"Pitamaha! What are you even doing?", Duryodhana yelled at his Supreme Commander while supporting his own bleeding arm with the other. 

He had suffered a resounding defeat from the Yadava Lord Satyaki, who, for some reason had suddenly geared up into being almost unbeatable today. He had been reigning havoc on the Kaurava armies and Duryodhana had to face him in an attempt to stop the rampage somehow. 

Bheeshma had been incomprehensibly absent from sight since the fight began.

Nothing had been working according to what the Kaurava heir had envisioned for the day. 

The Pandavas had formed a strangely intimidating battle formation, taking two standard structures and seamlessly merging them into a gigantically complex shape. 

"Anagha... only he could have formed such a thing", Dronacharya, suitably awed, had informed them making the Crown Prince of Hastinapur snap back at his teacher with derision in his tone. 

"Don't forget Gurudev, that you are duty bound to kill your dearly beloved Anagha."

Drona had looked at him wearily, electing to let his bitter words roll off him instead of countering as usual. The wizened master of the Kurus had looked exhausted and the battle hadn't even begun then. 

"Don't be a fool Duryodhan! If Arjun has created a formation of this calibre, he must have a strategy at hand. We need to be careful. So for once in your Goddamned life, listen to me when I say anything today", Bheeshma had barked at his errant grandson irritated. 

"But of course, Maham mahim. What is our play then?", Shakuni had asked in his typically oily way which had made the former wrinkle his nose in distaste. 

"Stay behind me."

Gangaputra had replied then, his voice grave and lined with unmistakable tiredness and his cerulean eyes sharpening like a bird of prey had been. 

That had been, almost six hours ago.

It seemed to Duryodhan that both his master and his grandfather had been correct in being cautious about today's plan as the other side who had been consistently taking a bludgeoning from their armies since the start of the war, had suddenly turned the tide towards their favour. 

Yudhishtira and his three brothers were parrying with their typical fervour, along with their allies who were all stationed mostly in the front line. 

Satyaki and Dhrishtadyumna were shooting arrows in a scary symphony, never straying too far from their leader's chariot. 

The warriors of Panchal and Matsya had successfully circled around the Kaurava regiment, having been placed at the second line. 

The elephant corps, which had been stationed in front of the ardha chakra vyuhah had trampled all over their cavalry, once the soldiers encompassing the regiments of the suchi vyuhah in front, had torn through their men like Shiva's trident. 

The Upapandavas and Abhimanyu were leading charges at the frontline of the ardha chakra vyuhah and had immediately latched onto the straggling warriors left from the scattered mass of the Kaurava army. 

Their men were falling in spades and crumbling into confusion at this strangely new and unforeseen attack. 

Yet the most baffling thing to the Kaurava armies and their warriors had been Savyasachi, who was on horseback, devoid of his usual monkey flagged, golden chariot strung to his very recognisable set of white steeds and driven by his very conspicuous peacock clad charioteer. 

Arjun though, looked completely unperturbed at his current arrangement and even more shockingly, seemed almost invisible with the speed with which he was popping in and out of fights. 

It was a blitzkrieg. 

Duryodhan could see his friends and companions screaming in fear and shock at his dark skinned cousin's ferocious attacks as Vijaya as he has been aptly named, suddenly came into view, forcing his opponents to run in retreat and then disappear again. 

It was infuriating. 

And petrifying.

He had locked eyes with for one second and had felt a shiver run down his spine at the blank look in Arjun's usually warm silver blue eyes. 

At that moment, Pandu's third son, had looked like Death personified. 

It was like there was a supernatural entity riding inside him today. The cold clinical efficiency with which the Gandhiva released arrows which ripped into its bearer's enemies could only be possessed by either a psychopath or the Divine Executioner himself.

Yama himself was riding along with Arjun. 

It was the cosmic dance of destruction which the ivory clad Pandava prince had wrought on their forces today. 

Destiny watched with shining eyes as Mahadeva's Tandav reigned supreme on the war torn fields of Kurukshetra. 

Another bewildering thing was that the Kuru Grandsire who had been raining hellfire on the Pandava troops seemed absent throughout. 

Bheeshma had been occupied by someone and so engrossed was he, in his one to one fight, that he could not even see what was happening around. 

Acharya Drona was battling Dhrishtadyumna and Ashwatthama had been locked into a messy fight with Bheema. Shakuni had been lured away by Sahadeva and Duryodhana could not see his younger sibling, Dusashana anywhere in vicinity. 

It seemed like everyone had been drawn away from him. 

When he had finally managed to locate his grandsire, who for some inexplicable reason was stock still atop his chariot, unmindful of the way the Panchala Prince Shikandi was injuring him with his arrows, Duryodhana had lost his patience completely. 

The aged Kuru royal was staring in part incredulity and part grief at some indistinct point in the distance.  

That was the moment the Eldest of the Kauravas had yelled at him. 

"Pitamaha! Have you lost your mind? Why are you not attacking Shikandi?", Duryodhana shouted again, trying to string up his bow in an attempt to defend his General somehow. 

"What...what are you saying? That is Amba..", Bheeshma replied confused. 

"What! No! That is the Panchala Prince Shikandi!", his grandson countered. 

Bheeshma's eyes narrowed then and he finally managed to spot the slight distortion around the form of the woman who was standing in front of him, her beautiful eyes enlarged in accusation and humiliated fury. 

A woman who had haunted Bheeshma's dreams and nightmares for the entirety of his very very long existence. 

It was an illusion!

The Grandsire of the Kurus snarled in rage and let loose a weapon which appeared so blindingly fast that no one could even see it properly before it almost took off, Shikandi's head. The latter had ducked at the very last moment and the back of his chariot along with the flagstaff flew off to fall into the ground with the impact.

"Show yourself you coward!", Bheeshma growled again and shot another arrow blindingly fast, only for it to get cut off midstride by an invisible force. 

"Alambusha! Fight this magic off! I command you!"

Duryodhan had suddenly remembered his friend, the Rakshasa leader Alambusha who had agreed to lend his help in the war when required. He was the only creature who could counter illusions so powerful that it had managed to fool even his invincible grandsire. 

The Rakshasa appeared instantly, stepping off from a swirl of dark inky mist which made everyone turn their heads away with the intensity of its noxious fumes. 

The rank smell of black magic tore through the shimmery translucent grace like a sword through cotton, forcing a fair skinned youth to jump back from the place where Alambusha's battle axe came swinging. It hit the ground and almost cracked it open with the sheer force.

Iravan frowned as he took in the gigantic creature in front of him. 

There would be a slight change in the plan it seemed. 

"You! I know you! The Naga Prince. Arjun and Uloopi's son, aren't you?", Duryodhan squinted through the dust and smoke to spot the eerily facsimile features of the madhya Pandava housed perfectly in the otherworldly attributes of the strange young man. 

"Greetings, Prince! I see you have made friends with the right crowd eh?", Iravan smirked nastily, his aquamarine eyes crystallising into that of a snake's to make the Kaurava shudder in his chariot.

"I expected better of a son of Arjun to indulge in such cheap tricks", Bheeshma's voice thundered making everyone turn their heads towards the clearly angered super warrior. Iravan looked unfazed as he narrowed his eyes in overt distaste at the Kuru leader. 

"Funny, Maham Mahim. Even I expected better of a man of your standing than to support such wickedness only if out of an obligation to an outdated vow. But then, expectations rarely do get met, don't you think", his words though spoken in pretend humour, felt like it was dripping with the same venom his kind are notoriously known for. 

"Such base sarcasm is unbecoming of you, son. You do not know---", Bheeshma began but got cut off with a humiliating nonchalance. 

"I do not need to know. And you sir, have no right to preach me about trickery, after what your so called Yuvaraja did to my Jyeshta matashree in court while you stood there mum. My father and uncles have shown you more honour than you deserve. Time to balance out the scale."

Bheeshma's face darkened with fury as Duryodhana spluttered in rage and indignation. 

"Enough! You will speak no more!"

Gangaputra, blinded with righteous anger could no longer take in the bitter words of the scathing tongued youth in front of him. He called upon one of his favoured though lower scaled divyastras, and cast it on Iravan, who stood admirably stoic and calm. 

Remorse took place of wrath immediately as the arrow left his great bow and Bheeshma saw the young Naga prince stand brave and unbothered, at the face of certain death. 

A much younger Arjun's face overlapped with Iravan's just for a second and it pierced Bheeshma's heart ruthlessly. 

But to everyone's collective shock, the son of Uloopi, was shielded from their view as a blur came right in front of him like a barrier. 

A human barrier. 

"Father!", Iravan cried out in horror. 

Arjun grunted in pain and staggered a little with the impact as the arrow rammed into his right shoulder. He felt his son clutch his bicep like a lifeline, his eyes normalised into that of a human again. 

Arjun breathed low in relief. 

It was a close save. 

Had he not intercepted in time, the arrow would have beheaded his boy. 

"Arjun...", Bheeshma whispered. 

"Why don't you pick someone of your own size Pitamaha! Here I am!", Vijaya retorted while pulling off the bloodied weapon off his shoulder like it was, but a little thorn stuck in his foot. 

"Retreat!", he ordered a worried Iravan firmly while positioning his Gandhiva with his characteristically deadly grace. 

"But pitashree.."

"Now Iravan!"

The Naga Prince shut his mouth at that but it was clear he was not pleased with the directive even as he followed through and disappeared from vision yet again. Duryodhana's subtle nod of acknowledgement made Alambusha smile in a creepily predatory way before he vanished as well. 

"So this was your plan. Confound me into fighting old ghosts while your warriors lay siege to my armies. Clever, I will admit. You may have fooled me for some time but now, I'm going to destroy your troops."

Bheeshma answered, his bow held out in a stance which had chilled the blood of his foes since time immemorial. His favourite grandson just smiled at that, his once so endearing innocence, a starkly missed presence in those chiselled features. 

"You can't kill me Arjun."

Everyone knew that Bheeshma had been granted a boon by his father, King Shantanu, that he will die only when he wishes to. It has always been his greatest armour against his opponents. Duryodhan's smug look seemed to proclaim the existence of that conundrum, further. 

But Arjun only smirked. 

"I don't have to kill you Grandsire. I just have to make sure you can never take up arms again. Not for Hastinapur. Or anyone for that matter."

His words hadn't even fully escaped his lips before the Gandhiva started its deadly shower of incessant arrows on the stalwart of the Kurus. Bheeshma momentarily blindsided found his armour being pierced open by Savyasachi's lethal shafts and this time, it hurt like never before. 

Arjun had been holding back then. 

Only now, it seemed like something has finally snapped inside the third Kaunteya. 

And that didn't seem very favourable for his enemies, as seen by the massacre he had wrought upon their troops today. 

Duryodhan yelped and jumped back from a stray arrow which had nearly sliced his collarbone open as he squinted to try and spot the two super warriors, one of whom was standing on the ground, locked in a battle so fierce that both were cloaked in a near impenetrable curtain of countering arrows.

There was a minute break which showed the gobsmacked onlookers, both Gangaputra and Indraputra, heaving with bloodied wounds covering them from head to toe. 

Bheeshma called upon the divyastras then and from the immediate sharp glimmer in Arjun's eyes, it seemed like the latter was waiting for just that. 

The ground underneath them emitted a burning sandstorm at the effect of the divine weapons of the Gods being called and cut with inhuman rapidity as the greatest warriors of their era fought against each other like mechanical demons. 

Then it happened. 

And it happened so fast that none of the slowly congregating audience could gauge the following sequence of events properly. 

Bheeshma had faltered for a single second and Arjun like the master he was had struck right at that moment. 

Lightening flashed through the battered battle torn body of Shakrasuta as the divine weapon of Indradeva appeared like a bolt of thunder. It had sailed through the air forming a powerful static which threw back men, horses and chariots scattering along a ten mile radius like they were mere sticks of straw in a stable hit by a breeze. 

Before Bheeshma knew what was happening the Vajra had hit him, hacking his dominant arm off which held his massive bow and had propelled his aged body back with such a mighty force that had it been a lesser mortal, he would have been thrown back several hundred miles like a ragdoll. 

"Maham Mahim!"

"Pitamaha!"

"Devrata!"

Voices filled with horror and anguish stopped the raging battle the next second as everyone saw the great Commander of the Kurus topple off his chariot onto the ground, half of his body burnt in a macabre pattern from the bleeding stump in his shoulder where his arm used to be and spread out like poisonous vines from his neck to his toe. 

The sky above was overcast with storm clouds as Devendra called back his most powerful weapon back to him as ordained. 

Arjun stood like a sentinel, a few meters away, looking like the King of the Gods, himself. 

What looked like pure electricity was flowing through his dark skin and his sapphiric eyes had whited out with the static crackling at the ends of his dry curls and his trembling fingers. 

His handsome features were strained with the effort of casting the Vajra even as he stared with cold detachment as Duryodhan who had also been thrown off his own chariot. scramble up and run towards their fallen grandfather. 

"You wretch! You bloody dog! How could you!"

The Eldest Kaurava raged at his stoic cousin like a deranged creature as tears streamed down his blanched face while he struggled to gather Bheeshma in his arms. 

"He loved you! He loved you best! You ungrateful piece of shit!", the Kaurava screamed again even as Arjun kept staring right through them. 

"Did you see that?"

"Was that the..."

"How is he even breathing.. that amount of power should have dried his blood out."

"He is Indra's son you idiot! Of course he can hold lightening.."

"Unbelievable!"

"What are you saying, it was demonic."

"Godly, you mean."

"Ahh.. inhuman more like."

Snatches of fearful and awed conversation was being muttered in the distance by the astounded troops as warriors from both sides gathered around the fallen Bheeshma, some in grief and most in respect. 

Yet Arjun remained rooted like a granite statue. 

Bheema had given him a slightly worried look, even as he passed by him with teary eyes towards the Kuru Grandsire.

"Bravo... I truly didn't think... of... this..."

Bheeshma uttered painfully even as his intelligent eyes twinkled in an odd mix of prideful sorrow as he laid his gaze on his five.. no four grandsons, huddled into a miserable group in front. 

"Pitamaha...", Yudhishtira's voice shook so badly that his words were almost incomprehensible. 

"I don't think.... I can fight... like this...anymore... Duryodhan...."

"Of course.. Grandfather.. I.. I have called for the doctors. We will.. have you transported back to the encampments.. please rest.."

Bheeshma peered from the motley group of warriors who had encircled him, to spot his favourite grandson and now his defeater, who was still immobile even if the aftereffects of the calling on the Vajra, had subsided. 

His eyes were blank though. 

There was no discernible emotion in them.

"Arjun...", The son of Shantanu whispered slowly and Duryodhan's anguish turned to wrath again.

"I will kill him Pitamaha! You wait and watch! I am going to tear his freaking limbs right off his...."

"Please.. my child. No more.. stop this war... there is still time..."

The Crown prince of the Kurus just looked away and Bheeshma sighed resigned. 

'Vinaasha kaale veepreeta buddhi'

The words in the Grandsire's head oddly sounded like that of Vasudeva Krishna, whom, now that he thought of, he hadn't spotted anywhere in the battlefield today.

Usually one would find the dark lord not further than two centimetres away from Arjun.

Bheeshma was carried away by the attendants and soldiers of the Kauravas, some of their warriors following close behind and the war was unofficially stopped for the day.

The Pandava soldiers and their allies were overjoyed and blew their conch shells in victorious cacophony. 

Even if the Pandavas themselves were drowned in a pall of gloom. 

Then suddenly, Dusashana of all people, stormed right onto Arjun's face, much to everyone's rising tension. The heat of the moment could end up in a disaster everyone could do very much do without.

"You! You are going to pay for that! You cheating miserable good for nothing..."

Abhimanyu had suddenly appeared from God knows where and slipped in between his father and the second eldest of the Kauravas and had his blood crusted sword on the latter's neck in an instant. 

"Step away Prince or else I will take your head off!", the son of Subhadra snarled. The vitriolic disgust on his otherwise cheerful features looked near alien on his youthful face. 

"Everything is fair in love and war, Bhrata Dusashan. You had educated me on that piece of wisdom or did you forget?", Arjun replied calmly while tugging back his youngest with a sharp pull on his arm, which had Abhi sheathing his sword back at the unsaid order.

Dusashana growled low, even as a faint memory of decades past, formed in his mind. They were mere kids indulging in a bout of childish revelry. The venomous hatred had not taken such deep roots between the cousins, as of then. 

"And moreover, it was a fair fight. Your Commander had drawn first blood and he had called upon the divyastras. I merely responded. I can't help it, if he was slow."

The callousness in Arjun's tone was so atypical of him that even Dusashana was taken aback for a moment. He has never heard the third Pandava speak about anyone, let alone Bheeshma of all people, in such an uncompassionate way. 

Has Arjun finally broken then?

The absence of the flute playing God beside his beloved Partha looked so abysmally wrong that even a mostly thick headed Dusashana couldn't help but relegate that particular point even if it was mostly unnecessary. 

He wanted to unsettle this strangely unmoved avatar of his so called cousin.

"Where is your Krishna, Arjun? Has the so called God abandoned his favourite servant after all?", the second oldest Gandharinandan called out snidely as Savyasachi had finally turned to walk back towards the Pandava encampments.

Arjun didn't turn but stopped walking. 

Abhimanyu who was following him, still annoyed, wanted to unsheathe his sword and definitely take off the idiot's head, rules be damned. 

But his father didn't get riled up like they had expected. 

There was a smile in Arjun's words when he spoke next. 

"Perhaps, my Krishna has decided that none of us is worth saving anymore."

And that perhaps scared Abhi the most. 

To be continued