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The Art of Machiavellian Mind

Merlin_Hermes_
Elias Voss has everything — billions, power, a perfect life — but he feels nothing. As a child, he was sold to a secret cult that erased his emotions, trained him to smile while suffering, and turned him into a cold, calculating machine. Now, as a billionaire, he rules the world from the shadows, but his soul is rotting from boredom. One night, in his office high above the city, he sees her — a beautiful young ghost girl, standing outside the window in the rain. No one else sees her. She follows him home. In his mansion, she appears for real. She is a Veil Ghost, a being from the hidden world between life and death. She offers him a blood contract: ghost powers in stages, but each stage will cost him his humanity. Elias agrees. He gains the power to see ghosts, to steal pieces of other people’s souls, to force them to relive their worst memories. He starts using this power to expose the lies of the rich, the fake “heroes,” the fake “lovers,” the fake “saints.” He sees that everyone is rotten, everyone is a hypocrite, everyone is just pretending. But as his power grows, so does his cruelty. He becomes more Machiavellian, more monstrous. He sees people not as humans, but as tools, pawns, or obstacles. He builds a network of pawns, breaks them, and discards them. He fights Veil Lords, cults, and Hunters, not for justice, but for control. In the end, Elias must choose: break the contract and lose all power, becoming a hunted, broken human, or embrace the Veil and become a new kind of Lord — a being of pure control, forever playing his game across all of history. The novel ends not with a clean victory, but with a cycle: Elias, now beyond human, watches from the shadows as a new billionaire, bored and numb, looks up — and sees her. The game never ends.
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BOUND BY WORLDS

Akira and Hayato had been inseparable since first year of highschool—two idiots who laughed at the same jokes, shared the same snacks, and gamed until their eyes burned. But lately… things had changed. Ever since Hayato started dating Ayase, his time had been split like a thin sheet of paper. Akira wasn’t jealous—at least that’s what he told himself—but the silence in his room felt heavier than it used to. Then the news hit.A serial killer roaming their neighborhood.Curfews suggested. Phones buzzing with warnings But that night, Akira sat alone, controller in hand, anime running softly in the background. He wasn’t really paying attention; he was just killing time. Then he spotted movement from his window—Hayato heading home with that tired walk he always had after long dates. Akira couldn’t help but smile. Finally, a chance to talk.He rushed downstairs and caught up to him. “Dude, you should NOT be outside right now,” Hayato scolded, eyes wide. “Go home. Seriously.” But Akira shook his head with that stubborn grin. “It’s been two weeks. I’m walking with you. Halfway. You can’t stop me.” Hayato sighed in defeat, but his eyes softened. “Fine… but only halfway.” And for a while, it felt like old times. They joked. They teased. They filled the empty space that had grown between them.For those few blocks, everything was right again.But when they reached the point where they normally split paths, the night shifted. The street was too quiet. The air too heavy. The shadows too thick. “Alright… I guess this is—” Hayato began. A sound cut him off. Fast. Sharp. Wrong. Akira barely had time to turn.A glint of steel.A blur of movement.Pain that stole his breath.He collapsed first.Hayato screamed his name—but the serial killer was already on him too. Two best friends. Two final breaths. Two lights fading out in the cold dark.Yet death wasn’t the end. When Akira’s consciousness returned, he woke to unfamiliar skies… unfamiliar air… and an unfamiliar body. Long hair. A smaller frame.A girl’s voice escaping his lips. Meanwhile, Hayato awoke not too far away, still himself—but in a world filled with magic, beasts, and kingdoms straight out of the games they used to play together.Two best friends. Reborn.
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