The Sun had already left the horizon for a while now and was in the middle of the blue sky staring at the thousands of men below it on the battlefield.
Both the Prayag Army as well the Kashyapa army were standing facing each other. In between them, there stretched half a mile of empty area, where stood few chariots. Standing at one side of the area was the chariots of the ministers and advisors of the Prayag Kingdom and on the other side was the entourage of Kashyapa Clan including the forefather.
But everyone was looking at the center of that almost empty area of the battleground.
In the middle of that area, stood two men facing each other. Both of them were wearing a crimson red robe and a turban covering their head and ears. A golden piece of cloth was wrapped around their waist on their crimson red robe. They were barefoot as the cloth down their knee was tightly wrapped on the leg with golden strips of silk.
Both of them were carrying a sword in one of their hands and a long spear under a shield in the other hand. One of them was a younger man and the other one looked like he was in his forties. The young man was Prince Shantanu and the man in front of him was Prayag King.
Prince Shantanu turned around and walked towards the forefather. Standing before forefather he arched down and touched the feet of forefather with both of his hand and in return the forefather blessed him. Prayag was also turned left and looked towards the Sun before bowing his head down towards before it.
This was ritual to get the blessings of the master before the start of the duel. Since Prince Shantanu's master was present he had no issue in fulfilling the ritual but since the Prayag King's master was no longer in the world so he bowed towards the Sun in place of his master.
After that, both of the duelists once again came where they previously stood and kneeled on both of their knees in front of each other with their forehead touching the soil of the battleground. That was the highest form of respect a warrior can give to anyone. This was done to show their respect not only to each other but also towards the gods and goddesses of the land for which they were going to battle.
In a death-duel of Thang-Ta, duelists usually used to swear a sacred vow to each other to respect their bodies after the opponent's death, not to mutilate the body and give it a proper end ritual. But since it was not a deathmatch they didn't swear those vows. The stood up once again and waited for the forefather to signal them to start.
Both Prince Shantanu and Prayag king was staring in each other's eyes as if trying to read each other's mind and the move other one is going to make.
"Begin."
Clang...
Two sounds one after another sounded and reverberated in the air in almost perfect sync.
Just when the forefather's sound entered in the ear of Prince Shantanu and was still echoing in his ear, he noticed the sunlight on him dimmed a little. Instantly moving his head upwards he saw a shadow furiously coming down on him from above with a spear pointed at him.
Amazed with the swiftness of the Prayag King, Prince Shantanu praised him inwardly and swiftly moved his left hand carrying the shield before his head.
The shield stopped the upcoming spear and with a push on his shield, Prince Shantanu pushed back the Prayag king.
The Prayag King skillfully dived backward but staggered slightly.
Seeing the imbalanced Prayag King, Prince Shantanu swung the sword in his right hand aiming at his shoulder.
Clang...
With a loud clanking sound two metals met each other leaving bright sparks behind.
The Prayag King had moved his shield before him while balancing himself.
At that instant, a sword came from the right of the Prince aiming at his legs.
With right hand already busy on pushing the sword on the shield of Prayag King and the shield carried by the left hand was far from the right leg to reach in time.
At that very moment, Prince Shantanu brought up all his strength in his right hand and pushed his sword more forcibly on the opponent's shield, and then taking support from that shield he jumped in the nick of time before the sharp blade can touch his leg.
"Your Majesty!" Someone from the Prayag King's side shouted.
The already imbalanced king staggered backward to some distance when the extra force from the prince's sword pushed his shield from upwards. He almost falls on his back but forcibly thrusting his spear on the ground he balanced himself.
Prince Shantanu too jumped backward after pushing the Prayag King and balanced himself.
Once again both of the duelists were standing facing each other with water dripping forehead while suppressing their huffing.
"Take this." Prince Shantanu shouted.
Swish...
Suddenly Prince Shantanu hurled the spear in his left hand towards the Prayag King and jumped towards him while waving his sword himself.
The spear in his left hand was deeply thrust in the ground. So leaving the spear, the Prayag king moved his left hand carrying the shield in front of him. While moving behind the shield, Prayag King swung his sword towards the upcoming spear, hitting the pointed edge of the spear.
Thuk...
Thud...
The spear fall on the ground next to him but the danger was far from over.
Clang...
At the moment the spear hit the ground, a sword smashed against the shield of the Prayag King.
But suddenly with eyes wide open, Prince Shantanu realized the error in his calculation but it was already too late. Prayag King was once again tightly gripping his spear with one hand.
Pop…..
"Haahhhh…."
Prince Shantanu was in the air jumping towards the Prayag King when suddenly a foot came right in front of him and landed right on his chest.
Crash…
In just blink of an eye the prince who jumped towards the king crashed loudly on the ground.
"Your Highness…."
Few loud cries were heard from the Prince Shantanu's side the moment he violently crashed on the ground.
A frown appeared on the forefather's face as with a slightly worried expression he looked towards his student.
"It seems like you missed your aim, prince." While trying to regulate his breath smoothly, Prayag King spoke.
"Good… good… seems like Prayag King does live up to his fame. I have heard you and the Shakya King both studied under the same master. Seems like he did have some skills to impart!" While swallowing the blood in his mouth the Prince said.
On the mention of Shakya King, Prayag King frowned a little.
"Heh... Prince if you have only this much of skill then I'm genuinely worried about the future of the Kashyapa Clan. Do all the princes of ancient clans this feeble?!"
The king mocked the prince while putting up a worried face.
Blue veins popped out on many hands at the prince's side but no one said anything. They were inwardly swearing to kill the Prayag King one day with their own hands.
"That was just a warm-up; don't get so full of yourself."
"Now take this….."
Swish….swish…
The moment the word left his mouth, the Prince ran towards the king while swinging his sword fiercely in the air making arcs in the air.
Clank… Clank… Clank…
The sound of metal hitting against each other dominated the surroundings as every expert focused their eyes on every strike of those swords.
"Ahhhhhh...."
Suddenly a loud scream was heard but no one was able to see whose scream was this, they could only see the flashing of blades and sparks…
"Ahhh…."
"Ahhhh....."
"Take this…."
Clank…clank…..
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...."
This time a loud painful shrill filled the air.
Two figures jumped backward from the middle and stood at a distance from each other.