Several days have passed since the Death Titan joined them. Together, they made their way to the Floria region which was taking more than a month. During the journey, they had many arguments, but the next one they are going to have will explode into an unbelievable battle.

They stopped the carriage after several hours of nonstop movement. Darian decided to give the horses some break. They had picked up another horse in the previous village since there are more of them and the carriage might be a lot burden for just one horse.

During this stop, Lakshman, Ondine, Tetra went with Sevedant, the Death Titan, to train. They did body training by wearing these special rings called Gravity Rings. The Gravity Rings increase the weight of the wearer depending on the number they want the gravity, around them, to increase by.

While they were training with the basic exercises, Rumble watched from afar. He was meant to help Darian with cleaning the horses. Out of curiosity as to what they were doing, he watched them from afar.

Once Darian finished cleaning the horses, he left them go and graze on the grass. Then he turned around and saw Rumble standing in the trees as if he was trying to conceal himself. Curious as to what his friend was doing, he walked over to find out.

Darian arrived and stood next to him and Rumble did not say anything. Rumble did not even look surprised that Darian was standing next to him. Darian looked at his friend for a second and then shifted his gaze in the direction he was looking at.

“What are you doing?” Darian asked him quietly when he noticed the others training in a clearing.

“Making sure,” Rumble said shortly as he shifted to see well.

“Right...” Darian said uncertainly and he watched them train.

Darian watched Lakshman struggling to lift his sword up and down. He frowned because he knew Lakshman was strong and wondered if he was making Tetra, the Phoenix Blade, become heavier. As he looked closer, he noticed something on his arms and legs and understood what it was.

“Gravity Rings!” Darian said in amazement.

“Yeah,” Rumble said with a nod of his head.

“How did he get them? They are super rare!”

“I asked Lakshman and he said that Sevedant gave them him for training purpose. I tested them and they sure were the real deal! Then he told me that Sevedant has one for each of his fingers!”

“For each finger?! That makes ten! Did he tell you at what gravity he works at?”

“Apparently it’s around a thousand all added up.”

“Thousand times gravity?! What?! Are you sure?!” Darian suddenly exclaimed in a loud voice.

His voice got carried to them and Sevedant heard it. He turned around and loudly said “You two! Come closer! Watch better! Terrible afar!”

They looked at each for a moment. With a shrug of their shoulders, they decided to go and watch up close.

“Sorry,” Darian said with a small smile.

“It’s reasonable. Not disturb. Training important. Understandable,” Sevedant said and he turned back to focus on their training.

Lakshman was swinging his sword up and down with difficulty while wearing the Gravity Rings. Ondine was not wearing them and seemed to be doing more times than Lakshman to match his effort.

“That looks tough!” Darian said as Lakshman, after several swings, set his sword down to take great lung full of air.

“Desires strength. Necessary training. Increase strength. Improve body. Develop control,” Sevedant said just as Lakshman resumed his swinging of the sword.

“That’s understandable, but don’t you think you’re pushing him a little too hard? I mean, his strength would be sufficient to handle most people.”

Sevedant turned and looked at him. Darian thought he felt a cold gaze from him.

“Phoenix clan. Not easy. Super strong. Be ready. Be tough. Be skilled. Be prepared.”

“So you’re preparing him to do great because you’re expecting the worse when we get to the Floria region?” Darian asked and Sevedant nodded.

“Well...! I think he’s pushing it!” Rumble said abruptly.

Sevedant turned to him and said “Explain.”

“Come on! It’s simple! Lakshman is only a thirteen year old kid! He’s got a whole lot more life to spend than constantly spending his time training like this! Give him some room to play when he is still young than regret later.”

“Already asked. Fine with it.”

“Huh? He said he was okay not spending time enjoying life like all the kids?” Rumble said in surprise.

Sevedant nodded and said “He chose. Fight and protect. Cares deeply. Prove himself. Be proud. Others pride. Strong determination.”

“That’s crazy!” Rumble said and he jumped to his feet.

He walked over to the spot Lakshman was training at. Seeing him coming, Lakshman stopped swinging the sword and said “Hello, Rumble.”

“Lakshman, are you sure you’re fine with spending your time training all the time when you could be resting up for the upcoming battle? Maybe play around to cool off?” Rumble asked him with a serious expression on his face.

Lakshman smiled and said “I appreciate your concern, Rumble, but I want to get strong! I want to be the strongest that I could possibly be! If I be like a kid of my age, I’ll never become strong! I’ll just become an ordinary person with only education as their forte!”

“So you are being different by training feverishly until you wind up getting seriously injured and rendering you useless for the rest of your life?!” Rumble said loudly out of frustration.

Lakshman only smiled and said “This is my choice.”

At those words, Rumble’s eyes widened and said “Your choice? This is your choice?! Then, as your instructor, I demand that you stop training for a while!”

There was a momentary pause before Lakshman said “I’m sorry, Rumble, but you’re not my instructor. Darian is not my instructor anymore. I’ve graduated from both of you and I am grateful for everything.”

Then he looked at Sevedant and said “The Death Titan is our trainer now and he agrees with me! He’s encouraging me to do my best with my training to be truly strong when I face really strong opponents!”

“Oh...! So it’s his influence that’s causing you to act like this!” Rumble said in as if it was the obvious thing.

“Um... No, it’s not his influence. I’m training by choice!” Lakshman said, but Rumble was not listening anymore.

“I see... I see! So this was you’re doing, making him training so hard when he is just a kid!” Rumble shouted as he stormed towards Sevedant.

“Hmm?”

Sevedant sounded confused as Rumble continued talking to him angrily.

“First you join us by creating so much mess! Then you casually join us like it was nothing! After that, you take the poor kid away and brain wash him into training until his body dies on him! What?! Don’t you have a consciousness?! Don’t you give a damn about other people?!”

Sevedant did not say anything. He just stood there and stared at Rumble with the mask covering his face.

Rumble, becoming angrier, said “Fine! Stay quiet, but you won’t be after I say this!”

He stretched his arm out and pointed his forefinger at Sevedant. The next thing he said was “I challenge you to a duel!”

There was a frozen silence as everyone became statues. For a few seconds, nothing happened while Rumble kept pointing at Sevedant with an angry expression on his face.

“I’ll prove to Lakshman that I’m a better instructor than you could ever be! I’ll show him the path you’re guiding him in is wrong!” Rumble said angrily.

Then another silence followed, but it was quickly broken when Sevedant said “Very well. I understand. Challenge accepted.”

“Good! We’ll meet here in an hour! Don’t decide to run! Otherwise, I’ll spread bad words about you!” Rumble said threateningly.

With that, Rumble huffed and stormed in the direction of the carriage. They watched him go with wide eyes except Sevedant. He did not turn around or move an inch and remained on the spot.

“Um... Don’t take him seriously, Death Titan! He’s just angry that Lakshman is choosing a life of battle against a peaceful life of happiness and comfort,” Darian quickly said to Sevedant.

Sevedant nodded and said “I understand. He doesn’t. Taking for granted. Peace is never eternal. Harmony never sustains. Balance is never constant. He will learn. I will show.”

“P-Please go easy on him, Sevedant,” Lakshman said because he feared the worse outcome.

Sevedant turned and looked at him silently for a moment. Then he nodded and said “I will try.”

Rumble’s challenge for battle was accepted. In one hour, those two will clash. The battle between the Monkey King and the Death Titan will commence soon. The only question would be is who will be victorious at the end of it.

| HOME PAGE |