I stood facing the gates proudly as the pirate pair riding peru venpavalā entered.
"Pisāsu!", I called out the beast I just summoned. It turned its head to me, its demeanor gave its master myself chills. "Kill the guards", I commanded it. The beast ran toward its target using its hands as legs too. But it didn't feel like it followed my orders, it just looked at the large mass and charged straight to it. Maybe it simply loved mass killing.
I turned to Anya, who was ready to cut down some heads with her sword too. I said, "Anya. Don't engage in battle. Stay close and defend us". She immediately obeyed and contained her urge to fight. I could faintly hear the blind king and Valli Amma expressing their common disgust of pirates.
I waved my hand to signal the pirates to stop, but they just never noticed me and went on crossing us. "Brother! Let go of the reins. The fish will get confused!", Kandan shouted. I placed my hand on forehead, growing annoyed by them. Anya shot a glance at me and as I nodded, she launched herself with full speed to the peru venpavalā and tailed behind it. Before I knew it, she got on top of it and took hold of the reins.
I turned my attention to the guards struggling with my beast. Pisāsu was unstoppable as it lunged at each of the guards slashing at their faces and chest. Sounds of armors cracking was audible to even us. Not a single guard crossed the gate and some of them scrambled away in fear of the beast.
Pisāsu killed mercilessly one by one and for a second I regretted summoning it myself. But I had to show the foolish pirates, how powerful we were. We needed their trust. And for that this was needed, I convinced myself and continued to watch.
"It is ruthless!", Valli Amma said softly standing behind me and Veer Bāndha, being blind, asked "What is?", oblivious of the surroundings. I turned to face Anya bringing the pirates to us, as Valli Amma was explaining the situation to the king.
"That beast is devilish, but I like it", Anya said climbing down the fish. Her gaze on Pisāsu was fixed with interest and envy that her oppurtunity to slaughter was taken. I felt a craving for battle and blood in her. Her focus on the beast was interrupted by the pirates, "Brother! Why are you silent ever since the guards started chasing?"
I took a look on the unconscious pirate clinging to his companion. I helped Kandan to get his captain down from the fish. There was a deep cut in his shoulder that seemed to have leaked so much blood. Valli Amma gasped at the sight of such wound. She immediately knelt beside and took out some kind of paste. Kandan began wailing that his captain was dead.
As Valli Amma was tending his wounds, I turned to the retreating guards and the persistent Pisāsu. Suddenly Anya called, "Velan. You know how to make it go back right?". The thought never occured to me and I stared at her blankly. She gripped her sword tightly, without a sign of fear, "It's okay".
I raised my hand in protest to keep her from fighting the beast but before I could utter a word, the beast was just a few inches away from her, having done with the guards already. Sword and claws clashed as I took out master's scroll, searching for reversal of this technique. The blind king came to me and said, "I hear a soul telling me something… it asks me to give you this message: 'The eye is the weak point'. This message is definitely from a soul that cares for you".
I looked awestruck at the idea of communicating with souls, but let that thoughts slide aside and shouted, "Anya! Aim for its eyes!". She replied, "Alright!", and defended herself from the superfast beast. I knew that if I got in their battle I would only get in her way. Because of the speed at which the two fought. Even my eyes couldn't follow their moves.
The blind king silently moved back and sat next to Valli Amma. She carefully tended the wound and wrapped it around with a cloth tightly. "Never did I think I would do this to a god forsaken pirate of all people!", she complained as she looked for any other injuries in his body. Kandan yelled at her for being disrespectful.
I couldn't focus on them as Anya struggled to keep up with a literal monster. She carefully fought defensively, a slow battle but calculated. She waited for the right moment and when there was a clear path to slash at its eyes, she swinged the sword with all her might. The blow connected at its red eyes precisely and blood seeped out of it, soaking the grass around in reddish black blood. "You're amazing!", I praised Anya as she made the sword dematerialize into the air.
Pisāsu slowly turned into wisps of smoke and disappeared, its blood turned into steam as well. Anya ran to us and asked, "How did you know?"
I looked puzzled.
"Its weakness", she pressed.
"All thanks to the king", I said approaching the king sitting next to Valli Amma.
"Veer Bāndha. You can speak with souls?", I asked.
"Not exactly. A soul that cares for you has given me the message. In simple terms, I can never talk with them but they can. But I can't explain the full context as I myself don't understand much of what I can and can't do", he stated.
I thought, maybe his skills should be uncovered. They might help me identify the seven souls caring for me as Dalāy implied in that dream. My mind went silent thinking of ways to get the pirates help us and about how I could kill a 'god'.
As the people around me grew noisy, Kandan yelling at Valli Amma to be nice with his captain and Valli Amma in turn scolding him, I stepped back and entered the hut, clutching the beaded necklace that had kept me safe from master's voice.
Anya followed me into the hut, "Velan. What should we do next?"
I turned around, "Anya. We're going to travel to the Shoalian Empire…"
The statement made her stunned but she nodded anyways.
"…Also see if you can contact Dalāy. I want to meet him soon too", I said removing the knife I previously took from the hut. "Maybe the knife is not my game", I mumbled to myself and placed the knife back on its place.