The girl slowly regained consciousness. Seeing Jaspreet slumped inside the battered cockpit of the Rhino Armour, she cried out, "Wait! I know you want to avenge your leader, I understand your pain—but we have to be smart about this!"
"My head is spinning and I've lost everything. You don't know anything, so stay quiet!" Jaspreet snapped, his voice cracking.
"Oh, I don't?" she countered, standing firmly in front of him. "Look around you with your own eyes. Those dead commandos? They were my friends. I want Nazim dead just as much as you do. But while your friends and those two commandos are distracting those monsters, we have to escape. We need to alert the Army, the Special Forces—the whole of India—about this threat!"
Jaspreet wiped his tears, his resolve hardening. "Fine. How do I turn this back into a truck?"
"There's a red button on the side," she guided. "Press it and command: Transform."
The Rhino Armoured Bot shifted and folded, returning to its heavy truck form. The two scrambled into the front seats, and Jaspreet floored the accelerator, tearing away from the ruins.
Behind them, the atmosphere grew suffocating. Two commandos in a remaining Rhino Bot were locked in a desperate struggle with the Lizard Monster. Nearby, Kashi and Vijay engaged Nazim, who seemed to be growing more powerful by the second. Vijay, piloting a heavy bot, blocked Nazim's monstrous blows, while Kashi, enhanced by his Exo-suit, delivered a barrage of lightning-fast punches and kicks to the creature's vital points.
"Take this! And this, you bastard!" Vijay roared, slamming the bot's metallic fists.
Kashi's mind raced. How is he still standing? A strike to these vitals would paralyze a world-class martial artist, yet he doesn't even flinch. My suit multiplies my strength fivefold, but it's not enough. Vijay's armor is smoking... the plating is buckling. Don't lose hope, Kashi. Help is coming. Sir Iyer must be sending reinforcements.
Suddenly, Vijay let out a primal scream. "Nazim! This one is for the Captain! Mega Rhino Bazooka PUNCH!"
The massive fist slammed into Nazim's stomach, sending the monster reeling back into the air. Seizing the moment, Vijay leapt up and brought both fists down in a hammer-smash onto Nazim's head. The impact shattered the ground as Nazim crashed down.
Vijay moved to strike again, but Nazim's hands shot up, catching the bot's massive wrists. With a guttural growl, Nazim kicked the chest of the Rhino Bot, sending the multi-ton machine flying.
"Nazim!" Kashi screamed. He hoisted the jagged remains of a destroyed truck and hurled it at the monster.
Nazim swatted the debris away with his left hand and lunged, his right hand snaring Kashi mid-air. He squeezed, the metal of Kashi's suit groaning. "You think learning a few tricks makes you a match for a lion, little dog?"
From the wreckage, Vijay began firing the bot's mounted guns, his breath heavy and blood streaming down his face.
"Tch... you're a nuisance," Nazim hissed. He hurled Kashi's broken form toward the treeline. Kashi hit a massive boulder with a sickening thud; his suit, already compromised, couldn't absorb the shock. His leg snapped at an unnatural angle, and blood began to pool in his mouth.
Nazim then turned his attention to Vijay. He leapt onto the bot, the ground cracking under his weight. As he roared, his body surged, muscles tearing and reforming until he stood eleven feet tall. With a terrifying display of strength, he gripped the Rhino Bot and tore it in two.
He plucked Vijay from the wreckage. Vijay, battered and dying, looked past the monster toward Kashi. He smiled weakly. Partner... my lovely partner. It was a joy to serve our first mission together. I guess my time is up. I'll see you in the next life.
"Whaaa-ha-ha! Nothing left to say?" Nazim mocked. In one swift, horrific motion, he ended Vijay's life.
"No... VIJAY!" Kashi's voice was a ragged whisper. He watched in agony as his friend fell. "Is this the end? Where is the help? God, why?"
His grief curdled into a cold, dark rage. "I swear, Nazim... even if it takes seven lifetimes, I will hunt you down. I will make you beg for a death I will not grant. I am your doom. I am your Kaal."
The pain and trauma finally took their toll, and Kashi drifted into unconsciousness. Nazim, uninterested in the fallen boy, moved to the Lizard Monster, which was being pinned down by the last two commandos. He kicked the bots aside and pulverized them with a flurry of blows until they exploded.
"The work here is done," Nazim growled to the lizard. "Time to strike the heart of the country." They leapt toward the South, vanishing into the night. Behind them, Kangari Village lay in ruins—a graveyard of burning steel and silent homes.
Time: 2:30 AM
Deep within the jungle, the air hummed with forbidden power. Acharya Tantrik and his followers were deep in a ritual, chanting mantras that drew unnatural spirits into a glowing star-shaped seal on the ground. At the center, a sacrificial mound—the Yagaya Pind—began to form out of the earth itself.
Floating nearby was Mohna, a Dayan of terrifying beauty. Her ash-colored skin and golden eyes glowed in the dark. She wore a tattered red choli and golden bangles that chimed with a ghostly ring. Using a "Spirit-to-Spirit" lip-syncing technique, she spoke directly into Kunal's mind.
"Kunal, focus on gathering the Death Qi. I will stabilize the mound. You will need immense power to face that demon."
"Be careful, Mohna," Kunal replied through the same mental link. "If the Acharya senses you, he will absorb your essence and destroy you."
Kunal sat cross-legged, his hands hovering near his navel. As he chanted, black flames of "Ki" began to spiral into his body. A purple mana aura erupted around him, and a violent wind whipped through the clearing.
Suddenly, the ground buckled. Seven massive black spirits erupted from the earth, shrieking with a sound that tore at the soul. Five of the weaker tantriks panicked and broke the circle. The spirits lunged instantly, draining the life from them until they were nothing but withered husks.
"You dare try to bind us?" one spirit hissed, looming over Kunal. "You are but a maggot!"
But before the spirits could strike, they were slammed into the dirt by an invisible, crushing weight. They writhed, pinned like iron to a magnet.
"Who... who possesses such spiritual pressure?" the spirits gasped, looking up into the shadows of the trees. Their arrogance turned to terror. "Forgive us! Mercy!"
Mohna smirked. "Perfect. More fuel for my master."
With a wave of her hand, she compressed the seven spirits into a dense sphere of energy and forced it into Kunal's navel. Kunal's purple aura flared with blinding intensity, his power reaching a terrifying new peak.
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UPCOMING: Awakening of trauma...