Author's Notes:
Watched a music video that really made my day today such that I can't get the song out of my head now.
RASPUTIN - Vladimir Putin - Love The Way You Move (Funk Overload) slocband
I hope it does the same for you. The most fun part was the 2nd strongest man in Russia.
In the small cavern opening in the middle of the mountains that sat between Yinke and Kyrat, all hell broke loose. The faces of the Golden Path horde looked up in expectation from down below even though they could not see what was happening. Within the whirlwind of blades and tether threads, four demonic-like individuals fought for supremacy over the other. To be most specific, it was three against one. And that one against three was struggling for his dear life to ward off the attacks whilst keeping Daisy within safe grounds, the other three pounded him mercilessly.
These were the new Devas of Golden Path, reforged and remade in a way that wasn't comparable to the former ones. Coordinated attacks upon him with equal viciousness. Resulting in his current diplidated appearance with grazes and cuts upon his body from grazing slashes and swipes from blades and threads.
Ajay, robbed of his ability to call out the demon had to depend upon the limited munitions he had to ward them off as the inched nearer to the cavern opening he first scaled to get in. He was running on a limited window to begin with so things weren't looking good for him at all.
Over the clash of blades, Jason Brody's cacophonic laughter resounded as he thoroughly enjoyed the fight with the enhancement bestowed upon the seal placed by Citra, he bolstered super human strength and agility comparable to Vel's unnatural comprehension of spatial awareness and reaction. And to the reborn Sabal, who wore a ravenous expression as he wanted to give the most cruel of punishments upon the very person responsible for his many times of humiliation and robbing of pride.
(Boom) "Arrghh!"
Ajay was only able to keep them back by virtue of the slayer. If not, aside from his grievous injuries obtained from their team attack, he would be dead in seconds. Vel was inevitably human, the last time it missed and shrapnel impaled her skin deep. Jason Brody and Sabal were pushed back or knocked out temporarily by the destructive capabilities of the .700 Nitro round. Both of them found that the points where they were hit was having trouble regenerating, something only the mistress could remedy when they stopped fighting but not now when they had him cornered. Little did Ajay or they know that it was by no coincidence that the "slayer" of monsters could repel and damage them considerably. A weapon that had been bathed in the blood of Devas, the tainted skin of Golden Path, the essence of the abnormal beasts of Kyrat and of course, the mythological Yeti. Where it was first found in the Lost Valley, it had been left there to be cold hardened by the drops of the Relics' essence as it froze hard to the corpse of its former wielder which had bleed his desire to hunt that which was not man.
An amalgamation of gunbarrel steel and magical tempering. For the first time ever, a gun had become a living treasure. An Astra of its own chosing, wielded by the god of vengeance no longer vengeful but conscious of the world.
This was the assessment the witch made of the weapon as she appraised it from a distance with Mohan by her side, sullen due to Ajay's rejection to join them. The Witch knew it was impossible to convince him to join even if it was Mohan's utmost desire his son fight by him, he had even offered to allow him to be the King of Kyrat. But that meant Pagan and Yuma's execution, something that Ajay stubbornly wouldn't allow over his "dead body" he said.
(Click) The gun ran dry as the ejector clicked out the last shell casings and Ajay had dug into his pocket to find he had expended all his ammunition.
"Empty, at last!" Sabal growled with satisfaction.
A thread came his way, but Ajay fired his grapples at the roof and retracted the line with the motor to pull him out of harm's way. He used the other anchor to change his course to avoid Sabal's coordinated swipe, he had been tutored by someone in Golden Path of the Royal Martial Arts but like all others, he'd been stuck at the first form due to his lack of clear mind and comprehension abilities. Even so, it made him a completely new threat that was equal to the rest of the Devas, if not worse due to his scary willpower.
But he wasn't contending with two but three of them. Placed in an unfavourable position with limited ammo and his ability to rely on the strength the demon stashed away had been cancelled out by the witches presence.
Jason Bordy leaped towards him at the end of this mid-flight course change and lashed out with his augmented strength. Ajay had no choice but to block and was sent flying towards the stone floor. The moment was bad for him as Sabal leaped from behind and struck down with his fist onto Ajay's chest, smashing him against the cold hard floor. (Bang)
(Crack) The floor got indented with Ajay's back and dust was blown up from the fragments of rock.
"Ajay!" Daisy called out from her spot.
The smoke and dust cleared.
What remained was a body surrounded by a growing pool of blood. With multiple deep lascerations, supplying this pool and his ruptured blood vessels and organs there would be no short supply of red.
The mask of Yalung dropped from his face revealing bleeding orifices and a dead hollow look.
Ajay had been thoroughly beaten by the three Devas and was on the verge of death.
Sabal laughed triumphantly as he picked up the broken mask, for the first time a feeling of joy washed over him. Though the same could not be said for Vel who remained motionless after the fight seemed finished. Jason Brody grinned slightly. But Daisy's look was worse of all, she gazed directly at those hollow eyes, convinced that Ajay was at death's door.
"AJJJJAAAYYY!"
Twenty Minutes earlier -
The word "Son" Resounded through the cave in such a way that every member that had taken arms to rush to their leader's aid had heard his voice call out this single phrase that made them halt in shock. Of the people who were at the entrance of the cavern space Mohan, Ajay and Daisy were in. All they could see were the three of them, but no son of Mohan's.
It only hit them as a revelation when they noticed their leader staring affectionately at the last person they thought would have taken up such a role. But when they did, thunder struck and completely immobilized their extermities. The Shining Way members were in the same dilemma as they'd studied their Kyrat history more fiercely than even the Kyratis themselves.
The fabled Demon was Ajay Ghale, the son of Mohan.
"Im-…Impossible!" The first person to mouth this created a chain of voiced disbelief.
Many collapsed to their knees as it was beyond their ability to accept. The one who should have led them to victory in the absence of Mohan, was hellbent of their destruction.
Ajay, Daisy and most certainly Mohan were oblivious to these reactions and shouts of disbelief as they were occupied in their own little world.
"I don't recall having a father as far as I can remember, but if his name was Mohan you are definitely not him."
"Oh? Pray tell, what am I then?" Mohan exclaimed, willing to indulge him.
"A hollow will, acting out a last dying impulse and a marionette to a witch." He said in a cold tone. Mohan couldn't help but laugh insatiably.
"I assume you read my journal then. But I can tell you, a lot can happen in twenty years, Ajay."
"Why are you back?"
Mohan turned to the crowd that gathered and said "Leave us."
And the crowd mixture of Golden Path and Shining Way fighters dispersed and left the cave awaiting the go ahead to rush to his aid if he needed it. When all had left a certain proximity from them, Mohan turned back to Ajay.
"Straight to the point, eh? Alright then tell me, how does it feel to have everything you work for suddenly turn against you, and betray you?"
"You're talking about mom, but then again you weren't exactly the father and husband material either."
"That still doesn't forgive her infidelity."
"Always someone else in the wrong but not you." Ajay shook his head.
"Then tell me what wrong did I commit when someone had killed the sovereign. Was I not right to fight for the people when a foreign dictator came to enslave our people to feed his hunger for wealth?!" Mohan burst out at him.
"You were right to fight Pagan and the Cantons, you were right to stand up against tyranny and protect the people. Even if your actual agenda was far from it but I'll give the benefit of doubt. And maybe…. You did deserve an explanation from her why she conceived Lakshmana, perhaps even answer with her death due to laws back then. But when you killed a two year old child, innocent to the world around and free of the crime her parents commited against you….. That is where your right ends. And so did your status as a righteous and benevolent at heart leader remain. Do you thing someone like that would care for Kyrat?"
Mohan laughed maniacally at the reason Ajay gave him.
"So you were willing to live with a bastard sister then? You really are too soft, Ajay. One day, you might face the same betrayal as I have, oh-then again, you already have."
Daisy unconsciously lowered her head as Mohan stared in her direction.
"I'm sorry, Ajay…. I'm so sorry." She pleaded softly within hearing distance from Ajay. For him, it was the first time she was ever this meek.
"Your little foreign whore betrayed your identity, all because of a naïve venture to free her ex-lover's brother of his own demon. It sounds ridiculous doesn't it. But that's how you have come here with expectations betrayed. Are all Americans like this to each other too?" Mohan had a poor evaluation of Americans due to his limited encounters with self-important individuals like the CIA.
"Daisy….." Daisy looked up to Ajay who called her from behind.
"When have I ever known you to do something without the slightest good intentions?" It was a simple phrase, but one that Daisy instantly understood. Ajay's trust in her remained, her eyes welled up with tears as she recalled how she had in fact betrayed him long ago leaving him to himself to wind up in this hell.
Ajay turned back to Mohan but with his slayer unslung and cocked the internal hammers with the break-action.
"What do you plan to do? Shoot your way out? You would do all this for such a dishonest whore, I'm surprised."
"I might've been betrayed before and now, but at least I'm not the one doing that to another. I'm not like you…. I am who I am…. Not a shadow of another, not a legacy nor cursed lineage of my kin. I am Ajay Ghale, but I am also Badala, Duke of Kyrat. The Demon of the Himavanas." Ajay said in a deadly calm voice that his father could hear. Mohan sighed.
"You are more like me that you could possibly reckon, my son. This world is not forgiving upon aspirations to break the norm, you of all people should know that! You've fought against the social ethics of class, questioned religious authority and contended with human greed. You cannot win against the world alone, that why-… come join us, join me." Mohan stepped forward with an outreached hand and a longing look on his face.
"Why didn't you explain to her?" Ajay asked instead of take the hand.
"What?-"
"I'm not gonna pretend I didn't know mom was hell stubborn. You sent us both to Pagan because there was no safer place, no?" It was clear from this that Ajay had read all his journal entries, so he knew what had happened those days past.
Mohan looked at him was a complex expression, he was confused whether Ajay saw him as an enemy or neutral.
"Yes… that was right… With the regular attacks on the cities and towns, Ishwari wanted to join the fight. But what about you, what about her? This civil war was so dangerous I had more than countless close calls with death had it not been for the company of my friends."
"So why didn't you share with her your plan?"
"I don't get-."
"Do you really think she wanted to march out there to prove that women could do the same as men, because of a gender thing? What she wanted was out of that was trust in her abilities, your trust in her as both a leader and her husband." At it was at this point that Mohan hadn't been paler that any point in his life. The visual image of a strong leader turned into a frail and vulnerable old man in a mere second. For years, he had pondered about how he could have made things right, but to think that it took him twenty-six years for someone to tell him this so that he could realise on his own and accept it. It was he who pushed her away first.
Mohan's face became a rainbow of pale colours that their conversation was silenced.
"…. What's done is done." Ajay said more as a way to end this uncomfortable conversation than to comfort him, but comfort Mohan it did as he looked at Ajay with a sadden smile.
"Yes… What's done is done…. I just didn't think it would be you of all people to tell me that. For what its worth, I'm sorry Ajay. I've been a bigger fool than I've realized. There wasn't a day that goes by that I didn't think of being there for you. HaHahaha…! (Sigh) Even as a foe, I bet your enemies find your familiarity strange." He said laughing sadly. It was a strange atmosphere that daunted between Ajay and his father for Daisy. At first, she was convinced they would angrily burst out at each other as matched her personal profile of both of them, like birds of a feather.
But Ajay was no longer the impulsive young man she knew and at one time fell in love with. He had grown up without her. Was it him who needed to grow up, or was it her?
"It's a strange feeling, Ajay. Suddenly I no longer feel much hate for her as I used to." He looked to Ajay with warm affection.
"You really have done me proud, son. If anything, I'm proud I could have the pleasure of calling you my son….. I'm sure she would have been too." Mohan straightened himself.
"Then help me put an end to this, declare the Golden Path disbanded. So that I can at least grant everyone amnesty and end this fight over nothing."
Mohan looked at him like he had to disappoint him instead, as he stepped back.
"I'm sorry, Ajay. But-….No. That is the one thing that is not in my power any longer."
At this moment, new figures stepped forward from the shadows of the dark which the torches couldn't reach. Five figures to be exact. Three surrounded him and two hung at the back. Those three, he instantly recognised.
"Perhaps I will be a better father to you… in the next life." Mohan said in a solemn tone. He had tried his best to bring Ajay over, but instead he was given a lecture on how he should have approached his life choices and what he should have done after that. He knew he was beyond convincing Ajay, even if it pained him to let him go.
"Sup'." Jason Brody gave his greeting with a wry smile. Vel were there to Ajay's left side.
"Ajay Ghale…" called out a voice flaring with anger, yet familiar to Ajay that he turned as he couldn't put a finger to who it was.
"So all this time it was YOU!" Said a person he thought was gone for sure yet was standing before him with an accusing finger pointed at him and a face full of anguish fury. Even till now, he still felt the phantom pains of where Ajay had disfigured him months before in their first encounter.
"I'm gonna enjoy tearing you, limb from limb when I've forced you to the gr-(Boom)" Sabal's sentence was cut halfway with a blast of the sabot frag round of Ajay's .700 Nitro bullet impacting his torso and sent him flying to the wall with a smoking hole in his chest.
Jason laughed at the top of his voice at the pathetic sight of Sabal. "Cockblock-ahahahaha!" He said on the side, while Ajay donned his mask and greeted Sabal himself.
"Nice seeing you again, loser."
Present, 20 Mins to Extraction-
"Who's the loser now, Ajay Ghale!" Sabal really took this pride thing on a long trip where even Jason was getting tired of hearing him. The Golden Path fighters had returned after the commotion ended to find the demon lying defeated before Sabal and the new Devas. At first, their hearts shone with vigor to this sign that the demon's reign and streak of triumph had ended here, marking a turning point in their movement.
But Ajay was in no condition to answer with any witty comeback, he couldn't even hear him over the muffle of his temporarily impaired hearing. Sabal delivered a kick to his body sending him slamming into the wall, no response came from Ajay.
"STOP IT! You're killing him!" Daisy shouted from where she was.
"That's the idea, my dear. But I don't want it to be a quick death, I want you to die slowly and painfully. Do you hear me, Ajay?!"
Sabal's rants were answered with silence. Making a fool of himself in the end. He walked up to Ajay. There were subtle movements that showed a recovery from his impairment and unconsciousness but that was the best he could do. He didn't even put Mohan into consideration even though he was a benefactor of his at a dire time, all that was on his mind was revenge against Ajay for ruining his image. Vel snorted at his uncultured behaviour, why the mistress kept him alive was a mystery.
"You're still alive that's good. I was beginning to worry you wouldn't survive, but then again you are the demon of Kyrat so how could you not."
Sabal's eyes scanned Ajay with loathe and disdain in his eyes to fuel his damaged ego until he chanced upon something interesting hung on the back of his harness.
"What's this?"
Sabal pulled out the silver line jar without issue and went to a light to see the engravings better.
"aha…hahahahahhaHAHAHAHAHAHA! And I thought I'd never see you again, dear Kamala."
At the response of the mention of the name, suddenly life returned to Ajay, although he was crawling towards Sabal. The fighters had too heard the name and were astounded that the demon had been carrying her ashes all this time with him. What did that mean? Seeing this brought delight to Sabal as he'd found a weakness in that façade of a demon in Ajay. The reason Ajay had burnt down Jalendu Temple was in retaliation for Sabal's murder. With no sacred relics, no Tarun Matara could be endorsed to vouch a sacred revolution. He had even kidnapped Bhadra even before that happened.
"I've always wondered why you cared so much for her, she was nothing but a plain nobody that you installed to take credit for the son of Hamal's death. You want her? Come, she's right here." Sabal bounced the cremation jar up and down on his hand. Even this was the line for Jason, of all the things he was, belittling someone through a loved one was something that he found distasteful. He was no longer laughing and was instead looking at Sabal with loathe.
And to his surprise, despite the serious wounds and fractured bones. Ajay used his one good but weaken arm to drag his body Sabal's way for the jar holding her ashes.
"Is this cremation jar that important to you, Ajay? Never in my life have I seen a person carry around ashes of a friend. And to think that you had been fighting with it since…. Was it since I killed her?"
"Don't tell me….. you had fallen for her?" Sabal said with a widen grin and begun to incessantly laugh at the top of his voice.
"You really are full of surprises, Ajay. In fact, it's quite anti-climatic. All this hate and condemning for Golden Path just because of a dead soldier, one of tens of thousands!" At first, the fighters of Golden Path were joyous that one of them had beaten Badala. But after Sabal's belittling jeers, it started to give them a bad aftertaste because this arrogant bastard couldn't contain it within him.
"She repre…" He murmured too softly for Sabal to hear as he continued to drage himself his way.
"Speak up or nobody will hear you." Sabal said with disdain.
"she represent-….."
"You're starting to annoy me, say it clearly you fool of a man."
"I said….. She represents what Golden Path should have been, and what you….. personally, will never be able to achieve in your lifetime. Golden Path that should have been died with her, and for that….. nobody within Golden Path deserves a second chance. Especially you, murderer." Sabal had a sudden flare in his easily set off personality and raised the jar.
"Hmph!" (Crash) It would not have normally broken due to its metal exterior, but because of Sabal's augmented strength, it was not problem.
The cremation jar was smashed in front of Ajay and before the fighters that had seen it all happen with a complex emotion. Kamala had been herald as the people's champion by none other than Sabal. And they believed it too, she exluded none of the powerful auras of the Devas or capable field commanders. Just a regular soldier doing her part like the rest of the fighters, that was why they could continue to fight with pride they were in the same league as Kamala when they were being compared with the arrogant old guard in the past. To hear him say that was contradicting everything he stood for in the past.
But Sabal was oblivious to these thoughts, all he cared was for Ajay to grovel in the dirt before him. Nothing pleased him more in his life than this moment. Not even Mohan stopped him, though he wore a frown at Sabal's hopeless attitude.
Ajay's hand finally rested upon the remains spilt from the broken jar after what seemed like an eternity from the onlookers watching in silence, yet barely five minutes had passed. Because deep down they sympathized with him for just this one time. Sabal's foot landed on his hand preventing him from moving it, even though he brought it down intentionally hard Ajay didn't wail in pain or flinch for that matter. It wasn't just because he had entered shock resulting in almost no sensitivity but because he had long given up on speaking to Sabal especially. He was a brute that only wanted to see things his way, had he always been this way but concealed it? Or had Ajay altered his personality with the affliction very early in the beginning. He didn't know and didn't care.
All he did was try to move his hand but the weight of Sabal's foot prevented it.
"You want to pick her ashes up? Beg me first." (Pak) A stone flew his way and struck Sabal on the temples.
"Who did that?!" He roared at the top of his lungs he retraced the trajectory of the pebble. Its direction led back to the king of comedy, Jason Brody. Happily whistling away innocently, but it was obvious he did it.
"Oh? Sorry about that, I meant to throw it at the jar 'cause it looked fun." He smiled bashfully, but it was clear it was meant for Sabal.
(Pak) "Urgh!" Another peddle came his way, but not from Jason.
(Pak) (Pak) More began coming his way, from no one other than the fighters.
"Stop! You cretins, it's me!" He roared at the crowd that begun to increase in volume with their stone throwing, he could not see who exact were throwing but it was amongst the crowd and nobody stopped them. Though he couldn't feel it due to the unnatural hardness of his body, he could feel the hate brewing. He had realized his mistake too late to be salvaged.
The irony of the situation, the Golden Path were helping Ajay in this one time. Perhaps they were convinced he would surely perish now so at very least he deserved their utmost dying respect for him.
Ajay was no conscious of what was happening around him, all he cared about was the ashes that were beginning to blow away with the wind.
He took a handful in his lying position wondering what to do to prevent more from escaping.
Right now, by tradition. The last step of the last rite ceremony was about to be completed after its several month delay. To scatter the ashes into the wind to release them from the worldly affects, that was what the end of the Kyrati funerals represented.
He watched as every grain of the ash flew away from his hand, when it left it symbolized the severing of his earthy connection to Kamala, she would be free to rejoin the cycle of reincarnation. He held out his hand toward the opening of the cave as the witch created a mild gust to assist in sending her away.
After hanging on to the jar for so long, he would take a while to get used to her absence in spirit.
-Remember that I'll always be watching over you…..- the last words of Kamala to him resounded in his mind as if she were there.
He prepared to release the last bit of ash in his hands…. But the grip would not open. His conviction prevented him from parting. His whole arm began to shake from holding up his hand, and then he lowered it.
His eyes were placed deeply upon the ash, the last physical remains of Kamala.
"I won't give you back to the cold indifferent winds…"
He brought his hand closer towards him.
"You said you'll be with me….. always."
He then brought the ashes to his mouth.
"Then from now on, live inside of me… And be with me forever."
The occupants of the cave watched as he did something that none of them would have believe he would do instead of freeing her soul to the winds of the Himalayas.
He ate her ashes.
Ajay took whole mouthfuls of the ash as he devoured it ravenously so as to keep more of the ash remains from scattering with the wind. This way, Kamala would live within him always. The witch seemed to tremble at the sight, though nobody was looking her way. Mohan sighed, his decisions in life had cursed Ajay in the most horrible way.
Sabal looked appalled at what he'd done. To eat human ashes.
"Cannibal! You really are a monster, both in spirit and in flesh." He drew out his kukri and raised it ready to take off his head and end this long spanning scene. "Whatever, you'll be nothing but a memory now."
Sabal picked him by the collar and raised him from the ground. Ajay dangled lifelessly in his grip as he pointed the knife to his throat with the other hand.
"Any last words?"
Ajay made no answer even though he stared at the knife without showing fear or despair.
"Your silence is all the better." Sabal said before plunging the knife towards his throat to gut him.
As the knife flew straight towards its destination, a sudden force prevented it from reaching any further. The knife had stopped just an inch away from its target. Sabal looked in shock to see what had stopped his hand was none other than by Ajay's own hand.
With a grip like steel, that transcended his own immortal strength. But it was not with the power of the demon that held it at bay. Sabal's push was held back as he struggled to impale him with the end of the knife, Ajay barely moved an inch.
Ajay felt something inside of him change, he felt no hatred, no anger, yet no joy or sorrow either
Ajay pulled his hand away and lurched his hand away causing him to yell at the rough handling and stepped back from Ajay after releasing him.
Ajay stood up on his own feet, albeit waving to and from because of the weakness that still stalked his body. Yet where did that strength come from? Mohan eyed the stroke of which he had done so, and instantly recognised that form.
-Four seasons of pandemonium. First comes spring.- Bibek's voice explained the first form to the four forms of the Royal Martial Art.
"The high time of life. Representing vigor of youth." Ajay recited in almost a murmur the form that Bibek had taught him in those three days, whilst taking the stance of the first form.
Sabal glared at him, as if he had robbed him of his kill and freedom from humiliation by continuing to live despite his beyond sound condition. "I'll-…..I'll KILL YOU!" He rushed Ajay with his knife in hand against an unarmed Ajay. No one else seemed to intervene, no one else partook in this fight that emerged between Sabal and Ajay.
Sabal thrusted his knife when he'd entered strike range. Ajay raised his hands in a defensive stance and he did not even leave the place he stood in. He simply pushed the trajectory of the knife away from him as it passed his face by inches while he stepped forward and delivered a chop to Sabal's artery before backing off quickly.
Since Sabal was too tough to kill without weapons, naturally he didn't even feel discomfort from the chop. But knowing that in a different circumstance it would have killed him made him enraged as he threw slashes with additional fury.
Ajay did the same but pushing him away whilst delivering a chop. No matter how Sabal attacked, he never seemed to land a hit. He had even tried to change his swing in the midst of the form himself, but Ajay used his hands to lock with Sabal's so that the blade would never reach him.
But as it stood, Ajay was merely defending without inflicting any serious damage, he was already in a terrible condition while Sabal could regenerate heavy wounds and his stamina was almost unlimited.
The rest of the fighters quietly watched as Ajay contended with Sabal with staking odds against his fight with Sabal. He would have to break the stalemate by taking out Sabal somehow. But with what?
His ammo run dry, his inner demon suppressed, what else did he have?
Only the vocal manual that Bibek had recited to him. The one thing the former General brought with him into the bloody battlefield and emerged a legend. The style that turned Darshan into a power that the four Devas could not mess with. Four Seasons of Pandemonium, the mysterious martial art that ended up in the Royal Bloodlines possession and passed to its warriors.
-The next comes summer- He heard the second form being said my Bibek in his recollection.
"The bountiful sun. Blistering brightly." For decades, no one had passed that form. No one had deciphered the meaning of its meaning. The sun that blisters, wouldn't it mean an aggressive style of combat? That was what many had thought, yet none had passed that stage including him. They had even been given the motion by their masters, yet none could apply it, sometimes not even the masters knew.
-Blistering brightly… what if its not a scorching sun of absolute power….. but a warm glowing ember that envelops the soul, heart and mind. Nourishing it rather than beating it with brute excessive force.-
Ajay soften his motions in performing the stance till there wasn't even a shed of force to deliver to Sabal upon the latters second swing at Ajay. He had finally uncovered the secret to the second form.
-Envelopment force to return.-
The fighters and Mohan watched in anticipation to the fight, some hoped that Ajay would even beat Sabal. Teeth gnashed when the blade entered a reactive range to Ajay.
His hands that were without power naturally followed parrellel to Sabal's swing and locked upon Sabal's arm. Causing the confusion of the latter that he didn't oppose the force to prevent the swing from decapitating him.
Ajay naturally lay back and let his body follow the direction of the blade until it seemed as if he was about to fall to the ground. Sabal, seeing he was about to fall wanted to change his approach and retracted but then Ajay's hands had prevented him from tipping with him. Sabal was about to topple with Ajay.
But of course, Ajay wouldn't let him fall of him. He pressed his leg against Sabal as he fell back and pushed him upwards, this sent Sabal flying in a somersault and landing to the ground face flat. His body smashed the floor with an indent much like how Ajay had been punched into the ground before.
Sabal was in a daze, disbelieving that someone in his state could fight him beyond the pinnacle of human strength and prowess. He angrily rushed once more as if refusing to accept the reality that he had failed to kill him on his own. This time his strikes did not meet the target as Ajay struck his elbow joints and wrist to bend his trajectory out of its original direction whilst delivering a strike from the palm while using the momentum that Sabal had exerted upon him from his stab. If there were a Chinese martial artist around to appraise what was happening. He would have claimed Ajay was incorporating a variant of Tai Chi Quan and Drunken Fist. As the Art form was not far from that derivative.
Mohan was especially surprised not just because of Ajay's worsening condition but his ability to contend with augmented humans that even practiced the Royal Art like Sabal. It wasn't all, Ajay had been the second person of the next generation of Royal Martial Art users to pass the second form. Although, Ajay had impressively chanced upon this during the heat of battle.
The fighters were equally awed but the way he fought with Sabal while in a terrible state and unarmed to add into the equation.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Sabal shouted as he wished for it to be an absolute fact, he held the kukri in a two-handed grip that didn't align with the Martial Art but just a mere slash.
Ajay found his chance here, and at a good timing as it was already difficult to keep his consciousness awake, his vision began to fail him leaving him blind in the left eye. He grappled Sabal's hand and tugged him till the latter lost his hold to the ground. He released one hand from the two-handed hold to balance out with his hand unconsciously and that's when Sabal's strength to oppose Ajay's altering of his wielding had ended. Ajay struck the back of his elbow to bend while holding his knife hand, he turned Sabal's wrist to face him and delivered a kick to the knife that plunged into Sabal's eye socket.
Sabal barely had time to scream in pain as Ajay delivered the final blow to strike the nail into the coffin, he elbowed the hilt of the knife further into Sabal's eye and into his cranium. From there, Sabal's body stopped moving entirely and rested against Ajay. He pushed his head off him, and the body fell back motionless with a thump. He knew that Sabal wouldn't die from that if he'd been through much worst.
Ajay swayed to keep his balance, his bleeding had reached a point that his armour was soaked wet with blood, yet he refused to go done less Daisy suffer at their hands. He picked the fallen slayer up and propped himself against it as he held his kukri with a jittering hand. Even in this state, it made even Jason afraid to approach him. He was in a genuine state of near-death, but like a cornered-rat he would take you with him. No one approached to give him the killing blow after Sabal failed despite his newly found prowess.
"RRRAAAARRGHHH!" In an instant, a louder than usual cry of angst came from Sabal as he awoke from that blackout and pulled the knife out of his damaged body. Which worked vigourously to recover.
It took a few seconds, which was unbelievable. Sabal's rate of regeneration had even surprised Mohan. He had heard his report that Sabal had regenerated from pieces after a grenade splattered him everywhere. Did it change his ability to reform beyond even the others' limit?
"AJAAYY!" Sabal charged in his incomplete state, ignoring the pain. It was a frightful sight for the rest of the fighters to see that Sabal had truly transcended humanity into a genuine monster, a Rakshasa.
He was just about to restrain Sabal when his six-sense kicked in, telling him to evade. As a fifty-kilo javelin flew by him and stuck the charging Sabal. He flew with the projectile that impaled him solid to the walls of the cave. Another projectile out from thin-air impacted and struck his limbs preventing him from pulling out the harpoons.
"Everybody drop your guns." The air near the cave fizzled and distorted where the voice originated from. The camo cloak was thrown over his head to reveal the burly foreigner once a friend to the golden path.
Some of the fighters reached for their firearms.
"Uh-Uh! Now I wouldn't do nothing funny if I were you." Hurk raised what appeared to be a remote detonator.
"In case you're wondering, while you were enjoying yourself I rigged this place to blow. So stay the fuck back!" He moved forward with the harpoon slung around his shoulder with one hand and the other with the detonator.
(Plop) Ajay's body fell flat against the floor as he'd expended every last drop of his strength even beyond his reserves to protect Daisy. Now that Hurk was here to take over, he could take her out.
"Ajay? Ajay!"
Hurk moved slowly towards where Ajay and Daisy was by his side. He reached down with his finger to check for a pulse.
"He's fine, Dais. Help me get him up." Daisy didn't answer him, she instead carried out his instruction by holding him from the shoulder. She struggled to do so as his general weight inclusive of the armour and kit was far heavier than she anticipated but she managed to bring him up and fling his hand over her shoulder to carry. She made her way to where Hurk was standing near the edge and received a rappling rope and harness for her to take down. She attached Ajay to herself as she begun her descent.
"Go to the west where the bushes are neck high in a bunch. And hurry, we don't have long till extraction arrives. E.T.A, 6 Minutes." He told her before her rappelling down to slopes with the help of Ajay's detached winch motor to quicken the process for a four hundred metre descent.
No one dared to walk within thirty metres from Hurk as everyone was familiar with the stories about his exploits. He was Mizaru, the cold-blooded sniper who had killed a Chinese soldier over the border at the risk of sparking a war. No one was crazy enough to do something like that here, so it was best not to test him out to see if he would really commit suicide with them.
That was them, but Jason was Jason. He was the only one to walk towards Hurk calmly.
"Stay back, Jason." He warned from the edge, but Jason continued forward.
"I said stay back, goddamnit!"
"You won't shoot me, Hurk. After all, didn't you say we were tatbros?"
"I'm warning you, Jas!"
"And don't tatbros stay tatbros for life?" He proceeded ignoring his warning whilst he wore a comforting smile he mimicked from the original Jason Brody.
"Jesus fuck! Don't move another fucking inch!" He cocked his harpoon.
"Do it."
"Do it, Hurk- Do it! DO IT! PULL THE FUCKING TRIGGER!" Jason shouted at him.
But Hurk's hand shook hesitant to release the steel rod into his dear friend who had been with him in the Rook Islands. Jason sighed with a wry smile.
"That was your only chance to really free Jason…..." A machete darted out from behind his hand and flung it at Hurk. "Urrghhhh!" The machete gorged itself deep into Hurk's shoulder that he dropped the harpoon all together. Jason flashed before him and lay his hand on the hilt of the blade. "And you've wasted it." Stabbing deep into Hurk and striking his heart.
Daisy dragged Ajay as best as she could after her quick descent, but there were already shouts from the camp moving around to apprehend her. She could see her odds of bringing Ajay to safety were slimming every second. Even so, she had no choice but to pull him away to the designated location that Hurk had prescribed to her.
"There they are!" She had been spotted in the dark of the camp due to the shining torches and the growing trail of blood she hadn't stop from bleeding yet, Daisy pulled with all her might as she knew that to stop would mean death. His death.
A figure covered the moonlight as it descended towards her from the direction of the cave, a feeling of dread welled inside of Daisy at the sight of the figure that approached to her faster than she could comprehend and outran the rest of the Golden Path forces.
And then a violet thread shot out looking to behead her. Daisy suddenly felt a cold chilling feeling stalk her extermities. She felt the impending danger, yet it was too quick for her to dodge. It was as if time had slowed around her as it was made clear that thread would take her life. Daisy sighed internally, there was much she wanted to do. But unfortunately, life was too short. Worse of all, she had put Ajay's life at danger and he was likely to follow after her. Daisy had no choice but to reside to her fate here as she closed her eyes.
-So this is how death feels like. I'll be sure to repay you in the afterlife.-
But it was not to be the day she died as a sharp blade cut through the air and severed the string in half causing it to fall to the ground without meaning. That cloaked figure backed away as a shadow converged upon her and sent out an array of seals and talismans that would render her threads without its special edge and anti-magic talismans to prevent her from retaliating the same way. The shadow spat a goblet of liquid from an alcohol flange which ignited into a wall of fire that cut off the Golden Path fighters and Vel from Daisy, Ajay and the mysterious figure.
"Let us not waste time further!" He said in a demanding voice. But even so, he took over carrying Ajay from Daisy. She could instantly tell he had good intentions and was obliged to follow with haste. They came to the place where Hurk had pointed out to them the man looked through the bushes and pulled out Ajay's duffel he left for their extraction and dug inside to find the fulton system.
"Put this on, and be quick. There's no telling when it will arrive and when they will find a way around that wall!" He tossed a harness over as he kicked the inflating system on.
He was quite accurate on the part that they would find a way to them sooner than expected, while the rest were attempting to put out the fire and circle around the hill to get to them. Two figures popped through the fires unharmed. One was Vel, the other was her mistress.
"You dare take him from me, Demon Banisher?!" She shrieked at him.
She appeared in front of him attempting to wave her hand to send a crushing vacuum to consume him but talismans shot out and mitigated the destructive force. He sent a few flying wooden swords her way containing sealing power which forced her up into the air where she was in fact more vulnerable. The time to counter had come, out from his holster came his bow while he strung a very unusual arrow on, locked upon her.
Upon release, the arrow spun towards her master with a power surge of energy and a deadly toxin to a very particular magical entity category which she fell into.
"Master!" Vel changed her course to intercept the arrow as she changed midcourse and took the arrow with her body. Vel dropped out of the sky as the power of the toxin wasn't for humans to handle. The witch's eyes flickered with hesitation then frustration as she chose her apprentice over retrieving Ajay.
"Make my words, Demon Banisher. You won't see the last of me, I will be sure to eradicate you for sure next time! On my heart, I swear this to you!" She scorned before leaving with a mortally wounded Vel to draw out the toxins to save her. She made one final look to Ajay that hung from the exorcist's shoulder and bit her lip in frustration.
She had allowed Mohan to set this style of trap and their individual attacks upon Ajay. This was all for a simple reason. To sever his binding Karma with that foreign woman that was polluting it, in order for him to go through the process, he needed to hold the purest form of Karma there was to survive the assimulation, to break Yalung from his prison. She had not expected the demon exorcist to be here to intervene and steal him from her. Her mere carelessness had cost her greatly, and now she did not even have time to exert her anger due to Vel's worsening status. And the exorcist knew that.
The roaring sound of a cargo plane could be heard coming closer. The exorcist grabbed the harness for himself and Ajay. He checked to see that the balloon had risen sufficiently which it had. The C-100 passed over them and the line was strung. The cargo plane took the balloon with it, along with the three of them one after another, extracting them from the hotzone.
Ajay regained slight consciousness from the wind blowing at his face harshly, but was only able to open one eye. He saw the burning fields where Darshan had lit the flame and the cave in the distance, now getting further.
He saw a familiar figure which was hard to make out from the distance lying against the rocks in the mouth of the cave, looking in his direction. Who was that he thought to himself? Then- (BOOOOOOMMM) The cave and the place that the person had been sitting erupted into explosive force demolishing the whole cave network. Following that was a roar of jets which dropped trails of napalm all over the camps in the valley.
But by this time, Ajay's eyes would shut for a very long time before it opened again.
Author's Notes:
Short chapter coming your way shortly, now in process of finalising. Tomorrow morning, i'll get back to it and release.
