Author's Notes:
Finished. Now going on to homework for tomorrow.
Special wishes to Omegas to make full use of his days on holiday to earn memorable sights and experiences.
His body slotted into the armor as if it were a second skin to him which went to say how often it was worn. Mumu had outdone himself in crafting an armor that could withstand his physical torture of the materials. Ajay knew it wasn't like him to stop and would go on with another iteration label mark 3 probably.
The news reached Ajay's ears in the most distressing predicament. Just moments ago, he was enjoying an outdoor dinner with his friends. He even had a sixth sense that something happened even before word got to him via his smartphone. Kamran was on the way to pick him up and bring him over since he possessed the fastest helicopter.
Why was it always like this? After fighting with the Golden Path till they were bruised and battered, they'd always come back up after a while to try again. He swore to himself, that after repelling this new foreign army which intel suggests was the Yinke National Army from the Eastern State of Yinke, he would continue on with levelling Banapur and razing Chal Jama which he was damn sure were the ones hiding them. He didn't attack holy sites because he didn't want to involve them, yet the priests and monks were involving themselves in this conflict by housing men and arms.
When Kamran arrived, he loaded his equipment onboard to dress in-transit to Lanka. His Armour and mask, his weapons and the Ducati bike through the loading bay. There was likely an anti-air presence from this army watching the skies, so Kamran would fly nape of the earth and perform a low-velocity airdrop from the ramp. Kamran couldn't afford to stay too long in the area nor land his bird, neither could he drop him directly into the central keep. That was what the bike was for, traversing the streets quickly and disallowing the enemy window of opportunity to fire at him.
His weapons were of the usual variety. The slayer elephant gun, compound torque bow, modified AR-15 with thermal optic and sawn-off grenade launcher, there was also a loaded Tec-9 signature designated Rebel by Samar for use on the bike in run and gun. Not forgetting his trusty kukri blade that he got from Samar to replace his broken ones. Forged out of a variety of ceramics and harden metal, it was heavier but harder and had more weight to the attacks he would dish out.
"I still can't believe it's happening." Kamran told him from the cockpit. It was just him and Ajay. Maya went to assemble Unit 58, while Saras returned to the Royal Fortress to see if she could lend advise to high command since she was the architect of Lanka and would know any weakpoints for them to plan an assault.
"That our neighbour attacked us without sending a declaration of war? Or we might lose Lanka because of their collaboration with Golden Path?" Ajay said as he slotted the arrows into his quiver for the compound bow.
"Both."
"… Me neither."
"For quite sometime I've held neutral view regarding this civil war between Royal Army and Golden Path. My job is as His Royal Highnesses chauffeur, nothing more. Now I just can't accept what your father and Golden Path have done."
"…" Inviting foreign powers into a civil war was breaking the on rule about fighting for the people. It was inviting them to lend them support in exchange for material rights to Kyrats natural reserves and resources. And it was also allowing foreign powers to have a say in domestic political affairs when things settled. Because Golden Path couldn't fight the Royal Army head on especially when Ajay had supported and built up their logistical capacities they were forced to turn to outsiders or face the end of Golden Path. But the end of the organisation did not mean the end of the people, that was what Ajay had made clear through giving them leeway and warnings. But it seemed that it didn't help, it only inflated their ego.
Perhaps it was fair to say that it was he who feed them this mentality, poisoning the ideals of the Golden Path and branding it as a thorough enemy to the kingdom as he initially wanted.
"What's the latest news on Lanka?"
"Only what you've received. Presence of unknown hostiles reclassified as Yinke Commando Regiment with armored units. About three thousand Golden Path warriors, and at least the same number of the Yinke soldiers." If that were the case, then since they received the word from a landline meant that Lanka was on the verge of takeover or that someone was intentionally jamming them. Ajay guessed Lynch had a part to play in such electronics not easily available.
"When you've dropped me in the perimeter, locate the origin of their communications jammer and mark it for me. I'll see what I can do." If there was a presence of a jammer then he couldn't communicate with Kamran either. But the pilot wasn't stupid, he'd mark it with a flare or IR designator for Ajay to use one of the Spike Missiles to destroy it from distance. The Central Keep armory was in possession of a few including the stingers in case Lynch brought his remaining choppers into the equation.
Knowing that his presence in Lanka would create a powershift, Ajay decided to take things safely as he was the only one on the garrisons' side apart from the many irregularities in the opposing forces. There were variables that could very well be there. The Devas were a definite one, Jason Brody could be there as were the CNS operatives. But most of all was the infamous Violet Witch of Tirtha he'd heard about that had broken the siege of Tirtha by herself. He didn't know where all these character started popping out from, but as it stood he needed more allies that could counter them. Perhaps his appearance was what rattled out these monsters from hiding. So far, Jeevan and Darshan were the only ones who were qualified in his eyes as combatants. Maya and Saras were decent commanders in offensive and defensive strategies. Anish, Bipin, Kuber and the newest which he still had doubts about, Sam.
Knowing Arjun's routine in QRF, he'd send the armored battalions. Which was good in the sense that it gave them multiple opportunities to encounter combat where in peacetime was almost impossible and difficult to justify spending on exercises as Armor was a purely offensive strategy. Ajay personally preferred the old-style of helicopter QRF as it allowed boots on the ground as soon as possible to prevent any further collateral damage. Unfortunately, the Blackhawk fleet had downsized due to lack of spare parts. The substitutes in the form of Singaporean Super Pumas and Russian Mi-17 helicopters were assembled from their parts configuration but the pilots had yet to complete airframe conversion course on piloting them. Thinking about setting up an industry to maintain their helicopter fleet was a whole other problem he couldn't deal with in the midst of the civil war.
But what worried him the most was the status of the non-combatants and PDF in the fortress grounds. Hopefully Gurung had begun evacuation at the quickest possible moment.
"I just hope we're there in time….." Ajay murmured. But Kamran was all ears to his desire.
Jatayu Company was stationed at Bastion Three to assist the evacuation of the inhabitants of Lanka to King's Bridge. Along with the other two PDF companies and the last remaining battalion of soldiers left from the fortress garrison that were fighting fiercely with the foreign soldiers now dubbed 'commies' for their Communist dressing like the PRC.
(BOOM) They watched as the bofors 40mm cannon air defense tower that domineered the area of the central keep explode and topple to the ground. Likely the work of those tanks they heard from the rumors the logistic soldiers passed along.
Bastion One had a similar gun like all the other Bastions. The beauty of it was the proximity fused rounds that detonated around a mass of infantry down below and made the enemy think twice about approaching them. However, a mortar barrage took it out. It was a concern to Biraj in particular, he was asking the question over and over in his head.
-Why are they destroying them instead of capturing to use them against the Royal Army's helicopters?-
He didn't like the feeling at all that things were still going fairly ok for the defenders while Golden Path were not putting pressure on them.
Just hours ago, he was finishing up the final touches to his masterpiece. The picture that was his ticket to winning Bhadra's heart, he was feeling rather excited as he was about to tuck himself away and dose off thinking of what school life would be like in the coming weekend when he was dismissed from the PDF.
-Tch! Fucking rebels… picking a time like this.- He cursed in his thoughts.
Nehal had disappeared off to receive dispatch orders on what the Company was to do after the evacuation of the civilians and their effects. Biraj hoped that they would follow after them in leaving Lanka and leave it to the Army to deal with. If the Army knew about this, all of them knew that Badala would very well be on his way there as well. So their was no need for them to go through any of the fighting as he had prepped them in this moment to fight.
"What's taking her so long?" One of the PDF militia complained, but his thoughts were shared by the rest of the Company. They had been waiting in the compound of Bastion Three for the quite some time.
"Dunno."
"Hey, speak of the devil and who's that with her?" One noticed their Company Leaders return along with a young officer.
"Guys, form up!" Nehal called out to them and they did as such, it wasn't a time to be fooling around after all.
"This is Captain Phanish, he's been placed in charge of the evacuation and defense of the fortress with the absence of Commandant Gurung. That includes us."
"Absence?" One of the platoon leaders asked.
"It means he's fighting elsewhere not abandoning his post, soldier." Phanish looked annoyed that the kid had dared to thought his superior had left.
"So what are our orders?" Biraj, a platoon leader himself asked. He wanted to get straight into things instead of beating around the bush.
"What you've been asked to do. Hold Bastion three off till every last civilian is out, then leave with them." The Company began to discuss amongst themselves.
"I'll leave things with you then, Nehal. My men need me at fortifying the central keep." Phanish immediately sprinted off into the streets where his last remaining companies were.
Nehal looked a bit anxious that he had left the PDF entirely in control of the bastion while they fortified the central keep. Sure, a battalion worth of PDF was more than enough, however they were going to contend with professional soldiers and veteran Golden Path vanguards. How could they not shake and clatter their teeth when their enemies were just a few walls away from them.
"You heard him, Kas, Bishnu, Umesh, have someone from your platoon relay the message to the other Company Leaders to establish fortified defense in tiers to slow down their advance to by us time. Blockade the West, North and South exits and distribute the appropriate ammo and medical supplies to those strong points." Biraj began to dictate the Companies actions in the hesitant Nehal's stead. They were equally surprised but followed on to his instructions as it was better than sitting around.
"Uh- what shou-." Nehal asked but was cut off by Biraj.
"Oversee the flow of logistics, make sure those supply routes are fluid or the fortified points will suffer."
"uh- Ok!" Nehal ran off to deal with the logistic aspect as she was most adept with.
Biraj was left alone in the compound, he looked at the scroll of the painting a bit before tucking it away. He slung his rifle and made his way to the forefront of the defences where the Golden Path were most likely to storm due to his familiarity to the streets.
He noticed from the wall, the long trail of civilians evacuating into the North. There was at least tens of thousands of them.
"Why did it have to be this way?"
"Coming in view, jesus….." Words taken away from Kamran's mouth when he saw the blazing pyres luminating from the fortress city.
Ajay bore witness to the Royal Army's pride and joy being wrecked to an almost irrecoverable state.
"Guess it had to do with the name." Ajay's joke make Kamran almost lose steering of the mountains as he laughed. Like the demon fortress city from the folktale set ablazed by those monkey tribes.
"You're a dark comedian yunno that, Ajay?"
"Remember what I said about those jammers, Kamran." Ajay brought back his focus on the matter at hand.
"Yeah, I know.- wait. Hang on, the heck-!"
(Brrrrrrt) Tracer fire flew pass the helicopter after Kamran jammed the control stick to the left to make a quick turn to the side. Flying pass him were two or more Little Bird-like helicopters dressed with gatling guns and rockets into an improvised gunship.
"Shit!" Ajay latched tightly to his seat harness as Kamran made a manuever role with the chopper.
"No IFF tone back, it's definitely not ours. Ajay, I'm gonna need you to get rid of those choppers on my back."
"Aye!" He already unbuckled his safety belt and latched on to the door gunnery station. Flipping out the minigun.
Tracers flashed by as Kamran displayed impressive skill at dodging the enemy helicopters most likely Lynch's for two minutes in the air. He slowed and appeared next to the two choppers.
"Now!" Kamran presented him with an opportunity to gun down the two opponents from the doorgun where Ajay was.
(BRRRRRRRRRRRRT) Firing 12.7mm Armor Piercing Incendiary at a cyclic rate of two thousand rounds a minute. Ajay fired at the weakest part of any helicopter, the tail rotor. His tracer fire sliced through one of the choppers fuselage in half while the other attempted to barrel roll out but a stray round impacted the glass cockpit and killed the pilot causing the helicopter to dive and crash.
"Done."
"Ajay, I don't think I can drop you and the bike. The windows too small and I don't know if they have more where that came from, its leaving me vulnerable if I land or even hover over ground."
"Alright, just fly me over the fortress, I'll make my way there on my own. Drop the bike the same way."
"Roger." Kamran flew to get directly over the central keep. Ajay secured his Ducati to a parachute that was prime to release when it exited the heli.
"Don't drop my bike on a roof." Kamran laughed.
"You little bastard, if you had so little faith in my flying up till this point then I just might."
Ajay pressed the rear ramp release and the hatch to the rear ramp opened, he slung on his wingsuit and awaited the cleaning for his jump.
"Window to drop in 10….9….8…7….6…..5…4…..3…..2…..1- go, Ajay! GO!" Ajay jumped at Kamran's command and dived down a thousand metres.
The wind blew against his mask as he used the control surfaces to direct himself to his destination nearest to the Central Keep. Down below facing away from him, there were enemies as described in the report, grey-uniformed Yinke soldiers.
Ajay let the idea of using the parachute go and decided they would be his cushion instead. The soldiers didn't even see him coming as they weren't expecting a rainfall of unfriendlies at all.
"Huh? Hey, wha-.(Crunch)" ajay's foot crunched onto his shoulder and flattened him against the pavement. He had slowed down considerably before he landed so that he himself wouldn't break his bones, but the shear force of it crushed the soldier into puddy. His armor absorbed much of the impact so he didn't injure himself and he achieved a landing without the hindering of a parachute.
But now he was in the centre of what appeared to be a mixture of soldiers and Golden Path fighters.
"What the hell! Who's-."
"It's BADALA!" To the Soldiers of Yinke who were unfamiliar with the terrain and figures, the fighters enlightened them of a character that herald a name so feared that the mere mention of his name was inauspiscious bad luck.
"Hello boys, what'chu little bastards doing in my home?" He grinned as he pulled out his blade.
"Shit shit shit! Fall back!" The Golden Path fighters were the first to run, the soldiers were baffled with that behaviour. Moments ago, they were the bravest in charging against the garrison forces and were the source of admiration to their younger counterparts. Now with the appearance of this person that donned a demonic mask they cowered at first sight. It left the soldiers shaken in their hearts that they had just bought a ticket straight into hell. Some didn't believe and began their retaliation against the man that flattened their comrade in arms. Ajay's blade and Rebel submachine gun made quick work of them due to the absence of body armor on them like the Golden Path NCOs or the Royal Army soldiers.
After a mere three minutes of fighting, the street was riddled with bodies slashed or peppered with 9mm Parabellum.
Ajay navigated his way to the Central Keep, he encountered minor patrols of soldiers whom were scurrying through the houses looking for supplies or food to sack. They fell to his blade and became his warmup for the evening. As he approached closer to where the inner wall and gate of the keep was, he found the bodies of the garrison forces mixed amongst the enemies. The street was full of them, and empty cartridge cases from where they fired their guns till they were piping hot.
"….." The garrison force put up one hell of a fight, for every man that died ten enemies lay next to him to accompany him into the afterlife to torment.
Just as he thought so, a flare popped and landed where Kamran passed over. The jammer module had been sighted, Kamran flew off to avoid the heavy machinegun fire that was used to take him down. But his speed added to the low visibility of his chopper in the night made it hard to distinguish the silhouette in the backdrop of stars.
Ajay decided to use the night to his advantage and snuck closer to have a look. There in the courtyard were five operatives protecting the jammer from any remaining attackers from the garrison.
He found that his choice to go silent was a wise one. Because Captain Goh and Samar had reviewed the implementations of the CNS operatives and found their standard ammo to be these 4mm sabot ammunition. Penetrative qualities were superior to all small-arms carried by everyone in Kyrat and even major armies around the world. He himself wasn't sure of the effect it had on his protective armour that was rated up to 7.62mm NATO. Perhaps it might stop, perhaps it might slice through like butter. The latter was not a pleasant thing to experience, so he chose to do this cautiously.
(Ping)
"What was that?" (Plop)
"Wh- Grenade!" (BOOM) They didn't have the allowance to escape the blast as it took out all five of them with the shockwave crushing their internals behind their protective vests.
Ajay came out of hiding and inspected the machine, it looked like a generator except with antennas sticking out from its centre piece. Ajay flipped open the covers and lo and behold were the chips to the processor. He pulled out the memory chip and authenticator module, stashing it away for investigation later. Then, planted a semtex grenade to the Jammer and went his way after pulling the pin and waiting for it to explode.
(BOOM)
Seconds later he turned the dial on his transceiver which adjusted to the local P.A. broadcast as the airwaves had just been restored for their broadcasts.
"Men and women who live and fight in the fortress city of Lanka. This is Badala, Duke of Lakshman. Today you stand where no one would ever wish to stand, in the heart of something abominable. We have become subject of the ultimate treachery by the Golden Path and Mohan Ghale. They have harboured and allowed safe passage for the foreign nation of Yinke to send Armies to conquer us! Over the last three hours since this conflict began, the palace has not received a single envoy or letter in declaration of war from the People's Democratic of Yinke. This attack… is an atrocity that will have them meet their end. These are your orders, kill every Golden Path fighter, every enemy soldier you see and hold nothing back. This day, we hold no prisoners! Do so, and you'll have the might of your National Army to back you, do so and you'll have the Demon of Lanka as your vanguard."
What followed was a roar of defiance from the garrison soldiers at the central Keep fighting to keep the enemy at bay. Upon hearing that Ajay was in the premise, it sent their morale rocketing sky high. The Golden Paths plummeted after finding out that he was within the streets, their conviction cause them to strifle during critical moments and cost them their lives to the ravenous Royal Army soldiers and PDF fighting at Bastion three to keep them away from the evacuees.
"To our uninvited guests, do us a favour. Roll over and die, so we can give you a decent burial under the pavements of these streets you've bloodied in all your witlessness. Then you can at least repent in death with our descendants treading over your ashes."
If Ajay was there, he would have seen the garrison forces laughing in the midst of their fierce firefights and the Yinke soldiers infuriated with his ridiculous rants.
"Traitor Vasu Sen, Sanjeev Singh, and Outsider Jason Brody, if you're still even that fella. I know you're here, come find me where your boss is." Ajay turned off his radio and headed off in the direction of the Central Keep.
Hopefully, there was still some soldiers remaining to inform him of the status of Lanka. He could tell that Gurung was no longer alive by the way they had been contacted and where the Golden Path currently were. He had likely sacrificed himself to pass a message through the hidden contingency landline.
Gurung had stood valiantly at the Battle of Lanka managing to keep the men in check for Amita who led them. He was in fact the only soldier who received the Sigil of Valor that Sam coveted so dearly. It ensured his status and future as a remembered hero. At least that was how it should have been. Not his death at the hands of traitors.
Ajay went amongst the bodies of the Royal Army soldiers to collect their tags whilst he advanced towards the Central Keep, where Mohan was most likely to supervise the siege to gain full control over the fortress.
Ajay checked his weapons and ammo one last time, as this was the last opportunity to do so.
Jason, he was going to maim to torture. But the Deva, he was going to kill Vasu Sen.
At the keep, the golden path was attempting to approach the walls that were cut off via a moat to demolish but the volume of fire kept them at bay. When the Yinke Commandos brought up their Type 69 tanks and other artillery pieces to smash down a part of the wall to storm in, they were destroyed with RPGs and the last remaining 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. Unfortunately-
"Sir, the gun is out of shells." Phanish knew this would happen eventually. They had been firing non-stop at gound targets and several helicopters with little effect due to some sort of sophisticated countermeasure suite on them that disrupted their radar fire control and forced them to use manual targeting. But that was done, the helicopter stopped approaching them and instead focused on dropping soldiers and crew served-weapons for the enemies convenience.
He was not supposed to be here in the central keep, Commandant Gurung's orders were to fall back and protect the civilians. But they had yet to escape, complications from flank attacks had resulted in casualties among some civilians. They chose to stay to allow their fire to be drawn only to them, after all the objective of the enemy was the central keep. Only then could they claim that Lanka was theirs, as if Phanish and his men would let that happen. Inspired by their Commandant's selflessness in contacting high command and his wishes answered with Badala's arrival. They were prepared to defend Lanka to the last man, if it was down to the last then he would press the plunger to the explosives wired to the comms array, armory and command centre. To prevent the enemy from gathering anything useful to use against the North.
"Then fight till you have nothing, when you run dry on ammo use your blade!" Phanish answered the soldier who directed the bofors gun. It was a luxury that was well spent, the 40mm 3P shells had severely ruined the equipment the Yinke Soldiers brought out. But they poured on, these loses were to be expected in a siege of a fortified location. But for them, they were taking loses they couldn't afford as it compromised their defense of the central keep.
It was at this point a collective sound of screams could be heard from the eastern wall.
"We've been compromised! Shit! It's Jason Brody!" Phanish made out Snow White in the distance scaling the wall from an angle thought impossible to climb.
"Aloha!" Jason cooed as he gun down the defenders that came to apprehend him.
"Ohhh Badallaaa! Whereee arree youu?" He called out.
It was here that Phanish realized that from the Duke's message in challenging the Devas and Jason Brody. It meant that Mohan was close by somewhere. Was this a window of opportunity to cut down the head of the serpent while Badala contended with his generals? That was only if Badala had arrived, they were still having to contend with Jason in their compound.
"Get rid of him! Use explosives if need be!" Phanish had to concentrate on other things as he fought to keep the central keep theirs from the invaders outside.
"Woah!" Jason hid behind cover.
That being said, to suppress a person like Snow White was a challenge. Several men placed a heavy barrage of suppressive fire to keep him behind cover, followed with a grenade launcher attack where he was. But it seemed as if he knew the last possible moment to dodge the shot and went to a different cover. They had no choice but to keep it up. For they knew from the rumors that Snow White was almost on par with Badala in terms of martial prowess and combat, and they were certainly no match for him.
Then, things started to change as another high profiled character leaped into the compound.
"Deva in the courtyard!" Half the men concentrated their fire at Vasu who looked as if he was barely affected amongst the peppering of shots as he rushed towards what he thought was the highest commanding officer in the keep. Which happened to be Phanish.
He barely had time to react as Vasu appeared before him with his blade raised. Phanish thought of how his life would end in such a motion of events, but to think he caused them so much trouble that a Deva had to step in. He couldn't help but smile.
(Clank) Vasu's blade was struck in a different direction from cleaving the young officer apart and sliced empty air.
"You….." Vasu glared at the person who thwarted his attempt to end the fighting in Lanka with a Golden Path victory.
"M- My lord!" His silhouetted was hardly mistakable.
"You wanna kill off my officers? You're no longer qualified to do so, Traitor."
"Badala." He didn't wait any longer to let out his rage upon the source of his anxieties stemming from when he first escaped Rajgad Gulug.
(Clank) Again, Ajay struck his blade to change direction in his parry. He'd learnt from previous encounters of Vasu's strength when fighting him in a normal state. He was strong, but naturally slow in motion. As if he was following that martial art by guided steps, like he hadn't fully understood free-ranged movement and only by what he saw in a pictural art and description. In other words, he couldn't deal with unpredictable movements easily. And with the absence of his two other brothers he wasn't able to use that strange formation to make up for that speed. Not saying that he was slow, but he wasn't fast enough to overcome Ajay's honed reflex.
Sparks flew from where the blades made contact. They both raised their blades and swung downwards to parry. (Clank)
Unfortunately, Vasu's strength outmatched his own and he was sent flying towards a stack of crates which was crushed by the impact that was absorb to cushion him. It set a stream of concern from the Royal Army soldiers watching Ajay fall back a bit.
Ajay knew he couldn't let Vasu gain the momentum against him as he swung down to decapitate him. He quickly rolled and slashed upward with the blade which contacted his ribs. (Clank) Was the sound made, it was as if his bones were made of steel.
Ajay took a step back for breathing room.
"How much more of your soul did you sell for powers like this?" Ajay asked with little interest in not to distract him with monologue.
"Enough to rid you from history!" Ajay snorted coldly at his remark.
"No wonder the Golden Path was always so intolerant, when their older generation were such self-righteous bastards to begin with."
"You-."
"Look around you, Vasu Sen. And tell me, is this all the Golden Path is capable of?!" Ajay's words caused his to hesitate.
"I-…"
"Tell me, oh mighty Deva. Can you even name me a single good of public service the Golden Path has done for its people in the last twenty odd years? Have you ever sought to build schools, provide clean water, enrich health, give proper employment, or something as basic as providing food to starving people?! Have you?!"
Vasu was left was his mouth gaping at the sudden realization of truth.
"I've not been in Kyrat that long, neither can I completely call myself a Kyrati and hold patriotic ideals for this nation that should be mine. But I don't turn my back on someone pleading for help. I might not help them entirely, but I will give them tools to provide for themselves."
"Tell me, besides taking funds from the people, forcing them to share their yearly crops to feed your idling troops have you or Golden Path ever truly done something for the people?"
Phanish was in the presence of this conversation and was surprise he was having a debate with a traitor.
"How can you even say something like that…? When we have a king like that!" Vasu angrily attacked Ajay again, but it was too his favour as Vasu had lost his cool when attacking. He would never hit Ajay in that state.
"So what if he's a tyrant! You say you fight for the people but then, when have you ever done that?!" Ajay's blade contacted Vasu's once more, but this time Vasu's blade broke from the over stress and due to the weakness in its metallurgy to Ajay's.
Ajay held his blade to Vasu's neck. "Get lost." He pressed his knife against his neck and pushed him away. Ajay had just decided that killing him wasn't worth his time or effort any longer. Vasu stared blankly, in his head, he was utterly confused with the choices he had made since he returned to the battlefield. Who was right and who was wrong were now jumbled, the Golden Path were now the villains, he was a villain. After years of toiling in the gulag, the Golden path left without proper leadership had genuinely lost its meaning.
"I'll take this fight then!" A stealthy Jason Brody darted through the gunfire to be where Ajay was. The soldiers stopped firing as it would hit their lord as well, it was now left to him to deal with Jason Brody much to their relief.
"Are you still that SoCal deucebag?"
"Do I look and sound like him?"
Ajay looked at him deadpan.
"Stupid answer- yeah. Well, what're you waiting for? En Garde!" He thrusted his machete a few times in the air in front of Ajay. To Ajay, it appeared as if Daisy had failed. But at this point, he wasn't expecting anything.
"Say, do you know the definition of insanity, hermano?" He asked as he waited for Ajay to present arms.
A grin appeared on Ajay's face, he undid the latch to a different knife one he had built to smear with the blood of his hated foes.
"Morality."
"Hmm? How come?" It was not the answer he was expecting, but he was curious nonetheless.
"Morality is a make-believe word, to set boundaries on animals to think, behave and act alike. Like a zoo. If everyone had an upright moral compass then why does war still exist? Why is there still a human need to kill another human being? The answer was always simple, killing others, war is waged so that someone can get something that he doesn't have from someone who's weaker than him. And the whole world still wants to stick to this illusion of morality. That's insane."
Upon hearing that Jason's smile became Cheshire-like.
"Hmph! Maybe we're not so different you and me. We're both fucked up in the head!"
"Maybe not, except you're on my turf. And the only other animals that breath the same as me are the dead ones."
"Heh! King of the hill, eh? I like that."
"Then come and have a taste." Ajay readied his two blades in each hand. He was fully prepped to kill Jason Brody at this point.
"Don't run like the last few times, ok?"
"Ha! My thoughts exactly, hermano." Jason waited not another second as he slashed down his knife towards Ajay.
As he was about to parry with his, a shadow came from his side.
"BADALA! We're not done yet!" Vasu joined in uninvited.
"Well…. Guess it'll be two on one then." Jason shrugged not wanting to interfere was the person who had clearly lost control of himself.
As much as the soldiers wanted to aid their lord, the Golden Path and Yinke soldiers were climbing up the wall that was previously scaled by Jason and Vasu. They'd left a rope for them to follow after them. Now, men were pouring from the breach.
Phanish had trouble keeping them at bay with so little men left, it had suddenly become an Alamo. The Royal Army watched anxiously from the side whilst still fighting as Ajay was left to contend with two monsters by himself, and was clearly struggling.
Worst was how Jason exploited his movements to counter Vasu's inimaginable strength, playfully causing grazes on Ajay's armor in hopes he would make a mistake.
"Yunno, I had my doubts but I'll have to say this is a whole lotta fun too!" Jason Laughed.
Ajay didn't respond nor scorn, at this point if he made a mistake it would prove fatal to him so he concentrated on the task at hand. All he could do was parry aside Vasu strike not retaliate because he didn't have the punch to wound through his physique, unfortunately Vasu gave him no time to unsling the slayer to blast him a new one.
Ajay had to maintain his cool, because it affected the morale of the soldiers who were fighting as well. The soldiers and Golden Path who witnessed the fight dare not come even ten metres from where they were nor fire upon their opponent for fear those monsters would retaliated severely.
Jason soon realized that Ajay's armor was getting in the way of delivering critical hits, he also understood that in his current state despite empowering the warrior spirit with his victims he still couldn't outmatch the demon on his own. It almost made him glad that Vasu made the decision for him. Him in his nye immortal physique, although Jason noticed he'd become a lot pailer in skin. It was fair skin but white like ash thrown upon him.
He hadn't been around Mohan's company much but he could see that those around him were losing part of what was human.
-What was the name of the demons around here again? Rakshasa.-
A few bullet zipped by him and impacted the ground beside him. An officer joined the fight between them, his target was Jason.
"Your opponent will be me!"
"Phanish! You fool, stay away!" Ajay roared over contending with Vasu. AS the young officer he'd known from the company of Commandant Gurung.
"Oh ho! A one on one, I like you. That damn Deva butted in just when it was my turn." Jason responded and charged with machete in hand.
Phanish discarded his rifle and pulled out his sidearm and kukri.
"Ohhhh… gunfu, eh? I can do that too!"
Phanish didn't answer in words but in .45 ACP to force Jason into a position that he could use his knife. He knew he was no match but it didn't mean he couldn't make things difficult for Jason. He focused on suppressing Jason from making moves by using the initiative that he bought. Skillfully loading his pistol in the midst of their break as his gun could only hold seven shots.
At some point in the fighting, Vasu had regained his cool from the slur of insults that compromised his fortitude and resolve. He shook it off as Badala sly words to break him, he had always known he had a silver tongue and bent morality to fit him and the treacherous Royal Army. How about the good and honest soldiers that died to bring him here, he manipulated them with kind words and incentives when all he did was use them.
"I'll never forgive you for using their earnesty!" He suddenly shouted at Ajay while striking him with such force it brought him off his feet.
"Even now, your words previous spoken have sent thousands to their deaths! All for your ambition!" Ajay, caught with contending with Vasu and aiding Phanish had been momentarily distracted and allowed Vasu to lock his blade with his. Once Vasu gained initiative he pressed the blade down with strength that Ajay did not have and pushed him on his knees.
"Just like those words you used on that commander who manned your station at Lanka. He never gave me his name, I want to remember him even when this is over. So tell me his name."
"….- not qualified…" Ajay murmured whislt struggling.
"I asked for his name, give it to me!" He pressed even harder until the Ajay's feet were embedded inches into the soft compound grounds.
"And I said….. you're not qualified to know it." Ajay said as he glared into his eyes with defiance.
"You bastard! How dare you sent Kyrats good and honest to their graves!" At his point, Ajay no longer heard Vasu constant ranting, he was a prick that was overly self-righteous never seeing himself or his path as in the wrong.
But it still remained that he couldn't contend with Vasu while he was normal. He could feel deep in his heart a burning sensation from the demon crying to be released upon the earth and to destroy this warped thing. He felt it ever since Vasu showed up, the demon within could feel something off about him, a transition in his nature.
He knew he couldn't allow the demon out, due to the presence of the soldiers and the demon's lack of friend or foe comprehension. No. It knew what was friend and foe, it just wanted to do its own thing.
Something a part of him yet not part of him.
"What a troublesome thing…."
"Hmm?" Vasu thought it was said to him, but Ajay continued on.
"Why does it have to be that I leave everything with you? Why can't I have it all? What gives you the right to control my body, whilst holding this strength back from me that I earned from it."
"What the hell are you talk-…" Vasu could see that Ajay had gotten into a state of talking to himself. Did he go mad, he wondered?
"Your powers are mine! You are mine!... But if you insist on holding it back from me, then how about I give something in exchange for every time I take it?" Vasu felt strength increase against his push to his surprise…. and something else.
-What is this feeling?...- Vasu felt something horrible was taking place, his very presence shivered at this aura that was emulating from within the demon.
"I'll give you a part of me… so in exchange.." Blood began to bleed from his facial orifices and flowed through the slits in his mask. Giving the feeling of dread that Vasu first felt that time in the labyrinth from the glow of yellow primodial irises emulating from where the eyeslits were.
"Give me all you've got."
The witch's eyes danced with emotion at the resolve the boy showed to give up on his humanity. The witch was always watching over him, knowing what he had done and gone through his entire life, she'd been watching him grow. Experience love, faced despair, stand up to indifference, challenge authority, work to provide a future for others. It was the same defiant look that challenged the heavens for forcing their dubious kind to their fate, the same look that in response to their pleas ignored sought to overthrow the heavens.
The first binding that shackled the Asura had broken. The mountain which he was sealed trembled, the Yetis bellowed with triumph and the relic shook violently.
"Now, it's an affair of how much more you're willing to give to change your fate. And I shall assist you in that."
Author's Thoughts:
Demon vs Deva vs Snow white (Hunter vs Marionette Doll of witch vs Illegal Alien)
"whoever wins, we lose."
(Parody to Alien vs Predator vs Terminator)
