The Rakshasa and the Village Chief faced each other. The village chief clutched his spear tightly looking for an opening to deal more fatal damage to the Rakshasa. The Rakshasa also warily looked at the human before him while brandishing his axe on his shoulder ready to strike any moment.

The silent staring lasted for a while, the Rakshasa lost his patience and began to charge towards the Village Chief. The Village chief held the reins of the horse tightly and the horse began to gallop towards the charging Rakshasa.

The Rakshasa swung his axe from a distance to get the advantage while testing waters. If the blow can deal with the human warrior then it will be good or else he had to keep swinging his axe to finely chop the human before him into pieces.

The village chief skillfully ducked down with his horse to avoid the axe. As he dodged the attack he didn’t forget to counter-attack by stabbing the left foot of the Rakshasa with his spear. A small hole appeared in the toe of the Rakshasa as it grimaced in pain. A huge spurt of blood leaked from the wound as the Rakshasa trudged forward from the momentum of his charge.

In the first encounter, the village chief gained the upper hand while dealing wound to the Rakshasa. The wound wasn’t much grievous, but the pain would distract the Rakshasa in the midst of the fight. The Village chief had a pale face, although it seemed like he easily dodged the attack but it was a very close call for him. The attack of the Rakshasa if had hit him, it would have broken a few of his bones and crushed his internal organs leading to internal bleeding and severe injuries and thus restricting his movements further. 

The greatest advantage, as well as the weakness of the Rakshasa, was its huge body. This huge body granted Rakshasa a great amount of physical strength and defense but this restricts its mobility and reaction time heavily. He needed to exploit this weakness to deal with the Rakshasa. 

The difference between a common foot soldier or Padatik and an Ashvarohi was the ability of Ashvarohi to be able to strategize and battle whereas a foot soldier could only take commands to fight in a battle. An Ashvarohi with a horse was far superior to a Padatik capable of combating twelve Padatiks single-handedly and coming on the top of the fight.

Since he knew the weakness of the Rakshasa, the Rakshasa was also well aware of his weakness. Thus, the Rakshasa changed strategy, instead of blindingly charging the Rakshasa grabbed the corner of his axe and began to spin it horizontally like a spinning top as he approached the village chief. The village chief had an ugly expression on seeing this move of the Rakshasa. 

If he charged forward with the horse, he may be able to dodge the attack but his horse would surely be crushed to death. So, he decisively retreated to look for an opening in the attack of the Rakshasa. The feet of the Rakshasa were exposed to long-range attacks, so he took another spare spear and extended his arm backward and launched the spear with the momentum of the fast-running horse.

Swoosh!

The spear whizzed by and lodged on to the right leg of the Rakshasa and a huge bloody hole appeared on the Rakshasa feet.

Argh!

The Rakshasa stopped spinning and maliciously looked at the human before him. This human had injured him thrice, unforgivable, this is unforgivable. The Rakshasa began to go berserk as his aura shot up abruptly. Baleful energy erupted from the depths of his body as he opened up his mouth and spat a large vortex of fire which was twice as big as before.

Terror arose in the heart of the village chief as he jumped down from his horse and began to rotate the spear like a disc and shielded himself from the spell. The spell violently impacted the spear and he was pushed back tens of meter. His hands were burned, smoke and smell of burnt flesh rose from his smoldering hands. He was forced to kneel on the ground as he began to puke blood violently. The Rakshasa wasn’t much better as the previous attack consumed large amounts of his energy and his previous injuries flared up.

The Rakshasa calmed down but his heart was still burning in fury. Seeing the now calm Rakshasa, the village chief got up on his feet as he staggered and took the support of the horse to even stand up. The village chief had an ugly expression seeing the state of the village. Houses were burning with smoke pouring out of them, villagers trying to prevent fire by throwing water, sand and whatever means were available to them. Many villagers whose loved ones died were mourning loudly while holding the corpse of their relatives. Many people were shouting and screaming while trying to look for their loved ones.

In one corner of the village, Mandri was searching and shouting around anxiously searching for Rudra,

“Rudra!.....Rudra! where are you Rudra? If you can hear me, answer to mother Rudra.”

She anxiously toiled around the village with tears in her eyes as there was no sign of Rudra anywhere. Her heart was beating violently as a dreadful thought prevailed in her mind which she rejected immediately and continued to seek around for her son.

The village chief grasped his spear and used it as support to stand. He angrily stared at the Rakshasa and demanded,

“We had a pact of non-violence, we would provide you with offerings and you won’t attack our village needlessly. So, Why would you break the agreement and rampage around in the village? This time too we provided you with the offerings you requested. So, tell me the reason for your sudden assault.”

The village chief was furious this time, by looking around he could tell that around one-third of the villagers died. Well, most of them being Sudras but still lots of Kshatriyas, a few Brahmanas and Vaishyas died too. After Sudras, it was his Varna that lost most of the people since they fought against this Rakshasa.

Staring at the human in front of him, Rakshasa knew it was futile to continue fighting. Although he was capable of killing the ant before him, the price paid in exchange for it wouldn’t be ideal for his plans. Also, in a desperate attempt, the ant before him may would him mortally thus further injuring him and halting his recovery. So, he thought of compromising  just this once and thus to show his superiority he bellowed with a deafening roar,

“Haha!....Haha! fulfilled my offerings you say. Then where was my human offering? This time you never sent a human offering as you still had the gall to say that you fulfilled my wishes.”

The village chief was stumped and his expression a shade darker as he questioned,

“Never fulfilled your wish! Didn’t send you a human offering? What is this about? It was you who sent back the human offering because of your mood.”

Haha! Haha!

The Rakshasa laughed for a while and then with a serious expression roared,

“I never got to see your human offering, but I wasn’t offended and let is pass since I was in a cheerful mood. But when I reached my cave to see my possession, it wasn’t there. Someone stole it from there in my absence. Now tell me besides you humans who else is present here to steal from me? There are no wild animals in the surroundings, all of them afraid of my presence.”

The village chief was aggravated. Due to the folly of someone there entire village had to pay the price in blood. Preposterous he would deal with the individual before handing him over to the Rakshasa. He asked the Rakshasa glumly.

“If you didn’t mind, Would you be able to share the information regarding the object stolen from you. If we are able to find the culprit we would search for your possession before handing him over to you.”

The Rakshasa mused for a while,

‘This is a remote village on the corner of the Kingdom. These people might not be aware of the ‘Sahastra Gajbala’ fruit and its properties. So, it is no harm to tell them about it.’

The Rakshasa nodded and described the appearance of the fruit and reminded them to hand them over immediately if they are to able to find them. He also threatened them if they failed to find the culprit by tomorrow then he would the village again tomorrow after recovering his wounds and then he would slaughter the entire village without batting an eye. Even if it meant to anger those Ardharathi to chase after him and kill him.

Saying so, the Rakshasa swaggered back to the forest of Death dragging his axe with him. 

Seeing the retreating back of the Rakshasa, the village chief had a relieved expression on his face. He was barely holding himself to stand, he slumped weakly on the ground. But there was a chilly expression on his face. He needs answers to some of his doubts and he knew the right person to look for his answers.