"The reason that creature suddenly lashed out so violently was because of the formation covering Martial City," Xena explained.

"Based on my observations, this formation prevents Malevolent Phantoms from entering. That old man only got in because someone deliberately used a token to bring him inside. Even though he made it through, the formation still affected him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have killed so openly like you described."

Malevolent Phantoms were already difficult to deal with, and in