Arjun was shocked for a moment by the sudden change, but then he understood this was the trial the man mentioned.
He had been confused about this guy since the beginning — he looked too strong for someone doing a desk job.
"That makes sense," Arjun muttered.
He took a stance.
His opponent did the same.
A long silence,
Suddenly, a sharp sound sliced through the air.
Dust shot upward.
The man vanished and reappeared behind Arjun, throwing a punch with frightening speed.
But his fist hit nothing.
Arjun had already shifted behind him, copying his stance perfectly.
"Your Vega is not high enough in front of me," Arjun said.
Vega was a mantra for short-distance bursts of speed. But mantras like that required intense physical training — knowing the mantra wasn't enough.
And once mastered, they no longer needed mudras or chanting.
Arjun punched him in the back, his fist glowing green with Shakti.The man flew forward, dragged across the ground, and crashed into the fountain, leaving a trail behind him.
Dusting his clothes, Arjun asked,
"Is it enough?"
The man stayed silent—But the silence felt like the calm before a storm.
Arjun relaxed slightly.
He knew he could overpower him if needed.
But something unexpected happened.
"You know," the man said, "we use this so we don't damage the land."
Arjun blinked, confused.
The man formed mudras, chanted a mantra, and spoke—
"Vedika."
A Shakti barrier expanded instantly across the backyard, sealing them inside.This wasn't part of normal trials — he was taking this personally now.
Arjun didn't react."Vedikā… yeah, Takes a lot of Shakti, I've heard."
He added,
"Trapping me won't change anything. You know you aren't strong enough.
And isn't this supposed to be a trial? Why fight this hard?"
"The trial is still going on," the man said.
Arjun understood—he was frustrated after losing.
Shakti began gathering in the man's hand.
So dense that Arjun actually frowned and focused.
"Add a little more,"
Arjun said mockingly.
"Vedika is a Saptapada mantra. It won't break."
A spinning disc formed in the man's hand—glowing, rotating, unstable.
A chakra.
The Sudarshan Chakra.
It looked exactly like the tattoo on Arjun's forehead.
Arjun froze for a second.
He immediately understood: this may be the prize of the competition.
But he laughed.
"The mantra may be Ashtapada, but your execution is nowhere near that. At best, Tripada."
The man grew angrier.
The chakra spun violently, and he looked like he was losing control.
He threw it.
Where it passed, the grass withered into brown.
Arjun couldn't dodge.
It hit—
BOOM.
Light exploded across the field.
"I won! Haha—" the man shouted, but instantly stopped.A terrifying thought hit him:
What if I killed him?
"No… he's strong… and the attack was unstable… he should be alive… right?" he whispered to himself.
But all he saw was blinding white light.
"This shouldn't happen… this isn't how the mantra behaves…" he muttered.
The light dimmed.
What he saw made his body tremble.
Arjun stood there, completely unfazed—yawning.
The chakra's remnants were being absorbed into Arjun's forehead.
Arjun didn't dodge it, because his body simply didn't register danger — the chakra treated him like its rightful owner.
"How… how did my attack not work?
And why is it getting absorbed into his head? What is he doing…?"
Then he noticed—The Sudarshan Chakra tattoo on Arjun's forehead was glowing.
Arjun asked, "Is it over now?"
The man, exhausted, nodded.
The barrier dissolved.
He approached slowly.
"How… how did you not feel even a bit of my attack?"
Arjun didn't fully understand either.
He only knew one thing:
He possessed the actual Sudarshan Chakra Astra.
So mantras that imitate it could never harm him.
He hadn't felt any danger, so he hadn't even bothered to dodge.
The chakra simply got absorbed into his forehead.
He now felt a faint familiarity with the astra—even though it wasn't complete.
"I've passed, right? I'll take my leave,"
Arjun said.
"Are you a Varis?" the man asked.
"No." Arjun kept walking.
"Then how do you have the Sudarshan Chakra mantra? I saw your forehead! That mark appears only when someone can use it at Panchpada level!"
Arjun turned.
"You're wrong."
And walked away.
"Stop!" the man yelled.
Arjun ignored him.
The man fired a Shakti blast into the sky — a loud explosion was heared.
Arjun entered the palace.It felt emptier than before.
He saw Subha talking to someone.
She noticed his expression and walked over.
"Why were you taking so long?" she asked.
"Let's leave," Arjun said, his tone serious.
Subha immediately understood something was wrong.
They walked out of the palace—
Twenty guards were waiting.
Subha's eyes widened.
A man stepped forward.
"We need to question you about something," he said to Arjun.
Subha instinctively stepped closer to him —Something was definitely wrong.
The man who fought Arjun stepped out behind them, looking tense.