Chapter 17 : Guild wars (3)

Anika was shook to her bones when she heard about Reema gone missing. She had just been with her that morning but now she was gone and the fact that everyone with her was killed worried her even more. She wanted to do something but didn't know where to start or how to start. Who could have done that. Krishna had already talked to Rusjeet singh about providing help before he even announced in the class.

Anika then remembered about the bout Reema had with Rishi a few days back but was Rishi someone who could do that was the question. But she was not in a state of mind to be able to think that much as she went ahead and grabbed Rishi by his collar, lifting him up and lighting a blue flame on the other hand.

"Do you have any hand in this?"

Rishi raised his right hand summoning his trident that came blasting through the window. He hit Anika with it's back and she was slammed into the wall of class. Rishi's strength had grown a lot and Anika's grip was not enough to hold him. He redid his collar and approached Anika keeping the tip of trident near her eyes and said, "Next time you touch me like that and I will kill you."

Anika's shield had protected her from a fatal blow but she also knew that Rishi had held back. The blow was enough to bring her back to senses. She leaned into the crater as she cried. Krishna came and removed the trident from his way as he picked Anika up in his arms who cried into his chest. "Don't worry I will find her, I promise." He looked at Rishi but he had nothing to say the exchange of blows here was fair and he could sense no bloodlust at all. If he did, he had plenty of room to react till Rishi's trident reached Anika.

After Krishna left to take Anika to his office Rajdeep followed him. Jia sat there smiling and Anirudh walked out of the class giving a spiteful look.

Krishna told Anika to rest and left Rajdeep with her. He then went to Rusjeet singh's office where Nandini had been with him trying to figure things out. Rusjeet singh's duty was to keep things in check as much as possible but this was obviously getting out of hand so even before Krishna and Nandini came to ask for help they he had already mobilized every resource he could.

When Krishna arrived there Rusjeet singh was not in his office but only Nandini.

"Where is he?"

"He said something very important came up so he had to leave immediately."

What could be so important to leave at such a moment thought Krishna.

"Do we have anything?"

"I have contacted the people I know and the investigators on the ground haven't found any lead except that whoever that man was he killed an envoy with 2 B5 ranked raiders with ease and every other person on that road was killed. Whoever he was he was quite wild in his attack patterns."

Krishna sat on the chair next to Nandini and said sighing "That gives us nothing."

"I know but there was something Rusjeet singh said before he left. His contacts in delhi went through the cameras on the route where Reema's envoy went from. The incident happened in a blind spot where one camera had gone into disrepair. But they found a car that followed her every day and on checking the number plate it tracks down to a shell company that is owned by clover guild."

Krishna looked at Nandini and asked, "So it could have been him? Abhimanyu?"

"I suspect so, I contacted some of the lions raiders to keep an eye out for him in his hotel but he is missing since this morning."

Krishna thought for some time thinking how to proceed next, their only lead right now was finding Abhimanyu. If Rusjeet singh were here he may have been able to track him down but unfortunately he was not there. There was only one way for him to do it now, "You have a car right?"

Nandini scratched her head and said, "Well, I was always on the move and the lions provided me with everything so I never thought of buying a car."

"Don't worry I got you covered." Said Yash bakshi as he entered Rusjeet singh's office.

_____

"Why are you here and how did you get past the guards?" Said Abhinav Mehta who was seated in the room with the other two leaders of Strykers. Abhimanyu had neutralised all the guards and gotten to them without them noticing. It was not much of a surprise though, in the back of their mind they knew Abhimanyu was the master of speed and if he was any good as the rumors said he was probably holding back here.

"We have a score to settle."

Abhinav clenched his fist and said, "you think you can just do whatever you…"

"Abhinav!" Interrupted vishal as he shifted his eyes on to Abhimanyu who stood there with his hands in the pocket and his aviators on, giving out an intimidating aura without much of an expression. "This is not a place to fight, why don't we go someplace where the people around us won't be much of a problem."

_____

Rishi came into Krishna's office where Rajdeep was sitting with her near the sofa silently. Rajdeep got up just in case if Rishi had some alternate plans but Anika gave her the node to let him come closer.

"You are coming with me." Said Rishi looking grimly

"Where to?" Said Anika who was still a bit disoriented from all the things.

"To my backyard, My car is ready outside."

Rajdeep kept his hand on Rishi's shoulder and said, "what are you trying to do Rishi?"

Rishi wiped his hand away, "you stay out of this, it's between me and her."

Anika was still in a disorderly state but she understood Rishi clearly wanted to fight. She was the one who blamed him out of the blue and initiated a fight so she owed him a fight if he wanted it, so she got up, wiped away the stray tears and sternly said, "let's go then."

Rajdeep joined them too, to which Rishi had no objection and Anirudh was already in the car.

"Nobody invited you." Said Rishi as he saw Anirudh sitting in the big SUV with his legs crossed.

"I know what you are doing here, I am here to stop you in case things go south."

"Suit yourself."

_____

Abimanyu and the leaders of Strykers were inside Sardar patel Stadium which had been completely emptied out on Vishal's word. They went to the center of the stadium the three of them standing against one Abhimanyu alone.

"Who are you going to fight first?" Asked vishal waving his hand in both directions pointing at his associates.

Abhimanyu took his Aviators off and threw them on far away into the stands, he started removing his rings and said "I don't wanna waste my time going one by one, all three of you come at me once."

Vishal chuckled as he gave a smirk and said, "Have you lost your mind? We are not like those four weaklings you defeated back then, we are in the same ranks, we are all S5 ranked heros, you think you are better than us?"

Abhimanyu had removed all his rings and he threw them away into the stands too, he cracked his fists and said, "Stop boasting your ranks and show me what you got."

Vishal was grinding his teeth, Abhimanyu had always had this confidence in him that was ruthless in nature. His dominance in the south got him his popularity but the man never stopped at anything, over the years his network and strength had threatened the existence of every guild in India. Strykers still had the upper hand in terms of power and money. So when Vishal heard what was happening he took it in his hands to bring Abhimanyu down. There may have been 3 leaders of Strykers but only one man actually ruled it and it was him. He had built the guild using every business tactic in the book but now to defend it he had to go man to man against the one man that had taken into his hands to bring down his empire but even against the three of them Abhimanyu stood tall with not a single crack in his confidence and it angered Vishal to his core.

The three of them we also ready now and waited for the other party to see who makes the first move. Abhinav then took a step ahead and raised his hands to the sides. Multiple copies of him started coming from each side and then more copies from the copies came and they surrounded Abhimanyu. Maanveer took out a massive gun made from Demon materials and went into the stands while taking aim at Abhimanyu. The soil shook a little and Vishal rose on a platform.

"I will make you regret this Abhimanyu."

Abhimanyu had some idea about their powers from what he had heard but he knew to never underestimate an opponent. Vishal's power was earth manipulation for which he needed contact with the earth of some form. Abhinav was simple, he could make copies of himself and these were not illusions, these things were physically present.

They emitted the same amount of aura too from what he could sense so there was no way of knowing who was the original one. He had no idea of how many copies he could make but he was surely someone he needed to take care of early before things went out of hand. Maanveer was a weapons expert that stored a variety of items in his spatial aura. Abhimanyu took the position of a runner ready to go for a dash and said, "let's go."

Abhinav had been increasing the population of his copies every second as soon as Abhimanyu started his attack. His speed was surely great but to keep up with a constant barrage of fire from Maanveer who kept changing his positions in the stands and spikes that Vishal created were also a hindrance in dodging. It was also very difficult for the three of those to focus their attacks as Abhimanyu's speed left afterimages that confused them and his zig zag trajectory of movement also added on it.

All the grass in the land had been uprooted in a minute of the fight. Abhinav's aura pool was still strong and he was whipping out copies at an astounding rate. His copies were a bit low on endurance side of things but their strength was not less in any way and an S5 rank who is likely as powerful as ten elephants.

Keeping weapons in the spatial aura was not much taxing at S5 ranks and it seemed like a lucrative thing for Abhinav to have weapons in the hands of each copy but that would also reduce total amount he could whip out considerably and if he kept less weapons that would mean it would be easier to find him in the crowd.

So instead he focused more on the team based tactics and synchronised behavior, there was no telepathic communication and end to end communication becomes a problem so the communication were based on the body language of the one nearby and the original commands were given out by him somewhere inside the whole population while always shifting his position.

This also eliminated the problem with smoke screens where his communication can be hampered because the whole messaging was based on the ones nearby not affected by those far away. If split on groups there was still an administrator that was decided based on hierarchy of time of appearance.

Abhimanyu realised it somewhat later after he tried both those things by raising the dust with his speed and splitting the group up all the while controlling the total number that accumulated and also dodging attacks from the other two.

Smoke screen did help in slowing down vishal but Maanveer seemed to have equipment that was able to spot him. All of this was helpful indeed but he had to find a strategy to topple things to his side because even with dust slowing vishal it was not enough. Vishal already had constraints because of the many Abhinav clones that covered the land, so he was not the key here.

The land started shaking then and the terrain changed its arrangement. Everything became uneven. Vishal had thought that to run he would need a smooth straight surface so this would obviously give them an edge in the battle.

Indeed it slowed Abhimanyu down but he smirked and said, "Thank you." Abhimanyu was a martial artist first and he was never dependant on his speed, it was a tool to his victory. People would always make the mistake of thinking that his speed was the biggest asset but for him it was the perfection of his moves. He had kept the 8 principles of martial arts always at his core and could easily adapt to a change in environment.

This new terrain created blindspots unlike the the straight ground. Vishal was never much of a problem here but now he could even hinder Maanveer and that would help him more than anything. Vishal continued to change the terrain every second thinking it would work but it only helped Abhimanyu more and more and this frustrated Vishal.

Abhimanyu was now methodically splitting Abhinav's clones into groups and destroying them. He learned that a copy can only make 3 copies and that copy can make even less. So there had to be an origin point it was just a matter of time and with his speed and perfection it would not be much.

Eventually Abhinav's clones were reduced to a small group of 20people at most but that also meant vishal had more open space to attack. He was constantly trying to enclose Abhimanyu into a shell made up of earth where Maanveer could use explosives made from demon crystals. It was a futile attempt and though it slowed his process of getting to Abhinav, it was not changing the eventual outcome and vishal was getting visibly desperate in his attempts.

At last abhinav was caught and Abhimanyu was not someone who would miss his attack or mess it up. His senses were primed to perfection for that. Abhinav was sent flying into the stands breaking through every seat in his way and ended up bloodied and unconscious from the blow directly to his head that shook his brain.

Vishal had lowered himself from the platform now ready to take Abhimanyu on. He was the last thing standing in his way. Maanveer though having an impressive arsenal was not someone who looked like a close combat hero. Vishal's nostrils were flaring and the muscle on his face were twitching from anger as even after all that Abhimanyu was still calm with not a drop of sweat on his forehead.

"Don't flatter yourself, the match isn't over yet."

_____

Rishi had brought Anika into his personal training ground in his backyard that was built to withstand blows much better than the stadium where they fought before. The demon crystals that fortified it regenerated it continuously, even if it was destroyed Rishi would have no problem with his financial strength.

Rajdeep and Anirudh stood at one corner to keep and eye out on Rishi who was clearly not in a good mood. Rishi summoned his trident from his spatial aura and banged it on the ground that opened the roof of the stadium and water that was stored in some containers outside came in forming the slithering dragon behind his back. The dragon was the same as before but it seemed much more precise in design and emanated a sense of power.

"If you hold back you will die."

"What is the winning condition?"

"No holds bar. Till you give up, can't fight anymore or dead."

Anika had no chance to fully use her new found power that she got since the Andaman days and this was the perfect moment to do so. she had no idea how she would help in finding her friend Reema. The anger and frustration from that was also bubbling up in her. She shielded herself up and tried making a dragon similar to that of Rishi made up of flames. It wasn't as detailed as that of Rishi but it was evidence her control over the chaos of flames had improved a lot.

"Let's do this you prick."

She tried to make the dragon go but the control not as good yet so she let the fire go the way it wanted. She sped herself up using pressure pockets and body enhancement utilising the chaotic firewall as her cover. When she came to Rishi's position she was sensing he wasn't there but just a bubble of water releasing the aura.

Rishi appeared from the top which she only realised as the steam cleared a path for him. Anika tried to dodge the incoming attack but she was hit with a blow from the back of trident and slammed into the wall.

She was coughing blood even though she managed to shield it. He was not joking when he said he would not hold back. Rishi banged the floor again and all the fire was extinguished reforming the dragon behind him.

"How dare a grunt like you look down on me? You still haven't pulled out your weapon, don't make the mistake of thinking I am the same as I was before."

Anika got up and pulled out her swords from her spatial aura. She had not held back in her attack but it was true that she had not used her best yet and the fact that Rishi hit her with the back of the trident instead of the front was to tell her that he could have finished her but he won't until she gives her best.

Swords may have been her weapons of choice but her style was still not as refined with them. Her best attack was still the one she used on Rishi that day but she had learned to create it on the tip of the sword, that just increased its range in a sense. Her attack was ready as she charged forward with her full speed and Rishi Sent his dragon on her that evaporated with the heat she was generating.

She extended her sword reaching for Rishi but was held back as her feet did not respond. She saw down and it was ice that froze her feet and fixed her down on the ground.

"Did I not tell you? I can control water be it any state."

He swung his trident hitting her shoulder and she crashed into the wall of the training ground dislocating her shoulder in the process.

"Your heat creates kinetic energy in water molecules, I just had to control them precisely enough and it would create an ice so strong that neither your strength or your heat could break through it."

He squatted close to Anika holding his trident and said, "None of you techniques are good enough, the one good one you have you can't hit, what is your plan now? Will you cry for help? Or just try to overpower yourself through everything? I am tired of people looking down on me, you will be an example for this." He got up and moved to the center of the ground and shouted, "Have you given up already? Show me what else you can do." he banged his trident again and the slithering dragon took its place.

Anika got on her knees and tried to move the dislocated arm but it only caused pain. She sat on her buttocks and bent one knee forward, she locked her arms in front of the knee and leaned back. The weight of her body reduced the dislocated shoulder but her grim expression clearly showed the intense pain of the process.

She got up again and lunged forwards with her attack on the tip of the sword. Her legs started freezing again but she used the pressure pockets to blast the ice, this also did damage to her legs but she was determined to win. Rishi got enough time due to ice slowing her down to move aside and he used his trident to deflect her sword all the while spinning it black and hitting her in the gut throwing her off into the distance again.

"If this is your best then you are not worthy, what do you think you are doing wearing those clothes? you have lost what had driven you. You think that look of yours will help you defeat me? Didn't that C ranked father of yours die recently? I bet he was just as weak as you"

Anika's head was a bit dizzy, she had lost a lot of blood mostly through internal bleeding. Her mouth was filled with blood and the pain in her crushed gut was unbearable. She had clearly no way of winning in her mind but she could not stand for someone bad mouthing Ganesh, "You have no right to speak about him you rich scum, he was much stronger than you could ever be, he gave his life to save people."

she summoned everything she cloud and let out a big blast of fire. She stood up unable to hold herself straight on her two feet so she took the support of the wall. When the things cleared out Rishi was still standing there unfazed by the attack as the ice protected him .

As RIshi approached her, he increased the pressure from his massive aura on her making her fall again on her hands and knees, the blood collected in her mouth gush out. Anirudh rushed to stop him from attacking anymore and so did Rajdeep but Rishi summoned the Dragon and pinned them on the wall and trapping them in ice.

They tried their best but the ice was too strong and without pulling back their hands just powering through ice seemed pretty much impossible. "Stop it Rishi, You attack again and she will die." said Anirudh trying his best to break the ice.

"I don't want any interruptions. The rules of the fight were clear. She can give up anytime and this will stop."

Rishi squatted again near Anika, flat on the ground with the pressure of his aura. "You let go for once and everyone gets ahead of you. Don't ever pity your own condition, it is a waste of time. This money means nothing to me if I get to defeat my brother once. I was once ready to give up my life for that cause but turns out I was wrong. You can't die and win at the same time."

He raised raised his trident and slammed its blunt end on the floor again, releasing Anirudh and Rajdeep from their freezing prison. He got up, released his pressure on Anika and said, "Consider our debt paid."

When Rishi was leaving the healers he had already kept on bay entered promptly taking Anika away from Rajdeep who was carrying her on the shoulder. Anirudh caught Rishi's shoulder firmly and said, "Have you gone crazy?"

Rishi turned back swiping away the hand, "Weren't you the one obcessed with power? This is just a sliver of it, true power is a lot more cruel than this."

Just then they felt it, an aura that sent chills down the spine of everyone present there. Even Healers who were carrying Anika who was barely conscious on a stretcher and Rajdeep that was following them.

"What is that monstrous aura?" said rajdeep as his jaw dropped in awe.

Anirudh who's fists were clenched till now opened as he felt the aura encapsulating everything 'Is this real power' he thought to himself.

Rishi gulped down the nothingness from his dry mouth, "There is something familiar about this aura." he said but his senses could not comprehend the answer.

_____

Nandini was sweating profusely as she felt the amount of aura released by Krishna. Yash was in the car but she believed that he was feeling the immense nature of it too. Krishna had requested to be taken to the roof of a big building closer to the center of the city which happened to be the business hub he used to pass through everyday.

Nandini had seen him fight once or if it could even be called a fight and felt his aura, it surprised her that day and it did her even now. This was in no way a normal occurrence that she could be used to. Krishna was trying to sense Abhimanyu's aura or that of Reema herself if possible but he had controlled the output taking into consideration the people around him. Because pressure from his aura could be fatal to them. He released it only for a few seconds but even that would be fatal if he did not maintain the density.

"Found something?"

"Yes, I found Abhimanyu."

"What about Reema?"

Krishna shook his head as they left the roof. But there were two other things he had felt. Something faint but unusual and something massive, unlike anything he had felt since coming back to this world.

____

Abhimanyu and the other two leaders of the strykers felt it too when they were just about to engage back in the battle. For a second their minds went off into the direction of the aura, 'could it be a demon' was the first thought that came to their minds but the aura disappeared in a few seconds. Was it some kind of delusion? But everyone there felt it. This state of their mind only remained for a few moments as whatever it was it was gone for now but there was a task in front of them that wasn't gone.

Vishal started trying to catch abhimanyu off guard. He moved back and closed the whole stadium ground into a sphere which he riddled with spikes trying to bury Abhimanyu into his makeshift Iron maiden. It may have been simple soil but Vishal's control made it stronger than steel.

He made sure to retract and put back the spikes for a few times in random pattern to make sure he got Abhimanyu. As he opened the whole thing Abhimanyu was still there well and alive with not even a single cut for Vishal to see. 'How did he do that?' thought Vishal as he knew his spikes impacted something.

Abhimanyu rushed with his max speed towards Vishal while vishal tried his best to put some traps and wall in between but nothing stopped the ruthless tyrant. When Abhimanyu came close enough, Vishal, who as if was standing on water dove into the ground and emerged from the other side of the stadium in no time. Abhimanyu had no time to be straight as Maanveer who was till now resorting to only precision shots had shifted to a spray of shot the ripped everything apart in their way.

Vishal did this a few times, Abhimanyu had kept increasing his speed but Vishal was not an easy catch. As long as he could touch the ground he was in power. He had to find a way to get Vishal into his hands and there was one thing that had not used till now but would be very effective in the situation.

He approached Vishal again and as soon as he went into the ground Abhimanyu's face had a big smile on it. She pulled his hand back and slammed it on the ground. The force was so much that it shook the very foundation of the stadium. The solid land had ripples on it like a muddy puddle. It was the same technique as Reema used but just much more powerful than hers.

Vishal had to come out as the rippling waves were crushing him in soil like being in a press. As he came out he could not keep his balance or control because of the wave shaking his head up. Every little screw in the stadium was shaking and its effects were even felt in the buildings closer to the stadium where they dismissed it as some small earthquake.

Vishal tried to bring out his weapon a spear from his spatial aura to balance himself but it was too late. Abhimanyu was already too close. He tried using the soil to go in again but after he lost his balance and slipped he was in midair and without contact with the ground it was useless to try. Considering Abhimanyu's speed he knew that before he could touch the ground it would be over. Abhimanyu went for a skull crushing blow right to his face trying to slam him on the ground but before he could complete his punch a stray shot came out of nowhere and he had to retreat. The blow was still enough to render Vishal unconscious.

"That fool, he made me use my trump card." Said Maanveer singh who was standing in the middle of the ground now. "He maybe a good businessman but as a fighter, he is a disgrace to his rank." Abhimanyu was in thought right now as he refrained from attacking.

He had calculated it all and there was no way a shot would have been there and certainly not from the trajectory it came from. What was the exact way this happened before knowing that approaching Maanveer would be foolish. Manveer was also clearly expecting him to attack which was the reason he came straight to the middle of the ground. Maanveer was the best forger out there it was told that he has something for every situation. What was the one that he had just used.

Maanveer was now in full body armour with all his powerful guns attached to little faucets on the armour. He surely wasn't going for some cool superhero look but rather a utilitarian approach was his idea. He lowered his helmet and used the thrusters on the armour to increase his speed to immensely, perhaps if he and Abhimanyu were in a straight dash Maanveer might have pushed him to the limit was the thought that hit his mind as he dodged the incoming attack.

The attack was from a big spike with diamond tip that made a hole in the stadium wall and as he removed it the cracks spread to an extent and the small section of wall was demolished.

If it was just that armour and those attacks Abhimanyu was confident enough to wedge through them to land his counter. Unlike Reema with his speed of punching building up reverals for him was much easier and faster. one of those would be enough to break down the thick armour of manveer but manveer wanted him to attack, in fact he left himself too open for that to be a doubt. It was the smell of a trap that made Abhimanyu void Manveer for a few rounds.

"Are you too afraid of a long range forging expert now? Come on, the two you defeated were much better than me in close combat."

There was only one way of knowing what happened and it was to make it happen again. Abhimanyu readied his punch as he dashed to attack Maanveer. As soon as he got near him, he sensed shots suddenly surrounding him. He had readied his other hand already to access his spatial aura and bring out his weapon of choice, the one that embodied everything he stood for. He could also sense the impending explosion from beneath.

After the blast was gone and the dust cleared out Abhimanyu stood further away pushed by the blast. He had finally understood what Maanveer's trick was but if it wasn't for his prior knowledge he might have lost here or escaped with grave injuries. Even still there were many shots that grazed him and blood oozed out of those wounds as he stood there holding his shield which had the ashok chakra imprint on the front with 24 spokes that embodied everything he wanted to protect.

"Who keeps a shield as their weapon?" Said Maanveer as he dismantled the armour and kept it back in his spatial aura.

"The fight isn't over yet." Said Abhimanyu tightening his grip on the shield.

Maanveer who was smiling now said, "I am not as foolish as to take a punch from you when I know I have no way of defending myself."

Abhimanyu kept the shield back into his spatial aura and said said, "So you know that I know your trick?"

"You are too obvious to read through, you should consider practicing a poker face but then again what would be Abhimanyu without his truth."

Manveer's power was past pointing. Whatever shots he had fired in the past he could re enact the same incident and once Abhimanyu knew what to expect he could have easily wedged through his opponent's defence and Maanveer was not going to try his luck testing the prediction ability of a trained martial artist.

____

Krishna was walking through the dark ways leading to the stadium. The tremor before had confirmed that his assessment was right and Abhimanyu was indeed there. There were 3 other strong auras but two of them had grown comparatively faint. When Krishna entered the stadium he and Abhimanyu saw eye to eye and just before he was about to move in to grab Abhimanyu Yash kept his lion headed cane in front of him,

"I will handle this one." said Yash bakshi as he approached Abhimanyu who was talking with Maanveer. He was walking in his white suit, a furry jacket while spinning his lion headed cane and a white fedora with the pattern of cheetah skin in a ring over it.

Krishna looked at Nandini who was confident in Yash Bakshi, "when he says he would handle it he has always handled it, he is a man of his word." Krishna knew the ranks can be deceiving at times but he had also sensed that the difference in both their Auras was fitting of their rank. This was not a small gap that could be jumped easily.

"You don't have to worry, instead keep an eye out or you might miss it. You might know that every aura has its properties and are compatible with a certain type of power but when It comes the power Bakshi has I have never seen someone struggle so much to use their full aura pool, even if this man was A rank it would not change the outcome of this match but you can say the added strength of being an S3 rank does help him out."

"Did I not tell you to keep your dirty hands away from my underlings?" Said Yash as Maanveer stepped back judging from the menacing aura that Bakshi was emitting. He also thought it would be a great chance to see the lion fight as he took on a foe unlike ever before. From the looks of it Bakshi was serious but if he underestimated his opponent even by a fraction than it would be lethal as the man had already defeated three S5 ranked fighters alone and Bakshi was just an S3 rank.

"Are you trying to challenge me Bakshi? Know your place, because I am in no mood of playing around with you." Said Abhimanyu as he walked by Bakshi.

"Why don't you try then? You hit me once and you win." Said Bakshi turning around and fixing his cane in the ground and keeping both his hands over it's lion head.

"There is a fine line between confidence and over confidence Bakshi."

"I only propose what is fair."

Abhimanyu clenched his fists as Bakshi did not even bother removing his accessories, planting his cane in ground meant even bigger disrespect against his skill and then calling it fair would be a sin to his years of martial arts training. He turned around and started accumulating the reversals in his punch.

"I won't hold back."

"I would not expect you to do so."

He pulled back his arm in full force and aimed straight for Bakshi's head who looked straight into his eyes even as his punch approached and did not flinch a single muscle in response that would say he might block or dodge it.

Maanveer Singh's eyes could not believe what he was seeing, even Krishna could not make sense of what happened there. Nandini stood there as she had seen it countless times and gotten used to the miracle that nobody could explain. The reason nobody could ever describe Bakshi's fights to their fullest or had ever seen him make effort in winning. Bakshi stood there still looking straight into Abhimanyu's eyes as his perfect punch missed Bakshi and his arm was right beside Bakshi's head.

Abhimanyu pulled his arm back with a jerk examining it for some bruise or anything that showed Bakshi moved it but there was nothing. He knew for sure that the man himself had not moved. Then how did he miss his punch, was he able to control his mind, was it some telekinesis, how could this have happened. Nothing explained the phenomenon as he had seen such powers and he would know if he saw it.

"Whoops! you missed that one. I assume it's my turn now." Said Bakshi as he raised his fist in front. Abhimanyu was genuinely confused to such an extent for the first time in his life. What was he planning to do with his fist in the front. He moved back a few feet to get a chance to avoid anything that might come at him. Then another surprise came to everyone who stood as a man few feet away from Bakshi suddenly had his face on the fist that Bakshi had kept in front as a showpiece. The force of the so called punch that seemed so impossible made Abhimanyu dizzy as he was bleeding from his head.

Maanveer singh was sweating profusely seeing everything unfold, what kind of a monster was there in front of him. Without making any effort he had made an S5 ranked tyrant bleed and kneel in front of him. He expected a lot from the rumors but nothing in his life had prepared him for this. There was no doubt about it the Lion was indeed the king of the jungle.

"Will this be enough for you? You should start speaking, where is Reema?"

Abhimanyu shook his head trying to reduce the dizziness and took another jab at Bakshi who was squatting next to him. He missed again. Bakshi got up and kicked him in the gut throwing him into the stadium wall. He stood close to Abhimanyu again as he said,

"Just tell me where she is!"

"He doesn't know." Said Maanveer standing way back where and still sweating as he saw the lion roar at his highest. "He came to us thinking we had kidnapped her."

Bakshi stood up and raise his open hand and in less than a slip second later Maanveer's Neck was in his grip. "And did you do it?" Maanveer unable to comprehend anything struggled to get himself out but could not do anything. He tried his best to speak in the situation he was in, "We...We are not criminals, we may have kept her in the center to destroy abhimanyu's reputation but we would never do anything to hurt an innocent person."

"No matter what anyone says or even what she thinks, Reema is my sister and she will always be so. I took an oath to protect her and I intend to keep it. What happened between her oldman and me was personal, I knew he would not stop coming for me and that is why I broke his back. I respect him for everything he taught but the guilds only cared for their greed.

I wanted to create a powerful guild that would stand for the people." Said Abhimanyu who got up holding his abdomen where Bakshi's kick had hit him. "I don't care if everyone blames everything on me, I will stand for what I believe but anyone who tries to hurt my family will not get my mercy."

Bakshi knew what he said was true. Every guild was in it to make money. The smaller ones would have low paid contracted Raiders in them and they would rather prefer more low ranked raiders than a high ranked one because they took a big cut. On the other hand these low ranks would do the job but mostly likely get hurt or even die and if they died it was even less people for them to cut in. It made financially more sense for them to adopt these ways.

No reparations were ever paid to those who die in a fight. It was the rule of the law as the contract they signed clearly stated these things but even so many low ranks fought knowing these consequences because they had to feed their families or some did it just because of the goodness in their heart. Every guild that enjoyed their height was because of the pile of dead bodies that they had accumulated below them in time.

Bakshi let go of Maanveer and Walked back to Krishna lowering his hat and said, "They didn't do it." Krishna had been thinking about that faint aura, the same one coming from multiple distances at the same time but it was too faint for him to recognise. He opened the maps in his phone and marked the places where he felt that aura.

Connecting them in direction away from the site of Kidnapping. There was not much to go by but this was the only lead left for him. Pursuing Abhimanyu seemed more plausible at first than following something insubstantial but now that he was found innocent it was what he was left with.

It had been Quite long since the kidnapping and there had been no contact from the kidnapper yet. The location was within his range but he did not feel Reema's aura there, Krishna feared for the worst so he left alone giving Bakshi and Nandini the location he had found. Using his speed would be a much better option this time he thought.

_____

Rusjeet singh was at the airport waiting for Abid Khan to arrive. Abid knew of the situation that was cooking in Ahmedabad. Knowing him, he would not have Rusjeet wait for him and rather have him find a solution but he had ordered him that this was more important than that meant it really was much more important. As soon as the plane arrived he felt the aura everyone had felt that day. Rusjeet knew it was the person he was looking for.

He had his suspicions from what Rajdeep had said to him and the body dimension also matched but this very much confirmed it but for now he had other orders to follow.

When he went to pick up Abid khan he saw the reason why this was so important. With abid khan was the behemoth of China, Ye Zhou, the strongest of china. The question was 'what was he doing here?'.

Ye Zhou's expression was rather grim as he too felt that aura coming from far away and yet conveying its strength so easily. Rusjeet singh entered in a car with Abid khan and Ye Zhou. Rusjeet singh took the front seat as Abid khan sat with Ye. there was a big envoy of 5 cars that was to drop him at his hotel. It was not to protect him, only a fool would challenge someone like Ye but rather it was just a sign of respect.

The silence was deafening as Ye Zhou kept pondering about the aura he had felt. Abid khan tried to kill the silence and said, "It has been a long time since you came to India, hasn't it Ye Zhou?"

Ye who had been looking out the window all the time said, "5years to be exact."

"Indeed... 5 years." Said Abid khan in a low voice remembering the incident that shook the whole world.

Rusjeet singh tried to change the topic and said, "Why is Mr Ye in India this time? Here to take a tour?"

"I would rather not talk about the details now, just know that it's a business deal."

As soon as they dropped Ye to his hotel Rusjeet singh approached Abid khan who was tense as tense as he could get.

"What is happening here sir?"

"We had reports about the Tiger guild which rose very fast in popularity in the last few years to be the biggest guild in the east because of it's high margin techniques using lower ranked Raider it needed growth to sustain itself. But the guild was facing losses after it's expansion attempt in the west failed. Chinesse were attempting to buy off that guild but after they lost their leverage on us after the Demon on Andaman was reportedly killed and the area was declared demon free their attempts on buying the Tiger guild doubled down and they managed to put Ye as the buyer of that guild.

Technically Ye's guild is not owned by chinese government but it is regulated by them so they were happy anyway. It turns out as soon as the leader of the Tiger's guild gained support from Ye he came directly to Ahmedabad. Ye is here to meet him and also having him here during this power struggle helps him in expanding the guild too."

That is when it struck Rusjeet singh. The captain of the Tigers Faizal Khan was here unannounced and the kidnapping of Reema were all connected. He had seen the photographs of the scene everyone present at the scene was killed even the passengers of those cars which were just passing by. And the attack patterns also made sense now seeing how the captain of tigers specialized in plasma nails.

As a damage type assassin he specialized in being able to completely suppress his aura. The guards in the envoy would have never seen him coming and not to forget that he was an S4 rank that would easily be able to take them down but the fact that they were not even able to send a notification of attack also made it more concrete. So the rumors of him being defeated by Yash Bakshi were true indeed.

Rusjeet singh tried to make some calls to the delhi team to help him find Fiazal but before any information came in there was a big noise in the hotel. It was Ye Zhou, he had jumped out of the hotel building and it was highly likely that he was aware of the situation to a certain degree.

Rusjeet singh took one of the cars in a hurry and followed Ye Zhou as fast as he could but Ye was much faster and had already gone out of his sight but he was following his aura like a ship heading towards a lighthouse in the night.

"This seems about the end of my career."

_____

Krishna had followed the trail and it led him to the edge of Ahmedabad to an old bus lot of a now defunct travels company. He entered the building and Reema was on the floor tied with chains and all bloodied up from the torture. Krishna went running to her and put her on his lap, snapping the chains like twigs. Her clothes were in tatters as she he probably tried to defend herself but was overpowered significantly.

There were deep cuts on her that had stopped oozing out the blood. Krishna checked for the pulse and there was a faint pulse but he didn't know if she would be able to make back to the hospital alive. Krishna had already started the healing process but he was not well suited for this job.

"Who the hell are you, how did you get here?" Said a voice from the back. There were two people on the back there.

"Is anyone of you a healer?" Asked Krishna in a harsh tone.

"You don't ask the question here we..." and his head fell down from his shoulder.

"Are you a healer? Now answer precisely because your life depends upon it."

The guy was shaking with fear as all his eyes saw was a flash of light and the next thing he knew he was covered in the blood of his partner fresh and hot straight from his body.

"Yes...I am a healer."

"Then heal her!"

"I can't do it alone, we have been keeping her alive for a long time but he just keeps making it worse."

"Who is he?"

"It's our boss." The man fell on his knees crying, "please, we had no idea he had brought us for something like this, we were just following his orders if we had not done so he would have killed us."

"Start healing, right now!" The man crawled stumbling near Krishna as he started healing Reema. Krishna could feel it, the healing was not going to be enough even with the both of them combined. But he could stabilise her to some extent and get her to a hospital where there could be better facilities, if only Jia was here with her healing abilities it would have been much different but unfortunately he had to do with what he had for now.

The sun would be setting soon and the sunlight coming in through the broken windows scattered all over the room lighting up the pool of blood Krishna was sitting in. 'Only death and destruction follows me.' Thought Krishna as he remembered that time when blood covered the land till the farthest stretch he could see. He held in his hand the bodies of people he once knew and had chosen to protect and despite all his efforts the outcome was no different.

The metal door on the other end of the room slammed open as Faizal Khan entered smoking a cigarette, "heal her up you guys, boss called and he will be taking care of things…" He saw on his guy beheaded and the other one still shaking in fear as someone held him as prisoner.

"Who the hell are you?" Said Faizal as he extended his hand towards Krishna's shoulder. His hand was chopped off before he could even touch him, "stay back, I will deal with you later."

The healer started shaking more and tears started flowing from his eyes again. Krishna turned his red eyes on to him and said, "concentrate on your job, we are nearly finished."

Faizal was writhing in pain as blood gushed out of his chopped hand. The nails in his other hand lit up giving a red glow and grew like a wild animal. He touched the bleeding part of the other arm and the heat from his plasma nails cauterised the vessels. The pain was still not gone as he kept screaming.

Krishna then felt the massive aura he had felt back then coming closer, and too fast. If this is an enemy then it would be difficult getting out of there. Faizal took advantage of this distraction and took a slice at Krishna. But Krishna's reaction speed was fast enough that he managed to dodge it and even take Reema out of harm's way, unluckily though the slice hit the healer and he was split in half from his torso. Krishna caught Faizal by his neck from anger.

"Drop him down." Said Ye Zhou who barged into the dilapidated building through the window. Ye saw Reema who was barely holding on to her life and the two dead men and was able to make out what must have happened.

"The kid is dying, you need to take her to a hospital fast or she won't make it."

Krishna's anger was visible in his eyes as he was tightening his grip on Faizal.

"Look you have already taken his arm it will be enough but if you kill him then as a part of my duty I will have to avenge him. You will have to decide fast if you want to save that girl."

Krishna dropped Faizal down as he bent down to pick Reema up. Ye Zhou had an expression of relief as he knew taking up a fight with whoever he was, was not a good idea and Faizal was clearly in the wrong here.

Faizal who was coughing and taking deep breaths said, "Look at you, you finally understand your place." Krishna did not heed to his words and let his knees get drenched with Reema's blood again.

"You can take that bitch now, I have no use for her anymore." Said Faizal laughing in his raspy voice crushed by Krishna's grip.

Ye Zhou was shaking his head as Krishna stood up, 'that fool has done it' Thought Ye as Faizal's body was hooked onto a wall with a flaming anchor pierced into his chest. Faizal was screaming from pain but it did not last for more that as second as only ashes dropped down leaving nothing behind.

Ye Zhou who stood there clenched his fists and said, "You know I can't let this go, right?" Indeed he had paid for the Tigers guild and that included someone as good at fighting as Faizal but even more so he was a man of rules and honour. No matter what he could not let go of someone who had killed one of his underlings right in from of him. As Ye started releasing his aura his muscles started to grow in size, ripping the shirt he wore, he lunged forwards and threw a punch aimed at Krishna's head.

This man was no joke thought Krishna but a punch like that would not be enough for him. He swiftly stepped aside and landed a kick directly at his gut throwing him out of the window and into a building in the front.

_____

Nandini and Bakshi arrived right at the moment when Ye was thrusted into a building. They stopped the car and got out of it. The debris from the broken concrete had created a dust cloud. From that cloud walked out Ye Zhou stretching his shoulder.

Krishna too jumped out of the hole created in wall. 'Who was that man?' Thought Nandini as for someone to stand like nothing had happened after taking a hit from Krishna was not something she thought was possible.

Krishna saw them and pointed out towards the building. As both of them ran towards the building Nandini kept an eye at the man that stood in front of Krishna. As things became more clear her eyes were left open from the shock. It was Ye Zhou strongest man in the whole of China, the country with the third most powerful army in the world, a feat that would not be possible without Ye Zhou, he was among the seven strongest people in the world, a group of people for whom the word hero was not sufficient so they had their own category, they were 'Legends'.

When they reached inside the building Reema was lying there hanging on a fine line. Bakshi's sight fell on the other two bodies who died from two different kinds of injuries. Then his eyes fell on a single stray hand and he immediately recognised its owner and what the pile of ashes near the wall represented. Nandini till then checked on Reema's vitals and said, "We won't make it in time to the hospital."

"We don't have to, I own a goddamn guild. It's not just to show off and after all she is in this condition because of me, I won't let this girl die, I can't." Said Bakshi as he fiddled with his phone to call in all the healers they had in the area, to a place close by but a good distance away from their current location to avoid becoming a collateral in the fight that was in suing.

_____

"It's been a long time since I felt so excited." Said Ye as he pulled both his arms back and got ready to attack. Krishna turned up the heat as he walked towards Ye. The asphalt and concrete around him started melting. The carcuses of the stripped down busses were turning to molten metal as was the rusty gate of the old building. Ye could feel this would not something easy, how did he not know about the existence of such a man till now.

"That won't be enough to scare me." Said Ye as the wind currents started getting faster and the dust cloud was gone in a second. The concrete blocks that had broken down when he hit were getting carried away in the wind like leaves. The building he hit had already been empty because the work hours were over and even the guards had escaped through the back doors, even in the distance people were evacuating as even the most dullest sense could pick up the dangerous density of aura that was building up. The windows were resonating with the gust as one after another the thick glasses shattered and it's pieces got mixed into the storm that was being created.

Ye lunged at Krishna with a visible storm being generated from his hands. Krishna dodged the incoming attack that blew away the molten asphalt ike a splash in the liquid. Krishna caught Ye from his back and tossed him, Ye went through several buildings before he balanced himself back on his feet. Before he could regain his posture Krishna charged at him aiming at his head but Ye caught the punch with both his hand sending the shockwave that shatter anything brittle in the vicinity. Ye's palms had taken some burn damage but it was nothing that could hinder him. He counter attacked Krishna with a kick that sent him into a building hall where Krishna hit a sculpture made up of metal but it had already melted to an unrecognisable state as Krishna gut up.

Krishna's body was emitting black flame of anger. This the first time since he had been back that anyone was able to hit him. The storm became more fierce and the gust of wind pulled him back to Ye who was ready to smash him with both his arms. Krishna managed to get away in the knick of time using heat to change the air density and pulling himself out of the way. Ye's hair were firling in the air as his strike broke everything below it to pieces.

"You are not bad," said Ye smiling and releasing even more of his aura, his body grew about twice the original size and the storm became more chaotic. 'So he was holding back?' Thought Krishna, he could not get caught in that attack again now or this could get ugly.

Ye did his trick again and pulled Krishna in with the storm but to throw him off Krishna charged in, instead of resisting and took advantage of Ye's new size going right through under him and kicking him at his butt. Ye was too big and the wind resistance was too much to throw him around anymore.

Ye turn around to hit Krishna with a back hand round house throwing him off towards a building but before he could hit it Ye pulled him in to crush him again. There was no dodging it this time so he caught the two gigantic arms of Ye with his hands. The force generated by them was massive and the ripping wind generated by around those arms was cutting like a sharp knife making a few cuts on Krishna's arm before Ye moved back as the heat was too high to hold on.

The road was crushed where the two Goliath's clashed and the cracks were getting deeper due to the increasing intensity of the storm ripping the road apart like a sticker. Cars were being flung around like toys and even the buildings were now in the destructive radius of the storm. If Krishna was to take on those blows head on like now the skin on his arms would be peeled off in 1or 2 tries. Indeed Ye was a force to be reckoned with and his blows were doing a much smaller damage in comparison. Ye clenched his fists to increase the power of his storm that took in the buildings at the crossroads and ripped them out from their foundation.

The clouds were gathering around covering the sun. Krishna was clearly visible in the darkness as the sole source of light except for the few sparks of lightning. In response to Ye, Krishna had to up his game too, fiery wings made from black fire that looked like they belonged to some demon emerged from his back burning through his T-shirt which Krishna threw away. His body was covered in scars everywhere from front to back. His eyes turned red as he stretched his muscles and got into a fighting stance.

"Let's end this thing now." said Krishna with a lot more deeper voice than before. The aura coming from Krishna was much more violent. Ye smiled as he raised his hand and taunted Krishna to come get him. Krishna grinned at this gesture. In a flash like a speedboat moving through water molten asphalt flew around him as he charged at Ye. Ye tried to crush him again with his hands but Krishna wedged right through him and hit him with an uppercut.

The force was enough to clear the storm and Ye Zhou was pushed through the clouds as the blue colour of the sky slowly faded and Naked sun was shining on him.

The damage from the uppercut had dislocated his jaw which he fixed it with his hands painfully. He could sense the Krishna's ominous aura approaching him from below. He summoned the winds to stop him which rose from the atmosphere of earth like a storm escaping the barrier of gravity but Krishna went right through it disrupting the whole storm from the massive heat he was generating.

Both of them were floating in microgravity slowly getting pulled back to the land and looking at each other in the eye as the air pulled in by Ye was firling their hair.

"How does your flame burn even though there is practically no atmosphere here?" Said ye noticing that Krishna's wings were as bright as ever even in low levels of oxygen. Krishna is his deep voice replied, "My flames don't need something so trivial as that, I command the flames and they obey. Have you ever thought about the biggest ball of fire out there that you see everyday." Krishna moved out of the way as blinding rays of sun hit Ye Zhou. "Like I said, I command and the flames obey." A large slithering dragon came out of the sun as Ye tried to contain his shock.

"Don't worry, I won't be using that on you." Said Krishna closing his fist and the dragon dissipated as if an illusion. A sense of relief in some degrees came to Ye's heart because if that thing had attacked it would have annihilated everything on earth. Krishna hit Ye Zhou with that fist as he dropped down into the atmosphere with alarming speed. The attack had made him dizzy enough that he could not summon his aura and the resistance building up was damaging him every second but for a legend it would not be fatal just extremely painful.

The pain kept him awake as he kept trying to regain control. He managed to lower the resistance and his speed to some extent by manipulating the atmosphere but when he fell it still felt like jumping down from the tallest mountain.

He dropped right at the spot where he had been launched from creating a fairly large crater at the crossroads. After falling he was still semi conscious but could not move his muscles by an inch. Krishna came down and rolled him over and pulled back his fist to deal the finishing blow.

"Please don't do that!"

It was Rusjeet singh, he had to walk through the powerful storm where it was impossible to run a car. He looked tired and had probably taken some damage from the debris.

"Don't kill him" said Rusjeet Singh as he came close enough that the pressure of aura was pulling him down. Krishna returned himself back to his normal self and alleviated the pressure on Rusjeet.

"Whatever may have happened between you two, this man still gives hope to millions of people...that there is someone that can protect them." Rusjeet singh caught his breath "If you kill him, will you be able to fill that gap? Will you fight for those people?" There was also a fact that China would not be happy if someone like Ye Zhou was killed by Indians but he had only enough breath and witts left to say what came from his heart.

Krishna got up and walked away with a conflict in his heart, would he be able to do that? Can he give the millions and billions of people of his homeworld hope?