The underworld of Egginis—the Assassin Guilds.
The battle between these two Assassin Guilds was conducted in secret… yet it was anything but quiet.
"Damn it, why the hell is Fusetsu attacking us?!"
"How should I know!? Just focus on fighting back for now! We need to minimize our losses as much as possible! Reinforcements will be here soon!"
"Those bastards must have rolled over and shown their bellies to Rei!"
The assassins of Blood Blade desperately tried to think of a way to reverse the current situation.
However, because this was a sudden assault, Blood Blade had been caught completely off guard—unlike Fusetsu, who had come fully prepared.
When Target Rei had appeared in the Slum District, they had been on high alert. But for some reason, Rei had headed for Fusetsu's base instead, leaving Blood Blade untouched.
After that, Rei had left the Slum District entirely, so Blood Blade had judged that nothing would happen today… only for Fusetsu's assassins to launch their attack.
It would have been stranger not to suspect Rei's involvement.
Still, whether Rei was involved or not didn't change the fact that they were currently under attack by Fusetsu.
What they needed to do now wasn't complain about Rei's involvement, but to repel Fusetsu.
"Shit, this isn't just some simple raid! Even Gigalana is here!"
The moment they heard that Fusetsu's strongest assassin had joined the assault, a chill ran down the spines of every Blood Blade assassin.
At that point, it was already decided that Blood Blade's losses would be devastating in terms of combat power.
To make matters worse, two of their assassins had already been rendered unusable in the recent attempts on Rei, and the woman who had disguised herself as a maid to infiltrate the Star River Inn had already been killed in the fighting up to this point.
Surprise attacks were a tactic assassins were well accustomed to using.
However, while they were used to launching them, they were not used to being on the receiving end.
As a result, Blood Blade's assassins were being cut down one after another.
Of course, that didn't mean Blood Blade was being trampled one-sidedly.
"Gah…"
"Damn it, Zarath's been taken out! There's a strong one! Watch yourselves!"
A Fusetsu assassin shouted upon seeing a comrade with a short sword buried in his neck.
Just as Fusetsu had its strongest assassin in the form of Gigalana, Blood Blade naturally had members with high combat ability as well.
"Leave this to me and move on ahead."
"Gigalana-san!?"
The man who had announced his comrade's death to those around him let out a voice mixed with both surprise and relief upon seeing the figure who had stepped forward to block the enemy.
In the current situation, there were few people more reliable than this man.
Precisely because they understood that, Gigalana's presence filled them with relief.
…Relief, yes, but at the same time, it also meant that Fusetsu's strongest combat power was present here.
Was that really alright? Wouldn't it be better for someone like Gigalana to head to a more critical part of the battlefield?
Such doubts crossed their minds, but before they could say anything, Gigalana spoke.
"I won't repeat myself. Leave this place to me and go."
At those words spoken a second time, the assassin judged that staying here any longer would only get in the way. He bowed his head and left the area.
The reason they had even had the leeway for such an exchange was because Gigalana had been keeping the enemy assassin in front of him in check with nothing but his gaze and presence.
Once only Gigalana and the Blood Blade assassin remained, the Blood Blade assassin spoke.
"I never imagined someone of your caliber would show up. What were you thinking, doing something this stupid?"
"Stupid, huh? Yeah, I suppose if you think about it normally, this is a stupid thing to do. But for Fusetsu to survive as an Assassin Guild, this was the only choice we had."
"…What?"
The other party looked as if he couldn't understand what Gigalana was saying.
Judging that the man either didn't know the detailed circumstances of this matter or hadn't tried to learn them, Gigalana readied his short swords in both hands.
"Looks like you really don't know the situation. In that case, I have nothing more to say. Die."
Dual Sword Style was originally extremely difficult to master.
Since these were short swords, the weight was far more manageable compared to dual-wielding long swords, but even so, it required both hands to perform completely different movements simultaneously.
In other words, an ability akin to parallel thinking was necessary.
Without that, even if one attempted Dual Sword Style, they would never be able to display its true potential.
In that sense, one could understand just how abnormal Rei was for mastering the Twin Spear Style, wielding both a large scythe and a spear.
Of course, in Rei's case, the fact that his body had been created using the full extent of the Zephyle Clan's technological prowess was likely also a major contributing factor.
At any rate, while there were those who took up Dual Sword Style simply because it looked cool, the number of people who could truly master it remained very small.
Gigalana was one of those few.
"Let's go!"
With that shout, Gigalana closed the distance between them.
However, his opponent was also one of the top-tier fighters within Blood Blade.
The man avoided the two swinging blades by retreating backward and thrust out his rapier.
Unlike ordinary long swords, a rapier was a weapon specialized for thrusting.
There was also the estoc, a similar weapon, but while the estoc was essentially a type of two-handed sword, the rapier was designed to be wielded in one hand.
In other words, while both weapons focused on thrusting, the rapier was lighter. …Which meant it could deliver even faster thrusts than an estoc.
That said, while a thrust was one of the fastest strikes among Sword Skills, it was difficult to inflict a fatal wound unless it pierced a vital point.
The reason the man was using a rapier even in such a situation was likely because of the poison coating its blade.
Even if he couldn't pierce a vital point, as long as he landed even a grazing wound, victory would be assured.
In that case, a rapier specialized for the fastest possible thrusts became a truly heinous weapon.
In a knight's duel, using poison would undoubtedly be denounced as cowardly.
However, this was not a knight's duel—it was a battle between assassins.
There were no rules here. The only priority was killing the opponent.
In fact, even upon seeing the rapier whose blade was drenched in poison, Gigalana showed no particular displeasure.
That said, Gigalana's short swords were not coated in poison.
For Gigalana, this was partly because killing his opponent with ordinary short sword strikes was simply faster than using poison.
Additionally, having poison on one's blade required extremely careful handling of the weapon.
That hassle was another reason Gigalana avoided using poison.
…The poison in question was the type that prioritized killing the opponent as quickly as possible, without relying on delayed effects.
Precisely because of that, carelessly touching the poison could lead to disaster.
"Shaa!"
While dodging the rapidly thrust attacks, Gigalana tried to close the distance.
But the opponent, understanding that allowing Gigalana into his range would mean certain defeat, unleashed a relentless barrage of thrusts with almost no pause to breathe.
"Not bad. However…"
Gigalana kicked off the ground with a light tap.
In the next instant, his running speed increased dramatically, and he closed the distance in a single burst.
The movement must have been completely unexpected, because the man reacted with surprise… yet still swung his rapier in a horizontal sweep.
Since the blade was coated in poison, even such an attack could prove fatal.
However, Gigalana crouched low to evade the strike, and in the very next moment drove the tip of his short sword into the man's flank.
As assassins, they generally did not wear much in the way of armor.
Even if they did, it would only be light equipment that did not hinder their movements—something akin to thickly woven cloth clothing.
Even clothing designed as assassin armor possessed considerable defensive power, yet Gigalana's short sword was an exceptionally fine blade, and his skill with it was first-rate. The blade pierced through the clothing as if such defense meant nothing.
"Guh… ooh…"
After stabbing the short sword in, he pulled it free.
That was all Gigalana had done, but when extracting the blade, he did not simply withdraw it—he twisted his wrist, tearing through the man's internal organs as he pulled it out.
The action also served to widen the wound, making it far more difficult to recover from.
…Though for the person on the receiving end, it resulted in overwhelming pain far beyond that of a normal stab.
The strike was not one that delivered immediate fatal damage like poison would.
The man groaned in burning agony from his abdomen, but he still endured the intense pain and swung his rapier.
Naturally, compared to when he was in perfect condition, the power, speed, and sharpness of the blow had dropped considerably.
Even so, it was still a sharp strike that would have been more than enough against most battle-hardened opponents.
Yet even in perfect condition the man had been unable to land a hit on Gigalana, so there was no way he could do anything in this state.
The rapier strike was evaded, and in the next instant his neck was sliced open… and the man collapsed onto the floor.
"Next."
Even after killing a man who would be considered one of the strong within Blood Blade, there was no hint of fatigue in Gigalana's voice.
He immediately searched for his next opponent and continued exploring Blood Blade's base.
There were several hidden passages and hidden rooms, but since they were fellow assassins, the members of Fusetsu quickly discovered them.
Blood Blade members were also hiding in the rooms beyond those hidden passages and in the secret chambers, but they were swiftly eliminated by Fusetsu's assassins.
Once the battle had shifted to a head-on collision and Blood Blade's losses had grown severe, there was no longer any chance of victory for them.
Even so, Blood Blade continued to resist.
After all, if they lost, the only outcome was total annihilation.
If surrender had been an option, the situation might have played out differently… but unfortunately, for Fusetsu, Blood Blade was a target that had to be completely eradicated. They were not an opponent who would be allowed to surrender.
The battle continued amidst such exchanges… and in the end, every single person present at the base was killed.
"Search for documents and treasure! The documents are especially important! We need to find out exactly who targeted Crimson Rei!"
While the treasure was also important, what mattered most to Gigalana was the documents.
After all, the information written in those documents would determine whether Fusetsu could survive.
For the time being, they had crushed Blood Blade, the guild that had been targeting Rei.
At the very least, they had succeeded in killing every member who had been at the base today.
There might have been a few who happened to be away and thus survived, but with such small numbers it would be impossible for them to rebuild the organization.
They had also received reports that the leader of the organization had already been killed.
In that sense, there was no need to worry.
However, there was always the possibility of the unexpected.
What Nina had promised Rei was not only the destruction of the organization, but also information on who had targeted him.
Rather, from Rei's perspective, that information was undoubtedly far more important than the destruction of the Assassin Guild targeting him.
Therefore, they had to obtain that information no matter what.
Of course, it wasn't just the identity of the person who had commissioned Rei's assassination; there were many other pieces of information they wanted as well.
Even though this was a transaction with Rei, they had still destroyed Blood Blade at the cost of considerable deaths and injuries.
Since they had also promised to hand over the treasure to Rei, it was only natural that they would want to gain some kind of benefit from the information Blood Blade had possessed.
Information that had nothing to do with Rei but would be advantageous to Fusetsu.
If they didn't at least bring back that much, the negative repercussions for Fusetsu would be far too great.
There was no doubt that Fusetsu's reputation would plummet because of this incident.
Precisely because of that, they could not afford to cut any corners here.
"Gigalana-san, look at this! It seems Blood Blade was also connected to the Dertona Trading Company!"
"The Dertona Trading Company? In a way, that makes sense."
The Dertona Trading Company was one of the companies with a particularly bad reputation even within Egginis.
Given that, it wasn't strange for them to be connected to an Assassin Guild like Blood Blade.
…Though if they were going to say that, Fusetsu itself was also an Assassin Guild, so they weren't really in any position to talk.
"Ah, found it! It was hidden deep inside the vault! It's about the assassination request for Rei!"
At the information they wanted most, Gigalana immediately ordered the document brought to him…
"What? Why is it… Rei…?"
Upon seeing the name written on the document… the contract, Gigalana let out a voice of shock.