At the western edge of the Manali Forest , the earth didn't just vibrate—it groaned.
"What's happening?" Nova shouted, struggling to keep his footing.
"Hey, look!" Rana pointed toward the chaotic mound of uprooted trees.
From a massive hole in the center of the nest, a colossal head emerged. A King Cobra with deep, swirling blue eyes rose into the air. It wasn't just large; it was huge. It didn't pause to hiss or intimidate; it launched immediately. Its fangs struck with high-speed force, the impact creating havoc that splintered the surrounding trees into matchsticks.
Nova immediately grabbed Mia and took flight, landing a safe distance away. Rana teleported to the same spot a second later.
"Where is Chandru?" Nova asked, his eyes frantically scanning the debris.
"I missed him in the mist created during my teleportation," Rana said, breathless.
"Oh, no..." Nova thought, his stomach sinking. "He’s stuck in the attack."
"I’m here," Chandru’s voice came from behind them. They all turned back, completely surprised.
"How did you escape from that attack?" Nova asked.
"I used the trees," Chandru said flatly.
"But how?"
"Nova... it's not the time," Chandru interrupted. "We’ll have a discussion about this later. First, we need to take care of the serpent."
Nova’s expression hardened. He wasn't about to be outdone. "Okay... Rana, teleport me near the nest of the Cobra."
"Are you sure, Nova?" Rana asked.
"Yes, I am," Nova said firmly. He looked toward Chandru with a competitive glint in his eye. "Mr. One-Word... you don’t know my powers, right? Watch this."
Rana grasped Nova's shoulder, and they teleported beneath the splintered remains of the nest. The Cobra was searching, its tongue flickering. It caught their scent and lunged instantly.
"Close your ears!" Nova commanded Rana.
"Okay!" Rana replied, slamming his hands over his ears.
Nova raised one hand toward the titan. As the Cobra began to launch its strike, Nova targeted its face. He opened his palm. A hole appeared in the center of his hand—a vacuum for sound. The particles in the ground began to shake violently.
LOOM!
A major sound wave of 50 kHz erupted from the hole. The frequency was a physical hammer, making the Cobra shriek in pain; it could not sustain the vibrations tearing into its ears. Nova began flying slowly, staying level with the beast, targeting its face and splashing it with the sound wave.
Even through the intense pain, the Cobra tried to snap at him. Nova didn't flinch. He raised his other hand.
The other palm opened a similar aperture.
The two waves synchronized, doubling the destructive amplitude.
The Cobra released a guttural, earth-shaking scream. It thrashed and writhed in a frenzy as Nova constantly shifted position, keeping the sound waves locked onto its small ears.
Finally, the serpent collapsed into the mud, twitching once before going still.
Nova stopped, the apertures in his hands closing as he landed. He stood over the body, breathing heavily.
Rana stepped closer to the motionless serpent. "Is it dead?"
Nova wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, his chest still heaving from the exertion. "I think it is," he said, a note of triumph in his voice. He straightened his black and yellow cape. "Rana... casually signal Mia that the Titan is down."
"Alright," Rana said, turning toward the distant ridge and signalling a firm thumbs-up.
Nova asked, "Is Chandru seeing us?"
"Uh... yes," Rana replied, squinting. "Strange mask is looking right at us."
"Hey... his tag name is not strange mask," Nova corrected, trying to sound authoritative. "It is Lunar Mask... I think."
From the ridge, Chandru’s voice crackled with a cold intensity.
"Is it dead?"
"Yes!" Mia called back, her fingers still pressed to her temple. "I can't sense the pulse."
"It’s not," Chandru said, his voice dropping an octave. "Tell them to move. Now."
Mia hesitated, glancing at her readings. "How could you say that? There’s nothing on the frequency."
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"Look at its ears," Chandru commanded, pointing toward the massive head. "They're closed."
Mia narrowed her focus, zooming in with her spiritual sight. "Yeah… they are. Uh… you’re right."
"Reptiles can drastically slow their heart rate under extreme trauma," Chandru explained flatly.
Mia’s face went pale. The "corpse" wasn’t dead—it was waiting.
She checked the pulse again.
Ten seconds passed.
Nothing.
Then—
One beat.
Her eyes widened.
"Get back!" she screamed, waving her arms frantically toward Nova and Rana. "Back off!"
Down in the clearing, Rana looked confused. "What are they telling us?"
Nova frowned, his ears still ringing painfully. "You can't hear them? They're at a short distance."
"Your sound waves are still echoing in my ears," Rana complained, rubbing his temples.
"Mine too..." Nova said, a small, smug smile forming on his face. "I think they’re cheering for us."
Behind them, the deep blue eyes of the Cobra snapped open with a terrifying clarity. Before Nova or Rana could even register the shift in the air, the Titan’s massive tail whipped around like a tectonic plate.
WHAM!
The tail hit them with the force of a landslide, throwing them both off the ground. They were launched through the air like ragdolls, crashing into the heavy timber of the forest. They hit the earth hard and remained fallen, the silence of the woods returning.
?"No!" Mia screamed, her heart dropping as Nova and Rana lay still in the debris.
?The King Cobra Titan rose again, taller and more menacing than before. Its hood flared in a murderous display of rage, and its deep blue eyes locked onto the only two left standing in its path: Chandru and Mia.
?"Alright... I'm going," Chandru said, his voice flat, devoid of fear.
?"Wait! How can you handle it?" Mia cried, her eyes darting between the boy and the hundred-foot monster. "Do you even have a plan?"
?"Yes," Chandru replied, his gaze never leaving the serpent. "Stay where you are. Kids are not allowed."
?Mia’s face flushed with indignation even in the middle of a battlefield. "I'm not a kid! I'm fourteen!"
?The Cobra hissed, the sound like steam escaping a pressurized pipe, as it slithered toward them. "Are you sure..?" Mia asked, her voice trembling.
?"Yeah," Chandru said.
?Suddenly, blue veins began to glow beneath the skin of his arms—a rhythmic, pulsing light. His eyes ignited into a piercing, bright blue. At a terrifying speed, the Cobra unhinged its jaw and attempted to swallow Chandru whole.
?Chandru didn't retreat. He lunged forward, quickly grabbing the creature's massive fangs with his bare hands. He braced his legs against the lower jaw, using every ounce of his Lunar strength to prevent the Cobra from closing its mouth. Frustrated, the Titan slammed its open jaw across a massive tree.
?A cloud of debris and snow—an "ash of collapse"—filled the air. When it cleared, Chandru had already escaped the maw, replaced by a thick, jagged wooden branch he had jammed into the serpent's throat. The Cobra shook its head violently, using its immense bite force to shatter the branch like glass.
?It turned back toward Chandru, waving its head as it opened its mouth again. Chandru’s eyes narrowed, spotting his target: the right fang. He adjusted mid-air, aligning himself for the perfect strike. He landed a punch fueled by concentrated Lunar energy directly into the ivory bone.
?CRACK.
?One of the Titan's fangs shattered, the sound echoing through the frozen forest.
?Across the clearing, Mia reached Nova and Rana, frantically attempting to wake them. Nova slightly opened his eyes just in time to see the terrifying duel. Chandru was moving through the trees now, jumping between branches with a speed that kept the Titan guessing.
?Every time Chandru touched a tree, he wasn't just climbing—he was checking something. He ticked the bark with his hands.
?TAK. TAK.
?He jumped again, escaping another lunge. When the Cobra’s tail pulverized the tree he was on, Chandru plummeted, performing a clean flip in mid-air to reduce the force of his landing. He stood his ground on the earth, staring back at the beast.
?"I think he has a crack in his brain," Nova muttered, watching in awe. "He is duelling with a Titan. Who in the hell would do that?"
?"We need to help him," Rana groaned, struggling to sit up.
?"Yes... we have to," Nova agreed.
?But Chandru raised his left hand—a silent command to wait. He wasn't finished. With his right hand, he ticked the trunk of a nearby ancient tree.
?TIK. TIK.
?The sound was heavy and dull. This tree was old, its core saturated with water and ice from the heavy snows. The Cobra launched itself toward him one last time. Chandru didn't hesitate; he landed a Lunar-charged punch into the base of the stem and took a ten-yard back jump.
?The massive tree snapped and fell perfectly, landing straight across the Cobra’s mid-body. Because the wood had absorbed so much water and snow, it was significantly heavier than the rest of the forest, pinning the King Cobra Titan to the ground.
The King Cobra Titan was pinned, thrashing violently as it struggled against the crushing weight of the water-logged tree. It hissed, its deep blue eyes locking onto Chandru, who stood just inches from its massive, scaled face.
Cornered and desperate, the Titan lunged.
Its jaws snapped shut with a bone-chilling
TAP!
The sound echoed through the clearing.
The fangs stopped only inches from Chandru’s chest.
He didn’t move.
He didn’t even blink.
Despite the strike, he simply watched the beast—waiting.
Enraged, the Cobra gathered what little strength remained, forcing its upper body upward as its neck expanded in a final, terrifying display of power.
Chandru saw his opening.
"That's it," he whispered with a wink.
He didn’t hesitate.
He sprinted toward a nearby stone, stepped onto it, and launched forward in a blur of motion.
FIRST HIT: A precise strike to the throat, just beneath the jaw of the titan.
SECOND HIT: A blow delivered lower—nearly ten feet down the length of its neck.
Chandru landed for a split second, his feet touching the ground as Lunar energy surged through him.
Then—
THIRD HIT: A strike of surgical precision, delivered just before the creature’s respiratory system.
This was no brute force.
By targeting the Titan’s breathing apparatus, Chandru severed its ability to draw oxygen.
The Cobra froze.
Its colossal body locked in place as the fallen tree intensified the suffocating pressure. Its strength failed. The Titan collapsed onto the earth, sending a massive cloud of ash and dirt into the air.
Chandru walked calmly out of the settling dust, adjusting his coat.
Nova, Mia, and Rana stood frozen—stunned into silence by what they had just witnessed.
Behind Chandru, the Cobra Titan began to vanish, its physical form dissolving into snow-like ash. From one fading eye, a single streak of blue light burst free, cutting across the sky toward an unknown destination.
Chandru turned back to the group.
Before he could speak, Rana and Mia dropped to their knees in front of him.
“BOSS! Please accept us as your disciples!” they shouted in perfect unison.
“We’ve decided to follow your lead!”
“What?” Chandru muttered, confusion finally cracking his stoic mask.
“Get off!” Nova shouted, his face flushing red. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing? I’m your senior! You didn’t respect me!”
He stormed toward Chandru, glaring up at him—but as he reached him, his voice shifted, the anger melting into something sharper… urgent.
“You should not do that,” Nova said.
“Do what?” Chandru asked.
Nova leaned in, his eyes narrowing.
“Accept them as disciples.”
He looked away briefly, then added,
“Without considering me in the first place.”
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