Chapter 19: The fated battle

[THMM!!]

The ground trembled, Yaksh got goosebumps all over his body, just by feeling the atmosphere getting heavier. His uneasy eyes frantically gazed towards the castle, trying to find the source of the phenomenon.

[BHRR!!]

Yaksh's attention was dragged away from the castle, he gazed towards Arav's back and found a dragon symbol releasing a small amount of red flames.

"Wh..what are you doing?" Yaksh asked while moving in front of Arav;

"She desires to go all out…So do I"

[HUM!] [GRHH!]

Red aura burst out of the dragon symbol and surrounded Arav, while accompanied by the sound of a roaring beast. The intensity forced Yaksh to step back. But, it didn't take him long to realize..this time Arav's aura was different. Yet, Yaksh failed to place his finger on the exact reason. Before he could continue contemplating the situation;

[THOO!!]

With a strong shockwave, Arav flew towards the castle, leaving a red trail of aura behind him. Yaksh silently stared at Arav rapidly moving away, a strange sense of emptiness filled his heart. All the emotions he felt overwhelmed him, as he failed to understand anything about them.

"Tch…Damn it.."

[HUM!] [SWO!]

A green layer of energy appeared around Yaksh and he jumped towards the town.

—

[BOOM!]

The entire city trembled, as if something with incredible mass just crashed down.

[TTAK…TTAK…TTAK]

Hasty footsteps of soldiers rushed around the castle, every single one of them had a terrified expression with eyes shivering in hopelessness.

"YOUR MAJESTY!!" An old man swiftly opened the hall's door and exclaimed in concern. His face suddenly went pale, his concern intensified even further, as his eyes fell on Usha.

She was completely surrounded in what appeared as an amalgamation of purple and a dark aura, her hairs had changed into countless snakes which continuously released purple fumes through their fangs. Her entire skin was covered in a purple scale, with a long tail cracking the floor. She stared at him, with her long, vertical green pupils. The scene was enough to freeze him to his core;

"Hehe..So….he has arrived.." Usha's voice sent chills down the old man's spine, as it sounded if many were speaking at once. The man saw her licking her lips with a long black tongue which was separated in two parts right in the front.

[THPAK!!!] [CRASH!]

With a powerful burst of energy, Usha broke through the castle roof while blowing a huge hole in the process.

"WHERE?...WHERE?...WHERE?" She repeated a single word, while turning towards random directions. She suddenly stopped and smiled wickedly, as her eyes finally caught a glimpse of Arav.

Arav was floating over the front of the castle with a large crater below him, which was still covered in smoke. Usha's eyes restlessly scanned Arav, making her instantly realize the difference in his appearance. Arav floated shirtless, with his previous skinny appearance nowhere to be found. His silver hair proudly waved in rhythm with his red aura. While his clenched fists seemed to hold devastating force.

[SWWOOO]

Her rage erupted, with hatred engulfing her heart. Only one thought remained in her head, kill him…Usha rushed towards Arav, while her sharp claws got surrounded in purple energy.

[SWIP..] [SMACK…SMACK…SMACK]

Arav swiftly dodged her attack and rapidly punched in her gut;

"Urk!..." Usha coughed up purple blood, while she was thrown several meters away from Arav, but still managed to stay floating in the sky.

"Heh….So that's how you killed them…Impressive…very impressive indeed.." Usha spoke while licking blood off her lips;

"....Your hideous appearance compliments your heart quite well.." Arav responded, while his brows contracted;

"HEHEHE!!..Is that how you are supposed to address an elder?"

"....Two of the supposed elders are in the underworld…and I'm planning a family reunion for them."

"GRR!!...YOU BRAT!!...DON'T CONSIDER ME A WEAKLING AS THEM!"

Usha rapidly moved her claws, releasing blades of energy with her fingers. The large blades rushed towards Arav, while carving the down below them;

[SWOOP]

Arav moved his right arm vertically, releasing a slash of energy that nullified her attack.

"What?!" Usha whispered in disbelief;

"Hooh.." Arav placed his left hand on his head, as a ringing sound echoed inside his brain, he was reminded of all of the tortures this woman had bestowed upon the boy followed by her maniac laugh right before his death. The emotions threatened to shatter Arav's control, but at that moment, Arav already had a decent grasp of how to prevent that.

The corner of his lips suddenly rose, as a sudden realization hit him;

"WHAT IS THAT ARROGANT SMILE?!"

"...You can't really stay in that form for long…Can you?" Arav's smirk widened even further while he spoke, as his eyes noticed the dark and purple energy trying to resist against each other;

Usha's eyes flinched, but she managed to constantly glare at Arav.

'How…did he find out?...I can't waste any more time..'

[HUM!]

"HURGH!!!!!" Usha raised her hands, her fingertips began condensing energy rapidly that began causing tremors in the space.

[TRRR]

Black lightning began raging throughout her body, making sparks upon hitting her purple scales.

"YOU WILL PERISH!!...THERE IS NO DESTINY THAT CAN DEFY MY POWER!!"

[BHRR!!!!]

Usha swiftly moved both of her hands and pointed all of her fingers towards Arav, ten incredibly fast dark energy beams were released at him.

'A demonic technique…'

[GRRR!!] [SHING…SHING…BOOM!]

"WHAT?!" Usha's eyes shivered in disbelief, as she witnessed an unknown pair of energy slashes destroying her attack. Her search for the source did not last long, as she saw a huge wolf floating mid air right beside Arav. The wolf's red eyes held a striking resemblance to Arav, while its black fur constantly radiated dark lightning. The wolf's fangs were covered in saliva, while its lips vibrated with intense anger;

"WHAT IS THIS FOUL CREATURE?!" Usha exclaimed while waving her long tail, seemingly demanding an answer from Arav;

"...He's marichi and he's here for revenge."

"WHAT IDIOCR-.." Before Usha could continue, Marichi disappeared in the thin air while a black stream of lightning moved towards her. She suddenly felt a strong pull at her tail that caused her to crash on the castle roof.

[CRASH!]

The debris from the collision fell over her, but she remained unharmed as her hard scales negated all damage.

Usha angrily turned towards her tail and found Marichi biting it with all his might,

"GO AWAY!!"

[BOOM]

Marichi crashed outside the castle with an explosion of purple energy. Usha wiggled her huge tail and instantly stood up,

[SLASH!…BOOM!]

The moment she regained her composure, a powerful red blade of energy slashed at her. She moved rapidly, barely avoiding getting cut in half. The force of the attack had startled her, and she failed sense Marichi rapidly forwarding towards her;

[CRASH…CRASH…CRASH!]

She was dragged past the castle, breaking through dozens of walls, being thrown past the entire city and finally crashed inside a large crater.

Usha looked around, the location seemed to be the forest beside the castle. But, not a single tree could be seen, only plain ground covered in numerous craters, stretching till the mountain range was visible. Her eyes suddenly stopped, as she saw a strange figure lying on the ground. Marichi had already left her alone and could not be seen in the proximity, but her attention wasn't on that. She forwarded towards the figure, slowly revealing its full appearance as the distance between them reduced.

Arav floated a few meters away from her, observing her every movement carefully with curious eyes.

"What did you expect, brat?..I would break down upon seeing my dead son?" Usha's sudden speech halted Arav's thoughts;

"I have worked towards this goal for decades, do you think a measly son will stop me?"

[SHING!!!]

Usha swiftly moved her claws towards Arav, releasing a barrage of poisonous purple attacks towards him.

[SWOOSH]

Arav moved his fingers vertically, creating a blade of red energy to negate her attack.

"Heh…I am far stronger than them..You can't possibly defeat me in this current state.."

[WOOSH]

Dark aura erupted out of Usha, Vijay's corpse came in contact with her aura and began rotting rapidly;

"HRARGH!!!" Usha exclaimed on the top of her lungs, an incredible amount of dark and purple energy surrounded her, forming a tornado of energy stretching down to the ground.

Usha raised her right arm towards the sky and within a split second, a huge sphere of purple energy appeared above her.

[WOO]...[SWWOSH]

The dark aura surrounding her rushed towards the sphere and began revolving it at a rapid rate.

[TRR…] [BHOOO!!]

Usha pointed her finger towards Arav, sending the huge sphere raging towards him.

[THMM!!]

The entire city trembled, while the pillars holding the castle began cracking under the intense pressure. All of the soldiers inside the castle passed out, leaving only the old man barely conscious to witness the battle.

"HEH-..."

Usha's triumphant laugh got a surprising halt, as she saw Arav standing still, seemingly unimpressed by her attack.

'What..WHAT IS THAT CONFIDENCE?' Usha screamed internally while seeing Arav's blank expression.

The attack almost collided with Arav, but in that split second, Arav stretched his right arm towards the attack;

[BOOM!]

A explosion with tremendous force covered the sky, while releasing a gust of powerful purple and dark energy around;

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Usha whispered in disbelief, as she saw Arav effortlessly negate her attack;

"HOW ARE YOU THAT STRONG?!!" Usha's forehead veins bulged and began crawling like worms towards her eyes.

"HRARGH!!!!" Her body began twisting while radiating an even greater amount of energy.

[THRRR!!!]

The ground below her turned black with the energy tornado getting even larger in size.

[THUM!!!]

The entire energy was concentrated into a single dark sphere. Arav got alarmed, he brought both of his palms in front and began gathering his red aura in form of a sphere;

[BHOOSH!!!]

Usha's attack rose to a humongous size, completely covering the city as well as the elf town.

[HUM!]

Arav released a beam of red energy at the raging tornado headed towards him,

[BOOM!]

The attacks collided, but the strength of the tornado turned out too strong for that beam to handle as it pushed through his attack, completely engulfing it while reaching even greater size.

[BHUM!!!]

The ground had cracked to an alarming state, as lava began pouring outside.

"MARICHI!!!" Arav exclaimed, while his red aura erupted with even greater fury. The sun seemed utterly useless, as the light from Usha's attack and Arav's aura completely masked the sunlight.

[GRR!!]

Marichi appeared right beside Arav, while the lightning around him raged even further;

"Haah…Here's your revenge.." Arav placed his hand on Marichi's head, at that very moment, Marichi's black lightning grew exponentially with a red tint visible in each spark.

[BHUM!!!]

A wide beam of energy, with black lightning around it, was launched from Marichi, which erased the air in its path.

[BOOM!!!]

Usha's attack and Marichi's beam collided, with the beam tearing through her attack.

"NOOO!!!!" Usha's pupils expanded as she saw the beam headed towards her, she tried to increase the intensity of her attack..but lacked the strength to do so.

[HUM!]

The entire sky was lit up with a brilliant red glow, completely erasing the dark aura Usha had released.

[CRASH!]

A purple figure fell down on the ground with dark smoke rising off her.

[SWOO]

Arav descended and landed right beside it. The object turned out to be Usha with her front scales and skin completely burnt off. Purple blood formed a pool around her while burning the soil due its poisonous property.

[HOWL!]

A triumphant howl could be heard throughout the town as well as the city.

"HEUK!!...how…how did this happen…I did everything…everything to prevent this…how.." Usha said with painful grunts interrupting her every word;

"What do you know about the demons?" Arav calmly asked;

"G…go away you filthy blooded scum…I would…I would never submit.."

Arav stretched his hand towards Usha,

[HUM!]

His red aura rushed forward and formed a small sphere in his palm facing Usha;

"STOP!" A sudden voice filled with urgency halted Arav's movement, he turned towards his right and found Drona descending while on a yellow energy platform.

[FISS!!]

The red sphere in Arav's palm dispersed. His gaze stayed on Drona, who hastily moved and reached Usha in moments;

"I..have…a few questions.." Drona spoke in a low voice.

Arav briefly gazed at his eyes, then stepped back without saying anything.

"Haah…Why…why did you do all of this?" Drona asked in a heavy voice;

Usha slowly moved her eyes towards him;

"He…[COUGH!]..Hehe…You really are as dumb as I had expected…What good would it do knowing that right now?" Usha replied with a chuckle;

"I just want to know the reason…that was worth enough to destroy your entire family.."

"Hehehe…di..did you think I married you for your family?...NO!...It was all to serve a purpose, far greater than all of YOU!"

[THRR!!]

Usha's body began radiating dark energy again, Arav raised his hand;

"Just wait!...what purpose?" Drona asked while stopping Arav, while Usha's body began floating above the ground.

"FOR GLORY TO THE NAGA RACE!!"

[BOOM!]

As Usha uttered those words, a powerful red beam collided with her.

[CRASH!]

Drona was thrown several meters away by the impact. He hastily looked in her direction, not a thread of her existence remained. Drona could only find Arav with his arm stretched forward staring at her previous location, while a thick red smoke rose from the ground.

A sense of satisfaction washed over Arav's heart, he slowly lowered his hand while his head was swarmed with thoughts.

'The naga race….the dragons….the demons'

[THCIK!!]

The red aura surrounding him dispersed with his eyes turning normal. Arav forwarded towards Drona and stretched his hand, Drona hesitated briefly but grabbed his hand and stood up.

[TAK…TAK…TAK]

Arav and Drona turned towards the footsteps, Drona's gaze remained the same, while Arav's eyes got filled with curiosity and surprise. An old man with a long beard reaching his chest, who wore saffron clothes and held Yogdanda in his right hand, slowly walked towards them.

"At last….the fateful moment has arrived.." The man joined both of his hand and spoke with closed eyes;

"....May I know your Identity….Mahoday?" Arav asked;

The old man opened his eyes and smiled;

"Rishi Vasistha is humbled by your presence…lord Pralaya.."

[Chapter 19: END]