silent in an instant and look at him fearfully. He held the sword in his hand calmly, but the anger in his eyes was truly deadly to see. Everything from his facial expression to his body language stated that he was on edge as if he was going to attack them.

“Do I take it that you’re willing to share his fate from the way you’re supporting him?” He asked them coldly, glaring at them in a deadly manner.

The supporting ministers gulped nervously and shook their heads quickly in denial. Bolten nodded in acceptance and turned back to face his mother, who was looking sadly at him.

“Bolt, please calm down. This isn’t like you,” she said sadly.

“Situations change people, mom, and that situation is now upon us,” he replied to her coldly, returning to his calm demeanour like before.

“You ungrateful rascal!” The king shouted at him angrily. “How dare you act so intolerable towards me, your father!”

“I’ve been tolerant of your stupid decisions and actions ever since mother died!” Bolten snapped, turning to glare fiercely at him. “So, don’t you dare start with me about being intolerable when it’s you being the one at fault here!”

His father glared back at him stubbornly and exclaimed, “Why do you think I’m at fault when I did my best for all of you?! Even her death was covered up by the doctors all just to protect that daughter of mine when it was all her fault!”

Bolten opened his mouth to speak when his mother spoke to her husband with, “I’ve had enough of it from you!”

Her son closed his mouth in surprise and watched as Rina stared at her husband with an incredulous look on her face as she berated him in a serious voice.

“Are you being serious? I’m the patient with the problem and you’re telling me that you know better than the doctors that paid the closest attention to my problem? Are you kidding me?!”

At her words, the king looked surprised before his head dropped slightly in an obvious embarrassment that he felt upon his fault being pointed out so openly. That was why he tried his best to hide his face to not show the expression of humiliation he was feeling at that time.

“It’s not only my daughter who suffered because of your stupid decisions,” she went on speaking while ignoring his feelings. “The citizens also suffered. After my death, you lost total control of reality and kept passing out rules and regulations that upset the balance of the current social structure; helping the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. And you did all of that while firmly believing in the nonsense that you were fulfilling the duties of a righteous king when, in fact, you were no different than a man who had lost control of himself.”

“Mama, how do you know all that?” Santa asked, looking curiously at her.

“I’ve been here ever since I died, Santa,” she replied with a sad look on her face. “I thought I had passed on, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in the bed where I died. I immediately realised that I had not passed on and thought of observing the goings on as I had my misgivings about what your father might do. Sure enough, he did many things that made me wish I was there to stop him,” and she ended her sentence with a depressed look on her face.

“I agree, mom,” said Bolten in agreement with his mother’s words as he eyed his father with great angry. “That’s why I’ve come to the decision of making him pay for all his crimes with his life.”

As he spoke, he raised his sword once more with the full intention of swinging it down to take his father’s life. Suddenly, his mother came in between and spread her arms wide with the clear intention of stopping him.

“No, Bolt! Don’t do it!” She told him in a firm voice.

“I must, mom,” he replied coldly with a deadly look in his eyes, “and you can’t stop me since you aren’t solid. Not even you, Santa.”

“Brother…” said Santa slowly, staring at his brother with a troubled look on his face as he was shot down even before the second prince could open his mouth to protest.

Their mother shook her head vehemently and pleaded, “Don’t do it, Bolt. He’s your father. You shouldn’t do it.”

“Mom! Why are you suddenly protecting him after everything that you’ve said about him!” Her son exclaimed, staring at her in disbelief.

“I did,” she admitted. “I certainly did, but that doesn’t mean it’s right to take his life. He’s your father!”

“Mom…” he said slowly through gritted teeth. “Even if it wasn’t father, even if it was someone else who had caused horrible crimes and such, their punishment would still be the same that I will hand out to him! Now, move!”

She was not a solid being, and as such, his sword swing could easily pass right through her and strike his target. However, he could not bear the thought of cutting through his mother and was feeling troubled by her continuous attempt in blocking his attempt to taking his father’s life.

“No, Bolt. You’re wrong,” his mother said firmly as she refused to move out of his way. “It doesn’t make it right to execute anyone just because they did heinous crimes! There must be an order of doing things the right way; not this way where your feelings are your only weapons. It’s wrong!”

“What do you want me to do then?!” Bolten shouted, looking frustrated. “What do you want me to do, mom?! He’s a criminal and must be punished, but if I show weakness that he is my father and let him go, then others will treat that as my weakness and exploit it! I cannot do that! As the future king, I must stand on firm principles and must not show weaknesses no matter what!”

“No, Bolt. You’re fundamentally wrong there,” his mother said in an emotional voice that made him look at her in surprise. “As a king, you must indeed stand on firm principles, but those same principles must not turn you into a mad man; they should keep your firmly on the righteous path. That’s why, your choice to kill this man… ignoring the fact that he is your father and my husband… is unacceptable.”

She saw her son faltering and brimming with hope, she went on to state, “There are other alternatives to punishing people. For example, hard labour, make him do stuff he doesn’t like doing and, at the same time, give him a taste of the difficult life. Even better, exile him! That’s for the better.”

The prince faltered for a moment as he seemed to consider her words as he said, "Exile. Yes... Perhaps that is a good idea, but... what if it doesn't work out like we expect it to? "

Lakshman, who was watching this scene unfold, heard the fairy comment inside his mind, “This prince is acting like a child. Just how stubborn is he going to be when his own mother is right there trying to convince him?”

“It’s most likely that he’s been hiding that side of himself for a long time,” remarked Asura as he seemed to understand the prince’s behaviour more than anyone else, “and with the recent disregard the king had shown for his people, causing his emotions do the talking and this… is the result.”

“Oh. But still, he should listen to his mother, you know?” The fairy asked, sounding unimpressed.

“He is listening to her, which is why he’s begun considering alternatives while still worrying about the aftermath,” replied Asura coolly. “He just needs a little more push to fully convince him.”

As if on cue, a familiar voice said from somewhere close by, “I think it’s worth trying, brother.”

Everyone turned to face towards the entrance of the audience hall and were surprised to see two people standing there; one was Alestor and the other was the masked girl that tagged alongside the royal siblings. The two of them were standing at the entrance behind the heroes before making their way towards the spot where all the attention was at moments before.

Bolten looked towards Alestor before turning to the masked girl as he asked her, “You…? What’re you doing here?”

“I’ve come to share my opinion of this situation,” the girl said in a calm voice from behind her mask.

She glanced at Lakshman for a moment before she looked back at the prince before saying, “It is also high time that I got rid of this and revealed myself.”

Followed her words, she raised a hand and placed it firmly on the mask that covered her face. A small click sound was heard from the mask as it was unlocked before she removed it to uncover her face and reveal to the gathered people there to who she was. Much to everyone’s shock, except for the royal siblings and Lakshman, they saw the face of Erza there.

“What?!”

“Erza?!”

“But she’s over there!”

“What’s the meaning of this?!”

The real Erza glanced at her double, who nodded and promptly placed a hand on her face to remove the deceptive device that made her face the spitting image of Erza. This further shocked the watching crowd as they had not expected this in the slightest. Since the only people who were aware of this were people with great authority in the government, those who were unaware reacted with surprise, shock, and disbelief.

Erza turned to the watching crowd and declared, “I stand before you today and declare that I am the true daughter of Fedex Flameheart and his wife, Rina! Because of reasons, my identity was kept a secret and, as such, a double was used to take my place while I remained out of public eye. Now, however, after witnessing my family crumbling apart, I’ve chosen to break my secrecy and come out of hiding to stop this ridiculous execution.”

“Ridiculous?” Bolten asked, looking taken aback. “It’s necessary to keep order and balance, Erza.”

She turned to her brother and shook her head with a sad look on her face.

“Brother, please listen to yourself,” she said with a sad look on her face. “Are you really my brother, the brother that was so gentle and kind that was very nice to everyone and was a caring person? What happened for you to become… like this?”

Erza had paused for a moment before ending her speech in a slight dramatic fashion to emphasis the state of mind Bolten was currently in.

Sure enough, her brother appeared to be troubled by her speech as he slowly said, “But… I have no choice. He’s a criminal and must pay with his life. That’s… the only way for justice.”

“Brother,” she began slowly in a sad voice, “Why are you cornering yourself?”

“Huh?” He asked, looking surprised. “I’m… cornering myself?”

She nodded and said, “Yes, you are. Why are you trying to bear the full responsibility of these things on your own? Please, stop this. You’re not alone. Alestor is here for you. Santa is here for you. The commander is here for you. The heroes are here for you. We’re all here for you, so please… stop shouldering this responsibility on your own and work together with us towards a good solution. Isn’t that right… mummy?”

Erza finished off the sentence by throwing a question towards her mother, who was surprised by this act of maturity by her daughter. Tears began to flow out of her eyes as she felt an extreme pride by seeing the excellent growth her daughter was demonstrating.

“Mummy, don’t cry. Brother will listen to us. Won’t you?” Erza asked the question to Bolten, who reacted in surprise.

He fidgeted with the sword, who was still held above his head as he contemplated on what he must do. In between the choices of wanting to kill his father and wanting to ask their opinion on this matter. He still felt great anger towards his father for betraying the trust by doing terrible things for many years. However, he felt swayed by his sister’s words filled with maturity to relying on the opinion of the others as well.

As if on que, the other heroes began voicing their support for Erza and Rina in order to further convince Bolten.

“Come on, man! Don’t make women cry when they’re so hard to set you on the right path,” said Vikram with a grin.

“Yeah! Mothers can’t be wrong when they’re trying so hard to correct you,” said Maxwell with a smile.

“Please listen to reason,” said Martin hopefully.

“It’s just like they said; you’re not alone. We’re here for you,” said Fred as she smiled hopefully at him.

“At least, you have a mother that is willing to lecture you on doing the right thing,” remarked Gram with an irritated look on his face.

“We can do it together!” William stated firmly with a determined look on his face.

“Trying your best for everyone is great, but working together isn’t bad,” said Natsu cheerfully.

“Let’s all work together and come to a good decision,” added Ward telepathically.

Bolten looked at them with a troubled expression on his face. He was on verge of swaying in his decision making. Seeing that, Lakshman smiled as he provided the last bit of effort in order to convince the young prince in doing the right thing.

“It’s not wrong to kill your enemies, but it is only right after giving them a chance to change themselves,” he said, and Bolten looked at him in surprise. “Believe me when I say that throughout my life, I’ve been berated for my decision to give my enemies a second chance, but I still kept giving them chances. Why you may ask and the reason is simple; it’s the right thing to do.”

Upon hearing his words of wisdom, Bolten’s melting ice cold demeanour was finally melted, and he lost all motivation in doing what he set out to do. He heaved a deep sigh and resigned himself as he let his sword drop to his side with its purpose lost.

“Fine. Let’s do it your way,” he said finally, and smiled weakly at them, causing everyone to become very happy as they converged on him to celebrate his change of mind.