?°?°?°?°?

  "Hahahaha!!"

  Chirayu's laughter was bothering Raghav, scaring him.

  Too much... Far too much.

  "You think you can escape me? Do you think I’m just some minor villain from a mediocre movie?"

  Raghav was half focused on his words and half focused on the door, because this time the door was right behind him, and why would Raghav miss such a golden opportunity?

  There was no question!

  He bolted for the door, but if it were that easy, why would Chirayu be laughing?

  Raghav had just grabbed the door handle when his mind suddenly began to spin. His vision blurred, and a voice began to thunder inside his skull.

  【Raghav! Come to me.】

  Raghav could sense that this pressure was external, not internal. Because the pain of his developing core brought its own agony. But this one had its effect only on Raghav's mind.

  On his consciousness...

  This voice was resonating in his mind. Raghav felt a shiver in every part of his body. It was as if he was losing control of his body, his breath was becoming hot and heavy, as if his lungs were being crushed under a stone.

  That same voice was now resonating in his mind with double the resonance.

  【Raghav! Come to me.】

  【Raghav! Come to me.】

  【Raghav! Come to me.】

  Raghav clutched his head, his fingers tearing at his wet hair.

  "Enough!! Shut up!!"

  The eyes of the guild leader standing in front of him were glowing a menacing yellow. He was exerting his power, attempting to dominate Raghav’s will.

  Something was controlling Raghav and what? Raghav had a good idea of that.

  Raghav's vision flickered with blue light once more, like a dying tube light struggling to stay on. Within that blueness, a screen kept glitching in and out.

  Unstable,

  Unreadable,

  But undeniably there.

  In the face of all this chaos, Chirayu's powers were pulling Raghav closer. But even he was frowning, as he was exerting more energy than necessary.

  "Arghhhhh!!!!"

  With a violent scream, Raghav’s body suddenly went limp. His head hung low, water dripping from his hair.

  No movement, all quiet.

  "Damn! Not even a high-tier fighter takes this much effort to subdue."

  Chirayu brushed his hair back, wiping his sweat.

  "Come here!"

  And the boy's feet began to move as if he had no life in his body. Slowly, his steps moved towards Chirayu...

  "What a treasure I’ve found...!"

  At Chirayu's finger gesture, the boy stood near the mirror, his head still bowed.

  "Once I extract your core and merge it with mine, I will be ten times more powerful. Your abilities will be mine! Who could stop me then? Hahaha!"

  Raghav's head was still bowed. There was no response. Water continued to drip.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Chirayu's hands moved forward... towards Raghav's chest, intent on removing his developing core.

  But before he could do anything to remove the core, Raghav pulled out another bulb from behind and slammed it with all his might into Chirayu's stomach.

  Although Chirayu's foresight had alerted him to the suddenness of the attack, the blow had landed on his abdomen, a large target area.

  He frantically tried to dodge it, but this time it hit his side, causing him to groan.

  Raghav immediately ducked low, circling behind Chirayu to land a punch, but the Guild Leader was too fast. He caught Raghav’s fist mid-air.

  "So... you were faking the mind control ?! Yes?"

  With that, he turned towards Raghav and caught his second punch, both hands in his grip.

  "Enough with the smart-ass act kid. Time's up. I'll show you who's the boss here!"

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  He spun Raghav around and threw him violently against the mirror. The force of the impact was enough to shatter the mirror. The thousand jagged shards scattered upon the floor.

  "Get up! Get up now!"

  Chirayu landed two brutal kicks that made Raghav groan. He picked up a sharp piece of lead from a nearby piece and slashed at Chirayu’s boots.

  Chirayu may have pulled back, but Raghav's reaction was swift this time. He immediately attacked his other boots while he was still lying on the floor. Chirayu stumbled.

  Backwards.

  Seizing this opportunity and using the basin, Raghav stood up. He now held two sharp pieces of lead in each hand.

  『 No matter how fast I attack, this bastard keeps dodging... I'll have to speed up even more... 』

  Raghav’s arm throbbed having taken Chirayu's kick on his hands. But this time, he charged again towards Chirayu, attacking his chest with two shards simultaneously.

  Chirayu had already bent down and stood behind Raghav, and Raghav immediately turned around. He can't delay even a moment.

  He immediately targeted Chirayu’s shoulder with his left hand and his knee with his right leg simultaneously.

  Seeing the attack coming from both directions, Chirayu's mind became confused and in his haste, he tried to escape both attacks and failed to escape even one.

  A classic human error.

  When faced with a disaster, a person often tries to save everything, and in this attempt, sometimes even what he has left is lost.

  In short he loses everything...

  And Raghav knew this very well. He had personally mentioned this in his book, ‘The Old Mansion’ which no one liked...

  The shard bit into Chirayu’s shoulder as Raghav’s kick connected with his knee joint. Chirayu crashed down. Raghav lunged for a finishing blow, but Chirayu kicked Raghav’s legs out from under him. Raghav slammed face-first into the floor, though he managed to turn his head at the last second so his cheek hit the tiles instead of his nose with a loud thud.

  The blow was so severe that Raghav's vision went dark for a moment. But he quickly shook his head and saw Chirayu was getting up.

  "You little...! Now watch what I do!"

  This time, Chirayu's eyes shone even brighter than before. Raghav's every hair stood on end.

  The headache again.

  The pressure again.

  And the same voices again...

  『 I have to do something... or he’ll try to hypnotize me... ugh... 』

  Raghav fought the mental static with everything he had. He resisted. Meanwhile, Chirayu was now using more than half of his full strength, but it seemed to be working to no avail.

  "How is a pipsqueak resisting this? Haa..! I could have enslaved two Supreme-tier fighters by now!"

  The leader of the guild muttered to himself. But Raghav heard it too.

  Clear and Audible.

  Raghav saw Chirayu's difficulty. The difficulty in controlling Raghav's mind.

  Raghav got up somewhat wobbly, his feet both wanting to go in the direction he wanted and not wanting to. Raghav, too, used all his willpower to push himself forward.

  He clenched his fists with all his might and ran towards Chirayu with all his might.

  Chirayu, however, sensed it and immediately dodged it.

  "You can't do anything to me, brat! Stop trying so hard!"

  He swept Raghav's legs, slamming him into the ground.

  "Agh!"

  "Ha... ha... I didn't need to do anything to you."

  Despite the pain, a smile appeared on Raghav's face, creating doubt in Chirayu's mind.

  "What do you mean?!"

  "I just needed to distract you from using your full power..."

  By the time Chirayu understood what Raghav was saying, it was too late. Raghav picked up another piece of lead lying nearby and threw it straight at Chirayu.

  Chirayu immediately flinched and moved to the right when Raghav threw two or three more pieces at him.

  Chirayu's eyes widened and his mind became a cacophony of alerts. Raghav's attack intensified, increased, and became even more precise.

  【Right shoulder】

  【Left arm】

  【Right leg】

  【Stomach】

  【Throat】

  Chirayu was completely bewildered as his mind filled with countless voices. As he tried to evade them, a piece of the broken mirror tore through his cheek.

  But as he wiped the blood, Raghav lunged with two massive shards from opposite directions.

  As Chirayu tried to duck low to roll away, Raghav slammed his right knee into his stomach with full force.

  And it hit...

  "Ack!!"

  Without any delay, Raghav caught hold of his left hand and twisted it and threw another punch on his face, but Chirayu blocked his punch with his right hand and hit his head hard on Raghav's head.

  Because Chirayu's head was slightly lower at the time, his attack hit Raghav's nose more than his head. Raghav stumbled back, clutching his nose.

  And before he could recover, a powerful kick landed squarely in his chest, sending him reeling back.

  Right near the basin...

  Chirayu, exhausted and fuming, stepped forward and sat on top of Raghav.

  He picked up a shard of lead lying nearby and stabbed it into the center of Raghav's chest. Not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to draw blood.

  "AHHHH!!!!"

  Raghav's legs started to thrash, and he immediately tried to attack with his hands, but Chirayu immediately grabbed both of Raghav's hands, pressed them together on the floor, and forcefully thrust a piece of lead into both his wrists, pinning them together to the ground.

  "AGHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

  Raghav’s scream was so bone-chilling that if it had been any normal human being, his soul would have trembled, but not Chirayu's.

  "Told you to give me the damn Core, but I guess some jackasses just don't understand English until they're coughing up blood!"

  Raghav’s one chocolate and one blue-gold eye widened as Chirayu exerted his full mental power. The strain on his body was even greater, doubled. Raghav didn't have much hope with an injured and exhausted body anyway. Yet, he could feel that his mind wasn't completely under Chirayu's control.

  "F*ck! Is your brain even from this world?!"

  "Fine, I'll just rip the core out!"

  He picked up a piece of lead and aimed it straight at Raghav's chest. Raghav, too, used all his strength and, with a loud groan, lifted the piece of lead embedded in both his wrists and hurled it at his head. Chirayu rolled away to avoid the bloody glass.

  Somehow Raghav slid back and sat down. Using his teeth, he ripped out the shard of glass that had painfully bound both his wrists.

  "You're dead!!"

  Chirayu growled, but Raghav wasn't paying any attention to the Guild leader. Raghav stood up using the basin for support. Suddenly, the pain in his back spiked.

  『 Goddamn it! No no no! Not now! 』

  Raghav clutched his head, but this time something was different. This time he didn't feel the pain he usually felt.

  Like he often did.

  『 Strange... this... what is this...? 』

  Raghav's blue-golden eye now glowed with a bluish-golden light, causing Chirayu to take a few steps back for a moment.

  A screen was glitching before Raghav's eyes...

  Again and again, continuously...

  But this time, it was clearer than before...

  A light blue interface with a gold-etched border, dec

  orated with moving gears.

  The entire screen was blurry, but there was one word he could read. And after reading this word, Raghav was simply stunned....

  ║COPY║

  "...!"

  To be continued...