An hour passed. It was now 9 p.m.
At the Shula Group headquarters, Arwind was just about to head back to his own home.
The night outside was thick and humid, the city buzzing with distant sirens and neon lights bleeding through the glass walls of the building. He loosened his collar, already tired, already irritated.
Suddenly, one of his men came running down the corridor, drenched in cold sweat as if he had just seen a ghost. His breathing was uneven, panic written all over his face.
"The fuck are you sweating for?" Arwind snapped, turning sharply toward him.
The man swallowed hard before reporting the situation involving Shiva Bhairava, Arwind's oldest brother.
His voice trembled as he spoke about the assault that had occurred at the Shivan Temple. Words spilled out in fragments, blood, screams, bodies, chaos.
Arwind scoffed lightly, unimpressed.
"Let me guess. They're dead."
He expected it. He always did. Shiva was never a simple man. Never human in the normal sense.
A memory clawed its way into Arwind's mind. He remembered a time long ago when Shiva had burned Arwind's mother with boiling water.
Shiva was only ten years old then. Arwind was just eight. Kaala's second wife. The screams echoed even now in his ears. The smell of cooked flesh.
Her face left permanently disfigured, skin sagging and scarred beyond recognition.
Kaala had demanded an explanation that day. "Why did you do it?"
Shiva had replied in a cold, emotionless voice, his eyes fixed on Arwind's mother with a glare so murderous it froze the air.
"She talked dirty of my mother."
That was all he said. No remorse. No hesitation.
Remembering it now, Arwind's hand clenched into a fist. His knuckles whitened, nails digging into skin.
Rage simmered beneath the surface, but fear still lingered deeper within. A fear he had carried since childhood.
"Can't believe that old man let someone like him stay alive till now," Arwind muttered to himself.
He waved his trembling subordinate away.
"Handle the rest of the reports. Get out of my sight."
Arwind grabbed his coat and stepped into his vehicle. The engine purred softly as the door closed behind him.
"Driver, home. You know the drill."
"Yes."
Something about the response felt wrong.
Arwind narrowed his eyes.
"Hey. You're supposed to say 'yes, boss' or 'sir.' The fuck was that attitude?"
The car suddenly accelerated. The city lights blurred past the windows as the engine roared louder than usual. Arwind's instincts screamed. His heartbeat spiked.
Arwind leaned back slightly, his expression calm despite the danger. "Hehehe, tou're not my driver, are you, brother?"
He already knew the answer.
The man in the front seat slowly removed his beret. The interior light flickered on, revealing Shiva Bhairava.
His arms were soaked in blood up to the elbows. The veins along his forearms bulged grotesquely, the prosecutor artery visibly ruptured and torn open.
His knuckles were shredded, skin peeled back to expose bone and raw muscle. Fresh blood dripped onto the steering wheel, staining it dark red.
His face was worse.
Blood coated his cheeks, forehead, and chin, some of it dried, some still wet. A deep gash split his eyebrow. His lips were cracked, teeth stained crimson.
The aftermath of his brutal fight clung to him like a second skin. The gang members Arwind had sent were not merely defeated.
They had been butchered. Bones shattered. Throats crushed. Flesh torn apart by bare hands.
Shiva's eyes burned with madness and focus, cold yet alive with violence.
The car swerved violently as Shiva laughed softly, his grip tightening on the wheel, blood smearing across the dashboard.
"Looks like you missed me," Shiva said calmly.
Arwind swallowed, his spine stiffening as the city swallowed them whole, the darkness outside closing in like a grave.
Arwind's hand trembled slightly as he pulled out his phone. His thumb hovered for a split second before pressing the call button.
He forced his voice to stay steady, even as his heart pounded violently in his chest.
"I've been kidnapped," Arwind said low and fast. "Shiva Bhairava. Track my GPS. Bring everyone."
The line went dead.
Within minutes, engines howled across the city. His men responded immediately, tracing the phone's signal as they drove like madmen through traffic, horns blaring, tires screeching against wet asphalt.
Red lights were ignored. Pedestrians scattered. The city became a battlefield of steel and speed.
Soon, headlights appeared in the rearview mirror. One. Two. Three. Five vehicles in total. They surrounded the road like hunting wolves closing in on prey.
Shiva glanced at the mirror and smiled.
The chase erupted.
Five cars swerved left and right, slamming into Shiva's vehicle from both sides. Metal screamed as doors dented inward.
Glass shattered across Arwind's lap, slicing his skin as blood began to drip down his thigh.
The impact threw him violently against the seatbelt, knocking the air from his lungs.
One of the men leaned halfway out of his window, rain and wind tearing at his face. He raised an AK-47, the barrel gleaming under the streetlights.
The gun roared.
Bullets ripped into Shiva's car like a storm of steel. Windows exploded outward. The rear windshield disintegrated.
Rounds tore through the trunk and punched through the seats, narrowly missing Arwind's head.
One bullet grazed his shoulder, ripping flesh and spraying blood across the interior.
Arwind screamed in pain, clutching his wound.
Shiva did not flinch.
Instead, he slammed his foot onto the brake.
The car came to a sudden, brutal halt. Tires screeched as smoke and sparks filled the road.
The two vehicles that were meant to be in front had no time to react and surged forward past them.
Silence hung for half a second.
Then Shiva laughed.
A deep, twisted grin spread across his blood-soaked face as he revved the engine, veins bulging along his arms. He slammed the accelerator and rammed straight into one of the cars.
The impact was devastating.
The vehicle was lifted off the ground, sent spinning violently through the air before crashing into a massive container truck loaded with petrol. Metal crushed metal. Sparks ignited fuel.
The explosion erupted like hell itself.
A towering blaze consumed the road, flames swallowing the car whole as bodies were incinerated instantly.
The shockwave shattered nearby windows and flipped another vehicle onto its side.
Burning debris rained from the sky, chunks of flesh and twisted steel slamming onto the asphalt.
The heat blasted through Shiva's windshield, scorching the interior.
Arwind stared in horror, his face pale, blood dripping from his wounds as the inferno reflected in his eyes.
Shiva's grin widened.
His knuckles tightened around the wheel, fresh blood dripping down as the city burned ahead of them.
"You're insane!" Arwind yelled, his voice cracking as fear finally broke through his composure.
Shiva Bhairava let out a low chuckle, eyes locked on the road ahead, blood still dripping from his knuckles onto the steering wheel.
"More like mad," Shiva replied calmly. "Born with it. Deal with it."
More engines thundered into the junction. Armed jeeps burst through from multiple directions, their mounted semi-miniguns rotating into position.
The night lit up with flashing headlights and the mechanical whine of heavy weapons charging.
"Haha, give up, Shiva!" Arwind shouted, desperation hiding behind false confidence.
Shiva didn't even look at him.
"Give up?" he said casually. "Okay."
"Huh?"
Before Arwind could react, Shiva floored the accelerator. The engine screamed as the car veered sharply and burst into the opposite side of the road, straight into oncoming traffic.
"HOLY FUCK!" Arwind screamed.
Cars flew past them by inches. Horns blared wildly. Drivers swerved in panic, some crashing into barriers, others slamming into each other as Shiva drove like a possessed man, weaving through traffic at suicidal speed. Side mirrors shattered. Windshield cracks spread like spiderwebs.
Bullets began tearing through the air as the jeeps opened fire. Tracers ripped past the car, punching holes through metal and glass.
One round tore through the roof, showering Arwind with sparks and fragments. He ducked, blood mixing with sweat on his face.
Shiva reached under his coat and pulled out his personal handgun, his grip steady despite the chaos. He leaned slightly toward the window, eyes narrowed, breath controlled.
He fired.
The bullet struck one of the jeeps' tires dead center. The rubber exploded violently, shredding apart as the vehicle lost balance.
It toppled, flipped end over end, and skidded across the road, sparks spraying everywhere as the metal scraped along the asphalt.
Bodies inside slammed against the frame, bones snapping, screams cut short as the jeep finally crashed into a concrete divider.
Shiva didn't stop.
He shifted his aim to another jeep, this one with the machine gun still firing wildly. Shiva lined up the shot with surgical precision.
Bang.
The bullet pierced straight through the driver's skull. Blood and brain matter splattered against the windshield as the man's head snapped back violently.
The jeep jerked sideways, uncontrolled, rolling violently before slamming straight into a nearby gas station.
The impact triggered an explosion that turned night into daylight.
Flames erupted, swallowing the pumps and tearing through the structure. Fire raced across the road, igniting spilled fuel and burning vehicles.
The heat was suffocating. The air filled with smoke, ash, and the smell of burning flesh.
Arwind stared in pure horror, mouth open, eyes shaking, as the road ahead turned into a blazing graveyard.
Shiva drove straight through the chaos, his face illuminated by firelight, a faint smile etched onto his bloodstained lips.
The city screamed behind them, but Shiva Bhairava only pressed harder on the gas.
The remaining vehicles closed in, engines howling as they collided with one another in desperation to reach Shiva's car. One slammed into the rear, the impact snapping Arwind forward.
His head struck the seat hard, blood smearing across his brow as pain exploded through his skull.
Another car rammed the side. Metal folded inward with a shriek, crushing the door until it nearly kissed Arwind's ribs.
Glass shattered, fragments embedding into his arm. He cried out, his voice breaking as panic finally consumed him.
Shiva did not react.
His hands stayed steady on the wheel. His eyes remained fixed forward, unblinking. In his fractured perception, the road ahead felt narrow, predestined. Everything else was noise. Obstacles. Distortions that needed to be erased.
Gunfire erupted again. Heavy rounds tore into the asphalt, sparks exploding beneath the tires. One pursuing vehicle moved too close.
Shiva turned the wheel just enough.
The enemy car took the brunt of the fire meant for him. Bullets ripped through its windshield, shredding the driver's chest. Blood sprayed the interior as the body slumped forward.
The car lost control and slammed into a streetlight, folding in on itself before bursting into flames.
The road shook.
Another jeep tried to overtake from the right.
Shiva accelerated, then clipped its front wheel.
The jeep spun violently, slamming into a concrete divider and flipping into the air. Mid-rotation, it collided with another pursuing car. Metal crushed metal. Fuel spilled freely.
The explosion tore the night apart.
Fire surged upward, debris raining across the street. Burning fragments scattered like embers from hell.
A severed limb skidded across the road. The heat slammed into Shiva's car, warping the hood and blistering the paint.
Inside, Arwind was no longer shouting. He was shaking, breath shallow, eyes unfocused. The smell of blood and burning fuel filled his lungs. He clutched his wounds, whispering prayers he never believed in.
One final jeep remained.
It charged head-on, its mounted weapon roaring, bullets tearing through the air in a relentless stream. Shiva drove straight toward it, unmoving, as if the collision was already decided.
At the last possible moment, he turned sharply and rammed the jeep's side.
Both vehicles locked together, grinding metal against metal. Tires shredded. Sparks burst like fireworks.
Shiva forced the jeep sideways, pushing it relentlessly toward a fuel tanker parked along the roadside.
The jeep tried to pull away.
Shiva pressed harder.
The tanker ruptured.
The explosion was absolute.
Fire consumed the street in an instant. The jeep vanished inside the blast, erased by flame and pressure.
The shockwave threw wreckage across the road, collapsing signs and shattering windows blocks away. Burning fuel poured outward, swallowing everything in its path.
Shiva drove through the inferno.
Flames reflected across his face, but his expression never changed. In his mind, the fire made sense. It was correction. Balance restored.
Behind them, the chase ended in silence and smoke.
Arwind stared ahead, broken, his body trembling, his mind hollow. He understood now. This was not rage. This was something far worse.
Far away, in a quiet estate untouched by fire or sirens, Kaala Bhairava sat alone in his study. The room was dim, heavy with incense and shadow. A trusted aide stood before him, hesitant, afraid to speak.
"There is something else, sir," the aide said carefully.
Kaala looked up. "Say it."
"It concerns Shiva."
Kaala's grip tightened around his cane.
"He has been seeing someone," the aide continued. "A woman. Her name is Rui Yan."
The room fell silent.
Kaala did not move. His eyes darkened slightly, calculating.
"A woman," he said slowly. "And this was kept from me."
"Yes, sir."
Kaala leaned back, staring into the shadows as if looking at something only he could see.
"So even he," Kaala murmured, "believes in something that exists only in his own mind."
His voice lowered.
"This changes things."
Somewhere in the city, Shiva drove onward, bloodied and silent, unaware that another chain had been pulled.
---
Chapter 6 — End.