50 The Flexible Karmic Art (Part-4)

Prakash had involuntarily activated his 'Blue Transformation' or, the 'Zombie Transformation' as the people in the base called it. It was something he had found out by surprise when he battled with the three zombies atop the back of the puppet pigeon.

Through Ugly Shaggy, he could transfer the cause of the 'Blue Transformation' from his body to the pigeon which was what he did when he converted it into his puppet initially. Though the amount wasn't much noticeable, the pigeon still had a trace amount of the aura of the 'Blue Transformation' lingering within its body.

But, during the battle, when the puppet pigeon came under the sun, Prakash noticed that the 'Blue Transformation' was transferred back to his body from the body of the puppet pigeon. This rapid transfer ensured that the puppet pigeon didn't burn to a crisp when it was exposed to the sun mid-battle.

Since the amount wasn't much, it quickly evaporated from the body of Prakash in a puff of black smoke when the rays of the sun hit him. Once it's evaporation process ended, it left only some mild burns which were later healed under the water spray that the people in the base had arranged.

Now, Prakash was hoping to transfer the 'Blue Transformation' back to his body and be purified under the sun so that the entity resting deep within the depths of the murky waters could come out and move unhindered on the sunlight-filled areas once again.

Moreover, based on its biological makeup, the entity resting deep within the murky was a cold-blooded creature that required occasional exposure to the rays of the sun before it could move freely through the relatively colder waters.

"Aaargh," Prakash screamed in pain as he mentally commanded Ugly Shaggy to decrease the output of the 'Blue Transformation' being sent back to his body while he walked forward until his feet touched the end of the murky waters below.

Prakash bent down and scooped out some water with his hands and splashed it on his burning body. The water that splashed on his body slid down to the ground under the action of gravity.

"Damn it," Prakash sent another mental input to Ugly Shaggy to completely stop sending in the 'Blue Transformation' while his body suffered being burnt under the sun.

Without pause, Prakash continued to scoop out water with his palms and splash it on his body. After a few seconds had passed in torment, Prakash finally felt some relief wash over him.

'Tsssch'

Sizzling sounds reverberated in the surroundings as the water that touched his body finally got absorbed and quick-started a round of healing process. Seeing that the water was beginning to heal him again, Prakash sent another mental input to Ugly Shaggy.

Another stream of blue smoke that was thinner than before gushed into his body through the tail of Ugly Shaggy that was attached to his chest. After controlling the transfer rate of the 'Blue Transformation' to a satisfactory level, Prakash felt that the burning pain he currently experienced was well within his tolerance.

Almost after 3-4 minutes had passed in such a manner when the thin stream of blue smoke trickling into his body had stopped altogether. A few seconds later, his body also stopped burning.

Prakash scooped another batch of water and continued to splash it on his body until he made a complete recovery.

"Huff…puff…If I can help it, I don't want to experience this ever again in my life," Prakash lay down on the concrete floor and gazed at the blurry sky above. There was something like a murky sky blue colour that was presented to his eyes when a huge shadow loomed over his head.

Prakash got up with a smile as he gazed at the towering monster that had a long snout with dull black scales that covered its entire body and had four short stubby legs that were clearly unable to support its humongous mass.

With a body length that exceeded 3 metres in length and with its attacking, movement and defensive prowess that were at the very peak, to Prakash, this was his walking fortress.

With just this creature alone, he didn't have to fear much while venturing out through the waterways. In an environment of water, the Gharial was an apex predator, even superior to Crocodiles and Alligators.

Prakash touched the black scales of the humongous creature that felt indestructible to the current him as a smile crept on his face.

Now that it could move unhindered under the sun once again, Prakash made Ugly Shaggy enter the body of the pigeon in order to scout his surroundings.

Prakash sat on the back of the puppet pigeon and made a couple of rounds around the shopping mall to get a good grasp of the layout. After that, he made the puppet pigeon perch atop a small block of concrete that had detached out of the thick walls of the shopping mall while Ugly Shaggy once again re-entered the body of the Gharial.

Through the water route that he had mapped out, the Gharial swap through the murky waters and finally entered the area within the shopping mall. Prakash had to continuously switch Ugly Shaggy between the Gharial and the puppet pigeon so that he could be carried by one of them and not lose sight of the other at the same time.

After entering the area within the shopping mall, Prakash climbed atop the puppet pigeon and travelled to a safe spot atop a high-rise shelf that towered 5 feet above the water surface.

The moment Ugly Shaggy reentered the body of the Gharial, a brutal massacre resumed in the waters as dozens of fishes died after each swing of the Gharial's menacing jaws.

Immediately, numerous purple snakes rose out of the body of the dead fishes and entered his body, activating his 'Purple Transformation'.

"Die scum, this is what you get for trying to eat me before," The crazed laughter of Prakash stopped as his eyes and hair turned purple while veins popped out all across his body.

Standing at one corner of the base, Vikram and Arvind were currently in discussion about the course of action they would have to take for the future. Arvind was the one who had found Vikram lying in front of a wall in a sorry state and helped the youth get back to his feet.

Arvind seemed to have matured after crying his heart out for the loss of his friend and tried to suggest some methods to the confused Vikram in order to search for his sister while at the same not compromising the safety of the base.

"Leader, I can search for your sister. Let me take a team of our swiftest members and scour through all the possible areas," Arvind said. He was always the kind-hearted fellow who charged headfirst into any situation to help people in need, not to mention searching for his leader's sister.

"No, it's too risky. You are bound to die the moment you use up all your Karma," Vikram denied the suggestion. He knew Arvind's strength more than anyone, that's why he was sure that the youth would die before he could reach the destination.

Their house was located 5 kilometres to the east of the shopping mall, just a few streets away from the sea. The distance of 5 kilometres was far too great a distance to travel on flight. Based on his estimate, Arvind would have expended all of his Karma near the one-kilometre mark. He didn't want to waste one of his best warriors on a suicide mission.

"But, if we are to use the pigeon that leader used before, then our chances would improve drastically," Arvind said.

"The pigeon….forget it. That's not ours anyway," Vikram shook his head with a sigh. He had become too emotional before and just walked away from Prakash without giving much thought. It seemed that his mental state wasn't at his prime due to all the stress he had been accumulating recently which prompted his rash behaviour.

He knew that, despite the intelligence of Prakash, whenever anything concerning Anita popped up, he would opt for a one-track mentality until he could rectify everything. From his perspective, he had a lot to take into consideration, but from the point of view of Prakash, Vikram had basically given up on his wife and son for the sake of strangers.

A pungent stench of blood that permeated through the air abruptly stopped their discussion as the duo immediately tried to trace the source of the stench.

The moment the duo ran to an open place, they could spot about a hundred people who were also trying to trace the source of the blood stench.

The moment they saw Vikram, they immediately dispersed into the surroundings without him needing to command them.

Numerous insects darted to and fro in the immediate surroundings of the base and investigated for the source of the blood stench.

One of the insects returned back and dissolved its transformation to reveal a middle-aged looking man from within. The man sported an almost bald head on the top while still retaining a dense overgrowth of hair on his sides. He had small eyes that were in sharp contrast to his chubby face and bulging belly. He was one of the people present in the meeting room when Prakash had first visited the base.

"Sir, the water surface of the floodwater below is fully dyed red with numerous dead bodies of fishes floating on it. We didn't venture further for now and decided to report back to you first," The man reported and patiently waited for the orders of Vikram.

The semi-bald man was among the people who had garnered the highest form of respect in the base aside from Vikram. He had battle prowess at almost the top in their base and had also raked significant accomplishments for the base by winning through numerous perilous battles.

"We'll take a look. Tell the others to follow my lead," Vikram said as purple smoke gushed out of the pores on his skin and coagulated to form a cocoon that wrapped around him and shattered to reveal a wasp from within.

Aside from the spider, Vikram had the highest comprehension levels for Wasp Karma so he preferred to use it unless the situation demanded otherwise.

Following the lead of the wasp in front, numerous insects that ranged from wasps, mosquitoes, houseflies, and dragonflies charged towards the water body that had reached till half the height of the first floor of their shopping mall.

The charging wasp at the front abruptly changed directions as a couple of plastic cans flew into the air towards it from the water surface. The following insects too managed to change directions and evade the flying plastic cans. After experiencing numerous battles, they had honed senses and also controlled their flight speed to be well below their maximum capacity in order to accommodate for such very situations.

The air was deathly still as some of the insects even almost forgot to flap their wings and faltered in the air at the sight they saw before them.

A huge monster that looked like the incarnation of Godzilla emerged out of the water surface and flew a couple of metres in the air before plunging into the waters as it bit down on a huge fish that spanned more than 2 metres in length.