Karna's Vow

Aryan looked at Karna with a smile, helped him stand straight and said while looking directly into his eyes.

"Remember one thing Karna, status is determined by a person's strength and his karma, not by his birth. However, to achieve your goal of proving yourself to the world, you need a stage to showcase your strength.

And I am willing to provide you exactly that. As for the matter of tarnishing the reputation of Udra kingdom because of recruiting a Suta as it's general, I believe your arrows will be enough to answer those remarks, am I right or am I right?"

Hearing this, Karna's eyes got wet as Aryan's words touched his heart and tears of happiness trickled down his eyes. 

Immediately afterwards, Karna bent down on one knee and placed his bow in Aryan's feet.

"I, Radheya Karna, hereby take vow that I will become your strongest armour and the strongest spear till my death. I offer you my loyalty for the rest of my life. "

Aryan looked at Karna with a smile. 

He placed a hand on Karna's shoulder and nodded approvingly at the solemn vow he had just made.

"I accept your pledge, Karna. Your strength, loyalty, and determination will be invaluable to Udra kingdom and to me personally. But more than that, will you be my friend? "

Karna's eyes shone with gratitude as he heard Aryan's words.

 He had always felt like an outsider, rejected by many because of his background, and the offer of friendship right now meant more to him than anything else at that moment.

With a heartfelt smile, Karna nodded. "I would be honored to be your friend, King Aryan."

Aryan extended his hand, and Karna grasped it firmly, sealing their friendship.

The crowd, still gathered in the arena, watched this exchange with a mixture of surprise and approval.

Bheesm and Dronacharya, from the stage, exchanged surprised glances. They had to admit that this new king of Udra was really something else, whether it is his power or his wisdom.

"I just hope that some day, he won't end up becoming Hastinapur's enemy. "

Bheesm sighed helplessly.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Since the time was almost nearing sunset, the tournament was called to an end. Although Karna still wanted to have a battle with Arjun but seeing his disheveled appearance, he decided against it.

Karna wanted to defeat him fair and square. But if he were to fight Arjun now and defeat him, he could use the excuse of not being in his perfect state, thus Karna didn't raise the topic of challenging Arjun. Anyway, now that he had become Udra kingdom's Senapati, he believed he would sooner or later get the opportunity to defeat him again.

On another note, although technically speaking, today Arjun has indeed managed to defeat Duryodhan but before Guru Dronacharya could have announced him as the winner, Karna and Aryan intervened. So no real winner was announced.

So because of this disturbance, although the tournament came to an end but no clear victor was decided which led to a serious problem, the winner of this tournament was supposed to be appointed as the crown prince of Hastinapur.

So this disturbance indirectly benefited Duryodhan who was supposed to have been defeated. Now the final decision lied in the King, that is, his father Dhritarashtr's hands. So Duryodhan's chances to become the crown prince of Hastinapur increased exponentially.

Aryan also knew that this would happen beforehand but he still intervened in the tournament. It's not because he was siding with Duryodhan Or opposing the Pandavs. There are actually three reasons behind it.

First, even if Aryan himself hadn't intervened, Karna would have still intervened anyway and the result would be the same.

Second, although he had ascended as Udra's kingking, but his young age and unknown background made others doubt his ability. His battle with Paundraka and the allied army of Pundra, Udra and Vanga was only witnessed by the soldiers of Kalinga and allied army. No strong person was left to tell the take so some people doubted if King Chitrangad was spreading fake rumors about Aryan.

They suspect that this is King Chitrangad's ploy to take over both Pundra and Udra at the same time indirectly. Since if he were to take over both the kingdoms in above board manner, it would increase Kalinga's strength too much and no neighbouring Kingdom wanted to see that.

Taking over Pundra alone was already the limit, so everyone thinks that Aryan is a puppet king used by Chitrangad to rule Udra.

In fact, the reason why Hastinapur invited him to this tournament as a special guest also had it's reasons. They wanted to see if Aryan is a real king or just a puppet king. And the reason why Bheesm left a foreign king like him fight against Kuru princes in his own territory was also because of this. He wanted to use this opportunity to test his strength.

So it was necessary for Aryan to shut all of their mouths and make them understand that he, Aryan Bahubali is not someone you can mess with.

Third, Aryan used this opportunity to pull Karna to his own side, easily gaining a powerful general and loyal friend.

°°°°°°°°°°

At night.

Duryodhan and Dushasan were currently sitting in Shakuni's room, discussing their next plan of action.

"Uncle Shakuni, today I am really happy. Thanks to Udra naresh's intervention we managed to win over a lost bet. Now that there is no clear winner, my father can easily announce my name as the crown prince. And no one can do anything to stop me. "

Duryodhan said happily as he chugged a glass of wine.

"Don't celebrate too early my nephew. I am hundred percent sure that Bheesm and Vidur would definitely try to play some trick on us. Both of them have always favored Yudhishthir over you. And I highly doubt that they would stay silent at this time. "

Shakuni said with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Then what do you suggest Uncle Shakuni? "

Sushasan asked him confusedly. Over time, he has developed the habit of never using his brain too much and leaves the thinking part to bis brother Duryodhan and his uncle Shakuni.

"We need someone on our side who is powerful enough to match the strength of Bheesm and Arjun and keep them in check. That guy Karna was a good option but unfortunately Udra naresh beat us to it and won him over to his side. "

Shakuni replied while playing with his dices.

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