August 14, 2001. 11:00 PM.
The euphoria of the victory against Seth International had faded, replaced by a suffocating tension. The monsoon rain was falling again, a heavy, relentless sheet of water that turned the unfinished campus grounds into a swamp.
Surya sat in the "Arena" (the gaming room), but he wasn't playing. The twelve computers were humming, occupied by Imran and his loyal squad of gamers. Usually, the room would be filled with shouts of "Headshot!" and "Rush B!". Tonight, it was silent.
On the main server screen, a grainy, pixelated video feed flickered.
"Webcams," Imran muttered, adjusting the contrast. "We daisy-chained four USB webcams and ran the cables to the perimeter. Resolution is garbage, but we'll see movement."
"Good work, Imran," Surya said.
He walked out to the verandah. Moorthy was there, crouching by a bundle of wires connected to the iron gate.
"Is the welcoming committee ready?" Surya asked.
"Ready," Moorthy grinned. It was a terrifying expression. "I rigged the gate with a high-voltage, low-amperage capacitor bank from the old flash units. It won't kill them, but it will feel like getting kicked by a mule."
"And the generator shed?"
"Tripwires connected to a pressurized canister of... let's call it 'visual obscurant'. (It was a fire extinguisher rigged to explode)."
Surya nodded. He checked his System Interface.
[Threat Level: CRITICAL]
[Time to Impact: < 2 Hours.]
[Karma Points: 500 KP.]
He had spent 300 KP earlier that evening on "Instant Policy Approval: Fire & Property Insurance". If the building burned down, he would get paid. But money couldn't replace the momentum. If the college burned tonight, the parents would panic and withdraw their children.
"Shakuntala," Surya whispered to the darkness. "You went home?"
"I am here," a voice came from the shadows of the office. Shakuntala Devi stepped out. She wasn't holding a ledger. she was holding a cricket bat.
"I have defended my home from recovery agents before," she said grimly. "I can defend a college."
Surya looked at his army: A physics mechanic, a gamer, a disgraced accountant, and a former drunk doctor (who was currently sleeping in the staff room as the 'medic').
"Lights out," Surya commanded. "We wait."
August 15, 2001. 1:45 AM.
The rain masked the sound of the engine. A white Maruti Omni van—the universal vehicle of kidnappers and thugs in Indian cinema—rolled to a stop fifty meters down the road.
Four men stepped out. They wore raincoats and motorbike helmets to hide their faces. They carried jerry cans.
Inside the Arena, Imran saw them on the screen.
"Contact," Imran whispered into his headset. "Four tangos. North Gate. Carrying payload. Looks like incendiaries."
"Hold," Surya's voice came over the LAN voice chat. "Let them enter the kill zone."
The four men approached the gate. The leader pulled out a bolt cutter.
Clack. The chain snapped.
They pushed the gate open.
"Now," Surya commanded.
Moorthy slammed a switch on his control board.
ZAP.
Blue sparks arced across the wet iron gate. The two men touching it screamed as 20,000 volts of static electricity surged through their wet gloves. They were thrown back into the mud, twitching uncontrollably.
"Ambush!" one of the standing thugs yelled. "Throw the petrol!"
The remaining two didn't retreat. They were professionals. They lit rags stuffed into glass bottles—Molotov cocktails—and hurled them towards the main building.
One bottle smashed against the brick wall, erupting in flames. The second flew towards the generator shed.
"Moorthy! The Generator!" Surya shouted.
If the generator blew, the diesel tank would turn into a bomb.
Moorthy didn't panic. He pressed the second button.
PH-WOOSH.
The rigged fire extinguisher inside the shed detonated. A massive cloud of white chemical powder exploded outward, engulfing the generator shed and the incoming firebomb. The fire was suffocated instantly in the cloud of CO2 and powder.
"Plan B!" the thug leader screamed. "Charge the building!"
The two standing thugs pulled out iron rods and ran towards the verandah.
Surya stepped out from the darkness. He wasn't holding a weapon. He was holding the Principal's Authority.
[Skill Activated: The Voice of Command]
[Cost: 50 KP]
[Effect: Induces 'Hesitation' and 'Authority Fear' in targets with weak will.]
"STOP!" Surya roared.
The sound wasn't human. It echoed like thunder, amplified by the System.
The thugs faltered, skidding in the mud. For a split second, they didn't see a young man; they felt like they were standing in front of their angry fathers or a stern judge.
That split second was enough.
"Charge!" Imran yelled.
The door of the Arena burst open. Ten gamers, fueled by Red Bull and adrenaline, rushed out. They weren't fighters, but there were ten of them. They tackled the thugs with the chaotic energy of a zerglings rush.
Shakuntala Devi stepped in, swinging her cricket bat with surprising precision.
THWACK.
She hit the leader on the shin. He crumpled.
"That's for the balance sheet!" she shouted.
Within a minute, it was over. The four thugs were zip-tied (courtesy of Moorthy) and lined up on the verandah floor.
Surya walked up to the leader. He removed the man's helmet. It was a rough face, scarred and terrified.
"Who sent you?" Surya asked quietly.
The man spat. "Police will come. You assaulted us."
"You broke into a college with petrol bombs," Surya pointed to the broken glass. "Do you think the police will save you from me?"
He leaned closer.
[Eye of Vidya Active]
[Target: Thug Leader]
[Employer: Third Party Contractor 'Snake Shyam'.]
[Ultimate Beneficiary: Seth Trust.]
"Tell Shyam that his contract is void," Surya whispered the name.
The thug's eyes widened. "How...?"
"And tell Vikram Seth," Surya stood up, looking into the dark, rain-soaked night, "that if he sends fire again, I will burn his legacy down. Not with petrol. But with truth."
"Imran," Surya ordered. "Call the police. And call Ananya Rao from the press. I want a photo of these petrol bombs on the front page tomorrow."
August 15, 2001. Independence Day Morning.
The sun rose on a chaotic scene. The police had arrested the thugs. The press had taken photos of the scorch marks on the wall.
Surya stood by the gate, watching the police jeep drive away.
The headline would be perfect: "Rival College Hires Goons to Burn Down Rank 2 Holder's Institute."
Vikram Seth had overplayed his hand. The public sympathy would shift massively to Gurudeva.
"We won," Karthik said, coming to stand beside Surya. The boy had arrived early for the flag hoisting ceremony.
"We survived," Surya corrected. "Winning is different."
He looked at the blackened bricks.
"Karthik, raise the flag."
Karthik pulled the rope. The Indian Tricolor unfurled against the morning sky. The students, who had gathered for Independence Day, sang the anthem with a fervor Surya had never heard before.
They weren't just students of a college. They were defenders of a fortress.
Surya looked at his System.
[Quest Complete: The Night Watch.]
[Reward:]
* Karma Points: +300.
* Reputation: 'The Unbreakable'.
* New Feature Unlocked: [The Campus Shop].
[The Campus Shop] allowed Surya to sell special items to students (e.g., 'Focus Pens', 'Nutrient Bars') in exchange for cash, not KP. It was a revenue generator.
But Surya wasn't looking at the shop. He was looking at the notification below it.
[System Warning: Arc 2 Climax approaching.]
[The enemy has realized that physical force is ineffective.]
[The enemy will now use 'The weapon of mass destruction': The Law.]
"The Law," Surya muttered.
Shakuntala walked up to him. "Surya, we have a problem."
"What now?"
"The Land Deed," she said, her voice trembling. "I was checking the old documents in the safe. The survey number... it matches a notification from the National Highways Authority."
Surya froze.
"What are you saying?"
"The road widening project," Shakuntala whispered. "It was approved in 1998 but stalled. Vikram Seth's father is on the Infrastructure Committee. They just reactivated the project."
She pointed to the red line on the map she held.
"The new highway goes right through our main building."
Surya stared at the map.
They couldn't burn him down. So they were going to bulldoze him legally. Eminent Domain. The government takes the land for 'public interest', pays a pittance, and demolishes the structure.
"How long?" Surya asked.
"Notices will go out next week. Demolition in three months."
Surya looked at the building he had just saved from fire. He looked at the students singing the anthem.
"They want to build a road over my university?" Surya laughed, a cold, hard sound.
"Then we will have to move the road."
"Surya, that's a National Highway," Shakuntala warned. "You can't fight the Government of India."
"I don't need to fight the government," Surya turned to the gate. "I just need to find something on this land that makes it illegal to demolish."
"Like what?"
Surya remembered a specific detail from his Eye of Vidya scan of the land back in Chapter 1. Legacy of the Sapta Rishis.
"Like a Temple," Surya said. "Or an archaeological site. Or... a protected species."
He looked at Dr. Rao, the biologist.
"Dr. Rao!" Surya shouted. "Get your shovel. We are going digging."
Scene: Seth Residence.
Vikram Seth watched the news. 'Attack on Education: Gurudeva College Defends Against Arson.'
He turned off the TV. He looked at his father, Mr. Seth, a man who looked like a shark in a silk suit.
"You failed," Mr. Seth said calmly. "Thugs? Petty."
"I underestimated him," Vikram admitted.
"Now we use the steamroller," Mr. Seth pulled out a map. "The highway project.
Serve the acquisition notice tomorrow. Let's see him teach physics to a bulldozer."