Dimensional Descent

Silam was stunned silent, but Leonel only continued to smile lightly.

"How… How do you know this?"

"It's quite interesting actually, I was just flipping through the record of the Radix—"

"That's impossible. There's no way they would know something so sensitive or else they would have long since used it. With how precarious their situation against the Florer family has been, it's impossible that they wouldn't have used us to help clear them of their enemy."

Silam was originally a man of few words, but for some reason he found himself spilling in Leonel's presence. He ended up overcorrecting himself and speaking even more than he would have to usually. But, that didn't change the fact that he was correct.

The Florer family was too powerful and only seemed to steadily grow with every generation. Even with just half of the inheritance of the Silver Empire, the strength they displayed only grew more astounding with every successive generation. In fact, Silam had reason to believe that the strength they displayed now was just the tip of the iceberg. For whatever reason, the Florer family was very concerned with keeping a low profile.

Yet, contrary to that, the Florer family also seemed to be in constant war with the Radix and Midas families. Just on the surface, one could see that there was some sort of secret grudge the two families shared. But, as for the details, neither the Umbra, Rain or any of the other surrounding families had been able to find the truth.

This aside, Leonel stats were perfectly correct. Not only had the Florer won more than half the battles they fought with the Radix, even among the rest, the Radix and Midas still ended up losing all participants in 19% of cases. This was all to say that the Florer were slowly but surely winning the war.

With the Radix and Midas slowly losing ground, if they had such a trump card, wouldn't they have used it? It simply didn't make much sense.

"I couldn't help but notice that you didn't react much when I said the name Radlis." Leonel said lightly.

Silam narrowed his gaze, but didn't respond.

"I found your response to be quite interesting, because make no mistake, I was watching intently. I thought that if I mentioned Radlis, there would at least be something. I wouldn't call myself perfect, but if there's one thing I have, it's senses that are quite sharp.

"However, when I mentioned Radlis, there was absolutely nothing. Your heartbeat was extraordinarily steady, your gaze was placid, and your temperature remained unchanged. It wasn't until a split moment later when I mentioned potentially sparing you that you shifted and became cold, outright rejecting my proposal.

"I found that reaction to be quite fascinating.

"The odds of a family Head like yourself knowing a small figure like Radlis should probably be small. The exception would be if he was a member of your family, maybe your son or your grandson, or maybe if he was a great enough genius.

"I thought that maybe since the like of Radlis, Libli and the others were sent as the vanguard, that they had quite high standings amongst your families. Yet, not once did any of your Heads ask for their wellbeing during our battle or any time before. It made me realize that to you all, these youths were probably a dime a dozen.

"Reaching that conclusion, it should be quite obvious then why you didn't react. After all, you don't really know Radlis, isn't it normal? But the answer to that question would actually be no.

"The normal human reaction to hearing a name they weren't quite familiar with would be inquisition, a bit of processing, memory retrieval… Things of that sort. But your reaction was so benign that it was abnormal, don't you think?"

Silam's gaze narrowed further. Even now, he was kneeling on the ground, his arms spread outward and nailed seemingly in thin air.

"I found it odd, until I remembered the techniques of your Umbra family. From your records, you're not only adept in the Dark Elemental Force, you're excellent at concealment, you prefer short weapons or throwing weapons, your minds are resistant to mental probing and you're immune to poisons.

"Paint me a man who's quite fond of his cliches, but isn't that just the perfect character build of an assassin?

"Your lack of a reaction was a trained response you've honed over the years, correct? It probably makes you impossible to read for most people."

"It seems you're not most people." Silam said coldly.

Leonel chuckled. "Maybe not. But, I'm starting to think that I'm not quite normal to begin with. I scare myself sometimes. I wonder just how much of me is a façade I put up to protect myself… And how much of that façade is there to protect others."

Silam's pupils constricted. He felt an odd pressure coming from Leonel that made him feel suffocating.

A deep fear welled up in his heart, sweat involuntarily pouring down his brows and spine. It felt for a moment that he was before a wild beast.

Many people thought that the scariest thing about animals was their strength. Compared to humans, their teeth were sharper, their strikes were stronger, and their propensity for violence was far greater. But, as an assassin, Silam knew what truly scared most about animals…

In a day, humans might interact with dozens to hundreds of their peers. In each one of these reactions, there are clearly learned and easily observable behaviors one can detect. We can sense when someone is uncomfortable, when they're happy, when they're sad, and when they might grow violent…

Knowing these things is what helps humans survive. Only by being able to read the intentions of those around you could you maneuver about the world properly…

However, many humans couldn't read animals. A normal man could never tell when a snake is happy, or sad… or ready to lash out. Their faces were unreadable to the average person, and that was what was so fearsome about them.

And right this moment… Despite his years of experience…

Silam couldn't read Leonel at all.