Even after Raghuveer left, everyone remained silent. As he departed, Raghuveer had silenced the entire stadium. People who had come from distant kingdoms began asking the locals of Bhagavati, "Who is that boy?"
"Who was that boy?" Bharu asked Vikram.
"His name is Raghuveer," Vikram replied.
"Raghuveer, hmm…" said the king of Dandaka. His name was Varun.
The ministers sitting behind heard everything. Kamratna was not among those ministers.
Sharvani was waiting for her lover, because he was about to enter now.
"In the second round, we have upper-caste Manas and Shudra-caste Mahesh," announced the announcer.
Manas was Sharvani's lover. They had been childhood friends, and now their friendship had turned into love. Manas entered from the right gate, and Mahesh from the left. Mahesh held an axe — the kind used to chop wood — because he didn't have money to buy a proper weapon. Manas held a sword. He looked angry.
I will kill that demon. I will kill that demon, Manas told himself.
I know I won't be able to win. But I will try my best, Mahesh told himself.
Excitement began to rise again among the crowd, because last year's champion Manas had entered the arena. Manas had won last year without losing a single round. He had shown great bravery in battle.
"Manas… I know you'll win," Sharvani shouted loudly.
Manas looked at her. A smile appeared on his face, because he loved Sharvani deeply.
"So, are both of you ready?" said the announcer.
Manas drew his sword and charged toward Mahesh. Mahesh raised his axe and struck hard against Manas's sword. Sparks flew as the axe collided with the sword.
Manas kicked Mahesh in the stomach, pushing him backward.
"Surrender. You won't be able to win," Manas said.
"I haven't lost yet," Mahesh replied.
Manas rushed at Mahesh with his sword. As he reached him, he struck hard against the axe. Because the axe was old, it broke into two pieces and fell from Mahesh's hand. Mahesh looked at the broken axe lying on the ground.
My axe…? Mahesh said to himself.
Manas sheathed his sword, because he had won.
"The winner of this round is… Manas," announced the announcer.
The audience began clapping loudly. The sound of clapping echoed throughout the stadium. It was so loud that it could be heard far outside the stadium.
Manas must have won, Bharat said to himself. He was standing guard outside the stadium.
Because he knew — such applause could only be for Manas.
"I knew you would win, Manas," said Sharvani.
Manas looked at her.
Sharvani, after I win this competition, I will marry you, Manas told himself and walked away.
But my anger still hasn't calmed. I will kill that demon, he told himself as he left. There was no compassion left in his heart for Raghuveer.
Mahesh was still staring at his broken axe.
Let it go, axe. Next time, I will definitely win, Mahesh said to himself as he picked up the broken axe from the ground.
Mahesh also walked away. From the left side, voices were heard.
"If that boy's axe hadn't broken, he would've given Manas a good fight," said a man from the Shudra caste.
"Yes, I agree with you," said another man.
"Every year, these upper-caste people win only because they have better weapons," said the first man.
"That's true, but no one listens to us," said the second man.
Every year, only upper-caste people win this competition. Because of this, people believed that Manas would win again this year. Manas had been going to war since he was young. He had learned swordsmanship from Commander Varahar. But because of his kind nature, he was also popular among the Shudra caste.
In this world, every person has a symbol on their hand that identifies their caste. Each caste has a different symbol. Also, in this world, there is a group that searches for brave individuals and gives them a symbol based on their ability. Ability means how many people that person has killed — their capacity is determined by that. These symbols are not caste-based, but are given as a mark of bravery. For example, if a person is great at sword fighting and their skill is widely known, then that group will find them and give them a symbol based on their ability. The name of that group is Girij. The group with the most symbols is the Bloody Sudy group. The names of these symbols are Themb, Rakt, and Raktachi Nadi.
Which symbol a person receives depends on how many people they have killed. So far, only two people have received the Raktachi Nadi symbol.