The royal court of Bithur was glowing with celebration just moments ago.
Ministers, nobles, scholars — all stood present. Pandit Narayan Bhatt and the delegation from Jhansi waited with hopeful eyes.
Silence fell as Moropant looked once at his daughter… then at the gathered faces.
"We accept this proposal," he declared firmly.
For a heartbeat, the world paused.
Then joy erupted across the hall.
Smiles. Relieved sighs. Bright whispers.
The alliance with Jhansi was sealed.
Even Bajirao laughed in disbelief.
"Our Mannu… the Queen of Jhansi. I still cannot believe it."
Nana Saheb smirked proudly.
"We always knew royalty was written in her destiny."
At that very moment, Manikarnika's gaze drifted upward—
To Venkatesh, who hovered silently in spirit form.
But destiny did not wait.
---
The Storm Arrives
The heavy doors of the darbar opened.
British boots echoed against polished stone.
One by one, red-coated soldiers entered.
Behind them—
George.
And beside him, dressed in commanding red uniform—
Nelson.
The air turned cold.
Bajirao forced a polite smile.
"Welcome, George sahib. How may we serve you?"
George gestured calmly.
"This is Sir Warren Nelson. He is here on official duty."
Nelson stepped forward, pulling out a folded document.
"Your Highness," he began smoothly, "I am tasked with arresting individuals connected to terrorist activities against the Crown. I have been searching for a particular criminal."
He unfolded the paper.
"And today… I am here to arrest that criminal."
The hall stiffened.
Bajirao's voice hardened.
"Whom are you speaking of?"
Nelson's lips curved.
"Krantiguru. Also known as… Manikarnika. Or as you lovingly call her—Chabili."
The words fell like thunder.
Shock spread through the court.
Bajirao rose to his feet in fury.
"Do you even understand whose name you speak?!"
Nelson chuckled softly.
"We do not make accusations without proof."
He gestured toward the entrance.
"Bring him."
Two soldiers dragged in a wounded man. His back bore fresh whip marks. Blood stained his clothes.
A revolutionary.
Nelson said calmly,
"This man revealed Krantiguru's true identity."
A soldier struck the prisoner again.
"Tell them," Nelson ordered.
Through pain, the man raised a trembling finger—
And pointed directly at Manikarnika.
Nelson's smile deepened.
---
The Countdown Begins
In that exact moment—
Inside Aarav's mind—
Alarms rang.
A translucent blue screen appeared before his eyes.
{New Mission: Save Manikarnika}
{Time Remaining: 05:00}
A countdown began ticking.
Five minutes.
Nelson raised his hand.
"Arrest her."
Bajirao exploded in rage.
"Touch her and I swear by the Maratha blood in my veins, I will cut off your head!"
Nelson replied coldly,
"We have court authorization. Interfere, and Bithur will suffer the consequences."
The tension was suffocating.
Bajirao declared loudly,
"If protecting our Chabili means war with the British, then so be it!"
Nelson's eyes gleamed.
"So you choose war?"
Aarav stepped forward urgently.
"Your Highness, this is his trap! He wants Bithur destroyed!"
But before the situation could ignite—
Manikarnika stepped ahead.
"Dada Saheb… please. Stay calm."
Her voice was steady.
Then she turned toward Nelson.
"I surrender."
Gasps echoed.
Nelson signaled his men forward with shackles.
The countdown read: 03:42
---
The World Speaks
Inside his mind, Aarav clenched his fists.
Hello, World… or whatever you are. If you want me to save her, I need weapons.
The blue interface flickered.
{Cannot interfere in this realm directly}
Aarav gritted his teeth.
"Then why send me here?!"
The screen glowed brighter.
{To act as a rope between worlds}
{To neutralize the timeline}
{Manikarnika is this world's protagonist}
{If she dies, this world collapses}
{Save her}
03:01
Aarav swallowed hard.
"How? I have no magic. No weapons."
{Use Magic}
He almost laughed internally.
"This world has no mana."
{But you do}
{Use your Personal Dimensional Energy}
His heart skipped.
"How do you know about my dimension?"
A pause.
Then the final message appeared—
{You are not the only one with secrets}
{Save the girl, and I will reveal the truth}
{Good Luck}
The screen vanished.
02:27
British soldiers stepped closer with iron shackles.
Manikarnika stood tall.
Fearless.
Aarav closed his eyes.
Deep inside—
Beyond this world—
Something ancient stirred.
Personal Dimensional Energy.
For the first time since arriving here—
He reached for it.
And the air around him…
Shifted.
Aarav suddenly opened his eyes.
In the very next moment, the atmosphere around Nelson and the British soldiers began to change.
The grand royal court that had existed a moment ago seemed to vanish for them.
Instead—
They found themselves standing in a horrifying world.
The sky had turned dark crimson, as if it had been stained with blood. The ground beneath their feet looked cracked and burned, like a land that had suffered endless wars. The air itself carried a nauseating stench of blood and rotting flesh.
Strange creatures roamed everywhere.
Demons.
Some had twisted horns and burning red eyes. Others crawled on the ground with multiple limbs, their jaws filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
And all of them were staring at the British soldiers.
Suddenly—
A massive monster leaped toward Nelson.
"AAAAHHH!"
Nelson screamed in terror and fell to the ground, scrambling backward as the creature lunged at him.
Around him, the other soldiers were already losing their minds.
One soldier dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.
"No… no… stay away from me!" he cried in panic, waving his arms as if trying to push away something invisible.
Another soldier began firing wildly into the air, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
Meanwhile—
Back in the real world, inside the royal court, everyone was staring in utter confusion.
The British soldiers had suddenly started screaming like madmen.
They were swinging their weapons at empty air, falling on the ground, crawling away in terror as if something invisible was attacking them.
The entire court had fallen silent.
Even Mannikarnika looked stunned.
"What… what is happening to them?" someone whispered.
Standing a little distance away, Aarav watched the scene with a faint smirk.
He had used illusion magic.
For the British soldiers, the monsters were real.
They could see them.
They could hear them.
They could even feel their claws tearing into their flesh.
But in reality—
Nothing was there.
The soldiers continued screaming as if they were being slaughtered by demons, and the courtiers began whispering among themselves, some even laughing in disbelief at the bizarre sight.
Soon, the terrified soldiers began running.
They fled from the court in complete panic.
Aarav silently controlled the illusion, guiding them farther and farther away from the palace… and eventually away from the entire state.
Deep inside their minds, the nightmare continued.
The monsters chased them relentlessly.
Claws tore into their bodies.
Teeth ripped their flesh apart.
And strangely—
The wounds they received in the illusion began appearing on their real bodies as well.
Blood soaked their uniforms as they collapsed one after another.
Once upon a time, Aarav had been a Dream Walker.
A rare ability that allowed him to enter dreams… and even kill someone within them.
And if someone died inside a dream—
They died in the real world as well.
After a while, Aarav closed his eyes for a moment.
"That should be enough," he murmured inwardly.
He then turned toward Mannikarnika and spoke calmly.
"For now, those British soldiers are gone."
"But they will come back."
His voice became serious.
"Before that happens… we all need to prepare."
The laughter inside the court gradually faded.
Silence filled the hall.
Moropant Tambe frowned slightly and spoke in a worried tone.
"Fighting the British government will not be easy," he said.
"They have an entire army behind them."
Aarav gave a faint smile.
"Perhaps they have power."
"But we have intelligence."
Then he looked toward Mannikarnika.
"And we also have a warrior."
Murmurs spread across the court.
Moropant shook his head slightly.
"But how?" he asked. "How can we possibly defeat them?"
Aarav slowly looked at everyone present in the court.
Then he said a single sentence.
"By standing together."
Confused looks appeared on many faces.
But Mannikarnika's eyes suddenly widened with realization.
"You mean…" she said quickly, "we should seek help from other kingdoms?"
Aarav nodded.
"The British are not just a problem for Bithur."
His gaze grew sharp.
"The entire country is suffering under them."
"And if we can unite everyone who hates them…"
He paused.
"Then even an empire can fall." ⚔️
Following Aarav's suggestion, Mannikarnika finally began to see a path before her.
The confusion that had clouded her mind slowly started to clear.
If the British could be defeated by unity, then she would unite those who were willing to fight. The fire of revolution that once burned quietly inside her heart had now found a direction.
Meanwhile—
A familiar blue screen suddenly appeared in front of Aarav.
{Mission Complete : Congratulations. You saved another world}
{You got Divine Essence. Now you can freely use Cosmic Energy without interference}
The moment he read those words, Aarav's eyes widened in shock.
"What…?"
He immediately closed his eyes.
For a moment, everything went silent.
And then—
He felt it.
A vast surge of power flowing back into his body.
It was like a river that had been blocked for years had suddenly broken through its dam. A warm yet terrifyingly powerful energy spread throughout his entire being.
His senses sharpened.
His mind became clearer.
His connection to the cosmos returned.
Aarav slowly opened his eyes, unable to hide the excitement on his face.
"So my powers… they're back."
But just as that thought crossed his mind—
The scene around him suddenly changed.
The royal court vanished.
The ground beneath his feet disappeared.
And now—
Aarav was floating in the endless void of space.
Countless stars glittered around him like scattered diamonds. Vast currents of dark matter drifted silently through the void, while streams of cosmic energy flowed like invisible rivers across the universe.
The sight was breathtaking.
Yet something else caught his attention.
Far away in the distance—
He saw something enormous.
A colossal tree.
But it was not made of wood.
Its trunk looked as if it had been formed from swirling cosmic clouds—deep green and black, constantly shifting like living nebulae. Its branches stretched endlessly into the void, spreading in countless directions.
Instead of leaves—
There were stars.
Thousands… millions of tiny stars sparkled across its branches like glowing foliage.
And hanging from those branches were strange fruit-like spheres, each radiating different colors of light.
The entire structure resembled a tree… but Aarav could tell that it was something far greater.
Even he couldn't fully comprehend what he was looking at.
Then—
A calm, aged voice echoed behind him.
"How are you, Aarav?"
Startled, Aarav immediately turned around.
Behind him stood an old man.
His hair and beard were thick and completely white, flowing down like soft clouds. Despite his age, his body looked strong and sturdy, radiating an unusual vitality.
There was a gentle smile on his face.
Aarav narrowed his eyes slightly.
"And you are…?"
The old man chuckled softly.
"You can think of me as a gardener," he said casually. "Someone who takes care of this garden."
"Garden?" Aarav repeated with confusion.
The old man nodded and gestured around them.
"Yes."
"The Cosmic Garden."
His voice carried an indescribable authority—almost divine. An overwhelming aura surrounded him, the kind that would make anyone instinctively bow their head in reverence.
But strangely—
It had no effect on Aarav.
The old man seemed to notice this and smiled faintly.
"Well then," he continued, "you can call me Kaka."
Aarav studied him carefully for a few seconds before asking another question.
"So… are you the one who was talking to me earlier?"
Kaka folded his hands behind his back and looked toward the gigantic cosmic tree.
"I've been watching you for quite some time," he replied calmly.
"You could also say… I was the one sending you to those different universes."
Aarav's eyes narrowed slightly.
Kaka then pointed toward the colossal tree.
"Do you see that tree?"
Aarav turned his head and nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Kaka continued, "Look beneath it. What do you see?"
Aarav focused his gaze toward the base of the tree.
At first he saw nothing.
But then—
He noticed something strange.
The space beneath the tree was filled with swirling black smoke.
A dark, endless haze.
Kaka spoke again.
"Think of that tree as the Multiverse."
"And those fruits…"
"Each one represents a different universe."
Aarav looked again at the glowing spheres hanging from the branches.
Kaka continued in a calm tone.
"When a fruit falls from the tree… when a universe collapses…"
"It shatters."
"And turns into that black smoke."
"That smoke becomes fertilizer for the Cosmic Tree."
"It feeds the tree… allowing it to grow new universes… and even new multiverses."
As soon as he finished speaking—
The cosmic fog surrounding them began to shift.
Aarav suddenly noticed something astonishing.
Beyond the massive tree…
There were more.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Giant cosmic trees stretching endlessly across space.
It wasn't just a single tree.
It was an entire garden.
A Cosmic Garden filled with countless multiverses.
Aarav's eyes widened in disbelief.
"…This…"
He slowly began floating forward, drifting through the endless cosmic garden.
Stars glowed around him, and gigantic multiverse trees stood like silent titans in the void.
For the first time in a long while—
Even Aarav was truly amazed. ✨