Upon hearing the enemy’s declaration of his name and origin, Asura’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He remained standing there with his arms folded in front of him, but on the inside, he felt the awakening of a rage that he had not felt in a very long time.

“You’re… his son…?” He asked him slowly.

“Yes. Hard to tell?” The enemy, who identified himself as Amit, asked in an arrogant voice.

Asura nodded and replied, “Yes. I did not know that he had a child with a being from the Physical Plane.”

Amit laughed and stated, “That’s because father doesn’t let his private life get discovered.”

“And yet, you so openly declared to be his son? What’s to say that you truly are his son?”

“If it’s not obvious, then take a look at my name and realise, stupid,” he replied with an evil smile. As Asura snorted, he folded his own hands and seemed to ponder for a moment as he asked, “Still, I’m amazed that you didn’t seem to doubt my words as strongly as most people would’ve had.”

“There’s no need to investigate as I do sense a part of your energy composed of the energy that he commands.”

This surprised Amit, who blinked once and asked, “You were able to figure out just with that?” Then he shook his head in amazement and smiled as he said, “I should’ve known considering you were able to discern me being behind this boy.”

“Yes. The fact that he had mortal justice in what he did made me think that perhaps he was being manipulated by someone that he doesn’t even know or remember encountering,” said Asura in a shrewd voice. “My guess is that you met this loser as a kid and assessing his potential, you placed a portion of your spirit in him so that you can always monitor him and manipulate him whenever the need arose. In fact, I could go so far as to say you acted as an oracle to him to make him go after the Power Orb.”

“Wow. That some next level reasoning,” said Amit, sounding impressed.

But Asura shook his head and replied, “No, it’s not. Even a child could discern how stupid your plan was, except that you were excellent in manipulating him without making him realise that he was being controlled.” Then he thought to himself, “A similar thing had happened to the reincarnations that occurred after I died, where Twisted made them do horrible thing while using the Phoenix Titan title as an excuse to get his own way. So, in that regard, you’re not different to the Twisted that Lakshman destroyed a while ago.”

Amit remained silent for a moment before he formed an evil smile and said, “As I thought. You’re an obstacle to my plans of carrying out my father’s will! You’re an eyesore, and you must die!”

With that last shout, he surged with power and took a fighting stance before vanishing on the spot. In the next moment, he reappeared standing in front of his enemy and lunged forward to pierce his hand straight through where his enemy’s heart was located at. However, Asura reacted in an instant and vanished on the spot before reappearing in a place that made him dodge his enemy’s strike.

Amit moved forward and continued to wave his hands at his enemy in an attempt to piece him through his chest and ultimately kill him. Asura matched his movements and easily evaded them while keeping his arms folded in front of him and had his eyes closed as he pondered about what to do.

“He’s defeatedly that guy’s son. There’s no doubt about that. Doesn’t this mean that I should just kill him? Maybe it’s a good idea to kill him? Maybe it’s best to kill him? I think I should just kill him.”

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when the fairy exclaimed in his mind, “What are you thinking?! Killing is bad! You’re supposed to be a hero!”

“Lakshman is the hero, not me,” Asura corrected her. “I, and being a hero, don’t go together. I said this already earlier, and besides, it’s the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, or rather, two evil does with one strike.”

“No, it’s not okay at all!” The fairy complained in a firm voice. “Your wife and the God of Energy requested you to defeat him and give that guy a chance at redemption. Even Lucky wants to give him a chance!”

“But I’m not fighting that loser though.”

“Don’t act like an idiot! If you kill him, you’ll kill that Overlord guy too!”

“It’s the best option to take. Killing them right now will create less problem for us in the future.”

“So, you would hack down a cactus because it has spines instead of removing it and making it harmless?” The fairy asked scornfully.

“Yes.”

“Then, would you please remind me the logic you used against the man earlier? You know, telling him that he’s not wrong in doing what he’s doing right now, but it’s morally wrong because they have no right because of their warped beliefs and that they should’ve have forced it upon the world around them?”

For the first time, Asura had no come back to that as he realised that whatever he spoke next would make him a hypocrite. So, he took a moment of pause to sort out his mind and speak again to her using his thoughts.

“You’re right. I don’t have the right to enforce my warped beliefs on the world, but… is it wrong to protect oneself from such danger?” He asked her finally.

There was a moment of pause before she replied, “You’re not wrong in thinking like that, Asura. However, Lucky would not approve. Sure, he is a soft-hearted person, but think about the principles that binds Lucky and makes him be him.”

Her words made him realise that Lakshman indeed would not have resorted to killing each and every enemy unless he was positively sure they are beyond redemption. In the past, in the present, and in the future, he was sure Lakshman would continue being like that, even if it put him and his family at risk, because it was the right thing to do.

“Have you ever thought about how difficult it must’ve been for him to stay so strong and stead fast even though there must’ve been a lot of people that surely criticises his way of life? How much sadness he must’ve been through, and yet, he keeps getting back up, and struggles to keep moving forward in a world with warped and twisted beliefs and sense of logic.

People change their beliefs based on their perspectives, do things that they normally don’t do because it was the easiest thing to do, and they choose to avoid thinking too deeply about anything. Yet, he made up his mind, decided on the path he must move on, and though it’s filled with thrones everywhere, he still moves forward with a smile on his face with great confidence.”

As she finished, he saw Amit grew crosser and crosser with him and exclaimed, “Stop dodging me, bastard!”

He brought both of his hands together and aimed at him before discharging a powerful wave of destruction at him at such close range. However, Asura reacted quickly and channelled energy into his legs before he kicked at the energy, causing it to change its trajectory and soar harmlessly into the sky.

As the wave died down, he brought his leg back down and aimed his hand at him before saying, “You’re disturbing me,” and caused his energy to blast him into the air that sent him flying for several meters before he replied to her in his mind in a disgruntled voice

“I know that, and I’ve always said this, and I’ll keep saying it; his way of leading life is the right way of doing things. It’s just… I… I don’t approve it personally.”

To that, he sensed that she smiled softly at him as she said, “Don’t use your emotions, Asura. Follow your current-self’s wishes, and the wishes by the God of Energy and your wife.”

She was referring to Erza, to which he shook his head and thought, “She’s not my wife, she’s his wife. The only thing they have in common is that she’s the reincarnation of my wife.”

“Oh, stop thinking so deeply about it!” The fairy said exasperatedly. “Anyway, be in Lucky’s shoes and do what must be done and save that man from that crazed bastard.”

Asura appeared to be unhappy with her words, but he knew it was the best thing he should do at that point. Besides, he remembered that he wanted to change, even just a little, to match Lakshman’s way of leading his life. So, with another thing to spur him on, he made up his mind to not kill the two men, although, he reserved his judgement whether or not to kill the son of the God of Calamity if the need arose.

“Alright. I got this,” he muttered out loud and looked towards his enemy with a confident smile on his face.

“Bastard! You’re pay for that!” Amit shouted, flying towards him at high speed while channelling energy in his hands.

As he was few meters away from Asura, he brought his arm forward and unleashed the gathered energy into a mighty wave of destruction. The first Phoenix Titan watched the wave soar towards him before kicked off the ground and soared straight towards it without any hesitation. For a moment, it appeared as though he was swallowed up by the wave, and Amit smiled victoriously, but he became shocked when he saw Asura emerge out of the other end.

“What?!” He exclaimed in shock while widening his eyes to match the feeling he was experiencing.

Asura moved towards him and landed in front of him before placing his right hand on Amit’s chest and said, “Astral Form.”

In an instant, the Overlord’s body spasmed as if it had experienced a powerful while his enemy appeared to be shock. He felt his body had gone through some kind of shock and did not respond to him like he expected it to, almost like he was no longer in control of it.

“W-What is this…?!” Amit exclaimed in a shocked voice.

“Just an ancient technique that I’ve used only a few times… and one of them is your dear father,” said Asura with a smirk.

Then, before his enemy could do anything to stop him, Asura used both of his hands and smashed them into his enemy’s chest while muttering, “Astral Release.”

In an instant, a blinding flash of light occurred upon impact before two figures exploded from the spot where Asura had attacked. It was revealed that one was the body belonging to the unconscious Overlord, while the other belonged to his enemy, Amit, who was also the son of the God of Calamity.

“There,” said Asura with a smile as he sighed in relief.

Amit slowly rose to his feet and looked at his arms in disbelief as he appeared to be truly be there in physical form and everything. He could not believe what had happened as he had been remotely controlling the Overlord’s body, but now, he was stunned to find that he was somehow physically there in that world.

“It’s good that we get this chance to meet face to face,” commented Asura with a smile.

“You…!” His enemy exclaimed, slowly turning and faced him with a furious look on his face. “You’ll… pay for this!”

With that, he began to surge with power that caused the ground to shake violently and made the wind blow in all directions. Asura got buffeted by the wind and the shock waves, but he shrugged it off like it was nothing and stared at his enemy with a confident smile on his face as he too began to surge with incredible power, adding further effect to the ground shaking violently while a storm like wind blew in all directions.

“I don’t know how long you’ve lived, but I think I should show you why I was a feared figure as the Phoenix Titan,” said Asura, and his eyes glinted dangerously at him.

The two warriors faced each other, with the final battle imminent with the fate of the Alzard World hung in the balance.