Chapter 214.

PART 1.

“You had one job, boy!” said the colonel. “How can you abandon your superior officer like that?”

Raven feels like a criminal, standing in front of the furious judges. The high-ranking military officers are all looking at him, their gaze drilling into him, and making him question his decision at every level. The Singh twins watch this happening, not saying anything.

“Do you have any idea what kind of negative impact we have suffered after the loss of General Sundar?” asked Colonel Sukh Lal. “You’ve doomed us boy, we were winning.”

“Enough Colonel.” Said Rani, having enough of this one-sided berating. They are not here to criticize the young man, they are here to listen to what happened, and whether the general has any final orders. “I believe we should at least listen to the account of these young men, given they are the only survivors of this disaster.”

“Fine then.” Said Sukh Lal, calming down. “Begin the recounting, we don’t have the entire day.”

“The general met the tribes on the scheduled time,” said Raven, speaking clearly and without a wobble in his voice despite the teardown he had just received. “The council selected three elders to speak with him. They declined the suggestion of a hunting force but agreed to a joint task force. Just when they were done hashing out the details of the command structures, the wards fell, and we got attacked by Jeevan Reddy and his forces.”

“Where were the guards during this time?” asked Rani.

“The room was breached.” Said Raven. “More enemy forces came from the broken wall, and the general was pinned at a corner, with Jeevan Reddy and his men attacking him constantly. other soldiers died, while Elder Angar cleared a path for us to reach the general. When we got close enough, he already decided on a course, and after telling us to back off, he wrote these hasty orders to us.”

Raven shows the paper. “I protested this decision,” said Bhavani, when questioned about this, “But the general was firm, and in the heed of the battle, we did not have much of a choice. Raven decided to leave, and we followed his orders.”

“Once we came out with the two surviving elders, the entire building collapsed after the general self-destructed. Elder Amu died, and the council had to decide who would fill that position.” Said Raven. “They agreed to the general's talks with them, and sent us back with the news.”

“That agreement, do you have it with you?” asked Sukh Lal.

“Here it is,” said Raven, handing over the papers. He also handed them the final orders of the general.

“Did they find the body?” asked Rani.

“No. there was no trace of him,” said Raven.

After looking at the note written by the general, the colonel has a sad expression on his face. “I am not used to apologizing, but I am sorry young man, you do not deserve my anger.”

“It is fine colonel, I understand.” Said Raven.

Once they were dismissed, Rani and Sukh Lal began to discuss whether they could follow through with this agreement anymore or not, given the loss of Sundar they had suffered, since they would have to spare their soldiers to perform this operation.

PART 2.

Despite the losses suffered here and there, the center remains secure. Thus, the military command structure remains also intact, even though the head is missing. Raven is planning to solve this problem.

Despite his young age, he took the day-to-day responsibilities of running the military. Rani and Sukh Lal are helping him out since no one is willing to take this position, even though three weeks have gone by since Sundar’s death. Since these two are not willing to take the position, they do not mind Raven taking the position of the general unofficially despite his young age.

“So, why did you call us here?” asked Avinash, entering the empty throne room, along with Hatori, Kalicharan, and Zeko.

“It is high time you put your words where your mouth is.” this wording puts Avinash off his footing. “As long as I’ve known you, you have been saying that you will sit one day on this chair. Well? go find Porus. Take these three as guards with you. challenge him, and beat him. because we need a king badly, and if you cannot do this now, you won’t be doing this ever.”

Suddenly, Raven starts to loom over Avinash, despite not moving from his position. The room starts to look bigger than it is in reality. “So, what’s it gonna be?”

“Fine.” Said Avinash, shaking his head, and clearing the hallucination. “I’ll beat him, you just watch.”

He stormed out of the throne room, leaving the two old men, and Hatori and Raven inside. “Will you two be fine?”

“You’ve told us to guard him. We’ll do that,” said Zeko. ‘Even though I don’t like it.’ went unsaid.

“Same here,” said Kalicharan. “Besides, if we go out of control, I’m sure this brat will slap some sense into us.” he pats Hatori on the shoulder, having to stretch his arms to do this due to the height difference between them.

“Good,” said Raven.

“Why are you sending us on this chase?” asked Zeko, after Hatori and Kalicharan walked out.

“Because Porus has likely learned about the death of my master.” Said Raven. “I’m hoping he will be willing to come out in the open and realize how dire the situation is for all of us.”

PART 3.

Hatori’s group is resting on Kishore’s farm. While trying to find Porus, they found this farm in the way, and Avinash wanted to meet his old master.

“Be careful student,” said Kishore to Avinash. “Porus will not go down easily, despite his age.”

“I’m aware.” Said Avinash. “But you do not deserve the throne if you cannot defeat a strong opponent.”

“That is true.” Said Kishore.

The farm shook, and the old man suddenly got an alarmed expression on his face. “Boy,” said Kishore to Hatori. “The wards inform me that some people are attacking this place.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Dammit.” Cursed Avinash.

“Why do you worry?” asked Hatori. “I don’t sense a number large enough that they can threaten us.”

The group comes out, and Kishore curses in rage. “That bastard Nitin, he is doing this to get my land.”

“Don’t worry, they won’t succeed.” Said Avinash.

The spell exchange began. The enemy tried to take the wards down, while they attacked from inside, protected behind the wards.

But it is clear to them this won’t work. Avinash goes into the chicken coop and brings them out. he performs a spell on them, turning them into giant birds, who attack the enemy. The savagery on display gives Hatori a pause for a moment.

“How are they not scared?” asked Hatori.

“Because they are male chickens,” said Avinash. “Maybe if they were smaller.”

Still, it is not enough to stop this attack. so Hatori works with Kalicharan, and together, they animate the fallen corpses. Kishore is disgusted to see this, remembering the same thing happening about five years ago. The boy fought against the menace of the undead back then, and now he is using them as a weapon. What the world is coming to?

After the slaughter, Hatori and Kalicharan burn the corpses outside, while Zeko, Avinash, and Kishore go inside to rest and recover. Avinash takes the paper and reads the front-page news. “Looks like we found Porus.”

PART 4.

Two days before the attack on Kishore’s farm, Porus got a newspaper. He is amazed at these agencies. even during a civil war, they continue to report. True, some of them are threatened by the victors on both sides, but they usually find a way to let the public know whatever they are writing is under duress.

“Let’s see here.” he muttered while courting the danger by sitting under a coconut tree, “General Sundar dies in Pashtun territory, on a mission to secure peace.”

The king moves on to the next headline, before what he just read finally hits him. he turns the page back, and starts to read. The paper covered what the general was doing there, the talks with the Pashtun elders, the attack during the meeting, and his death. They also printed the picture of Raven, calling him an unlucky apprentice to have lost his master at such a young age.

Porus loses all strength in his hands, and the paper falls to the ground, it is then carried by the wind at some distance before it gets flattened against another tree. Though no one is here to listen to his words, he still tries to say something. Despite his best tries, he could not speak a word, his throat, and his tongue refused to cooperate with him.

However, he can realize one thing in his head. ‘My games cost me a friend this time.’ he thought.

Porus thought that the general would be there when he returned, destroyed his enemies, and sat on the throne until one challenger could finally defeat him and end his miserable reign. But now, he feels alone. his master is likely living the final years of his life, Zuo Chi who ascended along with him to the throne of his country is also dead, and now, his general is also dead.

Porus goes into the town and barges into the office of a reporter closest to him. “Do you know who I am?” he asked, sparks occasionally flying from his clothes.

“King Porus.” Said the reporter in a mild tone. “Why have you barged into my office?”

“I wish to reveal a challenge. And I have chosen you to reveal that. cease with your professional rivalry, and let every paper in the country publish this.” Said Porus.

Summoning the pen into his hands with magic, the reporter asked. “And what is this challenge?”

“I have enough of this civil war. If you want a piece of me, then come and get it. I will be waiting near the Flooded Plains. None of you will leave alive by the time I’m done with you.” he said. “That’s it.”

The reporter did as the king asked. after that, Porus takes a ship and lands near to the Flooded Plains. It has been 24 hours ever since he revealed himself to the public after he defended the city two years ago. So far, none of his enemies have shown up. though he got another piece of news, which actually confirmed that his step was correct.

Reading another newspaper, he learns that various Asian powers are trying to take advantage of this civil war, muscling in the businesses that traditionally have been done by the Subcontinent. After the death of Sundar, they got even more brazen, but his sudden return has put them on a cautious watch.

Two days have passed after Porus received the news of Sundar’s death. Now he is surrounded by the reporters, demanding answers from him, while he does say nothing but the challenge he stated in the news. To keep his calm, Porus focuses on the sound of flowing water in the nearby stream.

As the press got more insistent, and some nobles were standing at some distance, unwilling to come any closer, Porus thought that maybe this was a bad idea. However, his thoughts are disrupted, when a blasting spell right above their heads attracts their attention, and Avinash walks into the line of cameras with his three guards.

PART 5.

“Porus revealed himself.” Justice was saying to the gathering of his group, as always, consisting of an Incubi, which he happens to be himself, a human man, and a Succubi woman.

He often wonders whether the bitch sitting across from him ever tried to put her claws into the man sitting to his right, but the answer seems to be always no. “It is a good and bad thing for us. we can finally get rid of him.”

“True. But I prefer doing nothing.” Said the man, “Look what he said. He basically invited all of his enemies, and gave an open invitation to kill him.”

“Too bad Jeevan is still stuck on Pashtun lands. We could have used him right now,” she said.

“Never mind.” Said the human. “Either way, Porus is finished. He knows it, which is why he threw down this challenge.”

“So, more wait and see then?” asked Justice to confirm.

“For now.” said the human. “Though if Porus dies without getting a new king, it will be an ideal time for us to make our move.”

“I say getting a new and inexperienced king will be just as good as time as any.” Argued the Succubi.

“Correct.” Said Justice. “We’ll wait for now, and attack if Porus dies without getting his successor, or a new king is crowned.”