In a lounge that had a wide area, Vikram clasped his hand to his back and calmly gazed at the hundreds of teenagers that were displaying a myriad of emotions.
They ranged from shedding tears, shouting curses, fearful exclamations, and even puking—though all that they could vomit out was water—till they fainted. Vikram felt nostalgic as he saw their actions. It was what he and his fellow comrades had experienced after their first fight with the insects.
Even though it had occurred only a day ago, it seemed as if a long time had passed for Vikram. Every hour, every minute, and every second felt many times longer than what they had been used to before when they were big. Moreover, if he concentrated his senses to their limits, he could further slow down his perception of time, making it seem as if the world operated at an even slower pace.
Followed by a small commotion, ten more figures emerged out through the narrow opened gap and began to behave in a manner not much different to their comrades as they witnessed the floor filled with blood, flesh, etc. while the air that was saturated with a bloody odour assaulted their olfactory senses.
The ten newcomers immediately clutched their noses and ran towards the front of the crowd before their legs gave out. Some of the weaker members instantly fainted and had to be carried by their friends.
One of them, a teen who looked to be the oldest of the lot mustered some courage and walked towards Vikram, intending to inform him about their encounter with the huge serpent.
He teen was just about to speak when a humanoid figure zoomed past him and stopped before Vikram. It was Prakash.
"Everyone has followed you out, though I had to scare a few of them in doing so, haha."
"How is the next room? It is clear of zombies right?"
"Yeah, it is totally safe. Only regular people are trapped inside."
The duo rapidly conversed with each other before Vikram shouted towards the teenagers to regain their attention once again.
"You might have some confusion, but don't fret, you'll come to know about many things after you have reached our base," Vikram said as purple smoke gushed out of his body and transformed into Victoris.
The appearance of Victoris sent a wave of shock and exclamations through the crowd as the teenagers hurriedly distanced themselves from Vikram, in fear that he would unleash the monstrous serpent upon them.
Prakash materialised Ugly Shaggy as purple smoke gushed out of the pores on his skin and coagulated into a cocoon that wrapped around him and shattered to reveal a puppy from within.
The appearance of Ugly Shaggy sent the teen that had approached Vikram reeling back in fear. He no longer dared to speak and hurriedly dragged his friends to the middle of the crowd, away from the line of sight of Ugly Shaggy.
Looking at the human figure that had turned into a puppy right before their eyes, the teenagers were overcome by fear and began to run away.
"Aaah, they are not humans."
"Monsters!"
"They are Rakshasa wearing human skins."
'Swish' 'Swish'
Two purple snakes streaked around the running humans and converged before them, enveloping them on all sides with their long serpentine bodies. The running people abruptly stopped in their tracks and gazed at the figures of the two purple snakes in fear.
"If you know what is good for you, then stay obedient. Don't try to piss me off," Vikram bellowed in an enraged tone. If they actually scrambled in all directions and were discovered by any wandering insects or some other creatures, then they would get killed for sure. They were all potential warriors, a resource their base was desperately in need of for future development, to recoup the losses they had sustained in the previous raid. He didn't want them to recklessly package themselves to their deaths.
A mini Victoris and a mini shaggy tightened their encirclement until all the teenagers were cordoned to a location before the door. On seeing that the teenagers seemed to be behaving, for the time being, Ugly Shaggy and Victoris turned transparent and phased through the door.
In a similar fashion to how they had worked together before, the two Karmic Art manifestations took a 180-degree turn mid-air on the other side and bit onto the door handle and tugged at it. They constricted their bodies along the middle, spiralled them in the air and used the resulting force to pull at the door.
The puppy used its head and pushed the door from the other side. The moment the door slightly opened, a baby Gharial inserted its long snout into the gaps while the puppy bit onto its tail and used its body as a lever to crank the door.
Blood sprayed out of the Gharial's body and splattered in all directions, inciting shrill cries of fear from the teenagers.
The moment the door opened wide enough, the puppy inserted an object into the opened space and stopped exerting force on the door while the Gharial dissolved to reveal the figure of Vikram. Vikram then rearranged the object to allow ease of access into the theatre room. The door then closed onto the object and pressed on it. The object successfully prevented the door from closing in completely and allowed enough gap for a person to pass through at a time.
"Alright, let me transport these people back to our base while you rescue everyone here," Prakash said.
"Sounds good enough, it is also more efficient this way. When you return to the base, bring a bird." Vikram nodded and entered the door while retracting his manifestations.
On seeing the back of Vikram that had entered 'Screen-2' through the opened gap, Prakash faced the teenagers who were shivering for the most part as they looked at him in fear, seemingly as if they would lose their mental strength with the slightest of stimulation.
"Alright, let us begin to march towards our base." Prakash rounded up everyone and urged them to walk. He felt like the bad guy to control them with fear but since he didn't have much of a choice due to time constraints, Prakash didn't mind about wholeheartedly acting as the bad guy. It was not like he planned to treat them harshly in any manner whatsoever.
Ugly Shaggy enveloped them on their left while mini Victoris wrapped them on their right. Prakash stood at the back of the marching group and proceeded with a headcount.
"265 youngsters, that's quite awesome," Prakash muttered under his breath as purple smoke gushed out of his body and materialised into Prachi, the newly obtained skill.
The purple baby materialised before him, looking as innocent as a human baby could be. Immediately, a maternal instinct of wanting to protect the purple baby emerged from the depths of his heart. Unknowingly, Prakash cradled the purple baby in his arms and even began to hum a melody.
The purple baby that was just a head taller than his outstretched palm giggled as it held his forefinger and played with it in response to his melody.
Some of the teenagers who were just walking before him got a fright as they gazed at his humming and at the appearance of a purple baby in his arms. It looked like a ghost had appeared out of nowhere, the supernatural experience sent shivers through their spines.
They no longer wanted to walk in front of him and ran forward, slipping in through the gaps of the marching crowd, away from him. The rushing figures only stopped when they had slipped almost to the front of the crowd and received a glare from Ugly shaggy.
'Grrr'
The commotion that had erupted within the crowd instantly died down at the growl of Ugly Shaggy. The teenagers no longer tried to do anything else; they were relieved as long as they were not walking with their backs in proximity to the purple baby.
It was at this time the laughing purple baby stopped playing with his forefinger and flew up, bringing him back to his senses. Prachi hovered a couple of centimetres in the air above him and opened her mouth, intending to take a bite of the air.
After taking a bite of the air, Prachi chewed a few times breathed out. She once again took a gulp of air through her mouth, chewed it a few times and breathed out.
After executing this action a few more times, Prachi stopped for a moment in thought and stopped gulping the surrounding air. She then took in a deep breath, consuming air that was in greater volume as compared to before, held her breath for a second before exhaling it out.
Satisfied, Prachi continued to take in deep breaths, sucking in greater and greater volumes of air after each consecutive tries, enjoying the action of breathing for the first time.
Prakash gazed with wonder at Prachi that began to breathe now; it hadn't shown any lifelike behaviour until now, acting like a doll for the most part except for that one occasion where she cried. Now that it had expressed something so lifelike, Prakash anticipated what it would showcase next as he materialised his 'Record'.
Since he was clueless as to what his 'Skill: Gain' could do, he hoped that the actions of Prachi could help him figure it out sooner.
'B-Boom'
Thunder rumbled in the skies as the downpour further increased in its intensity. Prakash looked at a place on the hallways that was slightly wet, with a small stream of water flowing on it. Tracing it back to the source, Prakash noticed a hole in the glass ceiling through which the falling rainwater hit a nearby pillar, flowing along its surface and forming a small pool on the hallway.
"Are there any injured among us?" Prakash shouted as he inspected the surrounding teenagers, intending to find an injured person to display the healing effects of the water.
"You, come here." Prakash pointed towards a lazy who had scrapped her knees, possibly due to a fall when she was running earlier.
"M-Me?" The lady pointed to herself in stutter as she tried to retreat behind the others.
"Yes, you." On his mental input, Prachi stopped with her breathing activities and flew towards the lady he had pointed, catching hold of her hands in a display of childlike curiosity and pulled them.
The lady actually stopped her resistance and followed the baby, even though the baby didn't possess an ounce of strength required to pull her.
Though its body looked purple and didn't even show any signs of emotion or breathing patterns, something about Prachi made the lady follow her without resistance.
Prachi pulled the lady towards the puddle of water and stopped in place, awaiting further instructions from Prakash.
"Everyone, look at her legs," Prakash pointed towards the lady and sent a mental input to Prachi, "Especially at the wounds on her legs."
The face of the lady blushed in response to the number of stares that were focused on her legs.
Prachi scooped a paltry amount of water from the puddle of water and poured it on the lady's legs, who for some reason didn't suspect its actions in the slightest.
'Tsssch'
With a faint sizzling sound, her wounds magically healed themselves, inciting cries of shock and surprise from the people who were near enough to see the tiny wounds close themselves.
"Remember; any wound, no matter how severe, can be cured with water," Prakash said.