All warriors have an aura that surrounds them. While nobody knows for sure how this aura comes to be, a widely believed theory is that they are the product of the activity of prana in one's chakra. This theory also happens to explain why the color of a warrior's prevailing aura is the same as the highest level of chakra that one has broken through and why the aura changes its color when the warrior uses arts from the corresponding chakra.

For instance, if a warrior is in his first realm, then the activity of prana in his first chakra Muladhara is the highest and hence his aura is of red, same as that of Muladhara.

Similarly, if he is in the second, water, realm his second chakra happens to be the place of activity since the first is already filled with prana of earthen element. Thus, his prevailing aura is the same color of his Swadhisthana, orange. But if the warrior of second realm uses the art of first realm, then his prevailing orange aura would change its color to red one, indicating that he is pooling prana from his first chakra.

Progressing in this way, warrior of third realm has yellow colored prevailing aura, one of fourth realm has green and so on. Aura is a natural process for a warrior. As long as he leaves his body as it is, the prana flow in his body through his highest chakra automatically generates his prevailing aura. However, there are ways to mask it.

Since warriors can see other warrior's aura, they are also a means of identifying whether a person is a warrior or not. If he is a warrior, the color of aura indicates which realm he is at. The warriors who want to mask their strength forcefully reduce the flow of their prana from reaching their active chakra thereby preventing their aura from leaking out. But this is no easy feat. To interrupt one's natural flow of prana requires a still and focused mind, devoid of any emotions, similar to what is required during one's cultivation.

This was precisely why the shadow was doing its all to control its emotions.

It had somehow infiltrated the warehouse and was now situated underneath the ceiling of the hall. It was suppressing its aura with great care as it was the first thing that was required of an infiltrator. However, the shadow had doubled its efforts at masking its aura after it found out that there was a hidden warrior amongst the nobles in the hall. And it took a verbal introduction by the Baron for the shadow to find about him. Apparently, the warrior Mrita too was hiding his aura quite efficiently.

`Ugh.. What a pain,` the shadow muttered to itself.

Mrita was quite a famed warrior in the underground. Known for his greed of money and women which was superseded only by the viciousness of his methods, he was a fearsome warrior who was not to be taken lightly. The presence of this fiend had somehow made this infiltration ten times more complicated. Regardless, since the shadow's objective was not to engage in combat against the nobles, all it had to do was to maintain its concentration on hiding its aura and remain observing.

But that turned out to be quite difficult.. all because of a little girl.

"Nooo.. I don't want to go.. Sister.. Save me!! Sisterr!!"

Maintain the composure.., the shadow thought to itself

*WHAP* *WHAP* That wretched noble slapped the child mercilessly..

Must remain calm..

"Mighty warrior, where is your pride? How can you let that beast torture such a small child! Please save her! I beg of you."

"That so?? Hehehe, then how about, you strip and spread your legs for me? If I like what I see, I might decide to do something.."

Don't be a fool. Endure..

"SISTER ANANYAAA.."

Stop.

"Whoever said I would save her!?"

*HAHAHAHAHAHA*

It was when Mrita forcefully pushed the kind girl to the ground that something snapped inside of the shadow. No more. It could bear no more. The rage surging inside it was already boiling too much for it to suppress. At last, his restrain broke and fury flooded over its entire body. The flow of prana that it had so delicately suppressed, began circulating furiously against its meridians and its chakras and a brilliant orange aura came out bursting from within.

SHIT!!

Was all it could think as a sword came flying towards it with great speed. It was a miracle that it dodged the sword in time as it lept sideways from its hiding place.

*BOOM*

The area where it was previously hiding was obliterated.

To face a third realm warrior.. and that idiot isn't even with me.. what a wretched luck!!

The shadow cursed under its breath but it was already too late. The shadow nimbly descending into the ground right in front of the warrior Mrita.

"Who are you?" Mrita asked.

Cool.. Say something cool..

"About me, let's just say that I am your death."

Waa.. So cheesy!!!!

* * *

"HAHAHAHAA.... My death he says!! HAHA, boy.. you are a boy, yes"--Mrita looked at the intruder's chest and continued--"To say such words in front a greater warrior.. you are indeed quite amusing, I will give you that.. HAHAHAHAAHA," Mrita who had a tensed expression on his face since finding about a hidden aura inside the hall, suddenly exploded in laughter.

"What an ugly laugh you have Mrita. You know, I did hear that your face was the ugliest part about you but I got to tell you, your laugh comes a close second," the man dressed in all black said with a voice full of mockery.

Mrita was instantly enraged. The intruder had touched a sensitive spot there, Mrita indeed had a complex about his looks.

"What did you say bitch!! I will fucking slice you apart piece by piece and feed it to dogs you motherfucker!!!"

He lashed out in fury. Not only did this clown interrupt him from tasting the beauty before him, he also dared mock him.

"Hey, before you could do that, mind if I take a small time-out??" the man dressed in all black said.

"What the fuc--"

But before Mrita could even complete his sentence, he pulled out a knife from his body and with a sudden turn, threw it towards the exit of the warehouse.

The knife flew towards the exit with swift speed and came into the contact of a human head.

*SMASH*

A scene which was similar to a watermelon exploding, occurred.

Lady Kriti or Lord Krita, who had been standing there, stupefied from the sudden explosion of the ceiling, couldn't even react when a knife thrown by the man dressed in black entered his skull and left it from the other side, bursting his head in the process.

Blood and brain flew all around the place, some even showering upon the child Rosey who was close to the now dead Lady Kriti.

"Aah, I shouldn't have traumatized that kid further. Anyway"-- he took off his mask and his entirely black clothes and tossed his clothes towards the naked lady on the ground--"You, wrap this on your body and go comfort that child."

When he took off his mask, the man revealed himself to be rogue warrior Asru, the disguise used by Prince Kartik!!!

The dignified prince, who had already shed his outer black clothes and given it to Ananya to cover her body, happened to be wearing another black garment underneath which was quite thin in comparison to his outer clothing. This thin garment was revealing a highly toned body which could only be the result of an extreme training regimen. In addition, although he was using the disguise of Asru who was more than ten years older than him, there was no mistaking the noble air that was surrounding him.

Of course, no one present had the capability of deciphering that dignified aura or they would've instantly known that his was no ordinary background.

But the background of this mysterious warrior did not matter in the slightest to Ananya. Whoever he might be, Ananya was nothing but extremely grateful for his timely appearance. She clumsily wrapped her body with the cloth that he had thrown at her, thanking this mysterious warrior and her revered goddess Gauri from the bottom of her heart, and instantly dashed to the side of Rosey.

Asru had eyes of pity as he looked at this kind woman who even at the cost of her own virtue was willing to save the pitiful little girl. Even now, she had not waited to completely cover her body by his clothes and had instead rushed hastily to the little girl's side, a significant portion of her body still showing. Both of the girls were now weeping for the other as they remained embracing each other. Unfortunately, Asru couldn't look at this heart warming scene longer.

"Hmph! You dare ignore me?" Mrita bellowed.

Red aura from his Muladhara instantly exploded out from his body as he rushed towards Asru in the hopes of ending him with a single strike.

Asru, however, was a prudent person. How could he not be on his guard when facing a warrior of third rank?? A significant portion of his mind had remained waiting for Mrita's unannounced attack since the start and thus he easily avoided this frontal charge.

"You have some skills boy," Mrita remarked.

"Oh no, in fact, I am quite weak. It's just that you yourself are weaker." Asru mocked him.

Mrita was visibly angered by this remark. An explosive power surged out from his Muladhara, making his muscles swell with huge power.

"Let's see for how long you can manage to keep that smile on your lips." Mrita snarled.

He swung his fists towards Asru.. One, two, three, four.. but none of them connected.

"Haha, brutes like you who only know how to swing their fists can never harm me." Asru snickered.

He was dodging each and every single one of Mrita's strikes with minimum movements. Contrary to Mrita, his red aura was significantly less prominent, virtually unnoticeable in Mrita's comparison which Mrita conveniently mistook for a sign of his weakness. How was he to know that Asru was, in fact, consciously restraining his emotions and keeping his calm even when faced with an opponent who had the advantage of an entire realm against him!

This just showed how frightening Asru's training was. There were many warriors who only relied on their cultivation to win the fights, without using any techniques at all. These were the types that annoyed Asru the most and clearly, the one swinging his fists towards him was no different.

"Amazing," Baron Gidha inadvertently muttered.

He had witnessed the warriors as they fought in the tournaments so a fight between warriors should have been nothing new to him. But it was completely different!! This was the first time that he was so close to an ongoing fight between two warriors and one was even at the third realm!!

Now that he was in the middle of it, he had a completely new understanding about how frightening the warriors really were. With each swung fists, the Baron's face would pale, with each kick, he would struggle to maintain his consciousness. His breathing was already getting ragged. So heavy was the air inside the hall from the battling warriors' aura that the Baron was finding it extremely hard to take even a single breath.

"Stop dodging and fight me head on you brat!!" Mrita snapped at him.

Won't I die if I do that you fucking idiot! Asru thought to himself.

Mrita's punches were still not connecting with the nimble warrior Asru and this was making him increasingly frustrated! On the other hand, Asru was doing his utmost to keep tracks of Mrita's movements because he knew full well that even a small mistake from his part was bound to cost him greatly. This had caused the fight to reach an equilibrium with Mrita lashing at Asru and Asru doing his best to dodge.

Finally, Mrita decided to break this standoff by taking it up a notch!

Although Asru had superior fighting techniques, Mrita had the advantage of an entire realm over him. But that wouldn't have been so disadvantageous to Asru had it not been the for the fact that the difference in realm was between the water realm and the fire realm.

When a warrior entered the first realm after being initiated by a suitable teacher, he held the ability to manipulate prana from the Muladhara. Muladhara, which is associated with earth, is the source of strength of all warriors so all warriors of first realm had a great strength. To which extent they pulled the strength from the Muladhara depended upon the control that they had over their Muladhara, the purity of prana that was flowing inside them and their bodily strength.

But the second chakra, Swadhisthana was entirely different. Unlike other chakras, the arts of Swadhisthana could not be used for fighting purposes at all. The main feature of Swadhisthana chakra was not offense, it was vitality.

Once Swadhisthana was activated, it greatly improved the warrior's lifespan. This was precisely the reason why warriors of second realm and onwards had a resilient constitution and an average lifespan of about two hundred years, significantly greater than the lifespan of a normal human. In addition, Swadhisthana had other arts which influenced one's body, like the one that Kartik was using to disguise himself as Asru i.e. "Naqaab". Thus, warriors of second realms had no significant offensive power over warriors of first realm.

But the third realm was different. Fire was by nature a dangerous element. Therefore, the third chakra which was of Fire element i.e. Manipura was a particularly dangerous chakra. Once this chakra was activated, one's burst power remarkably increased which significantly improved one's offensive power. Thus warrior of third realm who possessed the explosive power of Manipura had an absolute advantage over the warriors of second realm who did not offensive power greater than those of the first realm. But since Manipura of Fire was a dangerous chakra, warriors did not tend to misuse it. Mrita, however, was too enraged to remember this small fact.

He directed his consciousness towards the seat of fire situated below his navy and tapped into the fire of Manipura.

The red aura that was covering Mrita suddenly changed its color to yellow, exploding to ten times its previous size.

"""Ugh"""

The Baron and his men, who had ashen face up until now, finally collapsed when they were faced with this burning aura.

Even Ananya and Rosey who were huddled up in each other's arms could feel the burning sensation that was prickling their skins like a thousand needles. Ananya shielded Rosey as much as she could in front of this power at the cost of her own body. However, Rosey still felt the effects of this sinister aura. Still, she did not cry. How could she? Her big sister was using herself to shield her. There was no way that she would cry like a weak person. She bit her lips and tolerated it with a fierce resolution.

Asru, however, was unfazed with this aura. Draped in the coolness of his own aura, he did not feel the burning to the extent that others were feeling. That did not mean, however, that he would drag this fight on. Contrarily, he wanted to end this as quick as possible because the longer it dragged, the more difficult it would be for him to come out from this ordeal alive.

"Heh, looks like you are finally serious, muscle head! Fine, come at me."

Asru invited him, unaware of the ring on his (Asru) hand that was flashing frantically.

* * *

HIYAAAA

A burning prana his armor, Mrita charged at the boy who was standing with an unafraid smile.

This time, his speed and power were ten times his previous capabilities. His fist came towards Asru's face with the ferocity of an Emperor Tiger. Asru dodged the fist narrowly but a small part of it still grazed his cheeks.

*SWISH*

The punch has merely grazed him but Asru's cheeks were instantly burnt exuding the smell of a burning flesh.

Asru couldn't even stop to feel his wounds because Mrita was still bombarding him with extremely vicious punches.

As the exchange continued, Asru's entire body began to sustain burns. His already thin clothes were now in tatters and he was getting exhausted fast. Such was the extent of Mrita's fiery barrage that it was a miracle that Asru was able to dodge it with relatively minor injuries! But his luck would sooner or later run out. Asru felt it all too clearly. Finally sensing that it was dangerous to continue like this, he withdrew, taking out a wooden amulet in process. This amulet had an esoteric patterns engraved on it which somehow appeared to be radiating a mysterious power.

To actually use this amulet.. chhe, that oldie is never going to let me hear the end of it.. He sighed to himself as he poured his prana into the amulet.

The amulet began shining brightly. Moments later, a boundless power surged into Asru's body.

Seeing this, Mrita was flabbergasted.

"You!! To actually possess a Yantra!! [1] Just who on earth are you?"

His face which was brimming with confidence up until now was extremely unsightly. He was now actually afraid of this warrior who was an entire realm below him because there was no way that a person who possessed a Yantra could be of a normal background.

"Oh, already getting forgetful are we? Didn't I tell you earlier? I'm your death!!"

This time, it was Asru who charged towards the burning Mrita but this charge was completely different from before. Asru, who was already quite fast and nimble for his cultivation was now hundreds of time faster!! To the extent that Mrita was incapable of even following him with his eyes. All he could feel was a fierce tempest rage in his vicinity that seemed to blow everything apart.

*dab*

*dab*

*dab*

Many such light hits rained on Mrita's body and he was totally incapable of stopping it because the one who was raining the dabs was moving like the air itself!! In but a couple of breaths, a total of one thousand and twenty four hits landed on Mrita's body and his fierce burning aura all but disappeared.

*PLOP*

Mrita dropped to the ground unconscious and the tempest that raged earlier stopped. With the burning fire and the raging tempest both now calmed, the atmosphere of the warehouse finally calmed.

"Huff.. Huff.. Crazy! What speed!!" said Asru, who was breathing with extreme effort. It was evident that even standing upright took a great deal of effort for him.

He spared a look at the now unconscious Mrita and muttered bitterly,

"This bastard.. Huff.. forcing me to use it!"

His steps already heavy, he moved slowly towards the girls who were huddled together at the corner.

"Both of you alright?" Asru moved closer to them and asked.

"Is.. is it over?" The one to speak was Ananya.

"Yes. I have sealed his meridians and it would be some hours before he wakes up." Asru glanced back towards Mrita who was still unconscious.

Ananya finally took a long look at the one in front of her. What appeared in her sight was a man of twenty five to thirty who had the most part of his face and body badly burnt.

"I am soo.. *hic* sorry.."

Now that the sense of danger was gone, Ananya finally let her feelings out. She was scared, deeply scared. Her eyes began flooding the water of bad memories as she recalled everything that happened on this night.

"What are you--"

"You.. got *hic*.. so badly injured.. because of us.. *WAAAA*" She began crying.

"Oye oye!! Why are you crying!! Oye! Stop!!" Asru frantically tried to stop the beautiful girl from bawling her eyes out. And it so happened that because her sister was crying, Rosey too began to cry..

""WAAAA""

Asru was getting more and more uncomfortable as the two girls cried loudly in harmonics. Unable to endure it any longer, Asru ripped his tattered clothes and said in a loud voice,

"Look!! I said look!!!"

Ananya, jolted awake from Asru's loud voice, looked towards his now naked upper body. His body was covered with cuts, burns and bruises everywhere. She flinched and withdrew her gaze immediately and began sobbing again..

"I said LOOK DAMMIT!!"

Asru shouted. He just wanted the girls to stop crying already.

Still afraid, both Ananya and Rosey looked towards him. To their utmost surprise, the different cuts and burns on his body were already healing!!

"See, I heal quite fast, so.. just.. don't cry okay?" He pleaded.

Unexpectedly, Asru happened to be unable to endure the tears of women. Taking this into consideration, it could be considered an extreme show of restrain for him to manage to keep his emotions in check while he was spying on the nobles earlier.

Asru who was beginning to smile while looking at the stupefied faces of the girls in front of him, suddenly sensed something. Immediately, he lunged himself towards the two girls as he bellowed,

"GET DOWN!!"

* * *

An inferno blazed inside the hall which instantly burned the air inside the hall.

The Baron and his men, who were lying unconsciously on the ground, were instantly disintegrated into nothingness due to the inferno.

"!!!"

Asru showed an extremely alarmed expressions as he looked at the source of this raging hell-fire. To his horror, the warrior Mrita whose meridians should have been completely sealed by him was being devoured by the blaze.

"MOTHERFUCKER!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!!" Asru shouted.

Although he, along with the two girls, was wrapped inside his aura, this time he could feel the extremely hot fire burning through his skin.

"HAHAHAAHAAHAHA" the warrior Mrita began to laugh loudly!!

"YOU THINK YOU WON BRAT!?? SO WHAT IF YOU SEALED MY MERIDIANS!! I, MRITA, WOULD EVEN COURT DEATH IF IT MEANS THAT I CAN TAKE YOU WITH ME!! HAHAHA"

To force prana through the blocked meridians.. No it was impossible!! Even his teacher had never heard of such a thing.. Then how could this idiot of a warrior accomplish it!?

If it is not the prana.. FUCK! Can it be!?

Careless, he was too careless.. This possibility was entirely overlooked by him!! Who would've thought that the bastard would end up using the essence of his chakra!! But was it really his fault that he overlooked it?? After all, how could a muscle head like this Mrita ever tap into the essence of the chakras!? Clearly, he could not.. Then this meant only one thing..

He ate it!? SHIT !!!

"YOU CRAZY FUCKER!! YOU ATE IT!! YOU FUCKING ATE *IT* !?? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!!"

Asru bellowed over the sound of the blazing fire but Mrita paid him no mind. He already knew that this was the end of his life when he gulped the pill that was forbidden to all warriors. But he didn't mind. If sacrificing his body meant that he could get his revenge upon the one who humiliated him, it was well worth it!

With fire beginning to devour his own body, Mrita slowly moved towards the three people. With each of his steps, the heat of the inferno that was raging from his body began attacking Asru and the rest.

RUN !! was what came first into Asru's mind but one look at the girls behind him instantly dispelled it. The only thing that was preventing the inferno from devouring these two girls was Asru's protection. Any movement from his part would destabilize this protection and the fire would undoubtedly disintegrate the two of them. Asru was in a quandary.

Mrita was already within ten paces of Asru and was inching ever closer. To prevent the two that were behind him, Asru had consciously directed his aura towards them, thinning his own protection. As a result, his own body was suffering greatly. His skin was beginning to peel off and his whole body seemed to be on fire.

This suffering only intensified as Mrita moved nearer to him. Asru was now sure that the moment Mrita moved within five paces of him, all three of them would burn to their deaths.

Seven paces,

Mrita could see the fearfulness in the boy's eyes. At this moment, his own body was going through a great deal of pain but seeing the fear in his opponent's eyes, somehow ended up soothing him.

Six paces,

The pain was extremely fierce, like every inch of his body was being cooked in the pits of hell itself! But he had to endure. How could he lose his consciousness when he was so close to witnessing the annihilation of his enemy. Only one pace now and nothing would remain of the brat but ashes.

One step, one single step and he could see the ashes.

He just had to take a single step.

One step and he could die in peace.

Move !!

Why won't his leg move!!

What is this feeling!?

This feeling of dread!?

Two eyes.. Two blood red eyes came into his vision. As to who they belonged to,

NOO!! SHIT!! WHAT!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!

* * *

"I.. I'm alive?" Asru said with surprise.

When Mrita had raised his leg to take the final step, Asru had closed his eyes in the anticipation of death. But even after waiting for a long time, it didn't come to pass. Not only that, the unbearable heat from before that was melting his skins off was now gone. When he opened his eyes, what he saw was a stupefied Mrita standing five paces away from him.

"Huh!?" Asru felt that something was odd because Mrita, whose skin had already melted and whose bones were showing had a terrified expression on what still remained of his face. As to what he was so terrified of, Asru followed his now petrified eyes and saw the reason.

A pair of blood red eyes which seemed to contain a boundless terror within them. The owner of these eyes was a youth... probably. Asru deduced so from his build because his mouth was covered with a red scarf and of his face, only his eyes were showing.

"Who.. are you?"

Asru asked with fear. It was strange, why was he feeling such fear from this person?

"..."

The person, did not reply. Instead, it moved towards the two girls that Asru was guarding. Asru, unconsciously gave him a path.

As the youth began to examine the girl, Asru volunteered some information,

"They are unconscious due to the heat. I shielded them as much as I could. Hopefully their body isn't damaged much."

"Thanks for protecting them."

"Huh?" A sound unconsciously escaped from his mouth.

Truthfully, Asru hadn't hoped for a reply. But seeing that the youth gave one anyway, he instantly felt ashamed of his own response.

"*ahem*.. I mean.. don't mention it."

Since Asru was facing the youth's back, he no longer felt the fear that came from looking at his eyes.

"Have you killed him?" Asru asked looking towards Mrita who still showed no signs of consciousness.

"No. But he can do no harm right now." the youth replied.

"Ahh.. I must thank you then. There are some things that I needed to ask of him. Can you bring him back.. from.. ugh.. you know.."

"He will wake up after a while. Although, I don't know if he would be able to answer your questions." the youth said.

Even now, that person was facing his back towards Asru, meticulously checking the bodies of the girls for any signs of damage. This, however, worked in the favor of Asru because there was no way that he could have conversed with the youth to such an extent if he were facing those eyes.

Finally, after examining the girls' bodies for quite a while, the youth turned back.

Again, the strange sense of fear flooded his mind when Asru saw those blood red eyes. Forcefully calming his emotions, he somehow managed to lessen its effect.

"Interesting.." the youth remarked while observing Asru's face intently.

By now, Asru's face had already healed but his body still had the burns that he had incurred from before.

"umm.. what.." Asru asked in a small voice, inadvertently squinting his eyes.

But the youth totally ignored him.

"Take these girls back to their places. And apply these herbs to your wounds, they'll help with the burns." the youth tossed him some herbs which Asru tried to catch but failed. He was really too shaken up by this youth in front of him.

He somehow managed to pick the herbs from the ground, hiding his embarrassment and doing his utmost to prevent himself from trembling at the same time.

"Thanks." Asru weakly muttered.

"I shall take my leave then. If we meet again in future, then I--" the youth couldn't complete his sentence, because of a booming voice..

"YOOOOOOOUUURRRRR HIIIIGHHHHNESSSS!!!"

"Oh shit!" Asru said while the center of the ceiling of the warehouse exploded and a man of powerful build came crashing down from it.

"WHO DARE HURT YOU!!!" A furious looking Krishna bellowed while his yellow aura exploded into the hall.

* * *

Notes:

[1] Yantra: A geometrical object with an engraved pattern above it, used to worship dieties in tantra. It's basically a name that I've decided to give to the amulets that contains inherents arts (like the one that Sesha has).

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone,

Although I did not explicitly name him but I trust you guys already know the name of this mysterious owner of the blood red eyes. Yeah, figured. Anyways, do tell me how do you feel about the Eyes of Petrification (OP much?)

Also, I know that most of you would feel biased towards Sesha but in my personal opinion, Kartik (Asru) is the man of this chapter. Prudent, Brave, Chivalrous, Talented.. overall a real warrior. Won't you agree?

With this chapter, the fight finally comes to an end (or does it?). There will be some time (4-5 days) before I can publish another chapter so try and restrain your pitchforks as much as you can.

Finally, let me know about any critiques, suggestions, erratas, or other stuffs that you might have to say (believe it or not, I actually go through all of them). Until next time then!