Saurabh felt nothing special toward Mayank; even if Mayank died, it wouldn't make much difference to Sourabh and Naresh because, after all, there was a business arrangement between the two of them. Naresh and Sourabh would help make Mayank powerful, and in return Mayank would lend his hand to their affairs. And if Mayank happened to die in the meantime, Sourabh and Naresh wouldn't be greatly affected — they would simply have to find another underworld don to carry out their work. As for Mayank, they had promised him that they would take him with them to their own planet. That, however, was a complete lie, because whenever Naresh, Sourabh, and their entire team finished a mission, Earth itself would be completely destroyed. Mayank would perish along with the planet, and Naresh and Sourabh had no intention of saving him — for someone who was not loyal to his own planet could never be loyal to another. That was why Sourabh hated Mayank bitterly. Even though Sourabh's mission would cause the Earth's destruction, he still believed everyone must remain utterly loyal to their own people; anyone who failed to do so did not deserve to live. After thinking no more about it, Sourabh returned his attention to watching the fight unfold between the boy standing before him and his fighters.
Aryan was standing before his enemies; he had no idea that some extraterrestrial beings were observing this battle. Still, it would make no difference to him — after this, he intended to deal with those people. It wasn't that Aryan was completely unaware in this matter; only that Paras had discovered Sourabh and Naresh's existence. Paras hadn't told Aryan because Aryan was in the midst of a very important fight at the time.
Seeing Aryan's terrifying form, Mayank grew very serious. He ordered his companions, "Friends, surround this boy from all sides and attack together. But remember to keep a certain distance; we must completely break his defensive shield. Once we break his shield, we'll kill the boy standing before us." Hearing this, all the element warriors around Mayank agreed with him fully. They kept a safe distance from Aryan and prepared to launch their attack again. Watching this, Mayank instructed those with the ice element to forge swords out of their ice and strike him directly to break his shield. The ice-attribute warriors immediately began to increase the speed and intensity of their attacks. Mayank then told the water and fire element warriors to do the same, and they, too, readied themselves instantly.
When Aryan saw this, a delighted smile spread across his face and he began to prepare his own attack. A ball of light began to form in his hands. Because of his defensive shield, he felt no fear of his enemies' strikes, so he could focus calmly on preparing his attack. Meanwhile, when all the element warriors had readied their assault, they launched themselves mercilessly at Aryan. Yet the same thing happened as before: Aryan's shield withstood their attacks completely — not even a scratch appeared on it.
Aryan continued preparing his attack. Once the ball of light in his hands was fully formed, he deactivated his defensive shield and released the light orb. The orb suddenly flew toward a cluster of Aryan's enemies, as if guided by intelligence of its own. At first glance the orb looked ordinary, and Mayank and the element warriors nearby assumed it was just a normal light attack. But from a distance, Sourabh and Naresh, who were watching a live feed, saw something else and were struck with horror — as if they had seen a ghost. Both of them could sense the dreadful power contained in Aryan's attack.
When the light orb reached the cluster of element warriors, it exploded and released an unbearable brilliance that forced everyone present to close their eyes — even Aryan, Naresh, and Sourabh shut their eyes. As the light spread, a terrifying explosion rang out and then everything went silent. When the radiance faded and people looked again, they were shocked. Aryan's attack had slain five thousand element warriors at once, and a 30-meter-deep crater had formed where they had fallen. Aryan himself was surprised by the devastation; he had not realized his attack could be so deadly.
A brightness returned to Aryan's eyes. He drew his sword again and decided to attack using it, because he could use the light-orb technique only twice with his current strength. Attempting a third time could cost him his life: he would become extremely weak after it, and if enemies attacked him then he would be killed — something Aryan did not want. Though the light-orb had drained half his strength, he still had enough power to face his foes, so he brought his sword out of system-space once more.
As Aryan's sword emerged from system-space, he charged at the remaining 87,000 element warriors — after all, he intended to kill them all. Seeing the survivors about to attack him together, an indescribable fear arose within them, yet they tried to control it and launched themselves at Aryan. A satisfied smile graced Aryan's face as he leapt into their ranks. The very first man Aryan struck was cut cleanly in two from head to toe; the next warrior had both legs seized by Aryan and torn off, flung in opposite directions; a third opponent was bisected. In short, Aryan began carving them apart. In the process he was struck by many attacks himself and suffered minor injuries, which he ignored.
Mayank, standing amidst his element warriors, watched Aryan's brutal form and felt an unnamed terror rise within him. He resolved to kill the boy right then and there, even if it cost him his own life — because once the boy was dead, his son could inherit power. But Mayank did not know that soon he himself would be seriously wounded.
From a distance, when Sourabh saw this, he could not remain silent; he immediately called Naresh. As soon as Naresh read the call, he understood Sourabh's intent. When Naresh picked up, he said to Sourabh, "Do what you need to do, but remember: the boy in front of you must not live — at any cost." Hearing this from Naresh, a murderous grin appeared on Sourabh's face; now he could fight the boy openly and kill him.
Mayank stood terrified as he watched Aryan tear his opponents apart. He could not decide whether to continue fighting or to flee. Then he heard a voice in his ear that seemed like it came from heaven itself — it was Sourabh. In a sharp tone Sourabh commanded, "All of you, fall back. I will handle this boy." When those element warriors saw the man Sourabh was referring to standing in the sky, they were astonished. Most of them thought only the most powerful beings in the universe could fly like that, and yet here was someone who looked only twenty-four or twenty-five, exhibiting such immense might.
Seeing the warriors staring at Sourabh, Mayank announced loudly, "Friends, the honorable figure standing before you is my boss — your supreme boss. You need not fear him. Our boss will easily kill this boy. You may leave now; the rest will be handled by our boss himself." Hearing Mayank, the element warriors were surprised at first, but they asked him no questions and began to retreat. Before they left, however, they glared at Aryan with hatred, because this boy had caused the deaths of many of their comrades.
After watching the element warriors disperse, Sourabh turned to Mayank and said, "You may go too. Leave the rest to me." Mayank hesitated and then, with reluctance, looked at Sourabh and asked, "Boss, please forgive my selfish pride. But I want to be able to see with my own eyes when you kill this boy — because many of my men died for his sake." Sourabh thought for a moment, then allowed him to stay. Seeing this, the other element warriors also requested permission to remain, and Sourabh granted them the same. He then looked at Aryan and said, "Boy, I don't know where you came from, but you have called your own death upon you by killing so many of my people. Now tell me: how do you want to die?"
Aryan smiled and replied, "What's this? An emperor-level initial-stage warrior threatening the life of a king-level initial-stage warrior? Aren't you at least a little ashamed?" Sourabh remained unperturbed. Laughing, he said, "One thing: in our land you should never underestimate your enemies. And if you are such a talented warrior, then where is your shame in facing me?" Aryan nodded in agreement and, like Sourabh, rose into the sky. When the element warriors present saw Aryan do the same, they were stunned — in their minds, only the most powerful beings in the cosmos could fly like that. Yet here was a youth of about seventeen or eighteen doing it; their astonishment was natural.
Neither Aryan nor Sourabh paid any attention to the ordinary men standing beneath them. Both of them focused only on each other's moves, because they knew the fight that was about to take place between them would be ferocious.
Sourabh looked at Aryan and said, "Boy, I don't know who you are or which civilization of the cosmos you belong to, but still — I want to give you one chance." Hearing this, a mocking expression flashed in Aryan's eyes. With a playful tone he asked, "And what sort of chance is that?" Seeing Aryan's contempt, Sourabh said nothing at first; he only shook his head and then continued, "Child, the chance is simple. I want to recruit you into my team, and in return I'll try to raise you to the emperor level. You came from this backward place because you want to advance to the planetary level, and now you tempt me with the promise of emperor-level power — do you think yourself very clever?"
Aryan's taunt angered Sourabh. He replied, "Child—I had already decided to bring you into my gang, but now your words have offended me. The opportunity I was going to give you was no small thing, but you didn't appreciate it. Now, because of your words, you will lose your life." Aryan ignored him completely and said, "Don't talk nonsense. I know how deep you are in the water, so just focus on the fight — after all, today you will die by my hands." Sourabh's anger flared at these words, but he controlled himself and said, "I'm giving you a final chance; otherwise you will suffer the consequences."
Aryan paid no heed to Sourabh's remark and began preparing himself to fight.
Seeing Aryan readying himself made Sourabh furious. He struck out with his palm at Aryan. When Aryan saw it, his face hardened like rock; he too prepared an attack. As soon as Sourabh's strike was ready, he launched it at Aryan without hesitation. Aryan's eyes narrowed, and before he could react the blow struck him. Aryan fell toward the ground and quickly shaped a human-like crater around himself, causing chaos in the area.
Many believed that when Sourabh attacked Aryan he would die on the spot, but that did not happen. Aryan received only light, minor injuries, which left him surprisingly satisfied. He looked at Sourabh once more, then rose into the sky. In the next moment Aryan prepared an attack of his own; when it was fully formed he released it — but it failed to hit Sourabh.
Aryan was stunned; he hadn't expected his attack to be so ineffective. Still, he didn't consider it a useless outcome and instead watched the man in front of him. He realized the opponent was by no means weak. So Aryan concentrated more and resolved to fight the man with full determination. Although the chance of Aryan dying in this duel was high, he decided to fight Sourabh for life and death. Because, in the truest sense, Aryan had now been given an official rank that allowed him to fight with full force — and the possibility of him being killed by the man before him was virtually nonexistent, since Aryan possessed numerous life-saving artifacts that made his death almost impossible.