Occasional tremors from the occuring war outside the entrance shook the entire room. The old king sat on his blue throne with a gloomy expression, which stayed perfectly in harmony with the atmosphere of the room.

The twelve nobles sitting in front of him tried their absolute best to control their shaking hand, which didn’t stay unnoticed by the king’s eyes.

“THE ARMY IS BARELY HOLDING UP!! WE REQUIRE IMMEDIATE BACKUP!”

“IT HAS JUST BEEN TWO HOURS AND THE WAR ALREADY SEEMS TO BE LOST!!”

One after the other, the twelve nobles voiced their concern in a trembling voice.

“...This is indeed a troublesome time for our kingdom. But in a situation like this is when a man’s courage is tested. We must have faith in our army.”

“But Your Majesty, the naga army is far greater in number than us.” A middle aged man showed his uncertainty. The king moved his eyes across the room, scanning every noble present. By their expressions, it was clear that they shared similar thoughts.

“[SIGH!]...I’m unsure how I will face my ancestors..” The king said while standing up, followed by the nobles’ feet straightening the very next moment.

“Only…only if the Chandrashtra wasn’t…” A noble spoke from the six on the left of the king, he bit his lips before his words could completely escape. Other twelve nobles stared at him with angered eyes, while their forehead skin contracted.

“I…I apologize..”

“It is indeed true, if I possessed Chandrashtra, this battle would have been nothing more than a slight inconvenience.” The king said with a heavy heart, resulting in a regretful expression swiftly covering the faces of the twelve nobles, which they failed to bear the load of and lowered their heads.

“Shouldn’t young Master Adhrit have stayed here to defend his kingdom?...Or are the elves a matter of greater concern?” The same middle aged noble said with apparent hesitation in his voice;

The entire room went silent, all the while the king kept staring at him with a blank expression.

“The elves are as much citizens of this kingdom as the humans..Furthermore, we have one Astra still standing defending this place.”

***

[BHUM!]

A large explosion of purple energy, that occured in the distance reflected in an incredibly focused pair of eyes. Screams of soldiers getting engulfed followed the rumbling sound of the explosion and entered Aizen’s ears. He hovered a few meters above the ground while holding a bloody sword in his hand.

[TING!!...]

The sound of hundreds of shields getting struck by spears, swords and arrows echoed in the area. Aizen scanned the entire battlefield and saw hundreds of thousands of warriors’ bloodthirsty weapons constantly attempting to pierce their opponent.

Aizen slowly raised his sword,

[WOOSH!]

Before the dripping purple drops of blood could fall on the ground, he disappeared and rapidly moved towards the Naga army in his front.

[BOOM!]

An explosion far more potent than the previous one shook the entire battlefield. The strength which caused hundreds of Nagas to get torn limb by limb and flung towards the sky.

“HRAAARGH!!!”

Before the dust from the explosion could settle, hundreds of more Nagas swarmed the same location and attacked Aizen.

[SHING…SHING!!!]

His sword surrounded in a dark-red energy rapidly moved around, cutting every single one of the naga warriors in the proximity.

[SWOOSH!]

Aizen turned into a red streak of light and began rapidly moving back and forth near the border of the kingdom, creating an impenetrable line that sliced every naga who attempted to move forward.

But as soon as he stopped, the Nagas killed were replaced by even greater numbers. Aizen flew towards the sky, he gazed upon the battlefield and found his attempts undone.

The naga army was dozens of times greater in number than the Chandra kingdom, and this fact couldn’t have been made clearer. Behind Aizen, soldiers covered in both their and the enemies blood stared at the seemingly unending army of enemies rushing towards them like a swarm of bees. The serpentine army struck a fear that almost froze their spine and made them surrender, with the final ray of hope being the shadow master Aizen.

‘These nagas have a strange energy..’

Aizen thought while raising his sword towards the sky;

[BHUM!]

As soon as the sword descended, a terrifying beam of dark-red energy rushed out of it and wiped out thousands of nagas in an instant.

[WOOSH!]

A group of about hundred Nagas raised their weapons that got surrounded in a dense purple energy in a second;

[BOOM!]

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The purple energy formed a large snake above the naga army and rushed towards the entrance of the kingdom. Aizen quickly realized the threat and moved towards the gate;

[BOOM!]

A stream of dark-red energy effortlessly negated the attack. But before the Chandra kingdom could take a sigh of relief, hundreds of similar energy snakes appeared all over the naga army and could be sensed around the borders of the kingdom. The Nagas had already surrounded the Chandra kingdom in all the directions it was in sight, resulting in the entire Chandra army trapped in a circle of death.

[WOOSH!]

Thousands of snakes made of purple energy rushed towards the Chandra kingdom from all directions.

***

Yaksh stared at a dark spot in the distance with horrified eyes. His entire body was covered in goosebumps, just by feeling the tremors created in the air by Pratira’s presence.

Arav turned his gaze away from Pratira and forwarded towards Adhrit, who was still unconscious on the floor with heavy bleeding in his abdomen. He sat down next to him and placed his open palm on Adhrit’s wounds.

[HUM!]

The sudden rise in energy behind Yaksh startled him, he quickly turned back and found Arav’s yellow energy rapidly entering Adhrit’s body.

“Wh-..what’re you doing?...” Surprised by Arav’s complete disregard of Pratira, he asked while taking hasty steps towards him;

“His mantra is exhausted..” Arav replied in a calm tone;

“Bu-..”

[WOOSH!]

Before Yaksh’s words could completely escape his mouth, a sudden gust of wind, originating from his back, froze his spine. There was no reason for him to look back, as the being responsible for it was horrifyingly obvious.

Arav slowly raised his head and turned towards Yaksh. He found him standing still with wide shaking eyes and a tight grip on his bow.

Behind Yaksh, there stood a being with dark hard skin covering its entire body. A pair of sharp horns that originated from his forehead, and a tail covered in similar skin as the rest of body, soon lost Arav’s attention. As his eyes were stuck on the six dozens of teeth smiling wickedly at him.

“Fancy seeing you again….Human.” Pratira said with his smile widening even further, with steam appearing out of his mouth even in the warm dimension around them.

“.....I wish I could say the same.”

Arav spoke in a calm tone, while surprising Yaksh with the extent of composure he held.

“HAHAHA!!”

Yaksh saw the shadow of the demon shaking while the sound of his laughter echoed in the area.

“Why do this…” Arav said while turning his gaze back towards Adhrit;

“...Are you really asking that?...I AM A DEMON! I DON’T REQUIRE SOMETHING AS PETTY AS A REASON TO DO ANYTHING!” Pratira opened his arms wide while speaking loudly in a mocking tone;

“But I….do have a lot of reasons….” Arav spoke while standing up;

[WOOSH!]

A small amount of red flames erupted out of the dragon’s symbol on his back,

[HUM!] [GRAHH!]

The very next instance the flames turned into a red raging aura that instantly surrounded him, followed by the sound of a roaring beast trembling the ground.

[WOOSH!] [SMACK!]

Arav flew at an incredible speed towards Pratira and landed a punch directly on his face.

[CRASH!]

Pratira was sent flying through dozens of houses behind him, while Arav followed him.

–

Yaksh took a sigh of relief, but the very next moment, his sense of relief was replaced by anger and frustration. He clenched his fists holding the bow while angrily gritting his teeth.

“USELESS!!!” Yaksh angrily said with his teeth pressed;

–

[SMACK!]

As Pratira was about to fall on the ground, Arav suddenly appeared behind him and landed a kick right on his back.

[WOOO!!] [THUM!]

Pratira was launched at a tremendous speed towards the sky and crashed in the upper end of the dimension made of dark energy.

[THRR!]

Lightning rained down from the impact point and crashed down on the ground, turning any object it touched into dust.

Pratira slowly moved down and stopped after a meter. Arav stared at him with cold eyes, while his raging red aura did the job of showing his anger.

[COUGH!] [SPLURT!]

The demon coughed up dark blood with his lips shaking in pain, while his entire body still trembled from the strength of Arav’s attacks.

Arav slowly flew up towards him, stopping a small distance away and on the exact height as the infernal demon.

Pratira gazed at him with his dark eyes;

“Wh..why did you stop?” He asked while wiping the dark blood off his mouth.

“...My next attack would have failed.” Arav replied in a tone that showed little to no emotions.

“Hehehe…Truly a peculiar being….” Pratira said while lowering his face;

“....”

“You weren’t this aggressive the last time.”

“You earned this treatment by being a demon…and escaping my grasp once.”

“Ho?...Not quite fond of the Demons?”

“Where are the elves?” First time in their conversation, Arav showed some emotion in his words.

“Heh…that…is a question I can’t answer.”

Arav’s brows flinched, he clenched his fists with slight disturbance visible in his red aura;

“Then quit wasting my time..”

“As you wish…BEHOLD!!! A NIGHTMARE THAT IS THE POWER OF AN INFERNAL!!”

Pratira’s voice suddenly got heavier while echoing loudly in the entire dimension;

[BHUM!!!!]

An incredibly dense aura, that allowed not even the slightest amount of time to pass, completely surrounded him. The ominous energy caused air to rush away from the demon, along with the ground trembling without him making any contact with it.

Sweat began streaming down Yaksh’s forehead, who still stood away from them while staring at the terrifying dark energy with terror and disgust.

‘Still hiding something…’

Arav thought while taking a battling stance;

[BHUM!]

With a powerful burst of energy, the demon tore through the dark energy shell and rushed towards Arav;

[SMACK!]

The punch directly connected on Arav’s jaw and sent him crashing down at a rapid pace.

‘HRAAAGH!!!” The demon raised both of his open palm and brought them closer;

[WOOSH!!]

A sphere of dense dark energy was formed between his palms;

[HUM!]

The demon quickly moved his hands down, turning the sphere in a wide beam of dark energy that rushed towards Arav with every intent to devour him.

Yaksh lost his balance and was forced to go on his knees, as the tremendous force of the demon’s attack created a powerful earthquake that shook the entire dimension. Signs of concern plagues Yaksh’s eyes as he stared at the energy rapidly pushing against the ground.

But suddenly, Pratira felt a slight resistance originating from the ground;

“HAAA!!!!”

He roared with anger while pouring twice the amount of dark energy in his attack, making the beam twice as dense. The pressure pushed Yaksh with such strength that it became hard for him to even stay on his knees.

[BHHM!]

Yaksh’s eyes widened, as he felt a sudden tremor from the ground. He used all of his remaining strength and gazed forward at Arav’s location;

‘Wh-..’

[GRAARH!!] [BOOM!]

Suddenly, the dark energy at the ground was torn apart with a bright red glow;

[HUM!]

Before the demon could realize, a sharp red energy blade cut his attack in half.

[BHUM!]

The dark energy instantly dissipated in all direction with an explosion;

[WOOSH!]

Arav leaped towards the demon with a red stream of light left behind him.

Unexpectedly, no sound of impact could be heard. Yaksh confusing stared at the red and black energy incredibly close to each other;

His sentiment of surprise was by another person, Arav stared at the wicked smile of the demon, while his right hand that was raging with red aura stayed impaled in the demon’s chest.

“Hehehe…Surprise…” Pratira said while raising his right hand;

[SMACK!]

Arav blocked the punch from Pratira by bringing both arms in front of him. But the impact caused him to get thrown a small distance away.

Arav rushed forward once again, seeing no response from the demon;

[WOO!]

Again, the only thing Arav’s punches could hit was air, as they went past the demon through his chest.

“Now…the real fun begins…”

[Chapter 31: END]