Vail and Lyra stood puzzled by what they'd been told. It wasn't long before things began to take a different turn...
Vail reached the appointed site, and found everyone waiting for him, Irene at their head — looking uneasy. For before him lay a sight not seen every day: the corpse of one of SI's men, slain before their eyes.
Irene's eyes met Leo's. Leo said with a strange smile, a thrill of enjoyment riding on it:
"He's one of the elite, isn't he???"
Irene smiled back without comment, as though humoring him. Everyone began whispering among themselves, while Vail's gaze carried a trace of worry, and Lyra was still taking in what was happening.
Suddenly, Irene lifted his head, looked off in another direction, and moved toward it without a word. Vail followed after him, saying in a raised voice:
"Hey — Irene, what—"
But Leo cut him off by raising a hand before his face, so that no sound would come out of him.
Irene pressed forward, and among the bushes found another body. One to the left, another to the right — all of them cut apart with expert precision, some severed into more than three pieces. It was a hard sight to look at; Vail even reached out and covered Lyra's eyes, and some of the men turned their gaze away.
But what Irene noticed was that these bodies were fresh... The blood hadn't dried completely, and there was no stench of decay on them yet. Leo grasped it too, and the two of them looked at each other without saying a word.
And as they kept following those bodies, one after another, everyone heard a sound!!!
Leo stepped forward calmly until he reached its source, and there, one of the men was drawing his last breath. Leo came close to him and asked in a firm voice:
"Who did this to you???"
The man couldn't even manage a word, only kept on in a desperate, struggling attempt to breathe. Leo closed the man's eyes and ended his life. Then he turned to the others, a grave look on his face, as though warning them of something.
They continued along that path soaked in blood and corpses, until nearby the sound of screaming and a cry for help rose up.
Everyone rushed over...
It was a sight no feeling could be assigned to: one of SI's men clutching the body of one of his comrades, screaming in panic. The moment he came upon Leo and the others, he began looking in every direction, and said in a trembling voice, hard to make out:
"Oh... as if we needed this... reinforcements are on their way to us... a large force. None of you will be left alive — not you, and not that..."
And suddenly his words were cut off by a stunned look from Irene — and before the man could utter another word, he was cut in two. His upper half went on staring in fear and horror toward the one responsible, until it stopped moving entirely.
Irene stepped back without realizing it, and everyone stood rooted in place with dread.
Who could kill a man and cleave him in half in cold blood, and with that kind of strength? Something terrifying, with a fearsome aura around it — who, though he carried a great sword in only a single arm, had managed to do it.
That frightening figure turned his gaze toward Vail and the others, and in a moment that gave no one time to blink, the man in the magnificent knight's armor had closed in on Vail with a cutting strike — had Leo not intercepted it at the last possible instant.
Leo shouted to everyone: "Fall back — now!!!"
And Leo drove him away from the rest, then looked him over carefully, from top to bottom, and said with confidence:
"Magnificent armor. Terrifying speed. A fearsome presence. A great sword... and not the faintest trace of killing intent. He's exactly as Raym described him. My guess was right."
Deputy Commander Leo smiled, drew his legendary spear, and leveled it at the knight, saying with excitement and confidence:
"I've always wanted to meet you, legendary knight... or as you were once known..."
He paused a moment, then said:
"Sir Roland — the Formless!!!"
On the other side, Raym was walking beside the Commander, when he stopped for a moment, as though he'd felt something. The Commander called out to him in surprise:
"Raym???"
Raym looked toward that direction for a moment, and said to himself:
This feeling... I don't know if it's familiar or new, but it's a strange feeling.
Raym turned back to the Commander's call and kept walking — but inwardly, he knew that something was happening!!!