Path of the Extra

At once, as though the name itself were a curse upon his very existence, the mana that had been pouring down on him vanished.

Pollux immediately leaped back and glared at Aevor with a gaze full of ferocious hatred.

Only then did he truly see the body of the God of Time.

Aevor was cast in gold and ruin.

Pale, solemn light flickered across the cracks in his gilded skin, like sunlight bleeding through broken marble. Molten veins of radiance ran through him, glowing faintly beneath the surface, like the dying remnants of a shattered star.

His hair was long.

Golden.

From his back stretched wings—vast, withered, and spectral white. Even in their decay, they shifted subtly with each breath, as though time itself stirred between their feathers.

Upon his head rose long antlers, jagged and gnarled, twisting toward the sky like the roots of an upturned world.

And then...

His eyes.

Eyes without white.

Only irises of pure gold, burning with an otherworldly beauty.

A beguiling smile rested upon Aevor’s face as he looked at Pollux.

Lucifer and the Second Authority trembled, neither daring to raise their heads. Whether it was out of love, fear, reverence, or something else entirely, Pollux did not know.

Nor did he care.

”The anger in your eyes has not lessened since the last time I saw you, boy.”

”You dare show yourself in front of me...!”

”You have grown into a fine man.”

”Shut up!”

Aevor tilted his head slightly.

”What would shutting up accomplish? You speak boldly, and yet you remain the same little child I met back then. You know how you will die. You know how your race will die. You know how you must live.”

His gaze cooled.

”And still, you fail to do what must be done.”

A look of disappointment settled across Aevor’s face.

Pollux shuddered. His teeth remained clenched so tightly that blood began to seep from his lips.

”I do not care...” he hissed. ”You are still the one who ordered the attack on my race. I will kill you for that...!”

”Watch your mouth, Emperor Pollux!”

The Second Authority immediately shouted in anger.

Lucifer lifted his head as well, glaring at Pollux, while the false Pollux shifted his stance beside him.

”Enough.”

One word.

That was all Aevor spoke.

And yet, at that single word, their bodies ceased to move.

Their eyes widened.

Their faces paled even further as realization struck them.

Aevor had stopped their movements by freezing the time around their bodies.

”I have not come to help you with your grudge against me.”

The Second Authority’s voice trembled.

”Forgive us, Father, for showing you such unbecoming—”

”It is all right.”

They looked up at him.

Suddenly, an affectionate smile appeared on Aevor’s face, accompanied by a fatherly gaze directed toward Lucifer and the Second Authority.

Something dark and ugly continued to build inside Pollux as he watched it.

Aevor turned his eyes back to him.

”I came here to tell you the truth. I am aware of the plan. One could almost call it rebellion against our race.”

He paused.

”But then again, it was the Goddess of Death and I who created this plan in the first place.”

”..!”

Pollux’s eyes trembled.

”What...? You...” His voice strained. ”You were working with her?”

”Of course.”

Aevor looked at Pollux, and the warmth in his expression vanished, replaced by a cold, ancient gaze.

”If you had realized that I was the one pulling the strings all along, you would have been much harder to convince.”

Slowly, Aevor walked toward Pollux.

And for a single moment, when the God of Time took that first step forward, Pollux found himself swallowed by pure, pitch-black darkness.

Then he looked up.

A gargantuan figure loomed above him.

Aevor.

Vast beyond reason, gazing down as though Pollux were nothing more than a trembling insect beneath the shadow of his hand.

”Ah...”

”It was also me who tampered with time,” Aevor said. ”When you visited the Son of Death and watched him fight that pitiful creature.”

The more he spoke, the deeper their shock became.

Pollux’s eyes trembled.

But it was more because of the shock that Aevor admitted that... Pollux only realized Aevor was behind the issue with time back at the containment facility after seeing Azriel’s memories.

Lucifer’s expression stiffened.

Even the Second Authority seemed unable to hide the unease crawling across his face.

”You are all risking your lives by confronting an anomaly you do not understand,” Aevor continued.

”So, at the very least, the one mercy I can offer is this.”

His golden eyes narrowed.

”I will make you understand what it is you are truly facing.”

At last, the spell of frozen time released them.

Pollux and the false Pollux could move their bodies again, yet neither of them lowered their guard. Both remained vigilant, watching Aevor with cold, cautious eyes.

Aevor turned to Lucifer and the Second Authority.

His voice became commanding.

”You may stand.”

Obeying the Father of Time, Lucifer and the Second Authority rose.

Neither spoke.

They only watched him carefully.

The very fact that Aevor had appeared here, and the things he had said, meant one thing.

Pollux had not been lying.

All of it was true.

A thousand-year-old plan.

For a single human.

For a moment, Aevor looked up.

In that brief instant, all of them saw it.

Not the God of Time.

Not the Father of their race.

But a sorrowful man, his ancient grief glinting behind eyes of gold.

He remained where he stood, still gazing toward the sky, and said,

”Aside from Lucifer, do any of you know when the Holy War supposedly halted?”

”A few thousand years before my birth,” Pollux answered. ”Specifically, in the year 486,000 A.S., marking the end of the Age of Bellum Sacrum and the beginning of the Age of Caesura, the age we are currently living in.”

The current year was 490,999 After the Sundering—A.S., for short.

”As educated as ever, child.”

A faint trace of pride crossed Aevor’s face. A shadow passed over Pollux’s eyes, but he held himself back and forced his expression into something calm.

”Tomorrow, the new universal year begins. The year 491,000 A.S. The Age of Caesura will end. And though this age may have been brief in one sense, the way we mark its end will be remembered across every realm.”

Pollux did not look surprised.

”Father...” the Second Authority said slowly. ”If you are here, and if what you have said is true, then I can no longer deny it. That human is indeed someone who cannot be underestimated.” His expression tightened. ”Even before this, I felt uneasy. Just... who is this human, exactly?”

”That is a difficult question to answer,” Aevor said, looking at the Second Authority.

”We are one day away from five thousand years since the Holy War ceased. And yet, throughout the entire Age of Bellum Sacrum, we were only able to confirm his appearance twice during that time.”

Something calculating flashed across Aevor’s face before his gaze shifted to Lucifer.

”The first time was when he met you.”

Lucifer lowered his head. Cold sweat slid down his skin, and his body trembled. Whether the fear he showed now came from the God of Time looking at him, or from the memory of that day, the answer was both.

”And the second time...” Aevor continued, ”was when the Holy War came to a standstill.”

His gaze swept over each of them. Once more, those sorrowful eyes returned.

”Each of you possesses knowledge that the average do not. So tell me... do you know how the Holy War was stopped?”

”Emperor Pollux told me,” the Second Authority said. ”And Lord Lucifer confirmed it. Even then, I could not bring myself to fully believe it... until now.”

Under Aevor’s scrutiny, the Second Authority hesitated. He looked like a child being judged on whether he had completed his lesson.

Tentatively, he answered.

”The human... sealed all the races. No one won. And by doing so, he ended the Holy War.”

For a moment, Aevor said nothing.

The silence stretched long enough for the Second Authority to grow visibly nervous. Lucifer grew tense as well. Even Pollux, seeing Aevor’s silence, began to doubt what he himself had told them.

Then Aevor finally spoke.

”You have answered correctly.”

Relief swept through them like a tidal wave. Each of them sighed inwardly, though none dared show it.

”The second and final time he appeared during the Age of Bellum Sacrum was when he brought it to an end. He sealed all races within their respective realms. The Void Race in the Void Realm. The Divine Race in the Divine Realm. The Demon Race in the Demon Realm. And we, the God Race, in the God Realm.”

Aevor paused.

”He spared only the humans of the Divine Race... and the spirits.”

”Wait...” Pollux’s eyes trembled, as did the others’. ”Humans are part of the Divine Race?”

”W-why?” the Second Authority asked, his apprehension growing alongside his curiosity. ”Why spare only those two? What purpose did he have in sealing the others? Was it because he is human as well?”

”I do not know why he sealed us,” Aevor said. ”I do not know why he left the humans untouched. I do not know why he spared the spirits. There are many things about him I do not know.”

He glanced at Lucifer, who bit his lip.

”I do not even know whether he is truly human.”

An inscrutable smile appeared on Aevor’s face.

For a second, all of them quailed.

”Ten minutes,” Aevor said softly. ”That was all he needed. Ten minutes to appear, seal us all, and vanish again for almost five thousand years. But the seals he placed were neither permanent nor indestructible. Nine hundred and ninety-nine years ago, the Void Seal broke, and the Void Realm became the first to be set free. Not long after, we began to notice cracks in our own seal as well. Cracks wide enough for a few of us to slip through from time to time.”

His gaze moved to Lucifer and the Second Authority.

”I am certain you are both aware of that last fact.”

Neither of them answered.

”Under normal circumstances, however, none of you can leave without permission. The process is heavily monitored. Some of you are granted permission to carry out the duties assigned to you. Whether that duty is destroying planets, fighting World Providences, creating the Judged Realm, or marking and summoning participants into its scenarios...”

Aevor lifted his gaze once more.

”Soon, the entire seal will be destroyed.”