Raghav rushed forward, as he moved, his toes would emit blue sparkles which were just it's energy being turned into the wooden slabs for every step he took, at the same time he would absorb the previous wooden slab to sustain his inventory. He had already absorbed his shoes to be able to go bare feet. By doing this, he didn't needed to look down to anchor the wooden slabs, he could use it's authority if his skin made direct contact with the object or being. Earlier, he didn't used this trick on the phantasmagoria snake because he wanted it to open it's mouth, so, he located it's lungs instead and anchored them which made it gasping for breath.
The magic beast in question was in a distress due to lack of oxygen, it's movements were no longer toss and turn, it had slowed down, it's eyes were slowly going out of light as it fell on the ground.
Suddenly, a moment before it's heart was going to stop, it's body shrank at a tremendous rate. Almost instantaneously, it turned back into the black tie.
Since this happened behind Raghav's back, he was not aware of this. Amayra and Param just assumed that the beast died in the end. There was a glint of slight satisfaction in Param's expression.
The tie flew in the west direction, the same way Raghav was running to. It was so fast and swift that it's movement wasn't visible to the naked eyes. It swept past his face with a wind rustling sound.
Raghav noticed it but couldn't follow up. He didn't knew what it was but he didn't bother as it didn't posed him any threat. He was fixated and determined to catch Bhaskar right now, so he didn't paid any more attention to a momentary sound.
The tie reached Bhaskar in a second and coiled around his neck like a normal snake.
Bhaskar let out a relieved sigh
"Glad I made it or he would have died for no reason. I didn't knew that bastard had gotten so powerful to take down a phantasmagoria in minutes. But if he could pull this kind of move, why didn't he used it against us till now?"
A magic beast master can observe through his beast's eyes, so Bhaskar had a rough idea on what was going on the other side.
"That brat is coming this way. Basu, you ready or what?"
He turned to look towards his brother. Basu was already staring at his neck, his expression was that of a terrified, even his pupils were shaking.
"What is it?" Bhaskar asked
"A phantasmagoria was defeated just like that."
"Wait, what are you thinking? I am your real elder brother, listen to me."
Bhaskar grabbed his shoulder but Basu shook it off immediately.
"No, you are the one who talked with the herald, you knew that this is how things would end up, didn't you?"
"It's not like that, I will explain everything to you but for now we have to escape."
"Not we, you are on your own big bro."
Basu gathered all of his strength for one last push. As soon as he took flight by pushing the wind beneath. Bhaskar screamed in anger
"You insolent cunt, you think I will let you get away with this."
He raised his right hand which was already emitting an ice like blue aroma. The aroma expanded in a split second like a pillar reaching towards Basu. The cold air of the aroma instantly surrounded the flying person in the air.
"Wha-"
Before he could even react, his whole body was inside an ice prison. The ice structure fell on the ground and shattered into small crystals. Basu died.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, goddammit. Now I can't escape."
After rubbing his temples, he thought of something and ordered the Blizzard. The black tie dug into the ground like a normal snake.
After a few moments, Raghav was at the place. He was still running on the wooden platform while looking down.
Raghav is blessed by the God Vishnu of Hindu mythology. His blessing's name is Fabrication. It allows him to absorb any kind of matter and then use it to create whatever he wants but the internal function of this power is much more complex. His eyes works like a scanner and analyze the object for him, this provides him with the information of what elements are present and in how much quantity. The absorbed material is stored not as matter but as information in his brain which acts like an inventory. Using these elements, he can create a new object as long as it is comprised of those he has. He can only make the objects whose information he has absorbed before.
But this ability only works on inanimate objects, his eyes would show him that the target is not absorbable.
Right now, Raghav is using this limitation to spot out Bhaskar. The place he was at was kind of an abandoned area with no sign of humans. If he spot anything non absorbable, that would be Bhaskar.
In a few moments, he saw Bhaskar. To his surprise, he was not hiding. In fact, he was still sitting on the same spot because of his injured legs and was glaring at Raghav from ground with no sense of fear.
Raghav quickly inspected the scene,
[Hmm, he is definitely up to something. That blood pool and the shattered ice pieces, did he kill uncle Basu?]
"So you are the last one alive." he said to Bhaskar
Bhaskar didn't reply and kept on glaring at him. Raghav was wary of him, he immediately put an anchor on his body and then lowered himself to the ground by making wooden slabs for every two meters jump.
In no time, he was directly in front of Bhaskar. Since his body was anchored, his eyes were still glaring into the empty sky where Raghav was before.
Raghav could anchor both body and mind of the target but he chose the body only because he wanted him to feel the terror of death in his face.
He created a simple knife to stab his last uncle alive. He took a long breathe and put the tip of knife on his throat. Just as he was about to slit it, a white snake with concentrated black patterns on it's body jumped out of the soil beneath. It immediately grabbed his attacking hand and bit hard on it.
"What the hell."
Raghav was startled and lost balance, the knife also fell out of his hand due to the intense pain. He had already assumed the snake to be dead, this sudden assault was completely unexpected for him, he couldn't react in time.
From the spot on his hand where Blizzard was still biting, a frost layer spread out on his skin. In less than a second, his whole body was frozen in place but the ice was less denser than in the case with Basu, so Raghav was still alive.
Bhaskar was able to move again, his expression was filled with joy like he had achieved something unimaginable.
"Hahahaha, I did it. I actually defeated a high human. That herald was just exaggerating regarding the powers of a title or maybe he wasn't, maybe I am just too smart that I captured one alive. This accomplishment is way more than the assigned task, the lord is generous, he will reward me with an even greater reward."
He called Blizzard back to his neck, he was so happy that he forgot the pain and stood up by taking support of the nearby wall. One again, he let out a hearty laugh filled with a sense of proud and accomplishment. He was truly happy.
He slowly approached Raghav and stood face to face with him.
"So, how does it feel, huh? When your enemy approaches and you can't even move a muscle, you stupid little brat."
Bhaskar was going to punch him to let out his frustration, he slowly raised his right hand in a fist and aimed it towards Raghav's face. But the fist stopped in the air, not just the fist, Bhaskar's whole body couldn't move just like he was anchored again.
[What, how can this be? This doesn't make any sense.] Bhaskar was terrified
Then he noticed, the frost layer on Raghav's skin was thinning and was being submerged into his skin. He was able to move again.
"That damn snake is really stubborn."
Earlier, Raghav intentionally lifted the anchor from Bhaskar's body. Bhaskar concluded that Raghav couldn't use his authority in the frozen state which resulted him in letting his guard down. Raghav could just anchor both the man and the snake but then the persistent beast would have remain attached to his hand. He could instantly absorb the frost layer but waited until Bhaskar called back his beast and then anchored both of them.
This time Raghav didn't wasted any time, he created a, icicle spear from the same ice he absorbed and stabbed it directly into Bhaskar's throat.
[No, no, no, no, this can't be. I am Bhaskar Agar, I am destined to do great feats. I am destined to become the-] before he could finish his thoughts, he was already dead.
The icicle was lodged in his throat with it's one end coming out of his nape. Raghav lifted the anchor from both of them and the body fell down.
The snake slowly wrapped itself around the Bhaskar's head, licking him with his tongue. It placed it's head near his eyes and slowly closed them as if it slept with him.
This snake, the Blizzard was closest to him, a magic beast never betrays it's master. Bhaskar never trusted anyone, not even his real brother Basu or his parents. His ideology was that in the end, everything comes down to money, all relations become false in the face of it. But this beast he found, it never betrayed him, he knew about his loyalty, to him it was his closest friend.
Raghav watched the corpse and the weeping snake.
[So even a person like him was loved. But should I feel guilty for killing him? Is this weeping snake supposed to make me realize what I have done? Whenever a person dies, his value is not determined by his status, it is determined by how much it has affected the others, how much people's lives are effected. If a man with a wife and kids dies, then it effects the life of only those two, not of the people who would show tears in the funeral because they are the ones who lost the person who earned and cared for the family. If a rich tycoon who never married dies, his death is meaningless as no one was effected. In fact, some long lost relatives would show up to only claim the lineage. Both of my parents died but the only one who was effected was me, my friend were with me to protect me, not even they cried like I did because it was not their lives that were effected. Just like that, uncle Bhaskar's death has only effected this one creature who will perish with him now.]
This was something what this whole tragedy taught Raghav. Only the people who would weep for you can be truly trusted as your companions, but to verify that you would have to die. So in a sense, no one can be truly trusted in this world, even the people who played with you since your childhood, the people who caressed you with love similar to your parents, even the ones who mentored you and taught you many things. In the end, you can only trust one human with your life and that is yourself.