The unexpected attack from the alien shocked Lakshman as he felt an unbelievable searing pain on his face. This included his eyeball getting fried while his face got burned by the powerful laser that he just could not react in time to defend himself from.

“AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

He screamed and stumbled away before falling backwards and hitting the ground, thereupon he began to thrash around from the immense pain he felt on his face. The alien watched him writhing in pain and smiled in satisfaction at successfully landing an attack on him.

“Didn’t see this coming, did you?!” He demanded with a fiendish look on his face.

He rose to his feet and placed a hand on his face before bubbles sprung up all over his body. In the next moment, he swung his arms aside and cast he bubbles away, revealing his true body as he stared down at his enemy thrashing around from the unbelievable pain he was experiencing.

“Well, I’d feel for you, but too bad you’re my enemy!” He snarled gleefully.

Aiming both of his hand at his enemy, he activated his magic spell that instantly cased the ground all around Lakshman to rise up and surround him. Then, with immense force behind it, he began to push him down into the ground. For the continuation of this world’s existence meant that this world’s core was active, and he knew there must be lava as well. So, his plan was to submerge his enemy into the lava and have it deal the finishing blow for him.

He continued to keep up the pressure for almost a minute before he felt that the attack had smashed into something. A moment later, the ground began to shake violently before he leaped away just in time to avoid an eruption of lava on the surface where he stood.

The ground cracked everywhere and lava exploded out of the ground and shot up into the sky at tremendous force. Bruton flew high into the air and away from the shower of lava, which slowly covered the area that he and the Solaris Hero had been fighting moments before.

“That takes care of that,” he said with a triumphant smile before he turned in a certain direction and flew off in order to capture Erza.

[ ====== ]

Alestor had managed to carry both himself and the familiars of the hero to the safety of the bunker beneath the castle. There was a twisting cavern path laid out for anyone to get lost in just in case the place was discovered in order to deter people from entering. For Alestor, who knew these routes like the back of his hand, had no difficulty finding the door leading into the bunker.

Before he entered the place, however, the two monsters woke up and broke away from him.

“What are we doing here?” They asked him telepathically.

“Asura told me to bring you with me while he fought the enemy,” Alestor informed them.

They nodded in understanding and replied, “Very well. We will conceal ourselves. Don’t worry about us and take mistress to safety.”

Alestor momentarily hesitated, but when he saw them vanish on the spot, he sighed and carried the real princess to safety. When he opened the door entered, he saw several Royal Guards stationed there as well as the king, the two princes, where Santa was lying unconscious on a bed while Bolten appeared to be standing at attention while Erza had a worried look on her face. To the left, he saw that the remaining members of the Nine Heroes of Legends were stationed with their Hero Weapons out and ready to do battle.

When the door opened, the Royal Guards instantly moved and blocked the view to shield the king. At the same time, Bolten took on a fighting position while the rest of the Nine Heroes of Legends prepared to fight them. They almost relaxed their guard when they found out that it was just him, but the king stared at him wearily.

“If you are the real Alestor, then tell me something that only you, and I would know about,” the king said in a firm voice.

The minister stared at him in surprise before he chuckled and responded with, “Okay. Let’s see. How about the time when you confessed your love for your wife in the castle, and when she accepted, you got carried away and showed off your fire magic and set your clothes on fire.”

There was an instantaneous gasp of shock from everyone in the room. Even the king stared at the man with look of shock on his face. Then there was a snickering sound that came from the members of the Nine Heroes of Legends and his own son, Bolten, smiled wryly at his father upon learning his embarrassing side.

“T-That’s fine. Y-You exaggerate,” the king replied weakly.

“But this proves that I am who I am, right?” Alestor asked, and the king nodded grudgingly. “Good. Anyway, please take her and let her rest.”

With his order, two Royal Guards stepped forward and took hold over Raze before moving to the side and laying her down gently on a spare bed. In this bunker, there were at least five to ten spare beds just in case they needed to heal the injured people, and at that time, the second prince was the only one injured.

“So? Do you know what’s going on?” The king asked, turning to face his minister.

Alestor nodded, but he decided to find out just how much the king knew and asked him curiously, “What do you know so far?”

The king explained how he was informed that there was an attack on the castle and that a lot of the Royal Guards were badly beaten. As such, the royal family was taken to safety while a few of the conscious Royal Guards quickly took the unconscious Santa and brought him down into the bunker. Even when he made contact with the Commander, Cide, he responded that they are unsure what was happening as well.

“It must be him,” the king said, obviously speaking about the Solaris Hero. “He must’ve returned and started attacking us as retaliation. Damn him!”

“I think it’s about time you stop being stupid,” said Alestor, becoming very annoyed by the other man’s waffling.

“How dare you?!” The king exclaimed, staring angrily at him.

“If it was him, the Royal Guards wouldn’t be a match against him, and he’d be on top of us by now, or have you forgotten the last time he got angry?”

At the man’s question, the king gulped nervously and did not say anything. He could not forget the events that had occurred not too long ago during the Solaris Hero’s trail, where the hero showed off that he was an unstoppable force. Even the warning that he made to the king was alarming and caused the king to feel goose bumps erupt all over his skin.

Alestor saw his expression and understood without needing any words that the king does remember, so he went on saying, “It’s not him. In fact, we should be grateful for him. If it weren’t for him, the alien would’ve attacked us by now and taken Erza!”

“What?!” The king exclaimed, and the others looked as shocked as him. “Alien?! Take Erza?! What are you saying?!”

Bolten, however, quickly understood what was going on and asked, “Really? So, the alien shown his true colours?”

“Yes, and it’s thanks to the mind control magic that he placed on the second prince,” replied the older man and eyed the unconscious Santa coldly. “Too bad, though, because I happened to be in that room and somehow managed to buy enough time for the Solaris Hero to come to our rescue.”

“What?”

“Lucky’s here?”

“He came?”

“Where is he?”

“What’s happening outside, sir?!”

There were different reactions from the members of the Nine Heroes of Legends, and Vikram, Natsu, Maxwell, William, and Fred began asking him simultaneously. He waved at them to calm down and turned back to face Bolten, who questioned him in a serious voice.

“So, where are they?”

“Fighting as we speak, somewhere in the distance.”

“Then, we must go and help!” Vikram said boldly.

“I agree,” said Maxwell in agreement.

However, Alestor told them in a sharp voice, “No!” They looked at him in surprise as he shook his head and told them, “No. If you go out now, you’ll only end up being in his way. You of all people should be aware of how cunning the alien is, right? Then you must also know that this would be a difficult battle, correct?”

“Yes, but we can’t just sit here and do nothing?!” Maxwell exclaimed, looking furiously at him.

“It’s not just me who thinks this way,” said Alestor, and they looked at him in surprise. “The Solaris Hero believes that you’ll be a handicap for him during his battle with the alien, and he specifically told me to keep you here as the back up in case he fails to deal with the enemy.”

All of them looked shocked before Vikram exclaimed, “Say what?!”

However, Gram grew angrier than them all and moved towards the older man and stared down fiercely at him.

“You’re telling me that man… that demon… thinks we’ll just get in his way?!”

“Yes,” replied Alestor, staring back at him without a shred of fear on his face.

“And you expect me to simply accept it and sit around?!” Gram demanded angrily. “Who the hell does he think he is telling me to do anything?! I’m the Tempest Hero, and I can make my own decisions!”

“Perhaps,” said Alestor, knowing full well that this hero was very angry but he still decided to speak honestly to him. “However, I believe it is impertinent to ignore the advice coming from the strongest warrior in the world.”

Those words hit a sore spot, and Gram glared menacingly at him before exclaiming, “What did you say?!”

He took one step towards Alestor threateningly, but Vikram came forward and grabbed the Tempest Hero by the shoulders and began dragging him away while shouting, “Calm the heck down, Gram!”

“Get your hands off me, dammit!” Gram exclaimed, fighting against Vikram’s strong grip and glaring at Alestor. “Me? Weak?! Who the hell does he think he is?!”

“Enough!” Natsu shouted so loudly that his voice echoed in the bunker they were in. He turned to Gram and said, “Stop this nonsense, Gram, and act more civilised.”

“You dare speak to me in that way?!” Gram shouted, and he activated his powers.

In an instant, Vikram got lost his grip and was sent flying backwards, where Maxwell and William caught him. The Tempest Hero turned towards the Zeklock Hero and looked as if he was going to attack him. But Natsu stood his ground, but his expression became serious as he raised his hand and aimed it at Gram.

“Don’t be stupid, Gram. You’re powerless against me,” he said warningly in a cold voice.

Gram stared at him without changing his expression, but he understood the truth as he realised what Natsu’s power was; the ability to nullify all elemental techniques. This meant thathis attacks would get nullified even before he could launch them at his target. As such, he simply glared at him for a moment before turning away while letting out a deep sigh with an irritated look on his face.

Natsu sighed when, all of a sudden, a powerful hammering sound occurred on top of them. Everyone looked up in shock as they felt the hammering repeat rapidly like something was unleashing a barrage of attacks down on top of the bunker. They saw the rook cave in from the intensity of their attacks before a whole blasted opened and a figure flew down to land gently on the ground.

As smoke drifted around, the silhouette figure stood up and straightened up to reveal himself to be the three-eyed alien, and he was grinning broadly at them as he spoke in a smooth voice.

“Hello. Sorry to drop in, but I came to pick up something that belongs to my master.”