“What?” Lakshman asked, clearly surprised by his rival’s words. “Activate your… ancient blood? What are you talking about, Lagron?”

Lagron snickered and smiled with confidence at him and asked, “Haven’t you ever wondered about the Dragon Clan… no, the Dragon Race’s history?”

“Dragon Race? What?” Lakshman asked, clearly not understanding what was being said.

“You call yourselves as being part of the Phoenix Clan because you are related to humans. We… The Dragon Race are not related to the humans like you. We are not named because we raise dragons and live together with them. Our history goes even further back to a time of the mythic age.”

Those words suddenly made Lakshman realise something, and he widened his eyes in shock as the thought came to him.

“No way…! You mean…?!” He exclaimed while leaving the sentence hanging with a shocked look.

“That’s right!” Lagron said, nodding and smiling with satisfaction at seeing the reaction on his rival’s face. “In the past long forgotten, we were known as the Mythic Dragons. Our blood is the proof of it along with the bond we share with the dragons of the current age. Simply put, we were once dragons of the mythic age that eventually took on human forms and over time, forgot our past and the ancient power we once wielded.”

Lakshman was shocked, and he was not alone as the spectators were shocked as well. Amaranda was the only one smiling because she had learnt of this of him on the night before the promised day of battle. She sensed that he had gotten much stronger than he had been two weeks back, but she knew it would not be enough to overturn his odds against the Phoenix Titan, who has unlocked a new level of power in his battle against the Calamity Titan.

“So what? He’s not the only one with a transformation that unlocks their ultimate power,” said Lagron to her, and she appeared to be quite surprised by this.

It was then that he revealed his ancient heritage and reassured her of his inheritance of the ancient dragon blood. She was happy to see him excited and also understood something else that made her feel attached to him. Over the many years, she carried the curse of not being able to see or speak like the rest of her previous Magic Titans with the only way to be freed from the curse was to drink the blood of a dragon. As it turned out, her lover possessed the source she had been looking for, and she felt they were predestined to meet, fall for one another, and begin a new life together.

So, she observed using her senses as Lagron prepared to trigger the transform and unlock his ultimate power. However, she felt a strange sensation in her chest that not all was right. Whether it was the power that her lover was emanating, but she had this strange sensation that something was going to go wrong with the intentions of the Dragon Titan.

Lagron gloated by saying, “You’re not the only one who can transform and attain a new level of power! I, too, am capable of the very same feat!”

Lakshman did not immediately give a reply to his ancient rival’s confident gloat and remained silent while staring at him with narrowed eyes. A moment later, he asked him in a cold voice that was filled with seriousness.

“Do you think that such power comes free?”

“What?” Lagron asked as he looked at him, clearly not understanding what he meant.

“Do you really think that such awesome power, ultimate power, as you so call it, can be achieved freely?” Lakshman asked again in the same cold, serious voice.

The reason that Lakshman spoke so strongly was because he remembered his own experience in acquiring his current level of power. He remembered it as it felt like only yesterday that he broke through the seal and entered the domain where his link to his past-selves was locked up and experienced both the good and the bad they had committed.

Unfortunately, many of the past Phoenix Titans had committed bad deeds of various proportions while acting their role to convince the public. He knew it was the result of the Twisted, a creature that was spawned from the curse placed by the Ancient Evil from the past, which corrupted their way and led them astray. He knew all of this from the Decisive Player, and though he was mentally prepared by him, Lakshman still felt a heavy shame at what had happened.

So, in order to re-establish the lost link between him and his past selves, he had to accept not just the good but also the bad that they had done in order to attain his ultimate power. At first, he could not accept it because of the extreme shame he felt by the many misdeeds they had committed in their time. However, the words of his wives and Asura, the first Phoenix Titan incarnation, convinced him that what is more important is to protect the present so there is a tomorrow for them all.

Thus, he accepted them, and that resulted in him becoming so much more powerful and being able to defeat the Calamity Titan. So, he knew that such an incredible power, especially one tied to one’s ancestral heritage, would not come freely. There is always a price to pay, and he feared the price that Lagron would have to pay may be beyond his comprehension.

Lagron snorted at his concern and asked, “Why are you so afraid, fool? Are you perhaps scared that I might win? Well?”

Lakshman sighed and shook his head before saying, “Listen to reason, Lagron. You might be about to do something that’s beyond your control! Think about it!”

But his rival shook his head and replied, “Stop being so worried, Asura! You’re being too cautious! Besides, did you worry about the consequences when you tapped into that power of yours? Did you?!”

At his demand, Lakshman had no reply because, in truth, he did not think it through when he dived into his mind with the intention of reconnecting with his past lives. If it had been only him trying to repair the broken link, he would have been stuck there and unable to break out of there while also being too weak to defeat the Calamity Titan. As such, he could say nothing in the face of the facts.

“See what I mean?” Lagron said, smirking as he was right on the mark. “No one can move forward without taking some risk in their lives! Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? I will die? Don’t even joke!” He said firmly and fist bumped his chest before adding, “I’m the Dragon Titan that will defeat the Phoenix Titan, and I will not die before I succeed!”

The Phoenix Titan realised his opponent had become deaf to reason and only said in resignation, “Suit yourself, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Like I’ll ever complain to you!” Lagron scoffed, but Lakshman remembered his past with him and how the Dragon Titan would confide in him of the tragedy that occurred to their world, the sorrows of his broken bond between him and his brother over what he had done to their father.

Remembering those days made Lakshman smile a little and wish to himself, “I wish you can return to how you were in those days, Lagron. Not like this arrogant, self-centred, egoistic fool!”

The Dragon Titan smiled, unaware of the wish his ancient rival had made, and shouted, “Alright! It’s time!”

With a grin of excitement on his face, Lagron raised his thumb to his teeth and easily cut a portion of it, causing blood to start seeping from the wound. Then he used the bleeding thumb to draw a vertical line on his forehead before putting his hands together in front of him like in prayer. Then he began to surge with incredible power.

“Ancient Blood of the Dragons, activate!”

As he shouted those words, an incredible amount of energy began to release from him. At the same time, the ground began shaking violently as shock waves were sent in all directions while the wind blew violently around them. Even the pressure in the air thickened as the Dragon Titan began his transformation.

Lagron had a fierce look on his face and gritted his teeth as he began his transformation to attain his ultimate power. A few seconds later, he peeled his hands away from each other and held them in a preparatory stance before clenching his fists tightly. As he did, he began to scream, and it progressively grew louder and louder with greater intensity. To match with his transformation.

At the same time, his body began to change as more and more mass seemed to be added. His size also began to get bigger and bigger and his body seemed to go through a mighty transformation. As he grew larger, his clothes began to get tighter and tighter until they tore apart as he soon started to grow a large tail, sharp claws, and scales all over his body. Soon, he lost his basic human form and became a hybrid looking monster.

His screams soon turned into a roar as he soon lost his human form and the form of a dragon started to take shape as his body size grew rapidly. While this was happening, sharp and rough scales sprouted up all over his body until he was covered head to toe in tough looking scales as a pair of wings sprouted from his back and spread out.

Within a few minutes, he turned from a normal human sized man into an enormous fierce looking dragon with sharp claws, two large wings, and a large tail poking out of his back. The dragon stopped roaring and settled down to making low growling sounds as its great big body heaved with huge breaths that it took.

“What the hell?!” Dominic and Zen exclaimed in shocked disbelief.

“He’s really turned into a dragon!” Cantia exclaimed in shock.

“Why are you so surprised when you can turn into a fire breathing cat?” Ondine asked her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, but I never suspected that he could transform, and into a dragon of all things!” Cantia replied, looking disbelievingly at the dragon.

From beside them, Dominic asked them all with a look of disbelief on his face, “Can you feel his energy, though?”

“Yeah! It’s massive!” Nara replied as he stared at the dragon in amazement. “It’s nothing compared to what Lagron was outputting before he transformed. At this rate… he’s incredibly powerful!”

“Even more so than Lucky,” added Wolfenstine shrewdly with his eyes narrowing, which shocked everyone there.

Down below in the arena, Lakshman stared at the massive dragon that his ancient rival transformed into and muttered, “Well… if we have to compare sizes, then he’s big but for his power… it took a massive leap just now.”

“So… this is his ultimate form!” Tetra said in amazement.

“His power…! It’s incredible!” Silvera remarked in awe.

“Yes. The power he had before is nothing compared to this!” Tetra said in agreement. “With this, he’s definitely stronger than Lucky!”

“I can’t believe he’d be able to overtake Lucky’s power with just this!” Silvera said, sounding very annoyed.

Lakshman chuckled at his wives’ banter and it seemed that the dragon heard him as it suddenly moved. The dragon shifted its body and raised its fierce head, turning it to look down at him. Its eyes had become red with golden rings around the red with the black pupil being in the middle.

“I wonder if he recognises me,” said Lakshman casually as he looked up at the massive dragon.

For a moment, the huge dragon glared at him with a fierce look before it reared its head into the air, opened its mouth and began to let out a piercing roar. Its sound was so loud that the wind began to blow wildly around as shock waves were sent in all directions while the ground shook from its force.

“Gah! Dragon’s Roar!” Dominic exclaimed as he and the rest covered their ears desperately to block the piercing sound.

Lakshman, who was closest to it, winced at the sudden roar that it emitted and closed his eyes as he braced himself against the strong winds and shockwaves it unleashed. Then he sensed an immense amount of energy to gather at the top of the dragon’s mouth and saw it fire a massive red destruction wave at him with the clear intention of destroying him for good.