The day of the regional yodha championship was coming very soon. Everyone was trying their best to make themselves stronger. Rudra was an exception to this. YLTI called all its 6 members to give them the best training they can get with actual veteran yodhas. All of them arrived on time except Rudra. Smita also arrived on time even though the training her family can give her was far superior but fighting with a veteran fighter was something that even she could not afford to miss. The principal was incredibly happy to see the progress of his students. But he frowns a little when he saw Rudra was not there.

Principal: Does anyone know where is Rudra?

Vivek was a little taken aback when he heard this question as the principal was looking at him when he asked this question. He knew he should have known about Rudra’s whereabout as he was their class president, but he did not know anything about him especially since Rudra was a new student. Maya stepped forward and said, “Teacher Rudra is at his home and he doesn’t need training as he is already very strong, and this level of training won’t help him much.”

The principal was a little taken aback and didn’t know how to respond but before he could say anything one of the Veteran yodha stepped forward and asked in a loud and angry voice “Is this how you treat us? I knew we should have gone to the sun academy. You have absolutely no respect towards us.” Every student there immediately understood what it meant. Sun academy has likely also employed Veteran Yodhas to train their student but now for one student they might miss this golden opportunity.

Maya steeped in and said, “it is not a sign of disrespect toward you, it’s just a matter of fact. I have been defeated by Rudra and if you want to really verify if he is disrespecting you or not you simply have to fight me. If you win then you can consider Rudra as the one in wrong and we will compensate you with 10 times the fees that the sun academy offered you but if you couldn’t win then you are to apologise to Rudra for disrespecting him.”

The veteran yodha that tried to cause a ruckus was caught off guard and when he processed what Maya said he lost his cool completely. All the other Veteran Yodhas seems agitated too at this challenge. The yodha came forward and said, “all right little girl I will teach you what it means to be strong and how to respect other.” Maya did not say anything she simply went and stood on the duel ring. The yodha was even more annoyed after being ignored by Maya. So, he went up the duel ring to teach Maya a lesson.

The principal was really concerned about Maya. He could not let such a talented person be damaged. He decided to intervene if the duel escalated too far. The yodha took a military posture and pronounced his name. “I am Nadeem and I challenge you to a duel.”

Maya: I accept.

Nadeem: suin come out.

What appeared was a centaur with a big hammer resting on his shoulder. The centaur was huge with body laden with battle scars that told countless stories of the battle that it had fought. With the centaur came a whirl wind of dust that seemed to tell the world of arrival of a great warrior. The Principle panicked after looking at the centaur as he could guess how strong the centaur was. To add to that the Yodha was using a Lord tier monster. The principle called Yodhas with Lord tier Contracts as their highest level, as it was the maximum level a student had reached in YLTI and this yodha was specially called to train Rudra. But Maya was not a match for this Yodha, at least that’s what the principle thought.

The Yodha thought Maya would back down after seeing a Lord tier monster but contrary to his expectation Maya didn’t even flinched.

Maya: Eragon come out.

What followed was an all too familiar scene. A dark miasma that made even the veteran Yodha’s heart shudder with fear. It was as if the abys itself has descended upon earth. It was followed by a huge head appearing out of the dark mist that covered the ring and letting out a roar that would split the brain. When people saw the huge dragon, they were agape with awe and fear. Dragons were the most proud and powerful of race even for a lord tier one. This was a surprise to everyone present there. But Nadeem was a veteran yodha, so he quickly steadies himself and started attacking to destroy his opponent.

Nadeem: Suin quickly start rampage dash and hit him with full strength.

The centaur legs started quickly gathering strength in them, as a result the legs started glowing in a golden glow. The centaur then raised its arms and a shield made of golden lights formed in its hands. Then the centaur started dashing towards Eragon. Eragon didn’t even flinched from its position. Eragon was frustrated with its previous loss so it wanted to vent its anger somewhere. The centaur was just the right opponent it wanted. An opponent that was also a lord tier and also a veteran in war.

The centaur with a war roar hit Eragon with a might that would have chomped 10 tanks at a time. It was proud of its speed and strength. But it gave it’s best in one strike because it wanted to end the fight quickly as the opponent was also a lord tier and its always better to finish powerful opponent quickly. The impact of the collision was powerful enough to release a sound wave that shattered the nearby glasses into pieces. After the dust settled everyone was surprised as hell because the result was beyond everyone expectation.

The centaur neck was grabbed by the dragon’s giant hand like holding a toy. The centaur was raised above the ground and was struggling to free himself like a fish trying to free itself from the hook. It was kicking its horse legs in the air, but it was unable to do anything. It started gathering energy into its hands and decided to attack the dragon hands. Maya saw this and ordered Eragon to activate the dark body art, a skill that is specifically meant for the dark dragon kind to strengthen themselves, their body’s bones, muscles, and even skin. The centaur may be strong but before a dragon’s strength combined with a body art, it was just so so…

Nadeem started panicking a little by watching his contract struggling like this. He decided to not hold back anymore.

Nadeem: Suin start using light blades.

As soon as the centaur heard these two golden swords appeared in its hands and started performing lightning fast move to cut the dragon’s hand. Maya was not impressed neither did it posed any threat to Eragon. All the move was able to do was give Eragon’s hand a little itchy feeling. Maya decided to end the fight here.

Maya: Eragon show him the meaning of true strength.

Eragon nodded and said, “as you wish”. Suddenly the centaur vomited blood. Nadeem realised what happened. Earlier the dragon may have held Suin up in the air, but it did not choke its neck. Now it was showing its true strength. The centaur’s struggle became even more frantic. It looked at the dragon’s face which was plastered with a demonic smile that was bone shaking to say the least. But the horror of the centaur was just starting because then came the dragon’s other arm that held its torso and applied such a strong force but so slowly that everyone present could hear the breaking of its bone. Nadeem could not persist anymore as his concern for his contract converted into dread. He could not afford to lose his lord tire partner especially such a strong one, which also had a lot of good memories with him. It was not a just a contract but a partner to him.

Nadeem: Suin come back. I accept my defeat and I will fulfil my obligation as per the bet.

Nadeem was sad and humiliated, but he could not do anything about it. He lost to a student and in such a way that he could not even put up a fight. Although everyone had different emotion on their face, they had one thing in common. Respect for Maya’s strength, she did have the ability to prove her words. The principle was bemeaning with joy. But suddenly everyone remembered something that Maya said. She was defeated by Rudra. The colour of their faces changed rapidly. Just how powerful was Rudra, to defeat someone who would not even spare a veteran Yodha. It was not just them it was also something that Maya couldn’t comprehend.

Just how powerful is Rudra?