(rumble)

The giant slammed its feet in an attempt to crush him, Ajay departed by vaulting away. As the foot came crashing down upon the floor, the giant found its leg to be mired by something keeping it from lifting up. Ajay had left one of the talismans there to hinder the giant's movement.

(Babababbabaam) He fired the Vector randomly at different points of the giant to find weakspots.

The bullets weren't nearly as powerful as the slayer and struck the rocky surface of the giant or ricocheted without much effect.

-Torso, none. Arms and legs, none. What about the head?-

The giant stood a good fifty metres towering over him and from the angle he was in it didn't seem like he would get a good shot at the face.

-I'll need to bring it down.-

The giant pulled its leg till it wrenched the leg free from the talisman by pulling the ground with it to set it loose upon one hapless man. It belched a whole stream of magma across at Ajay cutting off one section of agility space then cased another to lock him into a smaller area.

Ajay willed another set of shots for his slayer to create an opening for him to break this encirclement, loading the more dangerous slug and firing it at the giant's head. (Boom) (Boom)

The shells impacted the giant's head and blasted away a portion of its cranium causing it to stumble. Ajay used his grapple hooks and tether wire to escape at rapid speeds by using the giant to pendulum out. When he appeared behind the giant, he threw a stick of C4 at its feet in the hopes of toppling the giant as it exploded. But the giant only wobbled before regaining footing.

The giant glared at him with ill intent as it begun to do something, the clouds descended from around its body towards the surface and popping out of the wind were smaller versions of itself, serving as ground troops to maneuver Ajay into position to strike hard with its cumbersome physique.

He turned the vector PDW to cut them down into size as quick as possible as the giant's palm came flying towards him again.

(Boom) (Boom)

The shots took huge chucks of the giant's plam but did not stop its momentum as it learnt from its previous encounter.

"Mire!" He said with a finger pointed at the palm. The palm still came but at a slower speed, giving Ajay precious few seconds extra.

Using the grappling hook and wires to anchor to the rubble and evade the falling palm. The giant turned to face him and crunched its fist, what happened next was the ground shaking and bursting with hot lava.

"You never learn do you, Vaas? I told you not to compare me in the same breadth as Jason. I'm not an impulsive brat like he is. I am the worst conceivable nightmare you could possibly think up. And best of all, you're now in a place where none of that starscream-style withdraws won't be a problem." Ajay stared at the giant fearlessly.

"And to prove it to you…." Ajay took off his ammo bandoliers and dropped his guns, pulling out the only weapon he would need to kill the giant.

The giant looked down in shock temporarily as he saw what was in his hands, a mere kukri.

"I've heard tons of names I've been christened, Vaas. But this was one of the oldest names from a time where you never existed here. Before mantle of "Demon" made its way into my life." The kukri twirled in his hands as he approached the giant head on.

"The Royal Army used to call me….. "Son of Yalung". And since then, I've done everything to live up to it."

The giant walked forward to meet his triumphant bravado with physical intimidation, while Ajay adopted the latest of the stances in Four Seasons Pandemonium. The final of the Royal martial art forms that Ajay had comprehended from all that had happened till now, the winter form.

The inspiration that allowed him to understand the poem was of listening to Darshan's story and his own understanding of the Rakshasas' circumstance now.

The giant didn't believe him and thought it his lucky day that arrogance had made a fool out of him. It clamped its two hands together over its head and brought it down with all the force it could muster. Force that would not only smash Ajay into pulp, but shatter the earth around him and the giant as well. The two-handed mace came crashing down like a metoer as it headed directly for its alone target standing strong and brave in the face of adversity.

Ajay dug his heels into the ground and gripped the pommel of the kukri in an unusual back handed way, like he was going to make a 180 swipe horizontally.

Ajay understood that it was not the forms that granted the power to strike more formidable foes with. The strength of Four Season came from the resolve of heart in a representation of the four seasons. Warm, cold, cool, and intense. It taught the warriors a valuable lesson in the way of the blade and fist. That staying in one ideal would not help in defining a warrior's path, he had to understand others' ideals and respect them as if his own, to be open to diversity. Only then could he use their strengths in the places that his own ideals would shatter in face of adversity where the others won't.

"The end to eternity, the requiem to all…." His stance ready and awaiting the right moment to strike at the falling boulder of fists.

Winter was the ice cold that froze everything into eternity, hoping that it would never fade away as all things bounded by time. But like the circle, Kalachakra. All things must go in a cycle. Here was the contradiction. If winter ends all, then how would Summer, Spring and Autumn repeatedly exist once more?

So what if, winter did not destroy matter nor froze it. But protected it from all the harm in the cold dark void of space, until the arrival of spring.

The absolute defense. And as the saying went, a good defense was a good offensive.

His hands tightened till there wasn't a fraction of movement in his arm to ensure a millimeter cut across the surface his absolute defense will break the strongest offensive power of the giant.

Wind blasted at him from the pressure of the meteor coming down and blowing away the air in the vicinity. But Ajay didn't need to inhale any more than once, he'd already attained all the breath he needed and was just waiting for the right moment. And as if time had slowed down, Ajay could see the expression of the giant, smiling away in delight behind its stony set of teeth. Yet, his eyes were close this entire time.

He relied upon an ability no warrior had, the third eye of the demon banishers. The closest a human had cultivated to ascension on their own strength. To see without seeing naturally and relying purely on one's perception of Prana flowing through space.

He could sense the threads that connected the giant to himself, the Karma that bound between Ajay and Montenegro. A polluted thread filled with hatred and envy, it was what allowed Brody to achieve higher powers by drawing on their shared karma.

And if he knew the best way for their Karmic thread to sever, it was through giving up every sentience of revenge upon Brody. Ajay would just crush him because it was necessary.

The combined fists were about five metres from Ajay's face looking up against the pressure that pushed down. When he unleashed an attack that had never been seen by the eyes of the many that claimed to have mastered Four Seasons Pandemonium but never completed the fourth and last form, Winter. This was because the final form could not be achieved by any mortal human being, Ajay understood this. This legacy martial art had been passed down not by a human mortal but from an immortal entity.

His blade and hand swooped across with such gentleness, it almost seemed as if he were waving it lazily. However, that slash contained an enormous amount of force condensed into a thin jet that when he had finished the full arc of his swing left the presence of the blade and flew towards the joint of the giant's arms.

(Slice)

An almost unnoticeable disproportion formed on both of the giant's arms at its elbow joints, much to the giant's ignorance. That enormous pressure expanded having no longer restricted by a medium and blew all of the wind in a single direction upward towards the stormy sky and blasted a hole clear.

(BANGGGG)

The giant looked down to see both hands to the elbow were sent flying into the air and slamming into the ground behind Ajay due to their enormous tonnage. There were no words that escaped the giant's mouth as he saw what should've been impossible for a person, a human like him. But then, it remembered what it had said to Ajay and what Ajay didn't deny.

That Ajay was losing the reigns of humanity and becoming something else entirely. That is why he could think up such audacity when not bound by what defines a human's strength. Because he wasn't afraid to give it up for something else, he could venture beyond the human limits.

Even though its extremities were recovering on its own at rapid speeds. The giant stared down at the little demon banisher with a sudden welling of fear, Vaas was fearful of the demon that looked up slowly, a ravenous grin appearing on his face.

"Devouring a giant would never be easier."


Pagan didn't think talking about work would be all this enjoyable. His guest at the table surely made that a reality. She didn't do much, just listen. But listen well she did, albeit munch on the snacks like a hungry chipmunk.

Wherever she was from, her "master" was pretty stringent. He wondered if she was some sort of clergy of missionaries. He really didn't ask, he didn't need to know just like he didn't need to inquire her real name.

But as he watched her talk, a strange nostalgia passed over him. Her mannerisms were strangely familiar, annoyingly so.

"So will you do, Pagan? Avoid the issue and it would only fester, fight on and you'll face trials that threaten the stability of the region. It becomes a manner of which poison would you prefer." She said before biting down on the cake.

"…" But she was right, both pathways were equally treacherous. If he avoided the topic of bringing in the union of states, then they would continue with their boring existences… for a time at least. In a decade, the geopolitical situation in their region might undergo radical changes that would cause the states to decay and die out. If he called for a unification, there would be a million issues. Military, Economic, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Religion, Industry, Health, Education and worse of all, Administration.

Who was going to lead this new sovereignty? It couldn't be him as the idea of him becoming more powerful than the other rulers and kings was the equivalent of Kyrat subjugating the other states into its kingdom. He would have to pose free election and here began the problem. Yinke was socialist, Papir was a Republic and Kumsa and Kyrat still followed old-style monarchy. Differences were already to the core and it was what threatened the foundations of a united country which he would christen the Himavana Federation. Was his idea truly a naïve one?

"Which would you choose, if given the choice I mean?"

"Forwards I guess, if I fail and become a fool it is better to be remembered a fool that tried than not remembered in the history books at all."

That answer made Pagan laughed at her but more at himself, an ordinary girl was better at making decisions than him.

"Thank you, dear girl. You don't know how much your words have changed the region."

"Words with their weight in rice cakes." She said licking the sauce from the dumblings off her fingers. Pagan found his afternoon to be most enjoyable, in fact as fun as when he and Yuma were introduced to Bhadra.

At the exit of the eating house, where they were supposed to say their goodbyes. She spotted her company in the distance.

"Thanks for the snacks."

"You've earned it, dear. Thank you for hearing an old man out, I know it can be boring to listen sometimes."

"Not really, don't undermine your own esteem and beliefs. That's what Master says, you can be an eternity away from your goal. But if you know it will happen, then an eternity is worth it."

"Your master is a peculiar one, Ashna. But I guess I have her to thank for her wisdom through you."

"Mmmm." She nodded as she threw the hood over her head.

"Ashna, take this." Pagan dug into hs pocket and held out his hand. She reached out with hers and he dropped into her hand.

It was a silver bracelet with sapphire gems hanging from it, her eyes sparkled at the quality of the jewellery given to her.

"This is-….."

"Think of it as my early wedding gift to you, whichever lucky bastard gets his hands on you this will give him additional reason to pamper you for life." Ashna reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you, Pagan…. And I'm sorry." The last part was strange to hear as she didn't wait for an inquiry as she left.

Pagan watched her dash through the crowd towards a figure in the distance he could not quite make out through the densely packed streets. But when he did, it was the back of a man. He could see her talk to him in a casual tone as if he was a travelling partner. Was this that person she called her master's servant who had raised her?

Pagan gazed long and hard in that direction, he couldn't make out the face as it was turned in the opposite direction. But even then, when he looked at the person's back a strange ominous feeling welling in his stomach. His conscience was telling him against searching any further as he pushed through the crowd to find out who that person was, or who he was beginning to think it was.

But reaching the end of the crowd, those two had already disappeared.

Pagan grit his teeth as he became sure of who he saw and realized the whole scenario before him. It was unmistakable, that upright posture he took, the scar he noticed on the lip.

That was Mohan.

Recalling the words of Ajay, Mohan served a powerful entity unrivalled to the apex of weapons humanity could bring to bear. Piecing these points together, Ashna served this entity too, he was conversing with the enemy. His instincts were telling him that she had been intentionally sent to talk to him about his worries, meaning they wanted him to rebuild the mortal kingdom within the mountains. For the first time, Pagan felt how terrifying these entities were.

For Ajay to fight on level with them, exhibited traits that made him beyond unparallel. The Himavanas were oblivious to how lucky they were to have this general on their side and fighting for their sakes. Because if for even a moment he was taken from his duty, these mountains were in trouble.

"My lord. A palace guard approaches." His hunter informed him the events in advance from the shadows.

And as he had reported, a palace guard from the Kumsan palace ran without stopping.

"Your royal- (huff)…. Your royal highness!"

"Catch your breath first, son." The palace guard took a few deep breaths to calm his body before giving Pagan a very unsettled look.

"I come bearing information relayed directly from Kyrats fortress Lanka, sender is Marshal Roka."

"And?" Pagan awaited the message as the palace guardsman came closer to whisper into his ear with the most unnerved tone.

"…. Badala had confronted the American forces and has-… has used a nuclear weapon upon their naval fleet."


The giant dispersed hundreds upon hundreds of smaller "grunts" to keep him pinned, but all Ajay needed to do with swipe them aside. This was a subconscious world, he wasn't restricted by fatigue and could call upon items however he wished.

This was how he would win the mental battle between himself and Vaas Montenegro. Although, he was starting to believe that killing the giant was not the ending as he got closer to triumph.

The sneaky bastard wasn't always one directional and often left traps for those that could only go in one direction. That was how he fooled Jason many times.

Ajay paid special attention to his surrounds to find the criteria to force the pirate out of his subconscious state. Vaas had paid a pretty price to try to possess him, by preparing this area for his arrival. When intoxicated by that sleeping agent, he didn't kill him but dabbled with his mind instead. Voodoo magic was about the spirit, therefore if he could overpower Vaas's presence he could purge him.

"8th Demon Banishing Hex!... Seal!" Another wright of karmic threads slammed into the giant causing it to reach for its chest as if experiencing a heart attack. The reason he didn't need to complete the whole verse is that he did so speechless and here in the dream he willed he would not suffer from backlash or failure of the spell. Hence, he was able to shorten it till this extent which even Darshan dare not do after years as a senior Demon Banisher.

When the minions approached, he shrew them with that same form that sent vacuums of air slicing whatever crossed its path. Ajay was clear this martial art wasn't developed by humans, therefore it would never reach its full potential and why the many generations had failed to comprehend something that would have taken years beyond the lifespan of a mortal man to understand. The Winter form was equally impossible to use as a human being, it required both strengths of another type of entity and a mental fortitude not found on normal humans.

But here, he was able to affirm this theory and apply it where the laws of physics didn't apply to him. However, in the real world. He would never be able to use it as himself.

Unless he could use his demonic powers being suppressed, Ajay would wield a power that could not be matched physically.

The closer he converged upon the giant the more frightening it was. Correction, frightened. As Ajay had gone at it with no projectile weapons but his knife, that he wielded a magic that could deny its voodoo powers and truly bottle him in one place to be exorcised. The will that controlled the giant recalled the old folk tale engraved deep in his mental psyche.

The warrior that shred the giant with his knife, bearing a tatau. A symbol of his power. Mirrored onto this demon that charged foolhardily through the horde of minions with a kukri knife in hand and a tattoo of the ten vedic talismans that defined his power.

"No-….."

Ajay butchered the minions who were equally terrified and hesitant as the giant was. He used the grappling hooks to shorten the distance and anchor onto the giant's body to swirl around to the giant's eye height.

The giant swatted its hands like he was a hornet annoying it. He disconnected the cable to his grapples just as the hand was about to catch the wire and pull him down. He landed on the base of the hand instead and ran up as fast as he could. The other hand appeared to crush him against its shoulder where he was currently at.

"Mire!" Ajay said with a finger pointed and a talisman shot out at the incoming hand. The hand slowed down considerably as he was now on the shoulder completely and in line to where the head was. More minions appeared upon the giant's shoulders to prevent him from harming the head, it was doing everything to keep Ajay from attacking what seemed like a vulnerable point.

"…"

But they could do little to slow him as he sliced through their stone like bodies without issue, causing their corpses to disintegrate.

And as the last minion in his way fell, Ajay moved onto the giant's head knife in hand in that dangerous form.

The giant opened its mouth and bellowed an entire stream of lava upon its right shoulder where its assailant was. It indiscriminantly singed all of its minions left behind as well, leaving a red molten rock mess of its right hand.

Ajay was nowhere to be seen, so it thought him dead. It released much of its guard when it barely sensed the former intimidating presence.

(Slice) A vacuum of pressurized wind passed through its head blowing its head clear off after a time delay.

(BOOOMM) The head spun in the air and smashed the ground in front of the body which remained standing for a moment before forcefully disintegrating.

Ajay's boots slammed into the stone slabs and broke them on his fall. He walked over to pick up his slayer and loaded it with two bullets as he approached the head that fractured to reveal a naked man curled up inside.

"Urrgghh…." The Caucasian man moaned as he half-woke in a fluid like he'd been suspended in a tank of goo.

Ajay jerked the action of his slayer to close as he walked closer with a dangerous vibe that awoke the receipient trapped in that giant's head.

"Jason…."

Said person looked up at the two barrels of the gun.

"..(huff)…. (huff) I'm free…?" Ajay observed his behavior without saying a word.

"Y-You're Ajay, right?" He asked in a partly confused state. Ajay neither acknowledged nor denied, he looked around at the devestation with a seeming state of focus. But his gun was still facing the figure of Jason.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for what you're done….. I- I've been watching all this time even though I couldn't do anything."

No response to his words were given.

"Are you figuring a way out of this place?"

"Yes." Ajay finally answered for once.

He turned to the reserved Jason and grinned deviously. He stomped down upon Jason's torso pinning him to the ground.

"It's simpler than I imagined."

(Boom)

He pulled the trigger and sent both shots impacting Jason, causing his body to implode into a cloud of red mist.

Ajay gazed at the mist coldly.

"How many times have I told you, Vaas? I'm not dumb enough to fall for this sort of crap, I'm surprised you were dumb enough to think up. Are you that desperate?"

The red mist gathered hastily formed a half-complete body still in construction. Ajay had already prepared that to defeat Vaas it would take more than felling a giant. This was a person who had magic on his side as well. The muscle sinew cladded skeleton with eyeballs looked furious and in pain at the same instance. That Ajay had foiled yet another of his iterations.

"Let me put it this way. Have you seen a Lion hesitate to maul a Zebra because it looked helpless?" Ajay laughed at his attempt in mockery. With a burst of energy, he thrusted the kukri into the half-reformed skull.

"WaaaaaahhhhHHHHH!" The living corpse wailed in genuine pain, for if it were a normal knife it was still an imaginary item. But Ajay poured true vedic rites into the blade like all other weapons he used against the supernatural. This caused the threads that forcefully latched onto Ajay by means of voodoo to attach Vaas's spiritual entity to Ajay to sever, causing terrible damage to his spirit during its medium transfer.

"It's against nature." Ajay said before twisting the blade to break the skull and with it the soul that rested in it. The skeleton melted along with its sinew while the world around him rumbled as the ceiling of this subconscious state collapsed.

It was time for Ajay to return to the land of the living.

…..


His eyes flashed open almost in an instant, like he was simply slipping from one conscious state to another. Ajay hefted himself up and found himself in the chamber where the Kalinag Thangka was.

He found needles poked around his chakra point at his navel and proceeded to remove it delicately. It wasn't the only strange item surrounding him, there were candles lit around the circumference of a chalk drawn circle that enclosed around Ajay's lying body. These were the preparations Brody tried to make to ease into the ritual to possess his body. What motivated him to do such a thing was beyond him, he wasn't a nut like him to begin with. Perhaps it was power that he sought from his many battles with Ajay overpowering him. This didn't seem very in-line with the Rakshasas' plans and was probably a rogue operation he pursued behind their backs. Like something of this scale could be hidden from her eyes. Brody was being too naïve of the real power Esha and the Pillars held. The forms they'd meet thus far were merely clones built to resemble humans and infiltrate the society without compromising their missions. It was also to keep in cohesion with the rules of nature within the mountains that the mountains had denied the right to live within it.

Jeevan was found about five metres from him, lying against a cabinet of scrolls. Ajay proceeded to check on him and took out a vial of smelling salts he took from the dispensary at home and waved it under Jeevan's nose. The later slowly but surely woke up to the irritant and regained consciousness of his surroundings.

"Where is-." Ajay stopped him from getting up by resting his hands on his shoulders.

"Sit this one out. Brody's left."

Ajay looked at the desk which held the thangka, only to find it missing.

"…."

Brody must've taken it to redeem himself, so that he wouldn't leave emptyhanded.

(BOOM) A distance rattling of the walls indicated someone tripping on the tripmines he lay near the entrance, that meant that he was still in the cave.

Ajay reached down to pick up his slayer on the ground and shouldered the vector PDW.

"I'll get help for you soon."

"No. I'll go, nothing's wrong with me. Tsk! I let that prick trick me one too many." So Brody had done something underhanded to subdue Jeevan.

Ajay passed the micro tavor rifle Brody left behind to Jeevan who accepted it as they turned to leave this place. At the exit of the chamber, Ajay picked up a scent of blood permeating the wall and looked down to see a trail of blood stretching from a place where his target vomited from internal damage.

(BOOM) Another bomb went off.

"What was that?!"

"I set traps to keep him here if he tried to weasel out again, that's the last explosive tripmine. I have just one more trap talisman I left at the outside. We should be able to reach it from here." Ajay led the way quickly around the corridors he was familiar to on their way to the outside. It was easy to spot the exit from Jeevan's point of view too, there was a breadcrumb trail of blood dripping. It indicated a pretty serious wound that Brody sustained. Although, Ajay was sure it was all internal due to the nature of their fight previously. It may have been caused by a backlash of his failure in whatever ritual he was performing.

He heard gasping in the tunnel in front of him.

"Brody?" Ajay called out as he fired at the running figure that tried to escape limping because he had been stuck in a Mire talisman.

"Gargh!" Went the target, indicating that at least one round impacted him.

"Tsk! Should've brought hollow-point." Ajay complained as he reloaded.

"I want to confirm, we're not arresting him." Jeevan asked.

"Did that look like I was?"

They doubled out into the entrance of the cave where they were greeted by the sunlight glare, taking a moment to adjust. Ajay could hear the crumble of rocks on the slope below and stood at the ledge to find Brody scaling down as quickly as he could.

"Gimme that!" He took Jeevan's weapon which had more range than his Vector and switched to single shot.

(Baam) (BaamBaam) (Baam) He fired single shot one after another that hit the dirt and sometimes Brody's extermities that had been damaged from a backlash and rendered his status somewhere between immortality and mortality.

Ajay latched the grapple hook and descended with maximum speed as he pursued Brody who was now rolling down the cliff as he slipped.

"Inspector! Those snipers!" Ajay called out to the inspector who was at the checkpoint staring at the scene and woke to his words. Brody was running in the direction of the trees while Ajay chased with Jeevan close behind.

(Bang) (Bang) Two shots resounded from high-powered rifles. One struck the rock and missed, the other hit the target dead centre. Brody collapsed onto the ground as the kinetic energy of the shot transferred into his body.

Ajay reached the base of the cliff and disengaged the anchor to his grapple with Jeevan following suit. As he proceeded onwards, a commotion occurred at the checkpoint. Where three persons exactly came running through towards where Brody fell.

(Babababababaam) Ajay fired his Vector on full-auto at the ground between them and Brody. Making them stop in a halt.

"Inspector, arrest these fools!" He told the lawman as he arrived beside them, he and a few constables grabbed hold of them as they struggled to get free.

"I took you for a stubborn idiot, but you proved me wrong, Daisy Lee."

"It's not his fault!" She shouted behind the hands of the police officers as Ajay proceeded onto a grieviously hurt Brody.

"Turn around, fool." He told Brody who was lying with his back faced to him. When Brody refused to comply, he kicked him on the side to have him face upward.

Blood foamed out of his mouth which was void of any smile, only a look of fear about him. This wasn't Brody that was scared, this was Vaas. Even so, he put on a brave face.

"Look at you, all angst and hate… Knowing what I took from you is enough to know I'll remain a knot in your every day after this!"

"Nah. From tomorrow onwards, no one'll remember was Jason Brody let alone Vaas Montenegro."

Brody squeezed his gut that had taken internal damage that wouldn't heal, this was a consequence of the backlash.

"But you will, you'll remember what I did. Through and through, causing your woman to die in that stronghold. And the person who did in your partner when you were taken away."

Ajay blinked as he felt a welling pain in his head from thinking back that day, images begun to rush by as he held his head in pain.

"Did-… in?"

Brody looked at Ajay for a moment before laughing hysterically.

"You can't even remember who it was? Hahaha! The one that killed Hurk is me."

"Ajay!" Jeevan noticed he was kneeing in agony.

"Killed… Hurk?" Then what was the one he'd been seeing all this while? The one who kept pleading him to refrain from killing Brody. Was that all just an illusion produced by his mind to cope with the loss? Did his inability to accept Hurk's death create that version that only he acknowledged while the rest forgot?

Brody got up to his feet slowly as he was ready to make another break for it. A grapple hook swung around and tied him in place, he cried out as it burned him due to the augmented nature of the tether wire which Ajay had painstakingly carved tiny runes into.

As for Ajay, he clenched his teeth and soldiered through the pain he felt everytime he recalled that moment. He stared at Brody with all the killing intent he could muster, fueled by the memories of Kamala's death and the recently restored fragments he couldn't accept. For Ajay had subconsciously denied Hurk's death until this very moment. All this while, his mind had created a projection of him so that his mental state wouldn't crumble. His head pulsed with pain as he forcefully recovered all those memories of that day, from the moment he collapsed till the time he was skyhooked by Darshan out. That memory his subconscious hid from him. It was a brief moment, that he'd opened his eyes to see the opening to the cavern and saw a body lying against a wall looking at him. It was the figure of Hurk smiling and giving him some thumbs up, before he pressed a detonator to destroy everything in the cave with him.

He ended his life so that Ajay would be safe.

When this memory returned to him, he felt all the grief build up inside as he stowed it away for one last deed.

"I remember…." Ajay raised his head and looked in Brody's way.

He pointed in Brody's way, who was continuing to cut the wires with his kukri. He didn't give up at living at all.

"My will is the mountains…."

"Hey! Get back here!" Daisy had broken the blockade and ran off to assist Brody in cutting the wires while Ajay seemed not to intervene.

"My mantra is my karma." His voice carried a strange power that could be heard as clearly as being next to everyone when he spoke it.

"He's doing something, you'd better hurry up!" Brody told Daisy though he didn't know the nature of why she helped him. All four of her friends were there to assist as they sawed the cable with Brody's machete. "Hurry! Hurry!" Brody sounded nervously as they worked as fast as they could, oblivious to what was really going on.

"Banish all creation against nature.." He opened his eyes and stared at the karmic thread that linked him to Brody.

"Got it! –Huh?..." Freeing Brody, she thought would save him. And then a fast hand grabbed hold of her and took her hostage. (Bang) He shot Riley in the leg and pointed Liza's way as he held a knife to Daisy he used as a human shield."

"Your move, bastard! Kill us all if you dare!" Hearing this last moment attempt to threaten him, Ajay sighed exasperatively as if Vaas was truly ignorant and stupid. Did he think he would use the slayer to blast him and the collateral kill or wound the rest? He didn't want to return any answer, doing so would just let him live a moment longer.

He was going to kill Brody, but first. He was going to destroy Vaas. He understood clearly what his version of Hurk had meant by save Jason, it meant exorcising Brody of Vaas.

"8th Demon Banishing Hex!" Brody felt all of his hairs stand as a build up of power like nothing he'd ever seen floated around Ajay. The power to banish Rakshasas used to banish a meaningless existence which clung to a witless soul.

"Wait!- No!-... I'll tell you everything I know! About her! About their plans!" At this moment of peril, Brody pleaded his last. But realized from the look on Ajay's face, it was hopeless.

"I don't give a fuck! Seal!" Ajay shouted the word that would subjugate the Karmic thread that was linked to him and to the person he targeted it at. Which in this case was one of the two souls in Brody.

"NAAAAAHHHH!" Brody dropped the knife and gun, screaming to the top of his lungs as his soul was being dragged from it. Ajay found the root of what anchored Vaas to Brody and said the words to destroy it.

"Burn!" Brody caught fire to everyones' disbelieve as Ajay used what Darshan did to all entities in harvesting them into soul stones.

As the flames blistered, so did the soul of Vaas Montenegro who screamed soundlessly as his last remaining footprint on the mortal realm was burnt out of existence.

Vaas Montenegro had finally been vanquished.

They watched as the body which belonged to Jason was immolated in an azure flame. While they watched, Ajay went over to the inspector.

"Take them to the airport, if they refuse to get on then hand them over to Durgesh."

The inspector nodded and went over with the constables to remove them from the scene. As they arrested them, Daisy shook them off.

"Why?! Why did you do that?!"

"Don't ask stupid questions, you don't even know half of what Brody did, even if he was controlled by Montenegro! Besides, I'm not done with him yet." This answer confused her and the rest who heard it.

"Not done yet?... What's left-.." Her voice halted as she saw the azure flames die out and what remained was Jason's body completely unharmed by the flames.

Ajay moved to finish what he'd started, with the original owner having regained his body.

"Ajay-… AJAY! It's not his fault! It's not his fault!" Daisy clearly wasn't slick enough to know he didn't care what she had to say about it, he'd already made his mind up to punish Jason.

Said person awoke as if he'd experienced a terrible nightmare.

"Jason! RUN!" Daisy shouted along with her friends.

He got up on his feet as he saw the grim reaper approach him with gun and knife in hand.

(Boom) A shot was fired that held a slug, impacting and eviscerating his left hand into a spray of red mist. He dropped on his side as he felt an imbalance from losing it.

"Stop! Goddamnit- stop!" Daisy screamed as Jason clutched his loss of arm in pain.

Riley could see his brother at death's door and took the heart of bravery as he wrestled with the policeman for his rifle.

(Bang) He successfully wretched the rifle from the policeman but had made him discharge a shot into his head, Riley had killed the lawman. His friends were shocked beyond all recognition, including Daisy. He stumbled at the sight but made his mind since he'd gone this far, and pointed it Ajay's way.

"Drop the gun-."

When he aimed down them sights, he realized that Ajay was looking back at him with an expression of anger. It didn't say much, but Riley knew why it was so. It spelled out…

-How dare you kill my officer!-

(Boom) In retaliation for what he'd done. The slayers second shot was fired, which struck his torso with the full force of the .700 nitro.

(Plop) The broken remains that was once Riley fell to the ground.

Seeing this sight sent lightning through those that had once known Riley Brody. Daisy looked on at the pieces of flesh of the youngest of the Brody brothers, gone.

As for the last of the brothers, his mind reeled at the sight of the blasted remains. Memories of himself and Riley since childhood till his estrangement past his mind. Then he woke back into the cold hard reality

"aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! RIILLLLEEEYYY!" Screamed Jason in insanity.

The assailant was quiet as he loaded the next set of rounds, not phased by what he'd done.

"You….." Jason picked up the fallen machete.

"You-…. I'LL KILL YOUUUUU!" He leaped with the machete swiping downwards. (clang)

His nemesis wore a fearless grin as he parried Jason's knife that held a different vibe from Brody or the late Vaas. It held the full strength of Snow White, the knives were locked in place sending sparks as they rubbed against each other.

"That's more like it!"


Daisy had never expected it to turn out this way. She looked at the expression of horror that was planted on Riley's corpse face with guilt like no other.

"This is my fault…." She didn't know if there were tears running down her face or was it just raining upon the face of Riley. Running her hand over it to close its eyes, she hugged the head as she cried out his name.

(Clang) (Clang) (Clang) "Raaaargh!"

Meanwhile, someone else was expressing his emotions in a different way. Battering Ajay with his machete repeatedly until it no longer resembled any form of combat, but him simply batting him with the machete. Ajay was calm, but frightfully calm that it intimidated anyone that was nearby.

Jeevan watched helplessly as he'd just killed the brother instead of Jason. But while, Jason saw it as manslaughter, Ajay had acted vengefully for killing his fellow Kyrati which the brother had unnecessarily gun down and then pointed at him. He didn't need to think on that one.

"He asked for it." He said in a cold tone to Jason, only to unfuriate him further and send a fury of clashes his way. But for every strike that Jason sent, he delivered a counterstrike which cut Jason's body and weakened him further.

Jason was fighting at a serious disadvantage with the lack of a hand and the loss of blood but fight with an unseen before zeal that even Ajay thought carefully about as he exchanged blows.

His form was full of openings, such that when Ajay kicked the knife out of his hand he bull charged to bring Ajay to the ground with him. Unfortunately, he was not of clear mind. So couldn't comprehend what was Ajay's next move.

"Puah!" A knee struck his nose and toppled him backwards. Then a hand grabbed his collar, a hand belonging to Ajay which steadied him from falling.

"You killed-… YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" He bit down upon the gauntlet, hoping to chew through his hand. Until a fist struck him on the jaw and dislocated him from the gauntlet and made him plummet to the ground, exhausted of energy. However, Ajay didn't stop there.

He pressed a knee onto his chest and raised his hand behind him.

"Gurrgh! (Crack) Gurrgh! (Crack)" He struck Jason repeatedly with his fist that carried an unrivalled fury. Each hit minused the life out of the recently freed Jason.

"Now you know how it feels… to lose a brother!" He clenched his fist once more and delivered a critical blow to Jason whose head struck the ground and lost all will to get up and all hope of beating him.

Ajay got up and picked up the fallen slayer once more.

"You took way more than just my tatbro, Jason. But I forgive you just this once, so in return…. Just die for me, will you?"

He pointed at Jason his weapon that robbed the life of all and added to its destructive power. At this point, Daisy wasn't one to jump in between and intervene, she had too much to deal with. Jason stared at the gunbarrel at first with hatred, but then his eyes went clouded with despair and heartbreak as tears flowed non-stop. He was a wet mess, but he'd truly given up on living.

Ajay should have just pulled the trigger right then and there, but the more he looked at those eyes… he was suddenly reminded of when Sabal had once taken his life, what he felt moments before he died. The more it was so, the harder it was to execute the deed even though he was dead set on it previously.

Here a choice was presented to Ajay, clear as day as the barrel hovered in-line with Jason's forehead. There was no right or wrong in his actions for whichever he chose, he knew this very well. There was only fortune and consequence. So the question was…..

Kill Jason or Spare Jason

His hand tightened around the grip of the slayer and his index finger depressed the trigger till it passed its breaking point. And out of its twenty-inch long barrel came the answer to that question.

(Boom) A report of the slayer decided the fate of he who had offended its master.

Or did it.


Author's thoughts:

(On Ajay and Jason fight)

(Kira Yamato): "ATHRUUN!"

(Athrun Zala) "KIRRAA!"