Indra's lack of emotion was not a lack of intelligence. While General Veda built his "Warrior Society" of traitors, Indra had built a secret network of spies within the Theta Empire. He had used the gold captured from the Gamma supply raids to buy the loyalty of Theta's low-ranking clerks.
One night, a coded message arrived. It confirmed everything: Hikumbus had proposed the Mandala alliance. More importantly, it confirmed that Veda had accepted Gamma's bribes. The General was waiting for the perfect moment during the next battle to turn the army's blades against Indra's back.
Indra sat in his darkened war room. He did not call for Veda. He did not call for the ministers. Instead, he went to the streets of Ohm.
The Gathering of the Commoners
Indra understood the Bheda strategy Hikumbus was using—the rumors that he was a cursed "revenant." But the commoners of Ohm did not care about astrology. They saw a King who fought in the mud, a King who had actually stopped the Gamma invasions, and a King who lived as simply as they did. To them, Indra was not a curse; he was the first time they felt like they belonged to a strong nation.
Indra began to recruit in secret. He did not look for trained soldiers who were loyal to Veda's coins. He looked for the blacksmiths, the farmers, and the hunters.
"The General has sold your lives to Gamma," Indra told a gathering of ten thousand men in a hidden valley. His voice was flat, but it carried across the silence. "The professional army will stay in the barracks. I do not want them. I want men who have a home to lose."
He began a brutal, fast-paced training program. He taught them the Ardhachandra Vyuha (the Crescent Moon formation), a defensive shape designed to absorb a charge and then wrap around the enemy like a pair of pincers. He didn't give them expensive bronze armor. He gave them long bamboo spears with fire-hardened tips and taught them to fight as a single, wall-like unit.
Brute Force and Simple Strategy
Indra knew he couldn't match the combined technology of Gamma and Theta. He decided to rely on Asura-yuddha—the "War of Demons"—a style of brute force that relies on overwhelming aggression and psychological terror.
He didn't use the Warrior Society for his main line. He placed them in the rear, effectively trapping them between his loyal commoner army and the enemy. If they tried to flee or betray him, they would have to fight through ten thousand angry farmers first.
As the day of the great battle approached, Indra prepared his secret weapon: The Scorch. He ordered his commoners to gather jars of resin and oil. In ancient Indian warfare, this was the use of Agneya Astra (incendiary weapons). He wasn't going to fight a "clean" war of maneuvers. He was going to turn the battlefield into a furnace.
By the time Veda realized Indra was no longer relying on the official military, it was too late. Indra had raised an army of twenty thousand commoners. They were not polished, but they were fanatical. They didn't bow to Veda; they looked only at the black spear in Indra's hand.
Indra stood at the border of the Weeling Province. He looked at the horizon where the combined flags of Gamma and Theta were rising. He knew Veda was standing ten paces behind him, hand on his sword. He knew the million-man army was marching.
Indra tightened the grip on his spear. He had no love for his people, and he had no hatred for his enemies. He only had the calculation of victory.
"Let them come," Indra whispered. "I will show them why the stars wanted me dead at fifteen."