Harun sat on the broken cot, unmoving.
The wood creaked faintly beneath his weight, but he didn't notice. His elbows rested on his knees, fingers interlocked so tightly that the skin around his knuckles had turned white. The room was small, poorly lit, carved out of stone that still carried the cold of the night. A single lantern burned near the wall, its flame flickering like it was unsure whether it wanted to live.
His thoughts were louder than any sound Boulderra could make.
Let him die.
The words echoed again.
And again.
And again.
"Why…?" Harun whispered, his voice barely audible even to himself. "Why would someone say that so easily?"
He leaned back slowly, staring at the cracked ceiling above him, as if the answer might be written there.
"Is Boulderra really that cruel a place?" he muttered. "Or does this place turn people cruel over time?"
The memory of the court rose uninvited—Rehman's calm face, his steady voice, the way the law bent reality without hesitation. No anger. No malice.
Just certainty.
Gohan warned us.
Harun's jaw tightened.
"He kept instructing us," Harun said quietly. "Again and again. Maybe… this is why."
Then another thought cut deeper.
Sahil.
Harun closed his eyes.
"Where did they send you?" he whispered into the silence. "What kind of place are you in right now?"
His chest tightened painfully.
"If you were here," Harun said, voice breaking just a little, "you wouldn't have left me alone in that court. You'd have stood beside me… even if it meant dying."
A bitter breath escaped his lips.
"And yet… my team…"
Images flashed through his mind like broken frames—Mira crashing into stone, Kunal thrown across the hall, Ishan forcing himself to stand when gravity itself wanted him dead.
"They fought," Harun said. "They didn't hesitate."
His gaze dropped to the floor.
"Especially Ishan," he murmured. "He tried his best… even when Rehman's Dravillian Stone felt impossible."
Silence filled the room.
"For the first time," Harun admitted softly, "I felt helpless."
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Harun didn't turn.
"I knew you wouldn't be asleep," a voice said calmly.
Harun glanced over his shoulder.
Omair stood near the doorway, hands tucked into his pockets, posture relaxed but eyes sharp—always watching, always measuring.
"Yeah," Harun replied. "Sleep isn't coming."
He exhaled slowly. "I keep thinking… how can someone be that cruel?"
Omair leaned against the wall. "Ignore it."
Then he tilted his head slightly. "But answer me this—how did you know about Azaldera? And Gautam?"
Harun hesitated.
"You've been here barely a day," Omair continued. "That kind of knowledge doesn't come from rumors."
Harun swallowed.
"I hear whispers," he said.
Omair stiffened. "What?"
"Whispers," Harun repeated. "In my ear. In my head."
Omair's gaze sharpened.
"During the court," Harun continued, "I heard a voice. It told me—destroy the court."
Omair didn't interrupt.
"And when you were talking about the Dragon Seal," Harun said, "the same voice whispered two names."
He paused.
"Gautam. Azaldera."
Omair's expression darkened immediately.
"Don't take Gautam's name lightly," he warned. "He controls too many people here. Everything he does is for one reason."
"To bring back his god," Harun said.
Omair nodded.
"That's madness," Harun muttered.
"Who cares?" Omair replied coldly. "If Azaldera returns, the world won't stay the same."
Harun stood up.
"Then I'll help you stop it."
Omair studied him, something unreadable passing through his eyes.
Before he could respond—
"Help…!"
The scream tore through the night.
Harun froze.
Omair's head snapped toward the sound.
Again—
"HELP!"
Omair's expression changed instantly.
He looked down the street.
Fifteen figures stood under the lantern glow, weapons glinting. Sand twisted unnaturally around their feet like living veins.
And there—cornered against a wall—stood a small girl.
Omair shouted
"AQSAAAA!"
The girl's head snapped up.
"Omair Brother save mee!" she cried.
The air warped.
Omair vanished.
His eyes flared red as he reappeared inside the circle.
"Adipol—STOP."
Reality resisted.
The sand handlers slowed, their movements dragging like they were pushing against invisible weight.
Omair twisted sharply.
"Adipol—HAND TWIST."
Bones cracked.
A sand pin shot toward him.
Omair twisted aside, the projectile slicing past his shoulder.
Harun didn't think.
Didn't hesitate.
He jumped.
The brass knuckles slid onto his hand in one smooth motion. Light surged violently around his fist.
"LIGHT SURGE—PUNCH!"
The blow smashed into a sand handler's chest, sending him flying.
Harun followed relentlessly.
"Jab—jab—cross—hook!"
Each strike landed with explosive precision.
"Counter—jab—cross—counter—hook—cross—cross—UPPERCUT!"
The final blow lifted the man off his feet. He crashed to the ground, unconscious.
"HARUN!" Mira's voice rang out.
She arrived in a blur.
"Dash—SPEAR KICK!"
Two sand handlers went down instantly.
Ishan's fists hardened into stone. Kunal's axe tore through the air.
They fought like a unit.
Harun poured more light into his knuckles.
"GRINGLY PUNCH!"
Another enemy fell.
Kunal laughed breathlessly. "Wow, Harun—new attack unlocked?"
Harun smirked. "Nah. Same move. Just changed the name."
They pushed forward—
And then the world changed.
A terrifying aura washed over the street.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps echoed—slow, heavy.
A giant shadow emerged.
Raj.
Eleven feet tall. Muscular beyond reason. Grey hair, dark eyes. A massive scar across his chest where a Dravillian Stone burned with hellfire.
Raj stepped forward.
Harun moved first—driving a knee straight toward Raj's eye.
For Raj, it was nothing.
Raj tilted his head.
"You can move," he said. "Even after feeling my aura."
Then—
SLAP.
Harun vanished into the ground, buried nearly two feet deep.
"HARUN!" Mira screamed.
She dashed.
"Dash—SPINNING BLOW!"
Raj caught her leg and smashed her repeatedly into the ground. Bones cracked. She went limp.
Kunal charged with his hammer.
Raj elbowed him.
Kunal flew over a hundred meters, crashing into rubble.
Ishan attacked.
Raj answered with a knee strike.
Ishan collapsed.
Omair shouted—
"ADIPOL—STOP!
ADIPOL—STRENGTH DECREASE!"
Reality strained.
Raj hurled Omair away.
Mira fell from Raj's grip, unconscious—one arm bent wrong.
Raj turned toward Aqsa.
Before he could touch her—
Harun rose from the crater.
Blood streamed down his face.
"ASSHOLE," he growled, eyes burning, "she's my little sister."
"No one touches her."
Aqsa cried, "Big bro—help me!"
Harun vanished.
Reappeared.
His fist smashed into Raj's finger—damaging it.
Raj froze.
For the first time—
He was angry.
"HELLFLAME—THE PHOENIX!"
Fire erupted.
Kunal stepped in front.
"SHIELD!"
Barely—barely—he blocked it.
Raj raised his hand again.
"ASTEROID—LAVA—PULL!"
The ground turned into hell.
Lava bubbled. Heat screamed. The street became an inferno.
Harun grabbed Aqsa and placed her safely on a rooftop.
He turned back, eyes blazing.
"LIGHT BEAM!"
The battlefield shook.
Kunal transformed his arm into a five-foot hammer and slammed it into Raj's guard.
This time—
Raj felt it.
Crack.
Mira reappeared, spinning.
Ishan launched a terrabyte spear kick.
Raj staggered.
Then—
A sand handler rushed in.
"Master… they're calling you back."
Raj clicked his tongue. "Shit. Something serious must've happened."
He looked at them all.
"I'll let you live today," Raj said. "Next time—I'll kill you."
And he vanished.
The lava cooled.
The night returned.
Harun stood there, breathing heavily—alive.
And Boulderra remembered his name.