“The allied army,” Vir said, aghast. “I told you to ensure they fled, not capture them!”

  Raoul smiled wryly. “Be at ease, Akh Nara. For we’ve captured only the Chitran half. Their Aindri ‘allies’ were only too happy to abandon them to their fate. I suppose true loyalty cannot be purchased, mmm?”

  Sweet words, coming from your lips, Vir thought, unsure whether to kill Raoul for his actions or thank him.

  “It is easy to bluff,” Annas replied, unperturbed. “The Akh Nara is far too kind to take hostages. This changes nothing.”

  “Quite right,” Raoul replied. “Saunak? A demonstration, if you will?”

  “With pleasure,” Saunak cackled, fingers dancing over a tablet.

  “Wait!” Vir shouted, but he was too late.

  The prana must have traveled through a nearby Gate, and a moment later, the Automaton’s energy beam activated, cutting a swath through the helpless Chitran.

  The beam couldn’t have lasted more than a second, yet in that short span, a dozen Chitran Warriors had been cleaved in two.

  “Such delightfully monstrous strength, don’t you think? The Prime Imperium truly were masters of their craft. Would you like me to do that again?” Saunak asked excitedly, fingers poised over the controls. “I do love doing that.”

  “Wait!” both Vir and Annas shouted at once.

  For the first time, Vir found himself at a loss for words, and it was not the heat of indignation that Vir felt, but disbelief. His own troops had disobeyed a direct order from him. From him! Their leader. Their Akh Nara.

  “They’re unarmed!” Annas said, his words charged with emotion for once. “You’re killing Chitran who surrendered!”

  Saunak looked genuinely confused. “Yes? Aren’t you? It’s quite fascinating, isn’t it? Though, I admit there is little to study from your kind’s corpses. I’m afraid I learned alI I could from Chitran physiology ages ago.”

  “Hand it over and we can end this,” Vir said to Annas. Remaining passive would only allow this situation to spiral further out of hand. Though he loathed their actions, Raoul and Saunak had given him an opening.

  Like it or not, Vir had to take it.

  “No one else needs to die.”

  Annas went silent, frowning. “No,” he said at last.

  “You would let thousands of your own people die?” Maiya asked in disgust.

  Annas said nothing.

  “Okay, maybe you would. But you do realize it’s so much worse than that, right?” Maiya continued. “The world will know, Annas. Even if you get what you want today—which you won’t, by the way—you’ll still be known to the entire realm as the Raja who sacrificed thousands when he didn’t have to,” Maiya said, her anger rising. “Tell me, you stupid monkey—is that how you want to be remembered? The killer of children and abandoner of his people? How many Chitran do you think will follow you with a reputation like that?”

  Annas bristled at the insult, and Vir couldn’t help but admire Maiya’s tactics here.

  Granted, her feelings were genuine, but she must have included the jab to get him to lose his cool and slip up.

  “Very well,” Annas said at last. “Free my people, and I will give you the tablet.”

  “You’ll do more than that,” Vir countered, refusing to give Annas an inch with his wording. “You’ll ensure the safety of the children and release them into our custody immediately.”

  “Yes, yes,” Annas replied, waving the tablet in the air. “But my people go first.”

  “We’ll release half of your people,” Maiya said. “Then you’ll release half the children. Then you’ll get the rest. I don’t think I need to spell out how advantageous this situation is for you.”

  “Acceptable,” Annas said without even a single glance towards Maiya. “With one condition.”

  “Which is?” Vir asked, fearing his words.

  “We duel. To the death. No interruptions. No guards. No army. Just you and me. Raja against Raja.”

  The audience chamber immediately flew into an uproar.

  “How dare you!” several of the Asura said. “Kill him now! We have the numbers—”

  But Vir raised an arm to silence them.

  “It’s too risky, lad,” Cirayus said quietly. “You tried. You gave him every opportunity to avoid this. He chose this.”

  “And I would agree,” Vir muttered, “if we truly had no other option.”

  “You don’t,” Maiya said. “I will not risk letting you fight him alone, Vir. You’re too important. To your people, to the realm. And to me.”

  “You think I’ll lose?” Vir asked with a sad smile. “I did beat him during the tournament, remember?”

  “I didn’t say that, and you know this isn’t the same!” Maiya snapped. “It just isn’t worth the risk. I know, it’s cruel. I know you’ll eat yourself up over it, and so will I. But you’re a Raja now.”

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  “She has the right of it, lad,” Cirayus said. “You answer to all Gargans now. What will our people do without you? How many more children will die in your absence?”

  “Do you think I want to do this?” Vir bristled. “Do you think I enjoy risking my life? I want to live as much as anyone. Especially when so many precious people are counting on me”

  He looked Maiya in the eyes.

  “But, you’re right, Mai. If I let those children die, I will regret it for the rest of my days. This is a selfish decision, I know. And I beg your understanding. I cannot become the sort of Raja who sacrifices children because he refuses to put his life on the line. I refuse to become that person.”

  Both Maiya and Cirayus fell silent.

  “I suppose you’ve always been this way,” Cirayus said at last, heaving a great sigh. “There is something to be said for leaders who rule from the front.”

  Maiya opened her mouth, her expression a mix of fear, hope, and… was that guilt?

  “I guess we’re both the type to recklessly rush out on our own, huh? I don’t like this. I don’t want this, but it’s you. And I love you.”

  “I accept,” Vir announced, smiling as he looked deeply into her beautiful amber eyes. “Pending the safe return of the children and the release of your soldiers, we will fight. One-on-one. But not here. Outside, beyond the walls of Samar Patag. This city has seen enough destruction for one day.”

  “Then we are in agreement,” Annas said.

  “Then release half of them,” Vir commanded Raoul. “And if you disobey my orders again, I will have your heads.”

  His words were only half a lie. While Vir wouldn’t hesitate to kill Raoul, he couldn’t get rid of Saunak so casually. The Thaumaturge was simply too precious for the future of demonkind.

  Vir’s fears, however, proved unfounded, as both Saunak and Raoul commanded the Asura surrounding the troops to untie the Chitran.

  Unarmed as they were, not one Chitran soldier resisted, with most fleeing the moment they were set free.

  “There,” Vir said, monitoring the projection. “We’ve done our part. Now do yours.”

  Annas called over one of his demons who’d been lurking in a nearby hallway. “Take them to where the children are kept. Free half, and only half.”

  “Yes, Raja,” the kothi replied, leading a detachment of Asura away. Maiya gave them a communications orb so they could report back.

  The next several minutes passed in tense silence as both sides waited—made worse by the conflicted looks Maiya kept throwing his way.

  After what felt to Vir like hours, the orb finally lit.

  “We’ve secured them,” an Asura said. “They were in the slums, after all. Would you like us to free the rest?”

  “You do that, and they die,” Annas said, waving his tablet.

  “No,” Vir said, speaking into the orb. “This will be a civilized exchange. Will it not, Annas?”

  “That depends on you, O Akh Nara,” The kothi replied with a smile.

  With great hesitation, Vir gave the order to free the rest of the Chitran, and to everyone’s surprise, Annas did the same, freeing the last of the children.

  “The tablet,” Vir said, extending his hand.

  Annas shrugged, casually tossing it in midair.

  Vir caught it, of course, though he did glare at the kothi. If the tablet had fallen and cracked, the children would be dead.

  Why was he this way? Did he truly not care for the value of life?

  The level of callousness this demon showed was something Vir would never be able to understand. Nor did he ever wish to. There was something broken about people like Annas. Something precious that, once lost, could never again be found. Vir didn't ever wish to become like him.

  Even still, there was a difference between a liar and someone who broke their promise once to save lives. A perhaps murky and often missed difference, to be sure, but Vir was keenly aware of that difference. For what sort of Raja would he be if his promises could not be trusted?

  Besides, why should he offer his foe that courtesy when he himself undoubtedly had some hidden contingency?

  Annas was no chal. Annas would never in a million years have agreed to a duel unless he were completely certain of his victory, and he knew full well the sorts of powers Vir possessed. He knew of Aspect of the Demon God and of Vir’s near-boundless prana reserves. A vast chasm existed between them. One that was not so simply crossed.

  “Can you disable this?” Vir asked evenly as he handed the tablet to Saunak. He betrayed none of the turmoil that swirled in his head.

  “Just who do you think I am, hmm?” Saunak replied, thoroughly offended. “I merely need to initiate the shutdown process. Let me hop over to my tower, and I’ll be right back.”

  “Erm, so sorry to trouble you, O great Goddess,” he said, dropping to his knees and groveling. “May this lowly soul beg you for passage to my home?”

  “Of course,” Ashani replied, opening a gate directly into Saunak’s tower deep within the Ashen Realm, though Vir saw the light in her eyes dim a little. Saunak might’ve thought he was being courteous, but Vir knew such treatment only hurt her.

  “I am eternally grateful,” Saunak said, and disappeared.

  Annas, meanwhile, looked distraught but far from broken. There was a fire in his eyes that made Vir all the more certain he had a plan.

  “Now then,” Annas said as he stood from Vir’s throne, an easy smile on his face, “I believe we have a duel to begin.”

  Vir nodded. “This way,” he said, leading his party out of the audience hall. A hundred or more Asuras joined them, surrounding Annas and forming something resembling a royal procession.

  This, however, was no joyous occasion. Two demons would enter this fight. Only one would leave alive.

  Whether Annas' hidden weapon proved to be a fool’s hope or whether it was something more... Vir had no intention of finding out.

  They finally arrived at their destination, some half mile from the city gates, with Cirayus, Maiya, Ashani, and several hundred Asuras standing witness to the results.

  “I forgot to mention,” Annas said. “Should I win—the Chitran will retake Samar Patag and every square inch of the Gargan lands you have stolen from us.”

  “Stolen back, you mean,” Maiya corrected, earning herself a death glare from the monkey.

  “You know I cannot accept that,” Vir said. “Especially now, when you have no hostages with which to bargain.”

  Had this been a spur-of-the-moment idea on Annas’ part? Or had he figured Vir would never accept those terms if he’d brought it up earlier? All the more reason never to allow this demon the duel he so longed for.

  Vir met Cirayus' eyes, and the barest of nods was exchanged between them. Cirayus, in turn, made a series of seemingly benign, everyday gestures. A scratch of his ear, a wringing of his wrist, a huff of breath.

  Seemingly nothing and simultaneously everything had changed in less time than it took to blink. Not a single Asura missed the nonverbal commands. Not one hesitated or gave any sign of acknowledging the plan that was about to unfold.

  The blissfully unaware monkey in the middle shrugged. “It is quite simple to kidnap children any time I wish. Are you sure you wish to make this decision?”

  “I’ll take that chance,” Vir spat, disgusted that Annas could speak with such ease about something so vile.

  Before Annas could react, before any taunts or threats could be exchanged, an Ash Tear materialized directly in front of Annas, and only his kothi instincts prevented him from becoming a minced piece of meat.

  “What is the meaning of—!?”

  The Tear belched forth a torrent of prana directly at the party. What would have killed nearly any demon in the realm, Vir and the Asuras alike absorbed like the rich, nourishing energy it was, shielding Maiya and any others susceptible to it.

  They did not, however, shield Annas.

  Sikandar swung with the speed of an executioner's blade. Chakra attacks of every hue lashed out in a storm. Balancer of Scales crushed Annas where he stood, and when Vir layered his own, adding his own Chakras and arts to the mix, the kothi's fate was sealed.

  Or at least, it should have been. Where only mangled flesh should have been stood a still-standing, if wounded and exhausted Annas.

  “To the death, then,” Annas replied hoarse, as though he'd aged fifty years. “Though it will not be mine.”

  Vir scowled, activating the full might of his abilities. “I suppose we’'ll see about that.”