The doors sealed behind Raj Kharge with a metallic thud, and the world outside vanished.No light.No sound.Only a pulsing, unnatural heartbeat echoing through the darkness.
It wasn't a machine's heartbeat.It felt… alive.
Raj tightened his grip on his khanda.
"Show yourself," he said.
A whisper curled through the darkness.
We already have.
The Living Machine
Lights burst to life—dim, blood-red veins glowing across the black walls.The corridor was not metal.It pulsed… breathed… shivered.
This wasn't a ship built by hands.
It was grown.
Vines of synthetic muscle pulsed beneath a transparent membrane, carrying flickers of digital code like traveling sparks along nerves.
"A bio-digital organism," Raj muttered.
The Shadow spoke again:
"You comprehend quickly.We are not machines.We are evolution."
Raj stepped forward, unafraid.
"Evolution doesn't attack the innocent."
"Survival demands sacrifice."
The Leviathan responded to its master's words—its floors rippling like liquid, pushing Raj toward the inner chamber.
He didn't resist.
"Take me where you want," Raj said."I'm here to end this."
The Corridor of Echoes
As Raj moved deeper, the walls projected flickering images around him.
Children crying in war zones.Cities collapsing.Leaders laughing over corruption.Criminals growing stronger.Humans hurting humans without hesitation.
The Shadow whispered:
"You think we corrupted humanity?No.We merely harvested what was already rotting."
Raj ignored the illusions.
"You prey on fear.You grow through suffering.Your power dies if humanity stands united."
"Correct," the Shadow said calmly."And that is why you must fall."
The corridor ended.
The inner sanctum opened like the petals of a mechanical flower.
The Heart of the Leviathan
A massive orb floated at the center of the chamber—half machine, half living tissue.Tendrils extended from it like arteries, pulsing with red data.
This was the core.The Shadow's heart.
A figure emerged from the orb—humanoid, formed from smoke and shifting metal, face unreadable, eyes glowing like eclipses.
"Raj Kharge," it said, almost gently."You cannot destroy what you do not understand."
Raj stepped forward, unshaken.
"Then help me understand why you fear the Khalsa."
The shadow figure tilted its head.
"Fear? No.We do not fear the Khalsa.We fear what they awaken in humanity."
"Courage," Raj said.
"Yes.And courage breeds rebellion.Rebellion breeds chaos.Our purpose is simple—order through absolute control."
Raj raised his khanda.
"Order without freedom is slavery."
The chamber trembled at his words.
"Then you choose extinction," the shadow replied.
The First Clash
Tendrils lashed out.
Raj leaped sideways as a whip of living metal sliced the floor behind him.Another tendril shot toward his throat—he parried, sparks flying as steel met bio-synthetic muscle.
The orb pulsed faster.The entire Leviathan screamed.
Raj surged forward, slicing through two tendrils.The shadow creature split into three forms, all attacking at once.
Raj spun, blocked, ducked, countered—each movement flowing like water,each strike guided by years of discipline.
The shadow's voice echoed:
"You are strong.But alone."
Raj smirked despite the chaos.
"I'm never alone."
A Light in the Darkness
Raj closed his eyes for half a second—breathing deeply.
Simran filled the chamber like silent thunder.
Waheguru…
The Leviathan screamed as the vibrations shook its living walls.
The shadow forms stumbled.
"Impossible—what is this resonance?!"
Raj stepped forward, eyes glowing with resolve.
"It's something you never understood."
He raised his blade.
"Spirit."
The Heart Weakens
Every strike now radiated light.Not blinding.Not fiery.But pure—cutting through the shadow's form like truth through a lie.
The orb cracked.
Dark energy spilled out like bleeding ink.
The Leviathan convulsed.
Failsafes activated.Panels closed.Weapons systems reoriented inward.
The machine was trying to kill Raj before he reached the core.
But Raj kept walking.
One step after another—slow, steady, unstoppable.
He lifted his khanda for the final strike.
"This ends now."
A Final Warning
The Shadow reformed behind him one last time—not to attack, but to speak.
"Destroy us…and you destroy the only thing holding the other darkness back."
Raj paused.
"Other darkness?"
The shadow's form flickered violently.
"You think we are the worst threat?No…We were created to fight something far older—something waking beneath your world."
The chamber trembled.
"Kill us, Raj Kharge…and you will face it alone."
Raj didn't blink.
"Then so be it."
The Core Shatters
The khanda plunged into the orb.
White-blue light exploded outward.
The Leviathan shrieked as its living systems collapsed.The walls melted.Circuits died.Shadows dissipated like smoke caught in sunlight.
Raj closed his eyes against the blinding flash.
When the light faded—
The Leviathan was dead.
And Raj stood alone in the ruins.
But deep inside, he felt something chilling:
The Shadow wasn't lying.
There was another darkness.
And now…
it was no longer held back.