The air in Sutha Loka grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and ancient resentment. Rudra stepped onto the shifting soil, his eyes burning with a singular, manic focus. Behind him, his five wives—Isha leading the vanguard—fanned out, their eyes scanning the horizon for the silhouette of Karna.
"Find him," Isha commanded the other four, her voice a sharp blade. "Karna cannot be allowed to dictate the terms of this meeting."
Rudra, however, wasn't looking for Karna. He was running, his boots kicking up dust, his gaze darting between the jagged rock formations. Suddenly, a figure appeared in his path—tall, golden, and radiating a quiet, terrifying heat. Karna.
Rudra didn't even slow down. He pivoted on his heel, brushing past Karna's shoulder with a dismissive sneer.
"Not now, boy," Rudra spat over his shoulder as he vanished into the crags. "Your father will save you! I have a snake named Shakuni to pull from his hole!"
Karna stood frozen, his jaw tightening. To be ignored was a greater insult than any blow.
The Confrontation
Nearby, Rudra's brothers, Sai and Jaswanth, stepped forward. They saw the darkness pooling at Karna's feet and knew the danger.
"Karna, listen to reason," Sai pleaded, hands raised. "This blood feud serves no one. We are here to talk, not to bury more kin."
Karna's eyes turned a void-like black. "Talk?" his voice echoed with the weight of a thousand storms. "I will kill you. I will tear the very bones from your frames and leave them to bleach in this godless place."
Karna reached into the quiver at his back. He didn't pull a physical shaft; he pulled a sliver of the abyss itself.
Karna's Power Level: Level 1
Output: 35%
Technique: Arrow of Absolute Darkness
The Fatal Intervention
"No!" Jaswanth yelled, lunging forward to stop him, but it was too late.
The arrow didn't fly; it deleted the distance between Karna and his target. It moved with a velocity that defied the laws of physics. Sai reached out, his own energy flaring to intercept it, but the darkness was too fast—a streak of midnight cutting through the pale light of Sutha Loka.
"Uncle, move!" A young voice shattered the tension. Veer, Rudra's second son, threw himself into the gap. He didn't have time for a shield or a spell. He used the only thing he had: his body.
The Arrow of Darkness struck Veer square in the chest. There was no explosion, only a sickening thud followed by a hiss of escaping soul energy. Veer was sent spiraling backward, his body flickering as the 35% output of Karna's malice began to eat at his life force.
"Veer!" Sai screamed, catching the boy before he hit the jagged ground.
Veer coughed, a thin trail of black smoke rising from his lips. "He's... he's too strong, Uncle..."
Karna didn't lower his bow. He simply notched another shadow. "One down," he whispered. "Who wan
ts to be the second?"The atmosphere in Sutha Loka fractured. While one side of the battlefield drowned in the shadows of Karna's rising power, the other turned into a literal slaughterhouse.
The Hunter and the Beast
Rudra finally laid eyes on his prey. Shakuni stood near the edge of a jagged cliff, a sickening smirk playing on his lips. Rudra didn't speak; the time for words had died when he stepped into this realm. He unsheathed his massive blade, the metal screeching against the scabbard.
Schriiiing!
Rudra dragged the tip of the sword against the stone, sparks flying like dying stars as he marched toward Shakuni. But before he could reach the conspirator, the ground erupted. A Demon of colossal proportions, wreathed in ancient malice, barred his path.
The clash was instantaneous and horrifying. This wasn't a duel; it was a massacre. The Demon moved with a speed that defied its size, its claws and jagged blades shredding through Rudra's defenses.
Status: Rudra vs. The Demon
Result: The Demon is systematically "cutting Rudra like meat."
Condition: Rudra is bleeding out, his flesh torn as he struggles to even land a counter-blow against the beast's overwhelming hide.
The Void Awakens: Karna 65%
On the other side of the field, the air grew cold enough to crack bone. Karna stood amidst the swirling dust, his aura expanding until it blotted out the sun.
"Level 1... Minimum Output: 65%," Karna whispered.
The sheer pressure forced everyone to their knees—except for those who chose to transform. Recognizing that human forms would be crushed instantly, Rudra's brothers and his eldest son took to the skies in their primal forms:
Sai: Transformed into a massive, golden-eyed Eagle.
Jaswanth: Shifted into a silent, spectral Owl.
Shani (Rudra's Son): Manifested as a harbinger Crow.
The three winged warriors circled Karna, diving with talons infused with divine energy. But it was useless. Karna didn't even move his bow. The 65% output created a gravitational well of darkness that swatted the three birds from the sky like common flies. They fell, crashing into the dirt, unable to match the raw, abyssal power of the boy they once tried to counsel.
The Mother's Cold Command
Near the fallen Veer, his two wives—Chitra and Priya—knelt in the dirt. Their hands glowed with a frantic green light as they desperately tried to knit Veer's shattered chest back together. The dark energy of the arrow resisted them, sizzling against their palms.
Isha, Rudra's wife and Karna's mother, stood over them. Her eyes weren't filled with a mother's warmth, but with the cold realization of war. She looked at her sons, her brothers-in-law, and her husband being torn apart.
"Listen to me!" Isha's voice rang out over the screams. "Do not show mercy! Fight him with everything! No one here is strong enough to stop him by holding back!"
But even as she spoke, the horror was visible on her face. Even with "all of them" fighting, Karna stood untouchable, and Rudra was being carved into
pieces by the Demon.