Luna's eyes darted away, as if trying to find an escape route. "Shouldn't we just run?"

Itzal shook his head. "No, this is the kind of opponent that stabs you in the back the moment you start running. If you consider how actively they've infiltrated just about any organization, it's clear that our opponents are diligent and hard-working. That is heavily in our disadvantage, I fear. Even so, if we manage to flush them out, we'll eventually turn the tables on them."

Luna wasn't convinced. "Are you sure we'll be able to?"

Itzal smiled. "I've lived through this chaotic lifestyle of mine for quite some time now, so I've picked up a few tricks here and there. The most important thing is to keep an eye out for anyone that doesn't seem to fit in. Be on the look-out for any soldiers or Liberators that are acting suspicious, or just keep an eye out for anything that doesn't fit the current scenario altogether."

Luna nodded, tightening her grip on her short-sword. "Alright."

With all of that said, Itzal continued heading towards the inn, with Luna in tow. It didn't take them long to find a large amount of dead or dying Forest Elves, with a few heavily wounded soldiers standing between them. It was clear what had occurred here. Although the soldiers looked at Itzal and Luna with suspicion, they didn't move in on them. Itzal and Luna were quick to leave the scene behind, although Luna seemed visibly distressed by it.

Itzal realized something was wrong the moment the inn was in sight. There were no guards stationed around it, and it didn't take them long to see the door was broken down. With his weapons drawn, he carefully approached the door. He was greeted by the sight of many dead soldiers, and from a quick gloss, they were all killed by the same type of slashes, most at the throat. Based on how expertly they had been taken out, Itzal doubted there were mere Liberators behind this attack. They had finally found some of their hidden opponents.

After confirming there was no sign of life on the first floor, be it friend or foe, Itzal carefully made his way up to the second floor. He didn't hear or see a single sign of life as he proceeded. Until a crossbow bolt came flying straight at his head. If it wasn't for the fact time seemed to mysteriously slow down again, he'd have been dead on the spot. Now, however, he was just fast enough to duck and let the crossbow bolt fly overhead. "Enemies!" He shouted at Luna, as he made his way downstairs, where he flipped over a table to take cover behind it. Luna quickly follow suit.

It turned out they had only one opponent, as a single person descended the stairs. It was a man with a drawn crossbow pointed into the room. He also carried a large two-handed sword strapped to his back. For as much as Itzal tried, glossing over the table didn't give him enough of a view to figure out what kind of group this man was aligned with. Itzal figured to see if he could learn more by playing around with words, before relying on violence. "Hold your fire! We're merely an independent group of investigators!"

Rather than an answer, a crossbow bolt made its way towards Itzal. It pierced the table, but luckily not far enough to hit Itzal. Now was the time to come out, while the man would be busy loading another bolt. Itzal jumped up from behind the table, ready strike... Only to realize that his opponent had lured him out. He had thrown his crossbow away and drawn a short-sword that Itzal had previously failed to spot. If it wasn't for the time around him seeming to slow down yet again, the short-sword would have successfully pierced his throat.

Whomever this man was, Itzal had never been up against someone this talented. Luckily enough, this wasn't a fair fight, as Itzal had supernatural advantages. After he dodged his foe's sword by making a quick jump to the right, he lunged forwards, his own weapon in front of him. His opponent seemed to have mostly leather armour, meaning a strong enough stab would pierce it. It was exactly what happened. Itzal managed to jam his sword straight into the man's torso, around where his lungs should be. That'd stop any normal being from being able to keep fighting, but somehow, this man seemed unfazed. Even with time slowed down, Itzal was grazed by the counter-attack. How could someone that just got a short-sword lunged into their torso keep fighting like nothing happened?

He was even fighting at almost the same speed and strength as before. Itzal didn't get a lot of time to think about it, as a second attack swung his way. He barely managed to dodge it, which made him realize he was in some serious danger. Time didn't slow down as much as before. In other words, his odd ability didn't last forever... He desperately needed to finish this quickly.

With his short-sword still stuck in the man's torso, Itzal drew two daggers. He managed to barely deflect the next slash aimed at him with the dagger in his left hand, and although his flesh went uncut, he could feel the force of the slash vibrate through is very bones. The successful defence gave him just enough time to plant the second dagger directly in the man's throat. Surely having his throat stabbed through would be vital to him... right?

Itzal was wrong. As he was breathing heavily from the exhaustion of using his ability and the tension, he saw the man was ready to swing again. Itzal felt a pain across his chest as he was grazed by the weapon. It wouldn't be long before one of those slashes would cause a deeper gash, and Itzal knew he couldn't keep fighting whilst heavily injured. It's why he jumped back as much as he could, giving him a little extra second to figure out what in the world he could do.

That's when a throwing knife hit the man straight in one of his eyes. Luna had joined the fight. Itzal didn't have to much time to celebrate, as he suddenly saw the man throw the short-sword aside and grab the big two-handed sword. Itzal dived in before the man could finish switching weapons, slashing at the man's hand with his dagger. Itzal hoped to cut the man's wrist deep enough to make the him incapable of wielding the weapon. Even if he didn't feel pain and could somehow keep fighting whilst severely injured, surely his bodily functions had to be break-able. This time around, Itzal struck gold. With the man's hand now loosely attacked to his arm at best, the large sword fell out of his hands before he could swing it. The result made the man stumble and fall to the ground as well.

Using this opportunity by shoving a dagger underneath the man's throat in no time, Itzal figured he'd make one last attempt at getting him to talk. "Tell me who you are, and you might yet get to live."

Itzal was met by nothing but silence. Something about it seemed odd, so Itzal checked the man's breath, then his pulse. He was dead. "What the..."

"Is he gone?" Luna asked.

"Yes, but I've got no clue what was up with this man. He somehow didn't even seem bothered by those injuries. I've met a few people without the ability to feel pain, but even they were concerned when they spotted some serious harm to their body. This went above and beyond that, it was like he could neither feel nor care about it."

Luna felt a shiver run down her spine. "Do you think there are more of them?"

Itzal shook his head. "Maybe, but probably not here. The fighting would've attracted any allies this man might've had. It doesn't hurt to remain on guard though, as this fight already far surpassed all that we could consider to be normal. We wouldn't want to assume noting else will."

After he said it, Itzal checked the man's clothing, armour, pockets and weapons with a bit more care. "I think most of this is used among the Elder Council's guard, but the armour seems to be a pretty common set that used in the army... As is the crossbow. He doesn't seem to have any personal items with him..."

"Uh, Itzal?" Luna asked, continuing once he looked up. "Shouldn't we grab those documents and get away? It'll look pretty bad if we're found in here with all these bodies."

He nodded. "You're right. Please keep watch outside, and whistle if anyone approaches."

"I will." As Luna stepped outside, Itzal made his way up the stairs. Just in case, he was careful to make sure there wouldn't be another surprise crossbow bolt heading his way.

Luckily enough, Itzal didn't encounter any other resistance. He did encounter a room in utter disarray. It was clear that this place had been searched in all haste. Whether that was by the same man that attacked them or by whomever came here before was unknown, but Itzal only had to do a bit of digging to realize that what he was looking for was gone. None of the remaining materials here seemed like anything Maiara had described... Despite not normally being the book-loving type, he knew how to appreciate some solid information, so the loss was still a shame to him. As he went back down, he took another good look at the man they had just beaten. Sadly enough, he didn't manage to learn anything new. The man was a completely mystery. He headed outside and shook his head upon spotting Luna. "No luck, someone else took it."

"That's a shame..." Luna said, clearly being a little bothered to have nothing to show for all the trouble they went through. She didn't stay bothered for long, as she was quick to get back on topic. "What do we do now?"

Itzal closed his eyes for a bit, focusing on his hearing. He could vaguely hear the sounds of battle still going on near the edge of the forest, but far less so than before. The battle was drawing to a close. "We fall back. Truth be told, I'm quite exhausted from earlier."

Luna nodded. "Alright." She looked a bit sad, as she looked in the direction of the battle sounds. It was clear that the amount of death and misery that was sown here weighed heavily on her mind, but there was nothing they could do about it.

Itzal tried to carefully phrase some words of comfort. "We've done all we can. If our enemies were already infiltrated deeply enough to attack a meeting like that, they could've started a war at any time. The fact that they waited only suggests that we at least forced them to rush their plans and to show themselves earlier than they might've done otherwise."

Luna perked up a bit. "Do you really think so?"

"I'm not sure, but it's the only explanation I've got at the moment." Itzal sighed. There was a fine line between words of comfort and false hope. He spoke up again. "Let's head towards the south. We should be able to find the rest soon enough."

Suddenly, Luna seemed to clench her weapon tighter. "Do we really need to find them?"

Itzal was taken aback by the question. "What do you mean?"

"I... I mean, look..." Luna suddenly let go of some frustration she'd been feeling for a long time. "Look where this got us! I asked you to help me, decided to let you train me, and before I know it, I'm running around a battlefield and fighting terrifying unknown enemies... it's just..."

Itzal walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I get it, it's okay." He realized he'd become fairly desensitized to a lot of this stuff, much unlike Luna. "What happened here is horrible, but it's part of the mystery I set out to solve. If you wish to stop following me on that path, I completely understand it, and I will do whatever I can to help you find something else, but I'm not willing to give up on this."

Luna didn't seem convinced. "Can't we at least work together with just the two of us, rather than with the entire group?"
Itzal shook his head. "Truth be told, I've been thinking about that a lot. I don't really like that noblewoman and her servant, but the Human is alright, and having Hedgefield along is pretty nice as well. He's surprisingly competent and pleasant to talk to, especially for a guard. I know I've always worked solo, and there are times where I really want to return to my usual ways, but I fear this is just too big of an issue to tackle alone..." He sighed. "Even this fiasco might be a lack of cooperation, rather than a flaw of the group itself, but now is not the time for reflection. Now is the time to get out of here."

Luna merely nodded. As they ran back, both of them remained silent. They had too much to think about in their already physically and mentally exhausted states to waste their breath on words.

Elsewhere, Maiara was facing her own mixed feelings about leaving the battlefield, but had to admit that Qadir was correct. She wasn't exactly a capable fighter. Despite having tested some of her ability to 'bounce' things back, or rather, reflect them, she had very little knowledge on what limits the strange power had. Testing it wasn't easy, as it was a bit difficult to ask for someone to sent an arrow flying at her just to see if she could reflect it. Failure to do so would be pretty costly. So far, even using her ability on pebbles thrown at her by Qadir made her grow tired pretty quickly, so it wasn't something all that reliable. Still... The ongoing battle was partially the result of her failure, so running away from it felt wrong. It felt like she was running away from danger and responsibilities alike.

It seemed like Qadir manage to pick up on her mood. "With all due respect, mistress, it's nothing you can be blamed for."