Out of the dark wood, Ravana finally appeared. He gnashed his teeth, his eyes gleamed like fire. When we were now close up with one another, the Demon Lord was first to speak with unwavering boldness.

"O weakling children, how timely! Now you all gathered together for the moment of your death!" he laughed. "The terror of my return shall haunt your race through all the ages. Blame no one but your doomed fate!"

"King of Asuras, you know you shall fall not by the hand of a god or man but a mortal girl!" Tusita cried. "The prophecy of the Lord is infallible, and my friend will slay you with a mighty blow, and all your heads will fall down like leaves such is her true power!"

Ravana growled.

"Then I shall override fate itself!" he cried. "Once I have all your heads, I will storm your city and the heavens will follow in flames!"

He summoned his celestial astras again.

We were poised to plunge ourselves into the jaws of battle. I turned to my friends with a nod, and they immediately split into two bands. Each spread out from both sides of me while I remained facing the formidable King.

The avatars circled Ravana as he strode heavily forward. Everyone tried to stay out of the reach of his deadly weapons. Tusita was the one to commence the attack.

"By the great bow of Shiva, die you ten-headed insect!" she cried and sent an arrow flying into Ravana's colossal body. The thunderous dart blasted at his left side, startling him with a scream of fury. Another explosive arrow struck him between two of his heads. It blew a big hole in his reddish flesh, but the hole began to heal itself again.

Vorac sent a rain of arrows from a hill, aiming at his eyes. None of them missed, but the eyes restored themselves once Ravana ripped the arrows out with a growl. Never was the great demon blinded, not even for a moment.

Atith threw his celestial spear upon the demon king's leg. Again, it hit the target and again it was fruitless. All of their efforts were merely to irritate Ravana even more. They tried to distract him, and he knew it.

Ravana brought down his oversize weapons upon the avatars while healing himself in the process. His enormous body swirled about, trying to fight us in every direction.

As he concentrated on my other friends, Tepi blew the horn of Mother Earth. Ravana did not see the crack opening beneath his feet. The ground began falling away before he realized what was happening. He lost his balance into the abyss. One of his legs slipped through the fissure.

Stunned, Ravana fought to regain his footing before he could be swallowed whole. But as he tried to take a step, his other leg also slipped into the opening. His body fell deeper and deeper. Two of his hands grasped the surface, and he began the work of freeing himself out of this trap.

This was the moment of Samudra, the son of the god of the sea. He commanded the great sheet of water from the river. It rose high into the air like a transparent blanket towards us. On his call, the water underground also surged from the earth below. The element poured over Ravana and filled the crack. The hole, in which Ravana was stuck, was turned into a quagmire of sand, water, and mud. Whenever Ravana tried to climb out, he would slide back into the giant pit.

All the while, Ravana was under the constant attack. Almost every second, he got hit by a celestial arrow or a slash of the spear point. His skin was burned and torn new wounds over and over, but each blow that cut through his gigantic body was not long-lasting.

It did wear him out, and the strength of Ravana began to ebb away. He could not see and hear everything around him as shapely as before.

It was my time to act. I crouched and sprinted forward faster as I could. My feet barely touched the ground as I stormed the hill. Ravana's struggling body was soon below me.

Without delay, I leaped.

I landed on his back where the heads were still resurrecting after Tusita's arrows. But his hands moved and fought to rid of me as I held fast to his armor.

Reaching the upper part of his back, I let Chandrahas swing down across the nape of his neck. First, one to fall was the newly formed head that stared straight at me. Then the second and third rolled off his broad shoulders, but as one fell off, a new head began to grow back.

Ravana laughed.

"When will you stop the delusion that you could defeat me?" one of his head said.

"When would you realize that your strength shall come to an end?" another joined in.

Panic crept over my body like a gripping chill. Before I could even contemplate my hopeless fight, I was struck. One of the giant hands of Ravana swatted me off like a bug. I went airborne, falling to the ground again.

"Nikita!" Samudra came to pull me out of harm's way.

Rolling me onto my back, I was in tears and immense pain. My wound opened once more. Instead of sapping his power, I lost mine. The medicine I had been given by the twin avatars was waning off, but Ravana was far from dead.

"What should we do?" Samudra said helplessly.

"There must be a weakness," I grunted.

As I tried to get up, the pain shot through every bone in my body. I almost doubled over with a cry, but I persisted. Using the last ounce of my energy, I lifted my sword. Beheading had not killed Ravana. This means, taking his mind would not end his existence. That meant his essence centered somewhere.

My heart was raging, thinking over the loss of Amarisa forever. No, I could not let that happen. She was my heart, my very sole existence.

Then it struck me.

"My heart," I gasped in realization. My eyes grew wide as the thought burst in my feverish mind. It was my source of weakness and strength for as long as it lasted. So there, too, was Ravana's weakness, in the heart.

"Tell the others to help me," I said to Samudra. " I must go for his heart!"

With that, he nodded and we ran back to the battle.

Ravana was still chest deep in the earthy trap that Tepi had created. She kept the earth open as his arms were slapping and swinging about in rage. Water was splashing. Mud went flying everywhere. A hail of arrows kept coming at him.

"I will rip you all to pieces!" Ravana screamed. The ground trembled under his weight and strength. While the Demon King fought against the nature and the children of the gods, I had to get close to his vital spot.

Clutching the glowing blade tightly in my hands, I thought of a way to get to Ravana without being noticed. Climbing back onto his back had failed. Now he would expect it. Running headlong toward him wouldn't work at all. I might as well end up in the great pit of muddy water with him, and being much smaller in size, I would make it my watery grave.

I needed something to go across toward his chest.

As I watched his spidery arms flinging around, a brilliant notion emerged. One of his powerful arms would lead me to his heart. I darted out again. I was bleeding in the mouth but I did not falter in my steps.

Against the roaring cries of the Asura King, we made our new attack. The avatars did not disappoint me. Being so efficient that they were almost with the same mind. I ran so fast that I almost flew. And with a cry, I jumped and glided over the flooding at the edge of the fissure. My body hurled at one of Ravana's left arms, leeching onto it. He would have smashed me with his other hands, but the son of Yama had thrown his chains around them and began to pull them back.

"Help me!" Raksa cried. Tepi rushed to his aid, following by Atith and Samudra. Vines and roots also shot out to tie Ravana down.

Ravana roared, but before he could do anything, I climbed up to his shoulder. His side heads saw me coming fast, bewildered at my effort.

"Come and die, fool!" he growled. "I will devour you!"

His wide mouth opened, revealing a pair of sharp tusks. Ravana craned his neck and bent his head to swallow me, but I dodged his bite and found myself dangling behind his shoulder blade. While he was big like a mountain, I was small but fast. His size became my advantage once I got closer.

"Where is Amarisa?" I yelled. "Give me back my wife!"

"You will find her in your death!" he growled. He raised his bonded arms where the avatars were trying to restrain.

"Nikita, hurry!"

I knew time was running out. With a quick survey, I hoisted myself up to his shoulder and found his mouth open above me like a cave. I drew out my divine blade and slashed at his cheek, causing him to jerk back in pain.

"Aaaahhhhh! Blasted girl!"

Ravana gave a mighty tug on the chains.

"Oh no!"

The demon tried to grab for me, but new vines grew out and wrapped around him. Ravana then resorted to his old trick and began to expand himself further. He would soon break through the bonds and climb out of the pit. I heard my friends voices crying out to me in panic. Yet I registered no more sounds other than the beating of a vicious heart in Ravana's chest.

I pulled myself to my feet again, feeling as if I was walking on a single rope. Once I found my balance, I held up Chandrahas. The mighty blade glowed like the shining of the moon itself. Its light gleamed at those terrible faces, blinding them.

At the sight of his former weapon, the Demon King gasped in surprise. He realized that his end truly had come. For a fleeting moment, our gazes met. He knew I wasn't going to chop off any of his heads, and for the first time, Ravana lost his high spirit. I found his weakness, and I was on my way to end his life.

"Never make the same mistake twice," I growled then slid my body off his shoulder and over to his armor-clad chest. I had only one strike - one chance to deliver death to the greatest Asura that once ruled the universe.

"No!" Ravana cried in desperation.

The sharp edge of Chandrahas slew through his armor, tearing his chest open, deeper and deeper the blade went down like hot iron. When my blade reached his pounding heart, I gripped the hilt with both hands and drew it hard with all my might.

Ravana jolted backward in sheer pain. His dying screamed split through the clouds. His body began to fall, the wound in his flesh emitted a piercing light.

It was brighter than the rising sun as his essence was released from his body. The King howled, choking, bleeding, terrified and shocked and defeated. His loud voice crawled out of his multiple mouths, screaming to the point it could split every ear.

It was a powerful roar of agony, but at the same time, there was also a hint of relief.

More light burst out from his gaping mouths and lit up his eyes. Soon his gigantic body began to disintegrate as though a streak of flame eating away the edges of a dead leaf, turning it into golden dust before falling away slowly. My sword had given me a hold, but as his body was crumbling apart, I also went down with the ashes.