Path of the Extra

“You are going to die.”

Those words rang clearly through the festival streets, heard by the people of the Sun without the slightest ambiguity.

What made it all the more shocking was who had spoken them.

An unknown young boy.

A boy with a face so beautiful it made him seem almost angelic.

A mysterious angel telling a knight of the Sun that he would kill her.

How strange.

…How thrilling!

…If not for the horrifying pressure pouring from the two of them, making it nearly impossible for most people to even remain standing.

Luckily, both of their auras lessened soon after, though that only made the crowd even more uneasy. Anyone with the slightest education knew that aura—mana will—was something only a master possessed.

And since both the mysterious boy and the knight had used it…

That meant both were masters.

Both were monsters in human skin, capable of slaughtering everyone here.

Yet no one left.

Humans were often far too curious for their own good, and the proud knight standing tall before them gave many the foolish comfort that everything would somehow be fine.

“How can an Expert use mana will?” Dame Selene’s monotonous voice emerged from behind her helmet.

“Did you hurt them?” Azriel replied instead, his voice as cold as the arctic frost while the white lightning slowly faded from his body.

“Are those two close to you as well?” she asked.

“No. My sister is not so weak that she would lose to you so quickly without me noticing. Nor would you have come away unharmed if she and Celestina were together. The two of them have near-perfect chemistry. They can perform Soul Synchronisation without even being saints…”

“Sister? Then are you a member of the Inverse Creed as well?”

“Perhaps you came with multiple knights?”

…The two of them simply ignored each other’s questions.

They were not in sync.

No, pride would not allow either of them to bend first and answer the other directly.

Until Dame Selene finally relented, letting out a quiet sigh behind her helmet.

“I am only following orders from the True Sun of Ismyr.”

She seemed to think for a moment before speaking again.

“I can take you to your sister and the other girl if you hand over those two. I will also take you to see the True Sun, so long as you surrender and behave.”

Azriel narrowed his eyes at her. Then he turned and looked back at Nol and Lia. Seeing their pale, frightened faces, he made his decision and faced the white knight once more.

This time, Azriel sighed.

“I refuse. You will be of no help to me, since I already know where you have hidden them.”

For the first time, his words seemed to stun the knight.

Azriel stretched his neck slowly, then fixed the lovely dame with a murderous gaze and spoke in a voice that seemed capable of poisoning the heart.

“But I promise you, knight—if I find even a single scratch on either of them, I will drag your bloodied, broken face across the pavement of these filthy streets while every house burns around us. Fire. Blood. Screams filling this kingdom you swore to protect. Your people falling to their knees, praying to gods who will do nothing but laugh while I reduce everything they love to ash.”

“….”

A horrifying silence spread everywhere in the wake of Azriel’s words.

It reached every ear.

And it was then that the people gathered there realized the angelic boy was not angelic at all.

No—

He was something far darker than he appeared.

A few more moments passed in silence. At last, some in the crowd regained enough sense to realize they should not remain any longer. Before everything truly went to hell, they quietly began to slip away.

Then Dame Selene spoke, her voice firm and serious.

“What is your name?”

“Azriel,” he answered at once. “Azriel Crimson.”

She raised her sword and pointed it straight at him.

“Azriel of House Crimson—by the authority of the Crown, you stand accused of treason against the throne, the murder of a Royal Knight Captain, and the slaughter of countless citizens. You have threatened a knight of this kingdom and spoken of its destruction. Surrender yourself, give up your fellow companions of the Inverse Creed, or be struck down where you stand.”

Dozens of gulps echoed through the newly formed silence.

Treason?

The murder of a Royal Knight Captain?

The former captain… Captain Oscar?

And mass slaughter…

Of course, these were not crimes Azriel had committed alone as an individual, but acts attributed to the members of the Inverse Creed. Since Azriel had been deemed one of them, all of their accusations had now become his.

“Inverse Creed? That boy is part of that mysterious group people keep whispering about? The one that’s been causing so much chaos?”

Despite her words, Azriel did not panic.

He did not fear her.

To everyone watching, he remained as calm as a still lake.

“I refuse.”

“Master…”

He heard Nol’s anxious whisper from behind him.

“Please… let’s run away.”

He was scared.

’…How annoying. Does he not trust me to win?’

…How utterly annoying.

“If you are afraid, Nol, then retreat. I will catch up to you soon enough after dealing with her,” Azriel said without turning around, unable to see the stunned look on Nol’s face.

Unlike most people here, who had failed to hear Dame Selene call him an Expert, Nol already knew the truth.

Azriel facing a Master should have been suicide.

At least, that was how it was supposed to be.

And yet his master still stood there, filled with the kind of confidence that made it seem obvious he would be the one to walk away victorious.

Only a second after thinking that did Nol feel a gust of wind pass by him.

Dame Selene moved.

Azriel shifted as well, yet for some reason he still had not summoned his soul armor or soul weapon.

To the ordinary crowd, she vanished from sight.

Then she reappeared directly in front of Azriel, her sword raised above her head, ready to come crashing down—

And suddenly she stopped.

…No.

She had not stopped.

She had frozen.

So had everyone else.

Everyone except Azriel.

’I knew I felt the mana moving.’

It seemed Dame Selene had thought it was Azriel.

But it was not him.

Hesitantly, Azriel took a few slow steps back, his gaze fixed cautiously on the frozen knight, who remained suspended in place mid-motion.

“Master?”

He turned around and saw Nol calling to him, equally cautious and stunned, glancing around at him and the little girl. Lia was frozen too.

Everyone was.

Aside from them.

“Master, what is happening?”

“I am not sure yet,” Azriel said, gesturing for Nol to come closer.

“But stay near me for now.”

“What about the kid?”

“Leave her there for now. It’s not as though she’ll be going anywhere.”

’So time stopped, huh… but the mana is still moving frantically.’

At the same moment, a sudden sound rang out.

Ding! Ding!

Immediately, both Nol and Azriel looked up.

And the moment they did, the two of them felt as though they had just been struck by a wave of pure shock.

“Ahem! Ahem! Test, test! Can you all hear me? Yes? Great!”

The voice came from a strange creature floating in the air.

Yes…

A creature.

’Ah, shit…’ was the only thought that passed through Azriel’s mind as he took in the sight before him.

It was a tiny humanoid being, barely the size of a football, with olive skin, short blond hair, and literal golden eyes. But what stood out most were the two tiny horns protruding from its head, curved like those of a water buffalo, except they too were gold. From its back extended four tiny golden wings, two on each side.

Despite the wings, it did not flap them. It simply floated there, wearing a long pale cloak decorated with gold details, the cloth cut neatly where the horns and wings emerged.

The creature…

It was utterly adorable.

Even Azriel could not help but think it looked cute.

And yet, along with that thought came the creeping horror of what was about to happen—something he had thought would not occur in this scenario.

’Dammit… this late?’

“Hello, humans!” the creature said in a bright, cheerful voice, waving one tiny hand at Nol and Azriel.

“I am so excited to finally get to speak to you all! Really! I know you are probably all confused about who I am, but honestly, there was nothing I could do about it myself! I was supposed to greet you at the beginning of this trial, but for some reason something fishy has been going on in this scenario, and the ones above my pay grade did not allow anyone to intervene! Something about safety precautions! Ah, it was so frustrating to watch you all, though! What was this? Some kind of slice-of-life show? It’s totally not what I wanted! Where’s the entertainment? The drama? The suspense? The blood? The deaths? It lacks everything! None of this would have happened if I’d been there to spice things up! Seriously, this is one of the few scenarios that has taken so long to finish, all because of so many errors I don’t get paid enough to understand! But lucky for you—and for everyone watching—we’re finally allowed to get involved the way we should have from the beginning! The bugs are probably fixed, so we can finally get this party rolling!”

The little angel-like creature spun around in the air, giggling happily and innocently.

“Ah, yes, yes, I know you humans are still confused about who I might be, so let me get the introductions out of the way first!”

The creature bowed so deeply it looked as though its waist might snap.

Then, in the same bright, delighted voice, it said,

“I am a Designated Proctor of Theogeny, acting under the Divine Court, the one responsible for making sure everyone watching is entertained and that everything runs smoothly in this scenario. Which should have been my job from the very beginning instead of this late in the game, but oh well…”

Then it slowly lifted its little head and looked at Nol and Azriel.

And suddenly, a wicked grin spread across its adorable face.

It let out a laugh so devilishly cute that it was somehow even more unsettling.

“And humans, when I say everyone watching, I am referring to the gods. We placed you into this trial to see whether you are worthy of our grace. Oh, and yes—I said our race, because I belong to theirs as well…”

The little creature’s golden eyes gleamed.

“As an angel.”