10,000 died in one hour

"Tap tap tap tap…"

The horse hooves tapped in a strange rhythm as the Khilji army started their march. At the time, their speed was rather slow. But as time passed, the unit of around 10,000 soldiers got separated from the main army as they increased their speed and got faster as they marched toward the Rajput army in a giant arrow formation.

Leading the charge was Alauddin's trusted general Nazarath Khan. As his army got within 1 Km of the Rajput forces, He raised his scimitar in the air as he shouted, "Hieahhhhh…" and increased his speed. The rest of the Khilji army also increased their speed.

900 meters…

800 meters…

700 meters…

The Rajput army was unmoved as they watched The Khilji army getting closer and closer. There was not a shred of emotion on their face as they waited for their commander's orders.

600 meters…

500 meters…

400 meters…

When the Khilji army was just 300 meters away from the Rajput army, their commander who led the charge felt something unusual. When he looked at the Rajput army he felt like a giant fish was lying in front of him ready to attack. The feeling he got from the Rajput army was completely different from before.

"There is something wrong with the enemy army…"

However, it was too late for him to stop his army from moving forward as they were charging at their full speed. So he could only trust his army and marched together with them.

250 meters…

As soon as the Khilji army reached within 250 meters, Aarv raised his sword and hollowed loudly,

"Activate the Makara Vyuha…"

As soon as Aarv's words landed, all the Rajput commanders blew their Shankhas.

"Puuuuuu~"

Before the vanguard army of Khilji could react, they saw the tip of the Rajput army split open in two opposite directions as they made a way for the Khilji soldiers to pass through. Nazarath Khan could do nothing but follow the path created by the Rajput soldiers.

Aarv watched the enemy vanguard soldiers entering the formation with a smile. When the last Khilji soldier entered the formation, he said, "close the formation…"

And before the vanguard army could react, the sides of the formation started closing inwards. Like a whale swallowing thousands of small fishes, the Makara formation swallowed the 10,000-strong Vanguard army. Nazarat Khan was shocked when he saw his army getting surrounded by the Rajputs.

"Break free… Quickly…"

Urgency flashed in his eyes as he ordered his officials to quickly break free from the Rajput encirclement but Aarv did not give him chance to organize his army at all. he raised his sword and ordered his archers, "Attack…!!!"

The Rajput archers who were right behind him raised their bows and fired volley after volley of arrows toward the surrounded Khilji army.

"Sew Sew Sew"

It was already hard for Nazarat Khan's army to break free from the Rajput encirclement. Additions of arrows made it even harder. Nazarat Khat looked at the soldiers behind him who were dying by the second and his eyes turned bloodshot.

He did not know what to do as arrows were coming from every direction But, there was still hope for him as he looked toward the main Khilji army with eyes full of expectation. If the main Khilji army attacked Rajputs from outside, there was still a chance for him to get out of the encirclement.

He looked towards his Sultan, who was leading the main army and then towards Malik Kafur. When he looked at both of them, all he got was cold stares. They did not even think to march ahead and just watched the scene unfolding below them. He did not though that the sultan he served his whole life did not even try to save him.

With bloodshot eyes, he turned his attention from the main army to the Rajput warriors. He knew that to survive, he had to break the encirclement himself and there would be no help from their main army.

He raise his sword and personally marched toward the Rajput soldiers with his soldiers. He looked at the Rajput commander in front of him and slashed his scimitar towards the commander.

Little did he know, the Rajput commander he choose to attack was the one who made Alauddin Khilji retreat in fear.

Before Nazarat Khan's scimitar could land on instructor Vijay, He saw a white blur in front of him. Before his mind could register what happened, his hand which was holding the scimitar got separated from his body.

A fountain of blood sprouted out of his severed hand as a rush of pain flashed through his whole body. He looked horribly at instructor Vijay and wanted to say something. But, before he could get the chance, Instructor Vijay swung his sword a second time.

Nazarat Khan wanted to stop the blow, but he couldn't as he saw the same white blur appear below his chin. Soon, his vision blurred as he saw the earth rotating around him.

The last thing he saw was his own headless body slowly dropping down from the horse.

"Thud…"

That was the last sound he heard as he died.

Instructor Vijay quickly came forward and thrust his head with a spear and raised the spear for everyone to see.

"JAI SHREE RAM…!" his battle cry sounded throughout the battlefield as all the soldiers looked in his direction. When the Rajput soldiers saw the enemy commander's head, they all brimmed with joy and started shouting themselves.

On the other hand, the vanguard forces looked at their commander's severed head with dread. One by one they lost their morale and within one hour all 10,000 strong Khilji cavalry got annihilated by the Rajput forces.

---

Author thoughts:

Makara formation, in English, can also be called a fish formation which is actually based on big fish eating a lot of smaller fish around it.

later the formation was refined and fins, as well as tail, were added to the formation (a little teaser on what is about to come...)