Priti screamed and tried to free her hand from Hidimbi’s grip. However, all her attempts failed.
In the end, she looked at Karna with tearful eyes.
"Save me.. O Karna!"
Karna’s arms were held by Lysa and Mina, who pulled him a step away from them. They abandoned Priti without a second thought.
" I can’t do anything. See, I’m not free..."
Priti just started crying louder.
"Alright, let her go," Karna said to Hidimbi.
Priti seemed really scared. After all, they grew up hearing stories about how evil Asuras were.
Hidimbi realised her wrist. Priti ran straight to Karna and hugged him.
Freeing his arms from both ladies, Karna hugged her back.
Lysa and Mina took one more step back, grabbing his shoulder, hiding half their bodies behind him.
Karna thought, if they were this scared only when Hidimbi showed her fangs, how scared they would be when she really changed into her true appearance with horns and a more than seven-foot-tall body.
Ah, she looks sad!.
Karna thought, looking at Hidimbi, or maybe he was imagining it— anyone would be sad, abandoned alone.
"Come here, Hidimbi. Show them you’re not going to eat them"
"What?!" Priti raised her head and hugged him tighter, as if wanting to hide into his body.
Hidimbi walked closer.
"Husband, they..."
"It’s fine" Karna grabbed her wrist.
" You guys are making her feel bad. And why were you scared when now you girls have the protection of a divine blessing?" Karna said.
But, of course, his words weren’t enough. Priti just shook her head, rubbing her nose on his chest. The other two’s behavior wasn’t any better either; they moved from behind to his left, opposite to Hidimbi.
Karna just chuckled helplessly. Hidimbi also smiled with him.
"Husband, it’s fine. I don’t mind. I will slowly become friends with them." Hidimbi said.
"Friends, huh? I have a way... how about a fight?" Karna said with a wide grin; he thought of a fun game.
"Karna, what do you mean?" Lysa asked, with a puzzled expression.
Both Lysa and Mina were trying yo not to show that they were scared, but they were running away from Hidimbi like a mouse from a cat, so hiding their expressions didn’t help them at all.
At least, they were not crying, hiding their faces like Priti.
Karna created three swords.
"Who wants to learn swordmanship?"
"Me!" Priti shouted and grabbed the sword from his hand.
"..."
"Teach me! Teach me! Teach me," She said with sparkling eyes.
What the hell! Was she acting all the time??
"You didn’t need to learn anything; just go fight each other, don’t worry about getting hurt," Karna said, thinking women were a mystery.
Karna shook his head, then gave the swords to Lysa and Mina. They carefully grabbed them with the same excitement.
"It was a Maya", Mina said, looking at the sword.
"Yes, want to learn? Ask her if she wants to. She could teach yo,u" Karna said, pointing to Hidimbi.
"Umm, Hidimbi, about my earlier behavior, I was just messing around. Don’t take it to heart." Priti said.
I know it! Karna thought.
"So, you weren’t scared of me, Big sister Priti?" Hidimbi asked with a wide smile showing her sharp fangs.
Priti clung to his left arm.
"J-just a little bit," Priti said.
Now she’s deliberately scaring, and what’s that big sister thing?
"Alright, alright, you guys play aside. I need Hidimbi to test my powers first." Karna changed the topic before they started the scared drama again.
Lysa, Priti, and Mina nodded and moved steps away with swords in their hands and excited smiles on their face, but they didn’t start playing; they just watched him, probably curious to see what he was going to do.
Well, I wasn’t going to do anything fancy.
Karna first thought his divine blessing just copied the magical powers of others. But it seemed he was dead wrong.
He was feeling a change in his strength; at first, he was like a peak human. Now he felt like he was superhuman.
It wasn’t like his strength increased permanently or came into his body — where he could break things accidentally, no. It was more like his strength only increased when he really desired to use it, like his other powers.
His strength increased according to his need, or he just had perfect control over it, so maybe that’s why it felt like that.
"Hidimbi, let’s duel. I want to test my divine blessing. Don’t worry, we were not fighting. Come here.’’
Hidimbi nodded. She walked forward and stood in front of him,
’’Try to push me back with just your strength,’’ Karna said as he raised his hands.
Hidimbi nodded without question and interlocked her fingers with his.
Karna felt a force on his arms as Hidimbi tried to push him. But it wasn’t much; he could easily manage to hold himself in place.
It confirmed his strength had increased, as he knew Hidimbi was much stronger than him; in the forest, he wasn’t even able to remove her wrist from him.
"Use all your strength, " Karna said.
"Yes, Husband...’’
Karna also used all his strength and tried to push her back. But he wasn’t able to. However, neither was she. This meant their strength was equal.
’’Right, let’s stop, Karna said.
Hidimbi loosened her arms.
"How did you become so strong, husband?’’
’’What do you mean by that? Was I weak earlier? ’’ Karna asked with a teasing grin.
’’Yes’’
Hidimbi didn’t get what he meant.
Karna sighed.
Priti, Lysa, and Mina laughed at him.
Ignoring them, Karna thought about why his strength increased suddenly, as it wasn’t in the forest.
Did he copy Hidimbi’s strength as he touched her? But he also touched her brother; why didn’t he copy his strength? Or did he, but it was gone because he was dead?
But then wasn’t he able to move Hidimbi’s arm back then?
And his strength didn’t, plus. Because if Hidimbi’s strength added to his strength, then she should be stronger. But instead, it just reached her level.
That god should have given me a manual.
Anyway, in conclusion, he did have Hidimbi-level strength, and it was day. When Hidimbi was far weaker than her night self, he copied her strength at night.
So he also copied that quality; his strength would increase at night too, at the same level as hers?
But again, the question was why he didn’t copy Hidimbi’s strength immediately in the forest, or if he did copy it, he just wasn’t using it?
That’s all he can think of right now; maybe he was just not using it, and that time he really thought he couldn’t copy strength.
His divine blessing was a copy of all types of power; Strength was also a power, so of course he would copy it.
Did I already copy all of Hidimi’s maya and abilities?
Even if he did, he just didn’t know what her abilities were. So, to use it, she had to tell him at least that he needed to be aware of what he had, or he had to experiment with it... as abilities didn’t just appear in his mind.
I need to find out about power to use it. Or guess it!