XXIII War(4)

Ananth mutters, "What the hell are you?! There's no way that you could have beaten me. Your health was at less than 45% while I was at full health. I was in the form where I was the predator and you the prey. There, before you started your attack, your health was at 14%. Yet, against all odds, you turned the tables against me. You confined an insulator with electricity. What kind of a hellish beast are you?" I tell him, "The nerdy kind!"

Ananth chuckles to himself and says, "So you are!"

Ananth is too weak to do any harm to anyone as of now but I don't want to take any chances. stab his shoulder with his own sword and leave it there.

I look around to see a large crater where I stood. There are many people who were affected by the lightning, laying on the ground barely alive. I am not sure if they are alive to begin with. I get a chat message from Adi, "Dharmendra needs backup. Go there! I am currently occupied."

Dharmendra needs backup? Perhaps the fault of out battle before but shouldn't he have healed by now? Besides, among the three of us, he is the one with the greatest advantage in this situation. It isn't that easy to kill with a blunt weapon. He could just hit his enemy and be done with it. Also, on the ground, it is easier for him to fight than it is for me or Adi owing to his blunt weapon.

I make my way to Dharmendra.

When I reach Dharmendra, I see that he is surrounded from all the sides. I see Ayush, his guild, True Hammerers' deputy commander-in-chief. I recognize the others as his guild members. Players are flying around from what I can only assume as being hit by Dharmendra's Gadha.

We need to finish whatever battle Dharmendra has with these guys fast. If we don't then these guys will attack the Hastinapura fort and get themselves killed. I look at my health bar. It is currently at 38%. I have lost a little health due to not taking care of any of my wounds. I open the health potion I had used before and completely drink it off. My health rises to 52%. I suppose I can work with this.

I call upon lightning from the inside and soon, I am once more blazing blue. This action causes people who are not already trying to come to me, cower in fear. I suppose reputations like mine do come in handy at times like these. I rush towards Dharmendra's position. The moment I reach there, Dharmendra assumes me to be an enemy and takes a swing at me. I duck it and block an axe coming at his behind and then go on to dismember that person.

Dharmendra's POV,

A blue enigma approaches me out of the blue. I take a swing at it just to be careful. The enigma is a total blur. One moment I am swinging my mace at it, the next, it is behind me. I turn around with my mace high in the air to smash it. I freeze mid way when I see Charles.

I ask Charles, "You could have announced your entrance, you know?" I swing my mace at a soldier in my left. He tells me, "I did. Who else is a brilliant blue warrior other than me?" He chuckles and continues, "Take care of Ayush. I'll beat down your other guild members." He blocks and tackles down another one to the right.

I tell him, "I am grateful to you. Don't mind if you kill them. Mutineers deserve punishment."

He tells me, "Perhaps but death is no punishment. It is a way out of punishment. Besides it is up to you to decide the punishment, not to me." He smiles vaguely as he starts to clear the way between me and Ayush. The blue blur leaves a trail of blood behind as he goes on dismembering members. My path to Ayush is now open.

Ayush says, "You are a disgrace to our guild! You shall see firsthand what is the price to pay when one betrays the guild!" He takes his own mace into his hand and comes at me.

I do the same as well. We start running towards each other. We smash our maces against one another in the middle of the field creating a shockwave. I tell him, "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others, oh mutineer!"

He pushes towards me and jumps backwards. I rush at him to put him onto the defensive. He dodges the attack and slams my face with his hammer. He says, "Oh really? Then could you explain me how the great Dharmendra is associating with the bloody Bloody Azure and Golden Carnage? Your main goal when you created this guild was to make sure others stayed safe from players like them. What happened to that goal now? Or have you forgotten how Karthik publicly humiliated you. Have you forgotten how I suffered at their hands an year ago when I told them what they were? Have you forgotten our many skirmishes with them over the past year and half? You are the one throwing the guild ad all that it stands for into the bucket when you associate with them!" He slams his hammer into my chin.

I feel my jaw break into two upon impact. The pain is burning through me. But I have been through a lot more than this. Ayush has put me into the defensive. I am either blocking or barely evading his attacks. He tells me, "You have also gone along and chosen to go non aligned have you not? I used to look upto you. But now, I can't even see your face without being disgusted! I'll do you a favor and get rid of your life!" He takes one powerful swing with his mace once more. I evade it again. The point where his mace hit the earth, a huge crater is formed. My legs don't instantly adjust to the change in terrain as I fall down face first. Ayush kicks me in the gut. I fall aside. I gasp for my breath. He hits me again and this time, I am forced away a few feet without my mace. I struggle to get up. He is ready to fight me once more. He says, "Now, you are nothing but a susceptible piece of flesh and bones that shall break under my hammer!"

I ask him, "Have you no honour?"

He snorts, "Honour, what honour do I give a backstabbing person? This is mercy. Be happy I do not humiliate people like those on your side do! One with the earth!"

The earth attribute increases strength in a person. The only way to beat an earth attribute warrior is to break him apart. Fire doesn't work against earth. It only makes the earth more stronger. There is no way I can beat him using fire, so I'll beat him the old school way!

He swings his mace at me. I duck and close the distance between the two of us. I perform an uppercut and punch his chin. His face doesn't break, though I am damn sure as hell that one my knuckles has. I continue punching him. I don't give him any chance to regain his composure.

He desperately tries to swing his mace but I block his attack mid way over and over again. In a final attempt to stop this ongoing onslaught on him and to regain the control over the battle, he clinches me. [Clinching is a technique in boxing where on player locks the other. Upon doing this, the referee breaks apart the two boxers and they continue afterwards. Pro-boxing] I punch him in the gut making him bend downwards. I punch him in the face once more forcing him to fall backwards. He may have a weapon but what is it's use if he is unable to use it! I knee him in the face as he reels backwards. He regains composure before I get to him once again. He still has six minutes left in his form as hard stone. My knuckles are bleeding profusely. I didn't notice any pain while I was punching him, but now- it comes back with a fury. Ayush says, "The old school way gets you only this far!"

He rushes me witlessly. I duck once more and get to his back and lock his neck. He let's go of his weapon and flips me over. Now it's just a fight of fists. I take a swing at his ear. He ducks and locks my arm. He punches me and then knees me. I am back on the ground. As I am half way up, he punches my face once again. He controls the flow of the battle for a brief three minutes and successfully sucker punches my face into oblivion and my health bar to 4%. He punches me so hard that he is basically drilling into me. But all this force is making him tired. Being punched for eight minutes and then going all out and punching for three full minutes has taken his wind out of him. He steps backward as he catches his breath but is fast enough in doing so that I am unable to completely recover. He comes back at me to punch me again.

I sidestep and jump into the air and punch his ear. He reels back in pain. I gain back control of the battle. He tries desperately to regain some form of control but fails to do so. He is so broken now that he is basically using my body as support to stand up. I finally end it with a swift uppercut to his chin forcing him off the ground and making him fall down to it. His earth form finally fades. He is down for good and unconscious. My health bar is at 1%. Respect! I summon a health potion and use it to bring back my health to 50%. We still have millions to go before we sleep!