Even as Shirone ran toward Zion's Objets gallery, he couldn't shake off strange thoughts and worries.
Though he knew it could never really happen, scenes he never wanted to see kept filling his head—images of Amy in danger, or Amy choosing to follow Zion for some reason.
'What am I even thinking?' Shirone scolded himself.
He had to judge the situation rationally and clearly.
First of all, what was Amy's reason for following Zion? She wasn't the type to move hastily about anything. But she was also the same person who had left immediately to Galliant Island because she was worried about Shirone's safety back then.
'Yeah, it was like that before,' Shirone remembered. 'Because I met Sister Marsha and came back late...'
Then, he suddenly thought that maybe Amy felt hurt by something he had done. Did dancing with her sister Reina hurt Amy's feelings?
Even though Shirone had known it was a trap when he went to Falcoa, thinking about it now, maybe there was some truth to that worry.
'No, I'm thinking too much about this,' Shirone told himself. 'Dancing with Reina was already part of the plan to expose the enemy. Amy couldn't be upset about that.'
Though he thought this way, Shirone wasn't really sure.
The reason was simple. When he had seen Amy dancing with Zion earlier, some unpleasant feelings had stirred in his own heart too.
Wouldn't Amy feel something similar?
If she had felt the same uncomfortable feelings, she might have followed Zion even with the slightest motivation or reason—perhaps to understand something, or maybe even as a small form of revenge.
Because Amy was such a tender-hearted, emotional person.
Shirone's steps became faster. Even though he tried to use his logical mind to control his emotions, his heart was beating faster than before instead of calming down.
"Huh?" Shirone said suddenly.
Shirone hurriedly stopped walking and looked back over his shoulder.
After coming down to the basement corridor, the back of his neck had been strangely creepy, like someone was watching him. However, there wasn't even a single mouse to be seen on the path he had just walked, let alone any sign of another person.
"Is it just my imagination?" Shirone wondered aloud.
Shirone rubbed his neck nervously and started moving forward slowly again.
The Spider Assassin
'Got you. No, no, not yet,' a voice thought from above.
The moment Shirone moved forward, a man hanging upside down from the ceiling where Shirone had just been standing opened his mouth slightly. It was Spartul Xenoger, who had been given the special mission to assassinate Shirone.
He was clinging to the ceiling using only his ten fingers.
His spider mimicry ability gave his clan the power to overcome gravity and stick to surfaces like a spider.
Tiny hairs growing on his fingertips and strong adhesive oil leaking from his skin were supporting his entire body weight through a chemical reaction.
Of course, this was also supported by the physical training he had gone through during assassination practice. His lower body was supported only by the incredible strength of his upper body.
Also, the oil leaking from his finger skin would evaporate within twenty seconds of him stopping the flow, leaving no trace of his presence behind.
He was a near-perfect assassin.
Xenoger lowered his long tongue down to the bottom of his chin, then swallowed it back up.
'He's pretty good prey,' Xenoger thought. 'Like... a mosquito that's hard to catch.'
But Xenoger was only thinking this because he continued to shoot very fine killing intent at Shirone to test him.
It was the basic principle of an assassin to observe the reaction of the prey and consider the best way to kill them. Xenoger could kill Shirone whenever he wanted. He was just being patient and studying Shirone carefully for a one hundred percent success rate.
'Well, that's right,' Xenoger thought to himself.
Assassins were those who used circumstances and situations rather than pure force. That's why it was also a profession where people spent an extremely large amount of time alone throughout their lives. Xenoger had the habit of talking to himself because he had to make his own judgments and evaluations on everything.
Xenoger liked his job as an assassin. It was much more sophisticated than being a hitman who just attacked targets head-on and hoped for the best.
Although his body had become so bizarre and spider-like that he couldn't blend into normal human society anymore, that was the height of functional beauty pursued by the assassin clan called Spartul.
'A little more... shall I mess with him?' Xenoger thought with cruel amusement.
Xenoger caught up with his prey by moving along the wall using his ten fingers like a spider. Then he pulled out a strand of spider web from his body and lowered himself down behind Shirone's back.
A thin thread of web stuck to the ceiling, and Xenoger's body swung forward through the air like a pendulum. Even a slight breeze would normally shake someone hanging like this, but perfect control was not difficult for someone from the spider clan.
The back of Shirone's head was right in front of Xenoger now. He was at such a close distance that Shirone's hair would move if Xenoger breathed out. Shirone's white neck, looking as smooth as fish flesh, made Xenoger want to bite into it.
Xenoger pursed his lips and slowly moved his fingers toward Shirone's neck.
'Where should I touch to get a reaction?' Xenoger wondered with anticipation.
Xenoger's fingers came so close they almost touched the tiny hairs on Shirone's neck. It was so close that he had practically reached his target.
Shirone suddenly turned his head away with a surprised expression on his face.
But all Shirone could see was the scenery of the underground passage. Even the flickering patterns of light from the torches seemed to be exactly the same as before.
"What is this feeling?" Shirone muttered.
It was strange. Maybe he was just being overly sensitive today, but Shirone kept feeling like something was bothering his senses and hitting his nerves.
'There's nothing wrong with making this clear,' Shirone decided.
Shirone pretended to move forward slowly. Then he suddenly expanded his spirit zone—the magical sense that let him perceive his surroundings.
"..." Shirone concentrated.
All kinds of information came flooding into his mind through synesthesia—the magical sense that combined all his perceptions.
There were a lot of little things moving around everywhere. Probably rats or cockroaches, since there was a food storage area nearby.
"Ugh..." Shirone grimaced.
He wiped away the goosebumps that appeared on his arm.
In any case, the only things he felt through synesthesia were small objects and creatures. After being threatened with assassination attempts for several days, Shirone wondered if something was going wrong with his nervous system—if he was just being paranoid.
"Phew, let's go quickly," Shirone said, shaking off the feeling.
As Shirone moved away down the corridor, a satisfied smile appeared on Xenoger's lips as he clung to the ceiling above.
'He tried to detect me. But he failed. Now you can celebrate your death,' Xenoger thought triumphantly.
The Blind Spot of the Spirit Zone
The wizard's spirit zone was one of the trickiest abilities for close-combat assassins to deal with. This was because it wasn't easy to approach wizards who could perceive things through synesthesia by expanding their minds outward.
But assassins had a saying:
There is no sense without a blind spot.
The spirit zone integrated all information within its area of effect. It was a quality close to a kind of sixth sense, not a precise feeling like sight, hearing, or touch.
So then, what if an assassin became perfectly matched to a specific object or part of the environment? As a sixth sense that accepted information as a whole, the spirit zone couldn't distinguish the difference between two objects that felt exactly the same.
That was the blind spot of the sixth sense.
Just as creatures in the natural world had mastered hiding techniques through evolution over millions of years, assassins had also developed unique techniques while fighting against spirit zone users over the ages.
That technique was called "equalization"—the ability to make yourself feel exactly like your surroundings.
'Well, that's right,' Xenoger thought smugly.
Shirone had felt Xenoger's presence through the spirit zone. But he couldn't tell the difference between the stone wall and Xenoger with only his sixth sense. They felt exactly the same.
And this was exactly what Xenoger had been aiming for.
A magician's dependence on the spirit zone was as great as an ordinary person's dependence on their eyesight. Wizards even thought that if they couldn't feel something with their spirit zone, it didn't exist at all.
That was the reason Xenoger had been testing and stimulating Shirone's senses so far.
After Shirone had checked his surroundings with the spirit zone and found nothing unusual, his alertness level was much lower than before.
That's why he would die now.
Xenoger wasn't the one who would kill Shirone. The circumstances and situation would kill him.
A hitman, who specialized in quick attacks and escapes, would risk his life even with a fifty percent chance of success. But an assassin wouldn't move easily even with a ninety-nine percent chance. The only time they moved was when the target took the first step into the swamp of death by themselves—when they became completely vulnerable.
This was the reason why high-ranking people in power feared one assassin more than many armies. Once an assassin appeared and targeted you, it meant that your current situation was already in the middle of death itself—you just didn't know it yet.
However, the best assassin was not necessarily the best swordsman or fighter. This was because "equalization" was such a difficult skill that you had to devote your whole life to it to become a master.
But assassins were strong in their own way.
If regular swordsmen fought with equal ability throughout a battle—giving one hundred percent from start to finish—then assassins were those who became invincible for just one crucial moment out of a hundred, and used that single moment to defeat their opponent.
So there was nothing wrong with what Shirone had done. He had simply believed what his senses told him. And Xenoger had used that blind spot to make his target completely defenseless.
The current Xenoger was invincible in this single moment.
'Well then, shall we finish this?' Xenoger thought.