At the camping ground, the unit was done setting up camp.

Tents were generously spaced apart from each other to allow for freedom of movement in regards to the sizes of the dragons and gryphons.

The skies began to dye red.

Normally, due to the unit being tired from travelling and moving around to set up camp, more than half of them would have been sleeping but that was not the case.

They were gathered in an open space, next to where the tents were.

They were suddenly called to formations by the commander, Mark, just before they were about to sleep.

Questioning gazes towards Mark, who stood at the front of the formation facing them, stood with the four heroes with their gryphons besides them.

Mark wore a serious and grim expression as he faced them.

“Listen up!” (Mark)

From the top of his lungs, he shouted.

In response to this the soldiers stood with their backs straight.

Their eyes and ears directed at their commander.

Mark walked around the perimeter of the group as he gazed at each and every one of the soldiers still wearing his serious and grim expression.

He paced back and forth in silence.

They wanted to ask what this was about but decided not to.

Finally he stopped.

“There are enemies amongst us” (Mark)

Faces of astonishment were displayed on their faces.

He just declared that amongst them were enemies, it was unexpected for them.

Looking to find some answers, they began to turn to each other to ask what he was talking about.

At the furthest right of the group, a soldier from the scout squad that had eight members was being asked by the soldier in the squad next to him.

“Hey Kurt, do you know what’s going on? What’s he talking about? Has someone joined the enemy or what?” (?)

Kurt replied back with a confused expression.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s a drill?” (Kurt)

He replied with a shrug.

The soldier, after hearing his reply had turned to look the other way asking others the same question.

As he was out of the soldiers and anyone else’s line of sight, his face became expressionless, devoid of any emotion.

Silently, he took out a cylinder shaped object from underneath his clothes.

It was not only him that did the same movement.

The whole squad who were outside the others line of sight followed suit taking out the same object as him.

They pointed the end of it to the squad next to them, directly at their head.

In unison they cocked back a lever attached near the hand grip, then their index finger began to squeeze on the trigger.

‘POOB!!!!’

They fired in unison and the sound of a bullet hitting something solid was heard.

It was not the intended target.

A wall of earth a metre thick, spread out enough to block all the shots fired, successfully protecting the targets.

When they saw that their attempts were foiled, they acted quickly.

They changed their weapon choices to magic.

But, as soon as the first mouth opened to chant, the sound of their bodies falling on the ground in unison was heard in unison.

All throughout this sequence of events, no expression of surprise showed on their faces.

Without a second thought, they tried to get up but couldn’t.

Something like ropes had bound them to the ground.

The culprit were not ropes but vines that emerged from the ground.

These vines had wrapped the shooters securely on the ground preventing them from moving.

Not only that, their mouths were also gagged by the vines to prevent the use of magic.

Still sporting their emotionless faces their muscles jerked as they began to struggle trying to get out of their constraints but failed.

“….What’s going on……… Hey Kurt, did you just try to shoot us?......... Kurt!(?)

The female soldier that talked to him in the beginning began to furiously question him.

“Those weapons………You……Have you sided with the enemy!?” (?)

The soldier named Kurt ignored her as he tried to struggle to get free.

It wasn’t like he could as his mouth was sealed.

“Don’t bother!”

From behind, the rage filled voice of Mark was heard.

“The real one has already died, that’s just something using his body” (Mark)

Walking in front of the attackers, he gazed down towards the struggling soldiers on the floor with hatred.

The faces of the soldiers around them were plastered with shock and confusion as their commander unsheathed his sword and readied it to swing.

“Commander!”

“Stop!”

“Wait!”

“Don’t”

The soldiers from the surroundings restrained the Commander preventing him from swinging his sword any further.

“What?! Why did you stop me?!” (Mark)

He screamed from the top of his lungs at his subordinates as he questioned why they stopped him.

“Sir, you have to let us know what’s going on! I know they attacked us but, but don’t we need to question them first?! We need to know their motives on why they did this…. That’s protocol right?!” (?)

The surrounding people began to agree with the female soldier that talked to the soldier named Kurt, the one who just tried to kill her.

“Sergeant Barns is right commander!” (?)

Another soldier backed the female sergeant.

They knew that they tried to kill their teammates and that would automatically mean they had become enemies.

But, due to them being former comrades, they wanted to find out why they attacked.

“You lot, don’t tell me! Ken! Are these lot also one of them?!” (Mark)

He misunderstood their attempt to postpone their execution as being in cahoots with them.

“No, they aren’t”

Kenshin voiced that out as he walked past the soldiers.

At the sudden appearance of Kenshin, the surrounding soldiers were on guard just like Mark was earlier when they met again.

They were ordered by Mark to calm down after he was released by the soldiers that was holding him.

As Kenshin walked up to the attackers, one of the attackers that was on the ground was moved up to about eye level to Kenshin.

Mark also walked up to the attacker and addressed the battalion.

“You guys are right. Sorry, I lost my cool for a second.” (Mark)

He sighed.

“You need to know what’s going on. I will tell you” (Mark)