Trapped.
The word became a cold, hard stone in Sindhu's gut, matching the reality around him. On one side —the massive rakshasa, its molten core pulsing with a hunger. —Jwala, the Sihilotte, his eyes seemed burning with a hatred more immediate and personal than the rakshasa's. Both of them were advancing towards him.
Sindhu's world narrowed to a single, impossible choice: be incinerated by the fire-wielder or crushed by the demon. There was no move to make, no clever strategy. His breath hitched. He put his head down, a silent admission of defeat. This is it. This is how it ends? caught between two inescapable endings.
The demon with a guttural rumble launched his fist of solid magma, large enough to pulverize bone, straight at Sindhu.
Sindhu squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the obliterating impact.The world went white—then, silence.
The attack never landed. Instead, a sound like shattering glass rippled through the arena.When he looked up, a flare of condensed lava had disintegrated into a cloud of harmless, sizzling dust, stopped by an invisible, shimmering barrier of air.
His gaze jerked to Jwala. The Sihilotte wasn't even looking at him anymore.
A fierce, wild smirk twisted his lips, his eyes alight with a new, terrifying enthusiasm as he stared down the demon.
"Oh," Jwala murmured, the word dripping with predatory delight. "So that's how it is."He'd finally grasped it: precise, overwhelming force would shatter the demon far quicker than flames alone.
Jwala didn't unleash a roaring inferno.
Instead, he became a whirlwind of raw martial prowess. Lunging forward, he pivoted into a punch aimed at the demon's regenerating leg, a faint wisp of flame—a mere accent to his motion—coated his fist. The impact rang with a sickening CRACK of fracturing obsidian.
The demon roared, but this time, there was no sigh of contentment. The minuscule amount of flame was instantly consumed, but it wasn't enough to fuel regeneration. The leg, already weakened by Vayu's strike, buckled further.
Emboldened, the demon retaliated, hurling a massive magma ball.
Jwala defended by creating a fireball through his Agni Kada, a compact blast of concussive force that detonated the projectile mid-air. While the superheated debris still rained down, he was already moving through the haze.
In two powerful strides, he closed the gap and slammed another punch into the demon's thigh. The sound echoed like a mountain splitting. Cracks webbed from the impact, and the demon bellowed in raw agony, its leg collapsing entirely.
Jwala rose, his chest heaving with exhilaration. "This is all you got?" he taunted, his voice a gravelly shout of triumph.
The demon responded with pure, prideful fury. A deep, guttural ROAR shook the arena's foundations, echoing insulted primordial majesty.
It was not just hurt; it was enraged.
With a speed that defied its size, it coiled the last of its power and launched a final, concentrated magma. This one was different—denser, darker, moving with a malevolent intelligence.
It shattered Jwala's defensive stance, the overwhelming power exploding on impact and lifting him off his feet. He landed with a heavy, distant thud against the bank of magma river.
Silence, for a single, heart-stopping beat.
Then, slowly, the demon's head turned. Its molten gaze, full of ancient malice, locked onto the only remaining target: Sindhu.
A strangled cry escaped Sindhu's lips. He scrambled backward, his hands coming up. He could feel it—the Pranna, the life force he kept locked away, a storm raging in his chest. He tried to grasp it, to shape it into a defense, but his fear was a cage. His mind was a blur of panic, his focus shattered. The power slipped through his mental fingers like smoke.
The demon's arm, reformed from the arena's very essence, began to rise for the final, crushing blow.
Sindhu could only stare, hollow and still.
Then came a sound that wasn't sound at all—pressure made audible, a thunderclap born from nowhere. The obsidian floor rippled, the demon's arm disintegrated, and Sindhu's ears rang with the taste of metal.The balance had shifted again.