In a dense kurilo forest, two young men could be seen walking side by side. One was significantly taller than the other but both exuded an aura of a warrior.
Under the shade of the dense clusters of green leaves above them, the various bandages would only make one think that the two young men had just gotten out of a battle. And they would be right, Tejas and Vidur both had just won a fight that risked the loss of their life.
"Rakta uses a sword. That is all the information we have on him. So, it's better to lure him out like his minions. A fight with a swordsman in a cave whilst protecting multiple hostages, we'd have no chances of winning!"
Vidur spoke as he stretched his body a little.
The injuries that he got from Kanta weren't alarming. In fact, all that those injuries did was provide sore pain throughout his limbs and back.
However, Vidur was mentally strong enough to remain indifferent to this level of pain. Yet, better be safe than sorry.
Vidur had 2 of his limbs and the entire back bandaged. He didn't want to let a simple overestimation of his endurance be the cause of his death.
On the other hand, Tejas injured shoulder had been plastered with bandages. The dried paste of Vidur's mother could be seen lathered on his wound. In fact, Vidur's small wounds had also received similar treatment.
With such thoughts, Vidur walked alongside Tejas. The two walked through a familiar route and soon reached the entrance of Rakta's cave.
After checking their weapons and arrows, the two brothers finally entered the cave. Tejas followed Vidur who carefully led him through the complicated system of caves.
Along the way, the two encountered chests of treasures randomly placed, silver coins thrown on the ground like trash, and women in cages.
The women, among whom, some were crying shrivelled up with fear; some unconscious; some praying to their god; was a disturbing and enraging sight for Tejas.
"Don't be too angry. Fuel that energy into moving your weapon rather than useless thoughts of justice."
Vidur said, calming Tejas down. But, the talking Vidur was also silenced when they entered a particular room. It was the same room that Vidur and Sardhas had fought inside.
"Only two?"
Rakta's cold voice could be heard from across the giant room. This was still inside a cave but the rocks were carved very properly, giving it an ancient throne room sort of feeling.
On the dais of this rough throne room, sitting nonchalantly on his mighty throne, Rakta commented.
"I really expected several men to have attacked. But it turned out to be just 2 kids. *Sigh*, well If you two defeated Kanta and Dura, I suppose you can at least be a good match."
His arrogance emitted from each movement as Rakta stood up from his throne. He had wide shoulders with a narrow waist. His huge figure was covered by armour and his head was under the shadows of a helmet.
Rakta unsheathed his Talwar and started walking toward the two boys. Seeing this, Vidur was ready to shoot his arrow but Tejas didn't go with a plan and tried again to shoot.
Two arrows as fast as the wind were shot in 3 seconds. Immediately, Tejas rushed to Rakta. He put his bows on his back and also unsheathed his Khukuri. Immediately engaging in close combat.
However, Rakta sent Tejas flying with a kick.
"Tejas, did you forget what I told you? Fighting him alone is nothing but a death wish!"
Vidur said as he helped the struggling Tejas wake up whilst also firing arrows at Rakta.
"Ahh! my back hurts sorry Vidur, I just wanted to see how good the leader of Dura was!"
Tejas complained loudly but his eyes only showed signs of excitement. It was as if he craved to fight a good battle.
"If you are done, should we continue?"
Rakta, who had been leisurely dodging Vidur's arrows spoke with a yawn. Seeing such lax behaviour, Vidur asked mockingly,
"Done? Of course not! Tell me how you controlled those elephants. I doubt random bandits could tame elephants to such a degree; moreover with such effectiveness!"
As his sentence finished, Vidur shot another arrow. Followed right after by another, this time, shot by Tejas.
Rakta deflected the arrows and spoke nonchalantly. But, Vidur could feel the sarcasm in his voice...
"Oh, if you are curious. Sure, if you entertain me enough, I will answer any question that you ask."
but i also have some questions for you boys this is between me and those villagers if you get in my way this place will be yours gra...!
Rakta was interrupted by the two arrows shot by Tejas and Vidur. Rakta turned his torso to the side, dodging the arrows but he was met with another pair of arrows flying at him. This time Rakta swung his Khukuri side to side, deflecting the two projectiles.
The next moment, Rakta rushed at the two boys, who kept firing shots while running away from Rakta running behind them.
Rakta was like a beast. Unrestrained, fast, strong, and classy sadist.
That was how Rakta was. Facing his march, Tejas and Vidur were retreating while shooting arrows, trying to intercept Rakta. However, his movements were unpredictable.
As if it was water, in fluid movements, Rakta dodged most arrows, deflecting and dodging the ones that he couldn't dodge. Seemingly getting bored of this, Rakta spoke,
"You want to lure me outside the cave? What will you achieve even if I walked outside on my own accord? The slight advantage that a wide and open place will grant you is the freedom to shoot!"
The battle had been going on for a long time. Neither Vidur nor Tejas had responded to the mocks of Rakta. They were simply busy intercepting the approaching bandit.
After a short moment, the two of them stopped their retreat. Tejas pulled out his and Vidur's special arrows and put them on the ground. Meanwhile, Vidur increased his pace of firing too to cover up for the lack of his partner.
As Vidur's shooting speed increased drastically, supported by the fact that he was now standing firm on the ground and not retreating backward.
"Gave up?"
Rakta said as he approached the two boys. He was constantly dodging or deflecting Vidur's rapid fire so he couldn't close the distance quickly but he was indeed getting close!
"Duck!"
Tejas suddenly shouted and Vidur immediately ducked to the ground. Next second, two crescent moon arrows were shot right by where Vidur's torso used to be.
Tejas grunted due to his left shoulder injury. The wound hadn't opened but constant rapid movement seemed to be too taxing on it.
Followed by multiple other arrows from Vidur who was squatting on one knee.
Rakta reacted quickly. He dodged the first crescent-shaped arrow and deflected the second one.
*Clang*
The clangor of his sword hitting the open side of the crescent arrow head reached Tejas ears as Rakta was pushed back a step by the impact.
Rakta immediately tried to regain his balance but was a second too late. Vidur's arrows were all dodged by his swift and immaculate moves. But, an unfortunate arrow managed to tear off a small chunk of his flesh on his right leg.
Using the opportune moment, Tejas and Vidur shot again.
However, Rakta seemed unaffected by his injury. He jumped back with blood flowing out from his leg and deflected each arrow.
Now, he seemed to be able to guess each attack from Tejas and Vidur. He skilfully dodged the arrows.
Soon, Tejas and Vidur had to momentarily stop shooting and pick extra arrows. Using the small time, Rakta put some sand on his injury.
"You boys have exceeded my expectations. Your teamwork is pretty good. But, i've given you enough leeway. My turn now."
Rakta started running again. But this time as if something had changed, each of his movements seemed very calculated. Each quick step was stable but unpredictable.
Tejas and Vidur continuously shot at him. However, Rakta didn't deflect a single arrow. He ran past them all, dodging them as if the wind-piercing arrows were actually falling leaves being led by the wind.
The situation completely turned around. Tejas and Vidur couldn't land a single hit on Rakta despite him being injured. Seeing that it wouldn't work, Tejas suggested continuing retreating.
"No."
However, Vidur disagreed. They were obviously slower than Rakta. Trying to run would be only leaving their backs open to all attacks.
Rakta approached them and swung his sword. Vidur and Tejas took a step back but Teja had been a moment too late. Rakta's Talwar left a small cut on his forehead.
Rakta immediately thrust his Talwar back again. This time, His aim was Vidur. However, Tejas pulled Vidur out of the Talwar's range with his left hand.
Tejas right hand was wiping the bleeding on his forehead preventing the blood from blocking his vision.
Rakta again thrust his Talwar at Vidur. But, Vidur also deflected the attack with his Khukuri. His sharp blade slid along the curved edge of the Talwar. It seemed like a deadlock that the two were in but Tejas knew that Vidur was losing the struggle of strength.
Tejas disturbed the standoff and attacked Rakta with his khukuri. It was a downward swing that had a lot of strength put behind it, aimed straight at Rakta's head. But, Rakta dodged the attack by suddenly pushing Vidur away and moving at the last moment.
Tejas stumbled a step forward but turned his body around and used his Khukuri to deal a backward slash at Rakta. However, Rakta had already moved a couple of steps away from him and Vidur.
For the first time since the start of the battle, Tejas could see signs of slight exhaustion in Rakta's face.
But that was all. The signs of exhaustion weren't what caught Tejas attention. It was the fact that Rakta was smiling sadistically.
He put the sharp edge of his Talwar to his mouth and licked the blood on the blade.
"Nice, your blood tastes good. Let's have you bleed more."
Then spit the blood from his mouth on the ground.
Looking at this, the two panting boys discussed it briefly.
"I don't think we can win against him this easily. I have a plan. Go and bring more arrows from the next spot! I will hold him off."
Tejas told Vidur who had been injured in the legs. Vidur nodded and immediately dashed, gritting his teeth to ignore the pain in his legs.
Rakta, who was witnessing this scene, letting it unfold intentionally said in a dejected tone.
"You two sure gave me a good fight but it has become boring. Whatever, I will deal with you first and kill your friend."
Tejas put some soil on the cut on his forehead. He gripped his Khukuri tightly and replied.
"Yeah, in your dreams!"
Rakta smiled again and rushed towards Tejas who was doing the same. Rakta aimed his Talwar at Vidur and started to send thrusts and occasional cuts.
Tejas also swing his Khukuri. Dodging the thrusts, Deflecting the slashes, and occasionally using his hands and feet to fight.
*Clang* *Clang*
The clangor of metal echoed amidst the dense Kurilo forest.
Thrusting, swinging and slashing. Rakta attacked in every way. While most of his attacks didn't land, some did manage to injure Tejas.
On the other hand, Tejas was also similar. As he was buying time for Vidur to return, Tejas had no need to be overly aggressive in this fight.
His previous injury on his shoulder isn't fully heal that pain was making him a little slow.
He just needed to hold his ground and not die. Even if it was barely.
Knowing it full well, Rakta got angry. He was annoyed at the fact that he couldn't have a good fight.
So, he became more aggressive. He quickened his pace of attacks even more and for the first time, used his hands to pin down Tejas on his knee then aimed for Tejas's head with his own knee.
Tejas quickly put his elbow to guard the attack but Rakta pushed him away and swung his Talwar down at the laying Tejas. Tejas rolled in the dirt and dodged the strike.
However, Rakta followed through with his attacks. This time, a small cut appeared on Tejas abdomen.
However, Tejas kicked Rakta's knees and immediately rolled away to get some distance.
"When you said I could only kill you in my dreams, I thought you'd be a good swordsman. But, you are just a kid who started learning how to use a khukuri very recently. Seriously, what tricks did you play to defeat Kanta and Dura? "
Tejas was very sweating profusely as he answered.
"No, we didn't use any tricks. They fought like warriors and died honorably too.
You can see injury in my body, this injury I got fighting with him.
But you, on the other hand, deserve no such thing as honour. You misuse your power to bully the weak. Moreover, you torture innocent people and don't value human life whatsoever. So, I will defeat you and free the innocent villag-"
"Ahahaha!"
Tejas was interrupted by the loud laughter that escaped Rakta's mouth. The laughter, however, wasn't brought by joy. It was filled with pure rage and disdain.
"Birds that just left their nest don't know how vast the sky is. You naive brats who see the world as a beautiful heaven of good people, disgusts me. I hate brats like you. Thinking you are right. Even more so, it angers me that I have wasted this much time on you. Let's finish this before your friend arrives."
"..."
Tejas didn't respond but that's when Vidur finally returned. His injuries hadn't been treated but were slightly bandaged.
"You are bleeding way too much, heal first!"
Vidur told Tejas while handing him the arrows that he had brought.
"I am okay, it's nothing to worry about."
Tejas says to Vidur
tejas after thinking too much
"I think we have to use that formation that we both practice for many weeks. The Chakra Formation."
Vidur agreed to Tejas plan and each of them ran to the opposite sides of Rakta and started to fire continuous arrows. Rakta blocked most of the arrows but he couldn't block the onslaught from two directions.
Seeing them ready, Rakta licked his blood and smiled sadistically again. He had strangely adapted to the several and near unpredictable patterns of their attacks.
Rakta spoke once again,
"So, is this all that your plan amounted to?"
Without any response, Vidur shouted.
"Chakra formation 2!"
This time, Tejas and Vidur began running around Rakta as if he was in the middle of a wheel hole. And, like a wheel, they started to rain arrows on Rakta while running around him."
This time, Rakta tried to dodge the attacks as much as he could. However, he couldn't dodge each arrow. His helmet got blown away by a powerful arrow and he was quickly injured too.
Several arrows pierced through his skin, on his hand and legs, and on his abdomen. Tejas and Vidur stopped after seeing that Rakta's body was bloodied, thinking they could kill him finally.
*Cough* *Cough*
Rakta coughed up blood however his strong posture didn't change. Despite getting bloodied, he still stood strong.
Rather than breaking down, he burst out in laughter and pulled the arrows from his body.
"Ahahaha, did you bastards think I would really die from those arrows? Sorry to disappoint- Actually, Ahahaha! I am not sorry, this has been the 2nd fight that has made my blood boil. This is fun! This is what a fight is supposed to be. I can finally go all out!"
After pulling out all arrows, Rakta pulled out his armour revealing the scars and bruises that covered his whole body. The blood seeping out of his fresh wounds painted the old whip marks and torturous wounds red.
Each of these marks and scars seemed to speak the tale of a sad and unfortunate story.
After his helmet fell to the ground, a big lined scar could be seen on his forehead.
"Both of you see this scar in my forehead, this scar was given to me by that village chief old man when I was small boy, this is my own matter with those peoples and now you boys are in my way because of that both of you will feel my wrath."
Rakta was wearing a necklace and a belt on his hip. He pulled the belt and it elongated. Turning into a sort of whip-like blade.
"I am good with a sword but my main weapon is this URUMI! (Urumi is a sword with a flexible, whip-like blade).
You were able to injure me more than I imagined. You entertained me. And like I promised, I will tell you the secret to the elephants. I used a drug to control them. And the antidote to that drug is right here in my necklace.
Now, the entertainment will end soon. Dodge if you can boys. The real fight has begun!"