Bhairava appeared using his teleportation, like a ray of light being reflected across multiple mirrors, between the lotus and the charging caterpillar, obstructing its way and summoning several violet bullets of annihilation around him.
They shot forward, eating through the blood barrier, before losing energy and dissipating—their tunnels only to be covered up by the surrounding crimson liquid.
Bhairava without wasting a second, raised both arms and summoned a huge silver wave made from the lake's water in front of him.
It picked up speed and gradually traveled towards the caterpillar—crashing into it and taking it along on a ride of a few hundred meters.
"Bhairava, don't waste your energy on that. Concentrate on luring it away from the lotus for now. We are coming up with something to get rid of its blood barrier." I tried to establish a telepathic channel with him, using the same mental imagery I experienced while contacting Panna or Kalpa.
"We only need to stall for time and protect ourselves whenever the outer shell collapses and bursts after clotting to its limit." His message registered in my brain successfully. "The blood in contact with the outside is getting harder with every passing second. It'll take a while until it gets thinner, like peeling an onion gradually."
"Dhruva, in case you missed it," Aditi suggested while lying without limbs on the mound a few of us were standing upon, "The blood, no longer in contact with the main body, also lost its connectivity to the Mage Yeti. She might not be able to control it remotely like you."
"But what about the needles that transformed into worms?" Jevin asked with the potion in his hands. He was clearly hesitating.
Why didn't he drink it yet?
"It's actually easy to do that. You need to put in the worm's movement commands during the creation process with a condition to activate after the connection disrupts." I explained, "It will keep following the command till all its potential energy dissipates."
"I don't know how you got the idea that it's easy." Jevin sighed. "First of all, it's crazy how you're even creating items like that with only two points of Kundalini. Did you match your Kundalini filtering rate with your Release rate?"
It was incredibly difficult to achieve what he suggested, having already tried multiple times.
"It takes a lot of time to make them." I said, "My Aksharas consist of multiple components made out of 2-point Kundalini."
"Mages sure do come up with ways to handle Kundalini." Jevin watched Bhairava's battle with intense eyes. "They feel exponentially powerful at the beginning, but ultimately get overtaken by the Higher Rathis who have trained in Kundalini augmented physical skills all their lives."
That was some food for thought. I need to verify his sources, though.
All throughout our history, the most powerful people have always been Dhanurdhars, capable of employing long-range Divine Missile bombardments.
Once Divine Missiles are launched, in most cases, they never miss their targets and can only be countered by another Missile with the same or higher grade.
In the endgame, all other battle classes will just be sitting ducks in fights centering primarily around archers.
Vivikta had already regenerated her limbs.
Only Jevin was left.
"I think it's better for Aditi to take it instead." He handed the potion vial back to Pratyusha, garnering our confused stares.
On second thought, we had totally forgotten about Sickle Man. What was he up to?
He gave a weak smile after meeting my eyes.
Guess he decided to let things play out. Or he knew he couldn't help us much in this situation.
"Another blood eruption is going to take place soon!" Bhairava warned through the telepathic channel. "Keep your friends safe. I'm counting on you."
"Ofcourse. I'll try my best."
He must have started conserving his energy for later use.
We can't postpone our plan any longer.
"Aditi, drink it." I commanded, "We can't force someone to do things he doesn't want to. After the blood-burst, we'll proceed with our plan. Huddle together, I'll put up my barrier."
"That's better. Considering my Prana will definitely get wasted from the upcoming experimentation, it's better not to use it on these things. My Kundalini barrier might be of help, though. Let me know if I need to deploy it." Pratyusha agreed.
The water in the shallow lake swirled and gathered around the silver lotus, rising to protect it inside a bluish-glowing dome.
"Don't dismiss me like that. I have my own role to play in this battle. The flower... It's calling out to me. She wants me for something." He kept staring at the lotus, leaving me wondering whether he was still communicating with it, "We need to free her child."
"Things got even more complicated then. But we don't have time. Figure it out yourself, Jevin, since you're the only one she's willing to talk to for some reason." Pratyusha gave him a suspicious stare before feeding Aditi the final potion.
Another layer of brown crust collapsed from the caterpillar's barrier, thinning it further.
It burst and released thousands of needles just before touching the ground, the explosive sound echoing against the far-off cavern walls.
I instinctively knew that my barrier won't hold.
"Aditi, Pratyusha, apply your Kundalini barriers. Reduce their speed!"
The storm of needles approached us like a rainshower, filling our vision with its crimson shades.
One after another, the girls' barriers collapsed under the needles' onslaught, fulfilling their roles before those projectiles stuck themselves on mine.
The needles that had dropped all around us—both on the mound and the silver-blue Lake, started wiggling around in search of living targets near them.
So did the ones on my shield.
Eight separate Serpentine pillars of water rose like dragons encircling us.
They coiled, swirled, merged horizontally, and met overhead, then rushed down as a dome-shaped overhead shower, washing away all the blood needles before they could invade the space inside my barrier.
"Jevin. Was that you?" Aditi gasped and stared at Jevin, who was suddenly emanating a sparkling silvery aura, while he sat without his legs but with his arms raised as if trying to summon rain.
"Technically, it was the Lotus. She's sharing her energy with me since I am the only one with Water-based Kundalini around here." He answered, inspecting his glowing arms.
"Being a sage, Vivikta also has Water Kundalini." Pratyusha countered immediately.
"It's just my theory." Jevin defended, looking emotionally hurt.
"Guys, this is not the time for infighting." Vivikta scolded Pratyusha, trying to end the blame game she almost started.
"It works in our favor that we can utilize such power—considering all the water we have here. What's wrong with it?" Aditi added, clearly growing impatient from all the bickering.
"You don't get it, Aditi." Pratyusha protested, "This whole business... Seems fishy. I've been thinking for a while now. Why now? Why us? Why here... Questions like these. Something I can't put a finger on is going on behind the scenes."
I glanced at Vivikta. "Were you the one who decided the team distribution?"
She looked away, solidifying Pratyusha's suspicions.
"The mentors were supposed to choose whoever they wanted to take." Vivikta looked down without meeting our eyes, "I fought hard with the other sages to bring you guys together... But I don't remember why."
"What the hell do you mean by 'not remembering why'?" Aditi, previously acting calm, now jumped in after hearing Vivikta's excuse.
"See. I told you! If anybody other than us had been here, they wouldn't have survived." Pratyusha concluded. "It's as if they knew the future."
"Actually, a lot of Beings can already do that. It's not a big deal." Vivikta mentioned with a sigh, "I've been trying to remember what happened two or three weeks ago during the member selection meeting, but it's all blank. I must have been forced to use 'it' for some reason. Or maybe something happened at the meeting itself."
What is she even talking about?
"No time. We'll talk about this later." Vivikta changed the subject and stood up, "I'm already done with my preparations. You guys get ready to do whatever you're planning to remove the blood barrier."
"Vivikta, wait!" Pratyusha tried to stop her, seeming to have a lot more questions for our fleeing mentor, but I knew we won't be getting those answers anytime soon.
Vivikta left my barrier and stepped down into the shin-high water, followed by a few parade-like motions."What now?" Aditi's half-regenerated limbs looked absolutely horrendous.
No matter how many times I watched this process, it didn't get any better.
"Jevin, as we saw already, your water skills borrowed from the Lotus can counter the Yeti chimera's attacks. Stay with Vivikta and protect her until we destroy the blood barrier." I figured Pratyusha won't be saying anything unless she stopped glaring at Vivikta's back, who was now coordinating with Bhairava, summoning fire spells at the caterpillar.
"Okay." He nodded and crawled out on his thighs.
The water surrounding him got wild.
Two thick water pipes rose like hooded cobras and wrapped themselves around Jevin's thighs.
Their tails ended up hanging from his missing knees until they expanded and started releasing a high-pressure jet stream of water provided by the pipes originating from the lake itself.
Two more streams gushed out of his hands using the same mechanism.
"I. Am. Water-Man..." Jevin snorted, and using one of his hands to balance his position, he snapped his fingers.
Pratyusha made a dirt ball using the muddy soil of the lake and threw it at him, square in his back. "More like Lotus-man!"
"I'm going, I'm going. No need to hit me like that! Every guy dreams of doing it atleast once. Ask Dhruva!" He protested and, spraying water at our barrier, swished towards Vivikta.
His tech reminded me of those videos of water jet packs before I finally focused on Pratyusha's barrier transportation plan.
"You guys can be so silly at times." Pratyusha ran her dirt-caked fingers through her hair, leaving them standing in multi-directional spikes.
I tried not to laugh.
"Especially during serious times." Aditi agreed.
"That's how we cope. Nothing's better than a laugh and a silly joke when everybody is shitting their pants under pressure." I shrugged.
"We are as calm as always. Maybe you're talking about yourself." Pratyusha smirked while summoning a pearl-sized barrier over one of my arrowheads that could transform itself into a drill earthworm.
Next time, when I will create my next batch of earthworms, I'll combine both my signatures into a single weapon.
It will enter the body of my enemies as a drill earthworm, carrying the payload that will bloom into urchin spikes. Right inside their bodies.
They won't have to force through all the muscles trying to reach the nearest beating organ.
Now, if I can learn some kind of an accurate throwing technique that can transport my earthworms to weak spots on the monsters' bodies, my whole strategy will be completed.
After my worms failed to invade through Bhairava's Divine Skin, I've been thinking of what to do...
Is there some way I can breach even the Kundalini barriers of powerful beings?
How much energy do I need to provide the drill heads of my earthworms with to be able to achieve a feat like that?
"Dhruva, try moving this one." She handed me back one of my earthworms, which now had a small and thick, almost spherical belly.
Like a snake struggling to digest its food. I knew what it was called from a recent life science class.
"Clitellum! My little critters are finally completed!!" I was overjoyed.
"Once the cylinder expands from its belly, the earthworm too will be destroyed. I hope you won't mind." Pratyusha was feeling unnecessary guilt.
"I don't think they are living beings, robots, maybe? So you don't need to feel bad." I said, glancing at Aditi, who now had all four of her limbs regenerated.
"Why are you sweating like you did all the work here?" I asked, eyeing her.
"Because I actually did." Aditi gave Pratyusha a side-eye, asking her to explain.
"My Blessing works in a relative coordinate space." Pratyusha explained with a calm demeanor, "Its point of origin remains stagnant within the same dimension, say Satya, in the usual case. I can only manipulate the size of the barrier, not its origin."
"But if it was summoned inside a closed-off sub-dimension," Aditi added, "And if the sub-dimension itself moved around within another..."
"We'll be able to transport the origin point of Pratyusha's Blessing inside Satya from one point to another by simply moving the sub-dimension itself!" I completed.
"Yeah," Aditi mumbled, flexing her regenerated fingers with a frown, "I can create a sub-dimension the size of a pea. Space Kundalini is quite mind-boggling, and I've never been good at using it. I wonder why I even awakened it as my first chakra."
It makes sense, considering how she never shies away from speaking her mind. The throat chakra awakens when you learn how to express yourself properly, honestly, and without reservations.
If you want harsh and honest feedback, those are the people you need to look for.
In my case, it will be a while before I'm able to do that. I could have made up with Anik otherwise. But he also had his Throat Chakra awakened.
I wonder what went wrong with him.
"But your Space based Kundalini certainly helps you summon your barrier anywhere you want." I focused back on our conversation, ignoring the blasting sounds coming from the battlefield to our left.
Bhairava, Jevin and Vivikta were using all they had to keep the monster away from the Lotus.
I remembered her feat of spawning a platform right under Jevin while they were hanging.
They were trying to cook up a plan before we arrived. After Bhairava's appearance, it must have gotten swept under the rug.
"Skills have a predetermined function and methodology. If you follow a particular set of instructions, you'll be able to summon a barrier, no matter the kind of Kundalini you possess." Aditi explained, "But the barrier's properties might be augmented by the nature of your energy. My Space Kundalini only helps me manifest a barrier anywhere within a few dozen feet. With more points, maybe I can increase both the range and duration."
"If you take the Surakshak lectures like Aditi and me," Pratyusha added, "You might be able to conjure even stronger barriers than the ones you can create right now."
"Yeah, your Kavach can somehow hold on, considering the amount of Kundalini it was created with, but it can be made more efficient." Aditi and Pratyusha kept working their hands, creating small indigo-colored pearls and using the tail of the earthworm as a needle to pierce it.
While they threaded pearls, I kept experimenting and finalized the commands I needed to give my drill worms.
"Before, we were thinking of a different plan... But a lot of our options opened up when Jevin decided to give Aditi the potion instead." Pratyusha examined the earthworms one last time and handed them over to Aditi. "It's now up to you. Dhruva's commands will kick in after they enter the caterpillar's blood barrier. I'll take care of the rest once he gets it to where we want. Best of luck, Aditi. We'll replenish our Kundalini and start helping you out soon."
Aditi, now with all her limbs regenerated, nodded and sprinted away, leaving Pratyusha, me, and Sickle-Man behind.
"How long have you guys been working together on this plan?" I asked while absorbing Shakti flowing throughout the cavern, filtering it and feeding it to my 24-point storage gem.
Having a Peeth so close to us was a Blessing. The only problem was that the enemy could also utilize the same.
"After you went off somewhere, leaving us behind." Her tone was slightly accusatory.
"I told Vivikta I was going to replenish my energy reserves and that I would be back by evening. I thought you all would be waiting at the village instead of raiding the hornet's nest."
"Vivikta remembers the conversation differently though."
"Why do you guys keep fighting among yourselves for no reason?" Sickle-Uncle pursed his lips and gave a sarcastic nod.
Both of us sighed and gave him a tired look.
"From next time, make sure to use KalpaYaal. I have no idea why you don't use it properly!" Pratyusha demanded.
The yellow aura around her body had significantly strengthened from absorbing Shakti, dyeing her light brown eyes and dark brown hair with its shades.
I remember all of us having colorful eyes and hair when we first awakened our chakras.
The colors have dissipated with time as our control over Kundalini gradually increased, but many of the Rakshaks still have a few streaks of colored hair even now.
Thankfully, those physical features don't transfer over to Alik. Otherwise, our teachers there would be giving us hell under suspicion of becoming a delinquent.
Even though the Chakras are currently under control, the colors can sometimes flare up under pressure or over-exertion.
"You're our leader. Supposed to give commands that make the best of our abilities. It's never good to micro-manage your subordinates. But, if you want me to send you updates every minute of the day, don't complain if I send some while taking a shit." I said while shrugging.
Pratyusha gulped down a few cooked pieces of meat after chewing them thrice. Her Lakshman Rekha Dimension Manipulation is going to take a lot of Prana.
"Your jokes need a bit more variety; They somehow always end up getting related to that. I'm talking about those cases when we get separated for some reason. You could've just messaged, 'bringing Bhairava' or something."
I didn't mention that I also had information about the Yetis' presence and their traits from Bhairava.
She won't let me go scot-free if she ever came to know.
I thought they would be in the village protecting it. Who knew they would take this drastic step? I was planning on strategizing first and then counterattacking with Bhairava's input in this whole matter.
Let's keep it buried for now. Hopefully, Bhairava won't snitch me out accidentally while talking about how we met.
A painful roar of the caterpillar arrived from the battlefield, interrupting our conversation.
"They are somehow holding on. We'll need to go help them." Pratyusha analyzed the situation before us. "Still, I am glad you were here. Given a choice between any of the powerful seven and you as a party member, I would take you any day."
"Just a few days ago, you were rebuking me for not contributing enough." I gave her a side-eye.
"Well, my commands are supposed to make the best of your 'abilities,' just as you said a couple of seconds ago. I'm supposed to rebuke you as the leader to make sure you're working according to your potential." She grinned.
It was fun talking to her. She hardly took any offense to teasing and can even augment conversations with her own comebacks.
"Thanks for saying that, though. But shouldn't it be a natural choice made from common sense? I currently hold the first rank in our class, after all, in terms of levels."
She bumped against my shoulder playfully. "Don't you have the Muladhara Chakra? How come you're getting cockier instead? People with that chakra are supposed to be humble and down-to-earth."
She jumped down the mound and splashed around in the shin-deep silvery water, training herself to be familiar with the effort she needed to put in to walk around in this flooded environment.
"I'm not sure about the principles. Maybe I needed to be humble to awaken the chakra. I can be whatever I want after that." I followed her into the lake.
Its cold water sent a shiver up my spine, rattling my teeth.
"It's crazy how we are holding that off with only four people." I stretched out my arms and cracked my knuckles.
"Don't forget we have a God on our side. Moreover, Jevin too, got a significant power boost." Pratyusha mumbled her thoughts, staring at Jevin, who glowed like a silver star.
Jevin moved his hands, imitating graceful gestures, manipulating the Lake to his whims. A water sphere took birth in front of his palms and shot forward, splashing against the blood barrier of the caterpillar.
Water from the lake seems to wash away the caterpillar's blood effectively.
Jevin followed an underarm bowling motion, creating more such spheres and shooting them forward.
Their immense force dragged the caterpillar away from the silver lotus currently being defended by Aditi, Bhairava, Jevin, and Vivikta.
They were the only ones standing between the two.
"Jealous?" I asked.
"Yeah." She chuckled, but I knew she was being serious.
The way she's being this straightforward made me suspect whether she was trying to awaken her Throat Chakra next.
With that, she wouldn't need Aditi's help to create sub-dimensions to contain her Lakshman Rekha beads anymore.
"Not everyone can have everything. We, too, are jealous of your blessing." I said and sprinted towards the Thousand Petal Lotus.
Pratyusha ran by my side, matching my speed.
It was our turn to join the battle.