Kelvin couldn't understand what was going on at all. All he knew was that all the life force in Thorin's body had suddenly surged into his.
The life force had escaped Thorin's body all at once. It meant that Thorin was dead. Kelvin was certain of that as he didn't feel the smallest amount of life force in Thorin, but his mental attack was still raging uncontrollably.
He cut off Thorin's head just to be sure. Next, he picked up the bundle on Thorin's body that contained life force that he couldn't absorb from a distance. Then he rushed out of the house, leaving the corpse behind.
He didn't want to be in a room that was about to become a furnace while dealing with a mental attack. Since it was too late to switch off the explosion, he felt it was a better idea to run away.
As he was running, he was creating more shields to replace the ones that had been destroyed by the fire. He also realized that the farther he ran, the weaker the fire became. So he put all of his energy into escaping.
While he was running, he noticed that people's eyes were glowing a silver light. It wasn't just one person. It was everyone.
Everyone he encountered had silver light coming out of their eyes like Thorin. And just like Thorin, their figures sagged, and they fell to the ground.
He thought he was hallucinating because of the attack. He thought he was seeing Thorin everywhere, but there was a major difference between everyone he met and Thorin. It was that all of them were still alive. Their life force was still brimming. They just weren't moving.
Wrath said beside him, "Why are everyone's eyes glowing, and why are they falling down?"
It meant that she too could see what was going on. Even then, her perspective was limited. She could only see what was going on around him.
He would come to learn after successfully escaping that it was not only the people he encountered who had glowing eyes and were falling down. Everyone around was experiencing the same thing.
It was on all the news channels 30 minutes later. Something had happened to everyone in a kilometer radius around the location where he had fought Thorin. Everyone in that area had become catatonic. They were alive, but their eyes were glazed. They had no recollection of who they were or how to stand.
He was on his couch watching the news and nursing the headache he was feeling.
The news anchor was a man speaking with barely concealed anger. The man's fists were clenched, and he was shaking as he said, "The authorities are investigating what could have caused almost a hundred thousand people to lose their memories in the span of a few minutes. But in the meantime, the public consensus is that this is a tragedy."
"It is a calamity the likes of which have never been seen before. The casualty count is akin to that of a nuclear bomb. It feels like someone had dropped a silent nuclear bomb in our dear city. Whoever is responsible for this will be brought to justice."
"The board of directors of the city has made a statement declaring that they will not rest day and night to find the culprit for this crime. Every hero society has promised to bring the culprit to justice."
Kelvin was also angry. "Great. Now the owners of the city have joined in. That makes the corpos, the heroes, and the owners of the city. What more could go wrong?"
Wrath said, "I think he committed suicide. He probably overexerted his mind to create that last attack."
Kelvin grumbled. "This is all his fault. He didn't have to come looking for me if he wasn't willing to be killed by me."
She pointed out quickly, "I think it takes more guts to kill oneself."
He snorted. "Piss on his courage. He could have killed himself somewhere else. He didn't have to kill himself right in front of me and try to take me and a hundred thousand people along with him."
Wrath coughed, "I think a suicide that takes down his enemy is much better than a suicide that serves no purpose."
He turned to Wrath and glared at her. "Why won't you just take my side?"
She rolled her eyes and said, "He had one job. He only had to appear in front of you and let you take him for all he's got and then let you kill him when you're done. But he failed at his singular job."
Kelvin nodded in complete agreement. "Right. He is such a failure."
The anchor on the television was still speaking. He was frowning, and his fist was still clenched. But then his face changed to one of shock. Next he became happy.
He said with enthusiasm and excitement, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just learned that the culprit of this crime is one Thorin Mind Fire. He is a villain affiliated with the Anteater cabal. The Justice League tracked him down and killed him."
He laughed and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, justice has been served. It has been served by our heroes. But more is coming."
Kelvin shook his head and said, "Heroes and their lies. They just like taking credit for everything. Even I can't take credit for killing him and I was there when he died. But they can come along and take credit without a care in the world."
Wrath shushed him. "Let's hear what the man has to say."
The anchor was still excited as he said, "The Justice League has promised to destroy the Anteater cabal and the influence of the villains in the city. All they ask for is your continuous support."
"They will need your support in the war that is going to happen in the next two weeks. Show up to support your heroes and do your part in keeping this city safe."
That ended the news segment.