However, just as they exited the forest and arrived at a relatively open plain,
Kado, who was walking at the very front of the group, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
His eyes, like great bronze bells, narrowed slightly as he gazed at the sky behind them.
"My Lord."
His voice carried a hint of gravity.
"I think... something is following us."
Raylo had already sensed it, but the warning had come from Moonlight.
He spurred Baofeng into the sky and looked back.
There, at the edge of the sky several kilometers behind them,
a crimson dot of light was hanging, neither far nor near.
That familiar aura...
It was the Blazing Phoenix!
It had actually managed to reform its body so quickly and had tailed them all this way!
The color instantly drained from Raylo's face.
That crimson speck of light was like an ominous scar branded against the backdrop of the sky, stubbornly hanging on the distant horizon.
It didn't draw closer, nor did it fall back.
