The fluorescent lights of Ravi & Sons Super Market flickered with a rhythmic, dying hum that matched the throbbing in Kaelen's bandaged shoulder. She was currently lugging a crate of GSC-branded "Guardian-IV" security wards onto the checkout counter, past the stacks of lentils and premium basmati rice.
Harish, 23, was hunched over a small side table near the registers, his oversized hoodie sleeves pushed back to reveal wrists that looked deceptively thin. He was poking at a toasted sandwich maker with his new ₹180 soldering iron, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth in a display of faux-concentration.
"Kaelen, beta, those boxes look like they cost more than our monthly inventory," Ravi called out from the back of the store. Ravi was a stout man with a mustache that always seemed to have a faint dusting of flour on it. He loved his supermarket with a territorial passion, but he loved his children more—even if he thought Harish was a bit of a "technical dreamer" who lacked a business mind.
"It's for the shop's safety, Papa," Kaelen said, her voice strained. "After what happened at the arena... I can't leave Harish and the store unprotected."
Saritha, Harish's mother, walked out from the living quarters behind the shop, wiping her hands on an apron. She was the real "Auditor" of the family, her eyes sharp enough to spot a counterfeit ₹500 note from across the room. "Safety? We've lived in xxxxxxxxxxx for thirty years, Kaelen. The only danger we face is Harish accidentally setting the toaster on fire."
"Hey! The toaster was a design flaw," Harish chirped, his voice reaching that annoying, high-pitched "clumsy younger brother" register. "And I'll have you know I successfully navigated a flight of stairs today without a single casualty."
Kaelen slammed the first ward onto the counter—a sleek, silver orb. "It's not a joke, Harish. I saw monsters out there. People who would erase your soul just because you drew a drop of their blood. I can't be everywhere. These wards will keep you, Papa, and Mama safe while I'm at the arena."
Harish looked at the silver orb. His Chronos-Nexus Watch, hidden beneath his sleeve, sent a silent, scrolling list of red text across his retinas.
[ALERT: GSC Intrusive Monitoring detected. Hidden 'Eagle-Eye' surveillance module active. Audio-visual data being routed to Agnihotri Central Servers. Logic Error: 404 Privacy Not Found.]
Harish sighed. Vikas Agnihotri, you greedy snake. You sold her 'security' that doubles as a spy-cam to keep tabs on us. "It looks complicated," Harish said, leaning in so his sleeve brushed the orb. "Does it have a snooze button? I don't want it zapping the milk delivery guy."
As he spoke, he subtly tapped the side of his watch. A microscopic pulse of Zero-Logic energy rippled out, entering the ward's circuitry.
"Harish, don't touch it!" Kaelen yelled, pulling his hand away. "You'll scramble the calibration!"
"Oops, my bad," Harish mumbled, while his mind watched the GSC spy-module inside the orb literally melt and rearrange itself into a harmless LED driver. "I was just looking for the 'on' switch. Is it this sparkly bit?"
The moon was a jagged silver hook over the city when the Three-Eyed Assassin returned. He didn't come through the front door; he dissolved into the shadows of the ventilation shaft above the frozen food section of Ravi & Sons.
In the kitchen of the attached house, the floorboards didn't even creak. He produced a jagged obsidian shard, his middle eye twitching with the goal of killing the "weak link"—Harish.
[CLATTER!]
The assassin froze. A stack of stainless steel tiffins on the counter had mysteriously tipped over.
"Who's there?" Kaelen's voice echoed. She burst into the kitchen, her practice sword drawn. She saw the dark silhouette near the refrigerator. "You! From the shop!"
The assassin lunged. Kaelen met him with a Radiant Parry, but her injured shoulder slowed her down. The assassin sensed the weakness and pivoted for a kidney strike.
Under the heavy dining table, Harish was curled into a ball, looking like he was hyperventilating. In reality, his eyes were glowing with the dull gold light of Archmage Puppetry.
"Master, the assassin's center of gravity is too stable," the Great Sage whispered. "Adjusting floor friction coefficient in 3... 2... 1..."
The assassin's lead foot suddenly hit a patch of "Zero-Friction" space on the tile. His leg slid outward as if he were on a banana peel.
"What the—!" the assassin hissed.
Kaelen saw the opening. "HA!" she roared, swinging her sword.
Harish twitched his pinky finger. Kaelen's sword didn't just swing; it received a Kinetic Momentum Audit. The wooden blade accelerated beyond the laws of physics, catching the assassin square in the chest.
[THWACK-BOOM!]
The impact sent the three-eyed man crashing through the pantry door, burying him under a mountain of Ravi's best bulk-buy flour and canned chickpeas.
"I did it..." Kaelen gasped, her chest heaving. "I actually hit him!"
Harish "crawled" out from under the table, his hoodie covered in dust. "Kaelen! Is it over? Did you kill the scary man? My heart... I think it's trying to escape through my ears!"
Kaelen dropped her sword and rushed to him, pulling her 23-year-old younger brother into a fierce hug. Ravi and Saritha burst in moments later, Ravi wielding a heavy rolling pin and Saritha holding a high-beam flashlight.
"What is this? My flour! My premium Atta is everywhere!" Ravi shouted, looking at the unconscious man buried in white powder.
"Harish, are you hurt?" Saritha asked, her eyes scanning her son for even a scratch.
"I'm okay, Mama. Kaelen was like a superhero," Harish muffled into Kaelen's sweater. He flicked his finger toward the assassin. ✨ Memory Audit: Delete last 6 hours.
"We're calling the authorities," Ravi grumbled, poked the assassin with the rolling pin. "But they're paying for the flour. Every last kilogram."
"Harish, hold the scanner higher! We're losing the mana-trail!"
Kaelen was currently crawling across the concrete floor of the Grand Arena's loading dock. She was holding a GSC-5000 Spectral Analyzer. Harish was following behind her, carrying a massive bag filled with her gear, a mop, and a half-eaten samosa.
"Sis, my arms are falling off," Harish complained, intentionally letting the bag slip so a bunch of heavy wrenches clattered onto the floor. "And I'm pretty sure 'dollar' doesn't hang out in the loading docks. It smells like diesel and old cabbage."
"Shhh! Look! Here!"
She pointed to a faint indentation in the dust. It was a footprint, perfectly geometric—the mark of a Sovereign's Pivot.
"If I can get a 3D scan of this," Kaelen whispered, "I can find out his stride. Once I find him, I'll beg him to be my mentor. I'll do anything to protect you and the supermarket, Harish."
Harish stared at the footprint. Dammit. I forgot to wipe that one.
"Oh! A footprint!" Harish shouted, suddenly "tripping" over his own feet. [SPLAT!] He fell forward, his mop bucket tipping over directly onto the floor. A wave of grey, soapy water washed over the dock, erasing the footprint into a muddy smear.
"NO!" Kaelen screamed. "Harish... why? Why are you so... you?"
Harish scrambled up, looking mortified. "I'm so sorry! I saw a spider! A big one! With at least six eyes! I panicked!"
Kaelen sighed. "It's okay. It's not your fault you're clumsy. It's just... that was my only lead. I just want to be strong enough so you and Papa don't have to hide under tables anymore."
Harish looked at her, his heart aching. "I get it, sis. I really do."
Vikas Agnihotri was not a patient man. When his "security wards" stopped sending data, he sent a team to kidnap the "intern" at the grocery store to use as leverage against the Gold Knight.
Harish was "walking home" when a black van screeched to a halt. Four men in tactical gear jumped out. "Harish? You're coming with us."
"Oh no," Harish said, his voice flat. "Kidnappers. Is there snacks in the van? Papa's supermarket has spoiled me for choices."
The men shoved him inside. Thirty minutes later, Harish was tied to a chair in a high-tech underground bunker. Vikas Agnihotri stood before him. "Where is the Gold Knight, boy? He's been seen near your father's shop. Is he a relative?"
Harish looked around the room. Chronos-Nexus was already cataloging the facility.
[AUDIT REPORT: Security firewall: Primitive. Ventilation system: Clogged. Inefficiency Rating: 9.4/10.]
"I don't know any knights," Harish said. "But I do know that your air conditioning unit is about to fail. It's making a 'whirr-thump' sound. Very dangerous."
"Shut up!" Vikas roared.
"And those monitors," Harish continued. "They're using 144Hz refresh rates for static feeds? That's a 60% waste of power. It's logically offensive."
For two hours, Harish didn't stop. He audited their equipment, their uniforms, even their coffee maker. By the time Kaelen arrived, the tactical guards were sitting on the floor, looking soul-crushed.
"HARISH!" Kaelen screamed, bursting through the doors with her sword glowing.
"Kaelen! You're here!" Harish jumped up, untied. He ran behind her. "They were so mean! They made me look at their terrible spreadsheets!"
Vikas was rubbing his temples. "Just take him. He won't stop talking about the 'inefficiency of my life choices'."
That night, Harish sat on the roof of Ravi & Sons Super Market. He was looking out over the city, the Chronos-Nexus Watch glowing gold on his wrist.
"Great Sage," Harish whispered.
[TING!]
"Master. Kaelen's confidence in her 'Protector' role has increased. However, Ravi is complaining that the kidnapping distracted you from the Wednesday inventory count."
Harish smiled, eating a piece of Black Forest cake. "She's smart, Sage. Too smart. She's looking for a God, but all she has is a younger brother who knows how to fix a toaster."
"Master, the Murim Unorthodox wish to discuss the 'Foreclosure' of the Northern Mana-Well."
Harish's eyes turned cold. The "clumsy intern" was gone. The "clumsy son" was gone. There was only the Auditor.
"An invitation?" Harish whispered, his voice vibrating. "Tell them the Auditor doesn't do 'discussions.' Tell them I'm coming to perform a full-scale audit of their existence. And if their books don't balance... I'm bringing the eraser."
He stood up, looking down at the quiet grocery store below.
"But first," Harish added. "I need to make sure Mama doesn't find out I used the backup generator to power my new soldering iron. That would be a very difficult conversation to audit."