So it is done

Curioser and curioser

Of course, the sudden and unwarranted act of violence needed an explanation from Cinder. But all that Cinder could answer him with was that she sensed danger, a real feeling of danger out of nowhere, and she had reacted purely on reflexes.

It was... A rather strange and only partially workable explanation.

Jonathan hadn't noticed anything of the sort even after Cinder had thrown the knife, though of course he'd been distracted. But that still didn't change the fact that there was nothing in the place where Cinder had thrown the knife that other people could have noticed.

So, why did Cinder feel a sense of danger?

There were many possibilities, from sudden unmotivated aggression, to hallucinations, but Jonathan was well aware that the world was too big for even the strangest and most improbable options to be dismissed so easily. And so before coming to a definite conclusion, he at least ventured to inspect where the knife had struck...

To find, the knife was not only stuck quite deep in the wall, but that there was a small red smudge of blood on its blade.

Blood that had appeared out of nowhere.

Could Cinder have injured her hand by accident? A further quick inspection showed Jonathan that this was not the case. So the blood had come from somewhere... the only question was, from where?

There were, in fact, an insane number of possibilities where the blood could have come from.

Without even dismissing the strangest ones, like that the blood had simply materialized out of nowhere, or that the blood on the blade came from a wound on the wall itself. In fact, there were many incredible possibilities that cannot really be discounted. But then there's no need to think that hard, there is one simplest possibility that can explain everything neatly.

Something or someone was in front of that wall, something that was invisible to the eye.

So... Invisibility.

Of course, Jonathan would most likely be able to sense a strong magical background if someone in his presence was making themselves invisible using magic... Well, maybe, for all his achievements, he was still not a master of the arcane. So, a greater practitioner would probably be able to pull the wool over his eyes easily. But then again, such a Mage would not bother doing such things in the dark. On the other hand, if it was not actually a magical ability, then every piece of the puzzle would fall into place.

Well, more accurately speaking, it was magical from the average man's point of view, but actually non-magical to him, an awakened one. Hmm, was it semblances, was that the name Hunters gave to their special abilities?

Jonathan had somewhat studied the subject of Semblances, the special powers one with an awakened Aura can one day acquire. But the extent of his study was only to what he could gather without invading the secret archives of Atlas, so he couldn't state with certainty whether or not it could have been a Semblance. Still, various types of Semblances that granted invisibility did exist in this world.

Huh, actually, if it was only invisibility, and he does have a drop of their blood, well... Even if it was only a drop, he had the wounded's blood. At the very least, he could try to determine if what was here was a living being and where it was at the moment.

Magic really was useful to the extreme in all areas.

However, before he got down to it, Jonathan had a really important thing he needed to do first.

Turning to the frozen and silent attendees of Cinder's birthday party, who were somewhat hushed as they watched him inspect the knife, Jonathan sighed. "Excuse me, but it seems to me... well unfortunately, Cinder, your party has to be postponed."