Chapter 138 - Battle That Shook The Colosseum

Ishit placed a sealing curse on Al-Drum and flew off to his parents. His heart was still thudding like a Mridangam. He felt fortunate that his parents had fed him the memory pill; otherwise, he would have turned into an oaf today.

Al-Drum's stambhan curse had caught him off guard, for he hadn't expected him to use the forbidden curse. One rarely used such curses during sparrings. After all, the chief goal of sparing or such events was to showcase your understanding of battle arts and your potential, not defeat your opponent. That was the reason sometimes, even defeated ones were placed in the top ten by judges or got accepted into prestigious academies. 

Ishit dropped Al-drum on the ground as his mother hugged him tightly, knocking the air out of his lungs. Her comforting smell calmed down his boiling blood.

"Are you all right, my moon?" asked she, sobbing. She kissed Ishit's forehead. 

"Ma, you're choking me to death," Ishit said. But he didn't push away her. It was her love that had saved him today. 

As soon as the curse sealed his brain, Ishit found his awareness trapped in an invisible cage. He could watch everything but couldn't do anything. The spell had stilled her spirit like winter froze a rivulet. But He didn't panic. The death worshipers had taught him how to counter these evil curses in great detail. 

According to him, these curses used your negative energy, fears, doubts, and impure thoughts against you. So if someone had a pure mind free of all vices, these spells turned ineffective on him. It was also one of the secrets of Dwizas. No one could curse these pious beings. 

Hence, if someone wanted to counter these spells, he just had to cut off the negative energy that fueled these curses. But this seemingly simple task was so difficult that only a handful of wielders could pull it off. To make yourself devoid of all desire and thoughts was not an easy feat. Only dwizas, who had renounced everything, could do this. It was also why most wielders used external treasures or pills to negate these curses. As for what these treasures were, the wizard didn't name them. From his grim face, Ishit could guess they were not easy to obtain or something that wizard despised. 

The wizard went on describing the states one experienced under the evil spells. And finally, he divulged the secret only known to the wizards. 

" Stambhan, maran, and uchchantan, all these curses first seize their victim's brain and his gross body. The subtle mind and subtle senses remain unaffected for a long time. In simple words, the soul remains unaffected for a while. That is why the victim can watch everything but can't do anything. " The wizard explained, "So, if someone who has mastered the last basic spirit path (path to leave the body as spirit body) and has left the body even for once, can easily negate the stambhan. Of course, he must know proper technique. And which is not easy to obtain, at least now, when Dwizas are so despised and understood worthless. " 

Udolf sighed and looked towards the big window as if he could see the nine-story spirit shrine where the stone-eyed lived. 

"Vartians will never know what they have lost by demolishing the spirit shrines and slaying the innocent dwizas. They say the most trodden and oppressed beings are commoners, but if you look into the unwritten annals of Varta. You will discover that they were dwizas who had been butchered time after time. Have you never wondered why Mora wanted to kill every single dwiza out there?"

The wizard looked into Ishit's dark eyes as if hoping that he would give him the reason. 

"Didn't he want to erase the Old Ways? " Ishit had replied. It was not any secret. Mora wanted to convert every single human being into his faith. And Dwizas, who were preachers and keepers of the Old Ways, were obstacles in his path. 

"Maybe." Udolf said, "anyway, coming back to our topic. Suppose you keep practicing this last spirit diagram. You will discover you don't need your brain to think and to cast spells. Once you achieve the ability to think and cast spells without your gross brain, you have to follow three steps to negate the evil curse. " The wizard went on, 

"First step: Recall the happiest memory of your life. Feel its warmth. It will uplift your spirit and reduce the negative energy in your body. 

Second step: gather pranic energy that resides in the soul. 

Third step:  cast the counter spell,  ज्वल हं सं लं क्षं फट स्वाहा! ( Jwal ham sam lam ksham phat swaha).

This spell scattered the negative energy that was fueling the curse, and you will regain your body." 

Ishit once again felt grateful towards the wizard, who was still sitting in the audience. Though Ishit hadn't excepted he needed the spell so soon; he had practiced it in his free time. The swiftness with which the spell had destroyed the evil curse had surprised him. 

It took Ishit a moment to break free of the curse, but as soon as he recovered his gross brain. He found a silvery insect devouring his consciousness. Though Ishit had never seen an actual memory stealer before, he had seen its images and descriptions in Glassain's library. 

So it didn't take him long to recognize the evil treasure. The werehyenas of Qori Ismaris were said to have the knowledge to forge this treasure. However, as the werehyenas were hated by all beings except Vrikshas (tree men), they rarely interacted with humans. 

However, this didn't stop their demonic treasures from being popular among humans. 

As soon as Ishit recognized what was happening, a dread swept over him.  He hurriedly gathered floating memories that had appeared in his mind when he was meditating in Drona's arsenal-and threw them on the memory-stealer, thus keeping it busy. 

Though druids didn't document how to forge the memory-stealer, they did have a way to defend the memories from this thief. They must have encountered these evil attacks multiple times during their war against the evil trees. 

Ishit swept his awareness and soon found the mental link with which Al-drum was controlling the evil treasure, and snapped it off. 

Of course, it was not so easy, that was why it took him so long to regain his body. He first had to feed his pranic energy to the evil treasure to become its second master. Only a master smithy who had a deep knowledge of Glassian's smithy could do this. If he had broken the mental link without doing it, the memory stealer would have gone on a rampage and destroyed his consciousness. 

Once Ishit became sure that the evil treasure had accepted his soul aura, he snapped Al-druma's link and attacked him. 

As for why his attack was so powerful, it was all thanks to Balinor who had allowed him to meditate in his house. 

Ishit's understanding of elements had deepened greatly. And the discovery was surprising even to him. After all, since the day he had returned from Kirat, his brain had been throbbing. He hadn't gotten time to check anything else.

****

"Oman, do you really want to do this?" The savage man asked the lord Minaak, who hadn't uttered a single word. "After all this is your city, and I'm sure you know what will happen to this beautiful place after this battle." 

The keepers halted their attack as they too glanced towards their lord. 

Tissa's face turned red like ripe a tomato. They were all treating him like empty air. 

"Didn't you all hear my commands? I want this man's head. " He roared.  "If you dare to disobey me, I will have your heads on spikes. " 

His threat paled the keepers' faces. They looked at each other and then towards Oman, who was appraising the man. 

"Crown Prince, I think we should give him a chance to explain his audacious act."  Oman finally said, his eyes still fixed at the savage man. 

Relief washed over the tense faces of the keepers. However, the blood seemed to gush out of Tissa's reddish face. 

"No! Anyone who dared to disrespect the queen and me must die. Soldiers! don't you want to live anymore?" Tissa refused to back out. His blues turned golden as the spirit gush towards him. 

"Prince, I too think it wouldn't be too late to behead him after we interrogate him." Sakuni finally stepped in.  Tissa glared at him as if wanted to devour him. His knuckles crackled. 

"Okey! But I want these keepers to be beheaded too. They dare to disobey their prince. " He clenched his teeth. 

"It won't be possible, Price. They didn't disobey you. Maybe you are forgetting you're in Garuna, not in Kambhoj. According to codes, the soldiers of a province only have to obey their lord, of course, the lord hasn't been declared a traitor or so. And His majesty still thinks I'm faithful to him." Oman said in his grave tone. 

" Lord Oman's words are correct. You can't command his men. Unless he breaks the treaty. " Sakuni hurriedly said. 

Tissa gave them a venomous glance.