Rudra took out the Daityadanavamardana, the Crusher of Demons. It was the gada he’d picked up at the end of the first series of trials. Over thirteen hours had passed since he woke up. In seven hours it would be nightfall. This place had a single sun, but it seemed to be aligned to the Galactic standard. The trials with the bow had cost him six hours. Enough time had passed since the first trials that he’d been able to bind the gadas he’d picked up, providing their name, abilities and other details. Because of his low shakti levels he needed more time than others since binding required infusing objects with your own shakti, higher-level objects needing more. Unbinding an object was simple for its owner, otherwise, it required the death of its owner and failing this significantly more shakti. Anyone can use unbound objects but the object's abilities would be limited.

As he hefted the Crusher he wondered if he could take it with him. Little Sara looked at him. “When you leave any items in your storage will go with you. If you can’t put something in your storage, then it likely won’t go with you.”

For once, he was happy with her words. The Crusher was a beauty. Weapons, in fact, any crafted item, did not have levels. Quality, and therefore value, was because of the materials, the circuits and the finish. The Crusher was well above what he might get in Vendhya or even the Empire. But what really set it apart was that it could grow. Most such weapons had been found in ancient ruins. It was rumored that the topmost Artisans in the largest Empires had worked out how to create such weapons, but not at the quality of what they found in the ruins.

He sighed as he compared the Crusher to his staff. The power and abilities of regular weapons, like his staff, were fixed and limited by the materials used. Even with the best of materials and most skilled Artisans, the number of yantras that could be inscribed was limited to three. The weapon’s elemental affinity, if it had one, limited who could and how it could be used. He didn’t know whom Yashi had contracted, but his staff was made with top quality materials and was crafted with neutral affinity and three yantras.

Divyastra, Divine Weapons, like the Crusher, could grow. Their power output scaled with the level of the wielder, shakti based levels. They could absorb specific materials and their own composition would change, increasing their power scaling factor and unlocking higher power circuits or even more parts of the existing yantras. They could gain multiple elemental affinities, unlocking up to two yantras per affinity. Apart from that, they could have up to six neutral circuits inscribed. The Crusher had Earth and Water affinities with two circuits for each affinity, all of which were locked. It also had six neutral yantras, of which four were locked. He just didn’t have the levels to wield it fully. Binding it had only unlocked an additional circuit that could focus all the power of a strike with the gada to a point or unleash it as an area effect, pushing away from him like a blast.

He considered using the Kapal Tadayati, Skull Knockers, the balanced pair of gadas he’d picked up in the tenth fight. The Knockers had one affinity each with only a single yantra per affinity and four neutral affinities with three locked. Rudra kept the Crusher for now. It was heavier than the two Knockers combined. He was in the mood of crushing these trials and finishing them before nightfall. Then he’d get some sleep before tackling the rest the following day. The man he had just felled was holding a spear and a shield. He wondered if this trial would also be a series of twelve fights. Rudra hoped for more, he wanted more. He was angry and wanted, no needed, to vent a lot. He got his wish, but not his desire.

After a five-minute walk, he faced two men wielding a spear and a shield. His boon didn’t kick in but he could sense their levels were the same as his and they had only basic spear skills and techniques. Without his boon he could only sense exact levels of those at the same level as him or lower and nothing more. But he’d used the first series of fights to observe how the second circuit of the boon worked and was building it into a technique. The sensory exercises Little Sara had explained to him helped work out some of how this would work. He had tried to observe the working of his boon earlier too and failed each time. It was a very complex circuit, but he’d failed because he had approached it as if it were a single circuit. When Little Sara explained it had four parts, he had worked out the individual circuit boundaries after observing the boon activate four times. He could sense that Little Sara had realized what he was trying to do, and was getting antsy waiting for him to clarify his doubts. He smiled.

The spearmen attacked together. Thrusting at him with their spears as they circled him. They moved just out of reach of the gada. Their movements looked random and so did their attacks, but they were effective in restricting his range of motion. He could dodge the attacks easily, but he made it look like he was just getting by. He could sense a pattern building up in their attack, as he’d used their own probing attacks to learn about them. The spearmen were skilled, but not enough. With their next attack, he slipped in between the two thrust spears, knocking away the spear of the attacker in front of him, and moved to close the distance. The spearman recovered quickly, but a moment late. Rudra hit him hard with the mace coming up into the spearman, knocking him into the air. He used the momentum of the mace to complete a circle and jump into the air to avoid the other spear from connecting. Then adding his momentum to the gada and smashing the other spearman on her head, flattening it. He then turned, driving the gada in a horizontal arch to send the remaining attacker into the woods, even before he touched the ground. He waited a minute for the guy to return and then walked on.

His next fight was with four spearmen, same levels as him but with better skills and coordination. They came at him in twos, retreating quickly to prevent him from closing in. He had to throw his gada to take one out and then go all out to get away with a few cuts and scratches while retrieving the Crusher. One of his attackers had come too close, and he made him pay for it. The other two proved more difficult. He won with a spear piercing his thigh. His healing factor took care of that quickly, not even leaving a scar.

His fourth round was with eight spearmen took over an hour. Because of the width of the path, they could only come at him in fours, but they were better skilled than the last four. His next was with sixteen spearmen and it got interesting. Eight were a bit below his levels, six were at his level and two were at peak Stage Two. This round lasted over four hours, leaving him bloody. His left arm looking like swiss cheese. His healing factor took care of that, but it couldn’t clear the exhaustion that drowned him. As he walked on, he had an uneasy feeling. His victories were hard won, but the battles didn’t feel right. In just a few metres, he passed through a patch of summer haze on the path. The air shimmered and he could see waves as if an invisible river flowed from the sky into the ground. Or was it the other way? The haze washed away his exhaustion, both physical and mental. But he didn’t feel cheerful, the unease just increased. The Rejuvenating Stream came after each round after that.

Thirty-two, sixty-four… all the way to over a thousand, 1024. His opponents doubled every round. Most were below his levels and skill. The bosses maxed out at just over Stage Four. In the end, 768 were at half his levels, 128 at three-fourths, 64 same as him, 56 above Stage Two, six above Stage Three and last two above Stage Four. Also, the higher levels started using daggers or swords instead of spears. No one used advanced shakti techniques, most didn’t use any shakti techniques at all. The fights were all about skill with weapons, strength, speed, dexterity, and endurance. The overall level of skills improved for all the soldiers, but they never seemed to match him. He didn’t know when he started to think of them as soldiers, but it seemed to fit.

They still came at him four at a time. The path wouldn’t allow more to fight him effectively. And any soldier that went off the path never came back. Knocking them off into the forest became a satisfying and effective strategy to mow through many lower-level soldiers. The numbers still took time and were exhausting. It made the fight with the higher level and better-skilled fighters harder. Winning became harder, and each win left him proud and a bit more uneasy. At some point, clouds covered the sky, and it started raining. Normal rain. He’d always liked the rain. It didn’t make the fighting easier, but still made him feel better.

That last fight had left him bone-tired. Even after the haze, Rudra felt tired. He had been physically and mentally restored, but the anger that fueled him was spent. Rudra had enjoyed himself smashing and blasting away the cannon fodder. He had enjoyed being pushed to his limits and being forced to exceed them. His attribute basics and weapon skills had also seen increases. His base levels had not increased, but the increase in attribute basics had pushed his effective levels firmly into the middle of stage one. Absent corresponding shakti levels it was pyrrhic but he would take all he could get. Rudra had begun to appreciate this place but would not admit it to Little Sara. She had been unusually silent, observing him fight or flipping through a book or sporting headphones, chilling to some music. He was sure the “accessories” were for show since she didn’t really need them.

The rain had stopped, but the clouds covered the sky. It was dark, not like a deep night, more akin to timeless dusk or dawn, hanging at the edge of night and day, unsure where it might tip into. He put the Crusher away and took out his staff. His plans for naming the staff hung on finding a good name, a search that seemed to have no end. Now it seemed long overdue. The Crusher had been fun to use, but he was more skilled with the staff and the fights ahead would need him at his best. He hoped that he’d been through the last of the rounds in the trial, but the feeling of the path did not change as he walked on.

It turned out to be sixteen rounds. In total. Five more fights. 256, 64, 16, 4 and then one. In these rounds, he faced flail, whip, axe, dagger, scythe, trishul, sabre, sword and chakra in the first four fights. The skill level of all the soldiers with their weapons was almost on par with his. They made the fights more difficult because they had perfect coordination, despite the variety of weapons used by a group. These fights were long, bloody and totally awesome. He loved every moment as they pushed him way beyond his limits.

The last fight, the boss fight, was with a fighter at Stage Five wielding a staff. Rudra ignored him. As Rudra came upon the last fighter, the clouds started parting and he could see sunbeams dancing on the exit arch about a hundred gaz behind his last opponent. Little Sara, floating somewhere above his right shoulder, suddenly spoke, “Oh good, you finally reached the last stretch and you have time to spare.”

Rudra smirked, “Of course, I have a lot of…”, he stopped as he realized he didn’t know how long he’d been fighting. The clouds, the rain, the uniformity of the path had eliminated all sense of time. And he’d been absorbed into the fights so much, he’d never bother to check his unit for the time left. A little less than twenty hours. The first eleven had cost him over two days and the next four about one day. The brief breaks in between added up close to four hours. He swore, loud and dirty. Little Sara perked up, “Wow! You know such civilized language.”

Rudra wanted to glare at her, but closed his eyes and took deep breaths. These were his trials. He could blame no one but himself. He had twenty hours remaining. Rudra was sure there’d be another test after this one, but he was ready. He would make it to the gates, and this would soon be over.

He looked at the last boss, twirled his staff in his hands and grunted, “Let’s make this quick.”

Five minutes later, he broke from the boss and moved back quickly. He kneeled on one knee and used the staff to support himself as his chest heaved hard. Even breathing was a chore.

The last boss’ skill with the staff exceeded his. The boss could counter all his moves, break all his defences. It appeared the last boss was at Gold level of weapon mastery, whereas he was at peak Silver. There were three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold, though there were rumours of a realm beyond Gold.

Rudra hurt all over. The boss seemed to know this and waited for Rudra to rejoin the fight, exuding a sense of disdain for Rudra. The boss was clad in a brown robe tied at the waist with ropes. He was not wearing any armor. At the moment, it didn’t appear as if he needed any. He used the staff for offence and defence, it was his shield; it was his armor. Rudra’s eyes narrowed, then he smiled, “Ok, let’s finish this.”

Rudra moved towards the boss at speed, and they clashed in a flurry of moves. The flurry was from Rudra, while the boss just calmly deflected his attacks and casually broke his defences, hurting him more. After fifty such exchanges in a minute, Rudra closed, thrusting the staff with his full might at his opponent’s chest. A simple move easily deflected with a downward strike with the staff. Rudra flashed a grin as he used the boss’ staff as a fulcrum and spun the end of the staff he held at the boss, who smoothly evaded the arc of the other end and then with amazing skill turned his downward strike into an upward strike knocking away Rudra’s staff.

The boss tried to bring the staff back to defend himself, but it was too late. The Crusher crashed into his staff in a massive blow with the force concentrated into a point. The boss' staff broke, and the gada continued on to connect with the torso in an upward swing, knocking the boss into the air. Rudra swung around with a sideways strike that smashed the last boss into the forest. With his staff broken and hanging in the air, there was no defence to Rudra’s strikes. From summoning the Crusher to knocking the boss into the forest took less than half a second.

Little Sara noted appreciatively, as if making an evaluation note, “Nice when faced with stronger, better-skilled opponents using everything at your disposal to gain an advantage.” Rudra didn’t care. He stored away the gada and his staff and moved forward, through the rejuvenating haze to the last trial.