(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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A few minutes later, the sounds of fighting finally died down.
The last of Mahabir Lama's followers hit the ground with a painful groan before losing consciousness.
Mohan Bhargav dusted his hands together as though he had merely finished an afternoon workout rather than dismantling an entire squad of trained fighters.
"Well..."
He looked around the scrapyard littered with unconscious men.
"That should be everyone."
Taking a small communication device from his pocket, he pressed a button.
"The area has been secured."
His tone immediately became professional.
"Target protected."
"Enemy forces neutralized."
"There are multiple police casualties. Dispatch the cleanup and medical teams immediately."
A brief pause followed before a voice answered from the other side.
"Copy that."
"The cleanup division is already en route."
Mohan ended the call and slipped the communicator back into his pocket.
Not far away, hidden behind the remains of a damaged police vehicle, Inspector C.I. Ashok stood completely motionless.
He wasn't hiding anymore.
He had simply...
Stopped functioning.
His brain refused to process what his eyes had witnessed tonight.
He had joined the police believing criminals carried guns.
Knives.
Explosives.
Political influence.
He had prepared for all of those.
Nobody had prepared him...
For this.
He slowly looked toward Rudra.
Then toward Amirtha.
Then Junoo.
Then Mohan.
One controlled rain.
One trapped people inside illusions.
One moved faster than his eyes could follow.
And another had destroyed an entire helicopter using a glowing spear thrown from nearly a hundred meters away.
Ashok slowly removed his police cap.
Scratched his head.
Put it back on.
"...What..."
His voice came out almost mechanically.
"...what did I just witness?"
His breathing became heavier.
His thoughts raced uncontrollably.
'People with superpowers...?'
'Like those comic books I used to read as a child?'
'No... That's impossible.'
Then another thought struck him.
Something that had bothered him since the helicopter exploded.
He slowly turned toward the nearby apartment buildings.
Every window remained closed.
Every balcony remained empty.
Not a single civilian had come outside.
No frightened families.
No curious bystanders.
No people recording videos with their phones.
Nothing.
An entire helicopter had exploded in the middle of Hyderabad.
The blast alone should have drawn hundreds of people onto the streets.
Yet...
The surrounding neighborhood remained eerily silent.
Almost as though tonight's events had been hidden from the rest of the world.
Ashok swallowed.
-Gulp!
"What..."
"...is going on?"
For the first time in his career, the veteran officer felt genuinely lost.
His gaze shifted back toward Rudra's group.
A dangerous thought crossed his mind.
'Should I arrest them?'
The idea survived...
For exactly two seconds.
Then he looked at the dozens of unconscious officers scattered across the street.
Then at the destroyed helicopter.
Then at Yuca, who had single-handedly dismantled trained policemen.
And finally...
At the people who had effortlessly defeated Yuca.
Ashok slowly shook his head.
"No."
"I value my life."
Another thought quietly surfaced.
'Maybe... Maybe it's finally time.'
He pictured his wife.
His children.
Peaceful family dinners.
Weekend outings.
A life without chasing impossible cases.
Ashok let out a long sigh.
"...I'm retiring."
The decision had never felt clearer.
"I've done enough."
"I want to spend time with my family."
The moment that thought settled—
His phone rang.
Ashok looked at the caller ID.
His eyes widened immediately.
Commissioner.
He answered without delay.
"Sir."
The Commissioner's voice was calm.
But carried unmistakable authority.
"Ashok."
"I've already been informed."
Ashok blinked caught off guard.
"...Sir?"
"What happened tonight."
"It never happened."
Ashok frowned in confusion.
"Sir... with all due respect..."
"There are dead officers."
"A helicopter exploded."
"How are we supposed to—"
The Commissioner interrupted him.
"The cleanup team is already on its way."
Ashok froze hearing the words.
"Cleanup team?"
"Yes."
"Their cleanup team."
The Commissioner deliberately emphasized the word.
"The people currently standing in that scrapyard."
Ashok instinctively looked toward Rudra and the others.
His grip around the phone tightened.
"...You know them?"
A brief silence answered him.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Then—
"I know enough."
The Commissioner's voice became noticeably more serious.
"You are to leave immediately."
"Bring your surviving officers."
"Secure no evidence."
"Question no one."
"And under absolutely no circumstances..."
"...interfere with them."
Ashok's heartbeat quickened.
"...Understood, sir."
"There will be a briefing once you arrive."
The line disconnected.
Ashok slowly lowered the phone from his ear.
His mind was even more confused than before.
The Police Commissioner...
Already knew. Not only knew.
He seemed to be cooperating with them.
Supporting them. Protecting them.
"...Who exactly are these people?"
He whispered to himself.
One final look toward Rudra's group.
Then toward the burning wreckage of the helicopter.
Finally, Ashok silently gestured for his surviving officers to withdraw.
Without another word, the remaining policemen began leaving the scrapyard.
None of them noticed that, high above the clouds, several faint streaks of light were already descending toward Hyderabad.
The cleanup team had arrived.
And by sunrise...
There would be almost no trace that tonight's impossible battle had ever taken place.
The rain had finally slowed to a gentle drizzle.
The fierce downpour summoned by Amirtha had done its job. The flames consuming the helicopter were gone, the smoke had disappeared, and the sounds of battle had been replaced by an almost eerie silence.
The scrapyard looked like a battlefield after a war.
Twisted sheets of metal lay scattered everywhere.
The unconscious followers of Mahabir Lama had already been restrained by Mohan using Astra bindings, while Yuca remained trapped inside Junoo's illusion, her body standing motionless as she continued sinking deeper into an imaginary desert only she could see.
Junoo glanced at her handiwork before smiling to herself.
"She'll be dreaming for quite a while."
Mohan laughed.
"Remind me never to make you angry."
"I wasn't angry."
Junoo shrugged innocently.
"I was just... creatively persuasive."
Amirtha rolled her eyes.
"You call psychological torture 'creative persuasion.'"
"It sounds nicer."
A few minutes later, everyone gathered beneath the rusted roof of the scrapyard workshop.
An old wooden table had been cleared, and everyone took whatever seat they could find.
Rudra rested his spear against the wall before sitting down opposite Vedha.
Amirtha quietly prepared a few cups of hot tea using an old kettle she found lying around, while Mapu and Sebastian watched the entire scene with expressions that still hadn't recovered from the night's events.
They had gone from repairing scrap vehicles...
To sitting beside legendary Astra users.
It all felt surreal.
For several moments, nobody spoke.
Finally, Rudra broke the silence.
"Start from the beginning."
His voice remained calm.
"Tell us everything."
Vibya nodded.
She took a deep breath before beginning.
"My Guru entrusted me with a mission before I left the Ashram."
Her expression gradually became solemn.
"My task was simple."
She looked toward Vedha.
"I was supposed to find him."
Vedha blinked.
"Me?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"My Guru believed your time had finally come."
"You were supposed to return with me."
"To the Ashram."
"So that your training could finally begin."
Vedha looked genuinely confused.
"My training?"
"I don't even know anything about Astras."
"Exactly."
Vibya smiled sadly.
"That is why I was sent."
Her smile slowly faded.
"But..."
She lowered her head.
"...that mission no longer exists."
Everyone quietly waited.
Vibya's voice became noticeably softer.
"The messenger pigeon..."
"The tracker..."
"Yuca..."
She slowly clenched her fists.
"They confirmed what I had been refusing to believe."
Her eyes became moist.
"My Ashram..."
"...has already been destroyed."
Silence immediately filled the room.
Mapu and Sebastian looked at each other.
Even though they had only heard bits and pieces about Vibya's past, they understood what those words meant.
Everything she had called home...
Was gone.
"The people who raised me..."
"The teachers who taught me..."
"The disciples I grew up with..."
She closed her eyes.
"...Mahabir destroyed them."
No one interrupted her.
Sometimes...
Silence was more respectful than words.
After a few moments, Vibya took another deep breath.
"I don't even know if anyone survived."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"So..."
She looked helplessly toward Rudra.
"I no longer know where to take Vedha."
The room fell silent once again.
Rudra quietly observed her.
He understood that look.
Someone who had completed their mission...
Only to discover there was no destination left.
Finally, Vedha spoke.
"Actually..."
Everyone looked at him.
"There is something."
Vibya frowned.
"What?"
Vedha scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"I've... been having dreams."
Junoo immediately leaned forward with interest.
"Dreams?"
Vedha nodded.
"Ever since I was little."
"They're strange."
"Broken."
"Like pieces of someone else's memories."
He looked toward the floor while trying to organize his thoughts.
"My mother..."
"...used to tell me stories."
"About a weapon."
Rudra's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A weapon?"
Vedha nodded.
"The only weapon capable of stopping Mahabir Lama."
The atmosphere instantly became serious.
Even Junoo stopped joking.
Vedha continued slowly.
"My mother always said..."
"'When the darkness rises again...'"
"'The path to the weapon will reveal itself.'"
He frowned.
"But..."
"I can't remember the rest."
"It's like..."
"Someone erased parts of my memory."
He tapped his forehead in frustration.
"I know it's here."
"I know I heard it."
"I just..."
"...can't remember."
Vibya immediately understood.
She moved her chair slightly closer.
"Your mother..."
"Ambika Prajapati."
Vedha nodded silently.
"She knew this day would come."
"She must have hidden the truth inside your memories."
"Not because she wanted to keep it from you..."
"...but because she wanted to protect it until the right time."
Vedha let out a helpless sigh.
"That doesn't really help if I can't remember anything."
A faint smile appeared on Vibya's face.
"It does."
Vedha looked up.
"Because memory isn't always recalled."
She gently pointed toward his chest.
"Sometimes..."
"It has to be awakened."
Everyone listened carefully.
Vibya continued.
"There are meditation techniques taught in the Astra world."
"They don't create memories."
"They simply remove the barriers preventing you from reaching them."
She looked toward Rudra.
"I learned a few of them."
"Perhaps..."
"If we guide him carefully..."
"He may remember what Ambika wanted him to remember."
Rudra remained thoughtful for a long moment.
Everything was beginning to fit together.
Mahabir Lama wasn't simply hunting the guardians.
He was racing against time.
If Vedha truly carried the location of the ancient weapon within his memories...
Then Mahabir would never allow him the chance to remember it.
Finally, Rudra nodded.
"We'll recover your memories."
He looked directly at Vedha.
"But not here."
His gaze shifted toward the ruined scrapyard.
"The enemy already knows this location."
"They'll come again."
"And next time..."
His eyes briefly drifted toward the illusion-bound Yuca.
"...they won't underestimate us."
The room grew quiet.
Everyone understood.
Tonight had only been the opening move.
The real battle...
Had yet to begin.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
Guys My New Fic name is:
-->Karuppan: King of Openings.
Check it out... I hope you will like it
Whats your thought's guys.
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review!!! And power stone too!!!
Guys it will motivate me more?