Three days later.
Sambhaji rode alone.
No escort.
No banners.
Only a quiet, unnatural pull in his heart.
🌺 Divine Call Detected
Primary Source: Tulja Bhavani Temple
He reached the temple before sunrise.
The priests were asleep.
The lamps burned low.
But the moment his foot crossed the inner threshold—
The world folded.
Darkness swallowed him.
When his vision returned…
He stood in a vast open plain.
No hills.
No trees.
No sky.
Only endless ground.
Across the field—
Ten thousand warriors stood.
Maratha on one side.
Unknown soldiers on the other.
But something was wrong.
There were no weapons.
No bows.
No shields.
Only bare hands.
A voice echoed.
Not loud.
But absolute.
"You wish to save your people from bloodshed…"
"Then show me you understand the true cost of war."
⚔️ SYSTEM TRIAL ACTIVATED
Trial Name – Bloodless Battlefield
Condition:
Win the battlefield
without causing a single death.
Failure:
Loss of Goddess Affinity.
The two armies began walking forward.
Slow.
Relentless.
Human walls moving toward each other.
Sambhaji raised his hand.
🧭 Tactical Simulation Mode – Unlocked
The world fractured into flowing lines.
Morale streams.
Fear spikes.
Leadership nodes.
Panic thresholds.
He moved.
Not like a general.
Like a conductor.
He stepped between two advancing formations.
Spoke only three sentences.
Not heroic speeches.
Not promises.
Truth.
"You will bleed for men who will never know your names."
"You will kill men whose children will hate your memory."
"And none of you will become richer for it."
The System translated his voice into emotional shockwaves.
Not magic.
Human clarity.
A soldier dropped to his knees.
Then another.
Then another.
The formations slowed.
Stopped.
Collapsed inward.
No blood touched the ground.
But the battlefield was defeated.
The sky returned.
The temple returned.
The lamps returned.
Sambhaji stood before the goddess.
Not a vision now.
A presence.
"You have learned," the voice said softly.
🌺 TRIAL COMPLETED
Reward:
Passive Skill – Compassion Command
→ Units under your leadership resist panic even under collapse scenarios
→ Civilian casualty probability reduced in campaign zones
Goddess Affinity +10
Sambhaji bowed.
Not like a king.
Like a student.