“He’s not waking up,” commented Asura inside his head.

“I know that,” said Lakshman in a low voice.

“How much longer will it take?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?”

“Like I can when I’m stuck in your head!” Asura complained. “Let me in control for a bit, and I can find out.”

“No. You’ll probably cause more harm than good,” stated his current-self dully.

“You have such trust in me.”

“I know you since you’re me, so drop it.”

“I won’t drop it unless I drop this numbskull into a volcano and watch him melt for attacking us and almost putting your kids in danger!” Asura fumed.

“You’re awfully angry despite it being my kids that had been in danger,” said Lakshman quizzically.

“Yes, and since you’re not angry, I’m performing your role,” his past-self said heatedly.

“I am angry,” sighed Lakshman, “but I believe there must’ve been a good damn reason for this person to have attacked us.”

“So foolish as always.”

“It’s called giving a chance to the other person to redeem themselves. They have the right to do so.”

Lakshman was standing at the beach having an argument with his past-self while the unconscious man he discovered floated in mid-air. His arms were spread in either direction, and his legs were bound together by an invisible rope. It was easy enough to guess that this was the human form of the Leviathan that had attacked him a few minutes ago, simply based on the fact that the stranger’s skin was blue and scaly hard and rough to the touch.

After discovering him, Lakshman was at a loss on what to do with this man, and so decided to hold him with a tightly bound magic spell. Asura objected to this and wanted his current-self to destroy the man that had threatened the safety of his children. Lakshman, however, did not wish to mindlessly give in to his emotions and instead opted to find out the reason behind the Leviathan’s attack.

“Moreover, he’s probably the last of his kind left, which is more the reason to let him live,” added Lakshman sympathetically.

“So that he can come back and attack you again like today? No thanks!” Asura snapped irritably. “Stopping the problem before it can rear its head again is my solution.”

“This isn’t like the past, Asura,” said Lakshman in a reasonable voice. “Things are not the same.”

“How are they not the same? Someone is always trying to attack us or put us in danger, some random idiot thinks he has what it takes to take over the world, and someone out there is always there plotting for some kind of revenge that only makes sense to him! How has things changed from back then, huh?!”

Asura had spoken in a heated tone, but his argument was sound and made sense. Back then as well, the people that caused problem also possessed similar motivations and goals in mind, resulting in the world becoming a full-scale warzone. That fact and the death of his parents, which was the direct consequences of the war that pit everyone against one another, determined Asura’s actions that led to him becoming known as The Demon.

“While today’s society isn’t aware of how my name became a synonym to Demon, Gram certainly knew about it. Something similar must’ve happened in his world, but his people do remember or it got recorded in history,” said Asura coldly.

“Asura…”

“Only people and faces changed, but everything else remained the same; the same old goals, the same old ambitions, and the same old jealousy. It’s no different from back then,” said Asura, his voice filled with sadness.

Lakshman remained silent for a moment before he smiled a little and said, “There are differences.”

“Such as?”

“Well,” began Lakshman when the stranger grunted in his sleep while his body shook slightly. “Oh! He’s waking up!”

“It’s about time!” Asura complained irritably.

The stranger’s body tried to move from its stiff position, but the magic bound on him kept him firm and unmoving. A moment later, he stirred and slowly opened his eyes while facing down. Blinking once, he tilted his head straight and focused on Lakshman separated by a meter gap between them.

“Huh?” The stranger asked, feeling a little surprised and dazed. “Phoenix… Titan…?”

“That’s me,” replied Lakshman with confirmation.

The unknown man continued to look at him in a daze for a few seconds before realisation dawned on him. In an instant, his mind became sharp as he snapped out of his drowsiness and glared angrily at the person before him.

“You!” He snarled with a voice filled with rage.

He tried to move his body, noticing that he could not move it and that he was floating off the ground a little and tightly held together as if something was binding him. Understanding of the situation dawned on him, and he clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Stupid transformation!” He complained in annoyance and instantly activated his powers.

In an instant, a burst of lightning exploded from his body and started zapping the nearby area. Lakshman waved a finger and instantly conjured his Elemental Coated Armour to protect himself against this attack. Meanwhile, the stranger clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth with a serious expression on his face as he released his power.

The moment that he did, the ground shook violently beneath as the it caved in beneath where he was hovering. Then the pressure in the air thickened as his power grew stronger and stronger as he began glowing in a green coloured aura that surrounded him. In the next moment, there was a sudden shockwave that burst from the centre of his form that instantly destroyed the magic that bound him.

“Finally!” He said, soaring down and landing neatly on the sandy beach. “Now I can get you.”

“Hold on a second,” said Lakshman as he tried appealing to him. “Why are you trying to attack me?! If it’s about that time when I knocked you out during my battle with the Calamity Titan, then I’m sorry!”

“What?” The stranger asked, looking confused. “Who’s this Calamity Titan? Wait. You mean that other guy that seemed to be fighting you and gave me a pummelling?!”

He suddenly looked very angry, causing Lakshman to blink in surprise and think, “I… think that didn’t help matters.”

“That stupid bastard interfered when I was trying to attack you! He was so annoying and kept getting in my way!” The stranger went on complaining in an infuriated voice. “Where is he now?!” He suddenly demanded, and just as suddenly as he did, he seemed to think otherwise as he said, “Actually, never mind. I’ll go deal with him later. You’re my priority now, so prepare yourself!”

“For what and why?” Lakshman asked, looking confused. “I’ve never done anything terrible to your race! In fact, how did you survive for all these years?”

“How the hell should I know?” The stranger asked irritably. “I just know that I woke up to some bashing power levels, and when I came up and saw you, I knew I have to defeat you!”

“But why?! For what reason?”

“For what reason?! You’re telling me you don’t know, or you telling me you simply forgot what you’ve done because I sure haven’t!”

“Huh? What? I don’t understand!”

“Argh!” The man said in annoyance, shaking his head and looking angrily at him. “Enough questions! Just understand that I’m the one who will destroy you!”

With that, he began to surge with power and took a fighting stance, ready to fight his proclaimed enemy. Lakshman, for his part, just stood there and looked at him with an exasperated expression on his face.

“This escalated quickly,” commented Asura in a humours voice.

“He’s just not in the mood to listen to reason,” he muttered to himself and sighed wearily.

“What’s the matter? Scared to take the first strike?” The man jeered loudly. Then he chuckled and said, “Don’t worry since I’ll be the one to take the first shot! Here I come!”

As soon as he finished his dialogue, he suddenly let out a roar and charged towards his enemy at super speed. This did surprise Lakshman as he was not expecting his foe to move at such speeds. However, even that incredible movement was very dull in his eyes considering the greater enemies he had to battle previous to this.

So, as the stranger soared at him at super speed, Lakshman stayed his ground and actually looked sceptic. Thus further infuriated his foe, who gritted his teeth with frustration and shouted as he neared him.

“Don’t get cocky because it’s time to die!”

With that said, the unknown man lashed out his fist that was covered in an intense flowing aura that carried with it a lethal amount of energy. Lakshman continued to remain silent and unmoving as it came up until the final moment, where he casually sidestepped to avoid the flying attack.

As his foe slowly went past him, he swivelled around to face his enemy from the side and raised his clenched hand into the air. Then, with a dull look on his face, he brought it down hard and landed it heavily on his foe’s backside.

“Ugh!” The man exclaimed in shock, and his eyes widened to the fullest by the unexpected attack.

Then the force of Lakshman’s attack kicked in and slammed the stranger hard into the ground. The impact was so powerful that the ground shook as his body dug itself into the ground and lay in the dug hole made in his image, stuck and unmoving.

“That was stupid,” Asura snorted with disgust. “Time to die. Is he a kid because he’s kidding himself!”

“Stop with the puns,” said Lakshman with a sigh as he looked down at his fallen foe, whose body twitched while a small groaning sound could be heard from underneath. “What should I do with him now?”

“Kill him.”

“No.”

“He clearly attacked you and is a danger if left alone! You’ve seen clearly how disturbed he is in the mind, right?”

“Perhaps, but he’s mostly confused and just went with the flow of things without giving it much thought.”

“Not this again,” groaned Asura.

Lakshman sighed and asked, “Asura, didn’t you agree that doing things my way was better than your way?”

“I… I did agree,” admitted Asura, sounding disgruntled.

“There you have it then,” said Lakshman with a triumphant smile.

“B-But—!” Began Asura worriedly. “He’s an enemy!”

“He’s not an enemy,” said Lakshman, emphasising the “not” word. “There’s just something going on that doesn’t make sense, and I feel we’ll only get to the bottom of this only by him explaining why he’s angry towards me. Got it, Asura?”

Lakshman had asked the last question specifically because Asura was silent. So, his past-self continued to remain silent for a few more seconds before he finally said grudgingly, “Fine. Do whatever you need to sort this issue out.”

This made his current-self smile and look down at the still stuck in the ground, who kept twitching while making small groaning sounds.