“Lakshman!” Venezuela cried out.

“Lucky!” Emilia and Cantia said together.

“Master!” Tetra said happily.

As soon as he turned around, he found himself being hugged by multiple bodies as the girls threw themselves at him. Luckily, he was far stronger than them and it enabled him to keep himself from falling back.

“I’m glad you girls are safe,” he said in relief as he wrapped his arms around and hugged them back.

“Eh?!”

The girls widened their eyes in surprise by his words. They quickly broke free from the hug and stepped back with incredulous expressions on their faces.

“Wait, master. How did our roles suddenly switch?” Tetra asked him.

“What roles?”

“You know… You were a hostage and we came to rescue you… Suddenly, it feels like you came to rescue us!”

“Ah,” he said and laughed lightly before saying “It is dangerous for you girls to suddenly come, unprepared, to such a dangerous location. Anyway, I have something important to speak to you about.”

“You might want to hold that thought,” Ondine said as she pointed to something behind him. “He’s coming back!”

In the distance, where the monster had crashed, it suddenly got to its feet and turned around. It let out a mighty roar and charged towards him through the smashed buildings. Lakshman continued to face the girls so they thought he did not know, but they could see the bloodthirstiness in the eyes of the monster.

“Lucky! Behind you! Behind!” Emilia shouted as she also pointed.

“Relax. It’ll be fine,” Lakshman said calmly and he smiled at her.

At that moment, the monster let out one mighty roar as it reached them. It raised the Demon Slayer in its hands and brought it down at them.

“Oh no! We’re going to die-nyaa!” Cantia cried out and they all ducked their heads with their eyes closed.

For a moment, nothing happened and the girls slowly opened their eyes to look. They were astonished to see the monster hit some sort of energy barrier that formed around them. The monster attempted to enter the barrier, but it was no use as it kept repelling it back. Then the monster began attacking the barrier all around with all its might, but it proved to be useless.

“What…?” the girls said faintly as they saw the monster was stopped right outside the barrier.

Venezuela turned to Lakshman and asked “Did you form an energy barrier around us without telling us?”

“I told you its fine, didn’t I?” he told her with a small smile on his face.

“Honestly…!” she said and she shook her head unhappily.

“Nyaa!” Cantia said angrily and she vented her anger by hitting his chest.

“That hurts, Cantia,” he said and he gently stroked her head which, somewhat, calmed her dowm. “Anyway, I have something important to speak to you all.”

“What about that?” Emilia asked and she pointed at the monster trying to smash the barrier.

Lakshman narrowed his eyes and glanced at the monster as he said “Don’t worry. He won’t be able to break through.”

“Okay. So what is it that you want to tell us?” Venezuela asked in a business-like tone.

“I want to acquire the Demon Slayer, that Sacred Spirit that he is holding in his hands.”

For a moment, there was silence within the room except for the monster’s roars. Then the girls nodded their heads as they looked at each other.

“We thought this might happen,” Venezuela said with a sigh.

“Honestly, I don’t have a problem so long as Lucky doesn’t leave us out-nyaa,” Cantia said cheerfully.

The rest of the girls nodded their consent while smiling at him.

“I’m fine with your decision, master, however,” Tetra said and she pointed at the sword, “isn’t it a bit dangerous to obtain her right now?”

“Right now, she has gone mad due to rage. The Demon Dragon King, Razzel, was foolish to attempt to impersonate someone’s energy to obtain what he wanted and paid the price by being crystallised. Now, she is on a rampage of destruction and is using his body to achieve it.”

“Well…! Do what you must, but don’t forget about us!”

“Yeah! I won’t approve if master ignored us after this!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” he said and he smiled at them. Then he became serious and said “Alright, listen. I want you girls to go down there and life up the door on the floor. It’s a trapdoor leading to the bottom where a dungeon is located. There are people being held inside each of those rooms, so please make sure they are safe and healthy when you free them.”

“You got it!” the girls said.

“Tetra, I need you right now,” he said and he held out his right hand.

She gladly placed her hand in his hand and he gripped it tightly. With a smile on her face, she was surrounded by a brightly light before she transformed into the Phoenix Blade. He held onto her firmly and closed his eyes.

“Thank you, Decisive Player, for your noble sacrifice to make me into who I am right now. I swear on my life, my blood and my soul that I will never stray from the path of freedom and justice!”

He instantly flashed his eyes open and the Phoenix Blade began to glow brightly. Then he swung around as he dropped the barrier around them. There was a loud clanging sound as metal smashed into crystal and power erupted within the room. The next moment, the monster was blasted away by the sheer force of the swing that Lakshman delivered.

As he charged jumped into the air and followed after the monster, the girls nodded at each other. Their job had been given and now they quickly go the specified location that he indicated. Once they got there, they saw a trap down on the floor. Once they opened it, they saw stairs leading down into semi-lit ground made of walls.

“Alright! Let’s go!” Venezuela said and nodded before going into the dungeon.

Meanwhile, Lakshman caught up to the monster in mid-flight and they began exchanging rapid sword blows at each other. Lakshman noted that the Demon Slayer was indeed controlling the crystallised body of the Demon Dragon King, but was using his strength and sword skills to fight him.

“Unfortunately for you, I am faster!” Lakshman yelled.

He ducked a sword swing before kicked the monster in the chest. The impact was so power, the crystal got shattered and the monster was smashed to the ground. The monster crash landed and got dragged for several meters before it came to a stop with Lakshman landing meters from him.

“How do you plan on acquiring her, master? Right now, she’s gone mad and if a Sacred Spirit continues to fight like that—!”

“I know! If the Demon Slayer continued to fight like that, it will end up overexerting itself which will eventually cause it to self-destruct and destroy everything around it,” he said irritably as he watched the monster straighten up to face him.

“H-How do you know that, master? I don’t remember telling that to you before.”

“A lot has happened, but let’s talk about that later. Right now, we have this battle to win!”

With those words, Lakshman charged forward at incredible speed and slashed through the monster. As he did, he cut the monster’s right arm clear off, which had been holding the sword. It was for only a moment before crystals formed from the shoulder and grabbed the right arm. In an instant, it brought the broken arm back and reattached itself to the monster’s body once more.

Moving very quickly, Lakshman darted around before attacking the monster. Each time he attacked, he made sure to apply powerful force to cut through its crystallised body. In several moves, he cut off both of the monster’s arms, legs and head, however, they quickly reattached themselves to the monster’s body in a high speed recovery.

The monster roared at him and charged towards him before they began they began their intense sword battles. Swords were clashing like crazy with incredible speeds that normal eyes could not see as both the monster and the warrior fought each other.

The two of them began inflicting damage onto each other with each blow they delivered. Blood spurted out of Lakshman’s body with each of his wounds, but the monster continued to reattach or regrow destroyed crystal on its body.

“One Man Army!” Lakshman shouted and instantly, multiple copies of him appeared.

As the multiple copies darted around, the monster roared at them. It began swinging wildly at them since it was unable to locate the original. Since all the copied looked the same, the monster cannot tell which the real one was anymore.

“What’s wrong? Can’t tell which the real one is?” the multiple Lakshman’s said in a chorus.

The monster roared and it fired crystals at them, but they were easily dodged by the fast moving copies of Lakshman.

“Master, we can’t do anything to it so long as that regeneration continues to keep its body intact.”

“Yes and that leaves me only one option. I have to use Flash Blast!”

Tetra was shocked by his plan and said “Eh?! Master, you can’t! You know that technique puts a heavy burden on your body!”

“It’s worth the shot because that sword is beginning to glow in red. The more frequent it glows red, the faster it is reaching the destruction point. I have no time to—!”

At that moment, the monster raised its sword and swung it in a circle. Something began to form there and it quickly became crystallised while glowing dimly in yellow colour. For a moment, the large crystal ring hung in mid-air over the monster’s head. The next moment, multiple spears of crystals were fired in all directions and they pierced through all the Lakshman copies.

“Impressive!” Lakshman said in a praising as all of his copies were easily taken out.

Lakshman began to move faster to avoid the rapid rain of crystallised spears that were being fired at him.

“I have no choice! Tetra! I’m going to use you to create an opening!” Lakshman said as he continued to dodge the crystallised spears that were being blasted straight at him.

“As you wish, master.”

Lakshman stopped running around and faced the monster with a serious expression on his face. Then he began instantaneously dodge the raining spears by dodging each and every one of them. From the way he was moving, it looked like he was disappearing, reappearing, disappearing again and reappearing again in a continuous cycle.

As he dodged the rain of spears, he aimed his left hand and fired off a mighty energy blast. It soared through the air and destroyed the crystal ring hovering above the monster. With the ring destroyed, the spears also stopped and this allowed Lakshman to charge directly at the monster.

“ARGH!” he yelled and he launched his glowing Phoenix Blade directly at the monster.

The monster roared in surprise at him suddenly launching the Phoenix Blade at it. Then the monster’s left arm slowly changed shape to that of a shield. With its crystallised shield made, it brought the shield to the front and allowed Phoenix Blade to stab into.

For a moment, there was a violent surge of power from the Phoenix Blade as it pushed the monster back, which was protected by its shield. The next, the monster swung its shield aside and caused the Phoenix Blade to fly off into the side.

It roared triumphantly at seeing the Phoenix Blade fly away before it pierced the ground, upright.

“AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!”

Its gleaming eyes widened in shock and it slowly turned around, in a slow motion, to see Lakshman soaring straight at it. The monster saw the rage in his eyes and the great power that he carried with him in his right fist.

“AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!” screamed as he delivered the extremely powerful punch on the monster’s body.

In an instant, the monster roared in pain from the sheer blow and caused its body to get dragged back for a bit. The blow that Lakshman delivered caused that part of the body to crack to break into pieces. Then the crystal quickly returned and covered the space that got broken apart.

Not relenting one bit, Lakshman brought his left fist and slammed it into the monster’s body. With the second power punch, that part was destroyed as well before it quickly covered it up.

Lakshman smile and quietly said “Flash Blast!”

The next instant, Lakshman landed a blow with his right fist and drew it back before following through with his left fist. Then he continued to repeat this cycle at extreme speed and the monster’s body was riddled with blow to the body that Lakshman delivered with sheer brute force.

As the blows got stronger, they got even faster and caused the monster’s body to slowly get dragged back. The monster had no way of retaliating to this relentless hyper speed punches that Lakshman was delivering to its body. The shock from the attack was making it unable to make any moves to counter.

While delivering those hyper speed blows on the monster’s body, Lakshman was muttering only one thing which he muttered faster and faster with each blow that he delivered.

“Faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster…!”

After delivering countless blows, he held both of his fists at his side and glared at the monster.

“Dynamite Punch!”

With the shout of the technique name, he delivered the final blow by smashed his two fists into the monster’s body. In an instant, there was an explosion of crystals as they were all destroyed with great force. They were shattered as energy erupted from within the body of the monster to break the mall.

As the crystals were shattered, the Demon Dragon King’s body materialised. He tilted his head back from the shock, but instantly groaned when Lakshman quickly put him in an arm lock.

While trying to pry the Demon Slayer free, Lakshman said “Let go of the sword, dammit! Let go of it! Let go!”

Weak from the battle and being possessed by the Demon Slayer, Razzel muttered “You think… I can? AAAHH!”

He suddenly yelled in pain as his hand began to be crystallised. The crystallisation down and covered his entire arm and soon began to crystallise his entire body.

“I guess I have no choice! Energy Sword!” Lakshman shouted.

His right arm suddenly began to glow and it started to shimmer with energy. Then, without hesitation, he cut off Razze’s right arm with it, thus allowing him to permanently disconnect with the Demon Slayer.

For a moment, the arm that continued to crystallise, when, all of a sudden, the crystallised arm fell away.

“Oh no!” Lakshman exclaimed in surprise when he arm suddenly got dismantled in his hand.

Now that it was free, the Demon Slayer soared high into the air before Lakshman could grab hold of it. As it soared through the air, he was about to set chase when he had a strange inclination that escape was not in the Demon Slayer’s mind.

He looked up and saw the Demon Slayer hover in mid-air while doing nothing. Then it turned around, pointed its bladed tip and dived. As it dived, it rocketed down at high speed as it headed straight for him.

Tetra, a few meters away from him, saw this and shouted “Master! It’s coming straight at you!”

“I know!” Lakshman shouted back as he stared at the sword with a serious expression on his face.

As the Demon Slayer gathered energy as it plummeted straight towards him, he suddenly smiled and said “I guess this is it.”

He then rained his left hand and held it up above him as he gathered energy into it. The next moment, the Demon Slayer flew down and smashed into his left hand. There was a sudden shock from the impact and Lakshman felt the ground sink beneath him. The wild winds began to glow all around them from the clashing forces of him and the Demon Slayer.

Tetra watched as the struggle between the two forces sent a shockwave in all directions. This forced her to desperately stab the ground with a sword and hold onto as the wind threatened to carry her away.

“AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!” Lakshman screamed as his left hand began to be pierced by the force of the Demon Slayer. Then his Phoenix Titan Eyes began glowing fiercely and he screamed “Sacred Spirit of Darkness! Demon Slayer of Destruction! I urge you! I make you! I command you! I rule you! Astral Contract!”

There was a massive eruption of energy from all around them as Lakshman and the Demon Slayer fought each other with their energies. Then there was a sudden blinding flash of light, which erupted from where the sword and hand connected, and it became extremely difficult to see anything anymore.