Asura’s words shocked Lakshman, who immediately asked, “What?! Merge with me permanently?! Do you even know what that means?!”

His past-self nodded and replied, “I will simply no longer have a consciousness of my own. I know,” and smiled at him.

Lakshman stared at the first Phoenix Titan with a disbelieving expression on his face, which made Asura sigh.

“Listen, Lakshman. With Lagron powered up to his max, you must do the same. No holding back.”

“At the cost of losing your freedom?!”

To this, Asura smiled bitterly and said, “Oh, Lakshman…! Aren’t you forgetting something?” As his current-self looked puzzled, he went saying, “I am one of the many lives of your past, and all of them are residing within you in a merged state. I am supposed to be like that, too, if it weren’t for the interference of the God Slayer sword that forcibly awakened me to help you fight against the Twisted.”

“I… Yes… That is true,” Lakshman agreed hesitantly.

“So to speak, I was never meant to be freed from my merged state with you in the first place,” stated Asura with a smile, “so, stop being concerned over this small matter.”

“Small matter? Are you even thinking straight, Asura?! You will no longer be awake!”

“True,” agreed Asura by nodding his head, “but that way, you’ll be at your ultimate potential,” and smiled serenely at him.

Lakshman could not believe the words of his past-self, who seemed to have resigned himself to the inevitable.

“Why? Why are you so accepting of this? I don’t understand,” he tried to argue as best as he could as his past-self’s decision.

“I…” began Asura and turned away to look into the distant space, “Ever since our arrival in that other world and fighting the aliens, I began to wonder just how long I have left to stay awake because this was not meant to be. I was not meant to be awake and should be sleeping like the others. So, I imagined I was on borrowed time and wouldn’t you know it? The day of departure is today,” and he turned around to smile sadly at his current-self.

Seeing his expression made Lakshman become frustrated and made him ask, “Do you know how you look right now?”

Asura chuckled and replied, “It doesn’t matter how I look or feel; what matters is you winning at any cost!”

“Why? Why should it matter?”

“If you win, it’ll make your wives very happy.”

“Amaranda is also watching the battle. She’d be happy, too, if Lagron finally won after so many years of not being able to challenge me in a battle like today.”

This made Asura narrow his eyes and ask, “Does it matter what others think? Don’t your wives’ matter?”

“What? Of course, they do!” Lakshman replied instantly.

“In that case, do what is necessary to bring them happiness!” Asura fired back with a serious look that startled Lakshman. “Stop wasting time thinking about the needless and wasting brain cells when the clear choice is right in front of you!”

“I…” began Lakshman hesitantly, unwilling to be pulled in by Asura’s convincing words.

Watching him hesitate made Asura sigh and shake his head wearily before saying, “Look, Lakshman. Every bit of what you currently are is great! No doubt about it, but… you hesitate when it really matters and that’s worrying! Back then as well! You should’ve killed that alien when you had the chance, but instead you dragged it on by giving excuses and letting him nearly kill Erza! Did you forget already?!”

His words made Lakshman remember the events that had led to Erza getting pierced through the chest by the Overlord to acquire something that only she possessed. He had discovered the identity of the alien early on, but refused to do anything about him and simply tried to hide his skills to not give the alien more information that he was transmitting back to his home world or to his boss, which turned out to be the case.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly, which shook from the immense pressure he was putting into them. The reason he did not react to Asura’s advice of taking him out was so he did not cause undue problems for the world by triggering something since the alien did state that he had placed bombs all over the place and they would go off as soon as he died.

Asura walked forward and patted him gently on the shoulder while looking sympathetically at him.

“You are a good man, Lakshman. A very good man, but you have to do what is necessary to get things over with,” he told him soothingly. “The alien did say he placed bombs all over the place and it seemed true, but be honest. That’s not the real reason you hesitated to kill him off right there and then and then deal with the other problems later.”

These words made Lakshman look down because his past-self was correct. The thing that made him fear the most was losing Erza’s love if she believed him to be murdered as the alien would have arranged things to convincingly point fingers at him and cast him away from everyone’s eyes.

Asura chuckled when he saw his expression and said, “See what I mean? Your fear for your wife clouded your judgement, otherwise you would have reacted by taking him out as soon as possible.” Then he shook his head and said, “Anyway, that’s only one of the few instances where you hesitated to take out the enemy that put you in great danger.” Then he added something with great seriousness, “Stop being so merciful to your enemies, Lakshman.”

This caused Lakshman to widen his eyes and look at him in disbelief, and Asura nodded to carry the weight of his words.

“Over the years, you’ve been scolded many times for giving your enemies chances no one would ever give them because you are heeding the words of your parents. That is good, but it also puts you in a dangerous situation because, think about it. If you die, who will protect your family, who will protect those you care about, and who will protect the world?

Death is inevitable for beings such as us because that is the role that we have been put in and must keep heeding it. However, that doesn’t mean we can get carried away by our emotions and forget what we are supposed to be doing. Saving lives, having fun with our family members, and enjoying life is part of it, but being overly caring and sympathetic to others can also backfire and it has happened to you on numerous occassions.

That is why I am all for merging with you permanently because I know my character will have a good influence on you. It won’t change your overall character since much of your character will stay the same like before, but these crucial parts will be fixed. I hope they will be anyway because you are a good man. You deserve better than this. So, please, Lakshman, understand my decision.”

Lakshman was touched by the deep concern his past-self had for him and smiled bitterly. If Asura disappeared, he would no longer have someone to banter with in his mind and would have to deal with things all on his own. It suddenly made him feel lonely because he was comfortable to have some sort of company with him at all times, which had begun from the Decisive Player, then the Twisted, and finally Asura. There was not a single time he had felt he was alone because of their presence, and knowing that Asura would be gone, he might be alone.

Asura seemed to sense what his current-self was thinking and asked, “Hey, are you perhaps thinking that you might be lonely once I’m gone, and you have no one to converse with?”

His question stumped Lakshman and made Asura instantly chuckle before saying, “Why do you feel you’ll be lonely? That’s so childish. Don’t you realise that you’re not alone?”

He turned to the side and waved a hand, causing a holographic image of several people to appear standing there. The people consisted of Lakshman’s wives, his sisters, Mariana, Marilia, Zen Phoron, his wife Sasha, Dominic, Shalany, Nara, Wolfenstine, Sevedant, Ash, Amaranda, Lagron, Valerian, and Stuart.

“You have so many people to be together with, there’s no reason for you to feel lonely just because I’m gone,” said Asura and suddenly rounded on him. “I think it’s also a good thing for you to stop living inside your mind and start hanging out with everyone! You’ve been too comfortable just being with me that you spend less time with them, so this is also a good thing in a way.”

This made Lakshman chuckle and rub the back of his head in embarrassment before saying, “I guess so.”

Asura breathed a sigh and leaned back to smile softly and say, “Besides, I’m not going away; I’m just becoming one with you. We are, as you know it so well,” and the two of them said in unison, “one and the same.”

The two Phoenix Titans smiled at each other and remained like that for a few seconds before Asura said, “Alright. Let’s get this over with before I feel like changing my mind.”

“That would be good,” joked Lakshman, causing Asura to move forward and knock his knuckles on top of his current-self’s head as punishment for the joke. As he rubbed his head where he was hit, he asked his past-self, “Is there anything you’d like to do before, you know…?”

He hesitated to finish the sentence, but Asura did not mind and said, “I… I’d like to look at your wives. Just one last time.”

Lakshman blinked in surprise before nodding and smiling as he allowed his past-self to briefly take possession of his body. On the outside, Asura took charge of Lakshman’s body and looked up to the spectator area where everyone was standing. He saw all of Lakshman’s wives standing there looking at him with curiosity as they wondered what he was doing.

As he stared at them, he thought back to the past when he married and lived with them and felt a flood of sadness hit him. Still, even with the sadness he felt, he was grateful for the small amount of time they lived together with him because it opened his eyes and made him ultimately change and live freely. To the very end, as he self-destructed to take the Ancient Evil down, he felt comforted by the small time that he had the chance to live with his nine wives.

In that instant, tears began to appear in his eyes and stream down his face at the mixed feelings of sorrow and happiness that engulfed him. Still, he smiled at the happiness he felt at seeing all nine of them alive and living well with his current-self, which outweighed his sadness.

Up on the spectator area, the nine wives of the Phoenix Titan saw him looking up at them and were surprised. They could not clearly see the expression on his face, but people like Sonia who had good sight were startled.

“He’s… crying?!” She exclaimed in a shocked voice.

“What?!” The others reacted, equally as shocked as her.

“Does he think he can’t win?” Silvera asked apprehensively.

“There’s no way he would lose!” Cantia said firmly with a determined look.

“I agree!” Sumara agreed by nodding her head.

“We should all encourage him,” suggested Emilia to them, and they nodded at her in agreement.

So, all nine of them leaned over the edge and shouted, “You can do it, Lucky!”

Asura’s eyes widened in shock at the mighty encouragement they gave him and though the words were short, he suddenly felt a powerful burning sensation in his chest. The feeling of being invincible suddenly started to fill him up with energy by the encouragement that they gave him. This made him very glad, opened his mouth and tried to speak, but he found that words did not come out, so he instead mouthed the words “Thank you!” to them with a serene smile.

A moment later, he returned to their shared Unconscious World and saw Lakshman standing there with a smile on his face.

“They thought I might lose judging by you suddenly crying,” he said with a grin.

“I… wasn’t crying…!” Asura snapped, quickly wiping away his tears and looking annoyed. Then he sniffed while his current-self smiled and said, “Alright. Let’s do it.”

Nodding in agreement, the two moved forward and extended their hand forward and placed them against one another. Then they began to exert their energy, causing Asura to suddenly start glowing as energy particles began to emanate from him. A few seconds later, the wind began to blow quickly around them as the surroundings soon changed from a peaceful garden to a complete white space as the last and final Spirit Cell began to merge with its origin.

As Asura soon lost his physical appearance and became transparent, he showed a heartfelt smile and said, “Till next time.”

Lakshman nodded in agreement as he felt his mouth would not open and, a moment later, Asura vanished into particles of light. The scattering particles of light slowly moved around before soaring through the air to merge with Lakshman, who suddenly began to glow in his past-self’s place.

The Phoenix Titan raised his hand and placed it on his chest as he felt the presence of the first Phoenix Titan merge within him and felt a strange comfort like he had never felt before. He smiled and, in that instant, there was a violent flash of light that blinded everything and made it difficult to see.

Out on the surface, Lakshman opened his eyes and looked towards his rival, who was saying, “…and then we can have a drink to celebrate my victory!”

Lakshman could guess what his ancient rival was saying, so he smiled and said, “You want to hold that thought.”

“Huh?” Lagron asked as he was surprised by his rival’s sudden return since he had gone very quiet.

In that moment, Lakshman could sense a new power building inside of him and knew exactly what needed to be done. So, he clenched his fists tightly and began to surge with power while radiating golden-red aura that surrounded him.

“What?!” Lagron exclaimed when the power he sensed from his rival was nothing compared to what it was before.

As he continued to power up, the Phoenix Titan began to scream, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

There was a sudden flash of light from where he stood, which caused everyone to cover their eyes to not get blinded. This lasted only a few short seconds before the light dimmed and disappeared, allowing everyone to uncover their eyes and turned back to the arena.

“What the?!”

That was the reaction that the Dragon Titan had expressed, which was also shared by everyone else there. Lakshman’s appearance had not changed, but his power had gone up substantially that it was almost shocking. It made them momentarily wonder where all that power came from.

Only his wives suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity with the power he was releasing and wondered to each other.

“Hey, is it me or does this power seem… familiar?” Tetra asked.

“Yeah. I feel it too,” said Emilia, looking down at their husband with a surprised look on her face. “It’s as if… it’s a power we once knew a long time ago.”

“I agree,” said Sonia in agreement, looking perturbed, “but I can’t point my finger at it exactly.”

“Same here,” nodded Ondine in agreement as she looked troubled.

Down in the arena, Lakshman smiled confidently as he looked coolly towards his rival and made a gesture with his thumb pointed downward as he said, “It’s time to end this, Lagron.”