[SLAM!]
“URK!..My lord!!” The man groaned painfully as his body was suddenly forced down. Cracks from the force pushing him down kept getting larger as his body sank into the hard floor.
“Nagaraj’s death is understandable, but Pratira and Vidyut both died?” The woman sitting beside a red-haired man, who sat on a throne, spoke while her pitiful gaze fell on the man shaking in fear in front of them.
“The...the Shadow Master stayed out of that place, and suddenly Drona appeared…” One could barely make sense of the muffled words being spoken by the man, as his face had now been completely forced down to the floor.
“That prince...is the one who killed Pratira,” the red-haired man spoke while his eyes stared blankly forward. “His corpse should be the witness of the task,” he continued as if ordering someone not visible in the room.
***
A chill filled the atmosphere, at the same time the stillness of Arav began worrying Yaksh. Arav’s eyes were locked on the dark figure without a single blink interrupting the gaze. The cracks appearing around the dimension seemed to be condensing right behind the dark figure, bringing about a change that suddenly made Yaksh’s eyes wide;
“What…is that?” In a breathy voice, Yaksh asked while unconsciously stepping forward. His words finally managed to change the focus of Arav’s gaze, falling on the large black statue of Pralaya slowly getting revealed behind the figure.
Arav’s eyes suddenly lit up, as his gaze fell on a small source of bright blue light right above the statue.
[WOOSH!]
A sudden gust of wind made their clothes flatter, as the two separate dimensions suddenly combined. Arav noticed streams of green energy flowing inside the bright source of blue light. As Arav traced them, his eyes suddenly caught the image of hundreds of elves floating around the chest of the statue, with the green energy originating right out of their bodies. Their pale skin sticked on their bones, while contracted like clothes.
“Don’t…” Arav spoke, as he sensed Yaksh’s energy suddenly rising behind him not a second later he saw the elves.
“Who even is he?!!” Yaksh’s voice perfectly reflected his enraged state. Arav slowly raised his eyes once again until his gaze fell on the figure;
“I’m not certain, that appearance does hold a striking resemblance to the one Drona described…but I certainly know what that is..” Arav's eyes glowed red as he spoke, “That crystal radiating blue light is similar to the one we found…That energy is present in front of my eyes,..but I still can’t perceive its strength. The elves' condition is gradually worsening as we speak.” he added.
Yellow energy suddenly appeared out of Arav’s stretched right arm and fell on unconscious Adhrit,
Yaksh’s eyes twitched as he witnessed Arav’s actions; “Wait..don’t tell me..” he said while clenching his fists.
“Attempt to rescue the elves alongside him, refrain from attacking the blue light. Interrupting the flow of the energy from the elves would suffice.” Arav said while he retracted his arm.
Yaksh’s eyes shivered with rage and disbelief,
“Again?! YOU CAN’T JUST THROW ME OUT OF THIS FIGHT!”
Arav turned towards him, Yaksh’s rage was quickly replaced by shock, as he found clouds of concern and uncertainty plaguing Arav’s eyes.
“If you participate in this battle, their condition will be the least of your worries..”
The tone in which Arav spoke made Yaksh step back, his heart began racing while slight shivers throughout his body threatened his balance. The words Arav spoke held fear far more than the entire encounter with Pratira combined.
“Will you..be alright?” Yaksh’s eyes twitched as he heard his own words;
“Heh…I won’t die.” Arav answered with a smirk while he clenched his fists and slightly raised them both;
[WOOSH!] [GRAAARGH!!]
A powerful red aura suddenly erupted out of Arav, with a sound of a terrifying beast roaring simultaneously making the ground tremble. Arav gazed at the figure while his feet slowly began lifting up from the ground. Yaksh felt the air around him vibrating just by the slight movement from Arav, as an uneasy feeling crept his heart. After witnessing a number of battles Arav fought, he could feel that the energy Arav radiated at the moment was all he had.
[WOO!]
A red stream of light was shot from the ground directly at the figure;
[BHUM!]
A tremendously powerful shockwave burst out in the sky, revealing Arav’s punch being caught by the figure’s right palm. Arav’s eyes contracted upon sensing the patterns inside the figure’s palm. Realizing he didn’t have the luxury to analyze them;
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[SMACK!]
Arav flung his left leg directly at the figure’s neck;
[BHUM!]
Another shockwave parted the clouds in the sky. The figure slightly raised his head, reaching a state where one would conclude he looked directly at Arav’s face if he had eyes to do so.
At a rate that Arav’s eyes failed to perceive, a powerful and sudden blow of the figure’s hand, on his shoulder sent him crashing down on the ground;
[CRASH!]
Arav landed on his feet while forming a crater in the process, he quickly raised his head in the direction of the figure’s previous position.
[SMACK!]
Before the dust lifted by his fall could settle, they were blown away with a sudden gust of wind. Arav’s eyes widened, he attempted to move his limbs;
Not even a second was spared for Arav to move, a powerful kick from the figure connected directly at his abdomen and sent him flying backward at a rapid rate.
Arav’s energy raged in an attempt to stabilize his fall,
[BHUM!]
His actions were again too slow, his back was bent backwards by another powerful kick from the figure, who suddenly appeared below him. Every cell in his body shivered with the immense force of the attack, while he was sent flying towards the sky;
The dark figure appeared right above him before he could reach the altitude of mere meters.
Arav’s red aura was dispersed with a powerful explosion, created just by the figure’s kick on his chest.
He fell on the ground with far greater force than before.
The red aura once again erupted out of Arav, he raised his hands and aimed at the figure;
[HUM!]
Hundreds of arrows appeared around him in an instant with a clear target.
[SWOO!!]
Every single one of the arrows were shot at the figure, who strangely stayed still in the sky;
The arrows collided with the hard skin of the figure, followed by each of them exploding with a powerful energy.
Arav brought both of his open palms next to his chest,
[WOOSH!]
The raging red aura surrounding his body began rapidly condensing between his palms while forming a sphere.
“Hooh!” A gasp escaped Arav’s lips, as his eyes caught the sudden image of the figure directly in front of him.
The dark figure’s right fist collided with the red energy sphere, the sphere was stretched sideways while getting compressed in the center. Before Arav could manage to react, the sphere exploded with the resulting force throwing Arav’s palms away. Without a second of delay, the next thing Arav felt were his ribs shattering, as the figure’s hand tore through the explosion and crushed his chest.
The blood gushing out of his mouth didn’t even fall on the ground and suddenly, Arav was thrown back at a tremendous speed with an equally powerful force;
Before his momentum could disappear, a kick from the figure connected right on his shoulders.
[CRASH!]
A huge crater was formed by the sheer amount of force created by the figure’s attack. Arav lay flat on the ground while covered entirely in blood.
The figure landed directly on Arav’s chest;
[SMACK!] [BOOM!]
The crater grew twice in size with every kick from the figure. Arav’s chest was almost entirely turned into pulp, but the figure showed no signs of stopping. Arav’s brain numbed by the combination of intense pain and his non-existent breathing, his eyes barely held onto light to form an image.
Just when his consciousness was about to break;
[FWOOSH!]
“RAAARGH!!!” Arav’s scream filled with agony vibrated his vocal cords. The figure halted his attacks momentarily, taken aback by this near impossible occurrence. Arav's red aura suddenly erupted once again with an explosion that threw the figure meters high into the sky. Arav's body began to float while healing at a rapid rate.
—
“What-..” Adhrit’s feet, previously headed towards the statue, suddenly stopped at the sound of Arav's scream. With an anxious and worried expression, he turned back in the direction of the sound and gazed at a bright red glow in the distance.
Adhrit’s words caused Yaksh, who was in front of him, to also stop;
“Let's go!...We barely have any time!” he said while turning back, but his words utterly contradicted his worried eyes gazing at Arav's location.
Adhrit clenched his fist and turned towards Yaksh. They both shared a gaze with the same expression for the first time since they met.
“DAMN IT!!” Adhrit stomped forward, the sense of frustration in his words was shared by Yaksh. Their movements, while rapid, were not untouched by hesitation. The desperation and anger at their own inadequacy plagued their eyes.
[BHUM!]
Yaksh suddenly collided with something invisible. He stepped back uncontrollably while holding his head.
Adhrit felt the air around them trembling with an unknown force. As he raised his eyes towards the sky, he caught sight of the elves floating with green energy rushing out of their bodies.
[BOOM!]
An explosion occurred right in front of Adhrit. As he looked forward, he found Yaksh striking the invisible wall with a barrage of explosive arrows.
“WHAT IS THIS!!” Yaksh exclaimed as his arrows did nothing to change their situation.
[FWOOSH!]
Adhrit sensed an unusual energy for a split second. The interval of its appearance and disappearance was so short that he failed to comprehend even the general direction of its origin.
Adhrit suddenly realized that Yaksh had stopped shooting arrows and had his gaze locked on Arav behind him in the distance.
“What happened?” Adhrit found himself completely lost. The figure, the strange crystal, and now Yaksh’s reaction all felt completely incomprehensible to him. In contrast to his frustration, Yaksh had an expression of surprise on his face with a strange anticipation glimmering in his eyes.
“...He’s mad...” Yaksh whispered while a memory of a distant past suddenly surfaced in his mind.
[Chapter 35: END]