The system did not return the next day.
Nor the day after.
No whispers. No warnings. No cold, neutral calculations to lean against when decisions became unbearable. Arya felt the absence like a missing limb—only truly noticeable when he reached for it.
Mahismati endured.
That was the problem.
The city endured everything now.
---
Reports came in steadily.
Small skirmishes. Probing attacks. Fires lit and extinguished before they spread. The Kurus were patient. They no longer pressed the walls hard. Instead, they circled, watched, learned.
They were letting Mahismati bleed slowly.
And they were letting Arya feel every drop.
---
Karna stood before the war table, jaw clenched, fingers pressed into the wood.
"We can't keep contracting defenses," he said. "Every time we pull back to protect civilians, they map our responses."
Arya listened.
Truly listened.
No system summary filtered Karna's words into efficiency or risk.
Just concern.
Just frustration.
"I know," Arya said.
"Then give the order," Karna snapped. "Let me take the cavalry. I'll push them back hard enough that they won't come near the inner districts again."
Arya's eyes lifted slowly.
"And if they burn villages on the way out?"
Karna hesitated.
"Then we answer later."
Arya nodded.
"That answer will be written on bodies."
Silence filled the chamber.
---
Karna exhaled sharply.
"You're asking us to fight with one hand bound," he said. "Bhishma will not."
"I'm not fighting Bhishma," Arya replied.
Karna looked at him.
"That's where you're wrong."
---
The words lingered.
Because they were true.
---
The next report arrived before noon.
Not from the walls.
From inside the city.
---
A riot.
Near the granaries.
Civilians—hungry, afraid, furious.
The evacuation orders, partial and conditional, had created confusion. Supplies were stretched. Rumors spread faster than fire.
And fear always needed a target.
---
"They're demanding access to the military stores," the officer said. "Claiming the army eats while their children starve."
Arya closed his eyes briefly.
"Are they wrong?"
The officer hesitated.
"No, Prince."
Arya stood.
"Take me to them."
---
The square was chaos.
Not violent—yet.
Men shouting. Women crying. Children clinging to robes. Soldiers stood in a loose line, shields down, hands tense.
Devaka was there again.
The old potter looked thinner.
Angrier.
---
"You told us to choose," Devaka called when Arya appeared. "We chose. And now we starve."
Arya raised a hand.
"Open the granaries," he said.
The officer stiffened.
"Prince—that stock is for a siege!"
Arya looked at him.
"This is a siege."
---
The order rippled outward.
Disbelief.
Relief.
Suspicion.
Granary doors were opened. Measured distribution began.
The crowd quieted—slowly.
---
Then a stone flew.
It struck a soldier's helm.
Another followed.
A third.
The line wavered.
---
> [Moral Debt – Escalation Warning]
> Authority Erosion Detected
Arya stepped forward.
"Stop," he said—not shouted, but clear.
The stones ceased.
A man near the front laughed bitterly.
"You think bread buys forgiveness?" he shouted. "My brother died in the eastern quarter!"
Arya nodded.
"Yes."
The man blinked.
"I won't lie to you," Arya continued. "I cannot undo what happened. I cannot promise safety. I can only promise that I will not protect myself at your expense."
The crowd murmured.
---
Devaka stepped forward again.
"And what does that mean?" he asked.
Arya met his gaze.
"It means," Arya said, "that if the city falls, I fall first."
Silence crashed down harder than any shout.
---
Karna's head snapped toward him.
"What did you just say?"
Arya did not look away from the crowd.
"I will not flee," he said. "I will not retreat behind you. I will not trade your lives for my survival."
The system remained silent.
But something else shifted.
---
The crowd did not cheer.
They watched.
Measured.
Weighed.
Then—slowly—some knelt.
Not in worship.
In acknowledgment.
---
Karna grabbed Arya's arm the moment they were out of sight.
"You can't do that," Karna hissed. "You just made yourself a symbol!"
Arya looked at him.
"I already was."
"No," Karna said sharply. "You were a judge. Now you're collateral."
Arya smiled faintly.
"Good."
---
That night, Bhishma acted.
---
The assault came under moonlight.
Not on the walls.
On the granaries.
Precise.
Targeted.
Cruel.
---
By the time the alarms rang, flames were already rising.
Arya ran.
Not with guards.
Not with escort.
He ran first.
---
Smoke blinded.
Heat scorched.
Soldiers fought desperately to hold lines as Kuru elites pushed in hard, ignoring losses to reach their objective.
Arya saw them.
A strike unit.
Elite.
Their goal was not the granary.
It was him.
---
Karna reached him mid-run.
"They're baiting you!"
Arya did not slow.
"I know."
"Then stop!"
Arya turned his head slightly.
"This is the payment."
---
Steel met steel.
No system guidance.
No margin for error.
Arya fought like a man who could not afford survival.
He took wounds.
Shallow.
Then deeper.
Blood soaked his armor.
---
A Kuru captain recognized him.
"Bhishma sends his regards," the man said, smiling.
Arya answered with his blade.
---
The fight blurred.
Pain burned.
The Sovereign's Burden roared—not accusation now, but demand.
Stand.
Endure.
Do not retreat.
---
Karna fought beside him, roaring, furious.
"You don't get to die here!" Karna shouted.
Arya laughed once—breathless.
"I'm not trying to!"
---
A spear pierced Arya's side.
He stumbled.
Karna caught him.
"Enough!" Karna shouted. "Fall back!"
Arya shoved him away.
"Protect the granary," he gasped. "Not me!"
---
The moment stretched.
Then—
A conch sounded.
Deep.
Resonant.
Not from Mahismati.
From beyond the battlefield.
---
The Kurus froze.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
---
Krishna's voice carried across the flames.
"Bhishma," he called gently, "that is enough."
The pressure lifted.
The Kuru elites withdrew—cleanly, immediately.
The fire was contained.
The granary stood—damaged, but intact.
---
Arya collapsed.
Not unconscious.
Just… finished.
---
The system returned.
Briefly.
Quietly.
---
> [Moral Debt – Major Payment Accepted]
> Method: Personal Risk Assumption
> Result:
> Authority Stabilized
> Civilian Trust: Recovering
> System Access: Partial Restoration
> Warning:
> This method is not sustainable.
Arya smiled weakly.
"Nothing is," he whispered.
---
Karna knelt beside him, hands shaking.
"You're an idiot," Karna said hoarsely.
Arya closed his eyes.
"I know."
---
Krishna watched from afar, expression unreadable.
"He paid it himself," Krishna murmured.
Bhishma's voice was heavy with something like respect.
"And learned what even kings forget."
Krishna nodded.
"That justice," he said softly, "demands flesh."
---
Arya was carried back into Mahismati—not as a conqueror.
Not as a tyrant.
But as something far more dangerous.
A ruler willing to bleed first.
---
End of Chapter 31