The temple was silent, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Max's floating head hovered closer to the mage, his smirk never wavering.

"Let me paint you a picture," Max began, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "If this little ordeal gets out, the Mage Tower will cut you loose faster than you can say 'political scandal.' They'll call you a rogue agent, disavow any knowledge of your actions, and probably send a few dozen mages to hunt you down. And let's not forget the Star Continent, they'll want your head on a platter to keep the peace. Honestly, it's not looking great for you."

The mage's jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing. "You think you're clever, don't you?"

Max shrugged, his grin widening. "I don't think. I know."

The mage glanced at the Atyai family, his expression darkening. He knew he had no choice. With a flick of his wrist, silvery liquid metal surged from his fingertips, wrapping around the family members and disabling them in an instant.

Violet tried to resist, her one good eye blazing with defiance, but the metal coiled around her, pinning her to the ground and stabing into her at the same time. Her mother let out a choked sob, pleading for mercy.

"Ahhhhhhhhh..."

"Please," she whispered, her voice trembling. "We've done nothing to you!"

Max's head floated closer, his expression cold. "Nothing? Your daughter tried to turn me into her personal power source. That's not exactly 'nothing.'"

The temple erupted into chaos.

Lucy's telekinesis descended like a storm, shattering stone and sending debris flying in every direction.

The mage's silvery metal magic rushed with the invisible force, the two powers colliding in a dazzling display of destruction killing everything in the path.

The Atyai family members, tried to resist, and fight back but it was pointless, could only watch in horror as the temple was torn apart around them.

While the mage was busy with the pointless resistance of the family, the items that belong to them from rings to necklaces now in Lucy's possession, floated silently toward a small mirror fragment near Max's body, and was absorbed without a sound, appearing inside the mirror world next to Max's real body who was still closed eyed controlling the [Mirror image].

Max's head, still floating, and cracked like ceramic, observed the carnage with a detached amusement. "Well, that's one problem delt with. "he muttered.

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When the dust settled, the temple was in ruins. The Atyai family lay slaughtered, their final expressions frozen in a mix of fear and resignation.

The mage turned to Max, his breathing heavy. "There. I've held up my end. Now give me the recording."

Max chuckled. "Not so fast. I need something else first."

The mage's eyes narrowed. "What now?"

"My meditation technique, of course." Max said, his tone casual.

" I can't ! I am bound by contract."

"Don't care, I guess I'd be having a few million views, on publishing this video."

The mage gritted his teeth, "I can only share my personal metal magic technique... Argent Flow Meditation. "

" Hand it over, and we'll call it even."

The mage hesitated, then reluctantly conjured a silver scroll of text, the words glowing faintly with mana.

Inside the mirror world Max's super phone snapped a picture, than asked the simulator for a scan mentally we don't speaking, and after a quick silent confirmation from the simulator, he nodded in satisfaction.

"already got it thx."

The mage glared at Max. "There. You have what you wanted. Now destroy the recording."

Max shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm not that trusting. See, I've uploaded the video online with certain... locks. If anyone comes after me, the video gets released. If I'm killed, the video gets released. If I die of the flu, the video gets released. Heck, if I stub my toe, the video might get released.

By the way this conversation is also included, I like recording things. It's a hobby."

The mage's face turned red with anger. "You... "

Max held up a hand, cutting him off, although it was just a broken glass held by Lucy. "Relax. I'm not unreasonable. Here's some free advice: don't reveal this matter entirely. Just say the family died at the hands of some passing powerhouse before you could act for whatever reason. Simple, clean, and no one gets suspicious."

The mage clenched his fists, his silvery magic flickering around him. "You're playing with fire, boy."

Max grinned, his face cracking further. "And I'm having a blast."

The mage took a step back, his expression dark. "Fine. But if we cross paths again, don't expect me to be so accommodating."

Max's grin widened. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a criminal scene to deal with."

The mage vanished in a swirl of silvery light, leaving Max alone in the almost collapsed Temple.

Max's head floated back to his body. He glanced at the ruined temple, then at the items Lucy had collected inside the mirror world, now safely within his hands.

"Well," he said, his voice light. "That went better than expected."

Max's head was suddenly crushed by Lucy's telekinesis into powder, similar to the rest of his body, and got scattered in the air, leaving no mirrors nor glass within sight.

The mage that left earlier returned suddenly, both angry confused by the situation.

He glanced at the dead bodies in anger, if it was for those fools who provoked such an unreasonable enemy, he wouldn't be in this kind of trouble.

"Sigh.... All I can do is hope he keeps his words. After all if he reveal it you will also be hunted by the Mage Tower." muttered to measure in a low tone comforting himself.

...

Exactly 500m away, Max left the mirror world, and walked to the city gate leisurely without attracting any unnecessary attention.

" AI, hack the cameras around the city, try to keep track of that Mage and inform me if he ever gets closer to me." Ordered marks in the low tone just out of consciousness.

[ affirmative.....]

Earlier when his phone informed him of the family's movement, he waited for them to get closer and used both [World of mirrors] and [mirror image] to pull it off.

The entire ordeal barely took 40min so the duration of [World of mirrors] was more than sufficient.

Outside of the city, Max flew up at low altitude, increasing his speed as he got further and further from the city, he didn't think the mage dared to pull tricks, but cautiousness is always better than regret.

..........................

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