The sound of the Panchajanya shattered the morning stillness. It was a note of divine finality, and at that instant, the Mahayudh exploded.
The Allied Army, deployed in the wedge of the Vajra Vyuha, roared into motion, spearheaded by Bhagadatta's fearsome elephant cavalry. The Dharma Alliance, holding the powerful Trishul Vyuha, surged forward to meet the impact.
The central prong of the Dharma Alliance, led by Bahubali atop his magnificent chariot, faced the terrifying, lumbering charge of Bhagadatta's elephants.
Lord Sri Krishna, serving as his charioteer, navigated the heavy, churning field of mud and blood with divine precision.
"They come with brute force, Bahu!" Krishna's voice, calm amidst the chaos, cut through the din. "The Vajra head aims to crush us!"
"Then we will pierce the heart, Prabhu!" Bahubali declared. His body was a study in fierce concentration. He drew Ajaya's Bow, the ancient weapon humming with latent energy.
As the first wave of war elephants thundered toward them, Bahubali chanted the invocation for the Vayuvastra. A fierce, cyclonic wind erupted from his arrow, tearing into the ranks of the elephant cavalry. The majestic beasts stumbled, their banners ripped away, their handlers tossed like dolls.
Bhagadatta, mounted on his enormous elephant, challenged Bahubali directly. He hurled a massive, barbed Shakti weapon.
Bahubali countered instantly, shattering the astra with a precision shot from Ajaya's Bow.
"You champion of the common folk!" Bhagadatta roared from his towering perch. "Your justice has poisoned the crown! I will end your new order!"
Bahubali answered by unleashing a volley of arrows so swift and powerful that they created a whistling cone of death around Bhagadatta's elephant, forcing the Pragjyotisha king to focus entirely on defense and shattering the momentum of the center prong.
On the right flank, Karna, the mighty King of Anga, met his most bitter opponent: Jayadratha of Sindhu. The old humiliation Jayadratha carried fueled his desperate fury.
The duel was a dazzling spectacle of archery mastery. Jayadratha, a fierce master of the bow, invoked the Nagashtra (Serpent Weapon), sending a wave of arrows that took the shape of venomous vipers towards Karna.
Karna laughed—a thunderous, defiant sound. "Illusions cannot touch the truth of the sun, Sindhu King!" He immediately countered with a magnificent Agneyastra. A blast of sacred fire consumed the serpent-arrows, turning them to smoke and leaving a trail of ash on the battlefield.
Jayadratha, falling back, invoked the Varunastra (Water Weapon), summoning torrential rain and mud to extinguish the fires to bog down the Anga's chariot.
"Do you fight with water and mud, Jayadratha?" Karna mocked, his voice full of power. "I fight with the fire of my own dharma!" He drove his chariot relentlessly forward, raining down arrows with such speed that the Sindhu forces were constantly battered, preventing Jayadratha from gaining any strategic ground.
On the left prong, Arjuna, the supreme archer, faced Paundraka Vasudeva, the defiant king who saw himself as a rival to divinity. Paundraka, arrogant and skillful, led his forces with destructive zeal.
Paundraka launched wave after wave of physical arrows, trying to overwhelm the Pandava forces. Arjuna, focused and precise, responded by invoking the Aindrastra (Indra's Hail), unleashing a storm of arrows that descended from the sky like a metal cloud, shattering Paundraka's formations and killing dozens of his commanders.
"Your arrogance is unmatched, Paundraka!" Arjuna cried out, his voice sharp with focus. "But true power lies not in pretense, but in skill!"
The battle on the flanks was a relentless grind. The Pandava brothers and the other Kauravas, led by Duryodhana and guided by the supreme strategy of Bhishma and Drona, held their lines against the attacks from Chedi and Kamrup, utilizing complex maneuvers taught by their gurus.
Drona and Kripacharya carved swathes of destruction through the enemy ranks, their ancient mastery proving unstoppable.
The battle raged for hours. The air grew heavy with the screams of the wounded and the smell of blood. As the sun, a deep crimson orb, finally touched the horizon, casting long, bloody shadows across the field, the exhaustion of the human armies was absolute.
The rules of Dharma-Yuddha required both sides to halt combat at sunset, tend to the dead, and rest.
As the sun's last fiery edge dipped beneath the plain, the bugles sounded the retreat on both sides. Weary, dust-caked soldiers began to withdraw.
It was in this moment of exhaustion and mandated ceasefire that Krodhakala struck.
A horrifying, guttural ROAR—unlike the trumpets or drums of man—split the twilight. The earth began to shake violently, not from elephants, but from something darker.
From the concealed western woods, a massive, tide-like wave of pure malice spilled onto the field. Krodhakala, towering and monstrous, led his terrifying army of 6 Akshauhinis—Rakshasas, demons, and dark creatures whose very forms defied mortal armies.
"FOOLS!" Krodhakala's voice boomed, shattering the peaceful retreat. "You fight by the rules of Dharma! We fight only by the rule of DESTRUCTION!"
The ambush was immediate and brutal. The unsuspecting human soldiers, tired and turning their backs to retreat, were caught in the sudden, horrifying onslaught of Rakshasa claws, demonic blades, and overwhelming numbers.
The Dharma Alliance, exhausted from a full day of righteous combat, was now plunged into a nightmare of an asymmetrical, unholy war, precisely when their guard was down.