A new day, a new morning, and the same endless journey.
Where exactly were they heading? What was the ultimate motive? Nobody really knew.
Null, Leo, and Lana walked together through the bustling, vibrant streets of the Kingdom of Passione. It was a realm famed across the continent for its deep, unparalleled knowledge of the arcane. Everywhere you looked, the shops were packed to the brim with unique, highly specialized magical equipment. The air itself smelled faintly of ozone and burning mana.
Lana broke the silence, glancing sideways at Null. "Huh... so all of that happened back then? While I was gone, you two went through all of that, and you never even thought to tell me?"
Null kept his eyes forward. "I didn't want to drag you into danger."
"But I'm already dragged into it!" Lana huffed, crossing her arms.
Before Null could argue, something in a nearby shop window immediately caught Lana's eye. Her face lit up, and she darted over to the display. Resting on the counter was a small, peculiar magical item that looked almost exactly like a yellow rubber duck.
She picked it up, holding it out toward Null with a bright smile. "Look! Isn't it cute?"
Null glanced at it, completely unimmed. "Yeah, it is. But we are not buying it."
"Hello, Miss!" the shopkeeper chimed in, stepping forward with a wide, salesman smile. "It looks like the Flesk Fought has caught your eye!"
Lana blinked, turning the duck over. "Oh, its name is Flesk Fought? What does it do?"
"Whenever you squeeze it, the Flesk Fought releases a stream of real fire from its mouth!" the shopkeeper explained proudly. "Though, you do have to refill its core once a week with a standard blaze crystal."
"Sorry, we don't need it," Null interrupted flatly. He reached out, gently took the Flesk Fought from Lana's hands, and placed it right back onto its original spot on the shelf.
The shopkeeper's smile strained slightly, but he pushed on. "Well, even without a blaze crystal, it serves as an excellent decorative item or a toy! It would make a perfect gift for your sister, young man."
Null's aura instantly shifted. The air around him grew heavy, his tone dropping into a dangerous, intense register. "Sorry. But you don't get to tell me what I should or shouldn't do."
A few paces away, Leo wasn't paying any attention to the sudden, tense standoff between Null and the shopkeeper. His mind was completely consumed by a dark spiral of thoughts.
The Replicant Hunter...
What happens if we meet? What should I do? Can he one-shot me? Even if Null and Lana try to protect me, will he just kill them too? Does this hunter have a counter to Axiom? Does he even know about Axiom? What if he does, and he can bypass it entirely?
Leo gripped his hair slightly in frustration. I can't even ask Chibi for help anymore. Dammit, what am I supposed to do?
Meanwhile, in a high-end restaurant down the street, three people—two men and a woman—were quietly eating their meal.
The man wearing glasses pushed them up his nose, looking at the empty seat at their table. "Does anyone have any idea where Michi went?"
The second man, heavily muscular with a perpetually serious expression, grunted as he cut his meat. "How should I know? We are in the middle of an official mission, and he suddenly runs off because he found a 'new target.'"
The woman sighed dreamily, leaning her chin on her hand. "Well, with the massive amount of money we're getting from this job, I can buy so many beautiful things for James..."
The muscular man cut her off mid-sentence, rolling his eyes. "No. We aren't spending our money on—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the air around him suddenly warped. A crushing weight slammed down onto his shoulders. The gravity became so immensely heavy that the wooden chair beneath him shattered into splinters.
CRASH!
The muscular man slammed violently into the floor, cracking the floorboards and embedding himself into a shallow hole in the ground. He lay there, pinned by a terrifying invisible force, unable to move a muscle.
The woman didn't even look down at him. She calmly took a sip of her drink. "Say another word about James, and I will make sure you are permanently unable to speak."
From the floor, the muscular man groaned, his face pressed against the wood. "This... this is exactly why I hate being in the same group as you."
The man with glasses sighed, rubbing his temples. "Guys, come on, don't do this. First, we need to find Michi."
"So he ran away again," the woman muttered, finally releasing the pressure.
The muscular man gasped for air, pushing himself up out of the broken floor. "Can you at least release me first? Jeez."
Back on the street, Lana was still pouting as she walked beside Null. "In the end, you didn't buy me anything."
"Didn't you notice the way that shopkeeper was talking?" Null replied smoothly. "I don't think he was a good person. He was trying to manipulate us."
Behind them, Leo was still trapped in his own head.
I need a backup plan, Leo thought. Maybe I have to work on my stealing ability. I've only ever used it once, when I first got here. Maybe it can help me now.
Leo slowed his pace. He closed his eyes, focusing entirely inward, trying to actively trigger his ability to steal someone else's power. But as he reached out into the void, he felt nothing. There was no system prompt. No light. Just pure, absolute darkness.
Suddenly, a terrifying sensation washed over him.
He felt a sudden, intense heat—like a roaring fire burning right behind his back.
Leo froze. His heart hammered against his ribs. He slowly stopped walking and glanced back over his shoulder, peering into the dense crowd of the marketplace.
A short distance away, a lone figure stood out from the crowd. The person was standing perfectly still, looking directly at Leo. A cruel, predatory smirk was carved onto his face. His eyes locked onto Leo like a wolf staring down its helpless prey.
For a long, agonizing minute, the world seemed to slow down. The two of them just stared deeply into each other's eyes across the crowded street.
Before Leo could react, a large, muscular man—the one from the restaurant earlier—suddenly approached the smirking stranger from behind, bringing a fist down hard on his head.
"Do you have any idea how much time has passed?!" the muscular man shouted at him angrily.
Leo quickly turned his head back around, picking up his pace to catch up with Null and Lana. He shook his head violently, trying to clear his thoughts. Pff... focus, Leo. I thought it was just my imagination. But still... those eyes. Those eyes were telling a completely different story. What if—
Suddenly, a heavy hand dropped firmly onto Leo's shoulder.
Leo flinched, spinning around in pure panic, his heart nearly jumping out of his chest.
It was Null.
Null was looking at him with a calm, questioning gaze. "Hey. What's wrong with you? What are you thinking about so hard?"
Leo swallowed the lump in his throat, forcing a shaky smile. "Ah... nothing. It's nothing."