At the break of dawn, as King Afrasiab set the royal crown upon his brow, he granted audience to Piran's messenger. The Turanian monarch commanded the envoy to return post-haste to his renowned commander, bearing a reply wrought of fierce pride, gratitude, and unyielding vengeance. Afrasiab began by exalting Piran's lifelong devotion, hailing him as a paragon among champions who had shielded the realm with his own body, spent his vast riches in service of the throne, and swept Turan's armies from Chin to the heart of Iran. Yet, Afrasiab sternly rejected Piran's remorseful reflections on fate and guilt regarding Kay Khosrow's flight. He disowned Kay Khosrow completely, refusing to acknowledge him as his grandson or grant him any royal legitimacy.
Afrasiab urged his general not to let sorrow rust his spirit, reminding him that the tide of war ebbs and flows by divine decree—lifting a warrior to the sun one day and casting him into affliction the next. He declared that dead warriors' tales were but a dream, and that the only cure for a brother's slain blood was unrelenting vengeance. The king swore a terrifying oath: before Kay Khosrow could strike first, Afrasiab himself would lead an overwhelming host across the Oxus River, leaving neither Goudarz, nor Tus, nor Kay Khosrow alive, and effacing the Iranian crown from the earth. He vowed to sever Kay Khosrow's head with his blade until the entire kingdom wept in horror.
To ensure Piran's victory in the fateful trial of the Twelve Combats, Afrasiab dispatched ten thousand elite, combat-proven cavalry. He instructed Piran that upon their arrival, he must hesitate no longer, storm Goudarz's mountain stronghold, and spare not a single Iranian life. The envoy, bowing reverently like a heavy blossom-laden branch, returned to Piran and delivered the sovereign's ruthless decree. Piran publicly rallied his troops to lift their spirits, yet in secret, his heart bled with deep agony, foreseeing the doom that this unyielding wrath would unleash upon both realms.