As soon as the time began to flow again, an enormous mushroom like image of fire and smoke could be seen with a deafening sound of bang. Since all of them were elementals, many of them had powers related to water and ice but the explosion was so sudden that they didn't had any time to react.
Most of them died instantly, leaving some who were already high in the air drop with half dead burnt bodies, eventually they also died in a rather painful way.
In the end, out of 123 people, 120 died leaving only 3 alive. Those were Suraj, Bhaskar and Basu.
Bhaskar was the very first one to take flight as he was the leader and knew when to switch the plans. Basu had already took him to an altitude where the explosives couldn't do any vital damage to him but both of them still had severe injuries on their legs. They could still stand on ground but were in no condition to walk, let alone run.
Suraj's affinity with fire saved him again but the blast wave and shrapnel wounded him vitally. He was lying on the ground unconscious, his body was completely riddled with cuts and bruises with a deep gash in his abdomen, there was a blood pool forming where he fell, it was an unbelievable miracle that he was somehow still breathing in the midst of heavy dust and smoke.
Bhaskar gritted his teeth furiously
"Damn it, we were too late, I was told that this would happen but the timing was way earlier than anticipated. This is a great failure, we have lost."
As he was throwing a tantrum in the air, Basu looked around to see if their was anyone still moving. Suraj was still alive but his condition would make him appear dead to any normal person.
"We are the only ones remaining. What do we do?"
Bhaskar loosened his tie and answered him
"We did achieved what we were told, it's just that the losses were tremendous. We are no match for him now, use everything you have got so we can escape."
Bhaskar removed his tie completely with a snatch as he said those words. As soon as, Basu launched themselves with great acceleration, he threw away his tie.
[Shit, loosing Blizzard here would be a real hit to my arsenal but then again, the reward he is gonna give me is worth infinitely more.] he frowned
On the other side, right after the explosion, Amayra and Param were also mobile again. Amayra was pressing her ears tightly due to the sudden bang. Param wasn't much affected by it, he had a rather confused expression
"Huh, wait, when did you turned around and when did Amayra came here. What was that explosion anyway."
He looked behind, his eyes widened and his body trembled after looking at the pile of corpses and the large pool of blood. His voice staggered
"What in the world."
The sight would have made even a seasoned professional to be horrified for a moment. In case of these three teenagers, Raghav was the one who triggered this, Param used to live on streets in his early childhood before meeting Raghav but it was still too overwhelming for him. As for Amayra, she was a delicate girl spoiled by her father. She vomited after looking at Raghav's mother's corpse, looking at this massacre would have been traumatic for her.
Raghav was already hugging her tightly with one hand covering her eyes. He immediately produced a simple black blindfold around her eyes. He used a small rope to bind her hands behind her back so she won't remove it in panic.
"Raghu, what the hell are you doing and what was that sound just now."
He quickly let go of her and said while turning his head
"Bear with it, it's for your own good."
Up to this point, Bhaskar and Basu reached the end of their discussion, Bhaskar threw away his tie while Basu bent his knee in the air to launch faster and higher in the air to escape quickly. But Raghav had already turned his head and quickly understood what was happening. Even at that distance, he could notice the tie being thrown and their other actions.
[Seems like my senses are also strengthened after that title bestowment thing. I wonder what other small perks I got.]
Suppressing the sudden small celebration in his mind, he widened his eyes. In his pupils, both Bhaskar and Basu and even that strange enlarging tie reflected remarkably.
[Let's see how useful this new ability is.]
On the other side, Basu bent his knees but couldn't jump. Bhaskar wanted to agitate him but he couldn't open his mouth and in the next moment, he realized that this is the end.
[Damn, damn, damn, I don't wanna die here. How did that damn kid regained his sanity and stability so fast?]
The tie whose size had increased to around 3 meters by now, it had turned all white with black net like lines on its surface, it's thickness was that of a pillar but was completely flexible.
All 3 of them were frozen in their place not being able to even move a muscle, they couldn't even move their pupils. But unlike the time freeze, they still had their senses and brain active.
Raghav smirked a little, a feeling of dominance welled up inside him. He stood unhurriedly and walked towards them.
[I don't think there is a time limit to it. It's not an ability but an authority, it shouldn't have any restraints.]
What caught his eye the most was obviously the enlarged tie which had taken shape of a white flexible round pillar with black lines.
[What's that supposed to be? Did he used some kind of artifact he had on him in the form of a simple tie?]
Bewildered by it, he still chose to prioritize his uncles.
After walking for 5 minutes or so, he was beneath them. He concentrated his energy on his feet, a large rectangular pillar of wood constructed itself from it's feet, raising him high in the air. In less than 3 seconds, he was in front of his uncles, staring at them from a point blank range with a smirk and an excitement in his eyes.
"28"
"Oh, you don't know, well, how could you know what that number means."
He leaned closer until his face covered all the space in Bhaskar's pupils.
"That's the number of pieces you sliced my mother into." He yelled in his ears
Cold sweat was dropping from Bhaskar's forehead
[The cunt counted? That doesn't make any sense.]
Raghav created a knife with the intent to slice off his ear but he stopped right before hitting the mark.
His face had lost his smirk and dominant attitude, he had a serious expression with a hint of sudden realization.
[Wait, what am I trying to do here? I can kill them very easily but I have this overwhelming desire to torture them rigorously for days. I want to snatch their hairs, nails and teeth. I want to pierce them with a 1000 needles at the same time. I want to burn them in the burning oil. I want to put burning rods in their eyes. But why? This is not me, I annihilated them earlier without a second thought too. Is this new power messing with my mind? Am I being corrupted by the highly concentrated divinity in my soul.]
He pulled back his hand, his face had the same expression of depression he had before. He was looking down at the corpses, his pupils shaking as cold sweat ran down his spine. He had forgotten about an important fact, his body was trembling as the realization came crumbling his world and then he said those words of bitter truth
"Where is Papa? Di- did I murdered him with others? No, no, no, no, no."
He covered his mouth as he completed the sentence in a low voice, surprisingly his body could stop the urge to vomit quite easily. In fact, this time what took over his sanity wasn't the depression but rage.
These changes were due to his soul being enhanced by the concentrated divinity. Not only he could resist the biological panic attacks but could also convert his vulnerable depressed condition into a raged beast one.
But still, since these changes caused fluctuations in his brain, he couldn't keep his enemies frozen passively anymore. In less than a moment, Basu took a huge leap and managed a distance of 10 meters between them.
Bhaskar took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs
"Compromise his vision."
This wasn't a comment but an order. But to whom was this addressed to? There was only one person remaining on his side who was injured and was tasked to escape.
A towering shadow loomed over Raghav from behind. In fury, Raghav locked the images of two enemies in his pupils just like before but suddenly everything turned blank. Raghav panicked for a short moment and threw punches in all directions. His hands felt some slippery substance.
Raghav was desperate to tear his uncles apart but now he could no longer hurt or even see them. In his mind, the fact of them fleeing away in the due time was agitating him even more.
"Aaaargh, what the hell."
He created dual swords and stroke aimlessly but couldn't even scratch the surface. He was inside pitch black darkness, unable to see, he could create a lighter or candle to analyze his situation but he couldn't think straight in the rage and desperation.
It wasn't a spell or sorcery that blinded him, it wasn't a skill or even an authority that captured him in a box covered with slimy substance. Raghav was inside a mouth, in the mouth of the tie that had turned into a giant white snake.