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Chapter 26 - The Price of Immortality

Seeing Shiv irritated, Virat laughs and says, "You are using normal attacks on me.... they won't work on me... because I am a soul."

As soon as Virat says this, a smile appears on Shiv's face. Laughing, he says to Virat in a heavy voice, "You.... are still as big of a fool today as you were before dying, but this foolishness was in your entire country..."

Startled, Virat covers his mouth with both hands and thinks, "Stupid man, why can't you stay quiet? Who tells their enemy their weakness..?" Looking towards Shiv confidently, Virat deepens his voice and says, "This.. is the final gift for my traitorous friend. Now, get ready to die.."

Shiv laughs loudly. Virat becomes completely calm, points his finger towards Shiv, and says in a calm, heavy voice, "Hell Lava Bullet." Bullets made of lava shoot out from his finger. Seeing them coming towards him, Shiv immediately says, "Divine Shield." The lava bullets collide with the divine shield. After taking 100 continuous rounds, cracks appear on the divine shield.

Shiv's divine shield manages to stop Virat's attack, but it is so powerful that the pressure causes Shiv's nose to start bleeding. Wiping the blood from his nose, Shiv looks at him laughing and says, "You think you have become powerful? Now get ready to die, or should I say, get ready to die again.."

Pointing his hand towards Virat, Shiv says, "Divine Soul Knife." Seeing this, Virat immediately says, "Devil Soul Knife." Both of them attack. The Divine Soul Knife and Devil Soul Knife keep clashing against each other. Their collision releases such powerful energy that the pocket dimension begins to tremble. Shiv keeps laughing; Virat is having trouble controlling his power.

The attacks stop. Soul knives are pierced into Virat's legs, and he is on his knees. Looking at him, Shiv laughs and says, "How pathetic and weak you are even today. Whether you come back as a soul or take thousands of rebirths... you can never kill me…."

Virat stumbles to his feet, smiles at Shiv, and says, "Friend.. today you will die, and that too by my hands.." Shiv gets even angrier and says in a furious, heavy voice, "Divine Soul Spear." Virat immediately says, "Devil Soul Spear." Both of their soul spears clash. The powerful pressure causes the pocket dimension to tremble, and cracks appear in it.

Shiv had reached the limits of his power. He starts panting, and his divine form fades away. Blood is flowing from his mouth and nose, and he falls to the ground. Shiv thinks to himself, "Is this... is this my end? I cannot die right now."

Just then, he sees that Virat's entire body is pierced with soul spears, and he cannot even move. Seeing Virat in such a condition fills Shiv with a renewed surge of energy. He gets to his feet. He starts laughing loudly, and says in a heavy, laughing voice, "How weak you are, and even today you won't be able to save anyone.... but you are my true friend. If you hadn't told me that you were from the Land of Warriors.. I wouldn't be this close to immortality today.."

Taking a deep breath, Shiv says, "Just 4 more years.. after that your sister will turn 12. I will take the vows around the sacred fire and marry her. After marriage, she will give her life force to me, and I will become immortal... and after killing you, I will send your friends to you as well.." Saying this, he begins to laugh loudly like a devil.

After hearing all this, tears start flowing from Virat's eyes. He is furious; his eyes have turned completely red with anger. Virat clenches his fists, and the pocket dimension begins to tremble from his rage. Virat's hair turns red, and the nails on his hands and feet grow long and black.

Shouting in anger, Virat rises into the air. The divine soul spears that were embedded in him shatter and scatter. Seeing all this, Shiv starts trembling with fear and immediately enters his divine form. But his power had not fully recovered yet.

Shiv shouts, "Divine Soul Spear," and attacks Virat with the spears. Virat says in a calm voice, "Demon Hell Shield." A deep black and red shield covers Virat. When the divine soul spears clash with the demon hell shield, they get absorbed right into it.

Seeing this, Shiv is shocked. Trembling with fear, he shouts, "Divine Fire Soul Spear," and attacks Virat with countless spears, but they too are absorbed into the demon hell shield. Shiv thinks to himself, "This... how did he suddenly become.. so powerful.." as he attacks with his full power, but the shield absorbs his every strike.

He suddenly disappears and teleports in front of Shiv. And says in a heavy, calm voice, "Hell Stone." A red-colored stone appears in his hand, from which black energy is leaking out. That energy grips Shiv; he cannot even blink his eyes.

Laughing like a demon, Virat starts repeatedly smashing the Hell Stone against the left side of Shiv's head. Blood begins to flow from Shiv's head, and tears stream from his eyes. He wants to scream in pain, wants to cry, wants to run away from there, but due to the power of the Hell Stone, he can't even move. Only tears are flowing from his eyes.

Virat keeps beating him like a madman, and after some time, Shiv takes a deep breath, and his heartbeat stops. He is dead, but Virat continues to smash the Hell Stone against Shiv's head. After a long time, Virat stops. The left side of Shiv's head and face is completely shattered. There is only flesh left, which is falling to the ground. His left eye also falls down.

Virat returns to normal, the Hell Stone disappears, and Shiv's dead body falls to the ground. Virat cries loudly and screams, "Maaaa.…Papaaa. Today you must have found peace. After today, I won't let Anya get even a scratch, this is my promise.."

Virat falls to his knees and continues crying. The pocket dimension absorbs Shiv's dead body and throws it into a 20-foot deep pit made in that room of Virat's house. After some time, Virat calms down and goes to the roof of his house. The three of them and his sister Anya are still unconscious. Virat looks at them and smiles.

After that, he goes to the room where his mom and dad used to live. There were no belongings of his parents left in that room, only their memories. Tears well up in Virat's eyes. Crying in a heavy voice, he says, "I am sorry Maa, Papa... I wish you were with me, to hug me, to listen to my words carefully." After a while, he comes back to the roof and says, "We should leave from here now," and disappears, taking the four of them along.

AFTER SOME TIME....

It is 10 in the morning; the weather is clear in Mumbai. Ayaan is in Pankaj and Rishabh's house. Because of Virat's power, their injuries have healed. Ayaan and Pankaj have regained consciousness. Anya and Rishabh are still unconscious.

Ayaan and Pankaj are very happy. Pankaj says happily, "We... are alive.. and we won.." Ayaan looks towards Virat and says in a calm voice, "Thank you so much... for helping us.." Just then, Anya regains consciousness. She looks at herself; there was not a single scratch on her body, nor was there any pain. Looking around the house, she thinks, "Where am I?"

Just then, Anya's eyes fall on Virat. The moment she sees him, she starts crying and says in a trembling, tearful voice, "Vira.... Virat.. brother." Hearing her voice, Virat looks at Anya. The moment he sees her, tears well up in his eyes, and he starts crying too. He drops to his knees and spreads his arms. Anya stumbles towards him, running and crying, coming to hug him. But just as Anya is about to hug Virat, she passes right through him.

Seeing all this, Virat cries and thinks to himself, "What kind of fate do I have.... that I can't even hug my sister, can't even wipe her tears." Virat tells Anya everything, that he is dead and this is his soul. Hearing this, Anya cries and says in her soft voice, "Does this mean you are a ghost? Those bad ghosts who eat children?"

Hearing such an innocent question, he laughs and says, "No, I am a good ghost. I only beat bad people." Anya laughs and says in a soft voice, "So it was you who saved me from that bad Shiv. Promise me that you will never leave me alone now." Virat laughs and says, "Yes, and I promise that I will never leave you alone now."

Just then, Ayaan and Pankaj cry loudly and shout, "Rishabh... you can't... you can't die.. stop your drama.. get up... get up brother.." Suddenly, the atmosphere of happiness turns into mourning. Rishabh is no more. The one who was always having fun, the one who troubled everyone, today lies lifeless; his body has grown cold.

Seeing all this, Virat also panics. He goes to Rishabh and tries to heal him again and again, but he cannot bring a dead person back to life with his power. Ayaan and Pankaj are in a miserable state from crying endlessly.Pankaj cries, "Rishabh... get up.. come on, you had to confess your love, right? Come on, stand up." Crying and getting angry, he says, "Idiot... I said stop your drama, stand up... Rishabh..."

Ayaan, holding Rishabh's head in his lap and stroking his face, says, "Rishabh.. you cannot leave us and go... what about your promises... get up brother... just get up once, after today we won't let you get a single scratch... please, just open your eyes once and say that you are fine..."

Seeing both of them crying, Virat says angrily, "Both of you stop crying. Nothing has happened to him, I am healing him... in a while, he will laugh with us... so stay quiet, I am not able to focus on my power because of you.."

Seeing Virat's condition, Anya starts crying. She goes to Rishabh and places her hand on his head. She closes her eyes. After a while, she opens her eyes and says, "Virat brother.. this brother is no more.. he has died..."

Upon hearing this, Virat furiously shouts at Anya, "Keep quiet.. I said nothing has happened to him... he will wake up right now and talk with us.." She gets frightened hearing Virat's words. Virat keeps using his healing power like a madman and mutters, "Rishabh, these guys have gone crazy, they think you are dead... wake up, then we both will teach them a lesson..."

Ayaan and Pankaj keep crying. They know that their childhood friend will never wake up again, that they will never get to hear his laugh or his silly questions. Pankaj stands up and says, "Primal Pocket Dimension," and Rishabh's dead body goes into the pocket dimension. Virat looks at Pankaj in anger and says in a heavy voice, "What nonsense is this? I was fixing him, bring him back, or else he will die."

Pankaj, crying and angry, says, "Stop it, come to your senses. You know that he is gone. Now no power in the world can bring him back to life, not even you..."

AFTER SOME TIME....

It is nighttime, and a faint blue moon has appeared. The sky is completely clear, yet not a single star is visible. In that black sky, there is only the lone blue moon.. a light, cold breeze is blowing. Everyone is on the roof, and Virat is talking to Anya.

Pankaj's eyes are moist. His voice has become hoarse from crying, and he speaks in a faint voice, "I.. still can't believe that he is no longer among us..!" Ayaan's eyes are also moist, and he speaks slowly in his hoarse voice, "Yes, you're right. It feels like he will come right now and say, 'You know, today she looked at me and smiled.." Taking a deep breath, he asks, "By the way, do you know which girl he was talking about at that time..?"

A hundred teardrops fall from Pankaj's eyes. Wiping his tears, he says, "I don't know.. who he was talking about. When he was here, his words seemed like nonsense, but now I wish his talks would never end. I had so many things to talk to him about, everything remained unsaid..." Ayaan cries and says, "That's the problem. When someone is with us, we don't have time to talk to them... but when they are gone, we yearn just to hear their voice." He takes a deep breath and says, "That girl wouldn't even know that someone loved her so much, and now he is no longer in this world."

Pankaj also starts crying. Ayaan wipes his own tears, consoles Pankaj, and says, "Save your tears... what will we answer to Uncle and Aunty... when they ask where their youngest son is... how will we tell them that he is no more.. that mischievous boy will never return.."

On the other hand, Virat is talking to Anya. Anya says with innocence, "So brother, you can even fly in the air... you can do magic too.." Laughing, Virat answers her question, "Yes,and you can do all this too..." Anya gets happy and asks, "Really brother.... will you teach me..?"

Just then, the faint light of the blue moon falls on Virat, and his soul begins to turn to dust and fade away. He doesn't understand what is happening. Anya tries to hold him, but she cannot touch him. Tears well up in his eyes, and he says in a heavy voice, "It seems my time to go has come too.... take care of my sister... Anya, I am sorry for breaking my promise, but don't trouble your brother too much, be a good girl.. Ayaan, Pankaj, perhaps our journey together was only till here. I am going to Rishabh too.."

Before Ayaan and Pankaj can understand anything, Virat turns to dust and disappears. Only tears and questions are left in their eyes, with no one to answer them. Anya is crying loudly; Ayaan and Pankaj try to console her.

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