Aru Shah had a gigantic lightning bolt, and she was currently using it to blast demons in the face.

Said demons were making a mess of the Night Bazaar, again. The stubborn things just kept coming back over and over again, like cockroaches. This had to be at least the fifth attack this month.

"Why can't they just stay gone?!" Aru shouted to her soul sister Mini, who fought by her side.

"I don't know!" Mini called back, bonking another on the head with her danda stick. "It's like there's a leak in the primordial cup, allowing them to flow back to our worlds."

Aru made a face as she imagined someone drinking demon-infested water. But then again, there was such a thing as an Ocean of Milk in the Hindu mythologic world, so maybe that wasn't too far-fetched.

Vajra blasted back a few more nasties. Aru grinned.

"LOSERDEMONSAYSWHAT!" She screamed.

A very confused rakshasa with the head of a tiger said "What?"

Right before Aru's lighting blasted him into oblivion.

"Ha!" She crowed. "It worked!"

"What?" Mini asked.

A demon took that opportunity to punch the daughter of death square in the chest, and Mini went flying backwards.

"Mini!" Aru shouted. "Dang it, don't say that word! I cursed it!"

"Wh-" Mini didn't have time to finish as more demons advanced on her, now with weapons a bit more lethal than fists. Fortunately, she had landed in a pile of soft woven mats, so she was able to easily recover and grab her danda again, making a force field that forced her attackers back.

Unfortunately, that meant there were more for Aru to deal with, although Vajra didn't seem to have any difficulty blasting through the demons with the force of what Aru guessed (or maybe hoped) was a few godly hydrogen bombs.

She loved her lightning bolt. At least, when it wasn't electrocuting her whenever she did something stupid. Which was pretty often.

When she and Mini had cleared out their section, they saw a flash of blue and red light, and a fire-laced windstorm carried several asuras up, up, and away, until they were no longer visible through the clouds.

And then they came raining back down like demon confetti.

Forget the demon-infested water, Aru thought. Demon-shaped paper confetti would be way more fun.

But she didn't have much time to ponder on that thought, as Mini tugged Aru's sleeve towards where the flash of light had come from.

"C'mon, Aru! Brynne and Aiden might need help!"

Aru had seen her third sister, the reincarnation of Bhima, singlehandedly take on bigger armies of demons and even a ginormous table of food, but she still ran with Mini to the opposite side of the bazaar. After all, she wasn't quite done with using her lightning bolt for the day.

The two found Brynne and Aiden fighting back-to-back against a horde of demons. Brynne conjured up several powerful winds to beat back the asuras, while Aiden's twin scimitars crackled with Vajra's electricity Aru had given him before the battle. Mini and Aru joined in the fun, hacking into the swarm of nasties until the few remaining ran away.

Brynne grumbled as Gogo transformed into a choker around her neck. "We didn't need your help, Aru."

Aru rolled her eyes, a little too hyped on adrenaline. "Oh, I'm sorry! Allow me to summon back those demons-"

"Bee, Shah, chill out for a second," Aiden scolded, his scimitars reverting to leather wristbands.

Brynne turned to Mini and elbow-bumped her. "Nice job there."

Aru's offended Hey! died in her throat as Boo flew down and alighted on- where else- her head.

"The gods have summoned you-"

"To the council, we know," all four cut him off.

"For once, I'd like to kick some demon butt without having to face the gods afterwards," Aru murmured.

Okay, not all of the gods were that bad, but all this Council-summoning business had made Aru feel like more trouble than she was worth. And if there was something she didn't like feeling, it was trouble.

Okay, unless it was the fun sort of trouble, like pranking Brynne. That she didn't have a single problem with.

A portal opened, and the Potatoes marched through, ending up in the Council's meetings chamber.

Hanuman leaned forward in his throne, resting his elbows on his knees.

In a deep, serious voice he said, "Something has crept, or has been driven out of dark waters under the mountains. There are older and fouler things than the rakshasas in the deep places of the world."