Irwiz's pupils, as indifferent and cold as it was, clashed directly into the homeless man's.
Upon seeing the look, the homeless man's hand went flaccid and he dropped the knife, bringing it clinging as it dropped to the ground.
Cling
His eyes seemed to be hypnotized into Irwiz's as it grew dull and devoid of any thoughts.
'Hmm, seems like it's easier when the mental state of the person is worse' Irwiz thought about his manipulation.
Then, he asked again - "Are there any criminal gangs around here? Tell me about them"
To which, thehomeless man replied -
"Yes. I know of two, the Sylvian Brotherhood and the Bestruck Wolves. They are both very fierce, engaging in all criminal activities such as collecting protection money from residents and kidnapping people. They don't like each other and a fight usually happens when they meet."
The man's breath smelled of alcohol. But hearing his words, Irwiz couldn't help but think - should he join them?
However, there were many factors that came into play and he wanted to know about everything. He wasn't placing much trust on this poor guy though.
He might just have to interrogate one of these gang members soon.
"Do you know of people with supernatural strengths or abilities normal people shouldn't have?" Irwiz asked.
"No. But I have heard that people from the cult have terrifying abilities." The homeless man answered plainly.
"People from the cult? Who do you know?" Irwiz's interest was piqued. After all, the common knowledge of the people here interested him. What did they know?
He may have got some information from Rera but it wasn't comprehensive. Thus, he spent the next ten minutes or so questioning the guy.
After getting the information he wanted, he asked the last question.
"Alright. My last question - what do you know about the werewolf?" however, as soon as he finished asking the question, the homeless man's eyes grew restless, no longer dull.
Fear seemed to erupt from within him as his eyes blinked shut and he grabbed his head.
"NO! NO! NOO!!" he screamed frantically, out of his mind. Instantly, he fell down on his knees and shivered uncontrollably.
Taken aback by the sudden movements, Irwiz took a step back and looked at the man with caution.
Did this guy have some trauma about this?
To break out of his enchantment, clearly this guy had a strong emotional connection to the question.
However, he needed to be careful about this.
Through the connection of the string, he was able to get a feel of the mental state of the guy.
If a normal person's could be compared to a pond of water, this guy's had been like a shallow dried out pond because of his alcohol consumption, making it vulnerable. His string, when connected to him, would then be able to get in, and influence the direction of the water easily - vulnerable to questions and orders.
But just after he had asked that question, that shallow pond of water seemed to boil and suddenly get violent waves occurring on its surface.
In this state, his string had difficulty to even get in, much less influence the direction. If he were to force it to enter, he feared that not only his string, but also the pond of water would have its waves violently clashing against each other, breaking the pond's structure.
If that happened, then clearly the mental state of this guy would collapse.
To just blindly establish another connection would not only hurt Irwiz mentally, but would also annihilate the chance of him knowing about the werewolf.
However, the dilemma was very big indeed. He didn't know how to calm the guy down.
Perhaps he could try to, using his manipulative string, but he didn't know how to.
'Hmm. Maybe, I could slowly guide the water of the pond to get calmer? So to do that, I'll have to make small waves to nullify the raging waves within his mind. It will be a long process but I'll do it' Irwiz thought.
So, he bound the guy using the strings to stop his movement, before establishing a connection between their eyes once again.
The homeless man could only watch in horror as his body became unable to move, and the kid's eyes peered into his soul.
While at the moment, Irwiz carefully guided his string into the opponent's eyes, through the optic nerve, and into the brain. After traveling to its center, the string entered the pineal gland.
Once there, the string seemed to have entered a new world as his sensations felt much more different. It was an illusory feeling, like he was in the middle of a thick liquid, very hard to move.
Right now, there seemed to be raging waves within this liquid, forcing his string into very unfavorable positions. Irwiz tried to interfere only a small bit, spreading the string more, enveloping that area.
His string was now extending within that space, trying to gain control of the water. However, he didn't rush, moving bit by bit - ever so slowly.
It was a success!
However, just as he tried to change the flow of the water... the waves collided against his strings, instantly breaking them apart!
At the same time, violent tremors seemed to erupt within that space, and just after that, Irwiz no longer felt anything in that space anymore.
The only thing he felt was a sharp pain in his forehead, causing him to grimace hard.
"AAAAAARGHHH" Irwiz screamed out.
He then shut his eyes and furrowed his brows, clenching his teeth. In an effort to calm the pain, he applied pressure on his eyes and rolled them in various directions. From the pain, he was almost at the point of foaming from the mouth.
The pain was truly unbearable, not comparable to physical pain at all.
It almost felt like his entire being was about to get split up and torn into various directions.
At the same time, he once again started hearing voices in his head. Telling him something, repetitively, repetitively, repeating, and repeating.
'þær mæg no manne gewunian. Tear þu to þe dæle þing. þær mæg no manne gewunian...'
The voice inside his head repeated and repeated. Repetitively.
Although the voices were quieter, Irwiz could feel the strips of madness seeping into his mind, and also into his body.
"Quiet! Quiet! Be quiet!!!" he muffled under his breath, holding his ears and covering his eyes. From between his hands, seemed to trickle down streams of blood...
Irwiz waited. He waited and waited.
Fortunately, the pain had subsided after a while. It was now manageable. Those chants had also quietened down, no longer being heard by him. Along with that, so did the tearing apart of his mind seemed to stop.
Only after that, did Irwiz let go of his hands and breathe a deep sigh, his voice still quivering.
"To think the repercussions would be this dire" Irwiz mumbled under his breath. He had only tried to control a bit of the homeless man's mind. How did things get this bad?
That violence within his mind.. it tore his string apart, and along with that came that excruciating pain.
"Perhaps, I shouldn't meddle in the matters of the mind that much" Irwiz thought with a frown on his face.
Irwiz then looked at his hands, which had become smeared with blood.
If he were to have looked at himself from another person's perspective, Irwiz would've been shocked to find that blood was seeping from the corners of his eyes, dripping down even now.
Both of his eyes, in turn, had become blood red, and some of that blood even had a blackish hue to it. However, the blackness was disappearing by the moment, becoming nonexistent a few seconds later.
'I shouldn't push my limits' Irwiz thought before he looked down at the person in front of him.
It was the homeless man. He was lying down on the ground, his limbs twisted in various ways.
However, the most catching thing was probably the pool of blood that had gathered beneath his face.
Looking at it, it seemed like he also suffered the same way Irwiz did...
Irwiz then squatted down and put his fingers on the man's neck.
It was cold. But more importantly, there was no pulse.
The homeless man, was dead. This was the second death caused by Irwiz directly.