?°?°?°?°?

  Somewhere within Kalminar lay a dark room.

  Too dark.

  It was so pitch-black that seeing the faces of those present was impossible. And especially not when everyone was wearing a mask.

  A mask...

  A mask adorned with the hollow, red outline of a tetrahedron.

  There was complete silence.

  No conversation, no disputes, no greetings, and no dialogue.

  There was just silence. Though many were present, no words left their lips. Then came the sound of... boots.

  Tak! Tak! Tak!

  A person entered the dark room. Immediately, a voice spoke from the shadows.

  "Master! That boy is causing trouble. He’s digging deeper than necessary."

  The others murmured in agreement. It was impossible to identify the speakers. Their voices were distorted through multiple layers of filters.

  The master picked up the photograph on the table.

  Raghav's...

  It had been taken secretly.

  "Hmm... and?"

  The members looked at one another. And? What else was needed? Was the fact that a persistent detective was breathing down their necks not enough? The question hung in the air, but there was no one to answer it.

  "And?"

  " Yes And! If he has done anything else, tell me."

  Again, they exchanged glances and shrugged. Then, a voice spoke from the side.

  "He hasn't done anything yet, but he might soon."

  "Master! If you say the word, we can finish him. Killing the enemy as soon as they are born resolves ninety percent of the problems."

  Now the master turned towards the direction from where the voice had come.

  "What about the other ten percent?"

  There was no reply.

  Instead, they got a quiet, unpeaceful peace. The Master tossed Raghav’s photo back onto the table. They didn't even bother throwing it. They simply let it drop.

  "Leave the boy for now. Focus on the one circling us like a hungry vulture. That Guild Leader has already gathered too much information by setting his people on our trail. If he isn't stopped, it won't end well."

  Upon hearing the Master's words, everyone in the dark room knew which guild leader they were talking about. Everyone nodded in agreement. All at once!

  "So, what do we do with him?"

  "Finish him."

  Several members left immediately on their new mission. The Master picked up the next photograph on the table and tore it to shreds.

  They ripped it into pieces.

  They shattered it.

  Then they threw the pieces down.

  In one of the torn fragments, an eye was visible. An eye with a slanted scar on it. Like an old wound...

  ?°?°?°?°?

  Timeline...

  When everything feels chaotic, building a timeline is the only way to find order. That’s exactly what Raghav was doing. Raghav was doing something similar. He was creating a timeline of all the events.

  He even included some events from five years ago. Because his gut feeling was telling him that these events were somehow responsible for present.

  "Mr. Raghav? After meeting those three, who do you think is behind the theft of the Kalmani and the Ojasutra?"

  Raghav heard him, but his attention was on his shoulder. The butterfly was persistently trying to crawl inside his shirt. Fortunately, the boy was aware of its insistence and had made arrangements for it.

  "Ansh? Please give me that pet sling bag."

  Ansh smiled and handed the cross-body bag to Raghav. Raghav tucked the butterfly inside.

  "See these tantrums? Her and her drama! God save me!"

  Raghav said this while rubbing his chocolate eyes and everyone else laughed.

  『 The cold is increasing in Kaalminar. That’s why I ordered the woolen one. I hope it keeps her safe and warm. 』

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  Letting out a deep breath, Raghav concentrated back on his work because he too could not return home until he solved this puzzle.

  "So, what were you saying, Randheer sir?"

  "Oh, I was just asking, do you suspect anyone specific?"

  Raghav sat back at the table and took out the page where he had written about all three of them in one place.

  "Chhaya, Anuvrat, and Kalpana. As far as I can tell, not a single theft could have happened without the help of at least one of them."

  The other three were looking at Raghav and then at each other. It was true. If one of them didn't cooperate, it would be impossible to avoid the CCTV footage.

  "It would have been great if they had thermal cameras..."

  Sameer said this while yawning. Raghav nodded in agreement.

  "And what about the Kaalay Dagger, Mr. Raghav?"

  A smile spread across Raghav’s face as he heard the question. A smile that showed he had a good idea about this one. Not just an idea, he was somewhat certain about it. Playing with the blue-gold creature's antennae, Raghav flipped through the papers on his table.

  "I know who did it. The perpetrator has used so much brainpower that all the evidence seems meaningless."

  Everyone's eyebrows was raised. Be it Ansh, Sameer, or Randheer.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The Pralay Guild..."

  "WHAT???!!!"

  All three of them stood up suddenly as if something unexpected had been said. And perhaps it really had been. It wasn't a surprise to Raghav, but it was to the other three.

  "How can you say that?"

  "It’s simple. His man was missing when the Dagger disappeared. Even though the CCTV shows him in the corner... I am 100% sure that wasn't Anuvrat. It's a gut feeling. I just don't have the solid evidence to prove it yet."

  Raghav shrugged as if it were a trivial matter. Everyone else somewhat agreed with Raghav that accusing such a powerful Guild Leader required undeniable proof.

  "But Mr. Raghav... you told us that whoever did this must have injured their hands."

  Randheer said, scratching his head and thinking. But Raghav's expression remained the same, unchanged.

  "Then why not check the files from the Healing Guild? Anuvrat must have gone there to heal his hand!"

  Ansh, in his excitement, pushed Sameer back and stood right in front of Raghav. He used his best brain, but then Sameer slapped him, narrowly avoiding falling backwards.

  Meanwhile, Raghav took a deep breath and exhaled...

  A smile, as if he knew he wouldn't get anything, A satisfied yet disappointed smile on his face.

  "It’s no use, Ansh."

  The boy stepped forward. Towards the table... He picked up the Arogya guild's files and began flipping through them, though his eyes were only looking, not reading.

  "If that man is as smart as I think, he already knew I’d ask for these files. He’d never let Anuvrat’s name appear in them."

  He still had that same satisfied but disappointed smile on his face, a sense of satisfaction that he could vaguely make out the man's steps, but a sense of disappointment that he couldn't catch him.

  The boy closed the files, and with them his eyes. He was trying to calm the thoughts swirling in his mind.

  Here, this theft case involved people like bees clinging to a beehive. Raghav knew that one wrong move could put him in as much danger as the bees do when a beehive is disturbed in the wrong way. If only he could find the theif...

  And on the other hand, he had to return home. He missed everyone, be it his father, his mother, or his little mischievous sister, Ragini...

  "So... what do we do? We have less than five hours before the third wave of monsters arrives."

  Raghav finally opened his eyes when he heard Ansh's words. He smiled, patting Ansh's shoulder.

  "We do exactly what Ma'am said... try to find the one point where the heart and mind agree."

  He opened the documents he'd requested from the Arogya guild again and looked at the other three. His eyes were filled with interest, planning, and confidence.

  "The person who stole the Ojasutra and Kaalmani is in here. But we won't find anyone from the Pralay Guild in these files."

  "How can you be so sure?"

  Ansh's raised eyebrows and his question were appropriate. Raghav's fingers were moving through the names on the list, and then another question came from the side.

  "Yes! You yourself said he has the Kaalaya dagger, so how can we be sure he doesn't have the Kaalmani and the Ojasutra?"

  Sameer bit his tongue when Ansh stepped onhis shoes. And he stepped on Ansh's in return. And then vice versa...

  This continued until Randheer pulled Sameer back by his ear.

  "These two! They start things out of nowhere."

  『 If that man had them, he would never have asked me about Kaalmani and Ojasutra! 』

  Raghav remembered the moment, those dark memories, when he had been asked in a heavy voice about the Kalamani and the Ojasutra. And he had no desire to answer, even though he knew what the consequences would be and how deadly they would be.

  Still, he knew this much, someone else was responsible for this, not the Pralay guild.

  Although, in the case of the Kaalaya dagger, the Pralay guild was responsible.

  "Just... Just trust me... they aren't behind the disappearance of the Kaalmani and Ojasutra."

  Now, if Raghav had said it, he couldn't have said it casually. The other three knew that much. They nodded and got to work, trying to find people who had treated hand injuries.

  Raghav also thought of lending a hand, but before he could, his mind was distracted by a sudden pain...

  It wasn't that Raghav hadn't felt this pain before, but now it had increased. He sat down on the chair with a thud, and the other three looked at him in surprise.

  A burning sensation erupted in his back, right between his heart and lungs.

  A burning pain...

  As if something was burning deep inside...

  "Mr. Raghav?!"

  A blue tint began to flicker in his eyes. He grabbed his head. His body felt like it was boiling. A metallic, nauseating taste filled his mouth.

  "Raghav ji! What's happening to you?!"

  "Mr. Raghav ?!"

  Randhir shook him, and he felt Raghav's warm body... it was scorching.

  Raghav stood back, clutching his head. His stomach was churning. His back was burning.

  And his damned eyes weren't helping.

  Sweat poured down his face. The voices in the room sounded like clanging bells.

  "I... Ugh....washroom! Washroom!!"

  And Raghav began to falter. The blueness in his eyes, flickering and then fading, made him feel very bad. It was as if something were stuck to his eyes.

  It was so uncomfortable that Raghav wanted to immediately take his eyes out and squeeze out all the blue, which he knew was impossible.

  The flickering blue light in his eyes made everything look like a digital blueprint...

  The same way it had in the Vault. It was overwhelming, as if his brain were about to explode and his back were melting.

  Randheer immediately rushed forward to hold Raghav, but Raghav trailed further behind. He pulled out his sling bag and handed it to Randheer, with the sleeping butterfly.

  "Don't... don't follow me..."

  Barely regaining his composure, Raghav staggered away, heading for the washroom.

  "What happened to him so suddenly?"

  "I don't know... is his Fighter Core awakening?"

  "But it doesn't happen like this! I agree that it hurts. But Sameer, don't you think this was too much? Like he was in extreme agony? I mean, fighters don't feel this much pain while awakening. But then why him...?"

  All three were worried about Raghav, and no one had an answer...

  To be Continued...