A pair of eyes stared at Flynn, Nathan, and Infori from a distance, deep in the dense forest. That cold gaze seemed to pierce Flynn's instincts.
His relaxed eyes widened.
"...!"
He could feel it; his senses were unmistakable. (There's someone... Again? Besides us here... Where?)
His eyes darted in all directions, but he couldn't detect anything suspicious behind the trees or bushes. Perhaps his limited senses prevented him from sensing the presence of anyone more than a few dozen meters away.
Infari, who was standing to his right, immediately questioned Flynn about his alert behavior.
"What's wrong?" he asked, forcing Flynn to return to his original position so that Flynn and Nathan wouldn't become overly suspicious. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, hm... No."
Then, Nathan suddenly spoke.
"You've been looking wary of something. Is it related to those monsters that suddenly appeared earlier?"
"Honestly—" Flynn replied, but stopped when he felt the presence growing closer and closer, forcing his eyes to narrow their vision.
(Closer...! Where...?!)
His instincts were right.
"...?!"
A sharp blade cut through the wind at high speed and moved in front of Flynn, closing a considerable distance between them. However, distance didn't matter to him, as with lightning speed, he managed to draw Infori's sword from its sheath.
Without a word, Flynn immediately slashed the sharp blade with the sword he was holding.
CLANG!
The fast-moving blade finally stopped after being struck by the sword, flying away and falling to the ground.
Infori and Nathan's eyes widened, once again in disbelief. "?!"
Infori turned to where the blade had fallen, and saw the sharp blade lying on the ground. Glowing a dark red, it was about to vanish into thin air.
"..."
(What is that...?)
Returning to their original position, a male voice rang out from the forest ahead, as a man dressed in a brown and black tunic, leather accents, and a black cloak covering his entire body appeared—walking from the shadows of the forest, holding a long, completely dark sword in his right hand.
"Very impressive," he said, then stopped just a few feet away from the three of them. "Captain Flynn Deschain."
"And you are...?" Flynn asked, narrowing his eyes to identify the mysterious figure before him.
The man let out a short, low laugh. Then he answered calmly, even more so than Infori and Nathan.
"I am not your enemy," he said, his tone quite heavy. "Not if you speak wisely."
"Who are you? And what do you want?" Infori asked, suddenly, without further ado.
"I'm just a nobody, but I came to bargain," he replied curtly. Everyone fell silent after hearing this very strange statement.
"..."
Perhaps bargaining isn't unusual, but there was one thing that made it even more suspicious from the start.
Flynn immediately replied.
"This isn't a good start for bargaining," Flynn then said again. "Just tell me what you want, and why you just attacked."
The man paused for a moment, as if considering his next move. And then, he spoke again, confirming Flynn Deschain's decision.
"Very well," he replied, calmly but eerily. "I'm sorry if I attacked you first. I thought I saw a group of pathetic Morak earlier."
This silenced all three of them.
"…"
However, Flynn spoke.
"I'll ask this only once," he said. "What do you want?"
"Hand over the divine artifact."
"What?" Infori blurted out. "A divine artifact?"
"You have one, don't you?"
Upon hearing those words, Infori became aware of something important inside his bag. "...?!"
He then questioned himself, turning his eyes back to look at his bag. (How did he know I had the Blades of Mirage...? Who is he actually...?)
In the midst of Infori's question, Flynn suddenly answered loudly and without the slightest fear.
"We can't give it to you."
Infori turned to Flynn, seeing his serious face. "..." Then he looked back at the mysterious man in front of them.
"Yes, what can you give us in return for that great artifact anyway?" Nathan asked, spontaneously.
The man gave his answer, his answer logically.
"I will give you freedom, whether it's freedom from restraints, or freedom from things you don't want."
"Yes, and we have free will to choose what we want," Flynn replied firmly and clearly. "I'm sorry, but we still won't give it to you."
A heavy sigh escaped his lips, carrying with it a deep disappointment beyond words. That long sigh was enough to make them all even more wary of his movements.
"Hah..." he let out a long sigh. "How sad."
Their breathing became heavier, the calm wind now becoming stronger than before. Even though they were in the middle of the forest.
Leaves were moving, some were falling, struggling to stay afloat.
"Who are you?" Flynn asked.
The man didn't answer, remaining silent, but made his first move before them. He moved his sword and placed it upside down, with the blade facing down.
In the next instant, he released his grip on the hilt. The sword fell downwards and eventually lodged in the ground. Normally, nothing like that would have happened—but this time was different.
The embedded sword glowed darkly, then a stream of energy flowed through the ground on both sides of the blade.
The energy then snaked through the air, creating two familiar humanoid creatures from the void.
"Wait…" Nathan said, "That's… Us?!"
Right. The two humanoid creatures bore a striking resemblance to Infori and Nathan, their bodies, faces, hair, clothing, and everything in between. Everything was identical, and they even held the same swords as the originals.
"Hand over the great artifact, and I'll let you go with honor."
"Never," Flynn replied.