...

  "The Aagney Watch in exchange for the Kaalmani and Ojasutra?!"

  Pranali's advancing steps froze instantly when she heard the voice she absolutely did not want to hear right now.

  But what you often wish not to happen, happens...

  And it did....

  "What are you doing here?"

  Pranali emphasized the word 'here' so much that the person in front of her quickly grasped her displeasure at his presence.

  But when the person in front is someone like Sangharsh, even that isn't necessary...

  Eyes are enough...

  "I entrusted you with the responsibility of securing all the smaller Guilds! Didn't I? Or are you afraid..."

  "If you are, admit it. I won't mind. The cold is increasing here anyway."

  The expression on the face of the woman holding the priceless casket transformed from annoyance into a smirk. But this expression didn't last long, as long strides were now approaching her.

  "I am beholden to this style of yours, Pranali Ma'am."

  Sangharsh placed his hand over his chest and bowed before the woman standing in front of him.

  His demeanor was so effortless that comparison to a model would be an understatement.

  "And that's why I've come to point out your small mistake."

  His smile was parallel to the diagonal mark above his eye when he stood up straight again.

  Perhaps for the first time, Pranali realized that she barely reached his chest.

  "What do you want to say? Say it clearly!"

  Swords do not bow before spears.

  No matter how big the spear is...

  A warrior sees his honor in his sword, but...

  "You will give the Aagney to the one who finds the Kaalmani and Ojasutra and hands them over to you. Right?"

  "Yes."

  When it comes to hunters...

  "But did you consider what the Aagney Watch's worth is compared to the Kaalmani and Ojasutra?"

  Then what's better than a spear!

  Pranali's widened eyes looked at him as if she truly hadn't considered this point. In truth, she hadn't.

  Her fists clenched on the casket, wishing someone had hinted at this earlier. After all, who would abandon four plates of sweets for one single sweet?

  Who would leave the Kaalmani and Ojasutra for the Aagney!

  "You! You deliberately didn't hint at this earlier. Didn't you?"

  The answer was a laugh, after which she didn't need any further confirmation.

  Just then, the door on the right side of the corridor, which usually leads to the main door outside the auction house, burst open with a loud noise.

  A man in a black suit running towards her, followed by a girl in a black combat suit running towards her.

  Tushar's eyes fell obliquely on Sangharsh... Quite obliquely; and immediately moved to the one holding the casket.

  "Ma'am, Are You Okay? Any clue about the Kaalmani and Ojasutra?"

  "I... was fine until a few moments ago."

  Pranali glared, signaling Sangharsh to leave... and the one who reads eyes knew how to read them perfectly.

  "I take my leave. Why should I disturb a confidential conversation between the Manager and the Assistant?"

  Sangharsh gave them a long smile that could instantly arouse suspicion in anyone's mind. As his mysterious smile disappeared behind the door, Tushar turned to Pranali.

  "Any orders for me, Ma'am?"

  "No. The mistake was mine, this time. But I can't understand why he told me? What's his gain in this?"

  The woman in the saree (An indian dressing for women) handed the casket to the girl standing behind Tushar, but her mind couldn't move past Sangharsh's words.

  "Ma'am! Isn't it possible he just wanted to trouble you?"

  When Tushar and Pranali's eyes simultaneously fell on Ketaki, she felt she had spoken without thinking.

  "Even if he bothers to look at you, there's some hidden motive there. That is Sangharsh! I have never seen anyone who could gauge his mind."

  Tushar said, rubbing his forehead, scattering his hair back onto his face. Ketaki didn't dare open her mouth again.

  The lines of worry were clearly visible.

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  "Ma'am... you know why anyone would want to steal the Kaalmani along with the Ojasutra. My older sister, Dr. Trisha, who is the Research Director in this very lab, told you long ago."

  Pranali nodded slowly, trying to calm her breaths.

  "I know. Ojasutra triples the power, but if the Kaalmani and Ojasutra are combined... ten times—"

  Pranali's words were not yet finished, but as Tushar's finger went up to signal silence, she stopped speaking right there.

  "Shh! Ma'am, say all this slowly. Walls have ears too. And often, those ears belong to Sangharsh of the Pralaya Guild."

  Tushar did well by cautioning her, but perhaps it was too late, and the spear had already struck the target.

  Who couldn't recognize the sound of slowly approaching footsteps?

  And eyes widened...

  whether they were Tushar's, Ketaki's, or Pranali's.

  "Y-You... what are you doing here? You said you wouldn't disturb us!"

  Tushar's eyes were as they are when a secret thing is exposed, while Pranali's eyes were now red with anger.

  "Oh! Is that so?"

  "But I said I wouldn't disturb the conversation, not that I wouldn't listen to it."

  And this time, Pranali clenched her fist. And why shouldn't she? A person like Sangharsh can reach the whole truth from a single word, and here, she had said almost everything.

  "Sangharsh!!"

  Pranali gave a warning, but Sangharsh laughed and brushed it away like a cotton wisp.

  "Got to admit, though. What spicy details I got to hear."

  As Sangharsh barely contained his laughter, Pranali's anger reached its peak.

  "Sangharsh!! Enough is enough."

  "Auction House Act, Article 12, Sub-section 4, 'Eavesdropping on confidential conversations is a punishable offense.'"

  Anyone else would have been trembling with fear by now, or if not afraid, at least humbled in front of Pranali.

  But that's the thing...

  Hunters are better with spears, not swords.

  Folding his arms over his chest, Sangharsh stood there looking at her as if she wasn't giving a punishment but narrating sweet stories.

  "Oh! And further?"

  "Sangharsh!!! This Audacity!!"

  The anger reflected in Pranali's eyes, perhaps directed at herself, now wanted to burst forth onto the man wearing the trench coat in front of her.

  "Fine. I will block your powers not for one, but for two hours. I will give you double punishment."

  "One for breaking the rule, and the second for underestimating me."

  But before her anger could erupt onto Sangharsh, a sound of something exploding came from the upper platform of the tower. The blast was so loud that the entire tower shook, as if a lightning bolt had struck with its full force.

  With a sharp, pale blue flash and a loud noise, all the lights in the tower went out. All alarms started ringing simultaneously.

  A blue light spread around, which looked like a familiar butterfly...

  ?°?°?°?°?

  On the topmost platform of the tower, two hollow spheres made of tungsten, one large and one small, were swinging in the air, constantly crossing each other.

  And in the middle was an empty space, the space where the Kaalmani used to reside, like the nucleus in an atom, suspended in the air.

  But today, there was nothing except the two hollow spheres.

  There was only a gust of cold wind...

  The beautiful valleys of the Himalayas were clearly visible from this platform, which was open on all sides except one.

  On one side was the only gate to the upper platform.

  A huge pipe went down from beneath the rotating hollow spheres, which was meant to utilize the Kaalmani's energy, but its gate was now closed. And Chirayu was inspecting this closed gate.

  "Whoever did this, what trick did they use that even the alarm didn't go off."

  Amogh stared at the two hollow spheres, while Ukti tapped the gate.

  "I don't know. But could it be someone from the auction house itself?"

  "No, no! Pranali Ma'am has already vetted everyone's hide; if it were one of them, how would they escape Ma'am's eyes?"

  "Ma'am... huh?!"

  Amogh and Chirayu exchanged a look, raising their eyebrows simultaneously, then burst into laughter.

  The long smile on the face of the girl with the big smile faded a little because confusion had now taken its place. It wasn't as if she had told a joke.

  "Ukti! You don't need to act in front of us. We both know how desperately you want to call her an old hag."

  Ukti's brow furrowed; she completely disliked those words. Pranali seemed like a strong woman to her, a woman she would aspire to be like.

  "Oh, c'mon Ukti! Don't tell us you reached the Supreme-Level just like that, without doing anything."

  She felt that she was slowly beginning to understand what it meant to be a Supreme-Level Guild Master. What kind of minds were required.

  But still, she wanted to know where this animosity towards Pranali came from? What had happened? Otherwise, these people behave very politely in front of Pranali.

  "Yes... Haha! Yes, absolutely."

  She gave a big smile while scratching her neck.

  "By the way... Um... did something happen between Ma'a— the old hag, and you?!"

  Ukti immediately corrected herself but was cursing herself inwardly for slipping up on her words in front of such people.

  "Eh! Oh, that! Yes, I'll tell you the short version. We scolded a reporter and his cameraman for not doing good reporting. But that bastard cameraman was so quick to complain about us to Pranali that we didn't even get the news. And right in front of everyone, she blocked our powers for one hour as punishment."

  Amogh narrated the whole story while looking at the hollow spheres, which were spinning around each other in the air just like Amogh's story.

  Chirayu nodded in agreement, and Ukti realized how artificial this all felt.

  "We haven't forgotten how everyone laughed at us! And once we get our hands on the Kaalmani or Ojasutra, we will definitely take revenge."

  Amogh pressed the pen in his hand while speaking, so hard that it was crushed, but what did he care... throwing the pen away, he dusted his hand.

  Meanwhile, Chirayu's sharp eyes were looking at Ukti as if a machine was scanning her.

  "What do you say, Ukti? If you stay with us, you'll benefit. And we don't let anyone who is against us... survive."

  The coldness in Chirayu's eyes and voice sent a shiver down Ukti's spine. She wisely decided to reluctantly agree for now.

  "Yes, yes. Y-Yes, absolutely."

  Before Chirayu could read her big smile and hesitation with his narrowed eyes, a sudden realization jolted him.

  『Something is coming... something dangerous... powerful...』

  Chirayu's eyes immediately went to Amogh, next to whom, right above the rotating hollow spheres, a very bright light was descending.

  "Amogh, get out of there! Run!"

  Amogh's senses also worked, and hearing Chirayu's scream, he immediately stumbled and jumped away towards Chirayu without looking, while Ukti fell back towards the door.

  That force hit the spheres so hard that for a moment, everything stopped being visible.

  The blinding light made it difficult to see anything, and the strong winds that erupted with it completed the chaos.

  The fast winds, rotating circularly with the snow, made it impossible to see. Ukti held the door handle with one hand, steadying her stumbling steps against the strong winds, and somehow covered her eyes with the other hand.

  Meanwhile, Amogh activated his power, creating a large, pale red shield around himself and Chirayu, holding back the powerful light with all his might.

  Then, with a deafening bang that numbed the ears, everything became silent.

  Some broken black basalt stones were scattered here and there...

  After the light and winds disappeared, a warm blue and golden light spread around.

  Chirayu and Amogh looked.

  Ukti looked too...

  A body lay right beneath the rotating hollow tungsten sphere. Judging by his clothes, it looked like he had been run over by a car...

  Vitamin K had taken effect on some wounds, and blood clots had formed. But blood was still continuously dripping from some wounds.

  Seeing his labored breathing, the doctor inside Ukti awakened.

  She tried to take a step toward him, but...

  ...A Blue Butterfly was sitting on his chest. A little more than a foot in size...

  Folding and opening its wings, the blue butterfly stared at them in a way that seemed to say: Don't you dare come closer.

  The blue and golden butterfly was sensing danger at that moment....

  Reflected in the butterfly's large eyes was...

  A dark energy....

  To be continued...