[color=1a7b30][h2]Rezello[/h2][/color]
[hr]
With the purpose of their detour into Lasse revealed, Rezello took some time to remove his armor and prepare his weapons for the coming venture. Combat was something they'd be looking to avoid, but it was always pragmatic to be ready for it. When his work on his equipment was complete, he lied down to rest, getting what sleep he could before night arrived.

Rezello awoke to another dinner cooked by Engelbert, consuming his share of the meal before donning his armor as the others completed whatever preparations they had left before their excursion into Lasse. Soon, the party set out onto the main road once more, this time on foot; Vesemir took the lead, wielding a lantern carrying a flame that seemed just barely bright enough to light the pathways underneath them. The night was quiet as they walked, the silence broken only by the sounds of their footsteps, the metal plates and rings of armor gliding against each other, the occasional rustling of loose equipment; the ambience of a march typically drowned out by background noise, accentuated by the cold air that surrounded them.

Some time passed before the silence was broken by Vesemir, the light of his lantern intensifying as it illuminated the ruins they had just arrived in. As its aura repelled the darkness around them, silhouettes of shadow remained, forms twisted in agony as they faintly cried out. Heeding the warnings of Gray Flame and Vesemir, Rezello tried to maintain his focus on the lantern the latter carried, though his attention was ultimately taken when its light revealed a massive tree before them with several corpses - or phantoms of corpses - hanging from its branches.

Realizing too late what he was looking upon, his vision was filled with a flash of white as he tried to avert his gaze. As it faded and his sight returned to him, what was once silent darkness surrounding the party had become engulfed in the mixed crimson and scarlet of fire and blood. A group of men stood beneath the tree, cackling as they admired the carnage. Gray Flame and Vesemir had vanished, but the light of the torch remained, the path between it and those who had been pulled into this illusory reality barred by the corpse-makers.

Nanashi and Carnatia were the first to act, the former rushing past the soldiers and into the light at incredible speed while the latter moved more cautiously, drawing her rapier in preparation for an attack that never came. Another figure had also appeared, a horse-riding captain, who seemed not to notice her as she slipped past him and into the light. Those remaining, however, were not so lucky.

While making her way around the soldiers along with Tillius and Fia, it seemed Roxas had become injured. Some form of healing magic had been used on her in response to the wound, though it didn't appear to be her doing. The work of one of the party members outside the illusion, perhaps? Regardless of the cause, the light that had engulfed her as a result of the spell had drawn the attention of the captain and his soldiers; while the soldiers moved to attack Roxas, Tillius, and Fia, the captain charged on his horse towards Rezello and Forbann, wielding a blood-stained hatchet. Rezello held out a hand, a long line of silver light manifesting in his grasp before changing into his bec de corbin, the knight lowering himself into a defensive stance as he readied to counter the captain's assault, streaks of lightning magic running down his arms and into his weapon.