Vasemir was doing his duty peacefully.

He was guarding a crucial sub-cave inside the warehouse while trying to paint. He was using an alchemy product that would react with his mana sense and let him bring to life his imagined thoughts. He liked to draw and paint like this in his free time.

Warehouse guard duty was quite boring. Thus, everybody stationed here tried to keep themselves entertained using various means. Some liked to bring their partners over secretly. Others, like Vasemir, preferred to indulge in their hobbies.

Vasemir was a tall and well-built man. He had black hair and a square jawline. He wore thick, sleeveless brown leather armor over a full-sleeve white shirt. His arm guards and leg guards completed his overall appearance while providing him with best-in-class protection.historical

Vasemir liked to do things with discipline and focus. His nature was reflected in his appearance. His paintings were also simple yet profound.

He was very satisfied with the painting he had made on the alchemy canvas. He was about to start painting his next thought when he noticed someone approaching him with ill intentions.

"Vademir, you bastard! How dare you? How fucking dare you?"

Raul stood in front of Vasemir with a sword in one hand and ax in the other. His eyes were diluted and bloodshot as if he had ingested some recreational drugs. His heartbeats were erratic. And his aura was charged up. The guy was ready to attack Vasemir at any moment.

Vasemir was shocked by Raul's behavior. Being appointed as the caretakers of the warehouse, they both talked casually to each other. Vasemir didn't think he had done anything to upset Raul in this way. Thus, he couldn't help but ask Raul the reason for his outburst.

"What happened, Raul?"

Raul pointed at Vesemir with visible anger on his face before commenting.

"Are you still playing the ignorance card in front of me? What did you do to Jilly? Do you remember how you tried to take advantage of my girl?"

Vasemir was so shocked by Raul's accusations that he got tongue-tied. He didn't know how to reply to such groundless accusations with coherent words.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Who the fuck is Jilly? And when did I even meet her?"

Raul looked at Vesemir with disgust when he heard his response. He tightened the grip he had on his weapons before speaking up.

"Bastard, don't play dumb with me. There are other ways to satisfy your urges. I would have hooked you up with a few "professionals" if you had said something to me. But trying to target my girl to satiate your lust is unforgivable. I'll.. I'll fucking.."

Vasemir opened his eyes wide in surprise when he heard Raul's blatant accusations. He raised both of his hands in front of him in defense before speaking up.

"The fuck man! Listen to me. I don't have the so-called urges you talk about. You have known me for years now. When was I romantically involved or intimate with anyone? Who even told you about this bullshit?"

Raul was reminded by Vasemir that he was asexual. The Awakened-ranked dual weapon holder was left speechless when he heard Vasemir's response. He started looking confused as if he had been woken up from sleepwalking. Trying to grasp the truth, he looked around him. He then stared at Vesemir again with a puzzled expression, as if he wasn't expecting to see him here at all.

However, Raul's expression soon changed to one of anger. He mumbled a few times to himself, as if talking to somebody in his head. He then looked at Vasemir with stoic determination before speaking up.

"You.. you are lying. You hurt my Jilly, Vasemir. Now prepare to face the consequences."

Raul said before starting to cast his set of spells. The guy was adamant about settling some vague score with Vasemir. The latter was confused about Raul's actions. But he used his mana sense on Raul and observed his expressions and his gaze carefully. Additionally, he kept an eye on Raul's heart and came to a conclusion.

'Mind control through some sort of illusion spell. He is being manipulated by someone.'

Vasemir landed on the correct conclusion. However, that didn't help the guy as it didn't look like Raul would accept the fact that he was being manipulated. The fascinating part about this illusion spell was that the victims of the spell thought that they were in control of their actions. As such, Raul would not simply listen to Vasemir no matter how much sense the latter tried to put into his brain.

Vasemir had a grim look on his face as he looked at Rauls' condition. He came to realize that the attack on the warehouse had already started. And the enemy was trying to make the two rankers from the same side fight against each other.

Vasemir took out his hatchet and met Raul's weapon attack head-on. The two rankers started fighting shortly afterwards. During this time, Vasemir tried to reason with Raul. However, Raul acted like he had received revised instructions in his head from someone who was controlling him. These updated instructions would make sure that Raul did not escape the mind control and illusion he was subjected to.

Raul and Vasemir's fight generated a commotion as it started to shake the warehouse. The two Awakened-ranked caretakers started fighting with all they had, injuring each other and destroying the surroundings in the process.

The Meta-ranked foot soldiers started gathering around the duel with looks of disbelief and confusion written on their faces. They were, however, three rank spectators who knew exactly what was going on at the time. Because they had caused this incident.

Eren, Lagartha, and Ariadne altered their appearances with illusion spells. They masked their identities to assume the identities of the foot soldiers they had killed.

Any awakened ranker would quickly recognize that something was wrong with the trio if they came near him. However, nobody was willing to pay any attention to them at this point in front of the two Awakened-rank caretakers fighting against each other. Their cover was safe for the time being.

'Manipulating thoughts through a spell of illusion is really something. I didn't think you could do something like this, Ariadne. Frankly speaking, I'm lowkey scared of you now.'

Eren gulped empty air as he stood between the two ladies who were his accomplices. He was very intimidated by Ariadne's abilities.

'Hehe! Illusion spells can do much more than this. It's just that my preparations for casting them consume a lot of resources. The fake tears I used to affect Raul's consciousness cost me a significant amount of money I had received from you.

What you need to know is that mind control is not something I can handle casually. Plus, its effects start to wane over time. This time would be dependent upon a person's disposition, their mental fortitude, and a lot of other things.

Plus, if I maintain a low profile when I am controlling my subject through the illusion spell. Mind control would be lost if I engaged in combat. So it's not an omnipotent spell either. It has its disadvantages.

So you have nothing to fear, Eren.'

Ariadne chuckled before adding a cherry to the cake. 'For now at least.'

Eren looked at Ariadne with a stressed expression on his face. He then focused on the two caretakers fighting at a distance.

'It seems I have hired a unique monster in my merc team.'

Eren sighed and wondered what he could do to break away from Ariadne's illusion spell. He was only thinking of the potential disaster so that he could prepare in advance.

'Don't worry. She won't be able to take control of your mind. She would land in a lot of trouble if she decided to pull something on you and inadvertently get a read on me.

Hehe. Her mental state will deteriorate or she will die immediately. Not because I want her to. But because she won't be able to handle the repercussions of coming into contact with my soul mark.'

Aleph spoke to Eren in his mind with a mischievous tone. The latter took a while to realize the fact that he was immune to Ariadne's mind control. He then replied to Aleph.

'You and Ariadne could get along very well. Both are master manipulators.'

The battlemage then focused his attention on the two Awakened-ranked entities fighting against each other. This was the show he had brought his free tickets to after all.

By this point, Raul and Vasemir had seriously injured each other. Blood was dripping from various wounds on their bodies. Their breath was ragged, and their mana cores had been depleted by a significant amount.

Vasemir had completely given up on trying to make Raul snap out of the illusion spell. He had tried to neutralize Raul using various moves at first and got injured in the process.

But the situation had gotten out of hand.