Chapter 152 - Tandav

With his shield shattered, Ishit found himself in a perilous situation. Alarm bells chimed in his mind; his pores stood on their ends. The thread-like blazing tongue of the salamander came and pierced his chest. 

Or at least it looked like that. Karuvaki, Guha, Nadani and Esha screamed out. 

However, the next instant they were dumbfounded just like Layla. 

Before their enlarged eyes, Ishit's chest melted away like an Ice block. And  as soon as the twatvajivi's tongue got past it, the chest materialized again. His tunic had long been burnt to ashes by the blazing flames of the tongue. So they could see his bright red spot  on his chest. 

This little stunt drained Ishit's spirit. He found his legs going jelly. However it was not time to pay attention to it. He was still in danger. He mustered all the remaining spirit and turned it into a water ball.

Layla, whose mouth was agape as if she had swallowed a fly, finally came into motion. She knew what Ishit was planning. Layla hurriedly swapped the position of the earth elemental beast with that of water. 

But Ishit was faster than her. The water ball that had ethereal wind mixed in it, landed on the yellow colored fierce beast, turning the rock giant into a muddy pool. 

Ishit didn't waste any moment, and flew out of the encirclement. 

His pores greedily drinking  spirit. 

Ishit didn't cast any shield this time. With the ether beast out there it had no use.

He activated his spirit sense to its full extent.  Battling against five twatvajivi at the same time was really difficult. 

He hadn't imagined the girl's mastery over elements would be so deep.

If he hadn't gotten the new insight into elemental forces, there was no way he could escape the frightening encirclement. 

Ishit glanced at the remaining three beasts, and one out there lurking, invisible to his spirit sense and eyes. 

Layla tried to recreate the earthen beast out of the muddy pool, but it shattered as soon as it formed. 

Ishit's smiled evily. His title of master smith was not just for show. 

Sure enough, the girl had a treasure helping her controlling all these elemental puppets. 

Layla tried again, but it got shattered. 

Ishit shook his head. He had read about these puppet astras in Glassia. They were powerful weapons of spiritualist warriors against Yoddha like him. But Layla had ignored his other title. 

As soon as Ishit reaslied there were twatvajivis. He couldn't help but doubt. No novice apprentice could summon five elemental beasts let alone control them. 

So this left only one possibility , the girl had something assisting her. 

As a master smith, Ishit knew what it could be. 

Olpin puppets, the famous astra of Okalian's smiths. With this astra, Lord Amarto, had stopped Hamir's entire army. Of course, his astra was of diya rank. 

As for Layla's, it must have been of two- star grade to be able to control five elemental beasts. 

Layla gave  Ishit a scrutinizing look  before giving up. 

"How did you do it?" asked She. Olpin puppets her prized astra. It had never disappointed her. 

Ishit was not a kind hearted person to tell his foe his tricks. He smiled, as he sped up the circulation of spirit. 

"Didn't you see? I just bathed it with a bucket full of water." said Ishit with a surprised look. 

"You!" Layla glared at him. Though water could sluggish the earth element beast, to shatter it completely was not possible. 

There was something hidden in the water ball that had weakened the spirit link of her astra. 

"What you! You'd better put away these pets of yours, or I will make sure they will never stand up." Ishit said. Suddenly, he sensed eyes on him. It was the sixth sense or in the word of Onish, the mysterious boy from the earth , eye of the soul. Last night Ishit after a pahar long  Yoga Indra, Ishit discovered his sixth sense had sharpened. At first he had doubts about it, however after  shooting arrows with his closed eyes and without activating his spiritual sense, he was sure it did improve. 

The discovery had surprised Ishit, the sixth sense was something that improved with one's cultivation. There was no spirit art for it. At least not in his knowledge. 

It was said with the help of his sixth sense a maharathi could fight even after his head got decapitated. 

His grandfather Manu's headless body had  faced Riga, and defeated him. 

Ishit didn't ignore the faint cue of danger. He joined his both hands, the spirit rushed towards him forming a whirlpool. 

He knew what it was. The invisible ether beast was just behind him. 

Ishit's mumbled stambhan spell. The same curse that yesterday Al-Druk cast on him. 

"!!glauṃ huṃ klīṃ jūṃ saḥ!!"

The power syllables ,which had emerged from the darmru of Shiv if the lore of earth could be believed, stilled the space behind him entrapping the beast in it.

Layla's face turned white. How it was possible! 

Didn't they say the ether beast couldn't be traced? Then what was going on here? 

There was no time to ponder over the question. Ishit didn't waste the opportunity. 

He rushed towards the water beast, which was a giant water dragon. 

Kalnemi, Ishit's sword screamed in his hand as he attacked the giant. 

The crowd couldn't help but shake their heads. Any physical attacks were useless against twatvajivis. Sure enough, Layla commanded the water dragon. The giant beast swung its glistening blue tail. It collided with Kalnemi, sending Ishit flying towards the lightning lizard.

An evil smile appeared on Ishit's face, as he thrust the spirit and changed his direction. 

Nobody noticed the water dragon had swallowed a fist-size blue stone.

With her ether beast trapped, Layla knew she had lost the edge. 

She commanded her remaining three beasts. 

The water dragon let out a loud roar as it flew towards. 

The fiery salamander spit out fire that set air ablaze. Lightning bolts rushed out of the lizard, crackling. 

All these forces together with Layla's sealing spell turned the arena into a prison, imprisoning Ishit inside like a bird. 

Ishit's face turned grim. He looked at the devastating storm of elemental forces. 

The girl's sealing spell had blocked all the ten directions. The runes of the intricate shield told him that the Okalian's girl's insight into shields was not weaker than his. 

He could feel the spirit around him thinning rapidly. The girl wanted to cut of his supply of spirit, leaving him with only his spirit pearl. 

Ishit let out a long sigh. It seemed he couldn't hide his powers anymore. 

Ishit formed Yoni mudra taught to him by the wizard. His blood boiled up. 

All of a sudden, flames erupted from his body, the air began to freeze. 

Ishit's eyes turned blood red as his lips trambled, 

"!!jvālaya jvālaya jvala jvala prajvala prajvala!!" 

Bright blue flames erupted from earth, swirling, forming ghastly faces. They soon filled the whole space around Ishit. Twatvaji let out their attacks. A violent fight broke out between the two elemental forces. 

Layla joined her hands, and her red lips quivered. 

Bright green energy emerged from the earth. It swept the spherical prison. The pride of Okala didn't stop there. She continued to change her mudras, and her lips quivered again and again. 

Soon wind, ether, and lightning all began to strengthen the prison. 

The audience buzzed up.

"Isn't it a five elemental prison?"

"How is it possible? Only a real apprentice could form it."

"How could she have so much spirit?"

"She's clearly at novice apprentice level."

"You don't know anything. She is not an ordinary wielder. Her spirit nadis must be of supreme grade." 

"Ishit is really born with an ill fate. Of all the participants,  they matched him with such a monster. "

"He deserved  that! "

"Why?"

"Oh! Haven't you heard the rumors? They said Lord Oman threatened Viswa, the great smith, to accept defeat, so that he could boost his crippled son's reputation. And then yesterday, they said Al-Drum and the savage man were also set by Lord Oman. "

"Why will he do that?"

"Are you a fool? He wants to showcase his son's achievement so that a reputed academy accepts him. After all, how many wielders could escape a memory-stealer's attack? Not to speak Ishit had to counter stambhan curse too."

While the crowd was busy in a frenzy conversation. Ishit uttered another spell, 

" !!jvala haṃ saṃ !!"

As soon as the words escaped his lips, the violent battle of elemental forces came to a sudden halt. 

Ishit closed his blood shot eyes, and he let out his powerful spirit sense. Everything around him began to freeze. The same went for Twavajivis. 

The sammohan curse had tamed them. 

Once everything was still inside the spherical prison, Ishit's eyes snapped open. 

Blood oozed out of them, as Ishit uttered the last spell called Uchhatanam. 

||laṃ kṣaṃ phaṭ svāhā|| 

Powerful ripple rushed out from his body. And the whole prison burst apart. 

Layla flew out of the arena like a rag doll.. Her face was white like paper.