Satyaki stood upon his golden chariot beyond the shattered section of the Great Wall, crimson and ivory robes shifting in the desert wind. His bow remained raised with another arrow resting against the string, while across the blood-streaked sand the Knight watched him without moving.
The thin cut across the Knight’s right arm still bled beneath the split armour. Another drop of metallic blood gathered along his hand and fell into the crimson sand, drawing Herald’s attention back to the wound no matter how hard he tried to look elsewhere.
An entire battlefield had failed to produce that mark. Herald had watched Ludicrous die before anyone understood he had been attacked, seen Peril’s Vajra Vel stopped in one hand and watched hundreds of Culpa’s illusions disappear beneath the Knight’s bare hands.
Satyaki had managed what none of them could with a single arrow. The Knight lowered his bloodied hand and lifted his crimson eyes toward the archer, while Satyaki kept the bow aimed across the distance between them.
"You know my name," Satyaki said. The Knight’s faint smile remained as he answered, "I know many names."
"Then give me yours." Satyaki drew the string farther until the bow gave a low creak beneath the strain.
The Knight watched him and said, "Names are abandoned long before eternity." Satyaki tightened his fingers around the string before answering, "Then I’ll have nothing to carve on your grave."
Pinaka rose in the Knight’s hand, and the change in the air reached Herald before either archer fired. Pressure settled over the broken Wall and everyone gathered beside it, making Herald aware of each shallow breath moving through his ribs.
Nobody around him had another battle left to give. Madam Althea sat against shattered stone with her head lowered while spiders worked around the stump of her missing arm, and Facade’s enormous wings dragged through the sand behind him.
Culpa leaned against Erudite, who looked barely capable of supporting himself, much less another person. Peril still held the Vel planted beside him, using the spear to keep his knees from giving way as he watched the two archers.
Satyaki stood before all of them without lowering his weapon. Golden light began gathering around his bow, but instead of settling along the wood in his hands, it spread into the empty air behind him.
Herald blinked when the outline of another bow appeared, followed by a second and then a third. More emerged until twelve weapons hovered behind Satyaki in a widening formation, each different enough that Herald’s eyes kept moving between them.
Some had been fashioned from dark wood covered in Sanskrit inscriptions, while others gleamed like crystal or polished metal beneath the fading evening light. One seemed almost weightless beside the rest, its pale limbs carrying inscriptions that shifted across the surface like living script.
Even Herald forgot his exhaustion long enough to stare. Satyaki reached behind himself without turning and closed his fingers around one of the floating bows.
The Knight’s crimson eyes narrowed as soon as Satyaki touched it. "Arjuna," he said, and Herald realised almost immediately that he had not called Satyaki by name.
Satyaki heard the distinction as well. "I walk the Path he left behind," he answered while golden inscriptions awakened across the bow in his hands. "I won’t allow you to take another life."
The Knight tilted Pinaka slightly and said, "A noble vow." His fingers settled against the string before the faint smile returned. "Always a futile one."
Both archers released almost together. Their arrows collided halfway between them with a crack that rolled across Kurukshetra like thunder, and the resulting force ripped loose fragments from the broken Wall while dust blasted through the breach.
Herald raised an arm over his eyes as grit struck his skin. Before the dust had even settled, another bowstring snapped and Satyaki’s second arrow was already crossing the battlefield. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
The Knight answered immediately, and another collision burst between them before a third followed. The pauses vanished as both archers accelerated, arrow after arrow crossing the space in streaks of gold and darkness.
Satyaki’s fingers blurred around the string while the Knight appeared to move far less. Arrows collided in midair, changed direction before impact or split when another shaft struck them directly through the centre.
One of Satyaki’s shots curved low enough to force the Knight aside while another descended from above. The Knight twisted beneath it, only for a third arrow to pass so close to his face that his head moved barely an inch before the shaft cut past.
Pinaka answered every attempt just as quickly. One arrow aimed at Satyaki’s chest vanished when he split it down the middle, another spun away after being struck from the air, and a third buried itself beside the golden chariot hard enough to tear open the ground.
Herald tried to follow the exchange and repeatedly lost track of it. His eyes caught the beginning of one shot and then the crater, broken stone or displaced sand left by another, while the space between the two archers filled with the sharp whistle of projectiles moving too quickly for him to see.
No ordinary soldier could have survived between them. Satyaki abruptly ceased firing, allowing the twelve bows behind him to spread farther apart.
His hand reached toward the brilliant white bow among them, and Aswas’s expression changed the moment his fingers closed around it. "The Aindra Astra..." he said, his voice carrying enough unease for Herald to hear.
Satyaki brought the bow forward as ancient Sanskrit mantras awakened across its pale limbs. Thunder answered somewhere above Kurukshetra, and Herald looked up to find clouds gathering over the battlefield.
Pale light crawled through their darkening undersides while electricity twisted around Satyaki’s bowstring. The currents converged upon the arrow resting against it as he slowly began drawing the weapon.
Lightning descended from the clouds and wrapped around the arrowhead in violent strands of white-gold light. Another bolt followed, then another, until the bow itself trembled beneath the power gathering along its length.
The distant sounds of Kurukshetra disappeared beneath the growl of thunder. Herald could smell the sharp bite left in the air by the storm even from where he stood beside the Wall.
The Knight’s smile faded as his crimson gaze moved from the arrow to Satyaki. His grip on Pinaka shifted while Satyaki continued drawing until the string reached its limit.
Satyaki held the Aindra Astra at full draw without releasing it. Across from him, the Knight remained equally still while the storm continued gathering above them and lightning crawled over the waiting arrow.
A distant neigh broke through the thunder, and the Knight’s attention shifted away from Satyaki. Through the crimson haze farther across Kurukshetra, a white horse appeared between bodies and shattered chariots.
It galloped toward its master, weaving through abandoned weapons while sand sprayed beneath its hooves. When it finally stopped beside the Knight, the animal lowered its head without making another sound.
Satyaki kept the Aindra Astra aimed at him while the Knight placed one hand against the horse’s forehead. Lightning continued twisting around the arrowhead, but neither man moved as the horse stood quietly beneath that black-armoured hand.
No words passed between rider and animal, and Herald saw no signal he understood. The Knight eventually closed his eyes while the storm growled overhead, keeping his hand pressed against the horse for several moments.
When his crimson eyes opened again, something had changed. The pressure around him remained, but the intention Herald had felt behind it no longer pointed toward another attack. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
The Knight looked first at Satyaki and then toward Aswas near the broken Wall. His gaze passed across the wounded survivors before settling directly upon Herald.
"The time has not yet come," the Knight said, his crimson eyes still fixed on Herald. Satyaki kept the white bow drawn and asked, "What are you doing?"
The Knight lowered Pinaka beside him and answered, "Our purpose here is complete." Satyaki’s fingers remained tight against the string as he asked, "You expect me to let you leave?"
The Knight placed one foot into the stirrup and climbed onto the white horse. "You may try to stop me," he replied, while the storm remained suspended above both of them.
Satyaki could have released the Aindra Astra before the Knight finished mounting. His fingers remained against the string instead, and the arrow continued burning with gathered lightning.
The Knight turned his horse toward the crimson wastes, but he did not leave immediately. He looked over his shoulder once more, ignoring Satyaki completely as his crimson eyes found Herald again.
"Grow stronger, bearer of the ebony staff." Herald’s tired fingers tightened around the Yama Danda despite the ache running through his hands.
The Knight held his gaze and continued, "When next we meet, you will be the first to die." Herald’s fingers tightened harder around the ebony staff as the words settled.
The white horse stamped against the sand before surging forward. Herald watched horse and rider race through Kurukshetra, passing ruined chariots and scattered bodies until the crimson haze swallowed both of them.
Satyaki remained motionless upon the golden chariot with the Aindra Astra still at full draw. The storm waited above him as though even the clouds had not yet understood that their target was gone.
Only after the Knight had completely disappeared did Satyaki begin easing the string forward. The arrow never left the bow, and the lightning wrapped around its head unravelled into pale strands before scattering into sparks.
The Sanskrit inscriptions across the white bow dimmed while the clouds above Kurukshetra slowly loosened. Thunder withdrew into the distance, leaving behind the wind moving through the enormous breach in the Wall.
Nobody cheered or raised a weapon in victory. Herald looked around at what remained of them and saw Madam Althea against the stone with her spiders still working, Facade beside her with his wings hanging behind him, and Erudite struggling to remain upright near Culpa.
Peril still held the Vel despite exhaustion weighing across his face, while other soldiers had simply lain down where their bodies finally refused another command. Satyaki lowered the white bow as the silence settled over all of them.
Everyone near the Wall understood what had happened. The Knight had not been defeated, and Satyaki had not driven him away.
He had chosen to leave.
That was the only reason they were still alive.