Author's Notes:

(WARNING: Chapter filled with extreme violence and acts of inhumanity)

You have been warned.


"Seal!"

The cavern lit up once more as the intruder to a sacred temple blasted his way through the seventeenth enchanted statue protecting the Vanara sacred grounds entombed in ice.

As Darshan found out from the hieroglyphs, this was a mass burial grounds for the Vanara apes. Built by the sentient apes as a means to preserve their history and culture beyond their own civilization. In hopes that a distance descendant of the Vanaras would find and add it to the history anals, if only they knew that they would be the very last Vanara tribe left on Earth.

The guardian statue carved in the likeness of the warrior apes crumbled to the ground, the demon banisher hexing magic denying its existence upon the earth. Darshan was given a moment of respite once more, he recovered his stamina and circulated his prana by meditating.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have known, that in the icy mountains here was a Vanaran reliquary. The apes tended to avoid the cold, appreciating the humid weathers as was in their nature. Since it was thought that, the last place to find this treasure site would here. Darshan was not sure how Ajay Ghale had encountered the Vanara treasure he called a "Blood Ruby" from his original timeline. But these ancient structures and the presence of traps and sentinel guardians proved there was something here of value.

The stone statues had activated due to his ill will upon coming here to take what belonged to the vault. And had to do with the stone sentinels sensing the presence of a Demon Banisher. Humans and Vanara apes hadn't been on the best of relations here in the Himavanas, even when they collaborated with the Yaksha to dethrone the Rakshasa.

Ajay Ghale gave him the original coordinates to the rough area, then his spiritual sense picked up this place. What he walked into was an underground vault which the Vanara kept their most prized possessions. From jewels and sacred artifacts to weapons of war, perhaps even an Astra wielded by their ancestors. Darshan tried not to get his hopes up, he noticed from the floors and tables…..

Someone had been here, and he had been sweeping and cleaning this place of all things. Most unbelievable was that fact that not even a single jewel or gold coin was taken from this place. An old caretaker or a generation of keepers? Even the most loyal of servants would run off with as much as they could carry when their masters had perished millennia ago. This one was recent.

Darshan looked at a stone dais that sat in the centre of the chamber, on three stone podiums were each a stone idol of crouching monkeys. One covered its ears, another covered its mouth, the last concealed its eyes. Like these three idol statues were the tiny kings of the reliquary. There was a lingering scent of that person as well, it wasn't Vanaran but in fact human.

More questions piled up where he didn't need it to, he was only here for one item and that was what he'll leave here with. This was the eighth chamber laden with precious treasure, and he was no closer to finding what Ajay Ghale claimed was here. He didn't doubt for a second that Ajay Ghale would lie to him.

He proceeded on to the next internal chamber, likely storing even more valuable objects of value to the Vanara. Instead of stone walls, it was marble and had gold letterings upon the walls telling great epics of the mighty Vanara tribes.

Darshan took a moment to study the hieroglpyhs, in hopes of narrowing down the location of the soul stone or at least how to deactivate much of the traps ahead. But all he found was a last log hastily inscribed upon the walls by a Vanara scribe who had turned into a skeleton leaning against the wall. He wasn't the only one, there were over a dozen guards standing watch over the room. Their mummified remains stood guard here, Darshan sensed their spiritual essence had long dried up, leaving truly empty corpses.

The text on the wall were of the same ancient script writing shared by every other race in the mountains, yet they couldn't settle their differences.

"Prince Varish, principle chieftain of the Vanara allies with the Yaksha of Jalendu and Demon Banisher Patriarchs to free bride the of Lord-…..hmm…. the Crown Prince of the Jalendu." There was a slot for a name but it had been defaced by claw marks that matched the ape's hands.

Darshan had a similar story being told by the Demon Banisher 8th generation Patriarch before his incarnate will vanished.

-Do not trust the Yaksha….. not in this generation and the next…..- Were the words hastily inscribed in blood with all the hate in them by the Vanara that died unable to complete the hieroglyph.

"…." This too was similar. Patriarch White Tiger told him the same thing, it was the machinations of not an entire race but a single individual. That was the foe of which was the greatest enemy of the Demon Banishers. But that enemy was not his concern, his care was only to destroy her.

"Eternal Heaven…" Darshan had unconsciously murmured this name of which the Demon Banisher Order cursed to the end of days.

(rumble)

And in response, the reliquary tremored like a pressure vying to escape from this bottleneck. Rock and stone slabs dropped, worrying Darshan of the integrity of the vault. However, he was assured by a central pillar on the outside of this chamber that kept everything up. What instead happened, was that the wall lined with the hieroplyphs began to crack and fall into shambles.

And lo and behold, a hidden passage presented itself. However, Darshan had his wits about him. For it was by no accident that this phenomenon occurred because of what he said.

[Who dares utter that name?!]

A formidable aura came crashing down on the surroundings at the tone of the voice. Rock and skeletons were crushed into dust with the weight forcing upon them. Darshan's talisman of protection cracked and broke in an instant, he pucked out blood at the same time.

This power, though installed by the being no longer in existence was sufficient in overpowering and killing him. Darshan plotted to the ground as the intense aura suppressed him, he looked up using his third eye to find the source of that aura. Through the half-wrecked wall, within a treasure chest enlaid with gold and jewels. Inside was the source of all this malice.

The blood ruby.

It was even bigger than Ajay had described, a footballs size. As elate as he was, it still stood than the this presence was emanating from the soul stone itself. It still possessed a discarnate will.

[A demon banisher? BEGONE!]

As loudly as the voice boomed, a gust of wind blew Darshan off his feet before he had any time to use countermeasures. He was sent right out of the chamber in which the precious soul stone guarded by the discarnate will by a repelling force until he was quite a distance from the entrance of that chamber.

He got up to his feet and observed the surrounding for any misfortunate follow ups, but he was answered with silence. The discarnate will pushed no further, it simply wanted him to leave.

Quite generous for a Vanara discarnate will when original owners of that will were not especially on good terms with Demon Banishers of old. Perhaps it that will was dwindling away slowly with time, even still he could not fight it and be sure he could triumph with the preparations he had and those he left out exclusively for her.

Not alone that is.


Never in their wildest dreams would they have believed what they were currently witnessing. Curious that each culture had its own lore and at the same time the concept of magic. But how were they to know, that there first sort of contact with magic came in the form of something out of a fantasy novel. Lethal. Like heavy infantry and cavalry reacting to the advent of firearms, and trench soldiers to the tank. Both sound and appearance were equally frightening.

A fog covered wherever these monsters closed in, devouring anything that entered the boundaries of the fog. Screams of those unable to get away in time added to the intense atmosphere. They'd lost contact with Command, the recon elements and most of the heavy weapons that were the only things that seemed to deter these things ever so slightly. Now they were just a mere mob of five thousand running for their lives towards the West where the borders to Peshawar lay, where it was safe they told themselves.

That was until they entered a clearing with a ridge like the one they'd fought it out with these monsters without artillery and without air support that was being delayed or cut off because of this weather. What awaited them there was a trench line so intricate, it had to have been done over three days, yet they had only come through this way in the morning.

"What in god's name-!"

"Hey! Heyyy! Over here!"

"Pete! Shut up! We don't know'em!"

"Of course we do, they're the fucking POF!"

One of the forward Companies were the first to make contact with this trenchline, laden with soldiers in an unfamiliar uniform and some that looked similar to specops black and-..

"Hey-…. Does that look like Spetzna-(Crack)." (plop) The corpse hammered the ground after a high-powered round went through its skull with explosive gore.

"Jesus Christ!" The troops begun to fire back as the trenchline twinkled with muzzleflash.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! We need to get out of here first!" But the Company commander's words were not heard over the gunfire of both sides.

"Goddamnit! Fourth platoon take right flank! Second take left!"

So, the first encounter between the "joint exercise group" and the US expedition began. Being in an unorganized and unfavourable position that they were, it was not long before they decided to surrender themselves when ammunition had been depleted.

Four thousand nine hundred soldiers walked in a line following their last remaining senior field officer holding a white flag. But there was no officer from the defensive trench line to greet them and accept that surrender.

There were only machine gun and rifle barrels pointed in their direction, heavy weapons such as 40mm Bofors guns and mortars which stood within their emplacements. This unknown force could only be the army of which the country they had been invading, if so. It was a hell of a time for them to show at such inconvenience without facing them at full strength.

"Is there someone we can talk to?" He called out to the silent armies. A closer look, they could see a mix of Asian, Indian and even Caucasians, mainly wearing Russian Spetznaz uniforms. Both the officer and the men were just as baffled as he was, their highest commanding officer, a flag officer by the name of Ryan Farragut was MIA, most likely killed.

"They want to talk now because of a knife to their throat. Moments ago, they were marching proudly into our country to take advantage of us and deprive us of our peace. Is this a game to you, coward?" They could sense the hostility in the voice of Raja, now a newly promoted Brigadier thanks to his latest exploits in the rebellion. Things weren't looking settling for the US army.

The Americans remained silent and looked back a few times, to ensure they weren't imminent. Just trying to let him have his say before they were disarmed and taken into protection as per Geneva Convention.

"You want to surrender."

"Yes… we would." The commanding officer said with unease.

"We are the Royal Army of Kyrat, you are trespassers. You are a military force that entered by force. You are invaders! Am I wrong?"

The Commander and his near five thousand didn't answer him.

"AM I WRONG?!" Raja shouted in response.

"No!-... No, you're not." He answered back hesitantly as he checked his rear even now and again.

"As soldiers of this nation. We destroy sympathy for rebellion, we crush terrorism at its infancy!" Raja turned to the soldiers that were his countrymen.

"And what did we and will we do to invaders?"

"KILL!" Roared the loudest voice of all, belonging to Er Hu as he waved his sabre in the air.

"""KILLL!-…KILLL!-… KILLL!"""" Echoed the Royal Army of Kyrat as they waved their weapons in the air.

"What the fuck-…." The expeditionary forces were getting nervous as both sides were seeming to close in.

"Listen! We don't have much time! There's-."

"Rakshasa." Raja cut the urgency of the officer with what was the name of that foe they faced.

"…. Sorry?"

"It seems you've met the Rakshasa, just like Lord Badala said you would."

When the officer heard that name, he shook. That was the man in the briefing he had with the Brigadier, the category L codenamed "demon".

"What?" It begun to sink in that said Demon had lured their entire expedition into a cruel trap that decimated them into almost nothing in such a short time.

"American. I don't hold it against you, but like yourself, I'm a soldier. I follow my orders just like you did to your apparent demise. My orders from Lord Badala of Kyrat and His Royal Highness King Min of Kyrat… our duty is to exterminate all invaders to the motherland."

All guns cocked at the ready, to execute them en masse. Including those of the Indians and Russians

"Sunnovabitch. This is against treaty!" He shouted as he stepped back at the hostile intent like the rest of the soldiers did.

"Treaty? Are you thinking of now to fall back on treaty? Geneva, Hagues, United Nations, Human Rights. If everyone followed these guidelines, why is it we always find you Americans the ones breaking the rules first, even though you set them for the world to follow by example?" Said a belittling voice right behind the expedition who emerged from the forest alone.

The expedition forces stood on alert and turned his way. But even with such danger, Ajay wasn't deterred at all, simply waltzing cheerfully forwards. There was a strange sense of irritation, that their target was right in front of them, yet they could do nothing. Not with the lack of firepower they had right now. Not that they felt like they could kill him right then and there. His armour was blood soaked, giving a dangerous aura of something terrifyingly inhuman that fear gripped their hearts and stayed their hands.

"How you try to put humanity into war is utterly hilarious. This level of ego. In the very first place, war should've never been allowed to occur. And your presence here has assured a war between our countries, soldier. Good job."

"Mr. Badala…. We give up. I'll take full responsibility for all of this, so just my men-."

"You said you would surrender, yet you're pushing the terms of it on me?" Ajay said in a not so friendly way. This chasted the officer once more, he had never fallen into a situation like this. They had never had to do anything that lowered their dignity and have to beg for their lives.

Ajay took out a flag, it belonged to the camp he had previously attacked and thrown it to his feet.

"The only people I'll accept surrender from are folks without identity, no home, and no country. What you call refugees. If only there was some way you could convince me and them that you would renounce your identity as Americans and as soldiers of the United States." He said with disdain.

All of their hearts thumped at such audacity. It was clear from the demands he was making on their only chance of survival. He wanted them to step on the star-spangled banner, renouncing their identity and destroying their pride in the process.

The soldiers and the officer were just stumped for words. Some had their mouths gaping, others were gritting their teeth as such a humiliating task.

(Ahhruggg) A war horn blasted from the forest behind Ajay, as a fog closed in.

Seeing that sight made them unsurprisingly scared. The Rakshasa were announcing their arrival to face the army assembled before them. They weren't below signalling their own arrival to their opponent. The same could not be said for the US expedition that trespassed on their sacred grounds and had what was coming for them.

"Oh god… here they come!"

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" They had used up their weapons and will in fighting the Kyrati trench to get through in vain. Now they were hapless to the monsters outside of a human wall that denied them free passage.

To the officer's disbelief, some of the men rushed to the flag and stepped on it without hesitation. He knew some of them as friends and fellow subordinates but for them to forsake their country over their own lives and families… yet he couldn't blame them for the situation which the demon in name and action forced upon them. More and more of them threw down their arms and trampled the flag until there were almost every soldier remaining which did so. Including himself, he had too much riding at home to die here.

But instead of the desired result. "Raja, did you get that on tape?" Ajay called out to the Kyrati officer from before. Whose subordinates held up for him to see. He had filmed their humiliation to show to whomever he wished. But at least now they could live, would they be forgiven for stepping on their own countries flag? Perhaps.

"Good. Kill them all." Ajay said coldly. The rifles were raised again, and the commanders within the joint armies held their hands on standby to give the kill command.

"Hey! Hey! What the hell! We did what you asked! Let us go!" The officer shouted whilst pointing his gun to threaten Ajay who went back on his word. "P-Please…." He pleaded meekly.

"Did what I asked? When was I ever your Commander-in-Chief? All I did was tell you of our situation here and what might've been nice. And you willingly stepped onto your own flag, renounced your identity and country. You renounced the service you were loyal to, you disgusting pieces of shit!"

Behind him, figures emerged from the fog. Frightening figures cladded in a golden mask and blue paint over their pale skin. Standing in their midst was a woman cladded in the same ancient armour as Purushartha under a garb cloak. As far as movement was concerned, they stood just out of the mist and waited.

Ajay gave them the eye not to interfere and they respectfully waited. Such an action was shocking to the expeditionary members and to the foreign members of the joint exercise group.

This also gave the joint armies a look at what they were going to face next. They seemed to stay where they were, waiting for Ajay to finish up.

"While I did say that treaties are a nuisance and are troublesome, you and your boys have just made life easier for me. You are now not part of any standing army, you no longer hail from a country, and are therefore not protected by treaty. There is only one definition for you and your men in particular…." The next sentence he used to describe them, completely shattered their defiance.

"You are all now armed terrorists wreaking havoc in a civilized world."

The gravity of the way this demon had put it made their feet go numb. The way he distorted the ways of moral. It was just as they had done, or at least their Commanders in Pentagon had used to justify their invasions of other nations in peacetime. It made them realise how foolish they were. He had humiliated those that trampled their own flag on camera, he had led the expedition into a trap that decimated the entire expedition or was about to.

There were no words that came out of the officer to fight for their case any longer, just eyes of despair. Looking up into the air, hoping that he would wake up from the nightmare he'd stumbled upon like the other five thousand.

"If you have anyone to blame, it is yourselves for being the losers. After all…." Ajay raised his hand to give the all clear to execute them by firing squad.

"War does not determine who is right… Only who's left." He swooped his hand down, commanding his forces to unleash hell upon the men he'd broken in spirit. Firepower rained upon them and cut them down mercilessly. Like a forest of meat being cleaved apart by a harvester raining multiple calibres of shell cutting the stalks down into chunks of meat.

It was at this moment, after three hours since contact. An entire expeditionary force of twelve thousand was completely annihilated.

Somewhere amidst the trenches was the officers that rudely interrupted Ajay during the briefing, thinking he was an amateur playing soldier. After witnessing this level of cruelty, malice and deviousness that could only be described as the devil incarnate. He shuddered to think that he had such a confrontation with this demon. And yet the Kyrati soldiers looked at him still with awe. To do what no man would dare to do and make the most powerful armies get on their knees was an empowering sight from the perspective. He was very well on his way to becoming a god of war and grim reaper alike.

(Ahhruggg) The war horn blew and the Rakshasa, no longer waiting for anything charged towards the trenchline with an ancient ferocity and an unearthly battlecry. The joint armies fired their weapons and lobbed their grenades the Rakshasas' way as they charged up the steep incline of the ridge. But they did so with the fog closing in to mask their approach.

As for Ajay, the Rakshasa simply ran pass him like he was Moses dividing a sea of Rakshasa.

Ajay walked through the road of corpse and shattered flesh towards that woman cladded in armour who stepped out from the rampaging monsters. To Ajay's surprise, undead moans could be heard through the fog in which engulfed his area and wherever the Rakshasa were. As the newly deceased corpses rose up from the ground and joined the Rakshasa to boost their numbers on top of the existing corpses gathered from the Rakshasas' own butchery of the expeditionary force. She stood flanked by one particular undead American, this one was a one-star general with a hole in his chest. She had apparently got to the biggest cheese amongst the expeditionary force first and deprived him of the highest authority in the field and the intel which he held.

"Thanks for waiting," Ajay said casually.

"Ney. You did us a favour by clearing that garbage." She spoke to him in an uneasy yet nostalgic familiarity.

He was looking upon a woman with boyish features but had the look of a warrior. Cladded in the same ancient armour as the previous general, she was the one leading this army.

"….. I guess its customary for the generals to clash in any battle once or twice." He said over the fierce fighting going on behind him.

The salvo of explosive shells slammed into the ground where the Rakshasa were, blasting them off their footing but not killing them. The small arms fire did less, or so the Rakshasa were thought to believe. As some had succumbed to bullets engraved with talismans of sealing, damaging their clones and causing internal damage to the real Rakshasa out far. The armies were quick to realise they would be at a disadvantage if the fog followed the Rakshasa to conceal their position. Artillery was called to unleash thermobaric charges into the fog to blast out the mist and reveal their locations. Ajay was thankful they were seemingly holding their ground against these monsters for at least till the bombers arrived.

"Ajay Ghale, born human and initiate of the Demon Banisher Order. The one you call a vessel." Ajay gave his introductions to the woman that just stood still with a shocked expression from his earlier monologue and his current mannerisms.

"No…There are just too many similarities…" She shook her head instead as she said to herself.

"I'm not your lord, Rakshasa. I am your enemy."

"…No, Ajay Ghale. You were never our enemy to begin with but our last final hope." This one was a little different in her approach compared to Purushartha.

"If your hope means depriving it of my people, then you've placed it on the wrong person." She visibly bit her lip at his words that struck deep. And then she nodded as if accepting the situation as it was, any further conversation was wasted breath.

"I am Narmada, General of the West Gate. Prepare yourself, Ajay Ghale!" A pair of katars shot out from her robe into her hands and she kicked off the floor. Closing a five-metre distance under a second.

(CLANG) Sparks flew off the contact between the ancient katar and Ajay's kukri engraved with runes.

This was the moment in which he'd prepared the armies for against a more powerful foe. If he was successful, he would get away with heavy casualties, if not then he stood to lose everyone and everything to the machinations of an immortal being.


The scenery was serene, it was the tell-tale sign that something was going to happen which would break the tranquillity of the atmosphere.

His intuition told him this even when he flew in a tight formation with the flight groups Tiger and Sokol. His duty was air superiority and escort of the fighter-bombers currently with them on route to blasting the hell out of the target area with daisy cutter bomblets. Somewhere behind were the close air support aircraft of Frogfoots and Tucanos catching up to them to provide on-the-call air support as opposed to their one-time drop. Carrying a carpet bombing payload. Sokol 1-4 and 1-5 manned the Su-34 bombers while everyone else was operating Su-35SM, true dogfighters.

The radar crackled and fizzed, indicating their proximity to Point 2153 and this nonsensical storm cloud brewing in the lower atmosphere that prevented low-level flights. So they flew above the clouds to avoid the storm.

*Two Minutes to delivery. Eyes out, this place is too calm.* Sokol 1-1 informed them, it made Pravi wonder if he had the same level of intuition as him.

Even with the powerful AESA radar built into his plane, the storm had rendered his beyond visual range awareness to zero. Leaving his spatial awareness to what he could see from the glass cockpit, however, Pravi was not deterred. If anything, he was elade, because if he couldn't use Radar-guided missiles then his enemies couldn't either.

The tall mountains could be seen even at this height over the clouds, it put things into perspective as to where they were. The clouds in the higher parts of the atmosphere were hindering much of his frontal vision as it did the rest of them, but at this level, it provided concealment till the drop area. Then they could be assured that the bombers wouldn't have to worry about manoeuvres and could switch to an ECM role in decaying the enemy fighters' combat efficiency with their Electronic warfare pods whilst providing up to date data for the rest of the squadron.

Pravi was almost in a sleeping mood, the long trip without any action and the soft hum of the pressurized cockpit added to a comfortable atmosphere. He kept his emotions in check and his heart rate steady to keep his focus on when it was necessary. He expected to go 9-G beyond the limits of his flight suit and his own consciousness boundary.

The foe he was hunting had a superior turn rate and thrust to weight ratio, it was both faster and supposedly more agile.

*Tiger 1-4, I saw movement Northeast, West bound. Bearing 130.* His team mate reported.

*Alright, Tiger 1-1 here. All units maintain formation, Sokol 1-2 and 1-3 will accompany the bombers 1-4 and 1-5 as the escort. Tiger will divide into groups of two, 1-3 and 1-5 will be led by Sokol 1-1. The rest will follow me and take the high altitude.*

The mic beeped in response as each member gave their response.

*Play nice, Tiger 1-3.* Commander Singh told Pravi personally.

"Tiger 1-3 copies." No quirky comeback from him this time, he had a dedicated mission here. And that was to protect the bombers to their location, that meant distracting or destroying the opposition that might prevent that from happening.

SADEC had already reported before their flight of five fast movers entering the airspace, but that didn't mean "those" warplanes. Just the more visible F-16 from the signature they gave off.

*Sokol 1-1 to Tiger 1-1 tells me you're his lucky charm. I hope you'll bless me with the same fortune here.*

"Not if it has anything to do with wishing your mother-in-law dead." He was sure the Russian Commander was laughing behind the comms as he saw him move from his cockpit.

*Let me know if there is anything you find weird, ya? There's never enough intuition needed in flying, Tiger 1-3.* Sokol 1-1 said over the intercom between their fighter escort group.

"Yes, sir."

As their squadron leader dictated, they separated into two fighter groups. One to watch over the bombers from a close enough distance and another to maintain overwatch over them all from the highest point where they had the height potential energy advantage.

Once again, the trip became long again. Affording him time to think about the events that transpired a day ago. Saras had met up with him to tell him something important. "I love Ajay, and I want to spend the rest of days with him." She said without any lies or tricks. He was a little shocked to find out that Badala was actually Ajay Ghale, her fiance. For some reason, Pravi didn't feel as upset as he would have been a while back. Why was that so?

It wasn't that she had been deceitful to him, neither did she give him a cold shoulder to his constant wooing. It was the feeling of how he would have a life to fall back on, while Arun and his family would still be without a whole one. This wasn't about revenge for him, this was about reinstating Arun's honour, to allow his resting soul some dignity. So, he just smiled back and said, "I know, may the gods shower their blessings on you both."

If he couldn't have her as a wife, it wouldn't be so bad to have her a friend still. He heard from Arun, chicks always went for guys near more attractive ladies. So Saras was adding points to his attractiveness. He rubbed his chin just thinking that.

But still, thinking back on it all. Badala was not a simple guy either. Commander Singh said he was becoming something of a burning star in Central Asia. New Delhi could not believe that his plan in uniting the ragged neighbouring states into a single alliance and fended off the Chinese on their own. The international community was hearing rumours of a "Demon" in Asia, scrambling correspondents to fetch a story. But as of late, the four big nations were suppressing the flow of information.

Perhaps he was living in an age of legends after all. He could see why Saraswati chose Ajay over himself. Any girl would, although he was sure that wasn't the reason Saraswati stuck with him. The one he fell for wasn't so cheap a woman after all. Plus, he couldn't really be mad since he was trying to steal another man's wife. He now knew he was attempting to do so with the wrong guy to mess with, and worse of all Ajay knew of his intentions. He confided to him clear as day.

He sighed, thinking how to communicate with Badala a.k.a Ajay on a personal level now. They often shared a drink or two at the officer's mess when he came to pay a visit to the Air Base. He chuckled just thinking about it. Ajay wasn't such a bad friend to have either, he rescued him from the Chinese when he fell captive as well through a fault of his for ejecting over Tibet.

"Maybe he'd introduce me to so hotties. I'm sure he'd have a few that hover around him. What do you think, Bhaiya." He said with a smile as he tapped Arun's medallion. The necklace gittered about when he pushed it, Pravi was about to return with his mind back in the game when he noticed the reflection on the stabilizing pendant's shining finish. A shadow was lurking behind him.

His instincts hammered at his heartstring and fired his reflexes as he pushed down on the throttle and slammed the control stick to the side performing a hard right barrel roll.

(swoosh) An infrared missile flew right by, missing its opportunity to an easy kill.

"Bandit on my six! Fox Two missed by an inch!" Pravi shouted into the comms as he levelled the fighter and maintained attack speed. His comment woke the hell out of his fellow wingmen and his squadron.

Two shadows flew right by him. They were too quick to tell what they were, but Pravi could make some assumptions from those speeds they were going. Plus, they weren't using afterburners but going supersonic on their own normal power. Only one opposing force could fly supercruise.

*All group, maintain visual contact and watch for additional boogies. Sokol 1-1, you have first blood. Happy hunting. How copy.* Commander Singh gave priority to Sokol 1-1 and Pravi to pursue.

*Roger, Sokol 1-1 moving to engage.*

*Tiger 1-3 and 1-5. Go right bearing 060, we're going to give them something to harass.* Sokol 1-1 led them as he veered right breaking the formation. Pravi followed as his wingman while Tiger 1-5 accompanied Sokol 1-1 on his left wing.

"Tiger 1-3 to all fighter groups, my early warning system didn't read the missile. Take caution in flying." For whatever reason the siren didn't go off when the infrared missile flew towards him, he could only guess that it was due to the regional disruption again.

*Tiger 1-3, what was your visual on the target?*

"Two very unfriendly boogies, Foxtrot Two Two."

*…. Roger. Tiger 1-3, break or stay in formation it's up to you. Do what floats your boat.*

"Roger, Sokol 1-1. I'll stay in formation." Today Pravi would surprise them, he would be a team player for the fight against the Raptors.

A dogfight occurred with the fighter escort who broke off from the bombers to engage. Not the raptors though.

*Five boogies! Foxtrot One Six, tail markings say PAF. Do we engage?* Astra asked his Commander.

*They're willing to accompany the Americans in this farce, I'd say they had this coming. Engage, you are all weapons-free.* He announced to the squadron as he maintained overwatch. They had the numerical advantage on their side, even though they had two priorities whereas the USAF and PAF had only one which was to destroy them.

*Pravindra. You're on your own on this one. Do yourself proud.* His Commander had the utmost faith in his abilities.

"…. Yes, sir. Tiger 1-3, engaging Raptors."

Returning his focus to the picture, the Raptors were working in a pair. And they were very good at playing hide and seek amidst the clouds. With radar gone, it didn't matter if they had stealth coating or not. This battle was returning to the days of turboprop dogfighters where they didn't rely on early warning systems or radar to detect enemies.

"What's the plan, chief." He asked Sokol 1-1, his current group leader.

*We fly low, the Americans follow the Energy-Manueverability Theory too closely. As long as we present ourselves as an excellent target they will seize the opportunity. We don't have to worry about AMRAAMs in this kind of heavy ECM environment.* Sokol 1-1 gave a reasonable assessment and plan.

"You heard the boss," Pravi told his fellow pilot Tiger 1-5.

*After you, hotshot. Randhwa, what's with you being a team player?*

"I just stand a better chance of surviving if they expend their missile on you guys," Pravi said cheekily. Sokol 1-1 and Tiger 1-5 swore at his joke.

But follow the plan they did. Flying in an open sky, beneath the dogfight happening between the fighter escorts and the PAF. They didn't fly far from the bomber detail as if to pretend they were flying to flank the F-16s.

*Be calm, don't make sudden movements.* They did as they were told while keeping an eye out for the moment they were swooped upon again. Because if they reacted in time to avoid the attack, they would lock on to their attackers throughout and have them by the tail throughout.

"Movement eight o clock!" Tiger 1-5 exclaimed as he peered out vigilantly.

*Easy. Do not break formation until the last moment.* The group leader gave the orders.

Pravi could see it now. Closing in through the clouds behind them 30 degrees up. He could see the shadow through the thick clouds. This was clearly not amateur pilots flying that type of high-profile hardware. These were qualified pilots. He reminisced the story his commander told him a while ago. About how he as an amateur pilot had been put to face Pakistani veterans, this instance were quite similar.

*They're moving in for an attack!* Tiger 1-5 was a little nervous.

*Steady. Wait…. When I give the command, 1-3 will climb, 1-5 will bank left and I will bleed speed.* Pravi could already imagine the scenario the Russian set for the boogies on approach

He gripped the control stick and throttle hard but did not push it yet, waiting for the go from a person he only flew with for a week and was made to put his life in the hands of. He wasn't even a fellow Indian, an ally but a foreigner nonetheless. But they had a common goal, it was to provide air superiority for the ground troops to finish their operation and for the bombers to annihilate the marked target.

*Steady.* Sokol 1-1 was ultra calm in such a riskly moment. He needed them to expend a move for their group to gain a bearing on them rather than react now and get blasted in response when they were clearly in the crosshairs.

The Raptors were closing in inch by inch, determining that their group were totally unaware of their presence and drop their guard in the wrong places. He waited for the Raptors to pierce the clouds in which the IRST would not be hindered by vapour to send their infrared missiles on their way.

Time slowed down, and what would be only five seconds felt like minutes. Pravi forgot about looking behind and closed his eyes. He trusted Sokol 1-1 to make the right decision at the right time. It was the only way they'd stand a chance against two of the most fearsome warplanes ever conceived.

Pravi felt his mind sink into a cold dark place, so tranquil he felt like he would fall into a deep slumber if he remained. And yet, there was this disturbance approaching to their rear, his eyes were shut and his head still facing front. But he could sense a presence, their presence. Two nose cones popped out from the clouds.

*Now!* Pravi pushed down on the throttle to accelerate, while pulling up on the control stick. Causing him to feel high-Gs as he climbed up to gain energy. Tiger 1-5 veered left as Sokol 1-1 told him while the leader himself performed a cobra maneuver to bleed speed. Two fighter planes with a trapezoidal exterior bursted through the clouds fully to find an object on a collision course with their planes and broke up into two flying in opposite directions, they flew right by his warplane and realized to late they'd been tricked into breaking apart from each other.

*Khorosho! Tiger 1-5, you and I will chase the left boogey. You'll be my wingman. Tiger 1-3….. The right one is all yours.* A grin appeared across his face.

*Show me what your Commander kept praising you on. Happy hunting, Sokol 1-1, out.*

Pravi eyeballed the Right turning Raptor he was given full privilege to kill and turned to engage in attack vector. He'd been given a one up advantage, he had the energy, he had the speed to pursue too.

It was time to erase the Raptors invincibility in air-to-air combat.


If there was any recollection of the Great War of the valley thousands of years prior, this would have been a recreation of that war between man and Rakshasa with the absence of the Vanara tribes.

A war for heaven.

Technology-cladded man versus enchanted weapon wielding immortal Rakshasa. To their disbelieve, they had not advanced much since the assault started. It had to do mostly because of the trench design, a formation designed by Saras to eliminate any opportunity for rushing charges to break through or flank around defensive formations. It was an intricate hexagonal design of mazes that resembled the layout of a tortoise shell, each "bump" so to say were an encirclement of troops and each encirclement was protected all around by other encirclements on their six sides from attacks to the rear.

That was not to say they didn't suffer casualties, the Rakshasa only needed to swipe their blades and a mortal no matter how protected would be sliced in half. Not everyone was equipped with an enchanted weapon or ammo. Even still, the put up a brave front as they emptied their magazines into the Rakshasa vanguard that stumbled because of the explosive weapons like grenade launchers and 40mm shells blasting them into suppression.

The Russian and Indian forces were initially shaken by the seeming invulnerability of the Rakshasa enemy. But seeing their Kyrati counter parts fighting with an almost feral nature, they assisted in providing firepower in places they couldn't cover. If they let up, it would mean the death of them. That was certain. Brigadier Sharma of the Indian Army stood in the front to keep his soldiers in high spirits and motivated to fight. Kuznetsov commanded the fire support and directed fire missions to keep as many of the Rakshasa pinned, while the motorized forces used heavy ordnance to keep the enemy peppered. If they were normal human beings, this firefight would've ended in seconds. But when there were undying monsters, unscathed by normal weapons and hordes of zombies rising from the dead Americans and of their own ranks from those that had fallen. It was a little bit of everything they could contribute was keeping everyone else alive and in the fight.

Somewhere else, a certain someone was having a one on one duel against his enemy. A female general which was unusual considering a very conservative or ancient was a better word to describe them. Still, it was clear how she won the position of Pillar from their Military order and the respect of her fellow Rakshasa now gorging themselves into his armies.

He had a little idea of how the Rakshasa woman's weapons were used and had a speed advantage to his kukri that was only a single weapon, opposed to Purushartha's lance that was weak in close range but devastating when he had leverage. Even so, her swings carried an inhuman force and like Purushartha, her presence had a cancelling effect on his demon powers.

They were extremely quick that his eyes almost lost sight of the katars as she jabbed and slashed them at him.

(Clang) (Clang) She was beginning to understand first hand, that even without the demonic strength he wielded without the boon interfering with his channeling of power into physical strength and agility, he was a serious threat with that strange martial art style he used. He was gaining the upper hand by neutralizing her strokes of their power and unleashing some of it back at her to great effect. This style seemed to work best at sending the attacker's strike back at him. Narmada was quick to step back to regain footing and time to assess that style and counter it.

The zombies gathered in between them to hinder him on her behalf.

(Boom) (Boom) shotgun and zombie weren't a friendly mix. He fired a prepared buckshot-type ammo at the approaching zombies who turned into paste. As they came apart, vines that crept around their bodies dissipated as if no longer satisfied with the blown-out chunks of meat left.

She stepped back in caution to the weapon he just unleashed, that gave Ajay the initiative to advance and he did. Changing back to the kukri, Ajay kept up a relentless assault with the third form of Four Seasons Pandemonium to break through her defense. His knife grazed parts of her armour where normal blades would have cracked or broke.

It was at this moment which Narmada sensed something wrong about the blade which Ajay wielded. It had a familiar scent to those blades wielded by those people, a poisonous compound to Rakshasa. Fatal if left untreated if she was cut, but would Ajay give her the time to seek a remedy? She wouldn't even let him get the chance to cut her with that blade.

He folded his fingers to form a diagram, with the index pointed at her. It gave off a menacing feeling to her especially as he channelled his prana into the spell he was about to cast at that moment.

"You-… you wield Demon Banishing magic?!" She exclaimed in surprise. Even though Ajay did say he was a Demon Banisher, perhaps she wasn't paying attention.

Ajay's only reply came in the form of a finger raised at her feet.

"Mire!" A circle glowed as a formation of talismans cleverly hidden before her arrival revealed themselves and locked her in the same way it locked Purushartha.

"My will is the mountains. My karma is the mantra. Banish all creation against nature! 8th Demon Banishing-."

[Do not underestimate me!] (rumble)

She exclaimed asshe raised her hand commandingthe ground beneath her to shake anduproot. The formation was compromised and she had free reign once again.

She stood on a newly erected plateau as the zombies poured out of the forests and gathered around to hinder his path. Ajay felt the full blunt of the hex rebounding and caused him to vomit blood, took out the last of his talismans and flung them to the floor in from of him. The talismans unleashed a wall of flames that prevented the zombies from getting through without getting burnt to a crisp.

Ajay threw smoke grenades that had a special compound around him to conceal his location. Narmada stomped onto the ground sending small shards of rocks flying into the smoke to chop down whatever was hiding inside.

In response, two wooden blades flew out of the smoke towards her. She snorted as she waved her katar to knock each one out of the air to harmlessly drop to the floor. Three arrows came flying from the smoke again which she frustratedly parried out of the sky with careful precision.

"Now I see," Ajay said as a matter a fact behind the smoke cover. "Short and quick defence. Then, how about this."

A bayonet-kukri jutted out of the smoke along with his silhouette, but seemingly farther away from his hand. Narmada could see why that was so, he had attached the kukri onto a bayonet lug on his slayer to act as a polearm.

Ajay thrusted the polearm at her in a new style of combat from previously. Swiping and stabbing to make her exhaust her interval of movements and strike when she was open. Narmada held out better than he had imagined. She wasn't a Rakshasa Pillar General for nothing.

(Clang)

Narmada found she was being pushed back again, not being allowed to counterstrike when he'd been delivering the blows non-stop. He had robbed her of the initiative, a disadvantage due to his longer reach of weapon available to him now. She didn't underrate him like Purushartha did, but even still he was difficult to contain like she'd hoped.

All she could do was deflect those thrusts until by a flute chance her katar was wedged between the bayonet lug and the kukri laced with poison. Ajay was unable to bring the polearm down upon her, and she didn't have the reach to use the other katar in her arm to slash his torso with.

They ended up being locked together. Narmada tool a glimpse at the battle raging on between her fellow Rakshasa and the mortals who were surprisingly putting up a far better fight than those foreigners. If anything, she admitted their courage to fight knowing who they were. But as it stood, they were but man. Limited by the strength and endurance of a mortal couldn't hope to beat stamina-free demi-god entities, even if they were only clones of their true self in hibernation.

"To think they would follow you into a battle knowing their chances of survival as next to nothing. I have to commend them for possessing such spirit even my fellow warriors might not have."

"Who said this was hapless?" Replied Ajay calmly as he exerted force just as she did. Again, she was baffled where he got this strength if the demon was being suppressed.

"How can it not? Look around you, Ajay Ghale." Ajay didn't need to see, more zombies emerged from the forest to fight alongside the Rakshasa. Almost something out of the living dead novels, a horde was gathering.

"And?" Ajay answered to her disbelief.

"Come with me, and I will promise to spare your soldiers. Surely you cannot be so narrow in your strategy to not see the likely outcome?"

"And neither could you, take a look at where your kinsmen are." Narmada was inclined to look after he claimed it was not over. But all she saw was the Rakshasa in a very tight concentrations due to the firepower keeping them at bay. The zombies were a whole different issue. But even now, she failed to see what Ajay had planned for them.

"Looks like there's a lot of things you need to get familiar with, this world ain't like before. That brigadier's memories should tell you what comes next." Ajay had pieced together that she had at least absorbed that zombified flag officer's memories before he turned.

Narmada was hesitant to keep her guard in case he seize the opportunity and access the memories to gain some insight of what he was talking about. She opened up some memories.

Air power, the ability to provide unmatched firepower to ground forces where other ground-based systems could not at the same speed. Carrying payloads of munitions over distances and superior volume to artillery shells.

"Air-… strike…." She murmured after finding out what he had intended. Ajay smiled mischieviously as she found out. His watch had also said it was the appointed time and had gotten the confirmation earlier when Purushartha was no longer putting clouds over their heads to block the signals. That did however mean that the US satellite would've been watching what was happening here.

The roar of fast movers closing in could be heard, in the distance he spotted the Su-34 bombers and their wingmen making a carpet bombing run onto where the Rakshasa were. Flares had been thrown at the Rakshasa positions and laser designators for guided free-fall bombs had been marked when the armies saw the bombers coming. Narmada turned back to Ajay, she was now clear of what kind of potential those bombs had and was confident to say the least that nothing would change.

"You've seen what kind of firepower you bear that we can shake off. What difference would that make?"

"None, of course." He answered to her bewilderment.

"Then why do you still look so sure it is not the case?!" She had to know. Ajay didn't answer, instead, he let the payloads being dropped answer her query.

The bombers flew pass and dropped their munitions upon the designated targets with great accuracy.

And for a millisecond of silence, the whole earth thundered and the ground blossomed with large bright orange fireballs.

(BOBOBOBOBOBOBOOOOOOM) The Rakshasa and zombies alike were engulfed in the flames of thermobaric fuels from the daisy cutter formula being dropped upon them.

And then, there were screams of agony unlike that of them being shot by the enchanted rifles and bullets which only stung greatly. These were dying screams as the liquid fuel burned their skin off and vaporized their flesh and bones.

Narmada was stunned by this sight alone, what she expected was not what had happened. The clones perished like they were ordinary human beings subjected to the same weapon.

"Impossible-… how-."

"I only had eight days to find a solution to beat you, and producing enough firearms to do so wasn't going to happen. But that didn't mean I couldn't enchant a single big one to go boom on all of you at once." It was as Ajay said, he could mean the production numbers of anti-demon weaponry. So he enchanted a few single items that could. He enchanted and drew diagrams upon the metal shell of the daisy cutter bombs being loaded onto the bombers. Thereby blessing the fuel-air explosive with demon sealing properties. Effectively making a anti-demon bombs.

When the flames subsided, the scorched earth was filled with the charred remains of the zombies and the Rakshasas' powerful clone manifestations. Proving Ajay's point earlier.

Ajay took the lack of her focus as a chance to break free from her lock, he detached the kukri and twirled it in his hand as he thrusted towards her. Narmada acted on quick reflexes to save her from the stab. Narmada delivered a kick to his torso as she jumped back when she had cleared the distance, although she felt a warm sensation on her shoulder and looked. A cut had appeared on it thanks to the blade Ajay held, the knife that was laced in poisonous compounds capable of killing her clone as well. Ajay was on the ground puking some blood from that powerful kick and the wounds from earlier, he wasn't able to dodge most of her katar attacks. She was really good.

Although it seemed like they had entered a tie, neither of them were in any state to continue the fight. As battered as Ajay was from two fights, Narmada was dealing was a slow poison that required her return in order to heal.

"I will withdraw here." She told him her situation without hiding any ulterior motives.

Ajay wasn't sure why he slackened naturally at her comment like he could trust in her words. But he no longer pointed his gun or knife her way as she took a step back. The zombies around them that hadn't been in the blast areas crumbled to the ground as the vines detached themselves from the corpses and herded over to her from the ground.

"(huff)… Quite the trick you'd got there." Ajay said whilst performing an emergency measure for his bloodloss with an enhanced perception syringe to keep himself vigilant.

"This isn't even a fraction of what I can do, Ajay Ghale." She replied as she turned about.

"I'm not done with you yet." Ajay spat out some blood as he unslung his slayer.

"But I've done what I came for."

"Like what? Fail to beat my men?" He tried to taunt her with the apparent inability of the Rakshasa to deal with the Kyrati forces the same way they dealt with the completely unprotected US expedition.

But all she did was chuckle.

"No, Ajay Ghale. The purpose of this mobilization was not for those foreign insects, nor your Kyrati subjects. It was for you and solely you." An unnerving feeling welled in him at her words, it made him feel like this entire plot was simply a child's endevour to them.

"(Ssssss)Ahh!-…."

A burning sensation could be felt on his arm like it was being branded, he clenched his teeth and held his arm as he fought the pain. When it subsided, he removed the armoured gauntlet and rolled up his sleeve. Branded onto his forearm was a maze of intricate symbols, there were ten slots that centred around a chakra wheel design. And in eight of those slots were avatars of which were certain animals he'd 'conquered' and some he did not. Tiger, Badger, Rhino, Bear, Wolf, Dhole, Dragon. Seven animals in total had filled the empty gaps.

"You might have had an ulterior motive in pulling us to here to finish off your mortal rivals, but that does not mean that we did not have one of our own," Narmada said with satisfaction before she turned to disappear into the forest.

It was at this point that Ajay had realized what was the meaning of this place to the Rakshasa who called it a sacred ground. Since his entry into this place, there had been an abnormal signature of prana flowing through this place. He thought that it was a place for mystical beings to restore their spiritual energy, but he was only half-right. Because the Rakshasa have been here so long, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that they had spell formations placed here to increase their absorption rate or assist in their cultivation to a higher plane.

In other words, they were walking right into their spell formation. Everyone of them were potential victims to whatever ploy the Rakshasa would employ. I.e. A massive slaughtering moon hex would curse every human being here to damnation. The Rakshasa had no real need to deploy their army. But they did so because of him, because it would bring him right here where they needed him to be.

And now, they'd gotten closer to their objective. By applying upon him the necessary preparations for "that" ritual.


Author's Notes:

Enchanted Anti-demon Daisy Cutter bombs? Think Holy hand grenade of Antioch.