'Man not boy? Well, I have grown quite a lot,' Sharv thought. His wooden sword was now cloaked with a black aura, and a subtle black luminescence pulsed around his neck. He moved again, a fierce wind seeming to carry him, as if he rode the currents themselves. His blade cut through enemies and their weapons alike, meeting no resistance. It felt less like cutting matter and more like dividing it, the sword defining the boundary. Desperation and raw fear painted the faces of his foes. How could they fight what their eyes couldn't follow?
In less than a minute, limbs flew and heads rolled amidst screams of agony. Seven dacoits were dismembered, eleven decapitated, nine stabbed through the heart, and five cleaved at the waist. As their pained cries echoed into the night, a man stepped forward. Sharv stood still at the crossroads, hair stirring in the unnatural wind, sword steady, and no visible emotions on his face.
"Leader, he's a Master! We can't fight him!" the remaining dacoits cried out as the man advanced.
"He's no Master. You lot are just weak," the man growled, his voice a low rumble. He sported a black hipster beard and a handlebar moustache, a distinct mole on his nose. Red-rimmed eyes, slick with alcohol, glared from beneath a round black hat. "Boy," he slurred, adjusting the hat, "surrender. You'd be a good addition to my crew. Don't want to kill you."
"I don't align with cowards," Sharv stated, his voice deep and steady.
"Good decision, you'll be given... wait. Did you just call me a coward?" The man's drunken rambling snagged on Sharv's reply. "Can't you sense I'm stronger than you?" A note of angst crept into his voice.
"Attacking unprepared innocents under the cover of night? That is cowardice," Sharv replied evenly. "And stronger? Who told you that?"
Sharv moved, a blur visible only to the leader. Reacting instantly, the leader erupted in flames. "I gave you a chance! Now burn!"
Sharv simply flowed through the flames, untouched, reappearing in his original position.
"You have disturbed a wasp's nest," one of the dacoits sneered at Sharv.
"That's right! Watch your village burn!" taunts rose from the dacoits. And they were right to boast, at least partially. The leader roared, intensifying his flames with an explosive surge. He became a walking volcano. The extreme heat, accompanied with shockwaves, cracked the concrete walls and ground nearby, turning them hot-red. Nearby trees caught fire, and the magnitude was only going to increase.
'I can't let this escalate. He'll burn everything,' Sharv thought, his focus turning inward. He closed his eyes and with a deep breath, Blue light joined the brown, illuminating his lower abdomen and pelvic region. The aura around his sword shifted from black to a deep ocean blue.
He leaped, slashing his sword in a wide, horizontal arc. A torrent of water surged from the blade and extinguished the burning trees, nearby. When the water hit nearby earth and walls, it evaporated, in a hissing cloud of steam.
"Oh, mastered the Water Chakra too, have you?" the leader sneered, his grin cynical. "Doesn't matter. I'll evaporate you and your water!" His sneer twisted into maniacal, drunken laughter. He drew his own sword, fire chakra swirling around it until a tornado of flame engulfed the steel. He lunged, matching Sharv's speed, slashing downwards from the air. Sharv met the blow, his wooden sword reinforced by the combined power of Earth and Water Chakras.
A flicker of strain finally appeared on Sharv's face as he held against the fiery assault. He darted left, then right, propelled by Air Chakra, evading the follow-through. Before the leader could react, Sharv drove his fist into the man's gut with formidable force, sending him hurtling into the forest. The leader crashed heavily amongst the trees, roaring as ten-foot flames erupted around him anew.
Sharv heard the distant clash of steel from the North East.
'Who's fighting there? Father? No... he shouldn't. His illness... he can't use Chakra.' Intensity flickered in Sharv's eyes, unreadable but present. 'Unless... unless those dacoits reached him?'
Meanwhile, the leader gathered his power, roaring, "This is where it ends, boy! TORNADO BLAZE!" He thrust his sword forward, launching himself with it. A roaring vortex of flame surged towards Sharv, closing the distance rapidly.
Sharv stood poised in the air, sword held vertically before him in both hands.
"ĀPÀH ĀKĀSH SÀNYOJÀNÀM"
(SPACE WATER ALIGNMENT)
'What language is that?' Abrupt fear flashed in the leader's eyes. 'This doesn't feel right...'
Another pulse of black luminescence emanated from Sharv's neck – the Space Chakra.
"ĀKĀSHĪYÀ VICCHEDÀNÀ"
(SPATIAL SEVERANCE)
Sharv vanished and reappeared beside the leader in the same instant, moving faster than the eye could follow. The inferno surrounding the dacoit and his sword simply ceased to exist.
"You are strong, leader," Sharv's voice was level, almost conversational. "But how can you master Primordial elements without knowing the Language of Gods?"
The leader stared, first at Sharv, then down at his own sword, his own hands. A perfectly clean line now bisected the broadsword... and the man holding it. He collapsed, cleaved neatly in two, eyes wide with the final shock, mirroring the first dacoit Sharv had slain.
Sharv glanced at the dacoits scorched by their own leader's indiscriminate flames, then towards the spreading fire in the forest where the leader had crashed. He brought out the girl huddled inside the only wooden house nearby, he'd saved with his earlier water attack. He sat her down on a relatively safe open crossroads.
"Everyone, come back! Tend to your homes!" Sharv shouted, his voice carrying over the chaos. Then, without a backward glance, he sprinted towards the North East, towards the sound of clashing weapons.
As he reached the peak of the short North Eastern hill, he saw a man standing amongst corpses. He was supporting himself with his sword, as a cane. The corpses counted over 50.
" Sharv? " The man questioned in a deep hoarse voice.
" Yes, Father, It's me." Sharv replied calmly.
" ...Finally..." With a cough , the man fell straight back.