The defile had become a deathtrap. On one side, the Corruptor Beast, its milky eyes fixated on Ravi, radiated an aura of pure decay, the very air around it seeming to curdle. Its guttural snarls were accompanied by a sickening slurping sound as it began to visibly draw in the ambient Mana, the golden light of the distant Sunstone dimming fractionally with each pulse. On the other, Arjun Singh advanced, Bhairava's Tooth held ready, his ghee-slicked form practically gleaming with malevolent intent in the twilight.
"Nowhere to run this time, little rat," Arjun boomed, his voice dripping with sadistic pleasure. "No princess to hide behind, no crumbling architecture to save you. Just the cold, hard truth of your insignificance."
Ravi's mind raced. His Vanara knife and Krodha-Varaha tusk felt like children's toys against these two behemoths. The monks and Vanara were bravely trying to distract the Corruptor Beast, hurling rocks and firing darts, but the creature's hide was unnaturally resilient, and its Mana-draining aura was making them sluggish, their attacks weaker.
He needed a plan. A crazy, desperate, Bhiwani-back-alley plan. His [Eyes of the Scrap God] scanned his surroundings, highlighting every loose rock, every fissure in the cliff face, the subtle shimmer of Mana around Arjun's mace, the sickening vortex of corrupted energy coalescing around the Beast.
"Insignificant?" Ravi shot back, forcing a cocky grin despite the tremor in his legs. "Buddy, I've found more value in a week-old garbage heap than your boss will find in his entire pathetic kingdom! At least trash doesn't pretend to be something it's not!"
Arjun roared, his patience, already thin, snapping. He charged, his mace a blur of motion, aiming for Ravi's head. The sheer force of the swing displaced the air, a miniature whirlwind.
Ravi didn't try to meet it head-on. He dropped low, sliding on the loose scree, the mace whistling inches above him. He used the momentum to kick out at Arjun's knee, a dirty street fighter's move. It connected, but Arjun's ghee-coated leg barely buckled. It was like kicking a greased tree trunk.
"Tricks and taunts won't save you!" Arjun snarled, recovering with surprising speed. He brought the mace down in a crushing overhead blow.
Ravi threw himself sideways, rolling, the mace slamming into the ground where he'd been, cracking the very rock and sending splinters flying. He scrambled to his feet, his heart hammering. This guy was relentless, a juggernaut of pure, brutal force.
Meanwhile, the Corruptor Beast, momentarily ignored, let out a piercing shriek and lashed out with a tentacle-like appendage, catching one of the young monks across the chest. The monk screamed, his robes smoking where the corrosive slime touched him, his Mana aura visibly dimming.
"Brother Tenzin!" another monk cried, rushing to his aid.
Chandani! Ravi thought desperately. He could hear the sounds of the main battle raging at the monastery gates – the clash of steel, the shouts of men, the resonant hum of defensive spells. She would be there, healing the wounded. But here…
He had to end this, and fast. Arjun was a wall of muscle and malice, but the Beast… the Beast was the real threat to the monastery. His [Eyes of the Scrap God] flickered, focusing on the creature. It had no obvious weak points, its hide a seamless sheath of corrupted flesh. But the Mana it was drawing in… it was coalescing in a pulsating sac on its underbelly, glowing with a vile, greenish-purple light. That has to be it! Its core, or something like it!
"Hanumanth!" Ravi yelled, dodging another bone-jarring swing from Arjun's mace. "The belly! The glowing sac on its belly! That's the weak spot!"
Hanumanth, perched on a high ledge, nocked a specially tipped dart – one coated in a rare sap known to disrupt Mana flow – into his blowgun. He took careful aim, his ancient eyes narrowed in concentration.
Arjun, seeing Ravi's attention divided, pressed his advantage. "Your little monkey friends can't save you from me, Star-Fallen!" He feinted with his mace, then delivered a vicious backhand blow with his gauntleted fist.
Ravi, caught off guard, took the hit to his ribs. Agony exploded through his side, stars bursting behind his eyes. He staggered, the air driven from his lungs. His [Mana: 30/100] icon flashed red. He was fading, fast.
"Had enough, trash picker?" Arjun sneered, advancing for the kill.
No! Not like this! Ravi thought, a surge of pure, defiant rage cutting through the pain. He remembered the Bhiwani bullies, the hopelessness, the constant struggle. He hadn't backed down then, and he wouldn't back down now. He channeled that anger, that desperate will to survive, into his dwindling Mana reserves.
He ducked under Arjun's finishing blow, his movements fueled by sheer adrenaline and a desperate prayer to whatever cosmic entity had dumped him in this mess. His [Eyes of the Scrap God] locked onto something he'd noticed earlier but hadn't understood – the faint seam on Arjun's mace handle. It wasn't a weak point. It was a mechanism.
What if…
As Arjun raised his mace for another strike, Ravi lunged forward, not attacking, but grabbing the mace handle with both hands, just below the massive head. Arjun, surprised by the suicidal move, tried to yank it away.
"Fool! You think you can disarm me?!"
"Not disarm, you greasy lunkhead!" Ravi grunted, pouring every last ounce of his strength and his remaining Mana into his grip. "Just… redecorate!"
He twisted. Hard. Focusing on that almost invisible seam. There was a faint click, a grinding sound. And then, with a sudden, shocking hiss, the head of Bhairava's Tooth detached from the handle. But it didn't just fall. A spray of superheated, foul-smelling oil – the consecrated Ghee of the Vanquisher, now weaponized – erupted from the mace head directly into Arjun Singh's face.
Arjun screamed, a raw, agonized sound that was abruptly cut off as he clawed at his eyes, the burning ghee searing his skin, blinding him. He stumbled back, dropping the now-useless mace handle, his previous arrogance replaced by sheer, unadulterated agony.
"My eyes! Aaaargh! It burns! It burns like the fires of Naraka (hell)!"
Ravi didn't waste the opening. Ignoring the searing pain in his ribs, he scooped up the still-hot, ghee-spewing mace head. It was heavy, unwieldy, but it was a weapon. And he had an idea. A terrible, probably suicidal idea.
The Corruptor Beast, momentarily distracted by Arjun's screams, was still drawing in Mana, its underbelly sac pulsing obscenely. Hanumanth's dart had struck its flank, causing it to hiss in annoyance but doing little to stop its absorption.
"Everyone, get back!" Ravi roared, charging towards the Corruptor Beast, the burning mace head held aloft like a grotesque Olympic torch.
The monks and Vanara scattered, their faces a mixture of horror and disbelief.
The Beast turned its milky eyes towards Ravi, sensing a new, potent source of… something. It opened its maw, a vortex of corrupted Mana forming within.
Ravi didn't hesitate. With a battle cry that was more Bhiwani curse than heroic roar, he hurled the burning, ghee-spewing mace head directly into the Corruptor Beast's open mouth.
For a split second, nothing happened. Then, the superheated ghee, combined with the concentrated, unstable Mana the beast had been ingesting, ignited.
The explosion was catastrophic.
A wave of emerald and violet fire erupted from the Corruptor Beast, a shockwave of corrupted energy that slammed Ravi backwards, sending him tumbling like a rag doll. The creature shrieked, a sound that tore at the fabric of reality, its body convulsing, its underbelly sac rupturing in a geyser of foul, black ichor. Then, with a final, deafening implosion, it dissolved into a shower of dying embers and acrid smoke.
Silence descended upon the defile, broken only by Ravi's ragged gasps and the distant sounds of the ongoing battle at the monastery gates. The oppressive, Mana-draining aura was gone. The golden light of the Sunstone seemed to flare, brighter now, as if sighing in relief.
Ravi lay on the ground, dazed, his ears ringing, his body screaming in protest. His [Mana: 5/100] icon was critical. He was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs, and his vision was blurry. But he was alive. And the monster was dead.
He vaguely saw Hanumanth and the monks rushing towards him, their faces etched with concern and awe. He also saw Arjun Singh, still writhing on the ground, blinded and broken, his reign of terror ended by his own weapon.
"Did… did we get it?" Ravi croaked, a bloody grin stretching his lips.
"You did, Star-Fallen," Hanumanth said, his voice filled with an uncharacteristic amount of emotion. "You truly did. You saved the Sunstone."
But the battle wasn't over. A furious roar echoed from the direction of the main gate. Devraj. He would have seen the explosion, felt the shift in Mana. He would know his prized pet project was gone.
Ravi, with the help of a grateful monk, struggled to his feet. "Can't… stop now," he wheezed. "Devraj… still out there."
As they emerged from the defile, the scene at the main gate was dire. The bronze doors were buckled and groaning, on the verge of collapse. Devraj, his face a mask of murderous rage, was personally leading a fresh wave of his elite soldiers, cutting down the valiant warrior-monks who stood in his way. Chandani was in the thick of it, her healing light a beacon amidst the chaos, desperately trying to save lives even as arrows whizzed past her.
"The Star-Fallen still lives?!" Devraj bellowed, spotting Ravi. "And my Corruptor Beast is destroyed?! I will flay you myself for this!" He pointed his sword at Ravi. "Kill him! Kill them all! No prisoners!"
His soldiers surged forward. The outnumbered monks and Vanara braced themselves for the final, desperate stand.
Ravi knew he had nothing left. His body was broken, his Mana depleted. But he couldn't let them fall. He looked at the Sunstone, its pure, golden light still shining, a symbol of defiance.
Then, something incredible happened.
As Devraj's men charged, the Sunstone itself seemed to react. The resonant hum intensified, becoming a powerful, almost deafening thrum. The golden light pulsed, growing brighter, hotter, more intense, until it was almost blinding.
A wave of pure, concentrated solar energy, like a physical manifestation of righteous fury, erupted from the Sunstone, washing over the battlefield. It didn't harm the monks, the Vanara, or Chandani. If anything, they felt invigorated, their wounds easing, their strength returning.
But for Devraj's soldiers, it was like stepping into a furnace. Their armor began to glow cherry-red. Their dark Mana enchantments sputtered and died. They screamed as the pure, holy energy seared them, not burning their flesh, but purging the darkness, the corruption, the loyalty to Mahipal from their very souls. Some dropped their weapons, falling to their knees, weeping. Others simply… dissolved, their forms unable to withstand the sheer purity of the Sunstone's light.
Devraj himself was caught in the wave. He shrieked as his shadow-forged sword melted in his hand like wax, his dark enchantments shattered. The light seemed to be burning away his malice, his ambition, leaving him exposed and terrified.
"No! This cannot be!" he screamed, stumbling back, his eyes wide with disbelief and a dawning, primal fear. "What sorcery is this?!"
It wasn't sorcery. It was the Sunstone, awakened, its ancient power unleashed, defending its sanctuary.
Ravi watched in stunned silence, leaning heavily on Hanumanth. He had seen magic, monsters, and interdimensional travel, but this… this was on another level entirely. This was divine intervention, raw and untamed.
The wave of light subsided, leaving behind a scene of stunned silence. Most of Devraj's army was gone, either fled, incapacitated, or simply… unmade. Devraj himself stood alone, disarmed, his fine armor scorched, his arrogance shattered.
Acharya Vedant stepped forward, his expression serene but his eyes blazing with the Sunstone's reflected light. "Your darkness has no place here, son of Mahipal. The light of Aryavarta endures."
Before Devraj could utter another word, a Vanara dart, expertly aimed by Hanumanth, struck him in the neck. He gurgled, his eyes rolling back, and collapsed, paralyzed but alive.
The battle for the Sunstone Monastery was over. Against all odds, they had won.
Ravi finally allowed himself to succumb to the exhaustion. As his vision blurred and darkness encroached, the last thing he saw was Chandani rushing towards him, her face a mask of relief and concern, the golden light of the victorious Sunstone bathing her in its glow. He had faced down a ghee-slicked butcher, blown up a Mana-eating monster, and witnessed a miracle.
Not bad for a trash picker from Bhiwani. Not bad at all.