“Huh?!” The six hooded people exclaimed in unison. “He’s alive?!”

“Yeah! He’s alive and—!” Dominic began proudly when he was cut off by Wolfenstine smacking him hard on the head.

“Don’t create misconceptions!” The mighty hybrid snarled as the Sword Titan looked at him while rubbing his head. “Don’t make up a lie that can easily be seen through, especially by the enemy!”

“Ah… Um…” began Dominic, looking thoroughly confused.

The six hooded figures looked on in confusion as well before one of them suddenly realized and asked, “Oh! That was a lie!”

“So, the Phoenix Titan is dead!” Another said, finally catching onto what was happening.

“That’s right,” replied Wolfenstine coldly, and he glared fiercely at them, “but we wanted to hide the truth as long as possible, but now… it’s different.” He moved menacingly towards them and cracked his knuckles as he asked, “Now then, why don’t you tell us who you are and how to stop these monsters?”

The way he questioned them surrounded by menacing aura startled them at first before they began to laugh out loud.

“You think you can scare us?!”

“Yeah! Your saviour is dead and so is that Dragon Titan, and they probably died trying to save you idiots!”

“What makes you think we’ll help you even if you caught us?”

“Right! Just try and make us talk, stupid dog!”

“Damn you!” Dominic snapped, becoming enraged at hearing Wolfenstine being called names.

Wolfenstine held his hand out to the side to stop him, and he looked coldly at the enemies before asking, “You know who I am?”

“Yes, and it’s not just you,” came the reply of one boasting hooded figure. “We know all about you and the others. That’s why we waited for the perfect opportunity to strike when you’re least expecting and in your most weakened state.”

“I see,” said the larger man. “To do that, your boss must be someone great, right? Who is he?”

His question made one of the hooded figures snicker before he replied, “Our boss is awesome and powerful! You should know him since he was famous once and even was put in jail, apparently by the Sword King and the Monkey King. He’s—!”

Just before he could complete his sentence, his fellow comrade suddenly lashed out and kicked him on the side. The man groaned from the heavy impact and fell sideways on the ground before squirming in pain.

“Don’t be stupid enough to give away our leader’s name! That’s exactly what they want!” The person who kicked snarled, turning back to seemingly glare through the hood that covered his face.

Wolfenstine smirked and said, “So, basically your plan was to take out the Phoenix Titan and the Dragon Titan, and cause as much destruction as possible to Floria Kingdom? Is that all?”

His question received a snort from the group, and one of them asked, “Do you think our plan is that simple? We have something big planned and there’s nothing you can do about, not without the Phoenix Titan!”

“Yeah! You guys are in for a brutal awakening when our leader’s plans come to fruition!” Said another hooded figure boastfully.

There was a moment of silence from Amaranda, Wolfenstine, and Dominic as the six hooded figures let out their laughter as they found their enemies to be pitiful. However, when Wolfenstine, Amaranda, and Dominic smiled in return, they became puzzled and somewhat concerned.

“The Phoenix Titan is not here, that’s for sure, but who says we need him?” Wolfenstine asked, to which his enemies looked perplexed. “I think you are forgetting about the rest of the Nine Pillars of Power, who are mighty powerful as well.”

“As a matter of fact, I’d like your spy to realise it’s too much to continue eavesdropping on us when they’re already caught in our trap!” Dominic said, and he suddenly glanced up in a certain direction.

The six men seemed to panic as the person watching them from a long distance away was suddenly caught.

“Crap!” The hooded figure exclaimed, realizing they were caught. “I better get out of here!”

“There’s no escaping for you,” said Amaranda’s voice.

In an instant, a large magic circle appeared beneath the person about to flee, and he yelled as a massive explosion occurred, killing him on the spot and throwing his burnt limp body to the ground for the monsters to feed on.

Back at the Floria Kingdom’s capital, Amaranda informed them, “I took care of that watcher, and I don’t sense anyone else spying on us right now.”

“Nice job,” congratulated Wolfenstine before turning back to the six men, who looked very stunned. “Now then, why don’t you reveal how to break the curses on them?”

He indicated the monsters, who were frozen by the Paralyzing Blades pierced into their bodies. The six men seemed to struggle with what decision to make when they suddenly seemed to relax and smile at them.

“I suppose there’s not much we can do now that we’re caught, other than this!”

In that instant, all six of them shouted in unison, “Crack!”

A moment later, magic circles appeared around their necks with the clear intention of taking their lives. As Wolfenstine and Dominic instantly panicked, the magic circles were suddenly disrupted much to the shock of their caster.

“Aren’t you forgetting about me?” Amaranda asked telepathically, which made them turn to look at her with fright. “I carry the title of Magic Titan, and I possess magic far beyond your understanding. Something as simple as this is nothing compared to what I’m capable of.” Then, in a threatening voice, she demanded telepathically, “Now, either choose to answer how to break these curses, or I’ll use whatever means I have to force the answer out of you, and I can assure you… it will be painful.”

With that, she smiled, a smile that was both sweet and sinister to look at, which made then men become shaken with fright. Wolfenstine looked at her with a smile before turning to Dominic, who sighed in relief.

“You nearly gave away the cover!” He scolded the young man.

“S-Sorry,” said Dominic apologetically. “I didn’t sense them until you hit me and told me to not lie. That’s when I realized and used my senses to check that we were being spied on.” Then he suddenly looked nervous as he said, “I just hope they bought your story.”

“Story? What story?” Asked one of the six members, looking worried. When all three of their enemies smiled, they suddenly knew what it was and exclaimed, “You mean he’s alive?!”

“Alive and sleeping,” replied Wolfenstine with a smile, “but don’t worry. When he gets back up, he’ll be sure to give your boss a beating of a lifetime because he did something he should never have; attack his friends and family.”

As the six men looked alarmed, Dominic dropped another bomb by saying, “He might have to wait because the others are quite furious. I’m sure they’ll reach the enemy leader in a couple of minutes.”

“What?! What are you saying?!”

“There’s only the two of the Nine Pillars of Power here, so don’t you realise that the rest are currently headed to your base’s location?” Dominic asked with a laugh, which made them widen their eyes in alarm and fear. “Seriously, when you’re going to attack, you should make sure not to leave a trace since it can be used to locate your location.”

“Unfortunately, your boss didn’t seem to know this as it was fairly easy for me to find his trace and find his location with it quite easily,” stated Amaranda telepathically with a smile. “Now, stop wasting time and tell us how to break this curse.”

“Even better, undo them!” Dominic added firmly.

The six men, whose shoulders slumped in defeat, only shook their heads while one of them replied, “There is no breaking it.”

“What?”

“We didn’t place the curse; we just used our leader’s magic to curse them. Only he can break their curse.”

Dominic looked very frustrated as he shouted, “Argh!”

He turned away to look at the monsters while both Wolfenstine and Amaranda looked troubled. In that instant that they were distracted, one of the enemies suddenly placed his hands on either side of the barrier and applied energy into it, causing the barrier to shatter, but he quickly leaped forward and aimed straight for Dominic’s neck.

“I got you!”

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as the man neared his target, when the Sword Titan turned around and aimed his hand at the incoming enemy. Then, a sword suddenly appeared out of his hand and it flew out to pierce the charging enemy in the neck. As the enemy groaned with a mortal wound to his neck, Dominic held the sword firmly in place with a cold steely glint in his eyes.

“Don’t underestimate me, fool. I’m the Sword Titan!” He declared, and with one easy swing, sliced off the attacker’s neck. As blood splattered on the ground and the limp body of the attacker fell sideways, he looked at the frightened enemies and said in a cold voice, “Seems like we’re going to do this the hard way. Amaranda.”

“On it,” she said telepathically, and the five remaining enemies looked on with fear.

As she proceeded to make them answer, Dominic looked in the sky and towards where the Chand house was at and muttered, “Please wake up soon, Lucky.”

At that moment, inside the Chand household, the Phoenix Titan lay on a bed in one room while surrounded by his wives. They were quiet as they watched him sleep with worried looks on their faces. In another room, the Dragon Titan also lay sleeping as he was watched over by the twins and the older women like Marilia and Mariana.

A while of silence later, Silvera broke it with a worried voice.

“I hope he’s okay.”

“He’s just resting after being so drained from what happened just now,” reassured Tetra. “You can sense it too, right? His energy is stabilising, and he’s on the road to recovery.”

“T-True,” said Silvera weakly with a look of worry.

“I wish I could heal him,” said Emilia with a distressed expression, stretching her hand out to gently caress his hair. “I don’t like it when he’s just lying there motionless.”

“Even though he defeated the Calamity Titan, went to and came from another world and finally began to enjoy more time spending with us, there are still enemies that are after him. I don’t like this,” remarked Ondine with a frustrated voice. “I wish I could do something to help him.”

The sentiment was shared between them as all of them were feeling the exact same helplessness like her. Each and every time that an enemy appears, it was up to Lakshman to take care of them and in doing so, he always was walking near the edge of death. When he fell into the void while saving the world, they were scared for him even though he promised he would return to them soon, which he did months later.

They knew he fought all these battles and wars for everyone’s safety and their future. It just made their helplessness even more prominent, especially since they struggled to defend themselves when they were attacked by an old enemy when he was away in another world. They swore they would not be so helpless next time, and yet, they sat around him and watched him recover from a severe injury. This made them extremely disappointed in themselves for being so useless to him after all that he had done for them.

At that moment, there was a knock on their door and Marilia opened it to check on him and them.

“How is everything?” She asked at large.

“He’s still sleeping and recovering,” replied Sumara with a sigh.

Marilia shook her head and asked, “I’m asking how everything is with all of you, not him. I know he’ll recover, but what about you?”

Her question was met with complete silence from everyone as they did not know how to respond.

The older woman smiled as she glanced around at their faces and asked, “Are you feeling frustrated?”

To that, they all nodded in unison, and Sonia said, “I don’t understand why we are put in this situation.”

“Why is it always Lucky? Why is it always us? Why?!” Silvera suddenly demanded furiously, tears welling up in her eyes.

That question suddenly made them all look very despondent because of how things have always turned out for them. First Asura, where he could not even save them and was forced to kill his own brother for the betterment of the world. Now, it was Lucky who was faced with prospects of laying his life down at almost every turn as if evil was attracted to him.

Marilia let out a light chuckle and said, “You know what? I used to think so, too, when my husband joined the war efforts over 300-years-ago. At that time, I also felt like why did it have to be us when we were leading a quiet and a peaceful life. Then it struck me that my husband isn’t the kind to let the world burn itself. He wasn’t going to stand by and watch, so he got involved and in doing so, claimed the title of Sword King and began to be known all around for his efforts to save both the Human Race and the Spirit Race from the oppression of the Demon Race. In Lucky’s case, he strongly inherited his teacher’s principles.”

“Not only his,” said Emilia with a sad smile. “Indira, Felix, and many more that Lucky trained and fought together with. Having been unable to save any of them, he is determined to save all those that he can to make up for all those he had failed to protect in the past. Including his parents.”

Her last words left a strong impact on the others, and they looked at him with both sympathy and pride. Unlike Sonia, the others were aware of the strong guilt Lucky felt when he found out that his parents died and almost destroyed himself by falling into an uncontrollable emotional instability. Luckily, their love for him convinced him and returned him to normal. So, they knew first hand how determined he would be, and it only added to when they were put in danger not too long ago.

“We can only support him however that we can,” said Ondine finally with a soft smile.

“Yes, and we’ll do our best in it,” agreed Emilia, to which the others all nodded in agreement.

Marilia smiled around at seeing their unity before saying, “That’s good to see. Keep up the spirits. You don’t want him being upset or worried when he finds out how depressed you all got while he was knocked out.” As they all nodded, she finished with, “Don’t worry though. I’m sure Nara, Valerian, and Zen would’ve reached Mardana Kingdom and begun their assault on the enemy’s base of operations. They are pretty angry after all.”

Her remark was met with small smiles forming on everyone’s faces before they turned to watch the sleeping figure of the Phoenix Titan as he and the Dragon Titan slowly recovered from the extensive battle that day.