CHAPTER 31: The Invincible Archer

In a short span of time, the vast army of the opposition was reduced to a pulp without any casualties!

Rajaveera and Ravichandran were highly impressed by what they saw.  On the contrary, Chandrashekar stood stunned and crestfallen.  Thoughts like he had erred in accepting this challenge crossed his mind.

The disarmed soldiers found to their surprise that the charging snakes had mysteriously disappeared.  They could not comprehend what was going on. 

Veersen realized that all this was nothing but an illusion created by Aryaman to which his warriors had fallen a prey.  He knew that it was time that he alongwith his talented combatants jump into the battle fray. 

Ordering his men to launch a combined attack on Aryaman, Veersen too joined them.  They were eight of them who showered arrows on their single opponent.  Much to their surprise and dismay, Aryaman gave a fitting reply shooting arrows with remarkable ease, precision and dexterity, which warded off all their weapons in mid-air.    

So swift were Aryaman’s movements that his action of fixing the arrow to his bowstring and releasing it were hardly visible to the naked eye!    The opposition continued to send arrows at him unabated and to their chagrin found their weapons being destroyed much before they met their target and felled to the ground.  While the sky was replete with the clash of arrows, the ground lay strewn by their remnants.

Some of them even hurled maces and spears at him, which were all broken in pieces by his sharp arrows.  As time passed by, Aryaman’s swiftness in dispatching his arrows increased.  To each arrow they sent, they found three to four arrows coming in their direction from the other end! 

Soon, Aryaman had broken the wheels of their chariots, reins of the horses and even felled their banners.  He even broke their bows in two thereby leaving them completely at his mercy.  He went one-step further with Veersen.  He sent a divine astra in his direction and as it came near him, a huge rope came out from the sharp edges of the tip of the arrow and bound him in the form of a coil! 

Ravichandran punched the air in jubilation as this happened.  He was now sure that it was only a matter of time before the war was over.  Rajaveera applauded Aryaman’s prowess in his mind and yet again cherished the dream of ruling Devaloka! 

Aryaman now stood face to face with King Chandrashekar who began to attack him with a range of arrows.  Aryaman easily countered them with his immaculate arrows.  Chandrashekar raised the pitch by using some divine weapons in his combat.  He sent an arrow, which converted into five arrows and raced towards his adversary! 

In reply, Aryaman released one from his bow, which transformed into ten arrows and zoomed past ahead!  Five of them clashed and broke the approaching arrows while the remaining five came towards the King.  Undaunted, the King of Sumegha dispatched swift arrows, which not only thwarted their progress but also broke them in two! 

Aryaman shook his head in appreciation.  For the first time, a smile engulfed the face of the King and he looked at the watching ‘spectators’ with scorn.  Both Ravichandran and Rajaveera robbed their eyes away from him.