Rishi jumped up at Agastya, a huge tree came flying and hit Rishi, sending him flying. Agastya looked at Rishi, his eyes narrow. He raised his palm and slowly curled his fingers into a fist. Multiple trees started going towards Rishi.
Rishi landed on his feet, immediately got hit by another huge tree, almost getting crushed. He grabbed the tree, pushed it down and jumped up. Another tree came, he grabbed it, swung it around and threw it back at the coming trees. The trees collided, breaking into pieces, launching thousands of small splinters and pieces of wood around. Both Rishi and Agastya got affected by them. Both grunted in pain.
Agastya narrowed his eyes, raised both his hands to his side. Rishi landed on his feet again.
The trees surrounded Agastya, forming a huge circle. Suddenly, the wood started bending and moving. The trees were changing shape, they twisted and joined each other and broke at some places. They formed huge, wooden, pillars, flying in the sky. Agastya raised his hands, the pillars aimed towards Rishi.
Rishi's eyes widened. The pillars came tearing through the air at high speeds. Rishi jumped up to dodge them. The pillars turned to chase him. He frowned. He down, landed on one pillar on his feet. The pillar turned and went towards the ground, in an effort to crush him.
He turned to look at Agastya, who was still controlling them with his hands, and jumped towards him.
When Agastya saw Rishi coming straight towards him, he clapped his hands. Huge blocks of wood came from both sides, collided in the middle, crushing Rishi between them.
When their pieces fell on the ground, so did Rishi who was covered in blood now. It looked like as if he was skinned alive right there.
Agastya took a deep breath as he lowered his hands. The trees fell on the ground at once, launching huge pieces of wood and debris. Agastya landed on his feet and walked up to Rishi who was barely breathing down there.
He looked down at Rishi.
"Not the first time I have seen you utterly beaten, is it, Rishi? This is what happened when you faced Aditya as well."
Agastya took another deep breath and looked around.
"So then, tell me. Where is he? Achyut! Where the hell is Achyut?"
Agastya's eyes widened as he felt a hand over his shoulder, an arm around him, a presence beside him.
Achyut slowly landed on his feet.
"It is quite unfortunate that I gave Rishi such a powerful boost and yet Rishi did not even bother to open it or at least notice it. No worries, it will stay there as long as Rishi is alive. He can use it whenever he wishes to."
Achyut smiled and slowly turned towards Agastya.
"Hello younger prince! Glad to know that I still haunt your dreams. It was getting boring until you showed up again. All thanks to Rayan and Aaryan."
Agastya growled loudly as he charged up, his aura grew bigger and bigger, even larger than what it was against Rishi.
Achyut jumped back and landed on his feet. With a small chuckle, he said
"Woah! Careful there. I am barely stronger than a normal human, you know that already Prince. Don't you?"
Agastya screamed loudly.
Achyut teleported right in front of him and held out a hand, a severed hand, covered in blood, fresh and still warm.
Agastya paused, his eyes narrowed. Achyut smirked and spoke.
"The clan of death, got wiped out on that fateful night. By yours truly, ofcourse. But the two princes survived!"
Agastya's eyes widened. Achyut tossed the severed hand to Agastya's feet. Agastya started down at it.
"The two princes were made to believe that the other one is dead, hence, seeking vengeance. The younger one, got to be infamous, feared and known throughout as... The Anomaly. The Elder one, believed the Anomaly is some monster created by X Graders and chased it, but could never catch it."
Achyut took few steps back, kneeled down and placed his hand on Rishi's half conscious body.
"Don't worry Agastya! I don't intend to keep your elder brother away from you. You will find him, slowly, piece by piece. You can assemble him again if you wish, but I doubt you'll achieve anything. Anyway, I'll take my leave now. Later, Younger... Prince..."
Achyut disappeared with Rishi along with him.
Agastya stood there, stunned, looking down at the severed hand. He kneeled down, gently touching it. He was still processing the fact that Manav was alive this whole time, until now, when it is already too late.
He looked up, as the rain slowly stopped. The sky was still cloudy and dark. He did not even know what to think.
Slowly, one drop of tear emerged from his eye, slowly dripped down his cheek, fell off his jaw.
With whimpering voice, he uttered "Elder brother!"
Rayan stands there, nervously as Achyut looks at Rishi laying on a bed, all bandaged like a mummy.
"I won't even sugarcoat this. He got wreaked by Agastya."
Achyut chuckles as he speaks.
"It seems he needs more time to prepare. I don't doubt his potential. If there is anyone that can reach the level X, it's Rishi. Make sure he heals properly, you takeover the training from here on. It was a total mess this time, no proper planning, just grabbed the weapon and entered the battlefield. I want the next time to be a perfect execution with correct planning."
He utters as he opens his arms and steps back. Rayan nervously nods.
"Agreed! I'll make sure everything is proper."
Achyut smiles.
"I have big dreams, Rayan. I do not want them to be crushed because of one bad ending. Next time, I want Rishi to go wild."