(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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Dev's eyes narrowed,
His smirk curling as he faked a sweeping strike with his fiery trident.
Smirk~
"____"
Shiva fell for it—
Leaning in to block—
Only for Dev to twist his body with inhuman speed,
His fist slamming square into Shiva's stomach.
THUD!
"____"
The force lifted Shiva off the ground,
His breath leaving him in a painful grunt as his body arched backward in the air.
"—ugh!"
Dev didn't let him drop.
His movements were a blur—
Fists pummeling into Shiva's ribs and chest mid-air,
Thud. Thud.
Thud. Thud.
Each blow echoing like the crack of thunder.
With a final spin, Dev's flaming cloak whipped around as he delivered a devastating roundhouse kick.
CRASH!
Shiva's body was launched like a comet, smashing into the cracked earth with a shockwave of dust and flame.
Before Dev could savor his victory,
A sharp chill cut through the battlefield.
Out of nowhere, a blade of ice stained with crimson hissed toward him, aimed straight at his heart.
SHHHHHRK!
"____"
Dev barely twisted in time, his fire trident clashing against the ice sword.
The clash sent up a storm of steam—
The flames hissing and retreating under the ice's bite.
"Tch—!"
Dev grunted, his fire faltering.
He instantly shifted, arcs of blue-white electricity crawling in his arm.
With a flick of his wrist, lightning condensed, spiraling into a spear of pure crackling energy.
"Let's see you freeze this."
FWOOOM!
The lightning spear tore through the air like a god's wrath,
Piercing toward Sandeep before he could fully react.
His Himāstra(Ice based astra) glowed faintly,
But the strike was too fast—
Too absolute.
SHKKKKRRRRK!
The spear passed through him.
Silence.
"____"
"____"
"____"
For a heartbeat, time seemed to stop.
Shiva, struggling to rise from the rubble, froze.
Amritha's water trident trembled in her hands, her breath caught.
While desperately trying to free her leg which has been tightly gasped by the ground making her immobile.
Even Ravi—
Still cloaked in the guise of an enemy soldier—
Stood petrified.
Sandeep's eyes went wide as he looked down slowly…
A jagged, smoking hole burned through his stomach.
His sword slipped from his grip.
"…Ah—"
His knees buckled.
He dropped heavily, dust rising around him, his body motionless against the bloodstained earth.
The battlefield fell into a suffocating silence,
The crackle of fading lightning the only sound.
Shiva's breath came ragged, fire crackling over his skin as if his very blood had ignited.
His pupils burned crimson, each beat of his heart sending arcs of flame dancing across his body.
The ground beneath his feet hissed and split, charred black from the sheer heat radiating off him.
"SANDEEP…!"
Shiva's roar shattered the silence, echoing across the battlefield like the cry of a wounded beast.
His vision blurred—
Not from weakness,
But from the storm of memories tearing through him.
He saw himself at four years old,
A scrawny boy with dirt on his cheeks, standing in the orphanage courtyard.
Rudra stood in the middle,
A stubborn smile on his face,
While Ravi and Sandeep flanked him.
Shiva remembered laughing that day, feeling—
For the first time—
That he belonged.
He saw their scraped knees from climbing trees,
The nights they huddled together whispering dreams,
The promises they made to never leave one another behind.
And now… that bond lay broken, lying motionless on the ground with blood pooling beneath him.
A guttural growl tore from Shiva's throat.
"I WON'T FORGIVE YOU!"
With a furious roar,
Flames exploded around him, spiraling upward in a blazing inferno.
His trident materialized in his hands,
Its fiery edge roaring as though sharing in his rage.
Shiva lunged forward, his body wreathed in fire, each step leaving molten imprints in the soil.
Dev smirked, raising his fire trident casually, his aura confident, unshaken.
"So… the cub bares his fangs."
Shiva closed the distance in a flash,
Swinging down with raw fury.
Sparks burst as trident clashed against trident, fire meeting fire.
BOOM!
The impact rippled outward, scorching the earth and kicking up a shockwave that rattled nearby ruins.
Shiva pressed harder, his arms trembling with rage, eyes locked onto Dev's with unyielding hatred.
Dev chuckled darkly, deflecting the strike with a twist of his wrist.
"Impressive… but wild. Rage makes you sloppy."
But Shiva didn't care.
He spun, slashing, stabbing, thrusting—
His movements reckless,
But each strike carried the weight of grief and vengeance.
Dev parried smoothly, the difference in technique clear, yet for the first time,
Dev's arm trembled under the sheer force of Shiva's will.
With every strike,
Shiva screamed in his heart—
Not just for Sandeep,
But for all the years they had shared, all the laughter,
All the unspoken promises.
His grief became fire.
His fury became his weapon.
This was Shiva's declaration of vengeance.
The battlefield trembled under the weight of Dev's summoning.
A colossal pillar of fire roared down from the sky, engulfing Shiva in an inferno so fierce that the very ground cracked and bubbled into molten veins.
The flames towered upward like a pyre meant to erase him from existence.
Dev narrowed his eyes, his lips curling with satisfaction.
"It's over."
But then—
"____"
From within the raging blaze,
Two burning hands erupted outward,
Clawing at the pillar as if it were nothing but a curtain of smoke.
With a guttural roar that shook the air,
Shiva's silhouette emerged, his body battered, his skin blistered,
But his will unbroken.
The flames themselves bent to his rage.
From his back, four more arms of fire unfurled—
Writhing, incandescent projections that shimmered with raw fury.
His breathing was ragged, his eyes glowing crimson,
But his aura was terrifying—
Wild, unrestrained, unstoppable.
Dev's smug expression faltered.
"____"
For the first time, he frowned, sensing the storm gathering before him.
Frown~
"Impossible…"
He muttered.
Then Shiva roared—
ROAR!!!
An animalistic, heart-shaking sound—
And lunged forward.
The world blurred.
His six arms of flame blurred into afterimages as he unleashed a torrent of punches,
Each strike exploding like thunderclaps.
Dev tried to parry with his fire trident,
But Shiva's fists crashed against him from every angle—
Uppercuts, hooks, hammer fists—
Each strike fueled by grief and wrath, each one faster, heavier, more merciless than the last.
The final blow, a double-fisted strike with his blazing projections, smashed into Dev's guard, sending shockwaves ripping through the battlefield.
BOOM!
The ground beneath them cracked like glass,
And Dev staggered back,
For the first time truly caught off guard.
"____"
Shiva stood there, chest heaving, flames writhing around him like a god of fire breaking free of his mortal shell—
His hatred burning hotter than Dev's inferno.
Dev snarled and spun his trident, flames crackling before shifting rapidly —
Lightning arced like serpents across his weapon,
Then hardened earth shields rose around him, wind slashed in blades, torrents of water coiled like whips.
One by one those attacked got launched.
He unleashed everything in his arsenal,
A storm of Astra mastery.
But Shiva —
Consumed in fire, four blazing arms fanning behind him like the wrath of a god —
Tore through them.
Each fist of flame struck with bone-cracking precision.
BOOM!
A fiery knuckle shattered Dev's lightning barrier.
CRASH!
Another blow crumpled his earth wall like clay.
A fist slammed into Dev's ribs, searing him through his defenses —
The first blood drawn.
A crimson spray burst into the air.
Dev staggered, eyes wide in disbelief.
"____"
He had faced countless warriors, countless Astra users…
But this—
This fire was alive.
This rage-born inferno burned beyond control.
Shiva roared, his burning hands weaving together, overlapping like interlocked gears of destruction.
With a vicious uppercut powered by all four fiery projections, his fist rocketed into Dev's chin.
CRACK!
Dev's head snapped back,
His entire body lifting from the ground before being hurled skyward.
He crashed back down,
Thud.
Skidding through the dirt,
Spitting a mouthful of blood that steamed on the scorched battlefield.
His jaw hung wrong, his face twisted in agony, the stench of burned flesh clinging to him.
And still Shiva advanced, step by step —
His eyes glowing crimson, flames lashing off him like living serpents.
To Dev, who lost his humanity,
Shiva no longer looked human.
He was a monster,
Like a demon born of fire and grief.
Dev gritted his teeth,
Grit~
"____"
Summoning what strength he had left, planting his trident into the ground as a pillar of energy surged.
He met Shiva's gaze and charged again.
But every time he struck,
Shiva was there.
His fiery arms moved with unnatural precision, each blow slipping through Dev's defenses as if he could see the attack before it was made —
Hammering at weak points, breaking through openings.
For the first time,
Dev felt it —
The cold edge of something which he forget long ago helplessness.
But suddenly the fire on Shiva extinguished revealing his burned body and his unconscious eyes.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Thud.
The battlefield was wrapped in silence as Shiva's body collapsed with a dull thud, his charred skin cracking with every shallow breath.
His flame—
Once a raging inferno—
Was gone, leaving only the faint ember of his life flickering.
The last punch that touched Dev's chin carried no power, just the final echo of a warrior refusing to fall without a strike.
"____"
Dust rolled across the broken ground.
The onlookers—
Friends and foes alike—
Stood frozen, unable to process what they had just witnessed.
The man who had burned like a god,
Who had dragged Dev into the deepest corner of desperation, now lay still.
Then—
"VICTORY TO BRAHMA DEV!"
One of the servants cried out, breaking the stillness.
The others followed,
Their cheers swelling into a thunderous roar,
The sound of a conquering army drunk on survival.
"____"
Dev himself, however, was silent.
He staggered back, falling onto the broken stones.
THUD.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath rattling in his throat.
His jaw dripped with blood, his skin scorched black across his arms and face.
For the first time in this battle,
He looked less like an untouchable tyrant and more like a man who had stared death straight in the eye.
Then it happened.
The amulet clutched in his hand flickered,
Then erupted in a deep green glow.
Veins of emerald light spread across his body like serpents slithering under his skin.
Before the naked eye, his burns began to recede, torn flesh knitting together, the blood at his lips drying into nothing.
Every second saw another wound vanish,
As though his body were being rewound in time.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Gasps rose from the opposing side.
Even the bravest among them clenched their fists in frustration, their hearts sinking.
After all that—
The firestorm, the sacrifice, the price Shiva had paid—
Dev was healing as if it had meant nothing.
And then came the sound.
A broken sob, fragile against the roar of the crowd.
Sob~
"____"
Amirtha.
Her trident slipped from her grasp, clattering uselessly onto the stone floor and turned to water.
Her legs trembled,
But it was her eyes—
Shimmering with tears—
That betrayed her.
She stumbled forward but couldn't free herself,
Her gaze locked not on Dev,
Not on the cheering crowd,
But on the burned, broken boy before her eyes.
Her son.
Not by blood, but by love.
She had held him as an infant in that orphanage, taught him to walk, scolded him when he was reckless, laughed with him under the stars.
She had seen Shiva grow into fire itself—
reckless, but also soft hearted—
And loved him all the same.
Now that fire was extinguished.
"Shiva…"
Her voice cracked, low and hollow, breaking against the silence that somehow pierced through the cheering.
She dropped to her knees, trembling hands hovering over his scorched skin from distance,
Afraid that touching him might make what little life was left flicker out.
Her tears fell onto his chest, sizzling softly against the heat that still lingered.
The battlefield—
So loud a moment ago—
Grew quiet again, all eyes drawn to the sight of a mother's grief.
And across from her,
Dev sat on the broken stones, eyes narrowing, his hand clenching around the still-glowing amulet.
His jaw tightened, blood trailing down his chin as he whispered—
Low, almost to himself—
"…why? I feel like shit."
Dev's eyes lingered—
Just for a moment—
On Amirtha.
She was on her knees, her face streaked with tears, her body trapped as the earth coiled like shackles around her legs.
The raw devastation in her gaze struck something deep within him.
His chest tightened when his glance shifted to Shiva's broken body lying limp on the ground.
His son.
Flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood.
For a fleeting second,
Dev froze.
"____"
His hands trembled, his breath caught in his throat.
A storm of thoughts threatened to tear through the hardened walls of his heart.
The battle has ignited something in his heart which made him hesitate for a moment.
The boy who had faced him so fearlessly,
The woman who raised him with such love and care—
'They were his...'
A sliver of humanity clawed at him, whispering a truth he didn't want to hear.
But then his jaw clenched.
He shook his head violently, driving the thoughts away like poison.
"____"
His eyes hardened once more, the warmth in them vanishing into cold steel.
'No. Weakness has no place in me. What belongs to me… I will claim it.'
He turned, his focus narrowing on the distance.
From afar, the golden pillar of light split the heavens,
Its brilliance casting long shadows across the battlefield.
Its radiance promised power, destiny,
And the culmination of everything he had fought for.
Dev's lips curled into a determined snarl as he gathered what remained of his strength.
With a burst of speed,
He bolted toward the golden light, his figure a blur of burning will and desperation.
"If I obtain what is mine… then all of this is worth it."
Meanwhile, the battlefield raged on the opposite side.
Meena and Tejas were locked in a furious struggle with Surya Vardhan.
Their Astra collided in a storm of fire and raw beastly force.
Surya Vardhan's Agni Astra(Fire type astra) burned through his fists,
Each strike exploding with searing heat that warped the very air around him.
His power surged several folds,
His blows carrying both the weight of a hammer and the sting of a furnace.
But before him stood predators of another kind.
Tejas and Meena's bodies glowed with the wild ferocity of their Shima Astra,
Their forms twisting in transformation.
Tejas' chest expanded as fur sprouted across his body, his arms bulking with primal strength.
His face stretched into a lion's snarl, golden mane burning in the wind as claws sharper than steel extended from his hands.
Meena too had changed—
Her eyes gleamed with a feral light, her nails curving into talons as the faint shimmer of a mane crowned her.
Together, they radiated a beast's hunger.
Growl! Growl!
Creak~
The ground cracked beneath their feet as they prowled forward.
Surya Vardhan gritted his teeth,
A bead of sweat hissing to steam as it touched his blazing skin.
'So… these two are growing stronger. As expected of that lunatic's blood. Shima Astra is one of the strongest Astra.'
Because the Shima Astra thrived on two things—
Raw emotion and time.
And Meena's emotions had just reached a boiling point.
Her gaze darted toward Shiva's broken body in the distance, her chest tightening, her heart pounding with rage and grief.
That sight unlocked something within her.
Her aura roared outward, golden and violent, almost doubling in intensity.
ROOOAR!!!
The ground itself shuddered under its weight.
Tejas, sensing her shift, answered with his own.
ROOAR!!!
His lion's roar split the air, rattling Surya's bones.
The two of them now looked less like humans and more like apex predators circling prey.
A primal growl escaped Meena's throat, her voice laced with both grief and fury.
"Surya Vardhan… you won't leave this place alive."
For the first time,
Surya Vardhan hesitated.
The flames licking his fists flared higher,
But his instincts screamed at him—
The fight was approaching its decisive end.
He clenched his fists tighter, heat bleeding into the ground beneath him.
"Then come,"
He spat, forcing confidence into his tone though his pulse betrayed him.
"Let's see whose Astra burns brighter!"
The battlefield fell silent for a breath.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Then—
They clashed, a storm of flame and claw colliding, shaking the earth as sparks and embers rained around them.
Surya Vardan had clearly underestimated Meena's fury.
He braced himself against Tejas's savage strike,
But in that fleeting distraction,
Meena was already upon him.
Her clawed hand clamped around his skull, nails sinking into flesh and bone with a sickening crunch.
The raw power radiating from her was something he hadn't accounted for—
Born not only of the Shima Astra but of unbridled rage at seeing Shiva burned and bleeding on the ground.
For an instant,
"____"
Surya Vardan's arrogance betrayed him.
He had always looked down on women in battle, dismissing their strength.
That contempt now came back to tear him apart—
Literally.
He cursed, thrashing to free himself,
But Tejas seized both his arms and yanked with brutal force.
AHHHHHHHH!!!
The elder's scream tore across the battlefield as his arms ripped from their sockets, blood gushing like rivers onto the scorched earth.
Fear—real, suffocating fear—
Gripped Surya Vardan's chest.
Eternal youth, whispered promises of immortality…
None of it shielded him from the sharp bite of death staring back at him in the glowing eyes of his foes.
"W–wait, we can—"
He tried to bargain, but his words died in his throat as Tejas's clawed hand speared clean through his chest.
A heartbeat later, quite literally, Tejas ripped the elder's heart from his body, still pulsing, before crushing it in his fist.
This is for his grandpa who these traitor's killed.
Surya Vardan collapsed lifeless to the dirt, his body twitching once before going still.
Meena, still in her lion-headed Shima form, wrenched the corpse's head free with savage strength.
Lifting it high, she let out a thunderous roar—
ROOOOARRR!!!
Half beast, half woman—
Her victory cry echoing across the battlefield.
Every soldier present felt the tremor of it in their bones.
For the first time, the immortals perseverer's realized:
Death was no longer a stranger to them.
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(Author's POV)
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