Chapter 171 - Messanger Of Ruination

Once again after thousands of years, the sound of 'Nawah al'asmaa! (Only Nuha is Supreme) the war cry of defilers echoed in the air of

Garuna, the virgin land. Like messengers of death,  the dark warriors of Mir pounced on the spirit wielders. Soon frenzy battle started. The earth quivered underfoot. All the five elements together with laws of destruction churned in the already ruined arena. 

"Protect the prince!" cried out Vasu as he summoned his spirit beasts. 

The space shook and so did the earth as a frightening beast, of the size of a bull, appeared amidst the frenzied battle. The horrifying animal had the head of a dragon, the torso of a lion, and the tail of a serpent. The chimera let out its fiery breath as it pounced on the kaaldoota who was throwing spirit-wielders like ragged dolls. The agile chimera landed on the back of the giant beast. Its sharp claws began to tear off the hide of the kaaldoota, making it howl furiously. The kaaldoota shook his huge body to get rid of the chimera.  However, the chimera , who had faced the mountainous beast before, knew how to fight with it. The sly beast pierced its glowing nails deep into the kaaladoota's hide and clung to its body like a leech. 

Just then lightning flashed in the sky, and a thunderous roar startled all the fighters. They couldn't help but froze on their stop as a giant winged lion as white as snow appeared in the sky. Like a divine beast, its eyes were golden. With its hundred-meter longs wings, it was creating storms as it circled around the arena. 

Jora's face fell as it recognized the famous mountain of Kalingan lord Vasu. He looked glanced at Vasu was fighting with the dark warriors while protecting the seemingly dead young man. A look of shock flashed over Jora's face. But it soon turned into a smile. 

"It seemed Nuh is truly pleased with us, my nazir," he said to Mir, who was hovering in the sky beside him. The two had been watching the battle, while their fiery eyes were searching for something in the gaping rips of space. 

"Why? Have you found the temple's space nod? " Mir asked. He didn't seem to mind the furious roar of the winged lion.  They were called spirit-defiers for a reason. The spirit animals, no matter how powerful, were their food. Of course, it could be reversed too, if a defiler didn't have strength. 

"No! But something else. and it's not less precious than the temple,"  Jora said mysteriously. He had no hurry. Vasu couldn't escape. His men had encircled the area. 

The winged lion roared again, and a thick bolt of lightning, like blue serpents, came down crackling from the sky.  Maharathis 

"Tell me! and take care of this annoying beast! "  Mir said. Though he seemed relaxed, the truth was that his heart was thudding like a trapped bird inside his rib cage. Oman, the guardian of the watcher was still alive and so was his son, the future doorkeeper of Inna's temple. Only if Alisa had deciphered the ancient runes a bit earlier, his men would have eliminated the boy. 

"It is the beloved son of Aslan, Tissa. " 

"Where?"  Mir startled. He looked around.  Soon his eyes fell on the figure tied on the back of  Kaligan's lord. 

"Go and seize him. we can't let this golden bird escape,"  ordered he. 

"But what about  you?" Jora asked. 

"What about me? I'm entering the battle. I have roughly located the nod." Mir said as he summoned his sword. "And you'd better not disappoint me this time, " 

The Moryian lord gave his oldest Gazi, a warning look as he flew down. His body started to grow and so did his blood-red sword.  When his feet landed on the ground, he was already thierty feet tall. 

"Nawah al'asmaa!" 

Mir cried as he swung his sword, Ilidima. Elinor, the queen of darkness had gifted him this sword when he helped her escape the cursed prison. IIidima was forged with the blood of all races. If Elinor to be believed, the ancient sword once wielded by the first Nazir, Mora, himself. 

Red light lightning dazzled the pagan falconer and his griffen. Fifty feet long  Ilidima fell on him, chopping him and his bird into two. Even his shield and his glowing armor couldn't save him. The pagan's thick blood flew out of his convulsing body and the red sword drank it thirstily. Like a crazy beast, Mir ran into the crowd of spirit wielders. The corpses began to drop on the ground in his wake. With thick blood chasing him, the Moriyan lord seemed so frightening that many late apprentices and master-spirit wielders who hadn't fled seeing the fiery ball, fainted with fear.  Some with brave hearts tried to stop the death's messenger, but they soon realized the disparity between them, and they too started to flee for their lives. But there was nowhere to go.  The arena had already been sealed with a terrifying blood shield.

While the gory sight was quivering the heart of young spirit wielders, astral creatures, like dakinis and sakinis cackled menacingly. They began to dance, for their bone bowls were brimming with blood.

The defilers had caught the maharathis off guard.  However, they still couldn't take any advantage. 

All the fifty maharathis present there were veterans. Each of them had taken a blood bath in the gory battlefields. 

With Amukha as their leader, they soon formulated a battle plan.  Bringing Tissa safe from there was their priority. Aslan might not like Tissa very much, but it didn't mean he would be happy at his only son's death. None of them wanted to face Aslan's wraith.  So the first thing they did was to messenger bird to get help. Amukha used his life-saving treasure called space piercer and breached open an opening into the space. Saket, the vice chief of Puskar academy of Ahom, lent them his tenth-grade messenger dove. The bird disappeared into space as a drop of water does into a sea. 

The maharathis  took Vasu in the center and started to counteract. They just had to defend for one or two ghadi, for their help was hiding in the airfield.   

Amukha, who had mastered ether element, created a space rift between them and the defilers. 

Taylor ,a maharathi from Okala, moved his hands and the ground burst open, catching the dark warriors off guard.  The strong force of gravity pulled them into the gaping rifts. From above the winged lion of Vasu, and the lightning dragon of Saket were showering them with lightning. Not to speak, fireballs of Akrura, one of Tissa's men. 

The mighty divya astras clashed, letting shock waves in all directions.  It was a very frightening sight. The sun hid behind the dark clouds. Its face paled with fright. The ghost wolves took it for the sickly moon. They abandoned the corpses and started to howl.  Their howls were so shrill if a commoner happened to hear them, his soul would flee his body.

Jora watched the battle with a serene face. The old Gazi had survived fifty battles. He was the father of fifty gazis and one slave. Jora couldn't help but glance towards the city, which had shut its gates. Had  Kasma really perished?  He wondered again. 

Jora had a false hope that he might sense the soulbond after reaching the virgin land. But It too got shattered. There was no sign of his younger son. He sighed. He couldn't do anything. But it was really stranger. Every time when a bonded slave died, the master knew it. However, both Kasma and the girl disappeared, and Jora had received no signal. There was really something amiss here.

Jora frowned as he pulled back his attention from the fortified city to the current battle. 

First, he had to take care of these pagans. 

Jora's dry lips moved and the sky rumbled above. The sun got scared so much that it flee the sky. And night fell in Minaak. The strange phenomenon shocked the dark warriors and maharathis alike. 

"Phantom of Guzaal!" Vasu's eyes widened as he looked at thirty feet dark figure hovering in the sky. Its green eyes looked so reminded him of the darkest night of his life. 

"Be careful! he is Jora, the blood-thirsty phantom, " He warned his men.  As he summoned all his beasts- five heard snakes, golden ape, diamond panther, and a dozen more. 

The face of other Maharathis turned grim. 

They had heard the terrifying tales of this phantom. Rumors filled with gory details, and darkness. They said he is undying and feasted on souls. No astras could slay him. According to one rumor, Jora had swallowed the whole city of 10000 spirit-wielders called Guzaal. and thus he got his name 'Phantom of Guzaal'. 

Maharathis summoned their most powerful astras and arts as they arranged themself in a human array. 

"Kekekekekeke! OHHH hohohohoho! BWAAAHH hahahaha!" The errie laugh made thier pores erect. Of course, they knew it was the effect of some evil art wielded by Jora. But that didn't mean they were immune to it. It was said Jora had assimilated ghosts and pishachas' souls. And thus he had their powers too. 

Suddenly, all the dark warriors disappeared from the arena. Astral creatures had long fled the battlefield.   

So silence fell around the Maharathis. pin-drop silence!