A battle of unimaginable scale raged among the stars — a struggle that would decide the fate of humanity in this cosmos, in this world of Myrakal.
At its heart blazed a colossal formation, a prison of light and law woven across half a constellation. At the center of that cage stood a young man. His aura burned so brightly that mortals would have sworn him a god. Yet outside the formation, twelve figures of equal majesty encircled him, their radiance blotting out the stars.
"Abhimanyu… my brother," a dwarf intoned, his voice like the grinding of stone. "Why resist? You cannot escape the Eclipse Nexus Formation. All twelve of us have sacrificed half of our origin laws to bind you."
Abhimanyu did not answer him. His eyes were fixed on the battlefield below — a planet shrouded in fire and steel. The human army fought desperately against a tide of alien races, killing and dying without complaint. Among them, dwarves turned their blades on their human allies, betrayal cutting deeper than any spear. That treachery had shattered the lines; without it, humanity would not have been so broken.
Another of the twelve spoke, his voice cold and sure.
"Boy… hand over your Astra, and all the mantras you command. You have forged a Complete Astra — the only one of its kind in this cosmos. Give it to us, and we may spare your people. But they will live only as slaves."
Abhimanyu's lips curled into a fierce smile.
"Do you see them surrendering below? As their leader, why would I?"
"Then hand over your bow!" a god thundered. "Or watch your entire race annihilated!"
The young man looked down at the weapon in his hands — a bow darker than the void, its string vibrating with the hum of creation itself.
"Pinaka… my friend," he whispered. "It seems we will both fall here. Forgive me… I have failed the name of your creator, Lord Mahadev."
Then, with a breath that shook the formation, Abhimanyu murmured a mantra:
"Om Hraum Rudrāya Pāśupatāstrāya…"
A resonance spread through the void, so dreadful that the twelve gods faltered in fear.
On Pinaka's string, an arrow began to form — an arrow that should not have existed in this cosmos.
"Impossible," one of the gods hissed. "He carries another Astra within him! This one is on the verge of being complete."
"Reinforce the formation with what remains of your law-bodies, or we will all be destroyed!"
Their eyes turned on the dwarf.
"Vulcan! You betrayed him to us — and you never told us this!"
"If I had known," Vulcan said bitterly, "I would never have betrayed him. But the formation still holds. It can endure."
Abhimanyu loosed the arrow.
It struck the dome of the Eclipse Nexus Formation. The heavens cracked. For an instant, the binding wheel of law nearly broke apart. The twelve screamed as ninety percent of their essence burned away to contain it.
They sighed in relief — they had survived. But they knew the price: with their law-bodies crippled, they would soon sink into slumber for eons.
Yet even in their exhaustion, their gazes glittered with greed as they stared at Pinaka.
Abhimanyu smiled faintly.
"It's all in vain…"
The bow dissolved into motes of light, scattering into the endless dark.
The backlash of unleashing an incomplete Astra through a completely condensed Pinaka was catastrophic. The Astra arrow reduced in power. The Pinaka bow disintegrated. And Abhimanyu's body and soul began to break down too.
He looked once more at the battlefield below, where the human host lay broken, and sorrow touched his eyes.
"Long ago, one from Planet 'Pruthivi' of my Cosmos came here," he murmured, voice fading. "He nearly led humanity to conquer this world. Ages later, I was reborn in this cosmos… and I failed to stabilize. Perhaps it will take another age before one from Pruthivi rises again in this cosmos."
His form flickered, breaking into starlight.
"Uncle Krishna… this time, take me to Vaikuntha. I entrust everything to the next generation."
And with that vow, Abhimanyu was gone.