Karna & Arjun - The Union of Brothers

9. A Helping Hand

The arrival of Vidyutastra alarmed both Ashwathama and Karna as they dashed against the wall.

While Arjun had successfully slowed down the firing of Nagatras, an unexpected development had happened inside the vimaan.

A horrifying creature emerged, the result of a macabre fusion of thousands of torn-apart snakes. The core of the creature's body resembled that of a muscular humanoid, towering over its surroundings. The creature's face was a grotesque combination of human and snake features. Its eyes, glowing with a venomous green hue, possessed an otherworldly intelligence, a chilling awareness. Above its eyes, a crown of writhing serpents emerged, their scales shimmering in various shades of emerald, as if carrying the essence of countless snakes within them.

Both Karna and Ashwathama took it upon themselves to protect everyone from this beast. Their gifts enabled them to hold the fight for some time but the challenge was to protect everyone else in the vimaan.

"This is a signal. There's probably a bigger threat outside," Ashwathama said while pointing at the Vidyutastra above their heads.

"A big threat for Arjun?" Karna asked as he looked at the arrow that was losing its charge.

"Yes, else he would have come by himself to get his brother," Ashwathama said as he slided on his knees through the gap between the monsters legs and pulled the snakes that emerged from his back. That made him fall on the surface.

"Let's send someone to help him," Karna said as he immediately jumped and placed his feet on the monster's chest.

"What, you want your biggest competitor to be protected?" Ashwathama said as he signalled Suyodhan to come forward.

"Arjun doesn't need to be protected and he will be my competitor only when we are in a duel," Karna said with utmost respect for Arjun.

In the mean time, Suyodhan and Rukmi placed some heavy lamps over the monster's limbs to restrict his movement.

"I will go and help Arjun bhaiya," Sahdev intervened.

"No, we need an archer. But Karna and myself need to be here," Ashwathama said.

"Let's send someone who can match Arjun in the lightness of hand and precision," Karna said as he back flipped, pulled out the arrow that was stuck on the wall and chanting the mantra to invoke Agneyastra.

With Karna's weight lifted off the chest, the monster could move his body. He threw off the lamps that were placed on his limbs. Ashwathama was trying to keep it down by himself but he was being continuously bitten by the snakes that emerged from the monster's body. Karna identified the most suitable warrior to assist Arjun and signalled to him with his eyes.

By then the serpent monster had started dominating Ashwathama. Hundreds of snakes that came out of its body held Ashwathama's limbs tightly. It was also trying to pull the gem out of Ashwathama's forehead. Other warriors in the vimaan were trying to attack it from a distance using the objects in the vimaan. However that did not have much impact on the mystical creature. Its face was getting closer to Ashwathama and its fangs were ready to bite off his face. At that very moment it loosened its grip and Ashwathama fell on the ground. Karna had stabbed its back with a fully charged Agneyastra.

The magnitude of wounds that he suffered and the amount of poison that went inside his body, made it impossible for Ashwathama to recover immediately despite the divine gem on his forehead glowing brighter than ever.

Karna knew that a single shot wasn't enough. He pulled back the arrow and used his gymnastic skills to jump around the beast and burnt the different heads of the snakes coming out using his Agneyastra. The other warriors kept on attacking the beast from a distance with only Suyodhan and Sahdev landing contact attacks occasionally.

Arjun on the sea stack was managing to fight the dead warrior on his stack while blocking the arrows that were being fired from both the ends. Having exhausted the arrows in his quiver, he had to rely on his hand to hand combat skills. After managing to avoid getting hit for a while, he received a kick on his stomach from the dead warrior on his stack. He lost his balance and was about to fall off the stack but managed to cling on it with his right hand. He had to dodge the incoming arrows even while hanging on the stack and he had no visibility of what was happening above his head. Finally an arrow kissed his wrist and he lost his grip as blood splashed from his wrist.

But something stopped Arjun from falling. A helping hand from the stack caught his hand. A hand that was devoid of a thumb.