It was midnight. The faint light of the moon was falling upon a grand, luxurious palace. Through the large windows at the palace gates, the moonlight fell upon red silk curtains, making them flutter in the cold breeze as if the wind was whispering to them. Inside the palace, the royal court was filled with darkness, as if the hall remained forever deserted. No people could be seen, nor any light. A faint stream of moonlight entered through an upper window near the throne, looking beautiful as it danced in the cold wind. That moonlight fell directly on the silver goblet of the person sitting on the throne below. He was drinking liquor from the goblet, enjoying the midnight moonlight.
Taking a sip of the liquor, he sat quietly in his drunken state, waiting for someone's arrival. Even though he was sitting silently, a fire of hatred was burning in his heart, as if he was wishing for someone's death.
He looked to be around 32 to 36 years old. He had a slight, thick beard on his face and thick black hair cascading down to his back, looking like a wild Aghori. His upper chest was bare, making his upper body look as solid as a rock. He wore a black and red silk dhoti around his waist, tied with a wide metal waistband. He had spiked silver armlets on his heavy biceps, and a necklace of black crystal beads hung around his neck.
In the empty court, the sound of two people walking in echoed. In the darkness of the court, their bodies merged with the shadows. They slowly approached Varna's throne, bowed in respect, and said, "Hail to you, Sect Leader Varna."
Varna looked straight at them and asked in a heavy voice, "Vatsal and Purva... tell me, how was your mission? Were you successful in killing that Maya or not?"
They remained silent for a moment, then Vatsal said with slight nervousness, "We failed, Sect Leader."
Throwing his liquor-filled goblet away, Varna roared in anger, "WHAT... FAILED! HOW DARE YOU COME BEFORE ME WITHOUT KILLING THAT BITCH?"
One of them said nervously, "Leader, even though we failed to kill her, we have poisoned Maya to cripple her cultivation."
Hearing this, Varna's anger cooled down slightly. He then asked with arrogance, "So tell me, after how many days will this poison take effect?"
Taking out a small vial containing a blue liquid, Purva said calmly, "I have good news, Leader. Look at this vial. This is a poison."
Pointing his finger at the vial, Varna said, "What will you even be able to do with this poison? Have you used this poison on Maya?"
Clenching the vial in his fist, Purva said, "Yes, you are right, Leader. I and our people have administered this poison to Maya."
Not believing Purva's words, Varna said, "That is impossible. That woman is so cunning that it's as if she has already seen the future with her own eyes. She is a very dangerous woman. And you guys actually managed to use this poison on that Maya?"
Giving a slight smile on his face, Purva said proudly, "Yes, Leader. No matter how cunning that woman is, once this poison is inflicted on someone, no one can escape its devastating effects. According to the nature of this poison, it will show its effect after about 1 week. As the days pass, her body will start breaking down, her bodily meridians will slowly get destroyed, and within 2 weeks, her cultivation realm will start dropping at twice the normal speed. This is a poison whose antidote cannot be created in just a few days. And its ingredients are so rare that no one can even find them."
Hearing this, Varna's laughter knew no bounds. He started laughing out loud, screaming as if a dream of many years was finally coming true.
Right then, a tall and broad 6.5-foot man stepped out from behind Varna. He was bald with no hair on his head, and wore no upper garments, making his broad chest look like a boulder. He wore a red silk dhoti below, and a heavy sword that could cut through boulders hung on his back. That man stood right to the right side of Varna's throne and started glaring at Vatsal and Purva.
Seeing that terrifying giant, Vatsal and Purva got scared as if they were looking at a demon who could crush them like bugs at any moment. Cold sweat broke out on Vatsal and Purva's faces. Stammering in fear, they bowed to Vikraal and said, "Hail to Overlord Vikraal."
Vikraal said nothing to their respectful greeting, causing a heavy silence to fall over the court for a moment. Breaking that silence, Vikraal said in his heavy voice, "So according to you, this poison will start showing its effects within 2 weeks? Right?"
Wiping his sweat, Purva nervously said, "Y-Yes... Yes, it will start showing its effect within 2 weeks."
Stroking his throne, Varna laughed and said, "Vikraal, truly, if it weren't for your Vyadh organization, my years-old dream would never have come true. Finally, that bitch will fall at my feet, she will beg for death, haa... what a joy it will be." Clenching his left fist in excitement, Varna said, "Ah... with these very hands, I will strangle her..."
Crossing both his arms together, Vikraal then said, "If you want us to attack her sect, then you will have to pay double the price. You already know that her sect is one of the 8 Demon Sects."
Without hesitating, Varna said to Vikraal, "Then tell me, what will be the price? Gold? Or Silver? Or high-grade origin crystals? Tell me, I am ready to give anything."
With greed in his eyes, Vikraal said bluntly, "I want your South-Eastern region mine."
Varna looked at Vikraal in shock and said angrily, "What, you want my mine? That produces a whole 45% of our sect's origin crystals. Do you want to ruin our sect?"
Insulting Varna, Vikraal laughed and said, "Didn't I hear that people burning in the fire of revenge can go to any lengths?" Smiling, Vikraal added, "I thought you would immediately agree to this deal? Anyway, fine. If you don't want to give it, then forget your revenge."
Vikraal then showed his back to Varna and took a step to leave the court. He said to Vatsal and Purva, who were bowing in front of him, "You two, let's go. Our mission is now complete. Let's return to our organization quickly."
Standing up from his throne, Varna said angrily, "Fine, alright, take it. If you guys succeed in killing Maya, then you can take the South-Eastern mine. But if you fail, or our sect's name comes up, or if news leaks out, then forget about your deal. Understood?"
Taking his two comrades and leaving the court, Vikraal said, "Now just watch what the people of our organization do to that sect in 1.5 weeks."
On the other side, Maya was in her grand palace, opening her eyes while meditating in the Prana Pool in a small hall. She looked at her left arm. The blackness was slowly spreading up to her upper body's shoulder. Her veins had turned black. Her left arm looked as if it was covered in dark stains. Maya then sent a flow of origin energy into her left arm, but only a faint glow appeared on it.
Clenching her fists and slowly loosening them again, Maya said, "It seems this poison is slowly making my arm weaker. If it keeps spreading at this rate, it will leave my whole body half-dead."
Meanwhile, Tamash was with Abhay, teaching him a new lesson. Whenever their work in Yamini's palace was finished, Tamash and Abhay would practice in that secret room. Tamash taught him self-defense, origin energy control, and some combat techniques. In one week, Abhay had become capable enough to save his own life on his own.
In that hidden room, Abhay gathered origin energy in his hands and attacked Tamash, who was standing in front of him. In this duel, Tamash was only defending herself without any weapons and without using origin energy. All of Abhay's attacks rained down on Tamash, but Tamash dodged those attacks and on top of that, made fun of Abhay.
Abhay then lunged forward to attack Tamash with his fist, but Tamash swiftly caught his fist in mid-air, pulled him towards her, and delivered a powerful knee strike to his stomach. Abhay was instantly knocked out and fell straight to the ground holding his stomach. Tamash was having a lot of fun beating Abhay up.
Laughing, Tamash then said to Abhay, "I taught you Kalaripayattu for self-defense, haven't you forgotten that?"
[ note :- Kalaripayattu is an ancient Indian martial art from Kerala that combines strikes, weaponry, healing systems, and spiritual discipline. Often called the "mother of all martial arts," its name comes from the Malayalam words kalari (training ground) and payattu (martial practice).]
Groaning while holding his stomach in pain, Abhay said, "Yeah... yeah, as if I'm gonna learn it in 1 day. Come on, let's fight one more time."
A while later, in the evening, Abhay's face was completely swollen. It looked as if someone had beaten the crap out of him. He was in the kitchen cutting vegetables, specifically chopping onions. While chopping onions, tears were rolling down from his eyes. Chhaya and Mridula were also cutting vegetables in the kitchen. Looking at Abhay's swollen face, and on top of that him chopping onions, they were laughing out loud in their minds. It looked as if this miserable look really suited him.
Right in front of Abhay, a barrage of Mool-Ansh notifications from Mridula and Chhaya started pouring in:
[ Target: Chhaya is feeling happiness towards you. Mool-Ansh: +0.001 ]
[ Target: Mridula is feeling happiness towards you. Mool-Ansh: +0.001 ]
[ Target: Chhaya is feeling pity towards you. Mool-Ansh: +0.001 ]
[ Target: Mridula is feeling pity towards you. Mool-Ansh: +0.001 ]
Chopping onions with burning eyes and crying, Abhay felt sad in his heart and said, "Why doesn't this misery ever end, man?"