Rayan smirks, Manav growls.
"Tell me Manav! Why do you we are all doing this? Why does Achyut want to go after Hades? Why did Hades reveal this power to the world and commercialized it? Why do I want Agastya to die?"
Manav screams in rage, comes charging at Rayan. Rayan manages to grab him by the nape and pushes him down, stabs his back with the dagger. Manav screams.
"You disappoint me Manav. I thought I was the weakest here. Turns out it was you all along."
Rayan kicks Manav on the face, sends him flying. Manav crashes on the hard wall, cracking the wall and his spine. He falls down on the ground. Rayan walks towards him.
"Do you know why Aaryan sent you and Rishi to hunt me down?"
Rayan smirks menacingly and kneels down "It's because I sent that vision to Rishi. The vision of Achyut killing your entire clan that night. Now, it is possible that Rishi sees Achyut's visions because their 'blood eyes' are linked. But, Achyut is believed to be dead, isn't he? So how did that even happen?"
Rayan bursts into laughter. Manav shouts "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO????"
Rayan speaks menacingly "I made Aaryan look for Achyut. He could not find Achyut. Who can find a dead man? But he managed to find me instead and sent you and Rishi here, just like I wanted. It was hard for me to find you but it was extremely easy for you to find me. So you did, for me."
Manav pushes himself up, punches Rayan on the ribs, Rayan grunts in pain, grabs Manav by the wrist, pulls him forward, punches him on the face.
Agastya lifts Rishi off the ground, holding him by the throat. He narrows his eyes, filled with rage. He turns, swings Rishi and throws him towards the glass walls. Rishi goes shattering the glass, flying away. Agastya instantly reaches him in the air, grabs him by the face and throws him to the ground, slamming him into the dense forest, creating a crater.
Rishi lays there, panting, blood oozing from his mouth. Agastya lands, feet first, on Rishi's chest.
Rishi felt his ribs break right there. Agastya jumps off and lands on the ground. He looks down at Rishi and speaks "I could've killed you 10 times over by now but you can only die once. So I will make the once, very long."
He grabs Rishi's wrist, pulls it up, makes Rishi sit up, and then twists his arm. Rishi screams in pain. Agastya punches Rishi's ribs, Rishi screams louder, but not louder than the cracking sound from his ribs breaking.
Agastya drops Rishi on the ground and walks back a few steps "That was cute. You really thought rage was a superpower. You're like a wet matchstick trying to set the sun on fire."
He goes and sits on a rock, looking at Rishi "You know, I'll give you this much—when you walked in, all shirtless and holding a katana with that deadpan glare and brooding aura, I almost thought you were dangerous. Really. There was a moment. But turns out, all you did was kill a few cult insects, strike a pose, and stare at me like you were waiting for background music to drop. I'm not sure if you were trying to scare me or audition for a perfume commercial. And now look at you—bleeding, breathing like a broken generator, and still trying to look angry. It's adorable. But don't worry… I'm patient. I'll sit here, let your bones stitch themselves back together, wait for you to find your voice again. Because I want answers. Then I'll give you a death so slow, even your soul will file a complaint. Legendary, I promise."
Rishi blinked slowly, the sky seemed to darken as the dark rain clouds covered the sun. When the droplets started falling, he was shaken awake. He took rapid breaths as he clenched his fists, utterly broken and near the edge of life, but still alive and unyielding.
His eyes slowly start glowing as vapors of energy start rising from his body.
Agastya narrows his eyes as he tries to understand. Rishi starts moving, slowly sitting up. His body was still covered in blood, his wounds were still open and he still had broken bones, but he still managed to move.
"This shouldn't even be possible!" Agastya murmured.
Rishi's eyes start glowing... golden. His aura turns gold, gold vapors start rising from his body. His eyes start releasing small vapors of energy that were glowing bright as they flew upwards.
Agastya got up from the rock.
Rishi was standing there, covered in red, glowing in gold. Agastya stepped forward, he tightened his muscles, a golden aura engulfed him as well. He smirked at Rishi.
"Wow. Power, rage, trauma, sparkle. You've unlocked your final form: emotionally unstable chandelier."
Rishi came charging at Agastya, Agastya managed to block the attacks. Both of them were locked in a hand to hand now. Hitting, blocking, dodging, it seemed much more equal now. Rishi was managing to keep up, his eyes were calm, focused, intense, fixed on Agastya.
Agastya narrowed his eyes, finally he was getting serious. Rishi frowned, pushing further, but Agastya still did not seem to have a problem with Rishi's power. Moreover, Rishi seemed to be killing himself internally with that golden energy, his wounds were not healing, it was a wonder how he was still moving. Agastya on the other hand seemed as comfortable with that fire, as if he was surrounded by gentle water.