The fennec fox leader walked towards the quint. There was a quiet menace in his movements, indifference in its bearing and the silent fire of fury in its eyes illuminating its madness.

Suvi's bow was in her hand. It grew to over a gaz and was made from metallic wood, with two gold strings that connected the ends of the bow to mirrored points on its body, creating an x-point on which she nocked an arrow. The string ends on the bow's body would move to align with the archer's skill and strength. There were yantric circuits and script, sparse on the bow and dense along the strings, which hummed with shakti. The arrow also had yantric circuits, and the arrowhead had a string of fire spiralling around it. Depending on how Suvi channelled her shakti into it, the arrow would explode on impact or after burrowing into the flesh.

Amita was wielding a sonic-quard. The sonic-quard was a unique weapon. It extended from a bracelet on her wrist to cover her hand and palms. Four vibrating strings of varying thickness extended for a foot from under her fingers. Using her music affinity and her skill with the weapon, she could launch long-ranged focused sonic attacks, shaping the attack by how she damped the strings during the attack and by imposing her will through her affinity. At short range, it was as good as a two and a half foot four-blade sword with incredible sharpness.

At a high level of skill and shakti, Amita would be dual-wielding the quard and would be capable of creating dynamic complex musical 3-dimensional sonic volumes capable of neutralizing and destroying large forces, while sounding incredible when the attack landed. It was a weapon that required high precision, control and musical skill. Right now Amita's bracelet lay dormant on her other hand as she used that hand to help shape her attacks. Rudra had been fascinated by the quard and regretted his lack of musical talent, making it impossible to wield.

Satt was crouching behind a dune with a large shield between her and the dune and the approaching fennec. Rana stood beside her, another large shield in one hand and a large *gadda* in the other. The mace was three-fourths of his height of four strides, or five and a third in feet, starting as thick as his wrist at the base going to as his thighs with a massive ball the diameter of his chest at the top. The whole thing was made of an alloy of meteoric iron, tungsten, titanium and carbon. Yantric scripts and channels covered it, hinting at possible additional abilities. Ordinarily, he wielded both the shields in his role as team tank. Satt would have wielded a dagger and cross-bow as a rogue. Right now, being seriously outclassed, they are working together on defence and possibly an escape plan. They would be stupid not to.

Suvi sighed. They had hoped that with the attacks from its own pack and that large shakti expenditure at the end, the leader’s endurance and potency would be within striking range of combined attacks by Amita and Suvi. Far from it.

The fennec leader shrugged off multiple attacks from Suvi and Amita without altering its pace, even when they landed at the same time, at the same spot. It kept moving towards them slowly, approaching with inevitability.

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“So…”, Amita turned to Suvi.

“We go with the gameplan.”, Suvi said, suppressing a groan.

She looked down at Rudra. They were on the dune, Satt and Rana were taking cover against. While Suvi and Amita stood, Rudra had sat down, chilling, waiting. Rudra grinned back at Suvi.

“Sure, whatever. You are up rude boy.”, Suvi let him know.

“You know I’ll want a reward for putting…”, Rudra stood up dusting himself.

“’… myself in danger’. That’s what the sure was for, emphasised by whatever. Now shoo, off you go.”, Suvi slapped him on his rump and pushed him towards the approaching fennec. He looked at her and Amita, a bit confused before turning towards the fennec.

“What in the seven hells was that?”, Satt asked.

“Eight”, Amita replied.

“Eight what?”

“Some philosophers say there are eight hells. They say there are only heavens and hells. Our world is not as good as heaven, so it's just the lowest level of hell, the least hellish.”, Amita said as she sat down.

“Wouldn’t that be the highest hell? I mean, hells get worse as you go down, so the least hellish would at top.”, Suvi counterjected as she also sat down, pulling a drink from her storage bracelet.

“Philosopher Punjan, says for one traversing the hells, the intensity would increase as the went to the more hellish levels, akin to climbing up.”, was Amita’s response.

“Clue us in dammit.”, Rana burst out.

“Why are you taking the trials with us?”, Suvi asked.

“He suggested it, you agreed.”, Satt sounded confused.

Suvi and Amita, looked at each other and smiled,

“You look hungry, here have 3 breaded cakes.”, “And have two more, you need it”

“See there are four fire sparrows on that tree branch”, “And there is one circling the tree trunk.”

“Wait…”, Suvi had her hand out with five fingers spread.

“See those leaves on that bucket of water. They are so still they look like …”

“The pond in the garden looks empty, let’s put some large rocks to create seats in the middle.”

“And then there was the talk of how trying our mentoring and schooling sessions would be.”

“But we never said the actual words. He did.”

“You baited him into thinking and proposing the trials?”, Rana was shocked.

“Yes.”

“Why?”, Satt was incredulous.

“He’s their ringer.”, Rana answered.

“This boy is smart. He’ll go places.”

“They acted as if they were not interested in the trials. Everyone in town thinks they are going because he asked. Us coming along when they can afford the best guides throws any suspicion off. We are taking the trials because we are the disguise.”

“He would have been bugger all difficult if we’d asked. And we can afford three guides, not just two. Having him alone would not do. And we couldn't have you suspicious before you got here.”

“You know I can still hear you guys, right.”, Rudra shouted up at them.

“Yo, rude boy, focus on the fight. It is not as if you hadn’t figured this out.”, Suvi shouted back.

“After being conned, after being conned.”, wafted back up.

“But why? Why him?”, Satt found her voice.

“Put up your shield and come up here for the show. I’ll clue you in as he fights.”, Amita told her.

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Rudra could see the fennec’s eyes. He saw it change, from clouded with fury to wide with surprise to a clear fury and determination, as the fennec saw who faced it first. He also sensed other changes across the battlefield, and that made his mind tick furiously.

"We don't have to fight. You know there is more at play here."

“Don’t have to fight.”, the fennec spoke slowly, as if testing the words.

“Yes.”

“We would have taken more time with that damned shark. My mate sensed your approach. Humans, worse than leeches. Lost his life trying to finish things early. I sensed you. Waiting. For us to die. Or take down that hellspawn shark. Or both. You cost me all I lost today. I will have my vengeance. I will deny you the Crystal Night Queen. All of you will die.”

Beasts could speak. All beasts with a single core or more. Their articulation and vocabulary depended on their overall levels and their intelligence attribute in particular.

"That makes little sense. This fight is pointless. Let’s set the mood first."

"Death makes sense of all things. Makes it all simple. Welcome it."

And then the pixies showed up.

“No, he didn’t”, Amita said softly.

“What are the pixies doing here?”, Satt asked in awe.

“Playing music. Fight music.”, Suvi replied.

Rana couldn’t believe his eyes. There were four pixies. All of half a foot, dressed in tight pants and shirts, sleeveless shirts, made of cured animal hide, covered in metal studs. One sat behind a collection of drums, two held seven and nine-string guitars respectively, the fourth had a music-synth - a set of shimmering metallic discs of varying colours covered in yantric circuits hovering in the air. They were playing a bass-heavy tune that made the heart pound.

“Glad he is not doing the *shankh*”, Suvi sounded relieved.

“He does *shankh-naads*.”, Rana’s eyes widened.

“Used it at the start of our first spar, disoriented me on top of my shock and disbelief. Cheater.”, Amita huffed, “It's an archaic, useless stunt, but he doesn’t care. ‘We should respect and celebrate traditions’.”

“But how has he got pixies doing that, for him?”

“Some sort of trade. He says he gives them knowledge of unknown things and they get to do fun stuff they like.”

“Who else knows?”

“Us, Yashi, Bola and now you two. The pixies put some sort of hex that makes it impossible to tell anyone. Anyway, you have to see it to believe it.”

The fennec was thrown off at the sight of the pixies and the music, but recovered quickly. The attack was swift. Rudra's senses screamed at him. He dived, throwing a hastily conjured thick glass shield between him and the attack. The shield shattered and a sand-ball clipped his shoulder, dissipating in a sigh, and sent him rolling back on the sand. The sand had crusted a sonic-punch.

"Very funny", Rudra muttered, as he kept rolling to evade the other sonic punches that closed in on him.

At the peak of her skills, Amita wouldn't need her quards. She would be able to impose her will on any sound, to shape it, move it. That peak skill was an innate ability of this fennec fox, expressed through its claws. Rudra hated innate technique abilities. They were always tied to specific body traits and the bloodline of the beast making it impossible for him to use. They were also overpowered.

He had sensed the fennec placing sonic mines around him, a spider weaving its web around a fly. That had triggered his boon. He could have foiled the attack or attacked, but he chose to wait, planning his counter. Big Mistake. The fennec was at the same levels as Yashi and Bola, and he had grown up sparring with them. Bola never went all out, Yashi always went all out. He won as much as he lost. He got complacent. They didn’t have ranged energy-mine attacks. And he underestimated the speed of the sonic punch. He’d been busy playing checkers during a boxing match.

Of the eight punches, one connected and two were evaded. He could sense the fennec controlling the other five, moving them around to catch him off guard. He found an opening and took it, sprinting towards the fennec, closing the gap between them quickly. He felt the five punches leave the ground and come for him fast, they would hit him before he reached the fennec. The opening was a feint, putting him on a predictable trajectory. He smiled at the fennec and dived into the sand at the last minute, the sonic punches sailing past him to slam into the fennec. The fennec’s armour was shredded, and it sustained injuries, not major but not minor.

The music hit a crescendo.

“Whoa!!!”

“Does he have ‘Match Opponent’?”

“I told you the boy is smart. How’d you figure out?”

“First thing that came to my mind, knowing him, this fight and him being your ringer. There are other options, but you’ve confirmed.”, Rana shrugged.

“All other teams will face trial bosses at one level above them, but we will…”

“Hush. Even Yashi doesn’t know we know.”

“Or knows and pretends otherwise.”

Rudra burst out of the ground behind the fennec, showering the beast with sand as it turned to face him. And like that, the fight was over. The falling sand solidified into a metal cage and before the fennec could react, a metal chain linked to the cage yanked it deep into the sand. Rudra had landed on his hands and kept kneeling until he felt what he was waiting for. The energy signature of the fennec had vanished, along with the bodies and signatures of the whole pack.

He looked toward the Pearl River. He couldn’t see it but could sense it, and a faint presence. After a while he shook his head and walked back to his whooping teammates, a shy grin plastered on his face.

“I think he noticed us. Do you think he noticed us?”

Lord Shiva looked at his consort tossing popcorn into her mouth but said nothing.

“Anyway, my BIL is still a badass. Maybe I should call him super-BIL.”

“What have they planned for him? I’ve kept an eye and… got nothing.”

“Exactly that. Nothing.”

Shiva waited for more.

“Oh well. This girl that is overseeing him is breaking protocol and doing her own thing. Wellll, she thinks she is breaking protocol. The top guys know but let her do it. If her ‘experiment’ fails then they crucify her, if it works they’ve got another arrow in the quiver.”

“Typical. And what is she doing?”

“I told you. Nothing. Do nothing and let nothing happen. There is no wish fulfilment, and neither is there any tragedy, plain old boring normalcy. Makes them pliable like you won’t believe. A sacrificial pawn. With her routine, the fall doesn’t need much of a setup, just a simple nudge and done. Already done it two times.”

Lord Shiva looked at her for a while and nodded. He then turned back to his task. Reviving all the members of the fennec pack. They wouldn’t remember anything. They would wake up the next morning and continue unaware of the lost day in their lives. He had planned to use the fennec’s to explore the Ancient’s Complex but changed his plans when he sensed his charge approaching.

He nodded as Parvati left and smiled when she was gone. Pawns. This was not ordinary chess. It was fate’s chess, there was no checkmate till all the pieces were wiped off the board. All pieces were equally powerful till the end. He would have to prepare. In fate’s game, there are no coincidences.