Empire Ascension: The Rise of the Fated One-Chapter 229: Battle of Kashmir Part - 12
Aftab encircled Rudra with five of his men wielding shield and talwar.
Rudra stood cautious at the center with urumi in his hands. His eyes scanned all those encircling him as he kept changing his position. He looked calm on the outside, but all his senses were hyperactive.
Aftab sneered as he lunged forward, taunting, "Let’s see if you can back up that big mouth of yours."
At the same time, another soldier behind Rudra went for a strike to his neck. Rudra pulled the blade to stretch back and sliced it to parry the attack of the incoming talwar. The end of the blade sliced the neck of the soldier attempting to ambush, and it whipped in the air in a snake-like pattern before deflecting Aftab’s talwar.
Rudra didn’t stop there and snapped the whip of steel in mid-air for a sweeping arc, keeping others at bay.
As the first attacker’s body dropped lifeless, all the others became wary of his weapon and exchanged uneasy glances. They all were subconsciously taken aback by the unpredictable movement.
Aftab scoffed, "Don’t tell me you all’re afraid of his cowardly tricks." He gestured for his men to close in, each taking position to attack from a different angle.
The next warrior, positioned at Rudra’s far left, came at him with a diagonal slash. Rudra sidestepped, bending just enough to evade, then seized the attacker’s arm, using his momentum to shove him into the others.
With a swift flick of his urumi, he slashed the man’s back, tearing through his armor and clawing his skin, leaving him groaning in pain as he fell. The others stumbled, trying to regroup.
With quick reflexes, Rudra delivered a powerful kick to Aftab’s shield, sending him back, and used the distraction to snap his urumi around another soldier’s leg, slicing deep. The man collapsed with a cry, clutching his wounded leg.
Rudra smirked. " I think you spoke too soon about cowardice."
Agitated, Aftab barked at his remaining men. "Get into position!" They spread out, attempting to cover Rudra’s blind spots.
Rudra, amused, replied with a mocking tone, "Now don’t confuse me. Or I will become mad." He whipped his urumi again, wrapping it around one man’s torso and pulling him forward, just in time to block the thrust of another attacker closing in from the side.
Sensing a heavy presence behind him, Rudra ducked, narrowly avoiding a strike aimed at his neck from Aftab. Using Aftab’s momentum against him, Rudra sidestepped and shoved him forward, causing Aftab to stumble and crash to the ground.
"Didn’t know you liked crawling so much," Rudra teased, watching Aftab scramble back up.
By this time, he flicked his urumi, and the last man on Aftab’s side fell lifeless with deep slice marking his neck with blood gushing out.
With a growl, Aftab charged again, shield raised, launching a flurry of strikes.
Rudra deflected several blows, but eventually, his urumi slipped from his grip.
Sensing the upper hand, Aftab went for a diagonal strike.
But Rudra sidestepped and evaded with a duck. In the process, he caught his arm and his waist, lifting him into the air before slamming him down menacingly to the ground with a thud.
Aftab felt all the air gasp out from his chest. He rolled over quickly to evade Rudra’s big stomp and stood up, huffing with only his Talwar in his hand.
By now, he noticed the gate was still closed. He knew that Commander Norbu and Yeshe hadn’t managed to clear Tsewang’s forces, and now enemy reinforcements from the palace were pouring in, cutting down his men.
Realizing his defeat was certain, Aftab seized another fallen talwar and, with a defiant glint in his eye, spat, "I’m not going down alone today, kafir."
Rudra took no chances. He pulled a dagger from his boot and hurled it at Aftab. Aftab managed to dodge, but the slight delay was all Rudra needed. Rolling forward, Rudra reclaimed his Urumi and readied himself as Aftab charged. Within seconds, Rudra swung his Urumi and retreated back, before Aftab could reach him.
Aftab’s eyes widened in disbelief as the next moment he gasped for air, as the twisting blade has left his mark on his neck with blood gushing out.
Rudra calmly wrapped the urumi back around his waist with practiced precision, wiping the blood away with his hand to clean it.
He remarked with disdain. "Foolish bastard! Should have stick to shield for few more breaths."
Meanwhile, Yeshe Namgyal lunged forward for an overhead strike. Tsewang sidestepped smoothly, barely lifting his sword. His calm infuriated his uncle, who attacked again, this time with a series of quick slashes in rage, one after another, hoping to break through.
But each strike met only air, as Tsewang skillfully flowed around them, evading or parrying with small and calculated movements.
The frustration in his uncle’s eyes grew as his fury drove him to a reckless thrust. Seeing his moment, Tsewang deflected the blade with a deft parry, and with a twist of his wrist, he hit his face hard using the sword’s hilt. The face hit was brutal as Yeshe’s nose bled, and he clutched his face to see the blood dropping.
His face contorted in rage as he yelled, "You pitiful existence, you dared to wound me. I will wipe out your existence."
Yeshe Namgyal lost all reasoning and, with wide arcs, started to strike him down, but Tsewang was agile. He toyed with him, evading and chipping wounds in his body with each strike.
Then, in mid-fight, he saw Jigmet losing to Norbu and threw his sword to block him. Yeshe sneered, "Foolish brat, now you die." He attempted a downward strike, but Tsewang went for a high kick to his face even before he could make the stance. He caught his arm, twisted it, and broke it.
Yeshe Namgyal screamed in pain on his knees, his face in disbelief, unable to accept that he was being defeated by this brat so easily. Tsewang went over him and punched his bleeding face with non-stop hammering. It was beaten to a pulp before he felt a sword coming his way. He rolled over, evaded, and picked up one of the swords lying nearby.
The loyal soldiers of Yeshe came to his rescue and decided to attack him.
But Tsewang didn’t mind. He charged ahead and aimed for their necks. Two heads flew while the other one successfully blocked, but Tsewang rotated on his heel and thrust his sword into his opponent’s stomach, twisting his blade before retracting it and parrying the slash coming from the flank. Then, twisting his wrist, he sliced the neck.
Once the immediate threat was dealt with, he moved in toward his uncle, who was watching him in fear.
He said in a chilling voice, "You owe me your tongue for speaking filth to my wife."
Fear gripped Yeshe’s face, and he moved back frantically, screaming, "Stay away, stay away from me, you monster." But Tsewang showed no mercy. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
Near the gate, Commander Norbu charged forward, brandishing his glaive with a fierce arc, aiming to sweep through Tsewang’s forces in one brutal strike. The soldiers, skilled and disciplined, managed to parry his attack, but Norbu only sneered in response. With a swift follow-up, he struck their swords again, twisting his arm to change direction, and then delivered a brutal retreating slash and cutting them clean.
He went near to lift the bar but faced Commander Jigmet, blocking him with his glaive, his ear still bleeding. "Not so easy, Norbu. I will be your opponent."
Norbu scoffed, "Like hell you can." He went out for a thrust, but Jigmet sidestepped and, with a twist of his wrist, parried his next sweeping arc attack as they locked blades, both sharing fiery glances.
Norbu retorted, "Come back to your senses, Jigmet. No need to follow the traitor. We are on the same side."
Jigmet pushed him back and retorted, "No, we are not on the same side. I’m following my liege, Leh’s rising sun."
Norbu clicked his tongue, "Very well, then prove your skills."
He unleashed a flurry of attacks, which Jigmet met with equal resistance. But then Norbu rotated his body for another wide arc. Jigmet countered with a downward strike, and both of them blocked and recoiled a few steps back.
Jigmet quickly composed himself and charged again, this time going for a wide swing aimed at Norbu’s legs. But Norbu reacted in time, leaping up and retaliating with his counter. In the same motion, Jigmet brought up his glaive and deflected the incoming blade with a resounding clash.
Without missing a beat, Jigmet went for a diagonal slash aimed at his opponent’s shoulder. Norbu, however, sidestepped skillfully and parried, catching the blade mid-swing.
With a twist of his wrist, he pushed the glaive aside, opening up a narrow gap.
But at that moment, he noticed a blade incoming, thrown by Tsewang mid-fight, and brought his glaive shaft down to deflect it. However, in that split second, it was a mistake, as he couldn’t stop Jigmet’s next feint attack, which ended with his head turning upside down. The last thing he saw was the glint of light on Jigmet’s blade.
As the last of their enemies fell, Rudra, Tsewang, and Jigmet stood victorious, their breaths heavy but their resolve unbroken. Around them, their soldiers rallied, pushing the remaining Ladakhi forces back, securing control over the fort’s courtyard.
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It took another day to secure full control of Srinagar after capturing the fort. The Kashmiri people rejoiced upon hearing they were freed from Ladakhi dominance, but Rudra knew the battle was far from over.
An offer was made to the nearby Ladakhi forces: leave the region in exchange for the second prince and a temporary halt in hostilities.
Tsewang doubted the old, senile king would agree, but to his surprise, negotiations were accepted, and the Ladakhi forces withdrew.
To counter the threat of reinforcements from Baltistan, Rudra dispatched Faujdar Amrendar with cannons and rockets to secure the region.
On the day of the exchange, Yeshe Namgyal, now silent with his tongue cut, was discreetly transferred. Meanwhile, Bhargavian forces spread out, consolidating control over Kashmir. That same day, Rudra received news that Amrendar had successfully ambushed and annihilated the incoming Mughal reinforcement in a narrow canyon.
As preparations began for the march to Ladakh, word came that the only passage was blocked. Tsewang, suspecting a deeper strategy, warned that Ladakh’s retreat was likely part of a Tibetan alliance and that they could face more resistance than anticipated.
Rudra sneered, his eyes gleaming with determination. "Very well! We will hold our position until reinforcements arrive."
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//A/N:
An important news, my marriage is finalised. Well, I might not be able to update daily soon but I will compensate with mind-blowing stories and mass releases whenever possible.
