The man's face brightened with consolatory joy immediately he sighted Astravan, increasing his pace towards them.
A brown robe neatly adorned with an illustrious golden embroidery swayed behind the wearing of the man, and a dragon crest revealing 3 swords that cut through the beast stayed fixed into his chest pocket.
"Nicolas?" Astravan questioned in bemusement, his eyes glistening in remembrance for the male figure.
"3rd class artifact hunter Nicolas reporting for duty!" Nicolas stamped his feet onto the ground before saluting at Astravan in a conscientious manner.
"Forgive me for my tardiness." Nicolas brushed through his brown hair languidly, heaving a tired sigh.
"I only just got back from a mining expedition when your show had already started but when I tried to locate you after the show." Nicolas turned his attention to the inner walls of the castle that surrounded them.
"This happened."
Whilst Nicolas' conversation with Astravan continued, Trick who was just inches from the well draped man tried to row through a sea of thoughts only to become lost once more to its violent torrents.
'Something's not right.' Trick's mind screamed into his hearing as he bit his lip in thought, watching the 3rd class Artifact hunter converse with his master.
Astravan's hand descended with a heavy pat at Nicolas' shoulder.
"Good to have you back son."
Trick's mind raced through a constellation of agitating thoughts in panic, as he observed every sentence, every conversation, every detail and every slight spontaneous action out of place from the ordinary.
And like the intimidating sounds of thunder which follow closely behind any bolt of lightning within the stormy skies…
So did Trick's mysterious feeling of unease cry out with 3 familiar words at every statement uttered around him.
'Something's not right!'
"Good to be back Sir." Nicolas gave a pained smile under Astravan's tight grip onto his shoulder.
'Something's not right.'
"By the way, where's your katana, Nico?" Astravan pointed out Nicolas' missing weapon which normally stayed strapped into the Artifact hunter's side.
'Something's not right.'
Nicolas then looked towards where his Artifact normally laid, a slightly perplexed look spreading through his face before being converted to an expression stained with visible annoyance.
"Oh? I lost it to some monster's during the Azure ruby mining expedition."
'Something's not right.'
"Dancing Galopavo's sure can be rough at times, can't they?" Astravan asked with a chuckle, his arm still tightly placed onto Nicolas' shoulder.
"Yeah, they really did a number to my artifact." Nicolas turned his attention to his weapon's strap, which laid empty, the strap formerly holding his famed Cerulean Slasher.
'Something's not right.' Trick's mind suddenly began to tremble in unease as a loathed feeling suddenly encompassed him.
In that instant he felt a dark essence wash over him, causing the entirety of his being to cry out with undeniable certainty—'
'SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT!'
Athan took a look at Trick who though stood there, was fully immersed in his own thoughts.
'So he's also realising it isn't he?' A slight smirk grew across Athan's face as he flew from Astravan's shoulder to float beside Trick.
Like the moon that stood stationary, forever watching over the starry night sky until the sun should take its place to watch the clouds, Trick observed his master's conversation whilst being trapped in a never ending tornado of conflicting thoughts.
Cause for some reason, since Nicolas' short arrival, a strange feeling of unease had rested heavily upon Trick, leaving him to only wonder in anguishing torment why his mind burned with this puzzling sensation.
'This energy…' Trick was finally piecing together the jumbled warnings his mind ambiguously threw to his attention.
'It's, it's—'
'Coming from Nicolas?'
In that instant, like a spark of fire, Trick's eyes immediately gleamed in realization of what ached his mind, finding the answers to his cryptic feeling of danger.
And causing him to yell out in a panic…
"MASTER, HE'S!—'
Trick was interrupted by the uncharacteristically cold tone his Master's voice adopted.
"I know." Astravan's grip tightened, clenching more firmly into the shoulder of Nicolas.
A powerful yet intimidating mood then ran through the room, resting within it as Astravan's voice overhauled, transforming with a darker ring to it.
"Nicolas, since when did you…" Nicolas's jacket compressed under the weight of Astarvan's grip, the Trickster's gloves creasing under the pressure his arms exerted.
"Start considering Gallopavo's a threat?" Astravan's eyes glowed with a purple gleam, its radiance emanating a freezing degree of terror as he spoke.
WHOOSH!
In a burst of pure fury, Astravan held onto Nicolas' neck, ramming him straight into the stony wall, meters away from them.
The artifact hunter slammed into the wall with heavy impact, sending thunderous tremors to shake the very foundations of the castle like a calamitous earthquake.
A large gust of dust then billowed through the hall, sending a cloud of dust to hastily start to encroach Trick at increasing speeds.
"Whoa!" Trick yelled frantically, elevating his arms to offer him slight protection from the violent dust storm that came his way, but was surprised to see the heavy winds glide past both he and Athan.
Looking around him, Trick then found himself encircled within a transparent ball of purple energy being held by the vile bunny himself.
"Don't think too much about it." Athan turned to Trick, who stared in bemusement that he could have a shard of generosity within his dark heart…
A slight feeling of concern that would push him to enclose both himself and Trick within his protective shield.
"Finally Astra, I was thinking we'd be playing theatrics all day!" Athan yelled aloud, lifting the shield the moment the heavy gusts of wind subsided.
The dust which clouded Astravan then cleared to show his grip tightly clenched onto Nicolas' neck, as the artifact hunter remained slightly fixed into the stony blocks which constituted the castle walls.
"Nah." Astravan replied, his clutch still growing harder against Nicolas' neck.
"I just wanted to see how things would play out."
"After all…" Astravan's eyes glistened with a cold purple glow, reflecting the engulfing wrath that bubbled within his soul.
"From the very beginning—" A slight radiance of aura suddenly began to emanate from his mysterious hat, heightening the Machiavellian Trickster's terrifying presence.
"I KNEW HE WASN'T NICOLAS!"