Chapter 13 : Andaman islands (3)

Butterfly had been fighting and moving forward while each of the demon kept reviving again and again so it was taking her a little longer but she hoped that she would reach there before the students reach Fakhar.

She knew she had lied to the students when she said nobody had ventured deep into the forest. ever since the raid 4 years ago she had tried multiple times to grind at the place to get to the end of the fight. That demon which killed so most of her team that day was a regret that had haunted her.

It was not the problem with the 6 demons that come first they were in the lower A to mid A ranks which the three might be able to handle but the greatest threat was the 7th one their master and their origin. All the other demons on the island were a part of Fakhar too and he was the one that regenerated them every time.

The other demons that came from the gate fled from Fakhar to the nicobar islands but the Association was able to take care of them. Fakhar was on a whole different level though it might have been possible once for the Association to take care of him if they had battle strength they had during the Mumbai Gate but unfortunately there were only a few that could hold a candle against Fakhar in India at present, but the association just wasn't ready to risk it all when Fakhar was happy with having a group of islands.

if those three were to make the foolish decision of facing that being in Port Blair then even butterfly might not be able to save them. Yash Bakshi knew that too and that is the reason he had also decided to leave for the island in his personal chopper.

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The three of them had not faced any demon since they defeated Ira, Invidia and Luxuria. it felt like the silence before the storm to them. they were especially careful now because of the last encounter.

Anika stopped everyone at the edge of Port Blair's ruins and said,"I think you two should stay back, if I get captured and there is no way of defeating the demon you should run away."

"You must be joking, I am not leaving anyone behind." Said Rajdeep as Reema nodded in agreement.

"We have already done a stupid thing coming till here. I don't want you guys to get hurt because of my decision."

"Then let us go back from here, I am having an uneasy sensation about this too." Said Reema as she held Anika's hand.

"No, I can't run away, not until I have the strength to fight. besides it was my idea in the first place to come here in secret."

"But why is it that you want to keep fighting? There is nothing wrong in turning back."

"It is for me, if I run again I will break my promise to myself I made 7 years ago."

Anika was not actually found by Ganesh, it was his wife that found her in an orphanage when she was just 4 years old. Ganesh was not pleased by her presence initially so he would barely talk to her. they would frequently get in fights and Anika would run away to the mountain nearby and stay inside a burrow of the tree there having the view of the town they lived in. something that had stayed with her as she chose the roof as her new sanctuary.

Ganesh's wife knew of her safe place and would always come and sit by her till she was ready to go home. One such day seven years ago while she was waiting for her partner to arrive the gates of alpha wave opened. she could see the city burn but all she could do was hide in her burrow closing her eyes. That night, it was Ganesh who came to her half in tears, he covered her up in his coat and became her shield till all the demons from had been killed. They moved to the city later but she had vowed to never run away till she had the strength. Ganesh's anger had changed to laughter and jokes. They did fight sometimes but Anika had learned to watch the city alone, until someone else started hanging out in the roof and changed her loneliness.

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Ganesh was sitting in his room going through old pictures which he often did when Anika was not around. he had no work today either so that box of photos was his mountain of retreat. he took out his favourite photo, the first one they took with little Anika standing beside them holding on to his wife.

"You were always sad after our marriage that you could not have kids. Your were so wrong." Ganesh said wiping off his tear with a smile,"You gave me the best daughter a father could ever hope for. I could not give her everything but I did my best raising her. she doesn't need my shield any-more, she is so strong now."

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Butterfly saw the students at the edge of the Port Blair ruins talking and felt a relief that the worse had not happened yet she thought. she had been fighting with those 6 combined and had won with ease but the irritating part was the fact they came back and followed her so she knew she had very little time before collecting the students and getting out of there as it was getting dark.

When she got closer her senses felt a sharp tick. there was a massive amount of energy coming from her back.

"No, no, no this isn't right."

She ran over to the students.

"Butterfly we were just heading back." Said Reema

"There is no time, we need to get to the shore...NOW!"

They were running as fast as they could but closest shoreline was through the city and it was not going to be easy with Fakhar there and he had full knowledge of their presence too.

"What are we running from? what is that energy?" Asked Anika

"It is Fakhar, those 6 and every last demon on this island are a part of him, he calls himself the King of ashes. those were his 6 personalities but the most prideful and powerful on is Fakhar. he has recalled all his subordinates, If we get stuck in that black ash coming for us, it means certain death for the three of you at least, I barely made it through once."

As they got deeper and deeper into the city Anika could feel a deep power somewhere where the cellular jail once stood.

"Is that Fakhar?"

"Yes he is still dormant, he wants us to come to him I guess."

Reema turned back to look at the approaching storm of Aura, it was like a smoky ash cloud heading towards them with tremendous speed.

They managed to jump into the ocean while the ash cloud passed over them blocking the last rays of twilight that entered the water, in a minute when they were gone it was the dark night and its moonlight that penetrated the water. They got back on the shore breathless as the ominous aura of Fakhar kept growing in their senses.

"We need to run faster and get out of here before Fakhar truly wakes up."

They had to track back their way but only a few kilometres in, they were blocked by a black smoke the slowing gathered and formed a grey body covered in stony armour and hair swirling like a black fire. it was Fakhar, they could feel it. He opened his pitch black eyes glistening in the moonlight and said,"Well, well, am I not Amazing? you little shits thought you could come this close and run away, just like that?"

He then raised his hand towards them as they had a black flame on it and said,"You should be happy, not many get to say they died by the hands of one and only Fakhar."

Everything was engulfed in the black blast of flames. The whole of Port Blair was now nothing but a crater very much similar to the one they saw at saddle peak. They had managed to survive it inside Anika's shield but it was just the beginning, Fakhar was moving towards them and there was nowhere to run in the open field. They felt trapped ironically where the freedom fighters were jailed for black water punishment, just that their cell was the most open one in history.

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Yash bakshi was wearing a Golden suit with Red shirt and a Golden fedora with black feather on it. he was holding on to his lion headed cane when he felt the massive aura release from Andaman where his chopper was headed.

"How long till we get there pilot?"

"about 30 minutes sir."

'just hold on butterfly I am coming.'

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"You finally came to me lady, always playing with my children but you were too afraid of my magnificence."

Butterfly took out her sword and pointed to Fakhar challenging him as he smiled with excitement. her sword was shrouded in blackish red aura as she sliced her sword. the damage of slash came from the back of Fakhar cutting his arm.

"That dimensional slash, your power is magnificent lady but alas it won't make any difference against my regeneration." the ashes returned to their original place forming Fakhar's hand back.

Butterfly's dimensional slash required immense amount of aura to cut through the fabric of space, there was no weapon that could hold so much aura. So she herself forged this giant sword that defied any sign of being normal to withstand her power. By nature, it was an absolute cut that could rip through anything so Fakhar's defence meant nothing against such a cut but he needed no defence either, his regeneration capabilities were unreal. Butterfly had seen it the last time they fought, it was the perfect counter for her ability.

Fakhar called in all the ash that he had sent for them before and assimilated it into himself. Fakhar's power was not simply regeneration, one could call him a pyromaniac in the sense that he liked to burn everything down with his black fire and anyone he had burned down would be added to his arsenal, forever loyal to him and constantly tormented by his fire. All those hordes of demons they fought were nothing but the inhabitants of the island that Fakhar had killed when he first came to the island and the other stronger demons were all a part of him more akin to a part of his personality but the most powerful piece of all the seven parts was the controlling Fakhar, the embodiment of his pride.

Fakhar rushed at Nandini leaving a trail of black flames. One would expect that with such a large sword it would be impossible to be agile at the same time too but if they had seen Butterfly handling her sword they would have changed their mind. She threw her sword to his side sending the sword into the slash that cuts through dimensions and it came from Fakhar's back but lower cutting his legs off.

Butterfly knew to keep distance from Fakhar and with the other three on her side she had to hold him off much aggressively as she wanted to give them a chance to escape. She caught the big hunk of iron back through the hilt as if it were a frisbee to her. "You three need to get out of here, I can't hold him off for much longer."

Anika had seen the armour that Fakhar wore it was just like the one acedia had on his arms and it would be impossible for them to get through. Those three knew it too as they saw even Reema's punch only managed to stagger her opponent but the strength oozing from Fakhar was much more that acedia and it would be foolish to even consider the same strategy. As for leaving Butterfly behind it also seemed unlikely as Fakhar's powers were not something her power could defeat and it was more likely that even before they get to a safer distance Fakhar would have finished off Butterfly and caught up to them so Anika was not betting on that either.

Fakhar got up as his legs healed up, "Ah the annoying low blows, you are just wasting both our times with such dirty plays." he kept his hand on the ground creating a ring of black fire that rose up to as much as 5 meteres and covered the boundaries of the whole crater created earlier by his blast. "There, this should set the end result in your puny little minds, There is no escape no matter how hard you try."

For Anika her only experience close enough to Fakhar's power was Jia and her use of healing powers. The only way to defeat something like that would be dealing damage they cannot heal off and simple slashes were not effective against a body made up of ashes. There had to be a source of damage that did continuous damage and among the four of them only she had something like that.

Anika came close to butterfly and said, "Can you use that slash of yours to create an opening in his defense? maybe I can burn him from inside."

Butterfly had heard about that ability and it was not some joke, her dimensional slash could create an opening in Fakhar's defence for her but the risk was too high though by the looks of it even any amount of probability would be better than none.

"I can but you wouldn't make it in time besides he can't be totally incapacitated, if he counters you are done for."

"Don't worry we have that covered."

Butterfly was in a dilemma on one hand her attack was on a whole different level and something that could actually hurt Fakhar even with his regeneration, it could give them enough time to make a run for it if they succeeded. And thought the wall of fire might look intimidating it was still something her slash could cut through very easily, the problem was how far would they make it before Fakhar catches up.

Fakhar had created a big orb of black fire till they chatted and let it go on them. Butterfly slashed and broke the ball in half. disrupting it in midair. the blast was just as big as the previous one. Anika barely managed to shield them from it.

"That dimensional slash sure is a handy one, isn't it?" Said Fakhar who was clearly irritated because if that attack had hit directly it would have been the final hit but the cut of the dimensional slash could even cut through the bonds of untouchable aura too.

Butterfly got ready to used her dimensional slash again as Reema was ready with her 100% punch. Reema hit the ground with all her might raising up a big slab of rubble. Rajdeep punched the rubble directing it towards Fakhar.

"You want to hit me with stones, that's some wishful thinking..."

Butterfly used her dimensional slash now to make the cut more towards the coronal plane giving as much armour-less surface exposure as possible.

This distracted Fakhar enough for him to notice the real picture late. Behind the rubble was Anika hiding herself, She released her pressure pockets to boost herself towards Fakhar and the attack with her best punch that would put Fakhar in a flaming coffin. The attack was a success but Fakhar was not slow either he managed to counter with a blast too.

Anika was too close and the others had very low defence, Butterfly tried doing multiple slashes to reduce the impact but taking damage was somewhat inevitable. as things cleared Anika was badly burnt and lying on the ground while the injuries on others were not so bad as to incapacitate them. Anika's shield focusing had managed to save her from mortal injuries.

everyone gathered around Anika as she was prepped up on Butterfly's lap.

"Did it work?"

Fakhar was screaming with pain, generally if the nerves burn down you stop feeling the pain but if Fakhar stopped regenerating that it would be death so he was constantly enduring burning pain of the regenerated nerve endings. his skin was cracking in emitting light inside. He got on his knees from pain and said,"You sneaky bitch, that is the first time someone has made me feel so much pain, if only you had enough Aura you might just have done it but now this, just became personal. You will die first, that is my promise to you."

Fakhar slowly got up as the fire inside him was subsiding slowly. He started walking towards Anika who was in Butterfly's lap. Rajdeep Transformed himself into his mindless berserker form as a last ditch to save his friends and charged but now the Angry Fakhar was not holding back anything, His one hit was enough to send Rajdeep into the forest and rendering him unconscious. Reema charged at him too, she tried to counter Fakhar but the punch was too fast and powerful for her, she was tossed aside into unconscious slumber too.

"Fakhar you need to get through me first." Said Butterfly as she got ready to make the dimensional slash but Fakhar got there in a flash holding the sword and breaking the big hunk in half with only his 2 fingers. He held butterfly up from her neck and said,"Don't worry you are next." and threw her away.

He got to Anika who could barely drag herself away from the monster. He used his leg to crush Anika's Ankle, She screamed in pain as blood slowly oozed out of the ankle.

"I want you to feel the pain I did before I kill you."

Butterfly who had trouble breathing due to a nearly crushed windpipe, picked up her broken sword and threw it at Fakhar. He caught it with ease and burned it to crisp with his black fire.

He then went on to crush another Ankle of Anika who had not stopped screaming, the pain was enough to bring her to tears.

"Is that all...you got? You filth..."

"It's not over yet you little insect, you dare speak against the king of ashes. I will slowly burn you till your body yields and make you my soldier, you will keep feeling that pain until I am satisfied."

Fakhar raised both his hands creating an enormous orb of fire visible to anyone with eyes in that direction. He grinned as he stepped on the crushed ankle and said, "Rest in ashes."

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The black fireball descended and exploded. something even Yash Bakshi could see, the cane he was holding fell from his hand as he gasped with astonishment,"Looks like we are too late."

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Anika opened her eyes to see Krishna looking at her, he was on top of her as a shield that once Ganesh casted. she was still crying now with added tears of relief. She hugged him and let her tears get soaked in Krishna's shoulders.

"What took you so long?" said Anika with a sobbing muffled voice.

"I had to walk till here you know, Do you know the distance from Chennai to Port Blair?"

"I don't care."

"You just can't be less careless now, can you?"

Anika shook her head inside Krishna shoulder.

Fakhar blacked out for a moment, something hit him but he was not able to make it out. He got up and saw his flames had disappeared totally with no effect on anyone lying on the ground, What was more there was someone else now sitting besides Anika. He threw an orb of black fire the size of a football towards them.

"You little shit was that another one of your sneaky tricks?"

The fireball vanished as it reached Krishna.

Krishna slowly undid Anika's grip and put her down.

"What kind of illusion is that!" shouted Fakhar with rage as he started creating another one of his big orbs.

"Silence!" Said Krishna and fakhar's orb disappeared.

Fakhar was now in sheer shock and confusion. 'What is going on? How am I not able to summon my flames? How is nobody affected by the Blast earlier? Who is this man standing there?'

Krishna had anger written all over his face, he had excelled in healing to some extent while working with Anika and Reema's foundations so he had managed to relieve Anika's pain somewhat but her condition was not something he was willing to let go. The thing that caused her so much pain was right in front of him. He let his lock on the aura off and let Fakhar sense it.

Fakhar's leg had a slight shake as he felt the depth of Krishna's aura. 'How can such a being exist? I can't even sense an end to his strength.'

"What are you? How can a human achieve such a state."

Krishna closed both his fist and a black flame raged from them, he lifted his leg to take and step and before Fakhar could see the leg land on ground Krishna was standing in front of him.

"Are you…" Fakhar gulped down with a dry mouth "No! It's not possible, you were just a tale, you were supposed to be dead." Fakhar started walking backwards with fear, he stumbled and fell down, "are you...you the greatest wielder of flames, that hunter? The tale said you died in the end, how can you be here?"

"If I were you, I would not worry about some fairytale." Said Krishna As he grabbed Fakhar by forehead and picked him up.

"please don't kill me, I didn't know she was related to you. I will do anything you say."

Krishna tightened his grip and said, "You used the inhabitants of these islands as your personal army leaving them in constant agony for all this time just for your personal amusement, that alone is enough of a reason for me to kill you."

The black flames consumed Fakhar as he writhed in pain trying to hold on to his dear life but the flames never stopped until his last breath was out and his body turned into a lifeless pile of ash.

Krishna turned back smiling towards Anika when suddenly he felt an embrace. It was the most lethal Butterfly tightly holding on to him.

"Where were you these 7 years Krishna, I waited so long for you."

Anika's ankles were crushed otherwise she was ready to intercept. what was her model doing, it was something for which she would not forgive anyone. Krishna realised the voice, that embrace, no matter how much it had changed his sensations were not fooling him for sure, the woman in front of him was Nandini.