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Punjab, India. 16th Century.
There was a serene silence surrounding the vast Punjabi landscape. The wind was blowing against the growing crops softly, while the waters of the five rivers in the region rippled with every movement. The farmers were contently harvesting their produce for the Cool Season, when climate was mild, so they would have food for the season. It was a time of peace, tranquility and-
ROAR!
Monsters roaring?
As it turns out, the roar came from a huge monster that resembled an ogre. It let out another roar at it swung its spiked club against two blue-wearing humans with turbans. Both warriors evaded the hit, and pulled out their scimitars before charging at the beast. Their curved swords clashed against the creature’s larger weapon.
The scene then zoomed to show us what was happening at the crops.
Needless to say, it was hell.
The once peaceful-looking crop fields were now filled to the brim with screaming of all kinds. Whether it be warriors charging to battle, scared villagers getting caught in the crossfire, or monsters roaring, there was a lot of screaming.
On the side of the monsters, there was a rather tall, muscular humanoid creature, probably male, standing on a large rock. He had a caprid look with a dark pink body, a dark purple nose, long straight marron hair with mutton chop sideburns, bright orange eyes with red sclerae, and caprid ears. He was wearing a dark teal samurai armor, and was carrying a katana around his waist. His presence radiated an intimidating aura of authority.
“Come forth, my fellow Yokai!” he declared in a deep baritone “Do not leave these filthy humans alive! India does not stand a chance against the incredible might of Baron Draxum!”
The creatures, apparently known as ‘Yokai’, complied with their leader’s command and charged forward against the human army. Draxum smirked as he watched his fearsome army slaughter some of the human soldiers and villagers. This was too easy, no challenge at all, but well, that was to be expected from humans. Such a weak and pitiful species that, quite frankly, did not deserve to be the dominant species of this planet. That title belonged to Yokai.
Draxum could still remember when he started his conquering campaign in his homeland, Japan. He and his family had taken advantage of the weakened state the humans were in following their encounter with a monster that left their villages completely ravaged. What was the creature called again, the Shredder or something? No matter; what mattered was that his people could finally take what was rightfully theirs.
Once his conquest of Japan was complete, Draxum proceeded to lead his mighty Yokai army to conquer the rest of the world. Their next stop was China and, despite their Emperor’s valiant efforts, even the Chinese army fell before the might of Draxum’s army. Hell, he even invaded most of Southeast Asia, and they also fell easily. Too easily, if he was being honest.
And now, India would be next.
Many of the unarmed civilians tried to run away from these monsters, fear filling their insides. There were some warriors guiding them outside the fields. Sadly, one of those villagers, an elderly male, fell to the ground after tripping, gasping for air.
One of the running children stopped and gasped.
“Grandfather!” he exclaimed as he ran after the elder.
“Son, no!” yelled a middle-aged man, probably the boy’s father, as his son ran after his grandfather.
The child tried to help the old man get up, but they both stopped when a giant shadow covered them. They fearfully looked up to see another green-skinned Yokai ogre, who was holding a spiked club. The monster flashed an evil toothy grin, chuckling as it raised its club to smash the defenseless humans. Two warriors stood between them to protect the elder and the child, but the monster swatted them away like flies, before turning its sight back to its preys.
Then, it swung down.
Both grandfather and grandson screamed as they held each other in fear, waiting for their inevitable deaths…
CLANK!
Except it didn’t happen.
The beast stared in confusion at what happened. It looked down to see what blocked its attack.
Or rather, who.
It was a tall, muscular man of Indian origin. He had a bushy, black moustache/beard combo, was wearing the same blue clothes as the other warriors, and had a blue turban. He was wielding a scimitar like most of the other warriors, only this one appeared to be glowing blue.
The monster stared in confusion for a few moments, before glaring at the human. Letting out a roar, it slammed its weapon upon the man, but the man moved away in a flash, taking the child and elder with him. The warrior took both of them to a safe distance.
“Run with the others, me and my soldiers shall deal with these monsters.” The man told them. Both only nodded before running away.
The bearded man turned his sight to the giant beast he faced earlier. Said beast started running towards him, waving its club and roaring. It then slammed the club towards the human, who leaped out of the way, before clashing his sword with the monster. The swordsman and the creature got engaged in an intense swordfight, where the former swiftly avoided the hits of the latter. This enraged the ogre to an extent, as it tried to squash the human like a bug.
After what felt like an eternity, the man leaped into the air. The monster roared again as it swung its club towards him, but instead of being hit, the swordsman landed on the club, and ran towards the ogre. Then, in a swift move, he slashed his sword across the monster’s neck. He then landed on his feet and sheathed his sword back. The ogre’s head suddenly got detached off its shoulders and fell to the ground.
The other nearby Yokai stared at this display in disbelief, trying to process the fact that a mere human beheaded one of their best soldiers like it was nothing. After a long silence, the Yokai then roared in anger, and started rushing towards the sole swordsman.
Normally, in this kind of scenario, when an enemy army is rushing in, the most logical option would be to call reinforcements. But this man didn’t appear to consider that option. Instead, he looked at the stampeding monsters in serene silence, narrowing his eyes as he unsheathes his scimitar once more. He ran a finger across the blade (careful not to get cut), which made it shine a blue light again. With his weapon ready, the man let out a warring cry as he charged towards the Yokai.
What happened next was nothing short of a massacre, as he started slicing and dicing, turning the monsters into Yokai-kabobs at lightspeed. They tried to dogpile him, but the man cut them all up, freeing himself as Yokai body parts started flying everywhere. One beheading here, another beheading there, as well as leaving a few Yokai without arms of legs, or even both.
The other Yokai observed this display in fear, afraid that they would be next. Their human opponents, on the other hand, began feeling inspired and fought back harder against their unnatural enemies.
Draxum witnessed this whole scenario with enraged disbelief; how was this possible? His warriors were supposed to be the best in all of Japan, no, the entire world! How could one measly human be capable of killing them all? Worst of all, these pathetic humans were refusing to yield, as if they thought they actually stood a chance?
Time to step in, and show these insolent humans, as well as his clearly inferior soldiers, what a true warrior should be like.
Jumping down from the rock he was standing on, Draxum turned his hands into purple spears and ran towards the battle. He started fighting the humans, piercing them with his spear hands, and punching and kicking other warriors who came towards him. More warriors started coming his way and soon, Draxum started feeling surrounded.
“ENOUGH!” he exclaimed as he slammed his fists to the ground, which made giant purple vines emerge.
These vines ended up trapping all the human warriors, as well as some of the escaping villagers. The swordsman, however, used his blade to cut most of the vines. More vines came his way, but he was undeterred, as he cut more and more of the vines. Draxum was gritting his teeth in anger, getting annoyed at this human’s stubborn persistence. However, while the swordsman was busy slicing the monstrous vines, he failed to notice one vine emerging from under his feet. Soon, he found himself hoist up in the air, feeling how the vine wrapped itself around his body. The human warrior struggled to free himself from his bounds, to no avail.
Draxum smirked smugly as he waved his arm to make the vine bring the human to him. He took the time to analyze him.
“Who are you, human?” he questioned.
The human said nothing at first; he only glared at the monster responsible for all this madness and destruction. After spending the next few minutes frowning at the Yokai warlord, the swordsman finally spoke.
“My name is Mahavir Sandhu.” The man answered in an Indian baritone “Cease this senseless invasion now, monster! You don’t stand a chance against humanity!”
Draxum stared at the man in bemusement; was this human for real? Did he really believe himself a savior? Honestly, how gauche.
Draxum chuckled.
"Foolish human. Japan, China and Southeast Asia have all fallen before me. India will be no different." he declared before gesturing to the battlefield "Look around. My mighty Yokai army is decimating your pitiful warriors. What makes you so certain that your precious mankind will triumph?”
“The fact that I’ve called reinforcements.” Mahavir replied, just as confidently.
Draxum raised an eyebrow “What reinforcements?”
“These ones,” Mahavir replied before whistling sharply.
Draxum simply stared in confusion, before a loud ‘BOOM’ was heard from the distance. He looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw something that left him flabbergasted.
An energy beam coming down from the sky.
This energy beam hit the ground, and made a wave impact that knocked out all the Yokai warriors, Draxum included. The Yokai warmonger yelled as he was blown away by the impact. The humans, however, remained intact, while Mahavir was freed from his constraints.
Groaning in pain, Draxum struggled to get up, trying not to show weakness to his enemies, or even his own army. As he managed to rise, he made another look of surprise.
From the portal, came out a group of taller, humanoid beings who were decidedly not human in nature. This was because, aside from being unbelievably beautiful (except the large beardo with the crippled leg), these beings had multicolored skin tones, and were radiating a divine glow that blinded those around them.
"It cannot be..." Draxum muttered "Are these the gods I heard about?"
Draxum had heard the legends about divine beings, mostly from Japan. He also heard that the Japanese gods were offering the humans a weapon that would help them deal with that Shredder creature. Draxum scoffed inwardly, believing that those gods were sentimental fools who were wasting their time with these pathetic parasites. In his opinion, they should have left the humans to suffer and die.
His pondering was interrupted by another sound.
To everyone’s shock, a large number of portals started to materialize.
Other people came out of those portals, including ebony-skinned warriors that were varied groups of Somali, Nubian and Zulu. Other groups that came out also included Spartan and Roman soldiers, Egyptian warriors, Mongolian marauders, medieval knights, Spanish crusaders, French soldiers, Scandinavian Vikings and to Draxum's surprise, some Samurais and Chinese warriors who survived his previous invasions. Suffice to say, there was a ton of human warriors.
But it wasn’t only humans who participated. Aside from the divine beings, other portals opened to reveal creatures that, like the Yokai, were not human, but were firmly on the side of good. These new groups included tall Amazonian woman warriors, humanoids who appeared to come from the depths of the sea (some of them having dark skins like the African warriors), gigantic beings made of ice, draconian creatures, elven humanoids, short bearded men, etc.
Draxum could only look on in disbelief that the humans were allied not only with these inferior beasts, but also with these so-called “gods”. He narrowed his eyes; the gods from his own homeland were weak and foolish for feeling compassion towards these undeserving humans. Which he saw as proof of one undeniable truth:
There was only one true god, and that would be Draxum.
Mahavir stood proudly in front of his human, divine and unhuman comrades, glaring at Draxum with hate and determination. Draxum returned the glare with gusto.
Then, Mahavir shouted one single word.
“CHARGE!”
At his signal, all the human armies began screaming collectively as they charged towards the monstrous invaders. The gods and mystical creatures did likewise.
Draxum said nothing, he merely silently unsheathed his katana, which he pointed at his troops to charge, as well. The Yokai soldiers complied, and began running towards their enemies. Both armies began rushing towards each other, until they all collided in one big ball of violence.
And thus, an epic battle began.
It was pandemonium, to say the least.
To try to describe this spectacle of epic proportions wouldn’t do it justice. Ok, it was mostly sword-fighting between the two opposite bands, but there were also punches, kicks and headbutting thrown in the mix, with additional biting for good measure. The gods, in particular, were absolutely brutal against their opponents, especially a certain god of war, who pretty much wiped two fourths of Draxum’s army. There were some casualties among the human warriors, but the Yokai invaders took far more damage.
Amidst all this melee, Mahavir and Draxum fought each other exclusively. The Yokai warlord got engaged in a sword duel against Mahavir. The Punjabi swordsman refused to yield, as he clashed his trusted sword against Draxum’s katana. Soon, they ended up on a stalemate as they glared at each other fiercely.
“Surrender!” Mahavir exclaimed.
“Never!” Draxum replied angrily “Baron Draxum does NOT surrender! Especially to a pathetic human like you!”
During the scuffle, Mahavir managed to disarm Draxum, whose katana was shoved to the side. Mahavir swung his scimitar, but the Yokai evaded each shot. He then transformed his hands into giant fists, and tried to punch Mahavir, who also started evading.
The warlord swiped his leg over Mahavir's feet, making the human warrior fall to the ground. Seeing an opening, Draxum grinned evilly as he aimed his giant hands to smash the meddlesome human...
...who suddenly disappeared in a flash, just as Draxum punched the ground, leaving a massive crater.
Draxum looked confused as to how it happened, and looked around for his opponent. He finally spotted Mahavir, and was surprised to see who saved the man.
It was a tall, muscular, handsome man whose skin was lighter than Mahavir, with long, flowing brown-blonde hair that was glowing. He only wore brown pants and boots, and was wielding a sword.
"Thank you for the save, Hercules. I owe you my life." Mahavir thanked.
"Nonsense, Friend Mahavir." the godly warrior replied lightheartedly. "Tis the least a friend can do. Now, let us finish this madness!"
"Much obliged."
Both men, wielding their respective swords, ran towards battle again, and continued massacring Yokai left and right with their fellow warriors.
Draxum gritted his teeth in annoyance, feeling that these meddlesome beings would not give up so easily. Running to a speed that would put a cheetah to shame, Draxum ran towards Mahavir and Hercules, and engaged them in combat again. Both human and god clashed their swords against the Yokai's spear hands.
"Surrender now, and we will show mercy!" Hercules demanded.
"That makes one of us!" Draxum replied as he sprouted more vines to enrapture his opponents. But to his dismay, both of them started cutting them up with their swords.
"You will have to do better than that, Yokai!" the god boasted.
Draxum, feeling his blood boil to a dangerous degree, felt this nonsense has gone on far enough.
"Enough!" he yelled, hitting the ground again. This made much larger vines emerge from the soil, and they all captured the warriors and their magical allies. "You call yourselves gods?! There can only be one!"
He summoned another vine, which he stepped on, and rose himself to the captured warriors. He stopped to look at the struggling Mahavir.
"You will not succeed, monster!" the human warrior declared as he tried to free himself.
"On the contrary, I already have." Draxum replied arrogantly "You and your allies have lost, Mahavir Sandhu."
"Never! Not as long as humanity continues to have heroes, there will always be hope."
"Hope. A word used by the weak. Such sentimental garbage is for optimistic fools." Draxum started monologuing "Accept the reality that I, Baron Draxum, have triumphed. This world is mine for the taking, and Yokai will reclaim their rightful place as the dominant species of this wretched planet. Nothing you do can stop me now. How long do you intend to continue fighting me, human?"
"Just long enough for them to open another portal." Mahavir replied.
"Another portal?" Draxum asked, confused. He then turned around, and his eyes widened in shock at what was happening.
During Draxum's monologue, he failed to notice one of the goddesses creating a rather large black-and-blue vortex in the middle of the field. The portal started pulling its gravitational grip on everyone. The humans were about to get sucked in, but the gods created a barrier that protected them, as well as the other magical creatures on their side.
The Yokai were not so lucky.
Draxum looked in horror as his troops were being pulled towards the vortex.
“NO!” he shouted, as he suddenly was pulled away from his captives and towards the portal. He summoned another vine to hold onto it, but it broke from the vortex's gravitational pull. He summoned even more vines to hold onto, but they started to strain.
All the Yokai warriors tried to escape the vortex, but they were all sucked in.
All except one.
Draxum tried to hold onto the vine he summoned, but the strain broke it, and he struggled to keep his feet to the ground, as the vortex was sucking him in. He nailed his sharp claws to the ground, hoping to avoid getting sucked by the portal. Alas, he started to lose his grip to the ground as he felt himself being sucked, but he stubbornly held himself to the ground. He felt his armor being stripped away by the vortex, leaving him semi-naked. He refused to allow himself to suffer this indignity, as he glared at Mahavir one last time while trying to literally hold his ground. Never before had he felt this much hatred towards any human, but this one has managed to get under his skin, and has officially earned his wrath.
“Mark my words, Mahavir Sandhu: one day, I will return to reclaim the surface for Yokai, and put an end to your bloodline! Even if it takes me 500 years!" Draxum declared as he was being dragged into the portal "Heed me, humans: vengeance will be mine!”
In the end, he lost his grip and ended up being sucked in.
And with that, the portal was finally closed.
Everyone started cheering, happy to have won the battle, maybe the war.
Mahavir, however, did not celebrate immediately. Rather, he stood solemnly, looking at the destroyed crop fields, and some of his divine allies tending to the injured villagers. Yes, mankind has won this battle (with assistance, of course), but Mahavir wasn't sure how long the peace would last before those monsters found a way to return. He was more than certain that Draxum was serious when he swore revenge. More importantly, they needed to restore these lands to their former glory, and fortunately, they counted with the Goddess of Nature Demeter to do it.
A Punjabi soldier walked up to him.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
“Now, we rebuild." Mahavir answered "We start here, where there’s relatively less damage. Then, we continue with the rest of Asia that suffered the most damage, such as Southeast Asia, China, and finally, Japan. With the assistance of our fellow human beings, as well as our divine allies, we should have this destruction undone.”
“What about those Yokai? What if they return?”
“It won’t happen. The gods made sure that those monsters were permanently banned from returning to Earth. They won’t harm anyone else ever again. But, in the unlikely event that it happens, I’ll be ready.”
Another soldier came up to them “But that could happen in years, and face it Mahavir, you’re only human. You won’t live that long.”
"Perhaps, but I can always make sure that my descendants take up my position. The Sandhu bloodline will carry on this sacred task for future generations, for hundreds of years to come…"
Hercules walked up to them, placing his firm hands on their shoulders.
"Come, friends. ´Tis time to celebrate our victory against those vile creatures!" he exclaimed. "There is much Ambrosia and ale to gulp down! Dyonisius is having a drinking contest with Thor. Do not miss out on it!"
"You two go with him. I shall join you shortly." Mahavir told his friends, who left him and followed the god.
The swordsman continued gazing upon the fields, feeling the wind blow behind him. He still remembered when he was just a normal boy who dreamed of being a great warrior, despite being a farmer. He had joined the Punjabi army in the hope of becoming a hero and making his family proud, of making his homeland proud. He just never imagined that he would be fighting against literal monsters. Now here he was, a mortal man standing among gods, fighting against evil monsters to protect mankind.
He's had many supernatural encounters over the years, including giants, fairies, sirens, even meeting the gods themselves. That made him realize that he needed to broaden his horizons if he truly wanted to know what lied outside of Punjab. That pushed him to seek knowledge, to train with the best warriors in existence, to protect the innocent everywhere, with his main goal being finding enlightenment.
This was, by far, one of the biggest battles he's ever been engaged in; Draxum was a tough opponent, no doubt, but his ego was a weakness that Mahavir could exploit. Now, he was wondering how long it would take for the Yokai madman to make a return. In case that it happened, Mavahir would be ready, and if he ever died, his children, and his children's children, and so on, would carry on his legacy.
He had the feeling that his descendants would be the greatest warriors the world has ever seen.
Too bad he wouldn't live long enough to see how they would actually turn out.