Phoenix Rising Chapter 79 Letter Trouble Early in the morning the clouds were rising and the sun made its light shine across the land. The birds were chirping and the creatures of nature minding their own business. Along with them were the sounds of voices in unison. “1... 2... 1... 2... 1... 2...” A crowd of kids were standing outside in neat rows with spacious distance between the front and back rows. They were swinging their swords with each counting while moving back and forth rhythmically. At the house of the Reddy family, it was the regular morning training. The kids have been doing this training for more than a month. They were trained under the guidance of Ondine, a Water Spirit, and, the son of the Reddy family, Lakshman Reddy. They continued in this rhythmical swinging while moving a step forward and retreating a step back. A few minutes later, Ondine’s loud voice could be heard calling them to attention. “That’s it for today, everyone! Relax!” she said and the kids let out a huge sigh in relief and tiredness. Then she smiled and said “You guys have come far since you started! If you keep it up, you’ll become really strong!” At her encouraging words, the kids all smiled happily. They moved towards the side of the house were towels and water awaited them. Ever since the event of getting trapped inside the Monster Dungeon, the training became really intense. Because of this, the kids sweat a lot and the family provided necessities for the kids to dry and refresh themselves. Ondine just finished washing her face and was drying when she heard a familiar voice from behind say “Hey, Ondine.” She turned around and said “Ah. Stuart. You’re getting pretty good.” “Thank you,” Stuart said as he nodded appreciatively at her words. Then his expression became serious as he asked “Hey, what’s up with Lakshman?”
As he said, he pointed at the entrance to the house. There, sitting on the stairs to the entrance to his house, was nothing other than Lakshman. He had his head down with a moody expression on his face. “Oh...” Ondine said when she turned to see his downcast face. “What happened? He hasn’t been training lately,” Stuart said in a concerned voice. Then he made an “Ah!” sound with his mouth and said “Could it be... he hasn’t fully recovered from his injuries and stuff from being trapped in the Monster Dungeon?” Ondine laughed in exasperation and said “Oh, come on! Master has recovered from that incident. Besides, it’s already been more than two weeks since that happened!” “I know, but... he doesn’t look happy at all,” Stuart said sadly as he watched his friend. They turned around and looked at Lakshman. While they were watching him, Lakshman was thinking. He was thinking back to the time when they received the letter from Felix. He remembered it clearly like it had happened only yesterday. “It’s a letter from Felix wanting help with his Trial of Betrayal.” There was a short pause after Lakshmi, his mother, saying those words. In this pause, Lakshman made a puzzled expression. He turned to look at Ondine as if he wanted an explanation. Instead, he was surprised to see a shocked expression on her face. Even more puzzled, he turned back to face his mother and uncertainly asked “T-Trial of... what?” “Trial of Betrayal,” Lakshmi said to her son. Then, sensing he was about to ask, she started explaining. “It is a trial system that is used to judge a person whether they are guilty or not depending on the evidence and support the suspects and the victims receive. It usually happens if the suspect betrays the victim in any way.” “I... I don’t quite get it,” he said hesitantly. Lakshmi sighed and smiled a little before saying “Take for example... your father.” “Me?” Indra said in surprise, but she injured him and continued speaking. “Indra was found illicitly having an affair when he is already married.”
“H-Hey!” Indra protested, but she ignored him. “Because of that, he is betraying me, his wife. That’s when the Trial of Betrayal takes place and we bring in evidence to prove whether he indeed betrayed me or not.” “Oh! So it’s like a trial where dad will be judged innocent or guilty depending on everything he did,” Lakshman said as he nodded in understanding. “Yes,” Lakshmi said a nod. Then she smiled and said “You’re so intelligent to pick it up so quickly.” Lakshman and Lakshmi smiled at each other. Just then, Indra interrupted them in a loud voice. “Hey! Don’t be so happy!” he said irritably. Then he turned to his wife and asked “Why are you making me the villain in your story? Huh? You got a grudge on me or something?!” “No, I don’t,” Lakshmi said flatly with a shake of her head and his shoulders slumped slightly. “T-Then... why?” he asked weakly. “Well, Lucky didn’t understand my explanation. So I had to give him an example that of a what if scenario. What’s wrong with that?” “It’s wrong! Everything’s wrong about it! I... I love you! So, I would never ever do those kinds of ridiculous stuff to you!” There was a short pause in which his words echoed off the walls in the house. Then Lakshmi sighed and said “We’ll see,” before walking away. Lakshman tilted his head slightly in exasperation at his father. Then, as she passed him, he caught the expression on his mother’s face. She was smiling happily while blushing red in the cheeks. As she walked away, he blinked after her in surprise. “Ah...” Indra sighed looking depressed. “What’s the matter, dad?” Lakshman asked as he turned around to face his father. “Oh... It’s your mum, Lucky... For some reason, she seems to have taken a dislike to me for some reason...” Indra said heavily.
“It’s because mistress is pregnant, master,” said a voice right behind him. He jumped in surprise and turned around. Mariana, the house maid, was standing there wearing her usual shrewd expression on her face. “B-Because she’s... pregnant?” he asked in surprise. Then he said “That can’t be...” She nodded and said “Women go through a phase change in their pregnancy and this also affects their mentality. Right now mistress is in a condition where she can easily get angry or hurt.” “Ah... Yeah...” he said nervously. She then leaned closed to her him asked “Don’t tell me... you’ve already forgotten the times you and mistress have fought before young master was born?” “Um... well... It was almost like thirteen years ago, so it’s hard to remember,” he said defensively. She narrowed her eyes and caused him to make a frightened expression. Then she straightened up and nodded as if accepting his reason for being unaware. “I understand,” she said simply. Then she bowed to them before following after Lakshmi. However, just before turning the corner into the kitchen, she turned around to face them. “Please watch your behaviour around mistress, master. You will not be forgiven if mistress is in distress because of you,” she said with a dangerous glint in her glasses. “I-I understand! I’ll be careful from now on!” Indra said quickly as he straightened up. After she left, he sighed in relief and walked into the living room to sit down. Lakshman began to follow when he remembered about Ondine. She was still standing, stock still, with the same shocked expression on her face. “Ondine... Hey, Ondine! Snap out of it!” Lakshman said as he shook her. “A-Ah...” Ondine said as her senses returned. She shook her head and said “Sorry master... I must’ve gone into shock or something.” “Yes, you did,” he said and together they walked into the living room.
Once they sat down, Ondine muttered “Trial of Betrayal...” “What is it?” Indra asked when he looked her. She looked at him and said “Just thinking about Felix.” Then, in a worried voice, she asked “Isn’t it bad for him?” “Yes, it is,” he said and he frowned and narrowed his eyes. Then he said “Not only that, but apparently he is subjected to trial because he betrayed the Phoenix Clan or something.” “What?!” Ondine exclaimed in shock. “I know... It’s very serious... What to do... what to do...?” he said with a serious expression on his face as he clasped his hands together. Lakshman was amazed to see such an expression on his father’s face. It was his first time seeing Indra so serious. It was also the beginning of the Indra spending more time outside than with his family. Ever since then, he has been returning home late each day. Whatever the things he was doing made him late and caused the family members to wonder what he was up to. Since then, two weeks passed and Indra was having some of his friends came home in the morning. They arrived just when Lakshman, Ondine and the kids were about to begin their training. Everyone in that group was looking tired as they went in. “I wonder what they were doing...” Lakshman thought. “Why don’t you go and ask?” said the voice of his Contracted Spirit, Tetra in his mind. “Yeah... I should. Mum became worried when dad didn’t come home last night.” With his decision made, he got up and helped Ondine with packing the wooden swords away. After saying farewell to the children, they made their way into the house. Nearing the living room, they heard the voices of his father and friends talking in serious tones. “Indra, you’re not serious...?” said the voice of a friend. “I’ve collected all the information I need about Felix’s visit here. All that’s left is to go is schedule when to depart for the Floria Region,” Indra’s voice said.
“And what good would it do?” “It’ll come in handy somehow.” “Indra...! You’re dealing with the Phoenix Clan!” “I know, but if they’re blaming him on why he came here, I can show them this as proof!” “And what if they’re blaming him for something else altogether? What’ll you do then?” “I... I don’t know...” Then, another friend said “Indra, we helped you get this, but you should stop and think about this.” “I already did that, but I’ve got no choice. It’s all I can do for him.” “No, I meant about your family.” “Come again?” The friend sighed and said “Think about it, idiot! Lakshmi is pregnant and you plan to leave her at this time?” “T-That’s...” Indra said and hesitated for a moment. Then he said “Ah! Lakshman is here! He’ll do a good job protecting the family.” There was a pause of silent in which tenseness was a still as the air. Then another friend said “So... You’re abandoning the family to protect your family by letting your son protect the family instead...? Is that right?” There was a sense of harshness and dislike in the friend’s voice when he spoke to Indra. Lakshman got closer to the wall and took a peek to see what was happening within the room. All of his father’s friends were glaring at his father. They were clearly unhappy about his decision to go to the rescue of his friend. Becoming angry, Indra said “I know...! I know, but do you want me to just stand back and let Felix unfairly get judged?! You know he is a heavy faithful member of the Phoenix Clan! He would never betray them!”
“We know, but think about your family first. He won’t be happy to learn that you left your wife to come after him-!” “Lakshmi will be fine without me for a few months!” Indra said firmly as he cut across his friend. “I can’t believe you’re saying that!” said a friend. “How could you dammit!” said another friend. “Have you forgotten the love for your wife already?! What happened to the oath you took when you two got married?!” a friend said in a serious voice. “I...” Indra said hesitantly. “No woman wants to see her husband leave her during a critical time like this! Idiot! Realise it, dammit! Realise it already! Why do you think she was so worried about whenever you came home really tired after a long length of time?!” “Hah! Can’t you get her worries?! Can’t you understand her at all?!” Indra could not say anything to the words of his friend. He only remained silent with his head down and looked depressed while his friends continued speaking. “Even I understood my wife when she didn’t want me to go on long journeys when she got pregnant! Yet, you can’t?! Come on!” “Indra, you’re not a man if you can’t understand what your woman needs!” “Yeah! She wants you to be by her side! She doesn’t want you to disappear for several months with no word or reply. The worry she will go through will affect the unborn baby!” “I don’t know how you’ll feel, but if the unborn baby dies because of me, I will feel so sick I’d want to die!” There was silent once they finished speaking their mind. Throughout it all, Indra kept silent and listened to them all. “T-Then... what do you want me to do? How should I get these documents to them?” Indra asked weakly as he looked at them.
Silence. The room remained silent as the answer to his question could not be found. At that moment, Lakshman got an idea and he stepped into the living room. “M-Master... No!” Ondine said and attempted to pull him back, but he had already stepped in. At the sound he made, everyone turned around to look at him. The serious expressions on their faces made him feel very nervous that he wanted to run away. However, he plucked up courage and stayed in the room. Lakshman looked at Indra, took a deep breath and said “I’ll go.”
Phoenix Rising Chapter 80 Friend of Friend is Friend There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room registered what Lakshman had just said. The first to react were the friend. “What?” they said at the same time. Lakshman fidgeted slightly as he said “I said I’ll go.” To his reply, they made confused expressions as they looked at each other. Then a man sitting opposite to Indra said “Wait, hold up... Do you mean to tell me you were listening to our conversation?” Lakshman nodded and said “Yes. We just finished training and was on our way back when-” “Oh dear lord...” the man said as he cut across Lakshman and leaned back in his chair. The person, seated next to him, laughed and asked “Kid, don’t you think its bad manners to eavesdrop on someone?” “I-I know, but it seemed related to the letter Felix sent. So I got curious what everyone was talking about.” “You got curious... ha!” the man said as he laughed. Then he said “Man, kids curiosity is such a good thing or bad if applied wrongly.” “You got that right!” said another friend. He smiled at Lakshman and said “This reminds me about the time when my kid walked in on me and my wife doing... you know...” While laughing, his friend asked “What did he do?” The man, talking about his kid, made a cute-like face and said in an imitating voice “’Dad, mum, what are you doing?’ He was so cute!” Everyone laughed, but then Indra coughed and said “Okay, guys. Let’s get back to the point.” When everyone did, he turned to look seriously at his son and asked “What exactly do you mean when you say you’ll go, Lucky?”
Lakshman gulped at seeing his father’s seriousness and said “Well, dad you wanted to help Felix so you’ve been going out and doing stuff. But, mum is... um... getting fat and you-” Suddenly, everyone, except Indra, started to laugh. One man clutched his stomach as he said “Getting fat... getting fat... That’s a first!” Lakshman was looking confused as he watched the laughing friends of his father. Indra looked at them sharply and said “Enough!” At his commanding tone, his friends slowly stopped laughing. Indra turned around to look at his son with a raised eyebrow. “Lucky, your mother is not getting fat. It’s called pregnancy. Okay?” “Oh... Pregnancy... Right... Thought I was forgetting something,” Lakshman said, nodding in understanding. Indra sighed and said “Fine. Continue.” “Okay. Well, mum is pregnant, but you want to help Felix. Everyone here doesn’t want you to leave mum and me to go help Felix. So I thought I should go instead.” “I see...” Indra said slowly as he nodding at his son’s words. Then he sighed and said “Lucky, you can’t go.” “Eh?! Why not?!” “It’s because you’re too young to travel the world on your own. You’re only thirteen and, no matter how many great things you did for your age, I cannot let you travel the world just yet.” “B-But... you travelled the world when you were only twelve!” “I had friends and my master to look after and train me regularly. Do you have such a comfort?” “T-Then... I’ll form a team and-” “Impossible! The kids’ parents won’t let their kids go on a trip with you, especially for the sake of a member from the Phoenix Clan.”
“W-Why?” At Lakshman’s question, everyone looked uncomfortable. Something was upsetting them and this confused Lakshman even more. Indra sighed and began to explain. “Listen, Lucky. The Phoenix Clan members were originally humans like the rest of us. But then, the Phoenix Titan had audience with the gods for his brave actions and they gifted them with super human capabilities.” “We’re fine since we’re friends, but most people fear the Phoenix Clan,” said a friend sitting next to Indra. “Oh...” Lakshman said as his face fell into sadness. A moment later, he looked up with a bright smile on his face as he said “Then, how about we all travel together?” He was hopeful, but the instant he asked them that they began to shake their heads violently and waves their heads negatively. “Sorry kid. While Felix is our friend, I can’t risk my neck to go so far as to Floria just to save him.” One man said and everyone else was nodding in agreement. “What?!” Lakshman exclaimed in shock and the people. Then he made a frustrated expression and asked “Why are you like this? Aren’t you friends?! Don’t you want to save a friend in need?!” “W-We do, but our families are our top priority...” “Yeah... I don’t want to leave my family alone for months... They’ll worry so badly...” “I want to help, but my wife is close to entering labour. So I can’t come along.” “Sorry kid...” Seeing their negative expressions and negative responses caused Lakshman to widen his eyes. He closed his hands into fists which shook. He looked at each of them with a frustrated expression on his face. “See...” Indra said with a sigh as he gestured at his friends. “This is why you can’t go, Lucky. So, stop it about helping when you are cannot help. You want to help and that’s enough. The thoughts matter the most after all.”
Lakshman’s entire body was shaking with his head down. His fists were tightly clenched as it shook from the pressure. Indra looked at him worriedly and asked “Lucky?” At that moment, Lakshman looked at them with a mighty frustrated expression and shouted “How can you call yourselves best friends when you don’t help each other?!” Everyone was taken aback by his sudden shout and Indra, looking startled, said “Lucky...?” Lakshman paused for a moment before continuing to shout at them in frustration. “Each and every one of you only care about your family, but what about friends?! What happened to the belief that there is a friend who’ll come to help when needed?! Why are you all so selfish that you only care about yourselves?! What is wrong with all of you?!” Lakshman paused to catch his breath. Then he continued to shout at them. “Why are you all just sitting here and discussing about it?! When a friend is in need, we help! That’s the laws of friendship or were you all just pretending to be friends with him?!” “N-No, we weren’t-” “Then why can’t you help?! Aren’t you in a position to help or are you afraid to help?! And why are you saying things like the thought is what matters the most?! So why can’t you help when you are in a position to help?! Don’t you care about friendship?! Don’t you care one bit about the promise of friendship?!” His shouts were so strong and loud, it woke Lakshmi. Fearing danger, she quickly ran down the stairs in her gown and appeared at the entrance to the living room. She was amazed to see all the men looked stricken as Lakshman heaved breath. “W-What’s going on here?” Lakshmi asked as she walked into the room. Lakshman turned around to look at his mother with tears appearing in his eyes and said “Mum, dad and his friends don’t want to help Felix!” Lakshmi widened her eyes at his words. She walked over and hugged her son tightly. Then she glared at the men who avoided her gaze.
Indra coughed and said “You are right, Lucky, but we shouldn’t risk our own safety to help friends. What would you do if one of us died in battle? Who’s going to look after their families?” “That’s why I’m saying I’ll go!” Lakshman said as he turned to gaze angrily at his father. “That’s why I won’t let you go! You’re too young for this sort of thing! Besides, why are you so concerned about Felix so much? He’s not like a friend to you or anything.” Lakshman froze at his father’s words. For a moment, his mind was blank and empty. Then, something like a spark, ignited in his mind and he spoke his mind freely. “Dad, Felix is your friend, but he is also my friend! We fought together and helped each other when our lives were in danger! I also owe him my life for saving me when I was almost killed by the Serprad Clan of the Demons!” “Y-Yes, but...” “Moreover, he helped all of us when that gigantic Two-Headed Cerberus attacked us! He healed everyone and restored the village back to normal! So yes! Both as a friend as a person who was saved, I want to help him this time! I want to return the favour!” Lakshman breathed slightly faster than normal once he finished speaking. He bent over slightly to catch his breath. Lakshmi helped him while patting his back softly while glaring angrily at her husband. “Indra, he’s right. Felix did many things for us while he was here. It’s only fair we return it by helping him out of his tough situation.” “I understand that, but Lucky is not ready to do this! He’s too young and, no matter how powerful he might have become, this journey will be more than he can handle!” “Then dad... I challenge you to a duel!” Lakshman said as he straightened up and glared sharply at his father. There was a stunned silent within the room as everyone’s attention turned to Lakshman. They could almost hear his word echo, but they were disbelieving at what they just heard. “W-What did you say...?” Indra asked softly as he slowly got off his chair.
“I challenge you to a duel, dad! I’ll defeat you and show you that I am capable of helping Felix... no! I’m capable of helping anyone!” Lakshman said firmly as he looked seriously at his father. There was a dead silence between them as they started at each other. The air was thick with tension as an invisible battle raged between them that which was hot and fierce. Lakshmi looked at them worriedly and moved in between them to block. “Please, you two. Calm down. First, Lucky, apologise to your father! You shouldn’t say those kinds of things!” “I understand,” Indra said from behind her. She turned around to look at him with wise eyes as he said “I don’t know if you’re speaking from confidence or arrogance, but I accept your challenge, Lucky... no... Lakshman...!” They made serious faces at each other and glared at one another. The challenge was issued and it was has been accepted. Everyone was looking at them anxiously. There was one person not inside the room. Ondine stood with her back against the wall and away from their view. She had her eyes tightly shut as if pretending nothing was happening. She slowly opened her eyes and made a painful expression before saying “What a mess...!”
Phoenix Rising Chapter 81 Challenge Accepted “Master, was it worth it?” “What do you mean, Ondine?” “Making your dad so angry... Is there any meaning to it?” “Is there a meaning?” Lakshman said and he looked at her in surprise before beginning to laugh. Lakshman and Ondine were in his room. It has been several hours since he and his father, Indra, had argued. Their argument was about Indra’s disagreement in allowing Lakshman to leave home to go help Felix. Afterwards, they returned to their room and sat in silence. After a while, Ondine finally decided to speak to her master about the issue that took place earlier. While he was laughing, she looked at him in concern and asked “Aren’t you afraid?” “Afraid? Afraid of what?” he asked and he sounded surprised at her question. “Afraid of Indra... Aren’t you afraid he might do something unpredictable?” His eyes flashed in amusement at her words. Then he said “I’m not afraid.” “Why not?” He smiled at her and said “Ondine... He’s my father. If it was someone else, I might be afraid since I don’t know what they will do, but my father... I know him and I know what he will do.” “And what do you think he’ll do, master?” “I challenged him to a duel. Knowing him, I know dad will fight me with everything he’s got.” “B-But, master... How can you defeat him if he goes all out? Remember! He’s a Water Sword Saint! Besides, you couldn’t win against him a year ago. What makes you think you will do any better this time?”
Then she narrowed her eyes shrewdly and said “Don’t tell me... You’ll use some sneaky method to win?” At her words, he looked at her in alarm and said “Hey! I may be different from kids my age, but I’m not stupid enough to try that stuff on dad! I’ll fight fair and square like a true warrior!” At his confident words, her eyebrows rose. Then she blinked in surprise as she asked “Okay, but still... aren’t you afraid of losing? There’s still no guarantee that you can win...” “Ondine, stop being so negative,” he said sternly with a raised eyebrow and she looked sad. He stared at her for a moment before smiling and patting her on the shoulder. “Ondine, listen. Last year I did lose to dad, but I was weak back then. Since then, I have constantly trained my body and strengthened my powers. I have also passed the test Miss. Sumara put me through, that Saint Magic Test. So yes... I have practically nothing to fear!” Lakshman finished speaking and he wore a cheerful smile on his face. He was so happy, he started to swing move back and forth on the bed. Ondine looked at him with a complicated expression on her face. Seeing her expression, he laughed before moved over and using his hands to turn her frown into a smile. “There! Now you look so much better without that bad face!” he said brightly and he beamed at her. She sighed and said “That’s all well and good, master, but let’s hope that confidence can help you beat your father.” He stopped smiling and narrowed his eyes seriously at her before asking “You don’t believe that I can win?” “I do believe in your victory, master, but... I don’t mean to be rube, but don’t you think you’re being overoptimistic?” “Over?!” he exclaimed in amazement and laughed. After recovering from his laughter, he said “I’ll just have to prove my confidence with my actions, right?” As he eyed her, she drew back a little and said “Please don’t take it out on me... I was just...”
“I know, but you’re too worried about this. Besides, I have some things I want to test out and this is the perfect opportunity. I can use them effectively like this anyway, hehehe...” At his strange chuckle, Ondine made a worried face and said “Master, please don’t do something dangerous.” “It’s out of my hands if it becomes dangerous. After all, I’m not god to control how everything happens.” “B-But...” “Regardless, I’ll be careful. So you don’t need to worry, Ondine. I will not do something that could harm me and anyone else.” As he spoke, he placed his hand on her head and began to rub it. She made a blissful expression and softly said “Yes.” After that, the interaction between Indra and Lakshman has remained the same, except a few things. They continued to train daily, eat dinner and lunch together, however his father started to behave very differently to his son. Indra began to speak boldly about his power and strength. Sometimes, he would go to great lengths to tell his son about his adventures he had at his age. However, he was stopped often by his wife with a serious glare she flashes at him. After all this, Lakshman would chuckle and say “Dad is really something...” “What do you mean, master?” Ondine asked curiously. “Dad thinks he could intimidate me by speaking about his greatness and such. Heh! While his main intention is not working, maybe he’s thinking I will get sick of hearing him and give up on fighting him.” “Indra just doesn’t want to fight you, master,” Ondine said in a reasonable voice. “If he doesn’t want to fight me, then he should just accept it and allow me to go on the journey! All this time wasting is only delaying me!” he said sternly. Indra continued to speak to his son about his past achievements when Lakshman finally lost his patience.
A week after the argument, Indra came into the dining room shirtless. He was flexing his muscles and showing off his strength by holding up multiple chairs with one hand. “Lucky, what do you think about these? Hey?” Indra said to his son while he held the multiple chairs in his one hand. Lakshman sighed and said “I think that’s a complete waste of effort.” “H-Huh?” Indra said as he was taken aback by his son’s reply. Then, as if he misheard, he asked “What did you just say?” “I said I think lifting chairs to prove your capability is a complete waste of time and effort.” “B-But... my strength-!” “Prove your strength by fighting, not wasting time doing stupid things, dad” Lakshman said flatly. “T-Then... What about these muscles? Eh! These muscles that I honed after rigorously training my body! This must also prove how strong I am!” “Dad... Just because you have muscles doesn’t mean you’re the strongest.” Indra blinked at him in surprise and said “What do you mean? In history, all strong men have muscles of great proportion! There’s undeniable proof if you read the story books!” “Maybe they did, but I’m not the same,” Lakshman said coolly. “You wanna bet?” “There’s no need, I’ll win. That’s a foregone conclusion. If not, why would you resort to wasting my time by speaking of stuff you did so many years back, dad?” Lakshman said cheerfully. Lakshmi, who was present at that time, let out a snort of laughter. Indra glanced at her quickly before returning his gaze to his son. For a moment, the two of them locked gazes before sighing and breaking it. “I had spoken to the towns people and they told me to try and stop Lucky from fighting me. Even the elders spoke of their disapproval of your idea of going to Felix’s support.” “So?” Lakshman asked as he stared at his father with a firm expression.
“When everyone is so against it, I thought I should convince you and, maybe, frighten you into changing your mind,” Indra said in a disappointed voice. Lakshman stared at his father with half-open eyes and said “Dad...” Lakshmi, however, began to laugh and all attention fell on her. “Lakshmi... Why are you laughing?” Indra asked curiously. “I mean, seriously...! What made you think you could convince Lucky to change his mind with only that?” she said with a chuckle. Looking confused, he asked “What do you mean?” “Oh, come on...” she said with a sigh. Then she smiled and asked “Who do you think he is? With his boldness and recklessness, whom does he takes after?” “Uh...” Indra said hesitantly at the realisation. Seeing the change in his expression, she slowly nodded and said “Yes... you. Lucky is a nice kid and all, but there are some aspects of him that are just like you. Your blood runs through him, how do you expect him to be any different from his father?” Indra hesitated for a moment before saying weakly “Y-You’re right...” Seeing his weak reaction, she signed and turned to her son and said “Lucky, I give you full permission to beat your father into a pulp!” “M-Mum?” Lakshman said and looked surprised. “L-Lakshmi?!” Indra exclaimed in shock. The two of them exclaimed at the same time at her words. Indra sat on the chair and leaned towards her with a frown on his face. “Are you that keen on letting Lucky venture into the unknown on his own?” he asked in a low voice. “I’m simply helping him because he is in the right. Besides, whether it is today or tomorrow, Lucky has to leave on a journey on his own. We can’t always keep him from that eventuality. I think you and I remember how we started out in our lives.”
“B-But-!” She suddenly leaned closer to him and seriously said “If you seriously don’t want him to go... Then defeat him! Lucky might be upset, but his defeat will convince him that he is not ready for the outside world just yet.” “Y-You think so?” Lakshmi made a small smile and softly said “Would I call myself your wife if I don’t give my husband valuable advice?” Indra looked at her smiling face. He could not find deceit or trickery behind those eyes and smiling face. At that moment, he realised she was really worried about their son. She knows he is on the right, but is afraid to send him out into the world. That is why she wants them to fight to prove that Lucky is indeed ready to handle the outside world. Indra leaned back and sat back on his chair. He sat still and silent while staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes. Then, as if he made up his mind, he straightened up and looked at them. “Fine! I still don’t like it, but this matter can only be solved once I defeat Lucky!” he said in a firm voice. “No! I’ll defeat you, dad!” Lakshman retorted in frustration. “No, Lucky...! I’m your senior and am stronger than you with more experience in fighting than you have!” “Even if that is the case, I will still defeat you, dad!” “Oh really?” “Really!” The father and son glared fiercely at each other. Watching them from aside, Lakshmi and Ondine sighed. “Men... So hot headed...!” they both said at the same time. Lakshmi and Ondine looked at each other in surprise and laughed.
Thus, the challenge has officially been accepted. Next up is the battle to see who the winner will be to decide the matter about Lakshman travelling to Floria Region to support Felix.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 82 Indra vs. Lakshman (Start) The news of Indra fighting Lakshman spread very quickly throughout the town and neighbourhood villages. People were talking great things about it and everyone seemed excited about it for some reason. A few days later, the officials visited Indra to speak to him. They requested that they hold their duel within the barriers of the stadium. At first, Indra did not like the idea as it seemed more like a money making idea. They countered by saying this was to contain the damage that will be inflicted by the fight. Even though it was true, Indra did not want it to become a show. That was when Lakshmi made her thoughts clear. “I think this is a good idea to give everyone a show while fighting to your heart’s content. After all, the arena is erected with a barrier to stop the destruction from bypassing it.” He stared at her incredulously and said “O-Okay, but... What if Lucky can’t fight to his best with the entire crowd? What if he becomes so nervous, he wouldn’t be able to fight like he normally does?” She chuckled and said “Aren’t you forgetting that he did many things and was never nervous about them. Besides, I’m his mother and I’m not worried. So why are you getting worried unnecessarily?” “W-Well... you might be becoming a little too lenient on him,” he muttered. “Huh?” she said sharply as her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Nothing! Nothing at all!” he exclaimed quickly and waved his hands at her. With no other option left, he accepted the offer. With that, the preparations for the battle were made within two weeks. During this time, everyone from around the area bought tickets to the arena. Witnessing the battle between the Water Sword Saint and the Rising Hero was causing a great wave of excitement.
Like that, two weeks went by and the day of the battle came. In the morning, Indra and Lakshman did not train that day. They simply greeted each other normally and ate breakfast together. Afterwards, Indra left to meet with his friends in town. Their match was scheduled in the afternoon, so Lakshman spent his time talking about various things with Ondine, his Slave Spirit, and Tetra, his Contract Spirit. They discussed things like skills and techniques he might use against his father. “I’m not feeling well,” Ondine said a while later and clutched her stomach. Lakshman stared at her in surprise and said “Why are you feeling sick? Stop being so nervous, Ondine!” Then, an hour before the match time, Lakshman left home. He walked towards the arena with Ondine on one side and Tetra on the other. As people passed him, they stopped and greeted him while some even encouraged him. Lakshman simply waved back and thanked them shortly for their encouragement. “T-There’s a lot of people here,” he muttered to his companions. “They came here to watch you and Indra fight, master,” Ondine said with a satisfied smile on her face. “They came to see master’s awesomeness,” Tetra said proudly with a puff of her chest. He simply laughed at their words and said “This somehow doesn’t feel like a warrior’s fight though.” “Just ignore them and do what you have to do, master.” “Focus on defeating your father, master. Everything else can come later.” Hearing their words of reassurance, he smiled and they went on their way. It was a few minutes later when they finally arrived at the arena. The officers of the arena greeted him enthusiastically and guided him in. They showed him to a room which is to serve as his changing or preparation room. Lakshman did not particularly care and went in with Tetra. Ondine wanted to go in with him, but she decided to support him from the seats.
“Good luck, master! I’ll be supporting you!” she said brightly and made a thumps-up gesture towards him before leaving. Walking in, he saw the room was lit brightly. The light was being illuminated from enclosed glass. Lakshman and Tetra moved towards the bench and sat on it. Tetra then hugged his right arm and leaned against him. Lakshman closed his eyes and let the silence envelop him. He did not feel lonely with Tetra being by his side. Instead, he thought about what he needs to do to win against his father. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” he said in response. The door opened and a lady walked in holding a set of armour. She saw him and smiled before walking towards him. “Your armour, sir,” she said and laid it on the empty space beside him. “Oh? T-Thank you, but... why the armour?” he asked curiously. “Not to worry. Your father has requested me to deliver it to you saying a warrior shouldn’t fight without armour to protect him,” she said with a smile. “O-Oh... That’s very considerate of dad,” he said and looked amazed at the armour. “It’s not much. He just didn’t want to hurt you too badly without your armour.” “Gah! Dad is underestimating me!” The lady laughed and, before leaving, said “Best of luck, Lakshman.” He nodded and smiled as she left by closing the door. Once she left, he looked at the armour. It was silver and sparkled from the reflected light. Looking at it, he realised it was brand new and wondered if his father bought him a new pair just for the occasion. “Dad... Really...” he said softly with a smile of affection. “Master’s father is very considerate,” Tetra said in a low voice.
He looked at her in surprise. Then he smiled and touched the metal armour. He felt a little ease, knowing that he will not get seriously hurt. On the other hand, he was prepared for the worst if his battle causes him more than just a bruise. Then a thought came to him and he turned to look at Tetra as she continued to lean against him. “A-Are you alright with this?” he asked her hesitantly. She made a small smile and said “Tetra is master’s sword. Tetra will do what she has to help master.” “I-I see, but... don’t you feel a little bit afraid to get hurt?” There was a short pause before she asked “Why is master talking like that? Is he afraid of pain or afraid to fight?” “No, that’s not the problem here, Tetra. I’m just feeling a bit nervous about fighting dad in front of all those people. I don’t want to do something that could make you look bad and all.” At his words, she chuckled and said “Master is master and people are people. You are worrying needlessly.” “Tetra, what do you mean ‘Master is master and people are people’? Are you saying I’m different and they are different?” he asked uncertainly and she nodded. “No matter what happens, master is master,” she said simply. “Oh...” he said slowly and he finally understood what she meant. Lakshman finally felt at ease by her words. He originally did not worry about the people watching him fight his father. However, on the spot, he started to have doubts about whether it was good for him to fight like this. Several minutes later, the door opened and a man entered. Behind the man, there stood several more people with hoods and staffs. At first, Lakshman wondered if these people were here to cause trouble. “Lakshman, it is time,” the man in front said and he smiled warmly at him. “O-Oh...” Lakshman said as he was surprised by the man’s words.
Realising the man meant the match, Lakshman nodded and he stood up. They helped him into his armour and then escorted him towards corridor. “Please go along this way and you will arrive,” the man, in the lead, said. The rest of the group wished him wishing him good luck and left. Sighing to himself and with Tetra hugging his right arm, he walked along the corridor. After a while, he saw light emanating ahead. He squinted as he stepped into it. As he stepped out, there was a loud cheer that caused him to almost jump in fright. He blinked furiously and looked around. All around him were people seated on high walls and waving at him. The sheer number of the people sitting and standing was overwhelming. “T-That’s a lot of people,” he said in awe as he stared around. Then he tried searching for Ondine, but there were so many it was difficult to locate anyone he could recognise. Just then, the cheers increased in volume as they turned in the opposite direction. Lakshman looked ahead and was amazed by what he saw. There, walking towards him in full armour was none other than his father, Indra. He was wearing full set armour that glowed brightly in the sunlight. Once he reached his son, Indra looked at his son and smiled. Lakshman was awestruck and had his mouth open as he stared at the amazing figure of his father in full armour. “Well...? Not too shabby, eh?” Indra said in an impressive voice. “I... ah... um...” Lakshman stammered as he struggled to find words. Indra laughed and said “First starters, why don’t you close your mouth? You’re looking very silly right now.” He used his armoured hand and closed his son’s lips. Lakshman only blinked at him and did not say anything. On the other hand, Tetra was looked at him as if she was not impressed by his appearance. “I am not intimidated,” she said in a serious voice with narrowed eyes. Indra laughed and said “Well, I’m not trying to scare anyone, but that’s good. Unlike my frozen son, I’m glad to see his companion is taking this well.”
“You underestimate me. I am the renowned Phoenix Blade who fought by alongside the Phoenix Titan.” “Now that’s more like it! Don’t you agree, Lucky?” When he turned back to face his son, Lakshman blinked in surprise. Then he shook his head vigorously and looked seriously at his father while narrowing his eyes. “Yes, dad... I’ll defeat you!” he said in a firm voice. Indra stared at his son in surprise. Then he sighed and said “Not exactly what we’re talking about, but... if you think you can win, bring it!” With those challenging words, he smiled and walked away. Lakshman looked serious as he watched the retreating back of his father. Then he felt a grip from Tetra and he looked at her. She was looking up at him and looked slightly worried. “No need to worry. I’m fine now,” he said and smiled confidently at her before smoothly rubbing her head. Ondine, who was seated beside Lakshmi, saw this and gritted her teeth in frustration. Lakshmi noticed her reaction and smiled before petting her on the head. “Patience,” she said softly and Ondine nodded quietly. Just then, there was a loud voice being projected throughout the entire arena. It was the voice of the commentator as he hovered high above the crowd that overlooked the arena. “Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the long awaited fight!” At his words, everyone roared wildly. Then, as the roar of the mass subsided, the commentator continued. “Today we’ll be seeing the Water Sword Saint, Indra Reddy fight his son, Lakshman Reddy, who has been known as the Rising Hero!” There were loud claps and cheers when the commentator announced their names. Lakshman looked up at the commentator with a wondering expression on his face. “H-He’s floating...” he muttered and Tetra explained.
“That man is using a Gravity Magic Spell to stay afloat and using an Amplify Magic Spell to increase the volume of his voice so that everyone here can hear him.” “That’s amazing...” he muttered. Then he looked at her and asked “Do you think I can master that?” “Master, you can do anything once you apply your mind to it,” she said and smiled. Just then, they heard the commentator continue speaking. “We have Indra on the west end and Lakshman on the east end. The main reason for this battle was Lakshman’s decision to go on a journey and Indra opposed it. His reason for opposing it was because his son is too young.” There was a change in the crowd as everyone had different opinions. They shared their thoughts with their neighbours while others argued over it. “Now, if everyone is done discussing it amongst themselves, we can get right down to the match!” At his words, everyone slowly became quiet and waited expectantly. The commentator looked around at the crowd of people below and asked “Just before we begin, I’d like to request those who will get sick to contain it. Otherwise, you’ll make the people, around you, sick as well!” At his words, there was a round of laughter. There were even some that eyed their neighbours suspiciously. “And for those crazy people, out there... Are you ready for the brawl?!” At his words, there was a sudden roar of clapping and cheers while whistles sounded throughout the arena. It was obvious how excited everyone was and the commentator stated it. “Yes! I heard it, loud and clear! The excitement that everyone is going through, let’s get down to it!” The cheers grew louder and louder. The commentator then turned his attention to Indra and Lakshman. “Are the two warriors ready?”
At his words, Lakshman looked at Tetra. She looked up at him and smiled before, in a flash of light, taking on her sword form. Seeing this, the crowd roared excitedly and it seemed to increase their excitement. Lakshman saw his father get into position and noticed that Indra was looking confident with a smile on his face. Knowing the advantage lay in who takes the first strike, he readied himself and waited for the battle command. The crowd slowly became quiet as the commentator waited. Then the whole arena became quiet, but the radiated exciting energy was immense. The commentator waited for a moment as he looked around. Then, in a loud voice, he issued the battle command. “Now...! Warriors...! Let the battle... begin!” As he finished, Lakshman instantly rook a leap towards his father. In a flash, he reached Indra and Indra was taken by surprise. “What the?!” Indra exclaimed in shock. He quickly brought his sword up to block as Lakshman brought his sword down at him. The two swords clashed fiercely as both of them desperately fought to push their swords the other way. At that moment, sparks began to exhibit from the clashing swords. For a few seconds, while they struggled to force each other down, the sparks became stronger and numerous from the connected swords. Suddenly, there was a violent flash of light where they stood. The next instant, a huge explosion erupted and blinded everything.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 83 Indra vs. Lakshman (Middle) The battle between Indra and Lakshman erupted with a blast. The moment the commentator gave the signal, Lakshman rushed towards his father at blinding speed. Then he swung his sword down, but was blocked when Indra quickly raised his sword in defence. Sparks violently exhibited from their furiously clashing swords as they fought for control. That was when a flash of blinding light erupted and caused a massive explosion to send wind and dust everywhere. All the people that were seated high in the watching space covered themselves as the shockwave hit them. For a moment, the arena was covered in dust. As people coughed and sneezed, the dust cleared and the field came into view. When the people looked down, they were astonished to see Indra and Lakshman were not fighting. They stood, meters away, and stared at each other. The commentator, recovering after the sudden strong wind and cloud of dust, started commentating excitedly. “Wow! What a flashy start! As soon as the signal was given, Lakshman rushed in for a quick takedown, but it looks like Indra defended against him well! The force of their clash was so strong the whole place erupted in dust!” At the stands, Ondine and Mariana were covering Lakshmi. They moved over and let her sit properly. Lakshmi looked around and at them with a confused expression on her face. “What happened?” she asked in a confused voice. “Master attacked Indra and that caused a massive amount of wind and dust to hit us all,” Ondine said proudly as she looked down at Lakshman. Lakshmi widened her eyes and, a moment later, sighed before saying “Those two... really...!” She sounded annoyed, but she suddenly started to smile. Mariana looked at her and nodded in satisfaction. She knew Lakshmi would not like this battle, but she also wants to see her son win.
Just then, Lakshman leapt forward and started fighting against his father. Indra and Lakshman furiously exchanged swords at each other. Each time they swung, it made contact with the opponent’s sword. Each impact caused a loud sword clashing sounds. “What a fight! Look at them! Now both warriors started attacking each other with all they got!” the commentator’s voice was heard loud and clear.
Indra and Lakshman swung at each other with great strength and power. Their clashes could be heard loud and clear even when the commentator was speaking. Both of them were challenging Energy Force through their swords which caused energy to go everywhere. “You surprised me! I didn’t expect you to start attacking me so quickly!” Indra said in their next sword slash. “You know, dad... If I strike first, you wouldn’t have the chance to defend yourself or anything,” Lakshman said as he fought back. Indra widened his eyes in amazement and started to laugh which caused Lakshman to make a perplexed expression on his face. “What’s so funny, dad?” he asked once they broke away. “Oh, nothing... It’s just... I finally see that my son has... finally grown...” Indra said with a happy smile on his face. Lakshman blinked at him in surprise as his father sifted his armour slightly and took on a fighting stance. Sensing danger, he quickly took a fighting stance of his own and readied himself. “While I’m happy that you’ve grown, I still won’t let you face the outer world if you can’t even defeat me!” Indra said and he looked very seriously at Lakshman. The next instant he disappeared and, a moment later, reappeared directly in front of Lakshman. At the looming appearance of his father, he looked surprised and stepped back instinctively. Lakshman suddenly widened his eyes and said “Gah!” He clutched his stomach at the sudden pain. It was then he realised that Indra landed a powerful blow in his stomach. Then he looked up at him just in time to see the raised fists.
“If you want to win, defeat me first!” Indra shouted and landed a powerful blow to the side of his son’s face. Lakshman yelled in pain and was sent flying. He sailed across the field and smashed into the wall. “Oooo! A punch to the face! That must hurt!” the commentator’s voice was heard. From the seats, Lakshmi suddenly flared up angrily and started shouting while Mariana tried to calm her down. “Damn you, Indra! Don’t hit my son like that! Fight fairly dammit!” As the broken rubble fell down and the dust cleared, Lakshman stepped out with a grunting noise. “I thought we’re... fighting with... swords!” he said in a complaining voice while he rubbed his face. “Yeah, we are, but I wanted to give you some motivation into fighting me seriously!” Lakshman looked surprised at his father’s words. Then he looked angry and rushed at him. Just as he reached Indra, he disappeared which surprised Indra. “He... vanished?!” he exclaimed in astonishment. He suddenly felt a strong force from behind and exclaimed “From behind?!” As he turned, he caught sight of his son about to attack him from behind. Lakshman smiled as he said “This is payback for punching me in the face, dad!” As he finished speaking, he landed his sword against the amour his father wore. His smile suddenly vanished and was replaced by a shocked expression. “W-What’s going on? Why isn’t your armour breaking?” Indra smiled and said “That’s part of my armour. You could call it my shield.” “S-Shield?!” Lakshman exclaimed in surprise and said “I thought you didn’t have one.”
“I originally didn’t plan on using it. So I kept it back there in case I got... you know... back stabbed.” He started to laugh and Lakshman, in frustration, said “It still won’t matter... what?” Lakshman sounded surprised as the shield, on his father’s back, began to glow brightly. Indra, as if just remembering something, said “You want to get away from there. Otherwise, you’ll be yelling in pain.” “Why?” “That shield is no ordinary shield. It’s called a Reflector Shield and is capable of reflecting the attacked power back at the attacker by doubling its power.” Just then, there was a violent flash and Lakshman was blasted away. He yelled in pain as he soared through the air and landed sprawled on the ground. He winced slightly as he slowly rose back to his feet and looked towards his father. “That hurt...” he muttered as he rose to his feet. “Naturally it would, you used a lot of Weapon Force into that attack,” Indra said with a snicker. “Mine, huh...” Lakshman muttered as he understood. Then he looked at his father and asked “But dad... How did you get that sort of shield? Wouldn’t it have been really rare or expensive to get?” “Felix gave it to me, his best friend!” Indra said proudly while smiling happily. As Lakshman wore an expression of surprise, amazement and disbelief on his face, Indra looked seriously at his son and spoke. “Listen, Lucky. He gave me his shield to protect me so that I will be safe. He did it to protect Lakshmi’s happiness because of all the dangerous things I get involved in. He gave us many things, including the house we’re living in right now.” As Lakshman widened his eyes in surprise, Indra continued speaking. “He did a lot for us. For such a friend, I would do anything and even giving up my life to help him! So if you, my son, can’t do the same, then... I won’t let you go free, Lucky!” “D-Dad...” Lakshman said with a sad expression on his face.
“That’s why! Defeat me! Prove to me you got more than just strong feelings!” Indra and Lakshman looked at each other with his father giving him a serious look. Lakshman then sighed and stood up before looking seriously at his father. “I’ll win,” he said in a firm voice. He readied his weapon and then heard Tetra’s voice in his mind. “Going all out, master? Should I lend you my help?” “No. I’ll fight with my own strength. I want to prove to dad I am capable without help!” “As you wish, master.” Once the talking was over, he readied his weapon and took a battle stance. Indra did the same and they readied themselves to fight seriously. Then silence stretched for a few seconds Even the crowd became quiet as the tension slowly builded. At that moment, the cry of a baby from the crowd triggered the attack. Indra and Lakshman rushed at each other at an incredible speed and clashed swords. Then they began a barrage of swings of their swords at each other only to get blocked by the other’s sword. “Oh! Look at that, the fight’s finally got serious after a lengthy talk between father and son. Now it looks like those two are finally getting down to business! Look at them go! That power, strength and skills!” At that moment, Lakshmi yelled “Hurry up and defeat that idiot, Lucky! Come on! Do it!” “M-Madam, please... Don’t overexert yourself!” Mariana said in a worried voice and looked anxiously at her. “I’ll be fine!” Lakshmi said as she waved her worries away with a hand. “M-Madam...” Mariana said in a pleading voice. Meanwhile, the intensity between Indra and Lakshman increased. Their battle became a lengthy one as each warrior fought with both their skills and strength. It excited the crowd as they were eager to see more from them.
The speed at which both Indra and Lakshman clashed at was incredible. Each time their swords made impact there was a loud clanging sounds followed by sparks littering the field. A few times, Indra and Lakshman disappeared to strike at each other from their blind spot. Their disappearance and reappearance was almost like magic. The crowd watched the fight with great excited energy. Many were on their feet and shouting encouragements towards the respective warrior they supported. They were eager to see the battle go on, but the difference between them became clear. Indra continued to fight at the same pace as always, but Lakshman was quickly becoming exhausted. He was delivering fewer attacks and was also looking exhausted. His breathing was shallow and he began to miss his target. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re getting tired already?” Indra asked with a grin on his face when they took a break from fighting. While breathing heavily, Lakshman said “N-Not... really...” Indra laughed and said “You did well, Lucky. You did so much better than I thought and let me give you a well-earned rest!” As he shouted the last word, he quickly rushed towards him. Lakshman tried to react, but he was slow and could not stop the next attack. Due to the barrier around the arena, all physical attacks, that also includes cuts and stabs, to the person’s mind. Indra did several slashes with his sword at his son and kicked him away. Lakshman screamed from the pain as he flew through the air and smashed into the wall. He was then covered by dust and rubble from the broken wall. A moment later, Lakshman slowly walked forward weakly with broken armour. Then he slowly collapsed on the ground. His sword fell at his side and remained still and silent. It did not look like nighter he nor does his Contract Spirit have the energy to continue the fight. For a moment, there was silence within the arena. Then the whole place erupted in loud screams of the crowd. They were clapping, yelling and screaming with mixed emotions while congratulating Indra. Over the loud voices, the commentator’s voice could be heard as he tried to make his voice be heard above them all.
“There you have it folks! The long lasted battle has finally come to an end with an expected result. It looks like the young man, Lakshman, has much way to go in developing his skills to match his father’s.” As the crowd went wild over Indra’s victory, there were three people that did not join in. Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine were looking sad as they looked at the collapsed form of Lakshman. Lakshmi, especially, was looking unhappy at her son’s defeat. “Lucky...” she muttered in a sad voice. “Master...” Ondine said in a low voice. She was distraught because she knew this would happen. She knew Lakshman was lacking in experience and pure fighting skills he needed to win against his father. While she indeed knew he will lose, a part of her wanted him to win. While the crowd cheered and waved at him, Indra looked towards the sprawled figure of his son. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed the tension that built up in his body. “That was good, but looks like you got more to learn, Lucky,” he said with a smile. Lakshman was barely conscious. He heard the noises as if they were far away. There was a gentle blankness settling in and he felt comfortable letting himself. To him, it felt suiting and relaxing which also made him feel no concern for anything anymore. Suddenly, he heard Tetra’s voice speaking to him in his drifting mind. “Master... Are you giving up?” “H-Huh?” “Are you giving up?” “What... are you talking about? Go away! I want to... sleep...” “You want to sleep?” “... Yes.” “Then... What about Felix?” “Who?”
“Felix. The man who saved your father’s life, the people around here and your life.” “What about him?” “Aren’t you forgetting he needs your help?” “He... needs my help?” “Yes. He wants your help and only you can help him. Will you let him down? Won’t you return the favour of helping him since he saved your life?” “I... I should?” “Yes, master. You should. He is important, both to us and the world. If you don’t defeat your father, you cannot help him.” “Okay, but... I lost. Dad defeated me. There’s nothing more I can do now. He’s right. I have so much to learn about the world when I couldn’t even defeat him.” “Master... Are you giving up?” “I think I should. I realise now I was overconfident with my skills.” “So master... You’re a loser then.” “A... what?” “Loser. Loser!” “...” “Master, remind us again what your middle name is.” “My... middle name?” “Yes. What is your middle name?” “It’s... Vijay.” “And? It stands for?”
“It... stands for... Victory... Victorious.” “Yes, master. Victory... Victorious...! So I ask... Are you a loser?” “No.” “Are you going to give up?” “No.” “Will you defeat your father?” “Yes.” “Will you lose?” “... NO!” The crowd continued to go wild, but some of them suddenly noticed something and began to draw attention to it. As the attention diverted, many of them were showing astonished looks and stared down at the battlefield. Indra, who had turned away and began to walk away, felt the change in the crowd. He looked up and saw many of them wearing astonished expressions as they stared at something behind him. He turned around and, to his big surprise, he found Lakshman standing upright. Lakshman was standing up unsteadily with his head hanging down. All damage is transferred to their minds which is why he did not have physical wounds. Indra, however, thought he imagined seeing his son with blood dripping down his face and onto the ground. Then he heard his son say “I... won’t... lose...” Indra, hearing his son’s words, chuckled and said “Lucky, come on. I just defeated you fair and square. So stop being a sore loser and rest!” “I won’t lose...!” Lakshman repeated in a stronger voice as he slowly raised his head. Indra became slightly irritated and said “Lucky, that’s enough! You lost! Now rest before you seriously hurt yourself!” As if ignoring his words, Lakshman continued to say “I won’t lose!”
Indra eyes narrowed and he became angry as he said “What the heck is wrong with you, Lucky?!” Up in the chairs, Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine watched Lakshman in surprise. They were surprised that he got up after that painful attack from Indra. “Lucky...” Lakshmi muttered in a low voice. “Master... What are you doing?” Ondine said in a low voice with wide eyes. As everyone watched, Lakshman slowly straightened up and then screamed into the air. “I... WON’T... LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” Once he finished screaming, there was a sudden surge of power. The next instant, a great surge of power erupted around him. The ground shook, the air became thick and the wind became wild. Then a tidal wave of wind and dust was sent everywhere.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 84 Indra vs. Lakshman (End) There was a strong surge of power on the battlefield. It caused a great wave of dust and wind to go everywhere. Very soon, the fast blowing wind went wild and the noise it caused deafened the listeners. Standing close to the strong surge of power and fighting against it was Indra. He wanted to bring his shield forward to defend himself, but experience has told him otherwise. This was no attack, but a mere wild surge of power. “What power!” he exclaimed as he was buffeted by the strong power. He looked towards the source of this strong power. The source was coming from a few meters away from him and, at the centre of it, was his son. Lakshman was standing in the centre of the strong surge of power as it enveloped him. He clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth painfully. In his right hand, the Phoenix Blade began to glow brightly in red colour. The next instant, he screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!” As his scream became intense, the power began to increase and the wind blew even harder. However, as soon as he finished screaming, the power immediately stopped flowing wildly. The power surge vanished and the wild wind stopped, but the dust still remained in the air. Things started to settle, but an eerie silence took its place. Everyone was quiet, unsure of what was just happened and what might happen next. Only Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine were trying to look at the field to see what was happening. At that moment, there was a strange sound followed by a strong force and it quickly cleared the dust away. As the dust quickly cleared, the field became properly visible and everyone could see what was happening down below. “What the?!” “No way...!” “What?!”
“Hey... Isn’t that...?” There were mixed reactions from the crowd by what they saw. Lakshmi, Mariana and Ondine looked down and could not believe what they saw. Down below, Indra opened his eyes after the intense flow of power and dust. His eyes widened by what he saw. “W-W-W-W-W-W-W,” he stuttered in trying to find the word he wanted to say. Then, as in a louder voice, said “What the hell...!” There, standing in front of him, was none other than his son, Lakshman, but he looked different; his hair was suddenly spiky looking, his eyes became narrower and sharper and his sword glowed brightly with in red. However, the important thing was that he was glowing in red energy. “G-G-Glowing? What?” Indra said in disbelief as he stared at the changed form of his son. Lakshman was staring at him with a serious look in his eyes and a strong sense of power to back it up. He suddenly smiled at him, causing Indra to become startled. “Brace yourself, dad. I’m going to defeat you,” he said calmly. “What?!” Indra exclaimed in shock. Lakshman readied his sword and took a fighting stance. For a moment, he did nothing, but stay in that position. Then he took a step forward and instantly vanished. He vanished only for a moment because he reappeared directly in front of Indra. “Oh crap!” Indra yelled and he quickly brought his shield forward. He just made it in time because, at that time, Lakshman brought his sword quickly in an arc. His sword made impact against the shield. For a moment nothing, then a great surge of power suddenly got unleased and caused Indra to be sent flying back. Landing back on his feet several meters away, Indra stared at his son in disbelief and said “Wow...! That was strong!” Lakshman straightened up and looked at his father before running towards him. Each step he took left a deep groove in the ground and caused the ground to shake. In a few running steps, he reached his father and, once again, attacked him.
Still confused about what to do, Indra brought his shield up to defend. He was glad he did because, after the first strike, Lakshman began to rain blow after blow at the shield. The speed at which he delivered those strikes was so fast Indra did not have time to retaliate. Above the fighting, the voice of the commentators could be heard, furiously commentating about the battle. Down below, Indra defended the best he could with his shield. Then, having had enough of being on the receiving end, he shouted “Reflector Shield!” At his command, the shield started to glow brightly and blasted a jet of red light at Lakshman. Just before impact, Lakshman brought his sword forward and used the jet beam to push himself away from Indra. The he got out of its way and did summersaults in mid-air before landing safely on the ground. Then he straightened up and looked at Indra with a smile on his face. “Dad, aren’t you supposed to be attacking me instead of reflecting my own energy back at me?” Indra widened his eyes as he stared at his son. Up in the seats, Lakshmi looked down at her son in disbelief. Without them knowing, she and Indra began to speak almost at the same time. Indra slowly said “Don’t tell me... you... used...” Lakshmi slowly said “Lucky... is... that...” Then, together at the same time, they said “Power Up?” Mariana and Ondine looked at with puzzled expressions and asked “Power Up?” Lakshmi looked at them in surprise and asked “Don’t tell me you don’t know?” While Ondine shook her head, Mariana inclined her head and apologetically said “Forgive me, mistress, but that term is unfamiliar to me.” Lakshmi waved her hand to push away her apology and said “It’s not surprising. That term is usually known for people above the Sage rank.” “Above Sage rank?! Wow!” Ondine said in amazement. “Does that mean...?” Mariana said suspiciously.
Lakshmi shook her head and said “I don’t know, but Lucky certainly ha used it. Power Up basically increases one’s power, speed and strength for a certain length of time.” “Wow! That’s a useful skill to have around!” Ondine said excitedly. “It is, but it increases the amount of stamina one will use up as they continue to fight,” Lakshmi said with a unhappy expression on her face. “Eh? So... Does that mean... that master... won’t be able to fight for long?” Ondine asked anxiously. Lakshmi simply shook her head again and said “I don’t know how long he will last, but he has to defeat Indra quickly before his stamina runs out.” Then she looked down at Lakshman and chuckled slightly. When Mariana questioned her about her chuckle, she simply smiled and said “I’m just impressed my son managed to learn Power Up so quickly. Not to mention the Elemental Glow as well.” Ondine looked thoughtfully as she said “Let me guess... Elemental Glow is when a person glows after using Power Up?” “Yes, but there’s more,” Lakshmi said and smiled. When Ondine looked at her curiously, she said “The person will radiate physical energy that we all could see and that energy takes on the colour depending on their energy type.” “Energy type? Is it something to do with Power, Strength, Heart, Hope, Freedom, Justice and stuff like that?” “Yes. In Lucky’s case, his Elemental Glow is red, which means that he has the Energy Type of Power. It’s pretty rare to find someone with that Energy Type since everyone with that class usually end up being inhumanly strong.” Ondine laughed, but she was looking happy at the prospect that her master will become something amazing in the future. This made her resolve to become strong even stronger. While they talked more about it, the fight below went up very quickly. Indra and Lakshman were fighting at an incredible speed that is causing them disappear and reappear from time to time. Both appeared to fighting evenly, but there was a clear difference that both identified. Previously when they fought, Lakshman could not fight as long as Indra did. Now things have changed and Indra found himself fighting a long time.
Each time Lakshman tried to strike him, he blocked it with his sword. When he attempted to strike Lakshman, his son quickly managed to deflect his attack. They continued to fight like this and, very soon, both were becoming tired. After a lengthy battle, both got away from each other and kept a safe distance. They stood and stared at each other while breathing quickly. Indra could not believe it himself, but there appeared to be a chance that he might lose to his son. “Ridiculous... I won’t lose to my son... Not like this! I know he used Power Up, but he seems so much powerful than before... Now, what to do...? What to do?” Indra began to think about what he must do next. While he contemplated on what to do next, Lakshman wiped his forehead and breathed a sigh. Then he looked at his father and smiled. “Dad is really strong even after I used Power Up. I wonder how long he had been this strong,” he said in an envious voice. “Master, you must end this before the fight drags on. Remember that your stamina is quickly being depleted,” Tetra told him in his mind. “I know,” he said softly and narrowed his eyes. Lakshman knew what he was doing when he took on this match. Initially he did not want to use Power Up since he had never done it before. It was during one of his training sessions that he discovered the possibility of increasing his power substantially. However, Tetra did not want him to use it since it increased the amount of stamina he burned. She had told him the price of losing stamina is not worth it. Instead, he should just focus on increasing his power through sheer will and training. So using Power Up in the middle of the fight helped him even things out, but, being his first time, it was unstable. He stretched his arms out and he could feel his energy slipping away. Knowing he did not have long, he prepared to go at his father with everything he got. Resolving to his decision, he started to gathered energy into his sword to attack. Indra, who was deep thought, suddenly felt the change in the energy flow. He looked towards his son and saw his sword start to glow brighter and brighter. Then he jumped high into the air and started to swing at him and, as he swung, energy slicing waves were released.
As they rained down, Indra smirked and said loudly “Come on...! Lucky, are you trying to defeat me or bore me? You know these attacks don’t work on me!” As each energy attack reached him, he swung his sword at it and easily split them away. He did it a few more times until all energy waves have vanished. Satisfied, he looked up and was astonished to see his son diving at him. Lakshman quickly landed in front of him and tried a jab at his face with his sword. Indra quickly ducked and brought his sword around to hit him. Just before the sword could strike, however, Lakshman quickly jumped. He soared through the air and over Indra. Then he landed behind him and tried to attack again, but Indra brought his sword around. Even before he got near enough to strike, Lakshman vanished again. Indra quickly turned around and saw him darting from side to side. In an instant, he saw something that caused his eyes to widen in amazement. Lakshman began to move very quickly from this side to the other side and quickly moving to another location. The speed at which he was moving was not so fast, but his incredible agility astonished Indra as he could not pinpoint his son’s exact location anymore. “Hey, hey! Don’t you think you’re being reckless?! Aren’t you pointlessly exhausting yourself by doing this?!” Indra said as Lakshman continued to move around very quickly. This continued for a few seconds until Indra felt very annoyed. He tried attacking each time he caught a glimpse of his son, but he missed. This continued for several minutes before Indra exploding angrily. “Lucky, you’re seriously starting to annoy the heck out of me! Fight me like a true warrior dammit!” he demanded angrily. While continuing to move around, he heard Lakshman say “Sure. Have it!” The next instant, there was a sudden surge of power followed by multiple energy waves aimed directly at him. Astonished, Indra quickly looked around and realised he was surrounded. He thought to jump out of the way, but saw the energy wave from above. “I’m trapped...! I’m going to get hit! Oh no! What to do, what to do?!” he said in a panicked voice. Then a smile slowly crept onto his face as he said “Just kidding. Reflector Shield!”
As he shouted, Indra brought his shield over his head. It glowed brightly before it released a blinding flash of light. Once the flash vanished, all the waves vanished. Indra breathed out tiredly and slackened his grip on the shield. At that moment, Lakshman suddenly appeared right in front of him. He had his sword at the ready and looked like he was seeing victory. Indra widened his eyes and let go of the shield. It slowly fell in front of him and then caught it with his left hand. “Can’t penetrate my shield, can you?!” Indra said with a wide grin on his face. He continued to grin, then his grin faltered when he saw that Lakshman’s grin widened. Just before he could strike at the shield, Lakshman vanished. Indra blinked in surprise and looked around, but found no sign of his son. Suddenly, he made a pained expression and his body moved forward. From his movement and pain, it looked like he was attacked from behind. He staggered slightly and turned around to see Lakshman with a wide grin on his face. “That was for punching me in the face!” he said before his face became extremely serious. Getting really angry, Indra moved forward and struck at him. Lakshman quickly ducked around the sword and, with a mighty force, hit the shield out of his father’s hand. The shield flew high into the air and disappeared. “Ah!” Indra said in surprise. He attempted to move backwards, but he was suddenly punched in the stomach. Lakshman’s punch was so strong it caused Indra to sail for a few meters before landing back on his feet. Lakshman looked seriously at his father and said “Get ready for your smack down defeat, dad!” With that, he rushed at his father and started attacking him without giving him a chance to retaliate. Indra was slashed several times before he quickly reacted and cut at him. Lakshman yelled and he quickly jumped over him to avoid another attack. Once he landed, he rushed at Indra. As Indra prepared to strike, Lakshman hit the ground with his sword and raised a mass of dust into the air. It covered everything on the field and each other from sight. Indra, however, was not fazed as he knew what his son was thinking. “Come in from the front in a surprise attack and defeat me! Isn’t that your plan, Lucky?!” Indra shouted into the cloud of dust which began to settle.
There was no reply, but he felt the gathering of energy and knew he was right. He prepared his sword to instantly attack his son as soon as he gets within striking distance. Then he saw a shadow suddenly appeared in front of him. “Gotcha!” Indra yelled triumphantly and struck. As he struck, he suddenly found his sword stop. He tried moving the sword, but it would not budge. As the dust slowly cleared, the view came into sight and it astonished everyone. Lakshman was standing in front of him. He was holding Indra’s sword with his hand while holding his sword with the other. Indra’s eyes shifted to the glowing sword and knew, from how brightly it glowed, he will not be able to survive. Lakshman quickly pushed forward and threw Indra’s sword back. As if in slow motion, Indra fell backwards as he lost his balance. Lakshman took the opportunity to quickly grabbing his sword with both hands and take a stance. At that moment, Lakshman looked at his father and said “And this is to prove that I am capable!” As he spoke, Indra thought he saw a mirror reflection of Felix standing behind his son. Smiling happily, he closed his eyes and said “I’m proud of you, my son.” Lakshman screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” As he screamed, he swung his sword sword in a wide arc and, as he did, a powerful wave of energy was unleased. The wave was so bright that it blinded everything and blinded everyone watching. The wave continued to fly towards the wall before making heavy impact. The impact caused the barrier around the arena to shake violently as sparks flew everywhere. The Barrier Magic users desperately tried to reinforce the barrier from breaking because of such a powerful attack. A few seconds later, the wave of energy vanished and the view became clearer. Everyone, sitting at the top, looked down and was astonished. Indra was slammed into the wall before falling face down on the ground. Then they shifted their gaze towards Lakshman. His shoulders were heaving up and down as he was out of breath from using so much energy. Suddenly, he staggered slightly, but he quickly retained his ground and stood firmly upright.
Then he raised his hand into the air to signal his victory. As if just realising the fact, the commentator’s voice was heard loud and clear throughout the arena. “The victor of this amazing battle has been decided. The winner is... Lakshman Reddy!” There was stunned silence for a few seconds. Then the crowd began to yell and cheer for him as they congratulated him. Many people did not see this outcome, but they still cheered for him regardless. They knew he put up an amazing fight and he deserved all the cheers. Lakshmi was crying happily for her son while Mariana was holding her. Ondine looked down at him with a happy smile on her face. Her eyes were moist, but she was glad for him. Lakshman has proven to Indra and everyone that he was a capable warrior.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 85 Journey into the Outside World A few days passed after the match between Indra and Lakshman. Everyone was talking excitedly about how the fight was superb. They told each other tales of what they witnessed and speculated what they did not understand. While they were excitedly gossiping about the battle, a certain family were doing something else. More precisely, they were getting Lakshman’s things ready for the journey. They were moving from place to place in the house and getting things in order. “Mariana, place that near the exit and take this over there,” Lakshmi said to Mariana while pointing at the objects. “Yes, madam,” Mariana said with a nod and did what she was told. Lakshmi nodded back and turned to Ondine before saying “Get your bags to the entrance hall. The wagon will be arriving soon.” “Off-course,” Ondine said with a wink and went upstairs to get their bags. As she went upstairs, Lakshman came downstairs. He was wearing his usual casual wear while holding onto the staff his ex-home tutor, Sumara, gave him before she left. On his right, like usual, Tetra was hugging his arm with a happy smile on her face. “Ah, Lucky!” Lakshmi said when she saw him come down. Then she asked “Have you changed your clothes? We don’t need rushing minutes, you know?” “Mum, I’ve changed like an hour ago,” he said patiently, but he raised an eyebrow in amusement. Lakshmi looked surprised and smiled before saying “Ah, you did. Sorry. With being so busy, I’m forgetting things now.” “Come on, mum... You’re not an old woman yet,” Lakshman joked cheerfully. “Ah, don’t you know, Lucky? The longer you work, the more you age.” Lakshman looked surprised at her words. Then he shook his head and said “Mum, I think that’s wrong.”
“Is it?” she said and looked surprised. “Yes. Miss. Sumara once told me during our lessons that you age faster by sitting still than doing anything.” “R-Really?” “Yes. Apparently it was discovered by some alchemist some time ago and that’s why people train their bodies regularly. The more they train, the slower you age. That’s what she told me anyway.” “Wow...” Lakshmi said in awe at his words. Then she smirked and said “Makes sense now. I always wondered why my master looked young for her age. No wonder why.” “Why, mum? Is she that old?” “No, she’s twenty years older than me, but she always gave me the feeling that she was older.” “Mum... Isn’t it rude to talk like that about your master?” “She’s no longer my master so it doesn’t matter. Besides, she herself found it a funny topic to talk about. She always found it amusing at how many people think she is older than she looks.” Lakshman looked surprised and asked “Did she hurt them for making her older than she is?” “No, she didn’t, but I would’ve! Anyone daring to call me fifty when I’m twenty really needs to get beaten to a pulp!” Lakshmi said with a smiling face, but she suddenly started to emanate dark energy. Lakshman blinked in surprise and asked “Does it really matter how a girl looks, mum?” “Oh! You have no idea! The lengths women go to look younger is seriously unbelievable!” Lakshmi said while she rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Yes, master. Women want to look good and feel good about it,” Tetra suddenly said from his side. “So... It’s a competition,” Lakshman said with a slightly confused expression on his face. “In a way, you could say it is...” Lakshmi said with a sigh.
“Like I’ll be getting involved in that beauty contest crap,” said a voice from behind. They turned and saw Ondine coming down the stairs while carrying two bags with each hand. Lakshman looked startled and quickly moved towards her. “Hey! Why’d you go and bring my bag as well? I could’ve done that myself,” he said sternly. “What’s the problem, master? I hear you talking to your mum. So I thought I should get it for you,” Ondine said innocently with a perplexed expression on her face. “Hey! You’re not a two year old to answer me like that!” he said with an eyebrow raised. “You say that, but there’s someone clearly over eight-thousand years pretending to be a kid and yet you don’t say anything about it,” she said and turned her gaze towards Tetra. Catching her implied message, Tetra looked up at her angrily and said “I am who I am! Leave me alone!” Ondine rolled her eyes and said “By the spirit gods, why do you keep on constantly changing between first person and third person?” “Because Tetra is more amazing than Ondine and is more useful to master than you! So there!” Tetra said and she stuck her tongue out at Ondine. “H-Hey! See this master! Tetra is being spoiled by you. Leave her to me and I’ll teach her some manners, this old cheeky brat!” “U-Um... Calm down, Ondine...” Lakshman said with his hand out in a gesture to stop her. Watching this spectacle, Lakshmi began to laugh. “Mum, don’t laugh and help me out,” he said indignantly. Once she recovered from laughing, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said “You certainly have an interesting group of allies, Lucky.” “Interesting? Tetra’s the only one weird around here!” Ondine said and pointed at Tetra. “Ondine also is strange in so many ways, Tetra can’t count!” Tetra said and pointed at Ondine. “Why you?!” Ondine said in an annoyed voice and stared at Tetra.
“You started it!” Tetra said angrily and looked back at her. Then they glared at each other with angry looked. Lakshman sighed and, in an annoyed voice, said “Enough, you two!” Both Ondine and Tetra flinched in surprised and turned to him. Seeing his annoyed expression, they quickly bowed their heads and together said “Sorry, master!” He looked at them for a moment in annoyance. Then he sighed and said “When will you two get along?” “Never!” was the instant answer he received from both of them with firm looks on their faces. As his shoulders slumped, Lakshmi patted him with a smiling face and said “Keep it up, you’ll need it.” “Thanks mum...” he said with a half-smile and looked back to see Ondine and Tetra continuing to glare at each other. Just then, there was a ringing sound of bell from outside. A few seconds later, Mariana appeared from the entranceway and informed them the horse drawn wagon has arrived. They made their way out of the house with difficulty. At first, Ondine wanted to carry both of his and her own bags. Then Tetra offered to lend a hand since Ondine was being annoying. They glared at each other again. Getting very annoyed, he shouted “Alright, you two! That’s it! Tetra, revert to sword form and standby! Ondine, carry your own bags and leave mine to me! Got it?!” When they tried to change his mind, he firmly said “That’s an order!” Tetra unhappily transformed into a sword and he sheathed it to his belt. Ondine let go of his bags and moved outside with her own. Then he made his way out of the house after picking up his heavy bag full of his clothes and travelling equipment. “Why do things always have to be so frustrating between them?” he said in a low voice. “Both girls are just competing. There’s nothing we can do about that,” Lakshmi said as she walked beside him. “I don’t get it. Why do they have to compete?”
“Ah, Lucky... They just want to look good in front of you.” “Look good in front of me? Wait... Is this something to do with that beauty contest stuff you told me earlier?” “Not quite. They just want to receive your affection strongly and that’s causing their rivalry to boil.” “I see, but mum... I’m already treating them like my friends or are you saying I’m not?” “I know you’re treating them like friends and there’s no problem with it. It’s just... How should I put this...? Mmm...! The girls are expecting too much from you at your age. You’re only thirteen and have much to learn in life.” “Mum... Is this one of those ‘you’re not ready yet’ again?” he said and, when she nodded, he groaned. Then he said “Why am I not surprised?” Lakshmi chuckled and said “It’s alright. Being young can be painful, but bear with it. Remember, Lucky... There is a right time and place for everything. Never do something that goes against that, okay?” “I... I understand, mum,” he said slowly as he looked at her smiling face. “That’s good to hear,” she said happily and rubbed his head affectionately. When they reached the wagon, they saw familiar faces standing there. These were all the people who were friends of his father, Indra. The tallest of them stepped forward and smiled before saying “As promised, we’re here to escort you all the way to the capital.” “Escort? Don’t you mean we all have business and that’s why we’re going to escort you as well?” said the guy standing next to him with an exasperated expression on his face. “Nagada, that’s rude!” said the tall guy with a annoyed look at his friend. “Cool it, Samada,” said another man who stepped forward. “Look at this idiot speaking so bluntly, Manickyam! Even though we know the kid’s doing something great, he still speaks like he’s superior,” Samada said in a frustrated voice.
“Isn’t that always the same? He never knows when to keep his thoughts inside,” Manickyam said with a chuckle. “I’m just a straightforward person,” Nagada said with a smile on his face. “Don’t say that proudly, you rude man!” Samada said in frustration. “Okay, guys. Let’s get this luggage in already,” said the only man not to speak about their argument. “Ranga, why are you ignoring us all of a sudden?!” Samada asked with a surprised look on his face. Ranga turned to look at him coolly and said “Do you want to waste time talking about rubbish or use time efficiently so we don’t delay the departure?” “Ugh...” Samada had no words to reply with. Instead, he and the others nodded and started loading the bags onto the wagon. A few minutes later, everything was set for departure. The men then got on the wagon and followed by Ondine. Lakshman did not get on. Instead, he was looking around. Lakshmi, seeing him looking around, realised what he was looking and smiled. Ever since his defeat, Indra did not see Lakshman at all. He wanted his meals in his room and away from his son. At one point, Lakshman became worried and went up to speak to him, but there was no reply. It almost felt like Indra was purposefully avoiding his son. Now, just before leaving, Lakshman was hoping to see his father. Lakshmi patted him on the shoulder and he looked up at her sadly. “Don’t worry. He might just be feeling down that he lost to a thirteen year old kid,” she said with a smile. “Feeling down? How did you ever come to think like that?” said a familiar voice from behind. Their eyes widened as they turned around. To their surprise, they saw Indra walking towards them with a smile on his face. Once he reached them, he looked around with a bemused expression on his face. “What’s up? Think I disappeared or something?” he asked around.
“No. We were wondering whether you’ll come or not to see Lucky off,” Lakshmi said as she looked at her husband in surprise. “Well, off-course I would! Why would you think I wouldn’t?!” Indra said indignantly. “But... you...” Lakshmi began slowly. Indra turned to Lakshman and smiled. Then he pulled out an envelope and said “I was busy writing this and thinking about it, I didn’t want to be disturbed.” When he handed the letter to, Lakshman looked at it curiously and asked “Is this for me, dad?” Indra shook his head and said “No. It’s for my old master, Darian Ronald. When you reach the capital, find his training centre and meet with him. When you do, hand that letter over to him to read. Everything from then on should be good for you.” “R-Really?” Lakshman asked uncertainly. Indra nodded and smiled. Then he placed a warm hand on his son’s head and rubbed it affectionately. “You make sure to win at whatever you do, got it? My master can be troublesome and strict as nails, but he has his soft sides.” “Um... okay?” “Oh, also,” Indra began and he looked seriously at him and said “Make sure to bail Felix out of the tight spot he is in. As we both know, he was purposefully framed and needs our help. I can’t be there, but you have to take the lead on this one. Got it?” “Yes!” Lakshman said and nodded firmly with a serious look on his face. “That’s my boy!” Indra said happily and clapped him on the shoulder. A moment later, Lakshman got into the wagon and waved at them goodbye. Samada took the reins of the horses and got the wagon moving. Lakshman and Ondine looked back and waved towards them. Indra and Lakshmi waved until the wagon disappeared. Indra sighed and said “He certainly has grown well, hasn’t he?”
“He sure has,” Lakshmi agreed softly as she continued to look towards where her son disappeared. “His journey might be tough... I’m worried,” Indra said softly. Lakshmi looked at him in surprise and said “You are such a woman!” Indra quickly looked at her and said “You’re the one who’s supposed to worry, idiot! You’re his mother!” “I know, but... strangely I feel very confident in Lucky. I feel like he can really do this.” “Huh? How do you know that?” “Well... I could say it’s-” “Oh, here we go again! Don’t tell me this is your ‘woman’s intuition’ stuff!” Indra scoffed in exasperation while rolling his eyes. “You can laugh, but my woman’s intuition never proved me wrong,” Lakshmi said firmly. “Right, right...” he said distractedly. They stood for a moment and stared at the horizon. Then they moved closed and he placed his hand around her shoulder. They felt slightly. It might be a bit lonely for them without their son to brighten the day, but they were prepared for it. Now they pray for their son’s successful journey and return in his journey into the outside world.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 86 Nine Pillars of Power They departed in the evening and rode for several hours until night. During the night, they stopped and made camp under the shelter of the tress. During the camp, they talked about the things that happened recently. “That fight with Indra was so damn amazing, I couldn’t sit still!” Nagada said in a voice full of excitement and energy. “Yes! That battle was unreal!” Manickyam said as he nodded at Nagada’s words. Lakshman looked embarrassed and said “It wasn’t much.” “What are you talking about, master?! That battle was superb! I seriously did not expect you to do so well!” Ondine said in an energetic voice. “Ah, come on, Ondine. That battle was intense, but I feel I need more training. It feels like my win was due to my power up,” Lakshman said to Ondine to stop her from over gloating about him. “Power up? Do you mean Power Burst?” Samada asked curiously. “No, stupid. He means Power Surge,” Nagada said to Samada. “No, it’s-” The three friends started to argue about the correct name for the technique Lakshman used in the fight. Lakshman and Ondine watched in amusement at the argument that stretched between them. Ranga sighed and said “Guys. It’s actually Power Up. Stop confusing it with the other techniques.” “Really? Just Power Up?” Samada said and he looked surprised. “Ah, makes sense. Those other techniques are too powerful for Lakshman right now,” Manickyam said and he nodded at Ranga in understanding.
As the argument was resolved, Lakshman looked around and asked “What’s Power Burst and Power Surge?” “Ah, you don’t know, do you?” Manickyam said in an understanding voice. “It’s only natural. Those are King and Emperor ranked techniques after all,” Nagada added. Lakshman and Ondine looked astonished at the revelation of the rank. Then Ondine said “King and Emperor ranked?! Are you sure?” “We’re as sure as anyone can be,” Samada said as he nodded at her. “O-Oh...” Ondine said shortly and looked uncertainly at Lakshman. “How come you guys know about them? Aren’t you like... um...?” Lakshman said and hesitated about speaking any further. “Yes, yes. We’re only Saint ranked swordsman, but we’ve witnessed, first hand, the use of those techniques,” Nagada said with a smile. “Yes. It was during the time the Demon Titan and Dragon Titan fought each other.” “Oh yeah! Indra was there as well now that I remember back to it.” “Yeah, but that was like... um... fifteen years ago, wasn’t it?” “Yes and that was also when both the Demon Titan and Dragon Titan died fighting each other.” “It’s still unbelievable that a simple argument led them to fight and kill each other.” “Haha! That’s what happens when two mighty warriors clash. Still, I’m glad we were far away to witness the battle two power houses!” The four of them shuddered as they remembered it. Then they looked at each other and let out a roar of laughter. After laughing for a few seconds, they calmed down and looked at Lakshman and Ondine. “So, yeah... You’re Power Up technique is only a Sage ranked only. Sorry I mixed it up,” Samada said apologetically.
“No, it’s fine,” Lakshman said and he smiled at Samada. Then, looking slightly troubled, he asked “So... Are there more Titan ranked warriors other than the Phoenix Titan?” “Naturally there would be more!” Samada said in a matter-of-fact tone. “There was always more than one Titan ranked warrior,” Nagada added with a nod of his head. Looking confused, Lakshman asked “There are?” The four of them stared at him in surprise. Then they turned to look at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces. “Wait... Hold on... You don’t mean to tell us that you... don’t know...?” Manickyam said slowly in an uncertain voice. Lakshman tilted his head curiously and asked “Know what?” Their eyes widened in shock at his words. They were alarmed at his less-than-expected reaction. They quickly turned to look at Ondine. “Ondine, do you also not know about the other Titans?” Manickyam asked apprehensively. Ondine looked at Lakshman and then back at them before saying “Yes, I know about them. Well, it’s only natural that I, as a water spirit, would know about these sorts of things.” “R-Right, but... Lakshman doesn’t know...” Manickyam said slowly. Looking at them with a puzzled expression on his face, Lakshman asked “What don’t I know?” Manickyam looked at him and then at his friends who nodded at him. Sighing deeply, he turned back to face Lakshman. “Listen, Lakshman. These Titans are the strongest in the world. There is no one who is a match to them as each of them is in a league of their own! Got it?” When Lakshman nodded, he continued to say “Okay. So there are a total of nine of them, nine Titans. More precisely, they are known as the Nine Pillars of Power!” There was a pause in which Lakshman nodded as he heard the name and memorised it. He knew, just from looking at their faces, this meant a very powerful meaning to everyone.
Then he frowned and asked “Um... Please explain more about these... Nine Pillars of Power.” Manickyam shifted his glance at Samada, who nodded and took over in explaining about them. “Well, there’s not much to explain about them as we know very little about them. What we do know is that they are unimaginably strong and extremely powerful! Each of them can take on an entire country and not break a sweat!” “Wow! They’re that strong?!” Lakshman exclaimed in surprise and his eyes widened. Samada nodded and said “Yes. Very! They are so strong I fear the world will tremble if they ever fight each other!” “Those nine are insanely strong, so strong they could wipe out continents from existence!” Manickyam said with a fearful expression on his face. There was a silence as everyone thought about the information in their own way. Lakshman was astonished that such powerful people existed in the world. He wondered how they became so strong and whether they are similar to gods because of their power. Then he suddenly realised he did not know anyone from them and wondered who they are. Looking at them, he asked “By the way, do you know who the nine are?” “Yes, we know who the nine are, including the one that replaced the Demon Titan and Dragon Titan fifteen years ago.” “Who?” Lakshman eagerly. “Let’s see... Who were they again?” Samada asked with a half-smile on his face. While others laughed, Ranga shook his head and listed the warriors from the Nine Pillars of Power. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Phoenix Titan Dragon Titan War Titan Demon Titan Death Titan Storm Titan Sun Titan Magic Titan Sword Titan
“They are ranked from strong to weak. So the Phoenix Titan is the strongest while the Sword Titan is the weakest amongst the Nine Pillars of Power,” Ranga explained. When he said Phoenix Titan, Lakshman clutched his head quickly expecting pain. Unexpectedly, he only received a twinge of pain which only lasted a few minutes. He did not understand why he did not get headache from hearing the Phoenix Titan name. With only one alternative left, he reasoned that he was getting accustomed to hearing it. That was the only explanation that explained why he did not suffer severe headache like usual. “Still, I’m surprised you didn’t know about them until now. Did your home tutor neglect your worldly knowledge or something?” Samada said with a smile. Lakshman opened his mouth to respond, but hesitated as he did not know what to say. Just then, Ondine came to his rescue and spoke for him. “Master had been studying to master his skills Sumara didn’t particularly spend much time on these sorts of things.” “Ah, I see. Now it makes sense how you’re so strong at your age and even achieved the rank Water Sword Saint!” Ranga said and he nodded in understanding. “Ugh... Studying... Oh no... This is bringing back nightmares from... algebra class!” Nagada said in an alarming voice. At his words, everyone laughed. While they were laughing, Ranga looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You’re complaining about algebra?! Come on! Calculus was the hardest to study!” Ranga said incredulously. “Well...! Sorry for not being smart, Mr. Smarty pants!” Nagada said with an annoyed expression. As they laughed, Manickyam looked up at the sky decided to call it a night. “Alright, guys! It’s getting late. Time to sleep!” he said to them as he rose to his feet. “Now that you mention it, I do feel kind of... sleepy,” Samada said as he stifled a yawn.
Then they slept; the men slept outside and Ondine slept inside the wagon. The night went by quietly and everyone slept peacefully. As if in a quick amount of time, it was already morning. The first to wake up were the men and they gently woke up Lakshman who went and woke up Ondine. After cleaning faces and getting ready, they got back on the wagon and went on their way. “Samada, we need dinner, I’m starving! Hurry up!” Nagada called to the front. “Okay, okay. Stop yelling, you glutton! We’ll stop by the nearest town and get food there,” Samada called back. They travelled for more than an hour when, suddenly, there was fog ahead. “What the...? I never knew this place was covered by this kind of fog...” Manickyam said curiously as he looked ahead. They rode into the fog and continued to move. The fog was thick and the air felt strange. Everyone was looking around cautiously as if they were expecting trouble. He did now how, but Lakshman had a bad feeling as they entered the village.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 87 Messenger of Death The think mist nearly blinded them to what was ahead, but they moved on anyhow. Very soon, they reached what looked like a settlement and knew they were inside the village. “The fog is so think, I can barely see anything past three to five meters...” Manickyam said in a complaining voice. “Stop that, Manickyam. Now, everyone, let’s stay together. We don’t know what will happen with all this fog,” Ranga said in a firm voice. Once the wagon came to a stop, he was the first to get out. He told them to wait while he used a Sensor Magic Spell to check their surroundings. Lakshman was surprised that Sensor Magic Spells could be used and turned to Ondine to speak about it. “Ondine, how did Felix realise I was dying?” “I’m not sure how it works, but I believe he used the Elemental Sensor to do that,” she told him uncertainly. “Elemental Sensor? Is it like something to do with Energy Force and Voiceless Incantation?” “Maybe. I’m actually not an expert in that area, so I wouldn’t know,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Mmm...” he hummed quietly as he thought about it. A few seconds later, Ranga returned and said everything was fine. Taking his words, everyone became relieved and got off the wagon. Once out, they stretched their limbs after sitting for so long and release some of the tension they built up. “Right! Breakfast, here I come!” Nagada said happily. He began to move towards what looked like a bar. Suddenly, he was grabbed by the collar by Samada and he was pulled back. “Stop that, food magnet! Let’s stick together since this fog is making everything hard to see,” Samada said and he looked irritated while he stared at Nagada.
After tying the horses near the stables, they walked towards the bar. When they entered, they suddenly found themselves in a world of silence. The room was lightly lit with candles on brackets which threw the room full of dullness. “Feels like a prison than a place for eating,” Samada muttered and Nagada nodded since he preferred to eat food in places with cheerfulness. They made their way to the counter. Behind the counter, a man stood and he wore a white plain shirt with black pants. On his face, he wore spectacles and a sharp curvy beard. He was cleaning a glass when they reached the counter. Samada moved forward and ordered food for all of them. Lakshman was looking around to see everyone else that was in the bar. The people sitting behind tables all had their faces covered or hidden. When the barman returned with their food, Lakshman looked at him and became startled. The man had dead-like eyes and a complexion that looked cold. Lakshman immediately became very alert since everything felt off about the place. After taking the order, they moved to a table at the end. Once they sat down, they began eating the food. For a while, there was only silence because people were afraid to make noise. While they ate, Lakshman was looking around restlessly. Noting this, Samada clapped him on the back and Lakshman nearly jerked violently from the shock. “Hey... Relax!” Samada said with a surprised look on his face. “I-I know, but... it feels so eerie I just can’t sit still...” Lakshman said unhappily. “Sheesh! Look at us! We’re eating with no problems. Look at Nagada! He’s eating like there’s no tomorrow” Lakshman looked at Nagada and was amazed. Nagada was eating the food with great gusto. He eat spoonful’s of food before drinking water. Then he softly burped and continued eating like nothing happened. “Wow...!” Lakshman said softly in amazement. “Exactly. If that guy is eating with no worry, then you shouldn’t worry! So go on and eat before you become too weak to fight if you have to!” Samada said before winking at him.
“Y-Yes...” Lakshman said and nodded before starting to eat. It was several minutes later before they finally finished eating except Lakshman. They leaned back on their chairs and relaxed while he continued to eat. Another fifteen minutes later, he also finished and put his spoon down. “I’m full!” Nagada said happily as he calmly patted his stomach. “You’re full regardless of what you eat, even if it doesn’t taste good!” Samada retorted with a raised eyebrow. Everyone laughed before they stood up. After picking up their empty plates and spoon, they moved towards the counter once more. Once they reached the counter, they handed over their empty plates. The barman took them and disappeared behind a pair of doors. After a while, he returned with the same expression that he had earlier. While they were at the counter, Ranga leaned forward and began to converse with the barman. “Hey, did you notice anything strange around here?” Ranga asked in a low voice. “There is nothing strange here,” the barman said flatly as he began to clean another glass with a towel. “What about the fog? It’s thick outside, you know?” “The fog comes and goes as it pleases.” “So there’s really nothing unusual happening around here?” The barman stopped cleaning the glass and put it away. Then his eyes narrowed slightly and he looked a bit serious as he looked directly at Ranga. “Why are you suspicious? Have you seen something that is unusual around here?” he asked him. “Well... I’ve been here a few weeks ago and I certainly didn’t see this fog in this village. So naturally I would be curious about it,” Ranga said in a reasonable voice. The barman looked shrewdly at him, but Ranga looked straight back unflinchingly. It seemed the barman was checking to see deceit, but Ranga was looking back to say that he had nothing to hide. Realising this, the barman straightened up and shook his head.
“There is nothing so unusual around here that might interest you,” the barman said flatly. Then he picked up another glass and began cleaning it with the same cloth. Ranga stared at the barman for a few seconds. Then he sighed and straightened up before turning to face the group. “Looks like this something unusual happening around here, but for the locals it’s normal I guess,” he told them. “For the locals hah...?” Manickyam muttered and he looked around the room. Everyone was quietly sitting around drinking from their cups while looking in their direction. It seemed they were weary of them and wanted to keep them in sight. Just in case of a sudden fight, many had arms sticking into hidden areas behind their cloaks. “So friendly...” Nagada muttered as he also looked around at them. “Feels like hide and seek, doesn’t it?” Samada said with a half-smile. Nagada shook his head and said “More like ‘if you make a move, we’ll kill you’ scenario.” Ranga nodded and turned back to the counter to pay for the food. At that moment, there was a sound neighing sounds from outside. They recognised the sounds belonged to their horses. Fearing something bad, they turned around and began to leave the bar. Before they reached the door, Ranga turned around and tossed the money bag to Lakshman and said “Pay with that money.” “H-Hey?” Lakshman said in surprise, but they already opened the door and disappeared outside with the door quietly shutting behind them. Sighing, he turned back to the counter he asked the barman how much it cost. The barman said it was fifty silvers and Lakshman paid the amount after rummaging through the bag. “Have a good day,” Lakshman said with a smile. The barman did not reply. He simply took the money and put it away. Then he returned to cleaning the glass with the cold expression and dead expression on his face. Sighing, Lakshman exited the bar and thought this was a strange village.
Once he stepped out, he was suddenly surrounded by think fog. He could not see properly in this fog. Struggling, he tried to find his way back to them. After some time, he suddenly realised he was getting nowhere. At the realisation, the fog began to thicken and everything began to dissolve away. Anticipating trouble, he quickly put his hand casually on the hilt of his sword. “Master, be careful. I feel an ominous presence.” He heard Tetra’s voice in his mind and began to worry. “An ominous presence? Who is it? Where is it?” he said and he began to look around. As he looked around, all he could see was fog as it moves and swirls with the wind. He felt like he was surrounded by many enemies, but he was unable to see anything. Another few more minutes he continued to look around and that was when he saw it. Lakshman spotted a shadowy figure coming closer. For some reason, he felt something dangerous about the situation and gripped the hilt of his swords tightly. Just when the figure was closer, he heard Tetra’s voice and what she said caused chills to run down his spine. “Master, you are no match to him.” “No match...? What do you mean, Tetra? Are you saying he’s more powerful than me?” he said in a low voice. “Yes, master. He is immensely strong. So strong that I fear your life might be at risk!” His eyes widened at those words. That was the first time he heard her speak fearfully to him. When they were trapped in the dungeon or being attacked by giant monsters, she had remained calm and strong. Now, however, she was genuinely afraid for some reason. “B-But... why? Why are suddenly so afraid? Do you know him or something?” “No, I don’t know who he is, but I recognise this... power; the presence that carries itself that which marks darkness and light with death.” “Huh?” he said as he did not understand her words. Suddenly, the shadow figure behind the fog disappeared. Lakshman blinked in surprise and started to look around. At that moment, he felt something from behind that caused his skin to prickle.
“Who are you?” said a voice from behind. The voice was sent chills throughout his entire body and caused him to flinch. A moment later, he reacted quickly by jumping away. Once he landed, he faced the direction the voice was coming from. Then his widened as he the person in question was gone. “Good reflexes,” the voice said from behind again. “What?!” Lakshman exclaimed and he swirled around, but saw nothing. “Tat, tat, tat. You’re trying to look. That’s no good,” was what the voice said before chuckling. “Who are you and where are you?!” Lakshman demanded as he pulled out his sword and held it at the ready. There was a pause of silence. Then, the voice said “Death.” As the voice spoke, a figure suddenly materialised directly in front of him. Lakshman quickly backed away and looked alarmed. The figure was quite tall, almost as tall as his father. The man, from the sound of his voice, had his body covered entirely with a black cloak. His face, however, was covered by a white mask and, on the mask, was red eyes and a big smile with red lips. Lakshman was shocked by the man’s appearance. Then he shook his head to shake away the strange feeling he was feeling. “Death?” Lakshman asked in a confused voice. “Yes. All life shall die. All life shall pass away. I am the living that carries the message of death. Thus, I am death,” the man said. Lakshman looked at him incredulously as if he could not understand what he just heard. “I... don’t... understand...” he said slowly. There was a short pause in which the man’s mask moved slightly as he looked down at Lakshman. Then he spoke again in a flat voice. “Young... Immature... Overconfident... Reckless... How foolish...!”
“Hey! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?!” Lakshman exclaimed angrily as those words somehow stung him harder than he expected. “It is foolish to fight the strong when one is as weak as you,” the man said in an emotionless voice. “Y-Y-You’re... calling me... weak?!” Lakshman exclaimed angrily. Then, in frustration, said “I defeated my father who is a Water Sword Saint!” “A weak fight the weak and the weak wins. What a weak victory.” Lakshman angrily applied Weapon Force into his sword and added Energy Force as well. Then he lunged forward at the man and swung. He expected to make contact, but instead found himself passing through the man. “What the...?” “Young and fearless. Reckless is destruction. Realise and fear. Fear and change. Change is good. Change is life. Change is future.” “What are you talking about?!” “You do not fear. You are reckless. You act without thinking. You are impatient to plan. Without fear, you will remain the same. Change and become sane.” Suddenly, an ominous wind began to blow. Lakshman saw the man move his right hand towards him. He tried to move, but suddenly found that his body could not react. It was as if the man’s hand was not moving and they were stationary. The hand moved slowly towards him ominously. Then the sleeve was drawn back as the arm stretched and out came a hand made up of bones. Lakshman reeled back in horror, but he was unable to move his body as well. The hand, made of bones, moved and gently touched his head. The hand of bones was a little rough, but gentle to the touch. Then the man began to speak the same word over and over again. “Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear...” He continued to repeat those words and, as he did, the words began to resound within Lakshman. He began to feel fuzzy and the light began to vanish. It was soon replaced by flashing images of death and destruction.
The flashing images coursed through his mind in a quick succession; a scene of a destroyed place to people being burned alive, a scene of dead bodies littered the ground to people getting their limbs ripped apart. These horrible scenes flashed through his mind at a rapid pace. Very soon, the flashing images vanished and the light returned. The man moved his hand away and hid his hand of bones under his cloaked sleeve. While he adjusted his sleeve, Lakshman remained rooted to the spot. He had his eyes wide open with a terrified expression on his face. His body was trembling all over as his hand shook violently as he held his sword weakly in his hand. “Fear death. Fear destruction. Fear chaos. Fear loneliness. Fear darkness, but do not pity the dead. Pity the living. Living beings often fight to decide who lives and dies. It is like they are gods and can decide the fate of each other. Lame...!” Lakshman heard his words like he was far-away. His eyes bulged, his lips trembled, his hands shook and his feet were shaken. He was a total mess as he stood there and shook like a leaf in a storm. “I will leave. You must learn. Fear death. Pity the living. You must change. You will change. I know it.” With that, the man vanished as if he did not exist in the first place. A few seconds after he vanished, the fog began to lighten and he heard familiar voices coming towards him. “Those bastards tried stealing out horses! How dare they?!” “Calm down, calm down. At-least we gave them a piece of their own treatment.” “I hope that treatment holds up. Otherwise, I’ll be whopping them into shape the next time I come here!” “Geez! You’re always so negative!” Then they appeared from out of the fog; Nagada, Samada, Manickyam,, Ranga and Ondine. They were talking and smiling at each other. Ondine turned and saw Lakshman before quickly rushing over to him. “Sorry we had to leave you behind, master,” she said once she reached him.
She took one look at him and realised something had changed. From how much his body shook and the terrified expression he wore on his face, she knew something terrible must have happened. At that moment, all energy suddenly left Lakshman and he suddenly fell forward. Ondine quickly moved and caught him before he fell. The four men rushed over to quickly see what was going on. “Hey!” “Lakshman?!” “Man, what’s wrong? You’re sweating all over!” Their voices could be heard, but he heard nothing. His breathing came out in rasps as he took great lungful of air. While he began to calm down, he still wore the terrified expression on his face. A few minutes later, he was finally able to breathe normally. He sighed and looked up at them apologetically. “Sorry, guys.” “No need for that sorry! We’re to blame for leaving you to stay on your own.” Samada said apologetically. “Yes! We know you’re strong and all, but you’re still only thirteen. Sorry for leaving you alone out here,” Nagada said and he bowed his head. “No, that’s not it...” Lakshman began, but suddenly found himself weak to speak anymore. After struggling for a few more times to speak, he gave up. He sighed and dropped his head down. The other looked at him and then at each other before nodding in an equal understanding. “We should go. This place is too spooky to stay around,” Ranga said and he began to walk towards their horses. A while later they were on their way. Lakshman had collapsed the moment they reached the wagon, so he slept while they left village. Ondine watched over him in a worried voice. She had never seen him wear such a terrified expression and wondered what happened when he was all alone.
As the wagon left village, a figure silently watched them go. Then he smirked when he saw the sleeping figure of Lakshman within the wagon. “He was afraid. The memories of death were frightening. He became weak, but did not falter. He is strange. He is very strange.” With a small chuckle, he vanished. As he vanished, the fog was lifted and everything in the village returned to being normal. After this, no one remembered what happened during the time the fog covered the entire village. Lakshman, however, did not completely collapse. As his conscious faded, he began conversing with Tetra in his mind. “Tetra, who was that guy... He was so dangerous...!” “He is the embodiment that continues to live on as life slowly fades. He dwells in the darkness and strikes from the shadows. He is the one ranked fifth within the Nine Pillars of Powers, the Death Titan.” “The Death Titan hah... No wonder he was so strong, but... what did he mean by me having to change?” “That is for you to understand, master.” “Ha...” “However... I believe he wants you to be more humble in your ways of dealing with things. So far, you have been very reckless with your actions, master; challenging your father, fighting monsters and defeating evil to retain peace.” “Aren’t they good?” “Yes, but you are reckless and fearless. Did you forget my words from before? Do not live a life as if you are ready to die. You will go nowhere and won’t be able to protect anything with that dangerous attitude towards life!” “Yes... Yes you did. I see now what you meant back then when you said that.” “Indeed, master. So please... Change your way of thinking, but do not fear like he said. I don’t believe he wants you to take the literal meaning to his words, but become someone respectable. The Death Titan can always be extremely blunt with his words.”
“I see... So you know quite a bit about him.” “They change, but the pattern of their life never changes. Remember that I served the Phoenix Titan eight-thousand years ago and I fought alongside him when he fought and defeated the Death Titan of that time.” “Ah... Tell me, Tetra... What sort of master was the Phoenix Titan?” “He was... well... a caring, compassionate and daring person. He risked many things to achieve his goals. He would often risk his life for others, but never once did he say he will die. He was always confident in his return and he had the power to back it up.” “Haha... You had a wonderful master, Tetra... You have a really wonderful master...” “Yes, master, but you are also wonderful...” “I see. I... see...” Lakshman felt drowsy and strangely felt light headed. He had no idea that Tetra absorbed all the negative energy he was riddled with when the Death Titan hit him with so much fear. “Sleep well, master,” Tetra said softly in his mind. With those words in mind, he finally fell asleep as the wagon left the village and continued onwards to the capital of Rodfox region.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 88 Shocking Revelation They travelled for a long amount of time and covered a lot of distance to the capital of Rodfox. In this time, they stopped a few times to make camp and eat food. After their encounter in the previous village, they decided to make their own food. “It’ tastes better to eat what I make rather than what gets served. Besides, we have no idea what they mix in them, so this is the best solution to that problem,” was what Ranga had to say when Nagada disapproved the idea. It was three days later that Lakshman finally woke up. He woke up a few more times during those days, but only ate and slept. It seemed the terror he went through kept him drained him mentally. Then he told them what happened. “Seriously?!” was what they exclaimed to his words. “You met the Death Titan when we were dealing with those thieves?!” Samada asked in a shocked voice. “Yes,” Lakshman said and nodded his head at him. “Unbelievable...” Samada said quietly and stared at him in disbelief. “Now it makes sense why you were so terrified,” Ranga said thoughtfully. “Yeah! Meeting one of the Nine Pillars of Power is bad enough, but to have to meet the Death Titan of all is just... damn!” Manickyam said unhappily. “You’re just lucky you made it out alive after meeting him,” Nagada said and he nodded his head several times. “Master, did that creep do something to you? Did he dare to harm you in any way?!” Ondine demanded angrily. “No, no. We just talked and when I tried to attack, my body couldn’t do anything,” Lakshman said and he looked at his hands. “What?! You tried to attack him?! What were you thinking?! Are you so eager to die so young, Lakshman?!” Samada said in a shocked voice.
“No, but his words were taunting me. So I got angry and tried to hit him, but it didn’t work. Still, he only said a few things and showed me strange images,” Lakshman said hastily. “He only said a few things and showed you strange images? Well, aren’t you lucky! Most people that were unfortunate to meet him never make it out alive! He’s just that dangerous of a fiend!” Manickyam said angrily. “So what did he say and what are these strange images you mentioned?” Ranga asked curiously. “Well... I think he said... Fear the dead, pity the living and some other things I can’t clearly remember. It felt like he was telling me something very important, but it didn’t make sense. He kept talking in short sentences, so it was hard to piece everything together.” “Fear the dead and pity the living? Man! That guy is rotten! He’s a madman!” “Do you want him to hear you call him those things? I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to pay you a night-time visit…!” “Ah!! Don’t say that, Nagada! I don’t need those kinds of scary dreams haunting me!” “It’s your fault for mouthing off without thinking first.” “Alright, you two... Lakshman, tell me what he showed you. I think you said something about strange images.” “Ah, yes. He placed his hand, made of bones, on my head and I started seeing these images of how people died.” Samada suddenly jumped in fright and looked back at them. He wore a frightened face as Lakshman continued to speak. “Those images were horrible. It showed so many people getting killed in so many ways it became unbearable to watch that stuff.” “Yes, I understand,” Ranga said as he nodded at Lakshman. Then he said “Now it makes sense why you were so damn scared. Death Titan totally scared the day lights out of you! I’m surprised you didn’t throw up or something.”
“I... felt really sick, but something kept me going. I don’t know what it was, but I’m glad it did. If I had collapsed, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me,” Lakshman said and he looked worried. “Lakshman, learn from this lesson and do not dare to do reckless things! This lesson should prove to you that, just sometimes, there are people in the world that can be dangerous when handled wrongly. You’re extremely lucky he spared your life,” Samada said in a stern voice. “Yes, I know,” Lakshman said and hung his head in shame. “Don’t worry, master! I’ll be there next time and we can take him on together!” Ondine said fearlessly. “Don’t be an idiot!” Samada yelled at her and caused her to flinch in surprise. Then he said “That guy is the fifth ranked warrior from the Nine Pillars of Power, who are all Titan ranked. There is no way in hell you and Lakshman can stand a chance!” “He’s right. You’ll need to become extremely strong to match his strength,” Nagada said while he nodded at Samada. “Yes, I get it...!” Ondine said and she looked frustrated. Lakshman patted her on the head and said “Its fine. I’m safe now, so it’s okay.” “I-If you say so, master. I understand,” she said grudgingly. After that, they continued to travel through the forests and planes. It was several hours later that they finally arrived at the capital of Rodfox. “Welcome to the capital of Rodfox, Calmitira,” Lakshman said as he read a sign board on the road to the capital. “Yup! We’re finally here after four days of travel. We don’t live that far from capital, but it does take a while to travel by a horse drawn wagon I guess,” Samada said cheerfully. The wagon slowed down and went at a grudging speed. Very soon, they entered into the capital and Lakshman was amazed by what he saw. On either side of the road, there were buildings with chimneys from two floors to countless floors. The streets were covered by people and stalls. As they passed by, they heard loud shouting of people haggling over money for a sale. Elsewhere, there were children running down the street.
It looked like a complete different world to the one he was used to. “Alright! Where should we guys drop you off?” Samada asked as he turned around to look at them. “Um...” Lakshman said and hesitated. He opened his pack and pulled out the envelope his father gave him before leaving. He turned it around and saw the person he was addressed to. He remembered his father saying something about paying him a visit. “Can you drop us off at Darian Ronald’s training centre?” “Darian Ronald’s training centre? What are you ever going there for?” “Dad wanted me to see him for something and hand this letter over.” “Oh. Alright then, Darian Ronald it is.” A few minutes later, they arrived at a building that was three floors tall. At the top, there was a label that read “Ronald Workout Training!” “Here’s the place. Now, would you mind paying for the travel fees?” Samada asked once he brought the wagon to a halt. “Pay the travel fee? What?” Ondine said and looked alarmed at his words. Nagada turned and looked at him sternly and said “You little...!” “Alright, alright! I was just joking. Just joking, okay?” Samada said and he laughed cheerfully. Lakshman and Ondine got off the wagon and the men helped hoist their luggage down for them. Then they said their goodbyes and they went on their way. Lakshman and Ondine waved after them and turned to look at the building in front of them. “Ronald Workout Training... I wonder what sort of training he does here,” Ondine asked curiously. “Possibly what it says on the header board, workout and training I guess,” Lakshman said with a shrug of his shoulders.
They stared at the sign for a moment before realising they were attracting curious glances from passers-by. They quickly picked up their bags and moved towards the building. Ondine had both of her swords on either side of her belt and Lakshman had his staff on the left and sword on the right. When they walked inside, they were amazed. The floors and ceiling were made of lumber that was painted dark red and ran down in a straight line. There was no furniture except a stool at the end of the hallway. “Excuse me? May I be of service to you?” said a voice from the side. They turned and saw a smiling lady walking towards them wearing clothing they had never seen before. The woman was wearing a beautifully embroidered garment which she draped over her shoulders and wrapped around her waist. “Um...” Lakshman said quietly as he taken aback by this strange clothing the woman was wearing. “Is there something wrong?” the woman asked curiously. “I... uh... um...” Lakshman said vaguely. Ondine looked at him for a moment and said “We’re sorry. This is the first time we’ve seen clothing like yours. So my master is a little speechless.” “Oh, you’re silly. Everyone outside is wearing these clothes, although you don’t seem to be wearing them,” the woman said and she looked up and down at Ondine’s clothing. Ondine smiled, but a sudden dark line appeared in her smile. She was a little flustered by the woman’s comment and quickly turned to Lakshman. “Master, it’s rude to day dream! Snap out of it!” she said sharply. “Wow!” Lakshman said as he was brought back to the present. Then, seeing the woman wearing the clothing in front of him, he asked “Um... What sort of clothing are these?” “These?” the woman said and gestured at her clothes. When he nodded, she smiled and said “We call it Sari. It’s a traditional clothes that we from Rodfox wear, but there have been a few wearing clothes such as your woman.”
The woman indicated the clothes Ondine was wearing. Lakshman looked at her clothes as well and nodded in understanding. He did remember seeing this sort of clothing worn by ladies at special parties and functions. Ondine became flustered and said “I’m not master’s woman! I’m his Slave Spirit!” “Oh... So you’re a Slave Spirit...” the woman said slowly as she eyed Ondine. Lakshman did not know if he imagined it, but he thought he saw a cold expression momentarily appear on the woman’s smiling face. Then it was gone which made him wonder if he had just dreamed about it. The woman clapped her hands together and brightly asked “So then, may I ask why the two of you are here?” “Um... We’re here to see Darian Ronald, the Sword King. My dad told me to meet and hand this letter to him.” As he spoke, Lakshman handed the woman the letter. The woman looked at it for a moment, raised eyebrows and looked mightily surprised. Then she looked at Lakshman and smiled before asking his name. When he told her his name, she beamed at him and said she will bring him right away. Then she left with a wide smile on her face that did not explain anything. A few minutes later, she returned. Following right behind here was a kid, but he was short. Lakshman realised the kid was about the same height as him and looked to be strong. He imagined the boy to be one of Ronald’s students training here. “Um... Lakshman, here he is. The man in charge of this entire place,” she said with a wide smile. “Here? But... where?” Lakshman said and he began looking around. “I’m here! I’m here, you!” said a voice from beside the woman. Lakshman turned back to face the kid. The kid was gesturing a thumb at himself as if to say he was him. Lakshman, for a moment, thought he was imaging it, but the kid in front of him was gesturing at himself. “You’re...?” he asked uncertainly.
“Yes!” the kid said firmly. Ondine looked at the kid as well with a disbelieving look on her face. Then, as if realising the obvious, she questioned him. “Kid... Don’t tell me... you’re... Darian Roland?” “Yes! That’s me! I’m Darian Roland in the flesh!” the kid said with a smiling face and winked at them. Lakshman and Ondine stared at him for a moment with wide eyes. Then they quickly looked at each other and each had an expression of utter disbelief. Then they turned back to face the kid and, together, they both shouted “EHHHHHHHHHHHH?!”
Phoenix Rising Chapter 89 Revelation of Choice They could not believe it. Lakshman and Ondine stared at the boy, who was about the same age as them, in shock. Moments ago, it was revealed the boy was none other than Darian Ronald. “Y-Y-You’re... Darian Ronald?” Lakshman asked in disbelief. “That’s me. Who else were you expecting?” the boy, Darian Ronald, said with a cheeky grin on his face. Lakshman could not believe the words he was hearing. Beside him, Ondine stared with a dumbfounded expression as she also was finding it hard to believe. Darian looked at them and asked “Why are the two of you looking so shocked?” “W-Well... I thought Darian Ronald was an adult looking man, but... you look like my age,” Lakshman said hesitantly. Darian looked at him with a surprised expression on his face. Then he laughed before saying “Kid, I might look your age, but I’m currently in Saver Mode.” “Huh? Saver Mode? What’s that?” Lakshman asked with a puzzled expression on his face. While he was looking puzzled, Ondine suddenly let out an “Oh!” voice of excitement and they turned to look at her. “Do you mean the Three Modes of Life?” Ondine asked in an excited voice. When Darian nodded, she immediately nodded her head while saying “So that’s it! Now it makes perfect sense why you look like that!” “Um...” Lakshman said slowly and looked uncertainly at her. Realising that he was confused, she quickly turned to him and said “I’m sorry, master. It seems you don’t know about it.” “Yes, I don’t, but why are you apologising?” he asked and looked confused.
Darian looked at them and sighed and explained. “Kid, listen. For every living being, there are Three Modes of Life; Normal Mode, Power Mode and Saver Mode. I am using the Saver Mode which basically reduces my body appearance by restricting the latent energy I can use.” “Um... Normal Mode, Power Mode and Saver Mode are the Three Modes of Life?” “Yes,” Darian said and nodded at him. Lakshman looked puzzled for a moment before he said “Right, but... I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.” At his words, Darian suddenly began to laugh. A moment later, he calmed down and said “Kid, there are many things most normal people aren’t even aware of. Take for instance me... People come here expecting me, but only to find my child-like form and don’t believe it. It’s the same with anything else they are unfamiliar with.” “Oh yeah... I guess that’s true. I didn’t know about the Nine Pillars of Power until only recently,” Lakshman said casually. Darian smiled faded as he heard his words. He stared at him as if he could not believe his ears. Slowly he asked “Come again...?” “I said I didn’t know about Nine Pillars of Power until-” “Hold it!” Darian said as he held up his hand and cut Lakshman off completely. Lakshman stopped speaking and looked a little surprised by Darian’s abruptness in stopping him from speaking. Darian looked at him disbelievingly and said “You have got to be joking. How could you not hear about them? Those nine warriors are notoriously famous for being the most powerful beings in the entire world! Yet...! You don’t know about them until recently?! My god I don’t believe this!” He exclaimed the last sentence in a shocking voice. This caused Lakshman to put his head down in shame. Darian then continued to speak more and more criticisms about Lakshman. He was then forced to stop when the woman came to Lakshman’s rescue. “Darian, I think that’s enough,” she said quietly and he looked at her in surprise.
“Eh? But seriously, this kid-” he began, but was cut off quickly by her sharp words. “I said enough! Seriously! Stop getting so annoyed and hurting the poor kid. I mean, look at him. He’s just around... um...” She turned and looked at Lakshman questioningly. Lakshman quickly responded by saying “Thirteen.” “See! He’s only thirteen! How do you expect a thirteen year old to learn these things so early on?” “But this is general knowledge that a two year old should be able to tell!” “Now really? Come and tell us when it that you learnt about them was?” she asked him quizzically with narrowed eyes. “I, ah... um...” Darian began and hesitated looking uncomfortable. She nodded at his struggle for words and said “There you have it. When you yourself didn’t know until later in life, how can you expect this kid to know it as well?” He did not have any words to reply to her sentence. Looking unhappy, he turned away and began fidgeting with his hands. Then, as if remembering about it, he turned back and spoke to her. “Anyway, you said he had a letter for me? Where is it?” he asked her. “It’s right here,” she sad and handed the letter to him. Darian took the letter and expertly ripped it open. Then he unfurled it and began reading its contents. As he read, his expression changed from time to time; a few minutes into reading it, his expression was that of amusement, then a while later it changed to bewilderment and finally it became narrower as he reached the end. Once he finished reading, he closed the letter and handed it back to the woman. Then he looked at Lakshman with an expression that could not be expressed. For a while, he simply stared at him which made him uncomfortable from the constant staring “Um... What?” Lakshman finally asked when he could no longer handle Darian staring at him silently.
“Oh... Just wondering what sort of person your father things I am to be given responsibility over you,” Darian said in a voice as if he was thinking. Lakshman blinked as he did not understand his words immediately. So he asked “Sorry? I don’t think I understood what you mean.” Darian sighed and said “Kid, your father left your responsibility to me. He wants me to train you until you become strong and then, if possible, assist you in reaching Floria Region.” Lakshman remained speechless for a moment and blinked in disbelief. Then he exclaimed “He did what?!” Darian shrugged his shoulders and spread his arms out before saying “It’s in the letter, kid, if you don’t believe my words.” “No way...!” Lakshman slowly said as he took the letter from her and began reading. Ondine looked over his shoulders and read it as well. As she read, her expression was reduced to a frown until she looked furious by the end of it. Lakshman looked aghast as he finished and folded the letter. “What now...?” he muttered in a hopeless voice. “Well...! There’s only one thing to do. That is to-” Darian began when, suddenly, he was interrupted by Lakshman’s frustrated voice. “No! I don’t accept this! Originally dad made a promise to me that if I defeated him that he will let me go to Floria Region and help Felix out!” “Hmm? Felix? You mean the Phoenix Emperor, right? What’s happened to him?” Then Lakshman exclaimed the circumstances that involved Felix being detained and his decision to go in place of his father. Darian listened intently and not once did he interrupt Lakshman. Once he finished, Darian put his hand on his chin as he thought about it. “Mmm... The Phoenix Clan, huh... Anything to do with those serious bastards is always a problem.” “Hey, don’t say that about the clan that keeps peace between the races,” the woman said indignantly.
“Yeah right! They do their job well, but their attitude is a problem in itself! Compared to the past, their current member’s principles of ethics and morals are being twisted from the inside out! On top of that, they act high and mighty like they rule the world and we’re their slaves!” “Now that’s just rude,” the woman said in a said voice. “I don’t care! That’s how they are turning out to be! There are only a few, among them, that are worth trusting and among them is Felix.” “We don’t need your opinion!” “Right, whatever...! Still, for Felix to sentence the Trial of Betrayal. Either he did something that he probably shouldn’t have or that someone purposefully made it look like he betrayed the clan. After all, there are a lot of people only too happy to see him go.” He finished speaking and turned back to face Lakshman who had a defiant expression on his face. Originally, he did not like him due to the fact that he was his ex-student’s son. After hearing his goal, however, he came to change his mind and he decided on what to do. “Alright, kid! I understand what you’re trying to do. It’s a noble thing to go and rescue someone like Felix, especially when there is the possibility that his entire clan is his enemy. If he is defeated, that clan will get so rotten our lives will become one heck of a nightmare!” “So will you let me go and help out then?” Lakshman asked eagerly. Darian looked thoughtful for a moment before saying “Maybe, but that’ll depend on what you do from here on.” “Huh?” Lakshman said and looked confused. Darian then became stern and said “Don’t give me that look. I’m not asking you to do difficult things. Just something very easy from how much your father praised you in the letter.” “Oh... Okay then. What should I do, Mr. Ronald?” Lakshman asked curiously. Darian smiled and said “Very simple. If you can win a fight against me, I’ll let you go to Floria Region. Additionally, I’ll personally come along and give you a hand in your mission. I also respect greatly and I want to help him make it out of this mess.” “Oh... So I just have to win?” Lakshman asked as if to make sure he heard it right.
“Yes, but do not use extreme force. I don’t want you fighting me to the point that my training centre gets destroyed! I’ll put the bill on your parent’s heads! I’m pretty sure they won’t be pleased when they receive that,” Darian said and an evil grin spread across his face. “No... I-I won’t go that far!” Lakshman said hastily. Then he asked “Should we fight now? Or...” “No... Not now. I’m a busy man and I’m fully scheduled today. Let’s see... How about we schedule our duel tomorrow during lunch? My boys will be on break and they can get to see us fight at that time.” The woman suddenly sighed and began to say “You really-” “Shush!” he said to her and she stopped speaking. Then he asked Lakshman “How about it?” “Yes. Lunch time is fine, but should I eat before the fight or...?” Lakshman asked uncertainly. Darian shrugged his shoulders and said “It’s up to you. Personally I wouldn’t recommend eating before a fight, but some tend to eat to keep their strength up. So you might do the same, but don’t complain to me later when I deliver a power punch to the gut!” As he finished speaking, Darian let out a roar of laughter and Lakshman laughed along. Only the woman and Ondine watched silently. Both of them had worried expressions on their faces as they stared at the two of them. “Alright then, that’s settled. Now, do you have accommodation elsewhere or...?” Darian asked curiously once they stopped laughing. When Lakshman and Ondine looked at each other, he understood. He nodded at them in understanding and turned to speak with the woman. “Marilia, please kindly welcome our new residents and take them one of the free rooms.” “Will do,” Marilia said with a slight bow to him. As she escorted Lakshman and Ondine away, he observed Lakshman’s physique and the way he walked. Just from that he could tell that Lakshman was strong. He did not believe, at first, that he defeated Indra. However, he felt sure he can believe it now. Then he noticed the sword at his waisted which caused him to raise his eyebrows in astonishment. For a moment, he could not believe what he saw and he rubbed his eyes twice to make sure he did see it.
“The Phoenix Blade...!” he muttered in awe when he realised what it was. He knew that sword is a Sacred Spirit and it was wielded by mighty warriors in the past. Just from the boy possessing the blade meant that Lakshman was destined for greatness. With that realisation, his smile widened and he suddenly looked energetic. He chuckled a little and said “Hahaha...! This is interesting, very interesting! Tomorrow will be really amazing! I can feel it!” With a wide smile on his face, he turned in the opposite direction and left.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 90 Mumble is Humble That day, Lakshman and Ondine spent their time in a guest room. Once they settled in, Marilia provided them with drinks and food. After a while later, Lakshman and Ondine wandered the training centre. They went to different parts of the training centre and observed how everyone was training. The people doing the training used methods he always had used before. Yet, they also found some others that were unfamiliar to them. There were those that were pulling on a metal rod with wire attached to a sack and pulled the sack up and down. There were others that lay on their backs and were pushing a large rod up and down which had two sacks attacked on either sides of it. Lakshman and Ondine were astonished at how rigorous their training was. The people continued to training for an hour or two before taking break. During their break, they sat down on the floor and drank water or juice depending on their preference. Once they finished drinking and the break was over, they returned to continue their training. Lakshman was appalled that they continued training right after drinking. “Wouldn’t it create stomach cramps?” he muttered in a concerned voice. Ondine shook her head and said “It’s only liquid, master. Stomach cramps is only when you exercise right after eating a large meal.” “Ah,” he said in understanding. Then they continued their observation the training everyone did. There seemed to be set procedures as what to do and when to do it. As far as they could see, there were no instructors to tell them what to do. Once it got night, Marilia came looking for them. She led them back into their guest room where their meals were waiting. Their stomachs began growling loudly when they smelt the delicious smells of the food. “We’re sorry for troubling you,” Ondine said apologetically.
“No need for it. You are our guests and providing proper hospitality is our manners,” Marilia said and she smiled at them. After happily eating the food, Marilia took the tray of empty bowls and left. However, before she left, she asked them if they wanted to shower. When they said “Yes!” she smiled and took them to the showing place. After a wonderful shower, both Lakshman and Ondine returned to their guest room. In their guest room, there were two beds which were separated by a small Illumination Crystal. Lakshman smiled at her sleeping form. Then he pulled out a cloth from his bag and began cleaning his sword and thoroughly cleaned his staff. A while ago, the five friends of his father’s told him how weapons rust if they are not cared for. That was why he began cleaning them carefully. Once the cleaning was done, he got into bed and quickly fell asleep. As he fell asleep, the light faded and left darkness within the room. Then, as if only a few seconds had passed, Lakshman suddenly felt conscious. Through his eyelids, he could tell that it was partially dark. He can tell there was some light streaming into the room he and Ondine were staying, but that was not what woke him up. He felt a strange presence in the room. “Ooh ooh ooh...” said a voice from nearby. “Mmm?” Lakshman moaned sleepily as he sat upright and slowly opened his eyes. When only partially opened, he saw a glow of light penetrating through the curtain. He realised it was early in the morning. Then he heard the voice again, but much closer than before. “Ooh ooh aaa aaa eee eee aaa ooh.” “What the?” he muttered as he slowly turned his face in the direction the sound was coming form. When his eyes laid eyes on it, he did not recognise it at first. Then, his eyes widened in surprise, he realised what he was staring at. It was a small animal with brown fur which was on its legs and hands waving while its tail was twirling around. He realised it was a monkey. “Wow...!” he exclaimed softly.
He had seen pictures of monkeys in picture books that Mariana, his family’s maid, showed him as a kid. Ever since then he had wanted to meet them in person, but was unable to due to them being uncontrollably wild. So this was his first time seeing a monkey up close. The monkey was staring at him while tilting its head from side to curiously. Lakshman suddenly thought the monkey looked cute and compared its cuteness to the cat he always met in the forest. Then he suddenly came to the conclusion that the cat was much cuter than the monkey. “Hello...” Lakshman said softly and he beckoned the monkey towards him. The monkey did not move an inch and remained sitting in its stationary position. Then its ears twitched and it looked over its shoulder. For a moment, the monkey continued to look back before turning back to face him. “Ooh ooh eee aaa eee aaa ooh!” the monkey said as it danced on its two feet and waving its hands. “Um... What?” Lakshman asked and looked confused. He obviously did not understand anything the monkey said. He wondered if it had to do with his lack of knowledge in the Beast Language. Before he could ponder any further, the monkey left the room. “H-Hey!” Lakshman said and he jumped off the bed to chase after the monkey. He ran after the monkey which was moving quickly for its small body. They went through corridors after corridors as he kept the monkey in sight. Then the monkey turned a corner and vanished from sight. When Lakshman turned the corner, he suddenly found himself outside. He walked a few meters before hearing the sounds of the monkey. As he moved towards it, he also heard a familiar voice. “Ah, there you are! I was wondering where you wondered off to! Seriously! It seems I can’t take my eyes off you for one second, you stupid monkey!” Lakshman found a gate in front of him which he opened and walked in. There, standing only meters away, was the monkey and speaking severally to him was none other than Darian Ronald.
The monkey looked unhappy while Darian looked cross as he had a frown on his face while he looked down at the monkey. Then, hearing his footsteps, Darian turned and saw Lakshman approaching him. “Ah. Good morning, Lakshman,” Darian greeted him with a smile. “Ah, yes. Good morni... ing,” Lakshman said as he barely managed to stifle a yawn. Darian laughed and asked “Let me guess. This stupid monkey here was the one that woke you up?” “I... I guess so,” Lakshman said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Now, really...!” Darian said and looked severally down at the monkey. “Ooh ooh ooh aaa aaa aaa ooh aaa!” the monkey said when it looked up at Darian. “That’s still no reason to go around waking out guests up!” Darian said in an annoyed voice. “Ooh ooh aaa aaa aaa...” the monkey said and it looked sad which made Darian sigh. “I’m sorry my friend caused you trouble,” Darian said apologetically when he turned to look at Lakshman. “No, no! It’s fine, but... why was he there anyway?” “Ah, well... he wanted to take a look at our guests and snuck into your room early in the morning.” The monkey was nodding his head at Darian’s words. Lakshman laughed and said “That’s alright. Besides, I usually train right about now.” “On, really? So that idiot did start training you well then,” Darian said softly with a satisfied smile on his face. “Sorry, but why are you calling my father... that?” Lakshman asked curiously. Darian laughed and said “It’s because he was an idiot when he was training under me, that rascal! He was a living nightmare to discipline. He always did what he wanted whenever and wherever and never cared about what others thought of him.”
“Wow... I-I can’t believe dad was like that,” Lakshman said uncertainly and looked appalled. Darian shrugged his shoulders and said “Heh! He was young, carefree and recklessly crazy! One day this was this and the next it was something else! He totally brought me into seriously beating him once, but even that didn’t change him!” Lakshman looked astonished and said “Wow...! Dad, what were you thinking?” Darian sighed and said “He was at his rebellious age, but boy have I ever met a boy as wild as him! I sometimes thought of him like a tailless monkey!” “Tailless monkey...!” Lakshman said and they both began to laugh. “Master... It isn’t right that you laugh at you own father like that!” said the voice of Ondine who had suddenly appeared behind him. “I-I know, but...” Lakshman said as he clutched his stomach desperately stop laughing. Ondine looked cross with a frown on her face and the monkey said “Ooh ooh eee eee eee eee aaa aaa ooh aaa ooh ooh eee eee eee!” “Whatever! It’s not like he’s here to care or anything, is he?” Darian said to what the monkey said which the others did not understand. “What did he say?” Ondine asked him. “He said it’s rude that you’re laughing at your father and that you are a bad son,” Darian said and he rolled his eyes. Then he said “Like it’s a big deal! I’m just glad his son is not like him!” “I was raised to be not like him,” Lakshman said cheerfully. “Good!” Darian said and he gave Lakshman a thumps-up gesture with his hand. After that, Darian invited them to join in his morning training. Just like them, he also pulled out his sword and began training by lifting it up and down. They did this with one hand while they folded the other hand behind them. After a while, the sun really began to rise which was when Darian called their training to an end. They went into the training centre as it opened for the day. A while later, people started coming in with their training gear with them. “Um... Mr. Darian,” Lakshman began nervously.
“Call me Darian, lad. I don’t like such high respectful stuff,” Darian said easily with a smile. “O-Oh... Alright then...! Darian, how long do these people train each day?” “Well, there are those that come ones a week while others come regularly. So from the pattern of their coming and going, I would say they train for about... four to six hours a day.” “Four to six hours a day?! Isn’t that a lot of hours spending just on training?” “Maybe, but some of them want to get into shape while others want to be fit and there are those trying to build muscles. You’ll find various people coming here for various reasons, but they all come to train!” “Wow...!” Ondine said in amazement. “I see, but wouldn’t that hurt their muscles? Dad told me not to train too hard, otherwise I’ll stretch a muscle and hurt myself terribly,” Lakshman said in a worried voice. “Your dad’s right and that’s why my training centre is surrounded by a barrier that transfers all physical damage to their minds. Sure the equipment breaks sometimes, but do you know why it’s best to use a barrier for these sorts of things?” “Um... Although the equipment can be repaired, healing magic won’t work on injuries that easily,” Lakshman said a little hesitantly. “Not quite, but it’s actually because we can’t afford a healer,” Darian said and he looked sad. “You can’t?” “Yes. Right now, healers are rare to be seen. So anyone that can heal are treated with high respect! That’s why doctors and nurses get highly paid jobs while people like farmers and labourers get low payment for their work.” Darian looked annoyed for a moment. Then he shook his head before he smiled at them. “Anyway, how about we all go and have breakfast? I think a wonderful breakfast after a good morning workout is perfect for our bodies!” A while later they got their breakfast along with everyone, who was lined behind a queue. It turned out Darian’s Training Centre had its own canteen and food serving. There, people were getting drinks and food to eat.
While they were eating, Lakshman casually asked “By the way, I still don’t know what your monkey’s name is.” “Ah. His name is Mumble,” Darian said while he bit his portion of food. “Oh! So he’s mumble!” Lakshman exclaimed in surprise. Mumble, who was eating bananas, suddenly looked like he was smiling and made a pose with pride. Darian raised an eyebrow when he saw this and looked quickly back at Lakshman. “Why are you so surprised? Don’t tell me this crazy furbrain is getting famous or something!” he asked in a concerned voice. At his words, Mumble started making noise, but was quickly silenced with a glare. As he turned back to look at them, Ondine went to answer him. “During one of our difficult training times, Indra said that we were slower than a monkey! When we inquired who he was comparing us to, he said he was referring us to your pet monkey.” “Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh eee eee eee eee eee ooh!!!” Mumble said angrily and started waving his fists in the air. “Ah, clam down already. Sheesh! That idiot really called Mumble my pet?” Darian asked as if he could not believe her original words. Ondine nodded and said “Yes he did! Then he praised mumble and made our training hard.” “Heh! Is that so...? Well! The next time we meet, he’s going to get it!” Darian said ominously and a dark shadow suddenly fell over him. “Is he not your... um...” Lakshman began and hesitated when he saw the dark look on his face. “No, he’s not my pet! He’s my best friend! Both he and I’ve been through so much in our lives, we’re friends for live!” “A friendship for life between a Sword King and a monkey that goes wild if something upsets him!” said the voice of Marilia as she joined them. “Go wild if something upsets him?” Lakshman asked and looked puzzled.
“Oh, yes indeed! There was this one time someone took a banana from Mumble’s food tray.” “Ooh ooh ooh eee eee aaa aaa eee eee ooh!” Mumble made angry sounds and Marilia continuedspeaking . “We usually have it labelled to keep people away, but it seemed that day the label wasn’t there. Anyway, that person was-” She was in the middle of speaking when a loud shout was heard coming from the lunch area. They were sitting away from the lunch room, so they did not know what was happening. As muttering and noise filled the room, a lady rushed over to them with a worried look on her face. “What is it?” Marilia asked sharply. “Madam, it seems this muscly man is eating the bananas from Mumble’s food tray!” the lady said urgently. There was short amount of silence in which everyone turned to look at Mumble. The monkey was staring blankly at them. Then they rose to their feet and rushed over to the lunch area. When they entered, they immediately saw what was causing the commotion. A tall muscly looking man was standing near a table with bananas on it. He was nonchalantly eating the bananas from a food tray which clearly was labelled “Mumble’s Bananas!” Once the man finished a banana, he burped and said “Come on! Is this the only bananas you people have? They taste so weird, are they even bananas?! I could’ve found better bananas than this dump of tasteless crap!” Darian’s eyes widened in surprise and Marilia looked as if she could not believe her ears. Everyone was silent as they stared at the man as he picks up another banana and begins eating one piece at a time. This time after finishing, he burps and asked “Anyway, where is this Monkey King? He’s beaten up my good friend a month ago! Bring him out, I want a word with him!” Everyone stared at him and then looked at each other in a worried voice. Darian was trying to think of what to do when Mumble appeared behind them. He made his way to the front and saw the muscly man eating his bananas.
Mumble immediately froze and looked like a stone statue as he gazed at the man gulp down a banana and start eating another. As if to make matters worse, the man then said “I heard these bananas are like his life! Where the hell is he? Did he stop being a Monkey King and decided to be a Chicken King became I’m here?! Ha! What a buffoon! He should be called the Monkey Loser from now on! Monkey Loser! Where are you, Monkey Loser?!” Mumble suddenly seemed to come to life at those words and angrily said “Ooh!” “M-Mumble, that’s not a good idea...!” Darian said imploringly, but Mumble slowly walked towards the man. Mumble looked tiny compared to the muscly man who towered him. Mumble then tapped the man in the leg and the man looked down at him. “What the? What’s a frigging monkey doing here?! Go away you! Go get your master! Otherwise, I’m going to spread word that he’s really a Chicken King and no lame brained fool would believe this Monkey King crap! Shoo! Go get your master, stupid monkey!” A vein pulsed dangerously on Mumble’s temple as his temper reached its peak. He straightened up and looked up at the towering man fearlessly. Lakshman wondered if he should lend a hand. He moved forward slightly, but was immediately pulled back by Darian. “Don’t interfere! I don‘t like what will happen next, but it’s a good lesson to this arrogant brainless brute!” Darian said and he made a smile full of malice. Lakshman stared at him in disbelief, but resigned to staying where he was. Then he turned around to witness events that blew his mind. Mumble’s anger finally peaked and he angrily said “Ooh!” The next moment, he grabbed the man’s leg. The man looked at him and angrily said “Get your furry hands off my nice clean boots, stupid imp!” Mumble finally shouted “Ohh!”
The next instant, he lifted the man with his hand and slammed him on the ground, hard. The force of impact caused a deep groove to appear on the floor in the form of the man. Mumble did not stop there and lifted the man and began slamming him here and there. Lakshman watched, in shock, as Mumble effortlessly lifted and slammed him numerous times on the floor in all directions. Then he lifted and began swinging him around in circles. After a certain amount of turns, Mumble lets go of the man’s leg. The man goes sailing through the air and out of the training centre. A few seconds later, they heard a loud bang and loud crashing sounds. Then there were loud angry shouts as stall owners became angry at him. “Goddamn fool got beaten good by the Monkey King!” was what the people were shouting outside. “Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!!!” Mumble said loudly as he hit his chest with his hands several times. Then he jumped onto the dining table and began eating his bananas that stilled remained while staring at the entrance way. It looked like he was ready for round two, but the muscly man seemed like he was pretty beaten to try again. “Mumble is weird and crazy at times, but he is also called the Monkey King,” Marilia said quietly. “The Monkey King is a very sacred title and anyone daring to mess with them will end up beaten into a pulp. That guy just got lucky because he just ate Mumble’s favourite bananas, but it could’ve been worse,” Darian said softly. “Yes. Upset Mumble, he will be humble in the way he beats the day lights out of you!” Marilia said and she looked at Mumble who was happily eating bananas. Lakshman and Ondine stared at Mumble in disbelief. They did not know the small monkey was actually that powerful. They learnt another lesson in life in that instant; do not believe everything that you see with your eyes.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 91 Heart of Courage After witnessing Mumble, the Monkey King, beat the heck out of the muscly man, they moved on. Ondine recovered from the surprise, but Lakshman was still having a hard time believing it. “He’s a monkey, yet... He’s so strong for a small guy!” he said in awe. Darian laughed and said “Monkeys are the craziest species our mythological gods created. I don’t know what they were thinking in doing so.” “I wouldn’t either,” Lakshman said in a low voice. As he looked down a little, Darian clapped a hand on his back and said “Cheer up. It’s not like you’ll become his enemy in the future, but be warned. If you do, don’t expect mercy. That guy just doesn’t know the meaning of the word holding back.” “I...see...” Lakshman said slowly as he nodded his head at him. Ondine looked at him for a moment before turning to Darian and asking “Say... Why is he titled Monkey King? Is it something to do with his race or something? And why that small body? Is it something like yours?” “Oh, it certainly does have something to do with his race. He’s a monkey for crying out loud! As for why he has that small body like mine, it’s obviously because he’s also applying the Saver Mode. Usually he looks more like a gigantic gorilla on loose!” “What?!” Lakshman and Ondine exclaimed in shock. “Just kidding,” Darian said and he laughed. Then he said “Normally he does look similar to humans, but he has furry body and a tail.” “That... Doesn’t make sense,” Ondine said slowly with a confused expression on her face. “Naturally! Imagining him won’t work. Just wait until he switches over to Normal Mode. If you see his Power Mode, you’ll freak! He’s insanely strong in that mode and his body will feel like it’s made of iron!” “Wow...!” Lakshman said in awe at those words.
“Oh... Wait, does that mean that he’s the king of the monkeys?” Ondine asked as she was still intrigued about him. “No way in hell! We don’t need that crazy guy to be the king of the monkeys! Just imagine the sort of monkeys he’ll turn his entire race into!” Darian said and he suddenly shuddered slightly. Lakshman chuckled and said “So it’s like the ranks?” Darian nodded and said “Yes. His title is like the ranks. How I’m the Sword King, he is the Monkey King. True, the monkeys do have a king, but they choose among themselves. Our ranks have nothing to do with who their king is. “So it’s not like how Felix, the Phoenix Emperor, is the leader of the Phoenix clan?” When Darian shook his head, Lakshman nodded slowly and said “I see... Still, these ranks and leadership roles are slightly confusing.” “For human based operations, ranks matter. For creatures that are not like us, their leadership roles are different. Some are chosen as the strongest within the clan while others are elected through birth and so on. There are so many communities out there, each has its own individual way of electing leaders.” “Wow...!” Lakshman exclaimed softly in amazement. “So to speak, leadership roles and ranks are not that far out from each other, but how they are applied is a different matter altogether. Personally I find it annoying that human communities, like ours, rely on who is the strongest and elects them as the leaders. Quite frankly, leaders should have honour and integrity to be elected into those roles. Otherwise, we’re all just pawns dancing in their hands!” “I agree,” Ondine said and she nodded at him. Then she said “Lately, there have been a lot of corruptions happening around lately. My clan of Water Spirits have been very angry at the human leaders for some time now. They do things for themselves, but never for the people that elect them.” “Exactly!” Darian said and he gestured while wearing a wide smile on his face. Darian and Ondine looked at each other with deep respect for the other. Lakshman looked at them with an expression that was both confused and puzzled. Unlike them, he did not understand what they were talking about.
“Um... What are you guys talking about?” he asked timidly. They turned to look at him with their eyebrows raised in surprise. Then Darian chuckled slightly before saying “No need to concern with that stuff. You’re nowhere near ready to become a leader anyway.” “O-Oh...” “Besides, you have a fight to win against me and only then I’ll let you go to Floria region. You feeling confident you’ll win against me in a fight?” “I... I’ll do my best!” Lakshman said spiritedly. “Mmm... Is that supposed to be an answer or was that simply you encouraging yourself?” “Well...” Lakshman hesitated for a moment before saying “You’re a Sword King and I’m a Water Sword Saint. I think there’s a high chance I’ll lose, but I’ll try and win!” Darian raised an eyebrow in amusement. Then he smiled and said “Ho? That’s an interesting logic you got going there. Interesting... Very interesting!” After that, they spent the time observing the training of others. Darian took Lakshman around the place and showed him the various training methods the people do. There were some which Lakshman and Ondine already do, but there were others that were unfamiliar to them. Darian explained how each of the method is used and how efficient it would be with such and such. He sounded just like a true instructor when he indicated some of the methods; how the lifting of heavy objects is good for muscle building and doing stomach crutches regularly reduces and buildings stomach strength. “You need muscle strength and stomach strength if you’re dealing with really strong guys!” Darian would say during his explanations. “Yeah. Dad said I should do that and gave me these weighted training gear to build myself strong,” Lakshman replied cheerfully. Darian’s smile widened and he looked impressed as he said “Ah! So that’s what you’re wearing on your wrists, shoes and behind your clothes. That’s good. It looks like your idiot of a father was not such an idiot when it came to his son’s training.”
“You wouldn’t believe how hard he pushed both master and me. Then his verbally abusive words seriously made me want to give him a piece of his training!” Ondine said angrily with her fist tightly clenched with shook slightly. “C-Calm down, Ondine,” Lakshman said quickly while Darian simply laughed. Hours went by quickly and it was time for their fight. Through a speaker attached in a room, Darian spoke into it and told everyone to go to a specific room Lakshman did not know about. He was more interested in how Darian spoke into it and it echoed throughout the training centre. “This is a Voice Box that I installed when I built the training centre. This way, I can speak into this Voitech and it carries my voice throughout the centre very easily. This makes it so much easier than going around and shouting at them to let them know,” Darian said as he indicated a circular ball with a rod attached to the bottom. “Ah. So it uses an Amplify Magic Spell to carry your voice throughout the training centre. Interesting,” Lakshman said as he looked at it curiously. They left the room and followed everyone that were heading into a certain part of the centre. When they entered, Lakshman was amazed to see the room was really large and it went towards the ground. There were raised seats along the side and, in the centre of the room, was a rectangular stage. “This is our underground fighting arena and here’s where we’ll be fighting,” Darian said with a grin on his face. “Underground? So all of this is underground?” Ondine asked curiously as she looked around at the ceiling. Darian nodded and said “Yes. We always can’t go upwards. Sometimes, going down is also a good thing. That’s how I got the idea to build us an underground arena so people can fight and test their strength against one another.” “Isn’t it sort of dangerous...? Like if people go overboard and attack the ceiling and all...?” Lakshman asked nervously. Darian simply laughed and said “That’s why we have a strong barrier in place! We have tested them with energy attacks and energy wave attacks, but the barrier was firm and strong! So there’s nothing to worry about.”
“T-That’s a relief. I wondered what would happen if the ceiling fell on us by accident if the barrier failed to do its job,” Lakshman said in a relieved voice. Darian looked at him with an amusement expression on his face. Then he shrugged and said “If such a thing did happen, it’s up to you to protect yourself and live through it all. Don’t expect someone to come to your rescue. In our current world, heroes of such high calibre and integrity don’t exist, unfortunately.” “That’s fine. I’ll live! I promised mum I’ll make it back alive!” Lakshman said confidently and Darian nodded his head at him in understanding. They made their way down to the stage using the stairs. Once they reached the arena, they saw Marilia waiting for them with a smile on her face. “Are you ready?” she asked them. When both Darian and Lakshman nodded their heads at her, she said “Good. Now please choose your weapon.” She moved aside and showed them a stack of wooden swords. As Darian immediately moved to pick up a wooden sword from the side, Lakshman remain stationary and had a confused expression on his face. “Choose a weapon?” he asked in a puzzled voice. “Yes,” Marilia said with a nod. Then she said “You won’t be using your bladed weapons, which would be too dangerous. Instead, you’ll be using these wooden swords.” “O-Oh,” Lakshman said in surprise. “It’s unfortunate, master.” Hearing the voice of Tetra in his mind, he sadly said “Yeah. Looks like I wouldn’t be using you today, Tetra.” He unslung his waist strap and handed it and the sword to Ondine to hold onto. Then she wished him good luck before leaving to find a seat. He then walked over to look at the stack of wooden swords and pondered which one he should pick. Darian walked over to him with his wooden sword slung over his shoulder and said “Pick carefully. They may look the same, but each is slightly different from the other.”
Lakshman realised Darian was right. He picked up a sword and then picked up another. He realised one was lighter and the other was slightly heavier. Then he swung them to test and realised he preferred the heavier sword since it has durability. Like this he went around testing them until finally he settled on one. Once he was done, he walked back to where Marilia was. She then told him get on the stage and he realised Darian was already up there. He quickly jumped on the stage and moved towards Darian. Once he reached him, Darian opened his mouth and his words were heard loud and clear as if he was speaking into a Voitech. “Welcome my regular training customers! Today I called you all here was because I have scheduled to fight with this young man. His name is Lakshman Reddy and he is the son of a former pupil of mine, Indra Reddy. His father left his training under my custody so I wanted to test how strong the boy is. So please be courteous and cheer for him since there is no chance in a million years that he will win against me, the Sword King!” At his last words, everyone began to laugh and clap. Within the crowd, Ondine widened her eyes in surprise. Lakshman looked at him as if he could not believe his ears. “What? You expected me to go easy on you or something?” Darian asked curiously with a smile. “No, but...” Lakshman said hesitantly. “Ah, come now. Don’t be so down. You’re just a North Sword Saint and I’m a Sword King. There is definitely no chance in a millionth that you’ll win against me, especially when you don’t feel confident that you’ll win!” Lakshman realised Darian was speaking to him from what he said earlier. He suddenly wished he had not said that, but his stupid honesty now made him feel embarrassed. Darian looked at him and grinned before winking at him. “By the way, you can speak if you want. Right now everyone is hearing out conversation down here,” Darian said and he made a smiled cheekily. “H-Huh? Oh... Oh! I see,” Lakshman said as he realised what Darian wanted him to do. Lakshman indicated his sword and said “If anyone is wondering, my sword is kind of heavy compared to others in that stacked pile other there! So I guess I might really lose here.” At those words, there was a sudden upsurge of noise and shouts from the spectators.
“Weak!” “Softy!” “Stupid kid!” Darian laughed at their words and said “You call them heavy? How about you try my sword then?” As he said, he flung his sword at Lakshman. Quickly reacting, Lakshman dropped his wooden sword and grabbed the handle of Darian’s wooden sword. The moment that he held it firm, he felt an intense surge of pressure on his hands as they were forced down. “Wha!” he exclaimed in shock as his hands went down and he was forced to let go of the sword. The sword landed on the arena floor and it made a loud bang that caused everyone to cover their ears. The impact of the sword on the ground caused small bits of rubble to jump into the air. “Wow!” Lakshman exclaimed as he took a step back in shock and the spectators were also sharing his amazement. Darian calmly pointed at the sword and said “Now that’s heavy!” As everyone in the audience seats was making loud noises, he pointed at Lakshman and asked “You think you can lift that?” While Lakshman indicated himself in surprise, everyone was sharing their opinion on the idea. “No way!” “It’s too darn heavy, dammit!” “That kid’s a goner!” “Poor kid...!” Irritated by their words, Lakshman stepped forward and bent down. Placing both of his hands on the sword, he tried lifting it. The sword was extremely heavy, but he did not want shame himself like that. His face contorted from the sheer pressure he was applying as he finally lifted the sword.
The crowd were astounded that he was able to lift that sword, let alone hold it steady. Lakshman’s hands and arms were shaking from the unbelievable pressure they were going through just to keep the sword up. “H-Heeeaaaaavvvvvyyyy...!” he slowly said through gritted teeth while struggling to hold the sword up. Just then, Darian walked over to him and said “Good job. At-least you picked it up. I’ll give you half points for being able to do that.” Smiling wide, he easily took the sword from Lakshman. He then swung the sword a few times before placing it on his shoulder. Then his smile widened as he looked at the astonished expression on Lakshman. “So...? You still think you can win against me?” “I... Giving up is not my style!” Lakshman said firmly. “Good. Good. I like that attitude of yours,” Darian said in a satisfied voice. Then they moved to the opposite ends of the arena before Darian began announcing the rules. “The rules are simple. No Energy Force and no Magic Force allowed. It’ll only be Weapon Force. The main aim of this battle is to defeat each other and we do it by destroying the opponent’s sword. Since we’ll be using Weapon Force, the wooden swords are the ideal things to destroy rather than give ourselves scars just for this! So if you fall off the ring, get knocked out or if your sword breaks, you automatically lose!” Darian looked at Lakshman and asked if he agreed to the terms. Lakshman did not speak, but simply nodded. He was feeling nervous to trust his voice at the moment. Darian nodded in understanding and readied for the fight. Marilia was outside the arena and seemed to be the conductor. She held her hand up and said “Ready...! Set...! Fight!” At the last word, both Darian and Lakshman moved at the same time. They both quickly challenged their weapons with Weapon Force and rushed at each other. The two clashed swords in the centre of arena and they were at standoff. Then Darian started to push forward which caused Lakshman to widen his eyes in surprise. He continued to push forward and Lakshman was bending backwards while their swords were flashing with energy.
Unable to take any more pressure, Lakshman used immense force and swung his sword forward and pushed Darian away. Then he rushed at Darian before disappearing and reappearing behind him. His back was wide open and he took the opportunity to swing his sword at him. He obviously thought Darian would swing around to defend with his sword. Instead, he was surprised when Darian brought his sword arm to the back and blocked Lakshman’s attack. Then he easily flicked his sword away and swung around in an instant. Seeing the sword come with a whistling sound, Lakshman leaned back and let the sword sail through. A moment later, he suddenly realised it was actually an illusion. He looked and saw Darian was holding his sword at the ready and with a smile on his face. Darian brought his sword forward and slammed it against which caused Lakshman to be pushed back. He reached the edge of the arena and staggered slightly as he kept his balance from breaking. The crowd was on their feet in excitement as Darian rushed at him before he could retaliate. Seeing that he was out of options, Lakshman jumped into the air. He did summersaults in midair and sailed safely away from Darian. Once he landed, he suddenly felt a strong surge of force from behind. He ducked down and brought his sword up and blocked his sword strike. They continued to fight for several more minutes in which they fought furiously. As they continued to fight, their speed began to increase and they were eventually disappearing and reappearing in a blink of an eye. After almost an hour, Lakshman was tiring out while Darian was breathing easily. Darian was smiling and stood firm while Lakshman was breathing fast and holding his sword with a slack grip. “So hey... Still think you can win?” Darian asked curiously. “I’m... not going to... give up!” Lakshman said between deep breaths. “Oh, come on...! I think you realise the difference between you and me already, can’t you?!” “Even so...It’s better to try and fail than to give up!” Darian was left speechless at his words. At that moment, he suddenly realised he thought he saw the shadow of his former master saying the same things when he fought against an opponent of immeasurable strength.
At that time, he remembered his master saying the same thing. Then he fought him with everything he had and eventually won. Remembering those events, Darian was suddenly reminded how Lakshman was like his master, not willing to give up until the very end. He smiled and said “Fine! How about we throw everything we have into the next attack! That should settle this prolonged battle!” While breathing quickly, Lakshman smiled and said “Sounds... good! You should’ve done this... from the beginning... It wouldn’t have... wasted so much... time!” “Ah, come on! Stop complaining!” While chuckling, Lakshman straightened up and they began challenging all of their Weapon Force into their swords. Their swords began glowing very bright, so bright that the audience had to cover their eyes in fear of going blind. “Intense light!” Ondine muttered as she struggled to see the fight. It took them several seconds to channel their energies into their swords. Once they were ready, they held their weapons at the ready in front of them. They looked at each other, although they could not see clearly due to being near blinded by the light from their swords. “With this power, Victory is mine!” Darian shouted and he darted forward. “With my courage, I will win!” Lakshman shouted and rushed at Darian. As the two of them rushed at each other, they screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Then they clashed in the middle of the arena. A blinding flash of light erupted and a wave of wind was sent everywhere. There was suddenly a violent surge of sparks from the middle of the arena which was sent in all directions. The crowd barely avoided some of them while still trying to see the action. Then, as the flash of light dimmed, they saw a shadow figure fly out of the arena and slam into the wall. After being slammed into the wall, they slid down and remained motionless. Once the light vanished, they saw the shadowy figure was none other than Lakshman. He was slumped against the wall with his eyes closed. In his slacked hand, he had his wooden sword which was losing its light from earlier. Marilia and Ondine rushed over to him and checked if he needed assistance or healing.
Still remaining in the arena and standing tall was Darian Ronald. He stared at the unconscious form of Lakshman and there was no expression on his face. Then he brought his wooden sword up and saw that he only had the handle. The rest of it was cut away and disappeared in that flash of light. “Strong... Very strong!” he said in a low voice and he smiled. The crowd were cheering at his apparent victory and waving to get his attention. He, however, knew that he had lost the battle. Lakshman was indeed sent flying out of the arena, but that was after he successfully destroyed Darian’s wooden sword. “He’s really strong for his age. I know the amount he put in was slightly less than mine, but I felt his heart in that last clash. He was unwavering as he charged at me even though he knew he might lose. Seriously, I never thought I would meet someone so similar to my master!” As Marilia and Ondine helped Lakshman slowly up, he smiled and thought “He is strong and if trains more, he will really be able to shine high! Not only will he be able to help Felix, he could also fight the corruption! Why, he might even get the chance to fight powerful battles against the Nine Pillars of Power! The boy’s future is so bright, it makes me feel jealous! Now, where to train him from to enhance his already strong power...?” As he thought about how to improve Lakshman’s power and skills through training, Lakshman was helped out of the room. He was still unconscious, but he wore a smile of satisfaction on his face.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 92 Balancing Strength In the battle between Darian and Lakshman, it was announced that Lakshman lost. Everyone was cheerful and pleased since they liked him better. The only one upset was Ondine, but she was upset because she had believed he would put up a better fight. When she asked in an unhappy voice “I thought you could move quicker than that now, master.” In response to her sadness, he shrugged his shoulders and said “I did my best, but he is just that strong.” It has been several weeks since then and things are back to normal. The only difference is that Lakshman now joined the regular training with everybody else. He originally did not know what to do after being defeated. That was when, in the form of an answer, Darian appeared before him and said “Train and get stronger.” “H-Huh?” he asked and looked confused at him. “You got strong energy, but without strength it’s meaningless,” Darian said bluntly with his arms folded and his mouth formed into a frown. “I’m... not strong?” Lakshman asked uncertainly and he had a disbelieving look on his face. Darian sighed and nodded. Then he said “Back during the battle your power destroyed, but your strength failed you and that’s why you lost the match. Right now you’re really strong in your energy, but your strength needs working.” “O-Oh...” Lakshman said and looked disappointed. Ondine looked at him unhappily for a second before turning to Darian and saying angrily “That’s absurd! Master has been training his body regularly back at home and constantly trying to push himself!” When Darian raised an eyebrow at her, she firmly said “Just so you know I trained alongside master! There is no way he could be weaker than me! He was able to defeat Indra for crying out loud!”
“Pft!” Darian made a sound with his mouth to indicate his disbelief. When Ondine furrowed her eyebrows and glared at him, he signed at looked at her with a firm gaze. “Look, Ondine. You should stop comparing yourself with Lakshman. You’re a Water Spirit and he’s a Human, like me. Only like creatures can understand each other better and that’s how I can clearly say he needs to work on his strength.” “W-What do you mean? Master has incredible power and strength! I’ve seen it many times!” “Yet, you couldn’t grasp the fact that in strength, you are stronger than him?” “H-Huh? What do you mean?” she asked in a puzzled voice. “Tell me... Were you able to push him back in a pure physical fight or make him do things different when he fought in physical fights only?” “N-Now that you mention it... Master seemed to avoid trying to fight a pure physical battle. He seemed to constantly dodge and strike rather than Strike and Destroy.” “Mmm!” Darian made a sound from his mouth and made a gesture with his fore-finger. Then he clicked his fingers and pointed at Lakshman before smiling widely. “Now it makes sense. Lakshman, in order to avoid your weakness you fought using the dodge and strike method, right?” he asked as if he knew the answer already. Lakshman did not look at him. He simply lowered his head down and mumbled a few words that were incomprehensive. However, Darian understood and he nodded in understanding. “It make perfect sense to avoid our weakness, but! Not working to reduce that weakness is also a problem in itself. What if you were forced to fight purely with your strength? What if your energy knows how to disrupt the flow of energy which leaves you purely on fighting physically? What will you do then?” “I... Um...” Lakshman began and hesitated and an awkward silence fell.
Darian raised an eyebrow at him. Then he shook his head and smiled before saying “Well, enough is enough. From now on, you are to train with everyone else. And I will not accept ‘no’ for an answer!” “B-But-” “Oh and also! If you pretend that you’re training, I’ll find out. I’ll test you in an arm wrestling,” Darian said firmly. “Eh?” Lakshman said and he blinked at Darian in surprise. After that, Lakshman began his training in the training centre. At first, he did not know where to begin. So he tried lifting the rod with two sacks attached on either ends which proved to be an impossible task. That was when a stranger told him start with the simple. The stranger directed him towards the rods with small sacks attached on either ends which were called Weighted Rods. Lakshman began his training like that by lifting them with one hand and then with the other. Initially he began with lifting them twenty times each and then going higher as his muscles gradually became stronger. After every week, he was challenged to an arm wrestling fight with Darian. As expected, Lakshman did not win any of them, but Darian encouraged him to continue training. Darian said that Lakshman was slowly, but surely increasing in strength. “Why don’t you move onto something more challenging now since those Weighted Rods are becoming simpler to use?” Darian had suggested after a particular defeat. “Ah. Which one should I start on?” That was when Darian indicated to the long rod that had two sacks attached on either ends. When Lakshman attempted to lift it with one hand, he could not believe how heavy it was. Darian laughed and said “You don’t lift it with one hand. You use both of your hands, like this, and lift it up and down, but do it slowly. If you do it too quickly, your shoulders will get hurt and you’ll be in a lot of pain afterwards.” As per his instructions, Lakshman began his training with them. At a time, he only lifted a few times by slowly lifting the Weighted Sacks up and down. On his first time, he could not manage to do more than ten which showed how heavy those sacks were.
Out of curiosity, Lakshman looked into them and saw sand. His eyes widened in surprise and disbelief that sand could weigh that much. Even though he was surprised a little, he continued to train. As his training progressed, he moved onto using other methods to get strong as well. Before he knew it, three month had passed by. He only found out when he took a break from exercising and, out of curiosity, looked at the calendar. It was amazing, to him, how time quickly flew by. When he checked the calendar more closely, he saw the nine months of the year on it. Remembering from his childhood learning, he remembered there were nine months in a year. Then he remembered the order in which those months came. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Amdane Bondeit Aporos Zageil Shadan Beitec Yaagan Tyfon Reiked
Lakshman remembered the month he last remembered was Shadan and that was how he knew that Reiked was the month he was in. Then he recognised the forty days with eight days per week. Originally, those days and months confuse him. When he was still studying about these things, he had asked their house maid, Mariana, “Why are there forty days in a month and eight days per week?” At that time, she simply told him “This is the current setting that everyone follows and has been for the last eight-thousand years. It has been followed since the time the PX era was established.” “PX? What does that mean?”
Mariana smiled at his question and simply said “Phoenix. Our current era was established after his noble sacrifice to save the world and restore peace. Even the names of the months were named after the historical figures from the Phoenix Clan.” “So... It’s eight-thousand-and-ten PX right now?” he had asked curiously. “No. It’s currently eight-thousand-and-ninety PX. You were born ten years ago, young master.” That was when he was ten that he asked that question. Now that he is thirteen, he knew the year was eight-thousand-and-ninety-three. Then he got bored of looking at the calendar and put it away before resuming his training. As his training continued, Darian introduced him a new item he wanted him to try. It was apparently called an Energy Rod which was crafted from using Energy Crystals and several other materials they did not know about. Darian told him that, by holding the rod, he can tell how strong he is getting. Then he informed everyone about how it was a test product that newly got released in the market. He made it clear about his desire to test it out for future use in his training centre. Lakshman held the rod and gripped it tightly. In an instant, the rod began to vibrate and glow brightly. It quickly slacked his grip on it and the vibration stopped along with the bright glow of light. Afterwards, he began using it weekly to check how far he was coming along. Then an incident occurred two weeks later. Lakshman and group were enjoying a nice lunch when there was a huge commotion from outside. When they got there, they saw several bulky looking men standing there and shouting at the training centre. “Come on out, Monkey King! You hurt me and my brethren which is unforgivable! Now it’s time we settle this matter once and for all!” a good built man shouted. “Oh boy...! Not again...!” Darian sighed and his clutched his face with his hand. “Ooh ooh ooh...!” the monkey called Mumble, said while looking uncertainly at Darian. At that moment, there was another shout from outside.
“You cowardly fool! You’re going to continue to ignore me?! Fine! Be like that! I’m coming in instead!” “Those fools...!” Marilia muttered quietly. “Alright boys! Looks like we need to do this up close and personal! Let’s go! Follow me!” said the voice of someone who sounded like their leader. There were sounds of feet as they walked up the stairs and neared the entrance of the training centre. When they were just about to reach, a different voice shouted at them. “Stop right there!” The bunch of gangly looking men stopped and looked at the speaker in surprise. They were staring at the boy who was half their size. That person was none other than Lakshman. Everyone in the training centre was astonished to see him standing outside on his own. “Stop right there, you brutes! This training centre doesn’t need people like you inside it!” Lakshman shouted at them. “W-What did t-that pipsqueak just say...?!” one of the muscly men said in an angry voice. “He called us something like brutes. So what’s the deal?” said someone else who seemed to be a bit overweight as he continued to each, what looked like, chips. “U-Um... little bro Vika, don’t you know what brute means?” the man, from earlier, said uncertainly as he turned to look at him. The man, called Vika, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. His brother moved closer to him and spoke something in his ear. No one heard what he said, but whatever it was made Vika open his eyes wide with anger. “Brute...! He called me brute!!!” he bellowed and, in his fit of rage, crushed the bag of food he was eating.
“Y-Yes, little bro. He called us all the same thing and we’re also angry!” “Let’s get him! Looks like the Monkey King’s friend wants to get in our way for revenge!” “Revenge? You guys are the ones that are making a mess of things! That’s why Mumble had to teach some lesson to that... um... knucklehead over there!” “What did you just call me?!” the man, to whom Lakshman was referring to, shouted angrily. “Well, isn’t it? You walked in and started eating Mumble’s food. He loves his bananas and you ate them! So you getting pushed for doing that unjustly is bad and that’s why he hit him!” “Why you...?!” “Calm down,” the leader of the group said with a gesture. Then he turned back to Lakshman and said “Mumble, huh... So that’s his name I take it, the name of the Monkey King.” Back inside, Darian was clutching his fist tightly as it shook slightly and said “Lakshman you idiot! Why’d you go out like that and carelessly tell them about his name?!” “That’s master. He is always straightforward,” Ondine said apologetically. “Get out of the way kid! Or face our wrath!” the leader said sharply as they advanced. “I won’t!” Lakshman said stubbornly and he clutched something in his hand. Lakshman was holding onto the Energy Rod. A few minutes ago, the rod was with him as he had intended to test how strong he had gotten. Then the commotion happened which caused him to hold onto it until now. He did not have his Phoenix Blade, Tetra, with him. So he held the Energy Rod like a weapon and gripped it tightly. In that instant, a bright glow of light erupted from the rod and it shook violently. Then an explosion erupted and caused Lakshman to fly backwards. “Oww...! My hand!” Lakshman said and he held his left hand which was covered in cuts, bruises and blood.
The men were laughing and then their leader said “So much for that. Kids today sure are clumsy and careless.” As they advanced, someone else walked out of the training centre. This someone walked a few paces in front of Lakshman and faced the men. The group of men stopped in their tracks and stared in front of them in surprise. “Ooh ooh ooh ooh!” “What the...? What’s with this monkey?” the leader said in a puzzled voice. The men found themselves meters away from Mumble. The little monkey had walked out to protect Lakshman, who was clutching his hand with a pained expression on his face. Now it stood and faced the gang of muscly men fearlessly while waving its arms around. “Boss! That’s it! That’s the thing that hurt me so badly!” “That little monkey did? Are you sure?” “I’m positive! There’s no way I could forget that ugly face around here or anywhere!” “Okay then.” The man looked at Mumble and nodded. Then he put his hand into his pockets and pulled out a short stick. He held the stick in his hand and aimed it at Mumble. “Spirits of the water, form a torrent of unbreakable water and suffocate the enemy of my friend! Water Torrent!” For a moment, nothing happened. Then a magic circle appeared directly beneath where Mumble stood. There a jet of water suddenly surrounded him and covered him from sight. All they could see was the monkey’s shadow.
Then the rising water began to rotate faster and faster in anticlockwise. As it rotated faster, Mumble’s body began to rotate along with the flow of the water current. Then the torrent became incredibly fast and they could no longer see him anymore. “M-Mumble!” Lakshman said and winced from the pain in his hand. For a moment, the water torrent continued to rotate at an incredible speed. Then there was a flash of light from within the torrent of water. The next moment, the water was blown everywhere as a bright glow of light erupted from within it. For a few seconds, the glow blinded everyone. Then the glow slowly faded and they were able to see once more. They saw water everywhere and some were dripped from it as it was splashed onto them. Then their eyes moved to look at the spot Mumble was. They did not find him, but they found someone else instead. This person was shaking his head and wiping his face with his hand. Then he looked at the men with a bored expression on his face and said “How... boring...!”
Phoenix Rising Chapter 93 Mumble is Rumble “Really, now... How boring...!” the man said as he stretched his arms and legs. The man had black eyes and long black hair that fell almost to his waist. His top half of the body was bare while he wore a strange assortment of clothes from his waist. Just from looking, his body was powerfully built with strong muscles abs showing on his body. From behind him, Lakshman continued to clutch his badly injured hand while staring at the back of the man with an astonished expression on his face. He was left speechless, like everyone else, at how the man suddenly materialised from all that blinding light. That was when he noticed the man had a tail. The man’s tail was sticking out of his back and it was twitching up and down in a slow movement. Lakshman widened his eyes in surprise and, in that instant, suddenly realised who that the man was. “Hey! Who the heck are you? And where’s that monkey go?” the leader of the group of men asked the man in the strange clothes. The man completely ignores the gang leader and continues to stretch his body. When a few seconds went by in silence, the gang leader’s face contorted angrily as he stared at the man’s behaviour. “Hey! Dammit! I’m talking to you!” the gang leader said and he moved forward. When the gang leader neared him, the man suddenly stopped stretching and turned to face the man. The next instant, the gang leader was riddled with super-fast punches. No one saw the blows except that the gang leader’s body reacted strangely. “Guh!” The gang leader made a pained sound from his mouth and spit blood out. That was when everyone suddenly realised he was under attack. They were shocked as the man continued to get riddled with punches at incredible speed.
“Gah!” Again, the gang leader stumbled backwards in a slow motion as spit and blood was thrown out of his mouth. Then the man in strange clothes pulled him back and riddled him more superfast punches. At one time, the gang leader attempted to block, but the punches was too fast to block them all. Instead, he quickly became unconscious while his body was badly damaged from all the punches he received. A few seconds later, the man’s unconscious body began to step back with a glazed look in his eyes. Then the man pulled his arm back and delivered a power punch to the face. The punch was so strong it blasted the gang leader into the distance. His gang members quickly got out of the way as their leader was sent flying into the distance. The gang leader’s unconscious body rolled, flipped and finally crashed in the distance. Then a cloud of dust rose into the air to mark the final destination of his crash. Everyone looked towards where the man had crashed in the distance in alarm. Then they turned back to face the man who beat the day lights out of the gang leader in astonishment. The man straightened up and looked towards the distance. Then he said “What a boring opponent...!” For a moment, there was silence as everyone continued to stare at him in disbelief. Then a man named Vika from the gang suddenly walked up to the man. Vika towered over the man who barely reached his chin height as he and the man stared at each other. “You hurt my brother...!” Vika said slowly. Then he continued to repeat those words with increasing emphasis and anger. “You hurt my brother...! You hurt my brother...! You hurt my brother...! You... You...” And in a loud voice, he shouted “You hurt my bro!! URRAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!”
Vika’s eyes widened and reddened dangerously as he looked down at him. The man, on the other hand, was looking coolly up at him unflinchingly. Vika stared at him with great anger rushing to his brain caused by his unsettling feelings. Then he raised his hand and Vika shouted “KILL!!!” Vika immediately pulled his arm back and delivered a power punch. If it had connected, it would have knocked an ordinary man out cold. However, that did not happen with the man as he calmly raised his hand up and stopped Vika’s punch with a finger. For a moment, Vika struggled to push his fist forward while the man easily held it back with a finger. Then he pushed Vika’s fist back with his finger and delivered a power punch into Vika’s stomach. The punch was so powerful it caused Vika’s eyes to widen in shock. Then the man pulled his arm back and gathered strong energy in his fist which delivered in an uppercut. The impact of the uppercut was so strong, it lifted Vika off his feet and he went sailing away into the distance. The remaining group members watched their second-in-command go sailing away into the distance where their gang leader had crashed earlier. Then they turned back to look at the man with angry faces. Lakshman, who had watched all this unfold, was staring at the man’s back in utter disbelief. The man effortlessly dispatched the strong looking gang leader and the big fat man with casual ease. That was when he began to wonder if this man was the same person he thought he knew about. “M-Mumble?” he asked uncertainly and he sounded slightly frightened. The man’s tail twitched at being called by that name. Then the man turned and looked at Lakshman expressionlessly. Lakshman and the man continued to look at each other in the eyes. He suddenly realised the man has strong, but warm eyes. “No,” the man said and shook his head at Lakshman. “T-Then... Who are you if you aren’t Mumble?” Lakshman asked curiously.
At that moment, with their anger finally peaked, remaining gang members screamed “KILL HIM!!!” As they rushed at him with roaring rage, the man turned back to face them calmly. For a moment, he just stood there and did nothing as they rushed at him with contorted faces and angry screams. Then the man wore a serious expression for the first time and said “It’s not Mumble. It’s Rumble!” The next instant, he dashed towards the men and what happened then was not pretty. The man, now calling himself Rumble, sent the first man to reach him into the distance with a single blow to the face. He then began beating the black and blue out of the rest of them without pause. By the end of it all was nothing, but broken men as they lay on the ground. Their wounds were not deep and the blood did not flow out completely. It seemed that Rumble did not want to hurt them extremely, but did not hold back either. One all were done and beaten, Rumble straightened up and stretched his arms before addressing everyone present at that time. “Thank you very much for being my warm up punching bags! Now! Is there anyone here capable of making me break a sweat?” he said loudly so that everyone could hear him. Everyone quickly shook their heads and some even took hasty steps back from fear of singling out. Rumble looked at them all for a few seconds. After which, for the first time, he smiled warmly at them. Then he brought his hands together in prayer and bowed. It seemed like that was his way of saying “Fight over and now peace.” There was a moment of silence. Then the whole area suddenly erupted into cheers of happiness and joy. “Awesome!”
“The Monkey King is amazing!” “He beat the bad guys senseless! Serves them right!” “All hail Monkey King!” “Hail!” As they continued to cheer, Rumble simply waved at them for a few seconds. Then he turned around and walked into the training centre with the rest of its occupants. Once inside, he let out a deep sigh of relief. “That was quite annoying.” “Annoying?! What were you thinking, you big idiot!” Darian shouted as he met, face to face, with Rumble. “Come now. It all worked out in the end,” Rumble said cheerfully. “Work out?! More like you just beat the crap out of all of them!” “So? They got what they deserved. Besides, they were disrupting the market people and that was no good.” “But still... We could’ve done so peacefully at-least?” “Peacefully? How do you expect to peacefully sort this out when our opponents were out for revenge? How in the world do you expect those meat heads understand our words?” “Right, but now their anger towards us will just increase. I won’t be surprised if they come back with greater number than today. What will you do then?” Rumble looked at Darian in amazement and laughed before saying “I’ll do what I always do; beat the hell out of them!”
Darian looked at him for a moment and was speechless. Then he sighed in resignation. He knew his friend was stubborn and there is no convincing him once he made up his mind. Then he sighed and muttered “Violence against violence... That doesn’t sound good at all...” “Um... Who are you?” Lakshman asked curiously while Marilia was wrapping his injured hand. Rumble looked at him in surprise and said “Didn’t say I I’m Rumble and not Mumble?” “Yes, but I’m still confused...” “Oh! Alright then! Looks like an introduction is necessary for my unannounced entry!” he said while nodding his head in understanding. “Hello again! Previously, I was Mumble in my Saver Mode, but now I’m in Normal Mode. This is my original mode the name I go by, in his form, is Rumble. Rumble, the Monkey King! It’s a pleasure to make you an acquaintance!” He finished his introduction and he winked at them with a broad smile on his face.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 94 Broken to Pass “So... Mumble is just your false identity?” Ondine asked a while later when they all sat down to talk. “What?! There’s nothing false about it! It’s the name I go by when I’m in my monkey form which is also my Saver Mode form,” Rumble said indignantly and looked hurt by her words. “Yet, you’re now calling yourself Rumble because apparently you’re in Normal Mode, right?” She shook her head and sighed before asking “Why two names? Why?” Rumble smile widened as he said “Isn’t it cool? You know... to have a different name for different forms?” “Um... No... It isn’t...” Ondine said as she slowly shook her head at him. “See, Rumble! Here’s someone else calling your two names a stupid idea!” Darian said with emphasis. Rumble looked very angry when he looked at Darian and said “I’ll punch you into the next century!” “Try if you can, muscle head!” Darian said coolly. Rumble glared at him while Darian calmly stared right back unflinchingly. Then he sighed and turned away which caused the smile of Darian’s face to widen. Rumble fidgeted a little with his fingers for a moment. At that moment, Lakshman came to where they were sitting with Marilia. His injured hand was completely wrapped in white cloth which was slightly stained in red colour of his blood. “Ah, Lakshman. Just the man I want to have a word with,” Rumble said when Lakshman and Marilia took seats at the table they sat at.
“You want to talk to me?” Lakshman asked curiously. Rumble nodded and asked “Tell me, why you decided to walk out there and try fighting those guys?” “Ah, yes. I was wondering about the same thing,” Darian said and he nodded at Rumble. Then he turned to Lakshman and asked “Tell us, Lakshman. Why did you do that?” All of them turned their heads to look intently at Lakshman. He was a little taken aback by the sudden attention he was receiving and he stumbled in his first few words. “I... um... Well...” Then he fell silent and bowed his head sadly. Darian and Rumble looked at him, then at each other before turning back to stare at him. Then Rumble questioned him by asking “Were you perhaps... acting the hero?” Lakshman looked up at him curiously and asked “Acting the hero? What do you mean by that?” Darian, with a serious expression on his face, said quietly “It’s like you’re pretending to be a hero to feel good, to like playing the role of a hero and get praised to get satisfied. Quite frankly it is an arrogant behaviour and it is also done by people overconfident.” “Huh?” Lakshman said and he looked surprised. “For example, if you are faced with an opponent. You rushed into battle thinking you will destroy evil. It’s a commendable thought, but what if you’re weaker than the enemy? Because of your overconfident, you’re defeated and killed off. That’s something like acting the hero.” “Yes, but there’s more,” Rumble said as he continued once Darian finished. Then he said “Additionally, you’re also putting your allies at risk. You allies follow you because they believe in you and believe they will achieve victory by fighting alongside you.”
Darian looked a little sad when Rumble said that. He looked at Lakshman with a sad expression and said “Because of your desire of acting the hero, not only are you getting destroyed, but so are your allies. It isn’t right to betray their expectations all because of your desire to be a hero.” “Is it wrong to fight against evil?” Lakshman asked with a concerned expression on his face. “Yes, master,” Ondine said and she was nodding at Darian and Rumble. Darian nodded at her and smiled before saying “When I was young, I read many stories about the heroic figures throughout history. Sometimes I wanted to be a hero like the people in the legends, but many had said I was dreaming.” “Hey, hey! You’re making this overly complicated!” Marilia said and they looked at her in surprise. “M-Marilia?” Darian and Rumble said together in a surprised voice. She glared at them with a serious expression on her face and said “Cutting the overly complicated stuff short, you must truly be strong and can defend yourself and your allies. Only then can you be a hero of your dreams. Otherwise you’re nothing, but a walking target!” “W-Walking target...!” Rumble said and he began to chuckle. “It’s the truth!” Marilia insisted as she looked at them. “No, I’m not laughing at what you said. Rather, I’m just relating it to myself and Darian. Don’t you agree, my long lasting buddy?” Rumble said as he smiled and turned to look at Darian. Darian nodded and said “I suppose those words sure can be related to the both of us. Throughout our whole lives we’ve been a target to attack by many demons, especially members of the Serprad clan.” Rumble laughed and said “They sure hated us so badly! I’m sure even now they’re trying to find us to get back at us!”
“Um... Were you two doing bad things or something?” Ondine asked curiously. “Well... You know...” Rumble said hesitantly and he looked at Darian. When he shrugged his shoulders at his friend, Rumble sighed and said “The two of us fought against each other in the Demon-Human war several centuries ago and we piled up a load of enemies since then.” “War...” Lakshman muttered and he looked unhappy. To Lakshman, the subject of war is not a happy one. The main reason to this was that it reminded him of a time that Sumara Manjuvad, his once home tutor for magic, and Ondine never got along. The reason for their mutual dislike for each other was simply that Sumara was from the Demon race and Ondine was part of the spirits. Over the time of being together, they finally accepted each other. However, Lakshman knew there were others in the world that did not accept each other. That was why he disliked the very topic of war and has a healthy dislike for it. Rumble continued to say “Anyway! We’re getting side tracked. We were asking Lakshman whether he went out there ‘acting the hero’ or for another reason.” When they look at Lakshman once again, he cleared his throat and smiled. Then he said “I was getting angry and frustrated at how they wanted to take revenge on Mumble when they were the ones causing all the problems! So I wanted to teach them a lesson and that’s why I went out!” There was a short pause in which they looked at each other with surprised expressions on their faces. Then Darian looked back at Lakshman and asked “Sounds good, but what could would you have done if they were stronger than you?” “I... I thought that at first, but somehow I felt I could do it. I am stronger than before and I sort of felt the energy those guys had couldn’t compare to mine.” “Wait! Did you learn to sense energy levels?!” Darian asked in disbelief.
“Are you talking about sensing how strong someone is and the amount of energy they have?” Lakshman asked uncertainly. When Darian nodded, Lakshman smiled and said “No. I don’t think I learnt anything like that, but it was just the way they were projecting themselves. That’s when I realised I could defeat them, no problems!” Darian and everyone were staring at Lakshman incredulously. Rumble, on the other hand, had his eyebrows raised in amusement at hearing his words. Rumble then remembered what happened and laughed. As everyone turned to look at him, he smiled and said “You might’ve, but that stupid rod of... whatever it was... got blown up because it couldn’t handle your strong growth!” “Oh... um... Darian...? What am I supposed to do with... these?” Lakshman asked nervously and he sounded fearful as he pulled out the broken remains of the Energy Rod. Darian looked seriously at the broken pieces that Lakshman laid on the table. Then he looked very seriously at Lakshman who feared he will be punished. To his amazement, Darian simply laughed. “Just chuck this stuff out. It’s now nothing, but trash, although it served its purpose,” Darian said before winking at Lakshman. Lakshman and Ondine looked at each other for a moment. Then, together, they turned to him and said “Huh?” Darian smiled and began to explain his reason behind using the Energy Rod. “The Energy Rod is a test product, but I also purchased it for another reason. I wanted Lakshman to keep track of how strong he is getting while also giving me an idea of how he is progressing. The product owners said it will break if a certain amount of power is exceeded. So I knew, the moment it breaks that Lakshman finally met my expectations for his improvement in strength.” “So... Does that mean...?” Lakshman asked uncertainly.
Darian nodded and smiled before he said “You pass and with flying colours! The fact that thing exploded with such force is enough proof to me that you’ve completed strengthening. Now we need to prepare for our departure to Floria Region imme-!” He was suddenly cut off by Rumble as he said “I’m also coming and I’m not taking ‘no’ for answer!” “Off-course you’re coming!” Darian said and he looked at Rumble as if he was crazy. Rumble blinked in surprise and said “Err... You’re actually going to?” “Naturally! We’re going to help Felix and I appreciate all the help we can get!” Darian said firmly. As Rumble was looking pleased and smiling happily, Darian continued to speak. “We must assume the worst case scenario when we get there. We should assume the entire Phoenix Clan is taken over and is under demon control or something like that. That way, we’ll avoid unpleasant surprises.” “True, but I think there will be some people from the clan to help us out, right?” Lakshman said. “Good point, Lakshman, but I think they’ll stay low. That’s because they don’t want to attract too much attention or they’ll be in trouble. In order to protect and restore their leader, they’ll be treading carefully for a while,” Darian said seriously. “I see,” Lakshman said in an understanding voice. “It makes sense,” Ondine said and she nodded at him. “Anyway, let’s discuss more about our journey for now. We can decide on other things later.” After that, they continued to talk discuss about what they should prepare for, the equipment that needs to be put together and anything else they would require for the journey.
The Journey from Roxfox region to Floria region will be a long one and might take months before they get there. So for the journey, they were discussing and planning for the long term. Rumble even joined in to add in some additional plans in case the primary plans fail. Meanwhile, Marilia sat quietly and listened to them and thought “I feel left out...�
Phoenix Rising Chapter 95 Morning of Bickering The next morning, Lakshman woke up early for his regular training. Ever since he began training at Darian’s training centre, he trained early in the morning. He did this by swinging his swords from a hundred to nine-hundred times. That morning, he woke up with a wide yawn. When he looked to the side, he saw Ondine sleeping peacefully with a cute expression. Smiling at that sight, he got out of bed and headed over to wash his face. Then he headed over to where he trained with his sword. “It’s been a while, master.” When Lakshman came out after washing his face, he was met with a familiar person. This was someone that was with him for a long time and fought with him in many fights. This person is also known to have lived longer than eight-thousand years. The person is none other than Tetra. “Ah! Tetra,” he said happily as he was genially pleased to see her. She was not smiling. Instead, she was frowning up at him. Then she abruptly turned around and began walking away. Startled by her actions, he chased after her while speaking to her. “H-Hey, Tetra! What’s wrong? Hey! I’m talk to you here, stop ignoring me!” “I’m not talking to you, master,” she said as she continued to walk away. “Huh? Why?” he asked as if he could not believe his ears. Tetra suddenly stopped and turned around to face him with an angry expression on her face. Then she said “Lately, I’m left out on a lot of things! Even when you went up against those nasty guys from yesterday, you didn’t bother to take me along! Tell me, master! Are you ignoring me?!”
He was alarmed by her words and looked at her with a panicked expression on his face. While panicking, he fidgeted with his hands and looked around nervously. As he continued to be nervous, she angrily shouted “Tell me, master! Don’t I mean anything to you?! After all the fights and battles we’ve been through together, am I nothing to you now that you’ve found your own strength to rely on?!” “No, that’s not it...” Lakshman said and then hesitated for a moment. As if he found something puzzling, he wore a puzzled expression on his face and looked at her. Then he asked “Wait... what? What do you mean by me having my own strength instead of relying on you?” “Ah...!” Tetra said and she half-opened her mouth in surprise. He narrowed his eyes and looked at her sternly and she backed away slightly. “Tetra...!” he said in a stern voice. “U-U-Um... Master, I-” “So you were the one lending me all that strength whenever I fought.” “N-No, master! You’re mistaken!” she said pleadingly. He sighed and clapped his hand on his face. Then, while eying her, he said “Instead of doing that, why don’t you help me get stronger? Don’t you want me to strong or did you want me to rely on you completely?” “I...” Tetra began and hesitated. She was looking really nervous by his words. In fear of getting into trouble, she began looking elsewhere to avoid making eye contact with him. He eyed sternly for a moment. Then he smiled and extended his right hand towards her. “Come on, Tetra. I need to do my morning training and you know I can’t train without you,” he said before winking her.
She looked up at him in amazement and immediately hugged onto his extended hand happily. “Yes, master!” she said happily. Together, they made their way to the back of the training centre. Once they stepped outside, the cool wind ruffled their hairs and skin. Feeling the wind, they sighed deeply contently. Just then, they suddenly heard a huffing sound from nearby. Curious what the sounds were, they went around the stand separating the different sections. That was when they came upon a man doing push-ups on the ground. The man was shirtless and wore a strange assortment of clothes from his waist down. He has long black hair that fell down to his waist and a monkey tail poking out from his behind. That person was previously known as Mumble, but as of yesterday became known as Rumble. Rumble was pushing up and down on the ground with his forefinger. As he pushed up and down with each rhythm, he spoke the number of times he was doing it for. “Eight-thousand-and-ninety-eight, eight-thousand-and-ninety-nine, nine-thousand, ninethousand-and-one...!” At that moment Lakshman, hearing Rumble’s push-up count, suddenly shouted “Holy! Pushups over nine-thousand!” Hearing his voice, Rumble stopped his activity and quickly sat upright. Then he turned around and, seeing who it was, smiled at them. “Lakshman and Tetra, good morning to the both of you,” he said in a pleasant voice. “Good morning, Rumble,” Tetra said as she returned the smile while Lakshman was very shocked to reply. Rumble turned to look at Lakshman’s shocked expression and raised an eyebrow. Then he asked “What’s the matter with you, Lakshman? Why did you suddenly become stiff as a rock?”
At his words, Lakshman was suddenly brought back to reality. He shook his head to shake away the cloudiness and said “Well... You did do over nine-thousand push-ups! Even I can’t do that many yet!” Rumble laughed and said “That’s because you’re still getting stronger. Remember, you don’t get strong overnight. It’s a daily learning process and only later you’ll see its results!” “Oh...!” Lakshman said and nodded in understanding. After that, the two of them began to train separately. Tetra transformed into the Phoenix Blade and he began swinging with it. Rumble was lashing out fists at incredible speed while constantly moving. His movement was so quick it looked like he was flashing on and off from view. Then they sparred with each other for Lakshman’s training. It was clear that Lakshman was no match for Rumble. Lakshman did not feel down, but instead felt excitement at the thought of becoming as strong as Rumble and Darian. Once the training was over, they washed themselves by throwing water over each other. Then they used dry cloth to dry themselves. Once they were refreshed, they began to walk back inside for morning breakfast as the training centre opened up for the day. “By the way, Rumble. I was wondering where you got those clothes you’re wearing,” Lakshman asked curiously. “These clothes?” Rumble asked and he indicated his garments. When Lakshman nodded, he said “Gi or usually referred to as Keikogi. Its warrior clothing that the monkey clan wear as a custom. You won’t find that many humans or members of other races wearing these.” “Oh! Now it makes sense, but is it comfortable wearing them? They look a bit restricting...” Lakshman said hesitantly. Hearing those words, Rumble laughed and said “If they were uncomfortable, I wouldn’t be wearing them in the first place! I like these clothing, but people have their preferences.” After laughing, Lakshman said “So you’re really from the Beast race, the monkey clan.”
“Yes, I’m from the Monkaggy clan of the Beast race. What? Is there something wrong with it?” “No! There’s nothing wrong! It’s just that you’re the first person from the Beast race that looks almost human. It’s only your monkey tail and the strange clothes you’re wearing that make you so different.” Rumble chuckled while shaking his head. Just then, they reached the place and found Darian, Ondine and Marilia waiting for them. “Master, where did you go so early in the morning? You weren’t at the usual place and I got so worried!” Ondine said anxiously and looked sternly at him. Lakshman opened his mouth to respond when Tetra suddenly interjected. “Don’t be so rude to master, Ondine! Master’s been training all morning while you’re sleeping like a princess!” Ondine’s hair stood on end at those words and she immediately retailed by saying “Oh?! Tetra! I didn’t notice you were here! Sorry I forgot about you, but you can’t blame me when you hardly appeared in the past few months!” Ondine thought it would hurt Tetra’s feelings. However, looked coolly back at her and smiled before saying “My lack of appearance just proves how devoted I am to my master than you!” “Why you...?!” Ondine said in an angry voice. As the two girls stared at each other, Lakshman looked between them anxiously. He knew them and knew both of them are really strong. Fearing an outburst of attacks and destruction, he quickly intervened. “Ondine, Tetra, stop! Stop arguing when it’s so early in the morning!” “I-I’m sorry, master!” Ondine and Tetra quickly said in unison in response to his words. Then they looked at each other and said “We’ll settle this later in the day!”
“Hey!” Lakshman said in annoyance. Watching this spectacle unfold before them, the others began to laugh. Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra looked at them in embarrassment at suddenly realising they were not alone. “I never get tired of watching you three bicker. It’s almost like witnessing a husband struggling to keep his two wives together!” Darian said with a snigger. “H-Husband...?! Wives...?” Ondine and Tetra said together nervously. They were looking nervous when their eyes met. At that moment, their expression s became solid and then turned away with a loud “Hmph!” While everyone ate their food, there was one that did not touch his plate. After being referred to being a ‘husband’, he felt uncomfortable to eat. For some reason, that word gave him a strange feeling he could not understand. He sighed and muttered “What kind of way is this to begin the morning...?”
Phoenix Rising Chapter 96 Secret Enhancement “Now then, mind telling me why you were always enhanced?” Darian said in a business-like tone. For a moment, everyone was confused about who he was talking about. Rumbled sighed and looked at him with an exasperated expression on his face. “Darian... Who are you asking that question?” he asked Darian. “Lakshman of-course,” Darian said and Rumble sighed. When he asked why, Rumble said “Just now, we had no idea who you asked that question.” “Oh!” Darian said in and he looked surprised before laughing. Then he said “My bad, but anyway. Lakshman, tell me for how long have you been enhanced for?” “Uh... Enhanced?” Lakshman asked with a confused expression on his face. “Yes. If there’s one thing I learnt from magic training is to be able to see the flow of energy. I can clearly see your energy coursing throughout your body as well as another energy mixing along with it.” “My energy is... mixing with a different energy?” Lakshman asked in amazement. “Yes,” Darian said and he gestured towards Tetra. Everyone turned to look at Tetra in surprise. She, herself, was looking stricken at being pointed out about a different energy mixing with Lakshman’s energy. Darian sat on his seat and smugly looked at her nervous actions and nodded in understanding. “So, Tetra. Tell me. How long have you been enhancing your master’s speed and strength?” he asked her curiously.
“I... uh... um...” she distractedly and was looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. “Um... Darian, what’s this about? Did Tetra do something wrong?” Lakshman asked when he turned to look at him. Darian nodded and said “I don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but I think it’s wrong what she did.” When he finished speaking, he smiled at them. Rumble lost his patience and, in an annoyed voice, said “Get on with the blasted details, idiot!” “Okay, okay,” Darian said quickly while continuing to smile. Then he breathed and explained. “Ever since Lakshman came here, I noticed two energies merging with him. After reading that letter, I realised that Indra must have realised something and wanted me to be the judge of it. So that’s why I tested Lakshman’s battling skills.” “Wait... So the point of that fight was to... check on me?” Lakshman asked as he blinked in surprise. Darian nodded and said “Yes, but that’s when it became clear to me that Lakshman was being enhanced by the Phoenix Blade. That’s why, I maximised my energy strength and blasted him out of the ring to win the match.” “Oh...! So that’s what happened. I did wonder why I got defeated when I used more power than you ” Lakshman said in amazement. Darian smiled and said “After that realisation, I realised you needed more training to get strong for real. So I made you train so hard that he truly becomes strong without the help of the Sacred Spirit.” When he finished, they looked at him in amazement. Then Rumble said “That’s a twist!” Darian laughed and said “That’s why I keep telling you to not take everything as they come. Try to see the bigger picture and you’ll get smarter.”
Rumble snorted and said “Heh! If there’s something I can’t solve with my head, I’ll just us my fists instead!” Rumble leaned back in his chair and looked proudly at them. Darian stared at him with halfopen eyes before rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Muscle head!” he said firmly, but Rumble simply shrugged his shoulders. “Wait!” Ondine interjected and they turned to look at her. Looking at them with narrowed eyebrows, she asked “Does that mean that master was strong only because of Tetra’s enhancement?” At her words, Darian nodded. At his nod, her eyes widened and she slowly said “So... Does that mean that master was...?” She did not finish the sentence, but Darian did for her. “That you’re master, Lakshman, was always weaker than he let on. Well, he was weaker as himself than with the addition of Tetra’s power.” “No way...!” Lakshman said slowly as Ondine was not able to respond because of the shock she received. Lakshman turned to look at Tetra as he said “So... The time I got stabbed by that Serprad warrior or how difficult I found it to defeat my dad... Does that mean... that I’m?” “You were always weak. Remember that the Death Titan said the same time, about you being weak and need to get strong,” Darian said with a sad expression on his face. Lakshman was speechless as he digested everything Darian told him. It seemed unreal, but the facts have been revealed so he had no choice, but to believe. Feeling helpless, he looked upset as he looked down at his legs. After a few seconds later, he feebly asked “Why...?”
At his question, everyone turned to look at Tetra. She was panicking with sweat coming of her quickly. Then she began speaking and confessed her real reason behind her actions. “M-Master, please don’t misunderstand. You were indeed weak, but I didn’t want you to feel inferior. So I managed to make you feel strong and powerful without you noticing anything.” At her words, he closed his eyes painfully as he asked “Why didn’t I notice...?” “You can hardly blame yourself on that one. You were just a kid when she began doing that. So you aren’t at fault here at all, Lakshman,” he said consolingly. Then he looked at Tetra and sternly said “But seriously, Tetra that’s enough. You should stop enhancing him and instead focus on training him instead. I think you should know, from long years of battles and experiences, a warrior must fight even when they are weapon-less!” “T-True...” Tetra said in agreement and looked ashamed. Lakshman, however, was feeling very depressed as he asked “So I’m... still weak?” Darian suddenly looked annoyed as he said “Get over it! Have you already forgotten what I told you yesterday?!” Lakshman looked up in surprise and Darian continued. “Yesterday I told you that you finally got stronger. You reached the strength level that I expected you to reach through my rigorous training.” “Don’t you mean a training that most thirteen-year-olds cannot cope with?” Rumble asked. “So what?! If I hadn’t been that hard on him, he wouldn’t have become this strong right now. He would still be under the false impression that he is strong. That sort of thinking would get any crazy fool killed in battle!” “Says the crazy idiot who worked himself day in and out to get super strong and all!” Rumble said as he rolled his eyes.
“Yes I did, but that’s me! Anyway, I’m a Sword King and I don’t care what you have to say, monkey king of muscles!” As Rumble shrugged his shoulders, Darian turned back and continued speaking to Lakshman. “Right now, you’ve gotten very strong! If I compare you with Ondine, I would say you’re evenly matched now which is great! When you first came here, I clearly saw that you were a bit weaker than Ondine. Energy wise, you’re stronger than us, but you speed and strength needed some working out.” “Oh...! So I’m strong now!” Lakshman said happily and he finally smiled as the sad mood lifted. “That’s great, master!” Ondine said cheerfully as she was genuinely happy for her master. As they smiled happily at each other, Darian coughed to get their attention back at him. Then he said “You’re strong now, but don’t stop here. Keep on training and you’ll eventually be so strong, Indra will be burning up with jealousy!” When he said that he wore a strange grin on his face, but Marilia coughed and brought him back to the present. “I don’t think I can train with those weighted rods as it seems to have become easy for me. So how do you want me to train now, Darian?” Lakshman asked curiously. Rumble laughed and said “Easy, huh? We can fix that by simply making you do more challenging activity!” He turned to Darian and asked “Should I get them...?” When Darian nodded, he nodded back energetically. He jumped out of his seat and quickly left the room. Darian then turned to Marilia and quickly spoke to her in a low voice. After understanding what he wanted her to do, she rose to her feet and also left the room. A few minutes later, both Marilia and Rumble returned and clutching clothes and stuff in their arms. When they reached the table, they put them down and sat back in their chairs. Once they sat down, Darian resumed speaking to Lakshman.
“Now that you’re reached a stable point, now it’s time to push your limits even further. You’ll be doing that by wearing these weighted training clothes and gear.” As he finished speaking, Rumble eagerly moved his clothes and gear towards Lakshman. At that moment, he was suddenly Darian grabbed his hand and pulled his stuff back with an annoyed look on his face. “I said to get the training gear, not your clothes as well!” Darian said in an annoyed voice. “Oh, come on! This stuff will look great on him!” Rumble said eagerly. “No, they won’t! How many times do I have to tell you that what monkeys wear is not suitable for the rest of us?!” “What did you just say?!” They glared at each other fiercely for a few seconds. Then Darian sighed and, using his hand, pushed Rumble back by the face and turned to face Lakshman and Ondine. “The two of you will be training with these weighted training clothes on from now until our departure. We won’t be leaving for a while to the Floria region, so you can train to become strong with them on until then,” he said to them. “O-Okay, but why this extra training?” Ondine asked curiously as she looked at the clothes and gear Marilia placed in front of them. Darian narrowed his eyes and formed a serious expression on his face as he said “We’re going to Floria region to help Felix from the confinement he was placed under. We’re up against the Phoenix clan who are full of strong fighters and warriors!” When Lakshman and Ondine continued to look puzzled, Rumble came in and said “Right now your strength is good enough to defeat, but not enough to fight against them. What we’re after is to take the fight to them because this will eventually draw into one crazy battle!”
“So that’s why you should take this time to get strong. I estimate our departure will be in one month time. Until then, I expect the both of you to train as hard as you can!” Darian said firmly. Lakshman and Ondine looked surprised. They looked at each other for a moment before turning back to face Darian. Then they grinned and firmly said “Yes!” “Good and by the way, Lakshman. Have Tetra increase her mass,” Darian said to Lakshman. “Huh? Increase her mass?” Lakshman asked and he looked confused. Tetra suddenly widened her eyes and shouted “No! I don’t want to get heavy! I don’t want to look fat!” Darian sighed and said “No...! I meant your sword form to get heavier. That way, Lakshman will have a better chance of increasing his strength and get faster as well.” “Alright, but I don’t want to get fat!” Tetra said grudgingly. While Darian sighed again, Rumble laughed and said “You’re a bunch of comedy, you know that?” “At-least their comedy will be on hold while they train. In the meantime, I got you to annoy the heck out of me!” Marilia said and she looked annoyed for some reason. Rumble laughed easily while Marilia glared at him fiercely. Darian let out a heavy sigh and muttered “What have I got myself into?” At that moment, Lakshman asked “Darian, should we put them on and start training?” Darian chuckled and said “Suit yourself whenever, but remember; the sooner you begin, the faster you get strong! So do it and get strong because we’ll be up against some crazy people in Floria region.” “Right!” Lakshman and Ondine said in unison and they smiled at each other.
The only one looking unhappy among them was Tetra as she muttered “I don’t want to be fat...!� Thus, Lakshman and Ondine put on their weighted shirts, shoes and wristbands to begin their training. They have one month of training to do and so their challenging race to get strong in one month is underway.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 97 Month of Training Lakshman and Ondine began to do their daily routine of training and helping around the training centre after wearing the weighted training clothes. It was a tough job to help around, especially when they had heavy clothes on to hamper their efforts. “This is super tough!” Ondine said at one point after several difficult workouts. Lakshman, who was also finding it tough, just smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders wordlessly. He remembered Darian’s words about how the Phoenix clan are members of strong and powerful warriors. Challenging them and freeing Felix would be matter that could lead to battle. “This is to become strong, Ondine. I think realise that too,” Lakshman said after a while. Ondine could only sigh at his words and continue their work. Several times, he and Ondine went out to help Marilia shop for things. She is in charge of the kitchen and food making, so she is very careful in what she buys and makes. “Thanks a heap, you two,” she said cheerfully as Lakshman and Ondine carried several boxes of fruits and vegetables. “I-It’s fine, but... these heavy clothes are starting to make me regret wearing them in the first place!” Ondine said through gritted teeth. Marilia raised her eyebrows at those words and said “I see, but Lakshman isn’t complaining. When your master isn’t complaining, why are you doing it?” “Um...” Ondine said and hesitated. She looked at him and asked “Master, why aren’t you feeling the pressure? Could you be just being ignorant or something?” At those words, he actually laughed which puzzled her. When he calmed down, he smiled and said “Ondine, complaining about it won’t change anything. Instead, all we’re doing is wasting energy we could be using on perfecting ourselves.”
Ondine’s eyes widened in amazement and Marilia clapped her hands as she said “Well done! Now that’s that kind of spirited thinking everyone needs!” “Still...” Ondine muttered, but she knew she will not win and so decided to drop it. Sensing what Ondine was about to say, Lakshman sighed and said “We only have one month to go, which is forty-days from today we’ll be leave for Floria region. Like Darian said, we don’t know how strong the enemies we’ll encounter will be. So we need to get as strong as we possibly can, right?” “T-True, but... I was feeling somewhat drained with all this training and fighting, master.” “Oh!” Lakshman said and was taken aback. Marilia raised her eyebrows and said “An interesting thought, but do you have the luxury of taking it easy?” “I... suppose not, but if you overwork a warrior they won’t be much good later on,” Ondine said firmly. “Mmm... You do have a point there, but what are you planning on doing if you do take a break from training?” Marilia asked curiously. “I... I would go shopping and look for stuff that’ll suit me.” “Ah! Is it for appeal? It is, isn’t it?” Marilia asked eagerly with a bright smile on her face. Then she said “Still, you don’t need to worry about it just yet. He’s still young and got quite a way to grow before... you know... that!” Ondine suddenly became panicked. She gestured at Marilia wildly and almost lost her handle over the boxes. Once her grip was back on, she said “No! I don’t mean like that...!” “Ah, yes you do you little cheekiness,” Marilia said as she got closer to Ondine. “U-U-U-U-Um...!” Ondine stammered and she became bright red in the face.
Lakshman, who was slightly behind the girls, asked “What’s the matter?” Marilia and Ondine turned to him and said “Never you mind!” They said it so firmly that Lakshman was really puzzled. He stopped and watched the two of them move on while happily chatting with each other. Then, with a free hand, he scratched the back of his head in confusion. “Women are a mystery,” he muttered and sighed before following after them. At other times, Lakshman would train with Rumble and even spars with him from time to time. As requested, the Phoenix Blade became heavy so that Lakshman’s training became intense. However, making Tetra cooperate was a tiring matter altogether. “I don’t want to get fat! I don’t want to get fat! I don’t want to get fat!” she wailed when he asked her to increase her weight. “Oh, come on!” Rumble said in a frustrated voice at her continued refusal. Lakshman tried to gently convince her by saying “I just want you to increase the sword weight. You won’t get fat just because of that.” “Easy for you to say, but what if I did?! Whom to blame then?!” she demanded as tears welled up in her eyes. “Tetra... Really...?” he asked in an exasperated voice. Watching the drama before him, Darian angrily said “I can’t believe the renowned Sacred Spirit, also the Phoenix Blade, is crying her heart out just because her master wants her to increase her weight.” At those words, she suddenly stopped crying. She jumped to her feet and glared angrily at him while he looked angrily back. It seemed he a hit a nerve and she was very angry about it.
“I’d like to see how you fare against me, sword king of stupidity!” she said in an angry voice Lakshman had never heard before. “Oh? Is that a challenge? Well! I’d love to fight against the Phoenix Blade!” Darian said eagerly and his eyes flashed dangerously. Lakshman, sensing the impending danger, quickly intervened. He quickly spoke to both of them and pleaded with Tetra to do as he requested. Additionally, he also added how it will benefit him and how useful she will be to him. With a disgruntled expression, Tetra finally agreed. As she transformed into the Phoenix Blade, Darian seemed to want to have the last laugh. “Don’t worry, Tetra. Even if you do get fat, I’m sure your master won’t mind,” he said and an evil grin spread on his face. Lakshman heard Tetra suddenly burst into tears in his mind, but he could do little against it. Instead, he focused on getting stronger. At first, the sword became so heavy that he strained just to hold it up until Tetra reduced the mass. Sometimes he sparred against Rumble. He was surprised when he found out that Rumble does not use a weapon. Instead, he uses his fists as his primary weapons because he was a fighter. “A warrior doesn’t necessarily need a weapon to fight with. You must also fight when you don’t have a weapon to rely on,” Rumble had said when asked why he fights with his fists. Intrigued, Lakshman began to learn the martial arts style of fighting from him. It seemed that Rumble, being a Monkey King, acquired most of his skills from the Monkaggy clan of the Beast race. He also learnt about the subcategories of the three types of Force. “You can split Energy Force into Fighting Force, Bursting Force, Cannon Force,” Rumble said and began explaining about those three subcategories of Energy Force. “Fighting Force is to change one’s body with energy and fighting with it. So, in essence, your body truly becomes your weapon. Bursting Force is the discharge of energy like energy balls.
Cannon Force is the release of energy in a massive form. It is related to how energy beams are created and released.” Learning about the different subcategories of the Energy Force surprised him. When he asked why they were not mentioned, Rumble simply shrugged his shoulders and said that they are not important for most people. It’s only for people who went deeper that will find that information relevant. Other times, Lakshman would spend his time reading books. Apparently, Darian became concerned that Lakshman was only training, but not training his mind. So, for two to four hours a day, Lakshman spends studying stories or other information about the world. Among the stories he read, Lakshman was fascinated about the war that took place eightthousand years ago. In historical texts, that war was referred to as the deciding factor for the fate of the world. Lakshman learnt how amazing the technology and powers were back then as compared to the current time. He also learnt many things, but he did not understand them at that time. Like this, days went by quickly and soon, they only had a week before the departure. With the departure time drawing near, Darian and Marilia were becoming busier. It seemed they were preparing to close down the training centre when they leave. Lakshman had asked “Why doesn’t Marilia stay behind and have her and her friends continue to keep it open and running?” Marilia smiled at his words, but Darian flatly said “No! She’s coming along.” It was later that Marilia confided in Lakshman that Darian actually does not know how to cook. In the past, Darian and Rumble ate what they could kill out in the wilderness during their adventures. After meeting Marilia, Darian came to love her food so much he just cannot return to those days. “I miss those days where we killed all those monsters and barbequed their meat. It was so delicious!” Rumble said reminiscently.
“That’s not good for you or for your health! You’re not beasts of the wilderness, you monkey idiot!” Marilia said sternly. “Hey! Aren’t you forgetting I’m from the Beast race?” “So what? Only days ago you were chocking on a chicken leg, you goose!” “Uh... That was just a stray bone that I somehow missed.” “Which, just goes to show, how dependent the both of you are on me,” Marilia said with a satisfied smile. “Uh...” Rumble said and was looking uncomfortable before he changed the subject to weapons. Like that, the week was almost over when a certain event occurred. It was an event that turned Lakshman into someone that everyone truly respected.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 97.5 Planning Vengeance At the outskirts of the capital of Rodfox region, Calmitira, was a settlement. It was a place mainly occupied by mercenaries. Originally they lived within the compounds of capital, but were forced out. The reason was simply because of their aggressive behaviour with common people. On a particular day, early in the morning, the settlement was surrounded by more than a hundred people. They were drinking from bottles and swaying drunkenly. Many of them were strongly built, but had unhappy faces as they watched some people. There were some people sprouting bruises which were slowly being healed by a magician. The magician was wearing a black cloak that covered his body and face. He was healing around ten men with wounds. “It’s painful,” one of them complained feebly as they winced. “Take it easy and it won’t hurt,” the magician said sternly. “Hurry up...!” Someone, from the settle, suddenly yelled “Dammit!!” Then there was a loud crash of glass. Everyone turned and saw broken glass with liquid flowing spreading on the ground. Apparently the man that yelled smashed the bottle on the ground in his anger. Now he stood and glared at the ground angrily. Then he straightened up and shouted “Dammit it all! Damn them!!” His friends quickly moved to him and tried to calm him down. They were able to get him to sit down, but he continued to look extremely angry. “Calm down, will you? Getting angry and smashing alcohol won’t stop the pain!”
“Argh!” the man shouted and he pushed his friends away. He jumped to his feet and, as he looked around at them, he shouted “How can I calm down when we’re always getting beaten and punched around!” Followed by him, more people joined in and started releasing their anger in the form of words. “Yeah! Last week I got beaten up by people I used to bully with!” “Same thing with me, but I got ganged up by more than ten! Those bastards...!” “Getting beaten for bullying? Ha! I wasn’t even allowed to go inside the capital to get stuff. When I tried to force my way inside that Sword King came and beat us up like anything!” “Dammit! That Sword King was a pain whenever he intervened in any of our activities! Always preaching about peace and harmony and makes us the target of all the people’s hate!” “The Sword King was a pain, but it just doubled when the Monkey King settled here! It’s like a joint partnership between those two!” While they continued to speak out loud all their complaints, there was one that sat aside from the rest. He was not drinking nor was he paying attention to what his people were saying. Instead, he was staring at the ground with a clouded expression on his face. A few seconds later, he lifted his head and looked at his people and shouted “Shut it!” Everyone became startled and fell silent. They turned to look at him with surprised expressions on his face. Only then did his face suddenly fill up with an angry expression. “I forced my way in and wanted to take my anger out on that Monkey King after hitting my friends! Instead, this stupid monkey got in my way. I got frustrated and took my anger out on it only for that monkey to transform into the man himself!” “You mean when he switched from Saver Mode to Normal Mode?” one of them asked.
He glared at him and shouted “I don’t care! I still got beaten up without even lifting a finger! Then the rest of my gang got trashed by that monkey man!” When he finished, they all started to drunkenly shout at him angrily. They were extremely furious with the Sword King and the Monkey King. To them, their lives were better before those two came to the capital and began living there. At that moment, there was a suddenly burst of lightning around the area. Everyone panicked and reflexively dropped their drinking bottles on the ground. As they were smashed, the men were jumping around as fear caused them to panic crazily. When the lightning flashes disappeared, they sat back down and breathed heavily. Then the magician began to speak to them after completing his task of healing his people. “Complaining, complaining, complaining! Stop it already! None of you idiots are achieving anything by constantly complaining and releasing your anger all over the place!” “But boss! Those city people are taking advantage of those two and eagerly cause trouble for the rest of us! How can you expect us to not get angry at that?!” The rest of the gang began agreeing in unison with those words. The magician looked at everyone and slowly nodded as he said “It seems we need to show the people of the capital that we’re not just some pushover! We need to fight together and show the Sword King and Monkey King the true power of the mercenaries!” Then he turned his attention at the leader who had had spoken earlier about getting beaten up by the Monkey King. The magician looked at him and said “You said you went with only ten. This time... Let’s all go. Let us unite and strike!” Then he turned back and addressed everyone. Every single person, within the settlement, was intently paying attention to everything the magician was saying and doing.
“We all have come back from our missions with great success and earned plenty of money. Now our next mission is to show the people of the capital the true might of our strength. We can’t just sit back and let them boss us around as if they are superior!” As he finished, one of the injured jumped to his feet and shouted “It’s like he said! If we don’t do it now, when will we ever do it?!” At his words, there was a tidal wave of roaring and many were stomping the ground with their weapons. In their drunken state, they did not think nor reason about their actions. Only one thing was in their minds and that was to cause the people to panic and create as much trouble as possible. An hour later, they were as ready as they can be. The drunken state they were in was extremely dangerous, but they did not care. They wanted to cause trouble and they were going to set out to do just that. Up in front was the magician as he addressed his men one final time. “When we reach the capital, I will quickly paralyse the guards. The rest of you immediately smash through the gates and take control.” “What do we do if they try to stop us and start attacking us?” someone asked. “Then, make sure to try and draw their attention while protecting me. Get as many guards into fighting with you. If possible, try to get the Sword King and the Magic King. Then I will paralyse them with my magic and then you can play around with them and pay back as much as you like!” The men roared in agreement with his plan. The magician nodded at them as he looked around at the mass of heads. They were strong and were ready to face this fierce battle. Just then he chuckled to himself when he realised it might not be so fierce once the enemies are all paralysed. Once they are out of the picture, there will not be anyone strong enough to challenge his authority. The only step then was to take down the king and queen and establish himself as the supreme ruler of the Rodfox region.
He smiled to himself at the thoughts of conquest running through his mind. Just then, he heard someone speaking and hastened to listen to them. “Couldn’t you just make us invisible and then attack? Wouldn’t that make it easier for us to take them by surprise? Isn’t that right? We’re going to show them our power so we might as well show them how dangerous we can be when angered, right?” A few began agreeing to that proposal, but most remained silent. They were uncertain whether to agree to such an idea. The magician remained silent as they muttered amongst themselves. Then they realised he was waiting for them to be quiet and fell silent. “What are we?” the magician asked loudly. For a moment, there was silence. Then a man shouted “Humans!” At that, they laughed. Then they felt silent when the magician began tapping the ground with his staff. “Yes, humans, but we’re more than that. We’re warriors and we fight with pride! Even as mercenaries, we are still warriors and we do as our pride demands! If we sneak in and attack them, that’s cowardly. However, if we charge in like men, we’re true warriors with guts and can be proud about it!” The men did not quite understand his words due to the alcohol running through their bodies. They did feel his strength and sense from the power of his voice what he said was something amazing. So they loudly cheered and clapped for him. Then a ray of light began appearing in the horizon. The magician looked towards it which was also the direction where the capital was. He raised his staff into the air and they raised their weapons into the air. “I pray the God of War guides us to victory in our mission to teach the people of the capital that messing with us was a bad idea!”
With a roar, the magician began walking in front and the large group of fighters following in his lead. They were a few hours away from reaching from the capital where the people will get a nasty surprise first thing in the morning. “Time to show you the full force of the mercenaries!� the magician muttered and an evil grin appeared which the cloak could not cover.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 98 Three Kings One a particular day before the departure, there was a loud shouts and screams from outside. Everyone, in the training centre, had been busily training their bodies when they heard the shouts. They rushed out and found the whole area being attacked by mean and ugly looking people. People were running everywhere desperately to escape the attacks. The attackers were all powerfully build and were using energy attacks to destroy buildings and complexes. Their expressions were full of bloodlust and, fuelled by rage, they continued to attack anyone or anything in sight. “Hey, what’s the meaning of this?!” some of the training people demanded only to get attacked by the destructive thugs. At that time, Darian, Rumble, Marilia, Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra were taking a nice break. They were happily discussing about the journey and checking their list of things to prepare. Hearing the ruckus, they rushed out only to find the market place under attack. “What the heck is going on here?!” Darian shouted in shock as buildings crumbled and people ran everywhere in panic. Lakshman and Ondine were watching the proceedings in horror. Never did they believe such destruction could happen or be done by members of the human race. Lakshman remembered the time the Two-Headed Cerberus monster attacked his village and left it in ruins. Tetra, however, was casually sipping on a bottle of drink while observing the destruction. There was no anger or sadness in her eyes or in her expression. She simply watched as if she were some spectator for some kind of live-action movie. “Such destruction brings back nasty memories of the past,” she muttered and, for the first time, an expression similar to disgust appeared on her face.
They watched as officials tried to keep the attackers at bay, but it was useless. The attacking thugs seemed to be totally drunk and were going all out assault on everything in sight. Due to this, many of the officers, in charge of keeping public safe, became some of the victims. “Curse them...!” Lakshman muttered angrily. Ondine, hearing the strong anger in his voice, quickly looked at him. As she saw him move forward, she immediately placed her hand on his shoulders to restrain him. She knew, from past history, how reckless he was in situations like these. She turned back to watch as more buildings were brought down sheer force of energy attacks. Just from the amount of power the attackers were using, she knew they were stronger than them. The thought angered her, but facing facts and reality is the best solution at that moment. “Master, we can’t fight them! They’re stronger than us!” she said to him and he gritted his teeth in frustration. Lakshman also knew the attackers were strong than him, but his anger was making him feel very reckless. He wanted to fight and defeat them, he wanted to hurt them and show them the pain of destruction. When he was on the verge of attacking, they heard two loud voices chorus throughout the area. “Stop it!!” At hearing the strong voices and the words, the attacked stopped. Then they turned to face in the direction of the training centre. Everyone turned their attention to the entrance of the training centre. Standing tall and strong was Rumble and someone else that looked familiar. Rumble looked at them with pure anger in his face as she shouts “Stop your attacks right now or pay the consequences!” The man, standing beside him, was also looking furious as he said “This is first and last warning! Get out of my city!”
His voice was familiar to Lakshman and he wondered who he was. As the men continued to glare at the rabble of attacks below, he suddenly realised who the man was. At that moment, a familiar man pushed his way through the attackers to the front. Lakshman immediately recognised him as the man that led the assault on the training centre previously. It ended in failure when Mumble switched to Rumble and beat the daylights out of him and his gang. Now the man, leading more than fifty strong drunk men, pointed at them and shouted “There they are; the Monkey King and the Sword King!” Then he took a deep breath and yelled “KILL THEM!!!” His loud yell acted like a trigger and his words became the action. All the attackers suddenly roared in unison and changed towards the two warriors at the entrance of the training centre. As they rushed, only one word was reverberating in the air continuously. “KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! ...” Some attackers, unable to join the fray quickly enough, fired energy attacks up at them. Darian and Rumble stood their ground and they were looking furious. As the energy attacks reached them, Darian unsheathed his sword in a wide arc. With his swing, a powerful energy was unleased. It went sailing over their heads and made contact with the energy attacks. The colliding attacks exploded in mid-air as the ground assault continued. Then Rumble glared at them for a moment before a powerful surge of energy erupted from him. A moment later, gold energy was radiating from him. Lakshman immediately knew it was the Elemental Glow and realised Rumble’s energy was that of justice. He took a fighting stance and launched himself at the oncoming horde. He quickly reached them and started punching them away. His attacks were so strong that everyone was sent flying into the distance. Undaunted, the rest continued to attack.
Darian also released a powerful surge of energy and began radiating in yellow energy like Rumble. It seemed the both of them have energies of justice. Then he rushed forward and joined Rumble in fighting the mass of attackers. A while later, many more joined them to give them assistance. The spectators watched as the attacks and the defenders fought against each other. Due to the momentum that Darian and Rumble started, the defenders had more resolve to fight to their fullest. With that, the attackers suddenly found themselves under a barrage of attacks from everywhere. The fight looked like it was going well, when Lakshman suddenly realised something. The attackers came out of nowhere and started to destroy everything. Yet, how did people miss them entering the city? Did the guards sleep on duty or did they forgot to warn them or was there something else acting here? Lakshman thought back to a few minutes ago. When the two sides were glaring at each other, the leader arrived in front and pointed out their target. This meant that it was not an unorganised assault and there must be something big happening. “Oh no...!” Lakshman said quietly at the realisation. “What’s the matter, master?” Ondine asked anxiously. He looked at the battle and said “It’s a trap!” Ondine widened her eyes for a moment. Then she began to shake her head and said “No, master. I think you’re mistaken. Look! Everyone on our side is beating them up! We’re winning!” “Ondine, never believe what you see with your own two eyes. They are not always true! There’s always something else acting from behind we don’t always notice!” Tetra said as she also realised the same thing as Lakshman. Lakshman looked towards the fighting and bellowed “GUYS!!! IT’S A TRAP!!!”
Out of the mass of people, only Rumble heard Lakshman’s yell because of his bestial enhanced hearing. He looked up at Lakshman in alarm and saw that he was looking extremely serious. That was when he stopped and noticed why the enemies were not trying to attack to their fullest. That was when he realised there must be something else going on. The reason was simply that it seemed too easy of a victory. He quickly looked around to find any anomalies. After a few seconds of searching, he found something that caused a chill to run down his spine. Standing at the very back with the leader of the group was a magician. He wore a black cape which covered his entire body and face while holding with a long black staff. The leader was apparently talking frantically to him and the magician was nodding at him. The next moment, he raised his staff into the air and Rumble shouted “Oh crap!” “Spirits of lightning, shock my enemies into submission with your unstoppable surgical force! Shock Burst!” As the magician finished chanting his spell, a powerful surge of wind was sent everywhere. Then a sparks of lightning surged through the mass of fighters. As the lightning struck at the defenders, they suddenly yelled in pain and found themselves unable to move. The defenders were all paralysed by the magic spell the magician used. Their weapons fell from their frozen and slackened grips and they found themselves helpless. The attackers were staring at the frozen defenders with malicious grins. Then the attackers began punching, hitting and beating their enemies. The defenders were punched while they just stood there defenceless. Some attackers were even cruel enough to use their own weapons to cut open their skins. Rumble was also paralysed and he was barely able to move his hand. Then the attackers’ leader walked in front of him and started punching him from head to stomach relentlessly. Rumble wanted to fight back, but his frozen body made sure he did not.
After hitting him so much that he began to bleed, the attacker’s leader stopped and pulled back while breathing quickly. Rumble had a blood face and was bleeding from several parts of his body. He glared at his enemy while his enemy looked back triumphantly. “How does it feel, Monkey King?! How does it feel being the victim?!” the leader shouted at Rumble. Rumble wanted to say “I’ll destroy you,” but could not due to his mouth also being frozen. “What? Don’t have anything to say?” the leader asked. Then he made a smile and shouted “Oh! Oh yeah! I forgot! You’re frozen, aren’t you? Hahaha!! Looks like we’ll need a new title for you...? How about...? Frozen King or...? Monkey the Frozen King or...? I know the best one! Frozen Monkey!” At his words, everyone began laughing and Rumble’s face became slightly stricken. He was furious and wanted to kill the man laughing hysterically in front of him. Just then, a loud shout rang across the area. “Set them free!” Everyone, who can move, turned and looked to the front. There, standing in front of them with a brave expression on his face, was none other than Lakshman. He was standing strong and ready to do battle, weapon-less. Originally he wanted to fight with Ondine and Tetra, but both of them were against it. They said this was too dangerous to fight in and leave it to the adults. They even said that it is not worth risking their lives for something like this. Lakshman became angry at them and shouted “I’ m not a coward to stand around and let them do as they please! When there are people in need, I’ll do what I must and I will fight with everything I have!” Now he stood and faced the enemies. He was one and there are many of them. The odds were completely against him, but that still did not deter him.
Rumble, seeing who it was, tried to speak, but his mouth did not let him. He wanted to shout “Lakshman, what are you doing?! Get out of here, get out of here!” The leader of the attackers moved forward towards Lakshman while wearing a sly smile on his face. “Well, well, well! Look whose come to fight now... A kid!” he said loftily and everyone around them laughed. The leader reached Lakshman and asked him “So, kid. Are you brave enough to risk your life for this worthless piece of adult garbage?” Lakshman did not speak and simply stared at the leader’s face without an expression. The leader leaned forward and asked “Are you perhaps scared? You should probably need to change your diapers!” At his words, the mass of attackers laughed heartily. Lakshman remained silent and continued to stare up at the laughing face of the man he was feeling extremely angry towards. Then, in a quick movement, he drew his fist back and delivered a powerful uppercut to the man’s face. The man’s jaw cracked from the impact and he was sent flying into the distance. He tumbled, rolled, smashed and finally crashed as a cloud of dust rose into the air. This would mark as the second time he was smashed into the distance and ended up having the same ending as when Rumble punched him. The attackers watched, in shock, as their leader was sent flying into the distance. When he crashed, they slowly turned back to face Lakshman and their faces contorted angrily. That was when they changed at Lakshman with angry yells, screams and roars. Lakshman braced himself and started his battle against more than fifty raging men. He quickly defeated the first few to reach him. Then he fought hard against the rest. He was able to avoid most of their punches due to his small build and fast legs while he delivered power punches to their stomachs or faces.
Things were looking good, when his leg suddenly got caught. He looked down and saw that the ground grabbed his leg. Knowing he could not break free, he desperately fought while trying hard to dodge. Then the ground suddenly extended up and grabbed his hands. Unable to respond or defend, the attackers beat his young body until he was covered in wounds and blood. “Master!” Ondine exclaimed in horror and made to rush to his help, but she was stopped by Tetra. “Let me go!” Ondine shouted and tried to break away from her, but Tetra’s grip and strength was unbelievable strong. “You’re not going anywhere and I won’t let you help master,” Tetra said with a serious expression on her face. “But why?! He’s your master! He’s needs our help!” “He does, but he must also learn a lesson of reality. From this, he will learn and change. Besides, I believe master will still win in the end.” When Tetra smiled, Ondine suddenly realised something was strange about her. She was not behaving like her usual child-like mentality. Now she was speaking fluently and strongly, almost like a mature adult. Down at the battlefield, the leader slowly walked to where he was held captive. The paralysed defenders struggled to move, but their bodies are still too paralysed to recover just yet. When the leader reached Lakshman, the boy was covered in wounds as blood was seeping out of his wounds and mouth. “Well then... You are strong and will be useful to me in the future. So kid... Surrender and lick my feet. If you do that, I’ll consider sparing you and you can work for me,” the leader said to Lakshman. Lakshman tried to look at the man, but his head sagged due to the amount of pain he was in. The effort was too much for him and his body to handle. Instead, he decided to verbally respond to the man. “I... refuse...!” he muttered and he spat blood out.
“You refuse huh...?” the man said and sighed. He raised his finger into the air and waved it. Instantly, the earth that was locking onto his arms and legs released him. They suck into the ground as Lakshman fell to the ground with a mundane thud. Blood began to form around him as he lay flat on the ground. The next instant, the man put his foot on Lakshman’s head and grinned before shouting “From now on, if anyone dares to challenge my authority, you will face the same fate as this boy!” With that, he began pressing on the Lakshman’s head with his foot. Lakshman made loud cries of pain as his head slowly got pushed into the ground. The watching attackers all were watching eagerly at their leader’s action while the defenders watched in horror at what was taking place before them. As Lakshman’s consciousness faded from the pain and loss of blood, his consciousness dived deep into his mind. He was thinking about all his actions throughout his life. He did not know where he got it from, but he always had a deep dislike for people that cause trouble. He would constantly try his best in stopping them and make sure everyone else is happy. He has been doing this since he was just a kid; protecting kids that get bullied all the time, defeating the monsters attacking his village, saving friends from troubles and helping when asked while expecting nothing in return. Lakshman wondered if he got strong from doing all of that. He certainly knew he got strong, yet it all failed him. He was unable to use it to defeat those attacking brutes, those mindless killers set on destroying the peace that everyone were living and loving. He suddenly remembered something the Death Titan told him months ago. ‘Young and fearless. Reckless is destruction. Realise and fear. Fear and change. Change is good. Change is life. Change is future.’ At that time he did not understand, but he did now. He realised the Death Titan must have been referring to him acting so brashly. Death Titan must have known about his strength and felt he will surely perish with such arrogance and belief of his power.
“I now understand. I get it, but that still doesn’t mean I will just let people do as they please! If though I am weak, even if I am reckless and even when I am up against many odds, I will never give up! No! I won’t give up! I’ll grow up, become strong and be a brave warrior! That’s right! I won’t surrender! I won’t quit because I’m... I’m...” At that moment, his consciousness slowly faded and left only a small linger of light. There was silence in the empty spaces of his mind as all activity was shut down. Just then, another voice suddenly rang through the silence. This voice was more strong and powerful as its voice echoed in his silent mind. “That’s right! You don’t give up nor will you surrender because you are...!” Back in reality, the attacker’s leader continued to press down on Lakshman’s head. Now the attackers were jeering and yelling as they encouraged their leader on. They wanted to see the boy’s skull get crushed beneath their leader’s foot in their madness. Suddenly, there was a strong surge of power which caused the man to stagger back. His men caught him as he fell back. “What was that?!” he shouted in alarm. He and everyone started looking around for the source of the sudden surge of power. At that moment, they heard a small groan sound. Looking at the front, they were shocked to see the boy slowly getting to his feet. Their eyes were wide open as the boy finally stood unevenly with his head down. Then Lakshman said “I... won’t quit...! I... won’t give in...! I WON’T SURENDER TO THE LIKES OF YOU!!!” Lakshman bellowed the last words as he finally straightened up. Then he started screaming “UUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!” In a long drawn out scream, a powerful surge of power erupted from him and sent a wave of shock everywhere and dust got lifted into the air. Everyone was buffeted, but they stood their ground by supporting one another in a grand display of teamwork
For a few seconds, the dust remained floating in the air. Then it slowly settled and a figure came into view. As the dust cleared, Lakshman came into view and he looks slightly changed. Lakshman was radiating in golden-red energy. He was slightly taller than before, his black hair became spiky, but his eyes had the most definite change in them. There were three red pointed triangles with a black dot in the middle.
He was staring at them with utmost fury with his fists clenched. As they watched him, they noticed that his wounds began to close up and the blood began to disappear. They were taken aback by the sudden change in him and his appearance. Then the leader started shouting “What are you doing?! Kill him! Kill that brat!” Heeding to their leader’s commands, the attackers roared and moved to attack Lakshman. He stood his ground and faced the charging enemies. Then he looked past them and at the magician at the back reading his magic spell. “First to take care of the nuisance,” he said in a low voice. In a flash, he was gone. Lakshman passed through the crowd of attackers without them even noticing him passing by. In a matter of seconds, he reached the back of the attackers and to the place where the magician stood.
“Hello,” Lakshman said as he greeted the shocked magician. The magician tried to execute his spell, but Lakshman did not let him. He bombarded the magician with rapid fists at super speed. He rendered the man unconscious in a few second as he stood there. Nodding in satisfaction, Lakshman flashed back to where he stood previously. The attackers were looking confused since he just vanished right before their very eyes. Then they were astonished to see him reappear and looking like nothing happened. Lakshman, for the first time, smiled at them while radiating in golden-red energy. Then their leader shouted “What are you guys doing?! Kill him! Kill h-!” He was suddenly stopped from finishing the sentence. This was became Lakshman had delivered a power punch to the man’s stomach. The force of the punch blasted him along with everyone behind him. By the end of it, he and his minions, including the magician, were knocked out cold with that blow. As the attackers looked back to where their leader and members crashed at, Lakshman clicked his finger. In an instant, all defenders were freed from their paralysing stiffness. The defenders were moving their limbs here and there to ease their stiff muscles. Now leaders and directionless, the attackers suddenly went frenzy and started to attack everyone in sight. Darian and Rumble started to rally the defenders to fight back when Lakshman made things extremely easy for everyone. Lakshman took a stance with his arms crossed and close to him. Then he extended to left and right in a wide arc. As he applied energy to it, a light ray of light emitted from his arms and extended all way to the other side. With both lights extended, he began to bring them closer together. As he brought the lights together with his arms, one by one, the attackers were dragged as they if they were being pushed by a solid wall. The ray of light, however, passed straight through the defenders much to their surprise. With the arms finally in front of him in a horizontal line, he smashed the attackers together. Once they were grouped together, the ray of light vanished and Lakshman rushed at them.
Once he reached them, he began to pound them with blow after blow. The blows rained down on the attackers relentlessly and they cried out in pain. “Wow!” Rumble exclaimed in shock as he watched Lakshman beating the ounce out of them. “What is it?” Darian asked. “He’s using Fighting Frenzy and Blazing Fists!” Rumble exclaimed in amazement. “What?! He’s using both of them?! Did you teach them to him?” “No, I didn’t... I did show him how the Fighting Frenzy worked, but he never got the chance to practice it.” “So how did he...?” Darian asked curiously. “Who cares?! He’s breathing the hell out of them and that’s great!” Marilia said when she, Ondine and Tetra reached them. As they watched, the attackers were rendered weak. All of them were bleeding heavily and fell unconscious a few seconds later. Lakshman got away from them and stood while staring at them with a disgusted expression on his face. Then he raised his voice high and shouted “Hear me! For those who live by creating problems, let this be a lesson to you all! Once again if you attempt to disrupt the peace of the world and the peace of the people, you will be crushed without a shred of mercy!” His voice was high, but they could hear the power radiating in his voice and the deadly look he gave everyone. In that moment, everyone saw a different person rather than the Lakshman they all met and talk to. They saw a mighty warrior capable of far more than just talk and punch. After looking around at everyone in the vicinity, he clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. Then a rumbling sound could be heard and the rubble began to fly off the ground. For a while the debris of destroyed buildings flew everywhere and started to return to the way it was before.
“No... way...” many of them said slowly as destroyed buildings began to reform themselves. “W-What’s he doing?!” Darian and Rumble asked in unison in shocked voices. Ondine, knowing what it was, quietly said “A magic spell called Restoration.” “R-Restoration?!” Rumble shouted in shock as he turned to look at her in disbelief. “That’s an Emperor ranked magic spell! How the hell is he even able to do it. I don’t think even Felix knows how to do it properly!” Darian said in shocked disbelief. Everyone was stunned that Lakshman was capable of using an Emperor magic spell when he as just a Saint ranked magician in water and earth magic spells. Marilia, on the other hand, was smiling widely as she was pleased when everything was returned to normal. Once everything was done and all damage and injuries were healed, Lakshman began to sway on the spot. The crowd of rushed over to him while shouting his name happily and cheerfully. Just before they reached him, he collapsed on the ground with all energy leaving him. “Master! Master!” Ondine said desperately as she tried shaking him awake. “Leave him be,” someone said from the crowd. “Yeah! He’s tired and needs rest!” someone else said. As Rumble helped to carry Lakshman back, everyone began cheering for him. “First there was the Sword King. Then there was the Monkey King. Finally, we have the Fighting King! All hail the Three Kings!” From that day onwards, Lakshman was referred to as the Fighting King and together they are the Three Kings. Darian and Rumble did not particularly mind and, after hearing it later, nighter did Lakshman. Instead, he was happy everyone was safe and well even though he did know what he did to deserve their praise.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 99 Power of Phoenix and Madness With the entire gang of warmongers beaten, the officers quickly arrested them. The chain that cuffed their hands together was metal with a mixture of Energy Disruption in them. Their actual name is Energy Disruptor crystal and they disrupt the flow of energy. These crystals were found when adventurers defeated monsters or when they mined for crystals. Out of the many crystals in the world, these have the highest price in the market. With those special cuffs on, the attackers had no way of breaking free or escaping. The cuffs were also enhanced to paralyse the wearer if they try to do something against law and order. Several attackers became paralysed like this after attempting to break free. The people of the capital were most upset with the attackers. They viewed them with loathing eyes since mercenaries work for any price and any job. With their drunken actions, their reputation just dropped heavily. They were angry since so much of their property was damaged. Due to this, many could not control their anger and screamed at the attackers while they were escorted away. “You scumbags!” “You bastards! You destroyed my home!” “My shop’s gone because of you, you!” “Die dammit, die!!” “Go to hell you sorry piece of...!” Some even swore as their uncontrollable anger washed over them. At one point, there were a group of civilians that charged in and they began beating the attackers senseless. The officers reacted instantly and stopped them before quickly moving the attackers away from public eye.
Once the job was done, many of the officers were speaking to each other. They were sharing their experience of the day with one another in grim voices. “I never expected this, especially on such a peaceful morning!” “I was sleeping when this entire ruckus woke me up. I never thought things would be up in flames when I come out!” “I always dreamed of how hell looked like and today just made my dream look that much real!” “Idiots! What were they thinking?! Didn’t they realise we’d round them out soon?!” “Are you stupid? Didn’t you smell them? They reeked of alcohol!” “Ugh...! The stench is unbelievable! I suspect they’ve been drinking well into the morning since who knows how long?!” “Curse them...! We got so much cleaning up to do now!” “Forget that, I’m more worried what the public will think of us right now. It feels like they are angry with us just as angry they are with those fools!” “No need to feel. Just look outside and see their mad eyes. I think its best we take it easy from here. Any small mistake could turn this whole place into a nightmare!” “So... what next? I mean, what do we do now?” “Who knows...?” With their worried and voiced thoughts, the officers could only predict what will happen next. In the meantime, they do what they must to keep the public unrest to minimal. If they let the people’s anger rise, this hell fire will explode into a riot on the government of the Rodfox region.
The only people not concerned about this were the people of Ronald’s Training Centre. This mainly included Darian Ronald, Rumble, Marilia, Ondine and Tetra. Lakshman was still sleeping off the effects of overusing his energy when he defeated the whole gang and saved the city from utter destruction. A few days later after the conclusion of the battle, sudden loud exclaiming voices sounded from inside the training centre. “EH?!” The voices belonged to Darian, Rumble and Ondine. The three of them were looking utterly shocked as they stared at Tetra. Marilia was also showing her disbelief in the form of hanging her mouth open silently. They were sitting in a spacious room with a table between them and were discussing about the past events. When the subject moved to Lakshman defeating them spectacularly, Tetra dropped a bomb shell on them by stating something that shocked them all. “Wait, wait, wait!” Rumble quickly said and he held his hand up in a gesture for her to pause. Then he asked “What do you mean Lakshman didn’t defeat them?” Tetra nodded and smiled as she said “Like I said, master did not defeat them. Master just isn’t ready to handle those kinds of powerful moves or techniques just yet.” “B-But...! We saw him defeat those bastards like it was nothing! Isn’t that right, Darian?” Rumble said and he turned to ask Darian. Darian nodded quickly and firmly said “Yes, indeed. Everyone saw what he did. Besides, how the heck would anyone mistake him to a stranger when it clearly was Lakshman?!” As they nodded at each other, Tetra chuckled. When they looked at her with confused expressions, she grinned at them and said “It was master, but not himself.” “Not... himself...?” Marilia asked and she looked puzzled by those words.
“Not himself? Tetra...! What does that even mean?! Stop being so dramatic about it! Just come out and say it already!” Ondine demanded angrily. Tetra chuckled again. Then she said “It was the Phoenix or, more precisely, the power of the Phoenix.” They look at her blankly for a moment. They then looked each other before looking back at her and saying “Huh?!” “Tetra, stop playing with us and explain already dammit!” Rumble said in a frustrated voice. “Calm down, calm down,” she said and began explaining. “As you know, I channelled my power into him so that he was strong. I think you should have realised by now that my power is related to the Phoenix clan. Heck, I’m known as the Phoenix Blade! Well~! It seemed the power I channelled into him somehow got stored.” “Stored?” Marilia and Ondine asked in confused voices. Darian and Rumble, however, widened their eyes and they looked amazed. Darian slowly asked “So... What he used just then was...?” “It was the power of the Phoenix,” Tetra finished his unfinished sentence. Then she continued to say “His strong emotions somehow became a catalyst and it propelled him into merging with the Phoenix and fighting like never before!” “Oh...! So that’s why he was able to fight using King ranked fighting techniques as well as use that Emperor ranked magic spell, Restoration,” Rumble said as he finally understood what happened. “It also explains why he had those strange eyes. What was it... three star shapes in red?” Darian said vaguely. Tetra nodded and said "Yes. If my memory serves, master has used that power twice.” “Twice?! When?!” Ondine asked in alarm.
Tetra looked at her scornfully and said “When you were on the verge of death due to lack of water to keep you alive, master went into desperation. His feelings to save you and his anger at his own weakness boiled up and caused him to do it for the first time.” “O-Oh... But you gave a different story to Indra...?” Ondine asked suspiciously. Tetra sighed and said “I had no choice. I didn’t want anyone to find out that I was secretly assisting master by giving him the energy of the Phoenix.” They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence. Then Ondine shook her head and said “Tetra, you are a sneak.” Tetra sighed just as Darian said “Still, this is a problem. The people are beginning to call him the ‘Fighting King’. If they find out that he got powerful because of something as this...!” “No need to worry. Each time master uses the power of the Phoenix, he becomes substantially stronger. That’s how he got so strong from back then and now as well. If my guess it correct, master would have raised into becoming a Sage ranked warrior and as a Sage ranked magician!” “Don’t you mean... North Sword Sage and Magic Sage.” “Mmm...” Rumble put his hand on his chin and made a thoughtful expression on his face. Then he smiled and said “Those ranks are a little confusing since we don’t know what to call him. Why don’t we just call him what the people are calling him?” “What? Rumble, are you sure? I think that’s a bad idea,” Darian asked uncertainly. Rumble grinned and said “Darian, you heard them when the battle finished. They were cheering all three of us as the Three Kings! They were more energetic when they changed his title, the Fighting King. Lakshman deserved it regardless of whether it was his effort or something else altogether.”
Darian looked hesitant for a moment longer, but he knew the truth of Rumble’s words. He was also present when the mass of people cheered for Lakshman after his battle. After not waking up immediately, they bombarded the doctors for news, but were reassured that he will wake up soon. Remembering those events, Darian had to smile. Seeing this, everyone smiled as they understood. That was when there was a silent agreement between them to keep calling Lakshman, Fighting King. Unaware of this, Lakshman continued to sleep in his room peacefully. “By the way, what happened about the matter?” Marilia abruptly asked as she looked at Darian and Rumble. “Yesterday’s matter, huh...?” Rumble said slowly. He and Darian looked at each other for a moment. Then they slowly began to grin sheepishly. “It turned out to be something else altogether!” Darian said and his grin broadened. Marilia pressed him for more details, but Darian’s grin just widened in reply. Ondine joined in and began questioning Rumble, but he also widened his grin and avoided saying anything. Only Tetra stayed out of it as she calmly leaned back on her chair and watched the proceedings. After a few more attempts to make them talk, Darian and Rumble finally gave in and told them what happened regarding a certain matter. The matter concerned about the magician that got the drunken men together and cause such havoc in the capital. The magician, that led the attack on the capital with the mercenaries, was quickly captured after the battle. He was pretty banged up, but was okay. It seemed he was knocked out cold after several strong punches that Lakshman delivered. Afterwards, the officers shifted him a prison called Rodden Prison. It was a high security prison with highly trained security guards, rooms that have Energy Disturber placed in them and a strong barrier that automatically shocks anyone with negative intentions.
The prison was placed in the centre of the capital and was one of the darkest looking buildings within the capital. While the main rooms were situated above the ground, the cells were located underground. When Darian and Rumble made their visit, they thought they were in an underground dungeon prison. The matter they attended to was meeting the magician. He had regained consciousness and was nonstop creating annoyance for the guards. Without mercy, they tried shutting him up a few times by whacking him or shocking him and he became quiet after that. Darian and Rumble walked into a room used for interrogation and they sat down behind a desk. A few seconds later the magician entered the room and, when he saw who they were, began screaming curses at them. He was quickly shocked into silence once again by a guard. “Hi! We’re come to speak with you, Jagav Magrad,” Darian said calmly as the magician reluctantly sat down opposite them. Jagav wore an extremely angry face as he looked at Darian and Rumble. Darian looked serious while Rumble looked very casual as they leaned back on his chair comfortably. “Jagav, why did you attack us?” Darian asked with a serious expression on his face. “Ah? Why?!” Jagav said and he laughed. Then he looked extremely seriously at him and said “To take over! To rule and control everything eventually!” Darian raised an eyebrow and asked “Why? Why world domination?” “Why not?” Jagav said flatly and Darian’s eyebrow twitched. Then he went on saying “Right now, our mighty pathetic king of this region is twiddling his thumps as he keeps trying to protect his throne from others. So why not take over?! Why not show them that we’re better than them!” “But why? Isn’t this the job that you’re doing by choice?” “By choice?! Hah!” Jagav snapped and he spat on the ground before saying “I only took this job because I had no other choice! I always wanted to be like the Emperor eight-thousand years ago! He ruled the entire world with an iron fist!”
Darian looked at him intently for a moment. Then he sighed and said “The histories of the past and the stories have greatly exaggerated the Emperor. He did indeed control the world with an iron fist, but he never used cowardly methods to do it! He fought with honour without involving anyone else!” “So what?! The Emperor was weak because he cared about the people, but I’m not the same! People are born to be used and I shall use them however I want once I become the ultimate ruler!” “You are a fool!” “Just because you’re in a recognised positions gives you the right to say whatever, I don’t give a damn about those positions! Screw your titles and you to hell! By the God of Destruction, I will destroy this world and create it as I see fit!” While he was talking, Rumble had his eyes closed. When Jagav finished saying that, his eyes flashed open. He immediately jumped off his seat and, in an instant, moved to stand next to Jagav. The magician was astonished by Rumble’s incredible speed, but he suddenly found himself under attack. Rumble grabbed Jagav’s head and slammed his face against the desk. The force of impact was so strong, it smashed the desk into pieces. Jagav reeled back in pain as blood began pouring down his face where his face got smashed. The next moment, Rumble kicked the chair away from under him and grabbed his neck. Then he pushed him back and all the way down until the back of his head smacked hard against the ground. Jagav was literally standing with his legs as his body was bent with the back of his head touching the ground. Rumble quickly brought his face quickly towards him and angrily shouted “I don’t give a damn about whatever you or your trash god says, I’ll always be here to crush you! If by unlikely chance that I do die, people like Lakshman will be here to stop you!” Jagav coughed and spluttered as blood rushed to his head, Rumble continued shouting “Try whatever you want and whenever you want, I don’t care! Just remember what I’m saying
today because I don’t like repeating myself and I won’t say it again because I’ll kill you! You got that, you trash bag?!” Rumble gripped Jagav’s neck tighter as the magician began to have difficulty breathing. Feeling satisfied with the threat he had given, he pulled him up by the neck and shoved him towards the open arms of the guards. As the guards took him away, Jagav eyed Darian and Rumble with a mad look on his face. Then he shouted at them “You’ve done it now! You’ve just waged war with me! Hahaha! I’ll destroy you! I’ll destroy all of you! If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll destroy every one of you! Mark my words! This isn’t over!” He became mad and began laughing hysterically as he was taken away by the guards. They could hear him laughing madly as he was dragged away to his cell in the underground dungeon. When Darian and Rumble finished retelling the events, both of them were grinning broadly. The only people not joining in were Marilia and Ondine. The two of them were staring at them with shocked expressions on their faces. Only Tetra looked indifferent as she had her eyes closed. “He’s pretty stupid isn’t he?” Darian said with a chuckle. “Pretty annoying, I say,” Rumble said as he also chuckled. Marilia and Ondine did not agree as they had different things to say. “He’s a madman,” Marilia said in a hushed voice. “He’s a crazed bastard!” Ondine said with a furious look on her face. Tetra was the only one that seemed indifferent as she said “He’s boring.” Marilia became angry and said “What is with you both?! When will you learn to change?! You went and picked a fight with that madman. Now I’m worried what he will do...!”
“What the heck can he do when he’s locked several meters below ground?” Rumble asked and he laughed. Marilia glared at him and said “Not funny!” Ondine, however, eyed the two of them wearily. From the beginning she knew something was strange about them. No matter how many times they said they had many enemies, she felt convinced. Now she realised why she was so ready to believe their words back then. “You two never know when to live peacefully, do you?” she asked in a flat voice. Darian and Rumble looked at each other for a moment. Then they turned back to face Ondine and smiled as they said “Never!” Ondine sighed and that was that. She knew she will not get anywhere simply by talking to them. So she decided to drop the subject and it looked like Marilia did the same from the expression on her face. Tetra was the only one that did not join in. Instead, she looked very bored at that moment. “People like them bore me. I’ve heard those lines over and over they are just boring to hear. If they really plan on revenge and world conquest stuff, can’t they be a little bit original?” she asked them. Rumble grinned and said “I think it’s hard to be original when you don’t have a brain!” At his words, everyone suddenly laughed. Like this, they spent happily helping each other and the city. They decided to leave departure for Floria region once Lakshman wakes up.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 99.5 Sleeping Hatred It was empty. The space was filled with swirling darkness as it moved around. Only a small light was being illuminated in the centre of the dark space. The light shone on a tall base with a body lying on top of it. The body belonged to a boy and his name was Lakshman Reddy. Lakshman lay on the base with his eyes closed. His hands were placed on his chest and they crossed. It looked like a dead body, but his body was moving up and down as he breathed. Wrapped around him were metallic chains that glowed rhythmically. There was a metallic chain wrapped around his legs while another wrapped around his chest. This constricted him from being able to move his legs or arms freely. There was only silence in the space. There was nothing, but emptiness with only light illuminating the space around Lakshman as he slept on the base. Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps. The footsteps grew louder and louder as their owner came closer. Then the footsteps stopped and their owner was looked directly at Lakshman. The dark figure just stayed silent as they observed Lakshman. A moment later, the figure spoke and the voice revealed it to be a man. “Hello...? Hey, can you hear me...?” the man asked the sleeping Lakshman curiously. Lakshman did not reply and continued sleeping. Seeing this, the man suddenly smiled and said “It would be really funny if this is some bizarre scene of a beauty sleeping and needs to be kissed from a prince to wake up. Hey! I’m no prince and you’re no princess! So wake up already!” With no response, the man sighed and muttered “So... Not yet, huh?” Then the figure turned his head and looked at the lower part of Lakshman’s body. Noticing the metallic chains binding him, he began nodding his head slowly.
“I see... Two seals... Originally there were four seals, but it seems two of them have been unsealed. He’s getting closer... getting closer...!” The man moved towards the chains and tried to pull on them. The chains suddenly zapped him and he instantly pulled his back in recoil. The next moment, the chains suddenly turned red as raw energy coursed through them. The man cursed and said “Dammit! If only those seals can be unlocked quickly!” Suddenly, there a familiar voice rang through the darkness. “There is still time,” the voice said. The man sighed and said “For him, yes, but I don’t. I’m running out of time. I will eventually awaken and you know what I’ll do. If he isn’t unsealed, everything will be for nothing!” The familiar voice chuckled and said “You sound desperate.” “Easy for you to say, Ashtetra. My seals are slowly breaking as their power is losing affect. At the rate they are breaking, I’ll awaken in three years!” “Have faith. Master will come through. Even if it takes longer, you know it’s necessary. Anyway, you are over concerning yourself. Master will be free of the seals on his own!” Ashtetra said confidently. “Let us hope so,” the man said in a soft voice. He looked at Lakshman for a few more seconds. Then he said “Hey! Boy! I know you can’t hear this properly, but hear me anyway! Please hate Calamity. Hate him and kill him! You must! Otherwise, he will destroy everything! Hate him! Hate him with everything you got! Hate! Hate Calamity! HATE CALAMITY!” The man bellowed the last word menacingly and there was a violent flash of light. “AH!” Lakshman yelled as he suddenly woke up.
He sat upright and breathed quickly as beads of sweat trailed down his face. His eyes wide and his ears were ringing. He was not sure why, but his heart was racing wildly. Then he looked around and realised he was sitting on a comfortable bed in the training centre. “What’s the matter, master?” said a familiar voice from his side. He turned and saw Tetra sitting up in bed next to him. It seemed she had been sleeping next to him this whole time. She rubbed her eyes wearily and looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. “I... I think I had a nightmare...!” he said in a low voice. “Nightmare? What about, master?” “I-It’s something about a man telling me to hate... hate Calamity. He kept on telling me to hate Calamity and kill him with all of my hatred for him. I-It’s really confusing and everything...!” Tetra quietly listened to his explanation of his dream. Then she smiled and said “Master, you’re just tired and were just probably having a nightmare.” “Y-You think so? It felt so real...!” Lakshman said uncertainly. Tetra smiled and said “I’m certain, master. Only days ago you had a fierce battle against those people. It’s natural that you’re feeling this way after such an epic battle! You should go back to sleep and rest.” “Y-You sure?” “Yes, master. Sleep and you’ll feel better.” “O-Okay then...” With advice taken, he fell back on the bed and quickly fell asleep. As he slept, Tetra looked at him and her smile disappeared.
“I’m sorry master, but I’m lying to everything about you, including you. The fact is that you’re!” At that moment, Lakshman grunted in his sleep as he turned over. Seeing this, she chuckled and a wide grin appeared on her face. “Well... I’m sure you’ll find out about yourself soon enough. Until then, rest all you can, master.” She lay back on the bed and snuggled closer to him. Then she closed her eyes and she also quickly fell asleep.
Phoenix Rising Chapter 100 Time to Go It was more than a week later that Lakshman finally woke up. When he first opened his eyes and looked around, he was startled to find himself in his room. He began to panic as he last remembered being beaten into a pulp by the attackers before being knocked out. At that moment, Darian, Rumble, Marilia, Ondine and Tetra entered the room. Seeing familiar faces, he immediately began demanding answers. He only became quiet after Ondine knocked on his head with her hand. Calmly they told him what happened afterwards. They told him that all the attackers have been arrested and their leader had been sent to a high security prison. He understood that to mean the magician was prisoned and shuddered at the thought of what that prison was like the last time he went with them. Afterwards, the city began to be repaired as quickly as possible. Most people did not have homes to live in at the moment which annoyed them greatly. They were very unhappy with the officers of the capital, but they repeatedly said they tried their best to stop the attackers from getting into the city. “Seems like the officers totally underestimated them,” Lakshman said and they quietly agreed. “Yes, but forget that! Do you know what these two did a few days ago, master?!” Ondine said as he angrily gestured at Darian and Rumble. “W-What did they do?” he asked her uncertainly and was surprised to see her fiercely glare at them. Darian and Rumble were smiling as they looked at each other. That was when Ondine told Lakshman about those two meeting with the leader of the attackers. After hearing the brutal treatment and the life threatening warning they received, they seemed unfazed. “They don’t even fear they’ll die because of that arrogance!” Ondine said angrily.
“Come now, Ondine. There’s no need to act all humble in front of those lousy fools who think they are greater than the rest of us!” Rumble said cheerfully. “Says the guy who made the first attack on him!” “I... I just couldn’t take the rubbish about his God of Destruction stuff. Those religious views are really too complicated. Besides, any god that wants to destroy is no god to me!” Rumble said firmly. Ondine raised her eyebrows at him and said “You know you’re talking about one of the mythological gods!” “So? I will always stand by my words, even if they are right in front of me!” Rumble said and he folded his arms, looking confident. Ondine slowly shook her head and sighed as she placed a hand on her forehead. Lakshman watched the proceedings as if it was something funny and laughed lightly. Then something came to mind and he decided to ask them about it. “So how did you guys defeat them? I thought you were paralysed and couldn’t do a thing,” Lakshman asked they finished telling him everything that happened while he slept. For a moment, there was silence. Everyone avoided his eye contact and just looked at each other. That was when Darian told Lakshman that he was the one who defeated them. Lakshman thought it was a bad joke and laughed half-heatedly, but he realised it must be true from the serious expression on his face. Darian then explained what happened afterwards which blew Lakshman’s mind as he could not believe the details. “Fighting Frenzy? Blazing Fists? Restoration?! What?!” Lakshman exclaimed in disbelief. Then he was told about how the Power of the Phoenix affected him and made him do those things. That was when he suddenly recalled vague memory of the battle. Still, he could not believe he was capable of using such high level techniques and he asked them about it.
“Even so, how did I use those techniques? Isn’t Fighting Frenzy a King rang fighting technique, Blazing Fists a Sage rank fighting technique and Restoration an Emperor ranked magic spell?” “Master, the Phoenix Power compensated for the remaining energy you could not provide to use those techniques. So, in essence, you were the fighter, but was just pushed to fight using the combined energies,” Tetra told him calmly. “Wow...! All that makes my head hurt,” Lakshman muttered and he placed a hand on his forehead. Everyone laughed and Marilia changed the subject to their departure for Floria region. “So when will we set off on our journey?” she asked them. “Soon. Very soon. I think we need an extra three days of things to do before we can leave,” Darian said and he checked the pile of papers in front of him. “More like, we got some official business with the king to talk about. Once that is over with, we can depart,” Rumble told them and he suddenly looked tired. “Why would it take three days? Is the king that slow?” Lakshman asked curiously. “Not exactly slow, but indecisive. For the past few years, he had been busily trying to protect his crown from his rivals. Because of that, he neglected a few things the people need. That’s what we’re going there later today,” Darian explained. “Oh, cool! Can I also come?” Lakshman said excitedly. “Uh... It’s not a fun place to be, Lakshman,” Rumble said and he looked hesitant. Marilia, on the other hand, seemed to think differently as she said “I think Lakshman should go. He’s growing up and will leave the nest of protection. If he’s going to live on his own, he must understand the life of the politics and how it will affect the commoners.” “I guess that’s true,” Darian said and sighed as he understood her point.
Later in the evening, they went to the large castle located near the court of law. Lakshman was awestruck when he looked at the building. It was a magnificent castle with stone foundations and white paint covering everything else. Once they were inside, the castle just seemed that much bigger. While they waited, Lakshman had his mouth open in awe as he spun on the spot to look around. Each section of it was magnificently built and there were carvings of faces of recognised people throughout history. When they were allowed to enter, they were met with large doors which swung into the audience room. It was a large room with chairs lined up on either side. Seated in those seats were the leaders of different departments. Lakshman looked at them and then ahead where he steps going up to a high chair and, seated on it, was the king of Radfox. The king was a thin looking man with black beard and moustache. He was wearing a crown with expensive jewels embed in different sections so that it sparkled from the light. The king greeted them curtly and told them to quickly get to business since they are very busy. Darian and the members in the audience room talked for some time while Rumble stood behind. He wore a bored expression as he observed the proceedings, but Lakshman was intrigued. He had never known the complexities of politics and commanding general public with their power of authority. Once their matter was over, the king looked at Lakshman and recognised him as the man that defeated the attackers. He called him forward and rose to his feet. With a click of a finger, an attendant instantly appeared out of thin air. The king spoke to the attendant for a moment before the attendant disappeared. A moment later, the attendant returned and was carrying a sack which rattled with clinking sounds. In front of everyone, he announced that, for the bravery and courage Lakshman had shown, he will reward him five-thousand gold coins. The whole place went up in an uproar. Everyone was shocked by the king’s decision and they were voicing their disapproval. He ignored them and firmly stated how the capital was still here because of his efforts. As such rewarding Lakshman five-thousand gold coins was only appropriate.
Lakshman moved forward and took the sack of gold from the king with shaking hands. Then the king shook his hand and thanked him for his efforts. Lakshman mumbled his appreciation and quietly left with Darian and Rumble. Once outside, Rumble exclaimed “Five-thousand?! Blasted nuggets!” “Calm down, Rumble,” Darian said, but he was also looking very surprised. “Um... Is five-thousand gold coins a bad thing?” Lakshman asked curiously. “Bad thing?! You have no idea, do you?” Rumble asked in a voice of disbelief. “Lakshman, listen. With five-thousand gold coins, you can live a whole year without working or earning gold!” Darian said in a low voice to as to make sure no one heard him. “R-Really?” Lakshman said in amazement and Darian nodded. Amazed at his reward, they went home that day. They came back two more times during the next two days and Lakshman got to meet several important people. They were basically discussing the cost of repairing the damage and extra cost for reopening shops and goods. During their meetings, Lakshman met the king’s son and daughter. The son was three years older than Lakshman while the daughter was the same age as Lakshman. The brother would spend his time reading or studying while his sister played with Lakshman in their large garden. After three days, they made their schedules to leave for Floria region. They closed their training centre and informed everyone where they were headed. People were alarmed to hear their destination name and told them to be careful. Darian said they will be while Rumble just laughed it off. When the king’s daughter heard that her new friend is going to leave, she began to cry unhappily. Lakshman stop her crying by promising they will meet. “You promise?” she said while snivelling and wiping her tears away. “Yes. I promise we’ll meet each other again, okay?” Lakshman said firmly.
That was when he learnt her name which was Shalany Jagabadasen and he told her his name. The two of them had no idea what fate had in mind for the two of them. With that promise, the day arrived for their departure. Darian, Rumble, Marilia, Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra were riding on a horse drawn carriage. After seeing everyone off, they were making their way towards the other exit of the city. During this time, only Darian and Rumble were sitting at the front while everyone else were asleep inside. When they neared the exit, the two of them noticed a bunch of people barring their way. They stopped the carriage and jumped down as the people moved towards them. Darian and Rumble recognised many of those as the ones that constantly tried to attack them at the training centre. Both sides stopped a few meters away and stared at each other. Darian and Rumble were ready to beat them down again, but suddenly the standoff was broken from the other side. “We’re really sorry! We tried to harm you, but we now see that we were wrong! Please forgive our actions!” The group of men said loudly and they all bowed their heads down to them. Darian and Rumble were taken aback by their sudden change in attitude towards them. Then they realised these were the few that were let out early due to their clean record. With that, they told the men to raise their heads. The men raised their heads and suddenly stood at attention. The man in front, who turned out to be Vika, said “Boss, tell us to do anything! We’re yours to command!” Rumble moved forward and placed a hand on their Vika’s shoulder and said “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t beat you guys because I wanted to. I did it hoping you will change. Now that you understand and change, I’m okay with it.” “Y-Yes!” the men said with a happy smile. Then he looked at his group and asked “Isn’t that right, boys?!”
“Yes, sir!” they shouted in unison. Rumble laughed while Darian nodded at them as he grinned at them. Then they told the men where they are going and what they will do once they reach there. “Good luck, boss!” “We’ll be here to protect the city if anything happens!” “Leave it to us, sir!” Each of them was saying something different, but it meant the same thing to Darian and Rumble. The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Then they grinned as they both saw the sincerity within those people. “Alright then! I’ll leave it to you guys to protect the capital in our absence! When we come back and something happened... you’ll know what’ll happen!” Rumble said and his eyes flashed at them. “Yes, sir! We understand!” the men said together. Darian and Rumble then clasped and shook each of their hands and bid their farewell. As the carriage rumbled away with the force the horses pulled at, the men watched slowly disappear into the setting sun. Once they disappeared, Vika turned to look at his men with a serious expression and shouted “The bosses have gone to help the mighty Phoenix Emperor. In their absence, it’s our duty to protect the city from any harm! Are you with me with this our bosses left us with?!” There was a loud shout of “Yes!” from the group members. After that, they all dispersed and went into city to do something. Only Vika remained at the city exit. He was staring at the setting sun and smiled. “Good luck, Three Kings!” he said and stood at attention before saluting.
The group had left the capital of Radfox region and have set their sights on reaching the Floria region. Their mission was to save Felix before the deadline to the Trail of Betrayal is met. With their purpose on mind and confidence in their heart, they travelled distance into the setting sun.
Phoenix Rising Afterward Hello readers! It's the author of Phoenix Rising here again! So it has been a few months of hard working in writing chapters and finally Arc 04 has finished. It took longer than planned due to not being able to write during weekdays because of work. Nevertheless, I've managed to keep the story going even with the delays and work stress. So I thank everyone for supporting me there. Now the next phase is to start on Arc 05. Before I could do that, I had a pile up of comments asking me to alter the first 6 chapters. They are extremely close to the story, Mushoku Tensei. So I did my best in rewriting chapters 1, 2 and 3. Then I went into chapter 4 and 6 and modified them by removing close similarities along with adding in some extra things that are needed to keep the story moving. Muhsoku Tensei and Phoenix Rising are very similar, yet Mushoku Tensei came first into public while mine was thought of earlier. I'm not complaining nor am I going to sue the author since it's his original and I have no interest in that sort of thing in the first place. However, with the similarities within my story, I had to change several things like character interaction, intro to new characters and that sort of thing. At-least now people won't have to feel the direct similarities when they are reading them. Finally, Arc 05 will be starting soon. How soon? You'll just have to wait and see. I'm in the phase where I'm developing the arc since some of it are out of sync, but that's no big deal. The story itself is very, very long, a single arc should not be a big deal. From now, the action will be a little less and you'll see more of comedy and romance along the way. That would interact well with readers since the first four arcs focused more on action rather than comedy and romance. Well, that's it for me to say anything necessary to you all. So come on and down and start reading the story or keep your patience together until Arc 05 starts! Until the next time you read another of my chapters, be safe and have wonderful days!