Kattappa and Jaya Varma were elated to see the honour restored to Devasena and the contentment in her face. They were amazed over Shivudu’s profound understanding of his mother’s longing to see Mahishmathi stand-up to its true spirit, which they couldn’t realise all these years in spite of her voluntarily choosing to be enslaved. Bijjala collapsed at the sight of watching Mahendra Bahubali and Devasena taking over the throne. His only hopes were on the return of Bhallaladeva and he became desperate to convey the matter to him anyhow. He helplessly gazed towards his priest hoping to find some remedy. The priest understood Bijjala’s intention and replied “You are scared of what is happening. I am scared of what is about to happen. Mars is retrograde in Jyeshta Nakshatram and Saturn is in Rohini. We have witnessed a solar eclipse this month and a comet fall the night before the statue inaugural. The elephants are excreting unusually large quantities since the past 2 days. Hawks and crows are encircling around Mahishmathi. All these are the omens of a large destruction which is about to befall upon us.”
Meanwhile Bhallaladeva realised that his search for the Kunthala warriors was going in vain after an extensive search over the trail of abduction and battle place. He decided to go back to the kingdom for security reasons and asked his soldiers to continue the search. The news of Bhalla’s return was carried over to Kattappa through his secretly appointed spies. Kattappa ordered the guards to close the entry door and prepare the army units. Shivudu intervened and told Kattappa to let Bhallaladeva in. Kattappa protested saying that letting Bhalla in would be very dangerous and expressed his fears regarding losing the army’s support which they had just managed to gain. Shivudu said ’Thatha (Grandpa), if your fear is about losing the spirit of the army, there is no point in defeating Bhalla outside the kingdom gates when the actual enemy is within’. He continued speaking, ’I wanted to make every aspect of Mahishmathi answerable to the injustice and pain meted out to my mother. I want to show Mahishmathi how vulnerable and insignificant Bhalla is before the might of the spirit and sacrifice endured by my parents. I want Bhalla to be captured alive and tried in Mahishmathi’s court, which stood as a mere spectator to his atrocities over these years’. Upon hearing this, Kattappa felt a sense of deep contentment as he truly felt the presence of Amarendra in Shivudu. He however had his fears and said ’But…’ which was intervened by Shivudu who said ‘I have a plan’.