The following day, Aahan was back in the auditorium, which was less packed than it had been before. Out of the hundreds that participated in the trials, only thirty remained; out of them, only twenty would be accepted as trainees in the Ashram.
Apart from the fewer numbers, Aahan noticed a large audience in attendance and various cameras pointing at the centre of the auditorium where a massive square ring had been constructed.
"So this is what Amrita meant by saying Ashrams across the world would have their eyes on the competition," Aahan mumbled as his eyes scanned the crowd. He also noticed Gurudev in attendance.
But before he could look anymore, someone smacked him on the back. It wasn't super painful, but it did sting a bit. Aahan turned to see Dheera standing there with a usual smile.
"You made it, huh?" he said. "Not like I ever doubted you."
"Wouldn't have made it this far without your advice," Aahan replied. "Also, my apologies, I couldn't beat Isha's score."
Hearing that, Dheera dismissively waved his hand. "I didn't expect you to do it. Hell, I don't think anyone could defeat her. However, you got in second place, so that's commendable."
"Second place?" Aahan was confused as to what Dheera was talking about.
The last time he checked the scoreboard, it didn't mention any rankings, just the scores. But since he didn't stick around till the end, he didn't know everyone's score from the second round.
"Do you even read the scoreboard?" Dheera seriously asked him. "This is the second time I had to inform you about your rank!"
"...I'm sorry."
"Also, stop apologising; for Lord Ram's sake, it's annoying, irritating and doesn't suit a yodha of your calibre." Dheera complimented Aahan by calling him a yodha, a warrior.
While the two were busy in their banter, someone else approached them. Maya tapped on Aahan's shoulder to get his attention, and as he turned to face her, he saw she was there along with her bratty sister.
The thought of being petty and ignoring them occurred to Aahan, but he decided it was too childish even for his taste. Besides, Maya wasn't responsible for her sister's behaviour, so there was also that.
"It's good to see you doing well, Maya," Aahan said politely. "Also, I'm sorry I couldn't help you sooner."
Dheera rolled his eyes as soon as he heard Aahan apologise again. Meanwhile, as soon as Maya heard him apologising, she vigorously shook her head before talking through gestures that she should be apologising to him. However, Aahan got more confused with her erratic sign language.
Maya then nudged her sister, who sighed and looked at Aahan in disdain before telling Aahan what Maya wanted to say to him.
"Maya is telling you not to apologise and that she's thankful that you saved her," the sister said but was met with an intense glare from Maya, and she continued. "She would also like to apologise on my behalf for what happened yesterday."
"It's fine, no hard feelings," Aahan replied. "I have a brother as well, and I would have acted the same way as yours if something were to happen to him."
With that, Maya wished him luck for the next round before continuing on her way, followed by her sister.
"I didn't know Aswathians came in kind variety as well," Dheera chuckled before continuing. "So where were we, ah right, the rankings."
Dheera proceeded to take out a phone and showed a picture to Aahan. It was the snapshot of the scoreboard, and there it was: Aahan's name in second place, with Isha being the first and Dheera being the seventh, probably because his team failed to clear the second wave.
"Before you ask, the scoreboard shows the individual scores, not the team score," Dheera continued. "That said, even the team rankings aren't much different, and you're in the second place there too."
While his individual ranking was somewhat believable, them being second on the team ranking scoreboard was downright unbelievable. They barely managed to defeat the second wave, yet they were in second place.
Did everyone else quit after clearing the first wave to qualify with the bare minimum? Or did they get over-excited and get their asses handed to them by the demons?
"Both the assumptions are correct in one way or the other," Dheera said as if he had entered Shinon's mind to read his thoughts. "That said, everyone lost in the second round itself."
"The ranking makes a lot of sense suddenly," Aahan mumbled as he scratched his cheek.
If Isha's team and his team were the only ones to go past the Durdhamas, they would obviously be the ones at the top.
Aahan was hoping to know more about the third round from Dheera. But before they could indulge in more talks, Gurudev took to the stage, walking to the centre of the white arena, and all attention was on him.
"With immense pleasure, I extend my warm welcome to these budding talents on this pivotal day of 'counselling'," Gurudev declared, his smile as expansive as the horizon.
"Yesterday, each of you demonstrated unwavering valour in your encounters with demons, a commendable feat in its own right. Yet, today's trials shall take a slightly different course. Today, you shall test yourselves against one another."
A sea of whispers emerged from the audience as some remained stoic while the rest looked as if they had already admitted defeat. As for Aahan, he was somewhere in between the two groups. Meanwhile, Gurudev continued explaining the rules once the voices subsided.
"The rules are straightforward," he affirmed. "Each one among you shall confront an opponent chosen at random. After fifteen rounds, we shall select fifteen candidates who emerge victorious to join our Ashram."
He continued, "The remaining fifteen shall engage in further bouts in groups of three, with only one victor from each group. In this manner, we shall ultimately have twenty candidates who will be embraced into the sacred embrace of our Ashram. May lord Parshuram's blessings be with you."
As Gurudev stepped off the stage, the Instructor from yesterday took his place and explained the remaining rules, which were the three ways to win.
The first was to make the opponent admit defeat, the second was to knock them out, and the last was to push them out of bounds.
"Man, whoever ends up going against Isha is doomed," Dheera joked as their opponents were selected.
"Yeah, they better start preparing for the second round already-"
Aahan was in the middle of having a laugh when he saw who his opponent was... and he was surprised, to say the least.
"Karma is a bitch... isn't it?" Dheera mumbled while sympathetically patting Aahan's back. "As a wise man once said, you better start prepping for the second round."
"..." Aahan was speechless as he saw his name against none other than Isha. "Just my luck..."