Path of the Extra

Pale faces.

That was what the bloodied participants wore as they looked at Azriel and Caleus in horror, imagining the two of them about to fight.

Caleus’s eyes were just as wide as theirs, though for an entirely different reason. He was not angry.

He was shocked.

Then, in a tone full of disbelief, he said,

“Jasmine has been kidnapped? Why the fuck did you not lead with that!? How could that have happened!?”

Azriel’s lips twitched.

“Celestina has also been kidnapped.”

“Who the fuck cares about Celestina? She’s useless! As are you! How could the both of you let that happen when you were with Jasmine!?”

“Have you forgotten which one of us is holding your spear?”

Caleus clicked his tongue, looking both furious and frustrated.

“We need to get her back.”

“You don’t fucking say. What the hell do you think I’m doing here? I already know where they are. I just need Lioren.”

“Why would you need him if you already know where Jasmine is? Just go get her back! Gods, do you need a babysitter, Azriel?!”

“Because a master dressed in some absurdly cool knight-like armor showed up, tried to take Nol and a little girl I temporarily kidnapped, and intended to drag them off. Meanwhile, Jasmine and Celestina were taken without a sound, and I have no idea how many masters they have on their side. So of course I’m going to get Lioren first and have him kill them all.”

A baffled expression spread across Caleus’s face.

“That… that is impossible. We accounted for everything. The only human ranked as a master who should still be in the kingdom is the duchess, and she is supposed to be protecting the palace.”

“Well, your calculations are wrong. Now tell me where Lioren is.”

Looking increasingly incensed, Caleus gritted his teeth.

“I don’t know! I’ve been looking for him myself, but he’s nowhere to be found! And sunrise is in two hours—that’s when we were supposed to leave for the summit. We can’t continue with the plan until Jasmine is found… and that Celestina too.”

Azriel’s expression darkened at the answer he had not wanted to hear.

“…What about those twins?” Azriel asked.

Caleus nodded.

“I was about to search for them.”

“Then let’s go.”

Azriel said it immediately, and Caleus gave another sharp nod.

“Let’s go.”

And just like that, the Nebula heir and the Crimson prince left the bloodstained garden behind, walking away from the scattered corpses and the stunned participants—both the living and the dead-eyed—who could only watch them go.

*****

Standing in front of the room where the Dusk twins were supposedly hiding, Caleus kicked the door wide open.

Inside, they were met by the pale faces of the twins, both of whom looked terrified at whoever had barged in—only for relief to flood their expressions the moment they recognized Caleus.

“Ah, Prince Caleus! Thank the gods! We thought you were one of those insane participants trying to murder us!”

“Yeah, now that you’re here, we’re safe…!”

Vioren and Hioren both slumped back onto the bed, sighing in relief.

Caleus, however, looked at them with open disgust.

“You’re telling me these two managed to get green markers without doing a single thing? Are the gods mad? No—why am I even asking something so stupid? Of course they are.”

Their faces turned even paler at his words.

“Prince Caleus, now is not the time to insult the gods!”

“You should repent! Quickly, before it is too late, Your Highness!”

Azriel stepped to Caleus’s side with a disappointed expression.

“Well, I suppose they’ve become believers of the Church,” Azriel muttered, which only seemed to make Caleus angrier.

“Where is your brother?” Caleus asked impatiently.

But the moment the twins’ eyes landed on Azriel, their faces twisted with bitterness, then hardened into open hatred.

“As if we would speak in front of that trash! Your Highness, this is the perfect chance to kill him! With the three of us, he doesn’t—ahhk!”

Hioren was cut off as Caleus suddenly lunged forward and seized both brothers by the neck.

“I do not have time for your squabbles. Where is your brother?”

“Wait, Caleus.”

Azriel’s voice made Caleus turn toward him with irritation, though he released Vioren and threw him aside.

“Huh? Don’t get full of yourself now, you useless little brother. What happened back in the garden is the only pass I’m giving you.”

But Azriel ignored him and walked coldly toward Vioren.

Vioren tried to rise—

but he was too slow.

Azriel caught his arm and snapped it.

The sound of bone breaking like a dry branch echoed through the room, spilling even into the hallway, followed by a silence so horrified it felt dead.

For a moment, all three of them simply stared, struggling to understand what had just happened.

Then Vioren screamed.

“A-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! M-My arm! My arm! H-He broke my arm! B-Brother! Brother! Help! Aaaargh! Kkhh—! It hurts! Ahhgh!”

Tears streamed down his face.

Azriel did not stop.

He rolled him over, planted a foot on Vioren’s back, and looked coldly at Hioren, who was still in Caleus’s grip. Yet the twin looked far more frightened of Azriel and what he had done than of Caleus holding him by the throat.

“If you haven’t told me where Lioren is by the time I’m done torturing your brother, you’ll be next.”

He said it with a face so disquieting that Hioren visibly shuddered.

Then Azriel pressed his foot down harder.

A new series of cracks began to sound.

“A-arghh! S-stop! Please, stop! B-Brother! Hio-Hioren! Hic—hic—help! Please!”

Caleus’s grip loosened as he stared at Azriel in surprise.

“What you’re hearing,” Azriel said, “are the smaller bones in his back breaking one by one. It won’t be long before his spine snaps. And if he loses consciousness before then, I’ll wake him up and move on to his other arm before I finish with his skull.”

Hioren stumbled backward and collapsed onto the bed, his entire body trembling as he stared into Azriel’s eyes.

“S-stop…” Hioren whispered.

“P-Please… stop… D-Do-Azriel… I-I’m sorry… we-we’re sorry for everything we’ve done to you… just please… spare my brother… please…”

The most horrifying part was that Azriel did not soften in the slightest.

Vioren’s screams never stopped.

“I don’t give a shit about that. Tell me where Lioren is, or this won’t stop until he dies.”

Hioren looked at him with a shattered expression and finally gave in.

“W-we don’t know… I swear by the gods… A-all he told us was that… that something troubling came up, and he was going to deal with it before sunrise… p-please… please let him go now, Azriel, I’m begging you! You can’t kill him! He’s a prince! If you kill him, it’ll mean war between the Dusk and Crimson clans! Y-you don’t want that, right?”

“…”

Azriel said nothing.

Growing more desperate as Vioren’s sobs and screams filled the room, Hioren turned in panic toward Caleus.

“P-Prince Caleus… please… do something…”

Caleus glanced at him, then back at Azriel.

“You really don’t care who you have to kill, do you?” Caleus asked, watching as Azriel continued pressing mercilessly into Vioren’s back.

The tension became too much for Hioren. He began crying openly now.

He was scared.

Azriel was scaring him.

Azriel… was even scaring Caleus.

“I don’t,” Azriel replied calmly.

“You disgust me, Azriel. Were you always like this? Hiding what you truly were? Or did the Void Realm change you?”

Azriel looked at Caleus and smirked.

“I won’t tell you. So for the rest of your life, you can keep wondering.”

At last, Azriel lifted his foot from Vioren’s back.

Hioren shut his eyes and let out a trembling breath of relief.

…Then a sickening crunch split the room.

Hioren’s eyes flew open.

Azriel’s foot was back on his brother’s back.

Only now, the back was broken.

Azriel had crushed his spine.

“Oh…” Hioren said, his voice empty, defeated.

At last, Azriel stepped away and began walking toward Hioren.

Vioren was either unconscious—

or dead.

“What is the point of harming him now?” Caleus asked, his face unreadable, while Hioren no longer even tried to move.

“Lioren must have placed something on them with his [Unique Skill],” Azriel replied. “If they’re only injured—or even killed—he’ll know they need his help.”

“…Then there is no reason to hurt him anymore, is there? You’ve already deprived us of one useful pawn. I am as frustrated as you are, but you need to stop.”

“I’ll stop when I decide to stop. And perhaps if I kill one brother and leave the other half-dead, Lioren will understand just how serious the situation is.”

Caleus said nothing after that.

He simply watched Azriel with that same calculating look in his eyes.

Hioren, too, said nothing.

With hollow eyes, he only looked up at Azriel as Azriel looked down at him with the same cold stare.

“I think…” Azriel said quietly, “I am more petty than I thought.”

Hioren bit his lip and lowered his gaze.

Azriel raised a hand toward his neck.

He was about to snap it as well—

when a loud bang exploded from the doorway.

The already open door was slammed back even harder, and Lumine stood there, bracing himself against the frame, breathing hard as he looked desperately at Azriel.

“S-stop, please… s-spare them, Azriel… I-I can help you… I can help you save Jasmine without Prince Lioren…”