Master Madhu looked at the two burning boys with a cold, unyielding gaze. "Okay. If you want power, you must pay the price in blood. Pushkal, to kill a high-level demon of the Mokura Clan, you need to learn the forbidden Black Body technique. And Rudra... you need to completely control your overflowing cosmic powers before the seven days are up."
Without waiting for a response, Madhu suddenly brought his palms together.
CLAP!
A sharp, dimensional shockwave tore through the courtyard. Instantly, the fabric of reality shattered, and both Rudra and Pushkal were violently pulled into two completely separate parallel dimensions. Rudra vanished into a space meant to compress his god-tier energy, while Pushkal dropped heavily onto a cold, endless pitch-black floor.
Madhu's ethereal voice echoed from the void above Pushkal. "In this dimension, your training begins with your soul. Tell me, Pushkal... what is your deepest, most terrifying fear?"
Pushkal swallowed hard, looking around the dark, suffocating space. His voice trembled, but he spoke the truth. "M-Mine... my greatest fear is ghosts."
"Excellent," Madhu's voice replied coldly. "Then fight them."
Suddenly, the temperature in the dimension dropped to absolute zero. The dark air began to warp, and thousands of screeching, grotesque, and vengeful spirits materialized from the void. Countless horrifying ghosts completely surrounded Pushkal, their hollow eyes locking onto him with pure hunger.
"No... NO!" Pushkal screamed with raw fear, backing away as the spiritual pressure pinned him to the ground.
Before he could even raise his fists, the horde of ghosts swarmed him like starved beasts. Their spectral jaws tore into his flesh.
"AAAHHHHHHH!!!" Pushkal shrieked in absolute, agonizing pain as the ghosts started violently biting, tearing, and literally eating Pushkal's body alive.
Madhu's voice boomed over his agonizing screams. "If you cannot conquer your fear while your flesh is being consumed, your soul will die here, Pushkal! Awaken the Black Body, or become g
host food!"The agonizing screams of Pushkal echoed endlessly through the dark parallel dimension. The horrific, starved ghosts kept tearing into his flesh, ripping away chunks of his spiritual vitality. The sheer volume of fear and physical trauma was too much; Pushkal's legs finally gave out, refusing to support his weight anymore.
He collapsed, lying helplessly on the cold floor. But the monsters didn't stop. They swarmed over his fallen frame, continuing to devour his body alive.
'Is this where I die?' Pushkal thought, his vision beginning to blur. 'Am I really this weak?'
No. He refused to let it end like this. A sudden, burning spark of raw defiance flared deep within his fading consciousness. He didn't want to die a coward. He wanted to look his executioners in the eyes. With a desperate surge of willpower, Pushkal gathered the very last drop of his remaining energy and forced his broken body back up onto his feet.
"Get off me!" Pushkal roared, throwing a wild, heavy punch straight at the nearest specter.
He swung his fists frantically, trying to smash the ghosts to pieces. But it was useless. The creatures had no physical mass—they shifted like liquid, flowing around his knuckles, and dissolved into elusive smoke the moment his hands made contact. His normal human attacks couldn't touch them at all.
As the overwhelming despair threatened to swallow him again, a sudden vision flashed before his eyes. In the swirling mist of the dark dimension, he clearly saw Geta's face looking right back at him, smiling just like she used to on the roads of Vijayawada.
The memory of his fallen best friend hit him like a lightning bolt, rewriting the very chemistry of his soul. The grief instantly transformed into an unyielding, unbreakable pillar of strength.
"Geta..." Pushkal wept, his voice echoing with absolute clarity across the void. "I love you, Geta! I swear to God... I will never marry anyone else in my entire life! You are the only one for me!"
That sacred vow became his ultimate weapon. Pushkal turned his gaze back to the towering horde of grotesque spirits, his eyes completely changing. The paralyzing terror vanished, replaced by an immovable, terrifying courage. He stood tall, facing the scariest ghosts in the dimension with a fearless, iron resolve.
As he completely conquered his fear, a strange, volatile cosmic reaction triggered within his veins. The overwhelming survival instinct and his vow of love drew the dark energy of the dimension straight into his right side.
"My fear..." Pushkal whispered, staring at his limbs. "I don't fear you anymore. My fear is now my power!"
SHWAAAA!
In a flash of blinding, negative energy, Pushkal's entire right hand began to turn pitch black, hardening into an obsidian-like armor. The darkness rapidly traveled up his limb, transforming his entire arm into a massive, heavily muscled, and ultra-powerful weapon of destruction. The raw, dense kinetic pressure radiating from his black arm was so immense that it literally caused the liquid space around him to warp.
The Black Body technique had officially awakened.
Pushkal raised his glowing, obsidian fist, locking his eyes onto the screaming ghosts. This time, they weren't facing a helpless victim. They were facing
an executioner.