Wood splintered.
Dust billowed outward in thick, gray waves.
The chandelier shook violently, its crystals clinking like frightened bells.
A figure stood in the ruin of the doorway.
Not hiding in the shadows.
Not cowering.
Gauri.
She stepped forward slowly — one deliberate footstep at a time — as if she were walking through the heart of fate itself.
Her hair whipped around her face in the storm of dust. Her eyes burned with a clarity that cut through the gloom. In her hand, the Pratham Jaal glowed softly, water swirling in luminous patterns like captured moonlight.
The light touched her cheeks, revealing emotion beneath the determination — fear, yes, but also a fierce, unwavering love.
Behind her, more figures emerged.
But not all at once.
They came slowly. With weight. With presence.
Each silhouette growing clearer as the dust settled.
First was Yug, crossbow lifted, his jaw tight, his stance protective.
Then Sharda and Veena — their blades gleaming silver, their shoulders squared with the calm of seasoned warriors.
Shyom walked in next, holding his sacred water-infused shotgun, eyes narrowed in focus.
Urvashi followed, clutching Divine Gem Sand, lips pressed together in tragic determination.
Dadi entered leaning on her staff, her frail form somehow radiating strength older than the very mansion.
And then—
A soft glow shimmered.
Charvi stepped into view.
Her white butterfly attire fluttered as if breathing with her. A gentle radiance pooled around her feet, spreading across the broken marble like dawn breaking inside the hall. Her wings — half-material, half-energy — shimmered faintly behind her.
Together…
They did not look like a family.
They looked like the last army the world had left.
Gauri exhaled slowly, her chest rising and falling as she stepped deeper into the hall.
Her voice, when it came, was soft — but it cut through the silence like steel warming in fire.
"Mohini dear. Vihaan dear."
Mohini's eye twitched at the mockery.
Vihaan blinked once, expression inscrutable.
Gauri's lips curved in a small, sharp smile.
"You were waiting for us."
Her gaze drifted to the rows of hissing dayans.
"…with your long-haired witch association."
One of the dayans snarled. Another clicked her jaw, hair whipping the air. Mohini's nostrils flared, anger twitching at the edge of her carefully maintained composure.
But Gauri kept walking — slowly, steadily — until she stood at the heart of the hall, the light of the Pratham Jaal illuminating the cracked marble under her feet.
"So," she murmured, "we have come."
The smirk that spread across Vihaan's face was terrifying.
He stepped forward, each footstep echoing like the thud of a war drum.
His breath hissed with heat.
His skin flickered with light, as though flames lived beneath it.
"You've come," he said, "to die, Gauri."
He raised his hands, energy swirling around his palms — a blend of water's fluid glow and fire's vicious hunger.
"Can't you see?"
His voice deepened, echoing with multiple tones.
"I am Sarvansh Raj now. Firebird. Waterbird. Jalpanchi. Davansh. All merged… all awakened."
His eyes burned brighter.
"You cannot destroy what the universe has chosen."
Mohini drifted closer, her aura thickening into a storm of black hair and crackling curses.
"And now your family," she whispered, "will die right here."
Gauri did not react with fear.
She looked at her family instead — slowly, one face at a time — letting her gaze linger on each of them as if reassuring herself they were truly here, beside her, ready.
Then she turned back, her voice softer than a breath.
"You still don't understand something, Mohini."
The dayans exchanged confused glances.
Mohini's arrogance faltered for half a second.
"When a girl gets married," Gauri said gently, "she becomes a part of her husband's family. Yes… sometimes there is drama."
Veena snorted softly behind her.
Even in the tension, Gauri's lips twitched.
"But my in-laws… don't fight with words."
She spread her hand toward them, pride filling her face.
"My in-laws fight with weapons — because they are warriors in human form."
A ripple of unease traveled across the coven.
Gauri tilted her head with quiet menace.
"Maybe that's why you're scared of them."
Mohini's fury finally snapped. Her face twisted.
Her braids shot up like spears.
"DAAYANS!" she roared.
"TEAR THEM TO PIECES!"
And just as the dayans lunged forward—
A shadow moved.
A single figure slipped out from behind the coven.
Walking with a pace that was neither hurried nor hesitant…
Just certain.
A girl with long hair.
Sharp eyes.
A familiar smirk.
Adrija.
Her footsteps echoed lightly, almost gently, as she crossed the hall — weaving through the dayans with utter disregard, as though their rage meant nothing anymore.
She walked straight toward Gauri and Charvi.
Gauri's breath halted.
Charvi's lips parted in shock.
Even Yug lowered his weapon in disbelief.
Mohini's scream cracked the air.
"ADRIJA?!"
Adrija didn't bother looking at her.
She lifted a brow, bored.
"Relax. You gave me… what? Good eyeliner techniques?"
She shrugged.
"Not enough reason to die for you."
Gauri let out an astonished, choked laugh.
Charvi pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.
Adrija reached them — and gently placed one hand on each of their shoulders.
Her voice softened.
Sincere.
Warm.
"I may be a daayan," she said quietly, "but first… I am the eldest sister."
Charvi's eyes flooded.
Gauri's heart squeezed painfully — relief, love, heartbreak all mixing into a single tremor.
Adrija's smirk returned, sharper now.
"And today… I stand with my little sisters."
Mohini shrieked, fury tearing through her voice.
"TRAITOR!"
Adrija flicked her hair with perfect attitude.
"Deal with it."
That was the final straw.
The battle did not begin all at once.
It began with a breath.
A shift in the air.
A feeling, deep in the bones, that the world had tilted.
Then—
A dayaan lunged.
Time slowed.
Gauri lifted the Pratham Jaal, her voice cutting through the hall like a battle cry.
"JAI DEVI MAA!"
The divine water burst forward — swirling into holy flames that engulfed the dayaan, turning her into ash mid-scream.
Sharda and Veena dashed ahead, blades slicing through braids with precise, brutal swings.
Yug fired arrows one after another — each glowing, each hitting with the force of sacred lightning.
Urvashi scattered Divine Gem Sand — explosions of holy brilliance ripping through the coven.
Dadi smeared sacred ash across a dayaan's face — the creature wailed, collapsing into dust.
Shyom's sacred-water bullets thundered, sending dayans flying.
Charvi's wings expanded fully — she spun once, wind exploding outward — three dayans shattered like brittle clay.
Adrija inhaled deeply —
then let out a shriek that ruptured the air —
five dayans burst mid-air, falling as smoking remains.
And through this storm of war, Mohini finally froze.
Her face broke.
Her confidence cracked.
And Vihaan…
for the first time…
stepped back.
In the heart of the chaos, Gauri stood glowing in the firelight, breath ragged, face streaked with sweat and determination.
Her voice trembled — not from fear, but from the power of the truth she spoke.
"This is not my fight alone now, Mohini."
She lifted the Pratham Jaal high.
"This is the fight of a family.
A family you tried — and failed — to break."
Behind her, the Kotharis roared with one voice—
"JAI DEVI MAA!"
The mansion itself trembled at their cry.