"The time for action is now. It's never too late to do something."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
...
Boom!
As the Phantom Thief jumped down from the tree trunk, a sudden explosion sounded.
A thick cloud of smoke instantly emerged while covering the Phantom Thief's entire body.
"Recently, there's been a lot going on, so there's something I haven't had the chance to do. But since we've crossed paths today, I'll return it to you."
The Phantom Thief finished talking just as the smoke started disappearing; he was nowhere to be seen.
It looked like he had just taken off all of his clothes and moved immediately, because all that was left was his white suit laying still on the ground.
On the surface of the suit, there was a small object reflecting a faint light under the moonlight in the dense forest.
It was most likely some kind of gem.
On this night, it would be almost impossible to notice the faint moonlight reflected by the gem under normal circumstances.
It was the kind of gem that could easily be lost when walking in the dark.
However, it was obvious now that it was resting on top of the white suit.
'The Atlantean Ocean Gem?'
Batman thought calmly, without even glancing at the suit and the gem on the ground.
He threw a batarang behind him without looking.
What was strange was that, apart from the deep and dark forest, there seemed to be nothing in that direction.
Swoosh!
The thrown batarang flew towards the deep forest with incredible speed.
According to its normal trajectory, it should have flown a long distance without any obstacles and finally hit a tree.
Or maybe it would have landed directly on the ground.
However, just as the Batarang flew about a dozen meters, a slight tearing sound echoed out of thin air.
It was as if something had been cut.
In the area where no objects could be seen, the shadow of a slender rope faintly appeared, but it was cut into two pieces.
One end was settled on a tree branch above, while the other end was free-falling towards the ground.
At the same time, a dark figure also appeared out of the ordinarily empty area and fell to the ground along with the cut rope.
At the critical moment, the dark figure released the rope he was holding onto and kicked towards the trunk of a nearby tree.
He swiftly flew through the air and grabbed onto a slightly smaller branch on the opposite tree.
The branch was too thin to hold his weight for too long, but the figure used it as a bar, flipped a few times, and then let go to jump higher and land on a thicker branch.
Snap!
Just as he let go, the slightly shorter branch below reached its limit and snapped.
It was clear that this person was very agile and could react quickly when they suddenly felt like they had no weight.
'That was close; I almost fell to the ground... Although at this height, I wouldn't have been injured even if I fell.'
Squatting on the hard branch, the Phantom Thief sighed in relief. He had changed into a dark-colored outfit that blended with the night.
'He truly deserves to be the Batman. He didn't fall for any of my tricks. I thought he might need to take a closer look and give me time to get away, but no... this guy is not human!'
The Phantom Thief grumbled as he watched the stoic Batman, who was standing not far away and showing no expression.
'Phantom Thief possesses exceptional body control and flexibility. He might have received professional training in gymnastics or acrobatics, just like Selina and Dick... Do a regular magicians have these abilities?.'
On the other side, Batman observed the smooth movements of the Phantom Thief and silently pondered.
As Batman's understanding of the Phantom Thief grew, more and more unanswered questions arose.
Where did the Phantom Thief acquire such skills?
The ability to disguise himself skillfully, like shape-shifting, his unique and mysterious magic tricks, lightning-fast reflexes for dodging bullets, his unbelievable body control, and those puzzling techniques that could only be described as magic.
When Batman first learned about the existence of the Phantom Thief, he thought that his real identity was likely to be that of a magician.
Dick had looked into every famous magician in Gotham in full detail, but Batman suspected they might have missed something.
However, Batman had doubts about this idea.
Which magician could have skills like Phantom Thief's? Instead of magic, maybe they should consider actual magic.
But if Phantom Thief was indeed a magician, Batman felt that many of his actions didn't match.
For example, when Batman cut the Phantom Thief's rope with the Batarang just now, he almost fell to the ground.
A magician should be able to fly or teleport to a safe place, but the reaction of the Phantom Thief is more like that of a normal human.
If they assume that the Phantom Thief knows actual magic or has advanced future technology, why doesn't he use those best methods to escape?
It doesn't make any sense at all.
While observing the Phantom Thief, Batman's brow furrowed beneath his helmet.
There were thoughts running through Batman's mind, but he didn't stop what he was doing. He thought about everything at once.
Swoosh!
Just as the Phantom Thief landed safely on a tree branch, Batman lunged forward with his glide cape spread.
The branches in this forest weren't blocking the glider. On the contrary, Batman could quickly move between them like a real bat, quick and flexible.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of the Phantom Thief.
Seeing this, Phantom Thief hurriedly stripped off his night outfit and into his Phantom Thief suit.
It was unclear how many sets of clothes he had hidden on his body.
With a swish, Phantom Thief jumped into the air from the branch while spreading his own glider wing and flew towards the distance.
"So, you caught up this quickly? At the very least, you should have gotten your gem back before catching up. You shouldn't forget about your things, even if you're rich, right? That's a rare mineral from Atlantis with some innate magical properties. It doesn't have very good effects, but aren't you afraid that someone else might pick it up?"
The Phantom Thief couldn't help but be irritated when he thought about how Batman had thrown the batarang without thinking and was now chasing him nonstop.
...
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