Arjuna's hand remained on the bowstring, but the hesitation in his eyes slowly disappeared. He looked once more at Draupadi standing behind him, then at Bhima, who was holding Karna tightly from behind.
Finally, he lowered his gaze for a moment and began chanting another mantra.
Karna immediately recognized it.
His expression changed, but he did not struggle against Bhima anymore. Instead, he became completely still. The muscles across his shoulders and arms tightened beneath Bhima's crushing hold, his feet planted firmly against the earth, his back straight despite the pressure around his chest. He closed his eyes.
The wind around them began changing even before Arjuna completed the invocation. Loose dust lifted from the ground and moved in small circles around the horses. Karna watched the effects of the mantra until he understood exactly what Arjuna intended to do.
*Vayavyastra.*
If released while Bhima held him, the force would strike Karna directly, and the blast could throw him far enough away to create the opening Arjuna needed.
Karna could have tried to break Bhima's hold before the invocation was complete, but he chose not to. There was something almost bitter in the realization that he had reached this point with them. He had offered them a path back. He had warned them. He had promised to speak to Drupada. Yet every answer they gave had brought another escalation.
Karna kept his eyes closed until Arjuna completed the mantra.
Then Arjuna shouted, "Brother Bhima! Free him and jump away! Now..."
Bhima understood immediately. He released Karna and sprang backward just as Arjuna drew the bowstring fully and released the Vayavyastra. The arrow disappeared into a violent current of wind that formed around it, the air suddenly screaming as the Divyastra raced toward Karna.
Karna opened his eyes. He did not retreat. Instead, he called out, "Come to me."
The word was directed toward the divine chariot behind him, not at Arjuna's divyastra. The golden chariot responded immediately. The divine mace that had been resting within it rose into the air without anyone touching it and flew toward Karna, moving against the force of the gathering wind. It came directly in front of him just as the Vayavyastra reached him.
The weapon struck the mace with tremendous force.
*Ting*
The wind exploded outward, but the divine mace split the current instead of allowing the entire force to pass through.
The violent stream divided into two—one current rushing past Karna's left side and the other past his right—reducing the direct force of the Divyastra but still producing enough pressure to throw both men backward.
Bhima's feet slipped against the ground, his body losing balance as the wind pushed him sideways. Karna's grip closed around the mace at precisely that moment. He felt the weight settle into his hand. Then he turned.
There was almost no pause between those movements. Karna spun with the mace, using the force of his rotation and the remaining momentum of the wind, and brought the weapon directly into Bhima's abdomen. The impact was brutal.
"Gaah"
Bhima's body folded around the strike, his mouth opening as blood escaped with a violent cough, and then he was thrown several meters through the air before crashing onto the ground. Dust rose around him. His body rolled once and stopped.
"Brother Bhima!" Arjuna shouted.
Whatever anger had been driving him moments earlier vanished beneath panic.
He rushed toward Bhima, running past Karna and dropping beside his brother. Bhima was barely conscious, his breathing heavy and uneven. The divine mace had left deep injuries across his body, several ribs fractured from the force of the blow. It was not an injury that threatened his life, but it was serious enough to put him out of the fight for a considerable time. Bhima tried to move and immediately grimaced from the pain.
Arjuna placed a hand against his shoulder. "Brother, stay still."
Bhima's eyes opened slightly, but even he understood that he could not simply stand again. His chest hurt with every breath, and the pain running through his ribs made even the smallest movement difficult.
Karna stood several steps away with the divine mace still in his hand. He looked at Bhima for a moment, then at Arjuna. His face did not show satisfaction. There was no pride in what had just happened. Instead, there was disappointment, and beneath that disappointment was something harsher.
"Never in this world did I expect such underhanded tactics from a Noble Prince Panduputra," Karna said. His voice carried clearly across the road. "Your guru has taught you such tactics of warfare?" He paused, his eyes fixed on Arjuna. "Surely, he would have done it. I have no doubt about that."
Karna had certain displeasure toward Dronacharya. Whatever respect he possessed for the man's knowledge of weapons, he had never liked the man himself. There were a few things about Drona that Karna didn't like. He didn't even consider Dronacharya a respected Guru, for he demanded revenge and half a kingdom for his son as Gurudakshina, as if he put a price on his teaching like a merchant. He hurt Ekalavya to protect Arjuna's future. He didn't train under Parashurama, despite being called his disciple. He merely received the knowledge of warfare and weapons as part of a donation held by Lord Parashurama.
Now, seeing Arjuna use a Divyastra while Bhima restrained an opponent, Karna felt that old resentment rise again.
*So this is what his teaching has given you,* he thought bitterly. *Skill without restraint.*
Arjuna's face changed immediately. The moment Karna spoke about Drona, the Guru he respects the most in the world, whatever hesitation had remained inside him disappeared.
Anger rose sharply through his chest, hot and immediate. He stood, leaving Bhima beside him, and turned toward Karna with his face reddened.
"How dare you speak ill of my guru!" His voice shook with anger. "Yes, you are strong. You are much stronger than us combined. But that does not give you the right to mock us. It does not give you the right to insult my guru. And it certainly does not give you the right to do whatever you wish simply because no one here can stop you!"
The words came quickly, driven by anger rather than calculation. Karna listened without interrupting. He could understand why Arjuna was angry. A disciple's loyalty toward his teacher was not something he took lightly. Yet the very fact that Arjuna was now defending Drona while ignoring what had just happened made Karna's disappointment deeper. He had wanted Arjuna to be better than this. Perhaps that was why his words had been harsher than necessary. He had expected more from him.
Arjuna raised his bow again. His breathing was heavy. His eyes were fixed on Karna.
"If the Divyastras of the Devas cannot defeat you," he declared, "then I will attack with a greater power."
Karna's expression changed.
Arjuna began chanting.
And not as a murmur.
He chanted aloud.
"O namo brahmay namah
smaran matren prakatay prakatay,
sheeghram aagachch aagachch,
mama sarvashatru nasay naashay,
shatru senyam nashya nashya ghatay ghataya marya marya
hum phat"
Karna's eyes widened in surprise.
"The Brahmastra…"
The word escaped his lips almost without thought.
Arjuna continued the invocation, his voice growing steadier as he repeated the mantra taught to him by Dronacharya. The air around him began to change. The sky above them gradually took on a reddish hue, as though the light itself had been altered by the weapon being called forth. The ground beneath their feet began to tremble subtly. It was not yet a violent shaking, but enough to make loose stones shift against one another.
An arrow began forming in Arjuna's hand. It was unlike an ordinary arrow. Its tip took the shape of a lotus, and a strange radiance gathered around the weapon as the mantra reached its final stages.
Karna stared at it. For the first time since the confrontation had begun, genuine shock crossed his face.
*Brahmastra.*
He had expected Arjuna to continue fighting. He had expected another Divyastra. He had not expected this. His disappointment became something much heavier.
"Arjuna," Karna said quietly.
Arjuna did not stop.
"Embroiled in anger, today you have crossed the limits." The red light above them deepened. Karna's voice became firmer. "The Brahmastra is meant to be invoked to uphold dharma, not for selfish reasons."
Arjuna continued chanting, repeating the same verse of the mantra that has to be chanted ten times to invoke the Brahmastra.
Karna looked at him for several moments, and then his expression hardened.
*Even if you are my younger siblings by blood,* he thought, carrying the weight of the realization he had kept hidden for so long, *today I cannot forgive you for disrespecting Lord Brahma by invoking his astra in such a situation.*
Karna raised his hand. The air around him became still for a moment. Then he too began chanting the mantra of the Brahmastra.
Arjuna's expression changed, but he didn't stop either.
And Karna continued to chant the same mantra.
The ground began to shake more noticeably now. Dust lifted from the road. The horses grew restless, pulling against their reins as the air around them became charged with an unfamiliar force. Thunder rolled across the sky even though there had been no storm moments earlier. The reddish light above them spread farther, staining the clouds and the surrounding landscape with an ominous glow.
Arjuna completed his invocation. The Brahmastra in his hand burned with concentrated power.
However, he didn't attack Karna, who was in the middle of chanting the same mantra.
Instead, he waited.
Soon, Karna completed his own. Another Brahmastra materialized before him.
For a few moments neither warrior moved.
Arjuna stood with his bow drawn, the lotus-tipped weapon ready in his grasp. Karna stood opposite him, holding his own Brahmastra. Around them lay the injured Bhima and the stunned Draupadi, while the two horses stood trembling behind them.
The wind grew stronger. Thunder sounded again. The earth shook beneath their feet.
Two Brahmastras had now been invoked, pointing at one another.