**You might encounter descriptions involving violence and bloodshed in this chapter. However, I have tried to keep it to a minimum.
With a swift move, Arjun pushed Mallika behind him as a volley of arrows came flying at them.
Mallika watched as his blade swept through the air, slashing the arrows into neat pieces before they could touch his skin. He moved at an exhilarating speed, so fast that it could inevitably shame even the arrows hurled at him. As for his sword, it moved like a flash of lightening, blinding if it's light landed on one's eyes.
The intensity of arrows increased, but even then, not a single one could pass by him and reach her. His lethal blade sliced them before they had a chance.
Mallika smiled. If only she could have this man as her master, her skills would attain a breakthrough and reach a whole new level. Silently, she decided to request him to teach her martial arts once they were out of this mess.
The sound of footsteps and horses neared them rapidly. Mallika drew her blade, as she joined Arjun in dealing with the arrows.
"Lord Arjun!!"
A familiar voice resounded in a loud bellow. The shower of arrows stopped instantly. The duo looked up.
"Lord Arjun, we are not here to hurt you. We have no intention of picking a fight with you either." A man on horseback rode right upto the place where the two stood. Mallika felt a sudden grip on her right hand, and a tug that sent her a safe distance away from the horse-rider. The man pulled down the black cloth covering his face, revealing a rather known countenance.
"General Durg," Arjun smiled, not backing a single step himself. "Your pranks are unusually realistic. I cannot imagine you went to the extent of capturing hostages to just stage a joke for my entertainment!" His eyes wandered to the killers who had circled them all around, many of them holding innocent victims infront of themselves, like a shield.
Durg jumped down from his horse, and walked alarmingly close to where the Lord stood. He seemed confident, surprisingly so.
"We have orders, to get her dead," the general hissed at Arjun. "Please don't interfere."
Arjun paused for a moment, then casually tilted his head to a side, observing the man standing in front of him with narrowed eyes. "Get her dead?" he asked.
Mallika was taking in every bit of what was going on around her. She wasn't surprised at the men's motives. After all, this was what she had been warned of. But what surprised her was how dangerous Arjun's voice suddenly sounded!
"Durg, you have got plenty of chances to correct yourself. Why don't you understand?"
Durg smirked, "It's not that you can kill me, Lord Arjun. I have worked on my energies for a long time! No man can kill me!" He burst into a fit of audacious laughter. "No man can kill me!"
Mallika frowned. Worked on his energies? What exactly was this supposed to mean? For some reason, she felt very irritated.
"Ah! Indeed you cannot be killed by any man," Arjun replied, carelessly swinging his blade from its hilt. "But that doesn't mean you cannot be killed by any woman either."
The surroundings suddenly seemed to chill. Arjun turned his head casually, and flashed Mallika a smile. "You have worked on your energies and made yourself immune to the masculine ones. But Durg, your failed to protect yourself from feminine energies, thinking they are too weak to harm you. But you know what? You are too vulnerable to those very energies that you deemed weak. And your doom will be imposed by a woman!"
Mallika felt a thrill run through her body, as if she was unconsciously responding to Arjun's words. Durg's eyes landed on her, and a strange sense of anger flooded her mind. She clenched her fists.
"Lord Arjun! You are too confident!" Durg gritted his teeth. "Did you think I forgot about my shortcomings? No, I didn't. I know a female can kill me. But she, isn't the one!" He pointed a finger at Mallika, who felt her rage double immediately. Arjun still maintained his lazy smile, his gaze shifting from Durg to Mallika and back to Durg.
"That girl is a useless brat!" Durg spat angrily. "She doesn't have the least bit of awareness about her energies!"
Mallika gritted her teeth, her eyes suddenly flaming.
"What can she, a weak pretty-face do to a powerful warrior like me?! I am Durg! I am the one of those few who have mastered demonic energies! If I use just one demonic blow on that damsel, she will be torn to pieces!"
Arjun gazed at Mallika. It was all happening just as he had planned. She stood some paces away from him, her jaw tightened, her fists clenched, and a destructive aura growing around her. He noticed how the colour of Mallika's eyes began to change-- from dark, they suddenly began to glisten dangerously-- glisten to a shade of red. Her body began to tremble with rage.
"She is not match for me!" Durg continued, unaware of all this. "I can crush that love of yours in less than a few moments! After all, she is a woman! What can women do? She is born weak. Just by pretending to be strong, she cannot compare with me-- who cannot be killed by any man! What can a weak woman like her do?! Hahahaha! Hahahahahah! Killed by a woman!! Hahahaha!!"
"FOOL!!!!"
The atmosphere shook. Arjun stepped back, smiling faintly. One look at Mallika, and he knew she wasn't Mallika anymore. Her body was radiant, emitting a dazzling golden light, but dangerously so. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair blew with the wind that had suddenly become so furious that it seemed to be the harbinger of a storm! This was his beloved, though lost in her rage at the moment.
"You are a sinner!" Her roar rang through the forest. "You have killed thousands of innocents mercilessly! You have misused every chance that you have been given at becoming better! Lost in your vanity, you have become blind to good and evil! Durg! You even dare to insult the feminine! You. Have. To. Pay!"
By this time, the situation in the grove had changed significantly. Durg, who was sensitive to energies, had pretty much recieved a shock. Wasn't this girl unaware of her identity? How could she arouse the energies within herself? If the divine within her was to rise up, wasn't he indeed doomed?
As for the others who couldn't sense the terrible shift of energies around the girl, they could only sense a strange fear gripping their senses. They felt as if they had been petrified, unable to take a single step or make a single movement. They watched, their eyes wide with bewilderment.
"For creation, both the masculine and feminine are equally necessary! One who thinks feminine is weak, is an idiot! Without the feminine, there is no creation! There is no life!" She continued, stepping forward towards Durg, who flinched back in shock.
"Stop there, or it won't be good for you!" he screamed.
"One who dares to consider either the masculine or the feminine as weak, is an utter fool, and one who dares to insult another on such bases deserves to be punished!" The blade in her hand was glowing by now, glowing white with a surreal light spreading in the four directions.
"Shakti!" Arjun smiled, his eyes softening with affection as he observed her. On hearing her name, she turned her bloodshot eyes towards him, fuming in her rage.
"Kill him!" Arjun nodded lightly at her.
"Lo...Lord Arjun, you..you cannot do this! Tell her to stop! Te..tell her..." Durg scrambled up to Arjun, his eyes ready to pop out of fear.
Arjun shook his head, stepping away from the man. "I am so sorry," he said. "But do you think she will listen to me? She... has been enraged by your words and actions, Durg. You cannot blame me, you are the one who looked down on women and infuriated her. I cannot help it."
"I...I was ...."
Arjun hoped Durg would admit he was wrong. If he did so, he might still have a chance of surviving. He might still get a slim chance to correct himself. He might change for good, even now that was not impossible.
But pride indeed blinds a man. Durg...was completely doomed-- doomed by his own arrogance, his ignorance, his self approved sense of superiority.
"I was just saying what is right," he blurted ignorantly. "This is how it has always been!"
"SHUT UP!" Mallika roared, her eyes glowing like fire. "You are despicable enough to be subjected to a hundred deaths! All these years, you have practised what shouldn't be done! You have helped the evil and shunned every morsel of goodness! But it's fine! You die today, in the hands of a female, a female whom you despise!"
A smile spread on her face-- not a beautiful one, but one that could make a human tremble in fear. It was murderous, and carried the promise of bloodshed.
"NOOO!!" Durg growled, as he realised his body becoming paralysed by the mere aura of the woman in front of him. All his energies seemed to be drained away! All the energies that he had worked so hard to gather, his years of practise of demonic powers-- everything seemed to vapourise infront of her presence. He couldn't even lift his sword! "This...Ahhhh!!!"
The swish of a blade was heard, and blood spurted everywhere.
Arjun gazed at the girl in front of him. Her face was covered with blood from her victim. In one hand she held his severed head, while on the other, she gripped her blade, blood was dripping from whose edges.
Most of the people in the grove had already either fainted, or ran away. Now, it was only the two of them. But she wasn't in the mood to calm down. She stepped on the lifeless body of Durg, fuming even as she tried to control her rage.
"He is dead!" Arjun spoke softly, encouraging her to cool down. "Look, you have already killed him."
Mallika glared at Arjun, still refusing to control herself. "You have punished him already," Arjun coaxed her. "This will be a good lesson to people. No body will repeat the mistakes he did. Calm down now, my dear!"
The last words seemed to have profound effect on her. She dropped the severed head, averting his gaze. Arjun walked up to her, silently pleased with all that had happened.
In fact, he had planned this carefully. The easiest way to rouse the slumbering energies within Mallika was to get her enraged. But facing her anger was a terrible thing. Only someone who was fit to be slayed by her could be the appropriate person to be subjected to her wrath.
Durg had long been a sinner deserving death. To serve Vidala, he had committed countless crimes. And he was fated to be killed by her. Of course Mallika couldn't have killed him unless her real identity was aroused. His demonic energies were significant enough to not be underestimated. So, it was essential for her to lose control.
As Arjun neared her, Mallika felt her breath calm down. What had happened to her? Why did she suddenly fly into a rage like this? Yes, she couldn't tolerate the insult to women, but she had never expected herself to behead a man this way, with such terrible ruthlessness.
The sword in her grip began to shake.
"There there," Arjun gently wiped the blood off her face. "Don't be scared of yourself, okay? That's too silly, don't you think?"
And Mallika collapsed in his arms.