The robed man said something strange, but he believed the other would understand.
"Does it matter?" said the red-eyed "Raymond" calmly.
"No… it doesn't anymore."
The robed man pulled out the small knife stuck deep in his palm and tossed it aside. A satisfied smile appeared on his face. "Whoever you are… you're too late, aren't you?"
"You really think so?"
Maybe out of twisted amusement, the red-eyed "Raymond" gave him a deep, meaningful look.
Somehow, the robed man suddenly had a bad feeling…
He saw the strange symbols in Raymond's crimson eyes start to spin!
As they turned, the world around him began to spin too—violently.
In a flash, it was like he was thrown into another world!
When he came back to his senses, everything around him had changed.
He felt like he had become someone else, seeing things through unfamiliar eyes.
He also realized he couldn't control his body anymore. He could only watch and feel.
"I'll see what trick you're trying to pull," he sneered in his heart.
The message had already been sent. He wasn't afraid of dying—so how could some illusion scare him?
Just as he decided to watch and see what would happen, two familiar voices echoed in his ears.
"Well then, good luck. I'm counting on you—" That voice, that tone—it was his own.
"I'm not so hopeful for you though…" followed by a gloomy, heavy voice he had just heard earlier.
His heart trembled. His mind went blank for a second.
That first voice—wasn't it his own voice?
He had just said those exact words to Gray earlier!
And that second voice—it was Raymond's line after suddenly appearing.
It all came rushing back!
Only now did he realize—"he" was standing on a tree branch.
Just ten meters away, in the clearing below, another version of himself stood with his men, talking to Gray. That was when the two Raymonds first appeared.
"Who?!" Gray shouted in surprise.
Then he recognized the two identical Raymonds.
Everything that followed was exactly what he had experienced earlier…
But now, he was on the outside, watching it all like a ghost.
He had a terrible guess about what was going on—but he didn't want to believe it…
Soon, the tension in the clearing reached its peak. With a shout from the "other him," the fight broke out!
From this new angle, he saw clearly—only one of the Raymonds moved.
The other one stood still, hands behind his back, smiling calmly like he was watching a show.
Not long after, the other version of him patted Gray on the shoulder and said that classic line
"It's time to make a sacrifice for the great Dark Lord"—then slipped away without a trace.
At that moment, he witnessed something that shocked him deeply—Something he never could've seen if he had successfully escaped earlier!
He saw the Raymond who hadn't made a move suddenly show a strange smile when he noticed the other "him" running away.
Then, Raymond slowly turned his head and looked straight in his direction!
His heart jumped in panic.
But he quickly realized—Raymond wasn't looking at him exactly, but at the version of him whose eyes he was now seeing through!
Raymond then made a hand gesture toward "him."
And "he" nodded in return before suddenly moving—Speeding through the treetops with such incredible speed and silence that it dazzled him.
From "his" point of view, he could clearly see that he was tailing the other version of himself effortlessly, always maintaining a steady distance.
Even though one was running on flat ground and the other was leaping through the trees, the latter seemed far more relaxed.
What followed matched exactly what he had experienced earlier—The fleeing version of himself called to report while "he" calmly trailed behind.
Only after the report was almost complete did "he" casually take out a knife and throw it—
Destroying the other self's phone in a flash!
The scene ended there, the world seeming to freeze in place, as if someone had hit the pause button.
Like shattered glass, the illusion broke apart.
The robed man's vision returned to normal.
Right in front of him stood the blood-red-eyed "Raymond," gazing at him meaningfully.
It looked like only a brief moment had passed—Yet everything he had just seen felt too vivid to be a dream.
But he knew—it wasn't a dream.
As the "story" played out, he came to a painful realization:
The "self" who had been watching everything unfold from a third-person view… was Raymond.
The Raymond now standing in front of him.
With those blood-red eyes.
All of it… had been a replay created by this Raymond using some kind of mysterious power.
"Why…?" the robed man fell to his knees in pain.
This man had clearly been hiding nearby the entire time.
He could've taken him down at any moment.
But he didn't—he waited.
He waited until after he had made the call and sent the message.
It shattered all the assumptions he had made before.
He didn't escape because he was smart.
He didn't outplay Raymond.
He couldn't understand why.
But he knew one thing—Whatever result Raymond wanted…
Would definitely be the one most damaging to his side.
Raymond didn't offer an explanation.
He had done it just for the fun of seeing him fall into despair.
And now that he got what he wanted, he simply walked up—Grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him up like he weighed nothing.
The robed man didn't fight back.
He hung there limply, like a puppet with its strings cut…
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