Path of the Extra

”Yes, but he has to write it down and show us. Apparently, as you can see here, if he attempts to tell us verbally that he used [Redo], he dies. Gruesomely.” Celestina’s face scrunched up slightly.

”His tongue falls out, or something close to it. Poor guy.”

Hearing that, Azriel snapped out of his daze and let out a slow breath.

’So... it is not quite like my [Redo].’

”He always returns to the very same point in time, like a checkpoint in a video game. But we do not know what happens if he dies this time, since he has never gone this far before.”

Azriel felt an odd wave of relief wash through him at that, and he blinked several times as the realization settled in.

’Am I feeling... jealous?’

The thought brought every other thought in his mind grinding to a halt for several seconds.

’...How deeply twisted is that.’

”Are you all right, Azriel?” Celestina asked quietly beside him. Her breath ghosted close enough to tickle his skin as he leaned into her for support, and he gave a soft nod.

”Yeah... just a bit dazed.”

’Still he has some version of [Redo], but how, and why does he have it? No, the why is obvious enough. Someone does not want him to die, which means someone gave it to him. A god, perhaps? The God of Life? Just who in the world is meddling with me now...’

Her expression turned apologetic at once.

”I am sorry. We really do not have time to rest.”

”It is fine,” Azriel sighed, setting the thought aside for the moment.

”Let us hurry.”

She nodded, and with Celestina supporting him, they made their way through the quiet tunnels, remaining alert the entire time. From the palms of her hands, she channeled her light affinity into him as they walked, healing what little she could, and by slow degrees his energy began to return, drawn back to him bit by bit through her affinity.

”Do you think it was just the two of us sent back here, or everyone?”

”Probably everyone. But we ended up together because you shielded me from the blast. Thank you for that, by the way.”

Celestina nodded faintly, and Azriel realized belatedly that he should have thanked her from the very beginning.

”You are welcome. Besides, it was the most logical course of action. You would have taken the worst of that blast otherwise.”

”Yeah... still, to think Caleus would go this far.”

Azriel shook his head slowly.

”Maybe I should have brought Nol with us. He would have been immensely useful right about now. We might actually stand a good chance if he tries to invite us to [White Haven].”

At those words, Celestina’s face stiffened for the briefest moment before she murmured softly, ”...Uh huh,” as though in agreement. Fortunately, Azriel did not notice how strange her response had sounded.

”With any luck, we might run into Sir Felix as well.”

Her face stiffened again, but she still managed a nod.

”L-let us just find Jasmine, Lioren, Lumine, and Yelena first.”

Their pace was far from swift, but they pressed on regardless, winding through the seemingly endless tunnels, turning corner after corner, passing now and then through chambers that sat open and eerily empty in the flickering torchlight.

It was not until they had passed through more of those chambers and rounded more corners than either of them could have counted that, just as they were about to cross the threshold of yet another one, they finally heard it.

A voice.

”Ahhhhh, finally got this bitch. Too bad she does not seem to want to wake up, no matter how many times I kick her. Tch. I really want to end her right now.”

”Calm yourself. You agreed to this, remember? Our objective comes first. After that, you may do as you please with her.”

”Heh, oh, I know. Just waaaiting for our objective to arrive.”

”Are you certain they will come? The plan was to capture them all at once, but your spell only half worked on that Mana Artifact.”

”We would have, if both the spell and the Mana Artifact had not glitched. Two humans making contact with one another must have thrown the coordinates off slightly, scattering where they were meant to land.”

”...Well. They should be arriving soon enough, as this guy said.”

”We should take care of him as well before he wakes up. I doubt he’d be much use to us now, the way I am. I’m far more useful than some foreigner.”

”...That is not a good idea. His Majesty seems to have taken a liking to him.”

”Tch.”

Celestina and Azriel had gone rigid the moment those voices reached them. They turned their heads toward one another, exchanged a single silent nod, and crept forward without a sound, hugging close to the wall and doing everything within their power to keep their presence concealed.

At the mouth of the chamber, they leaned forward just enough to see inside, and their eyes went wide at once.

It was Pierre. The Immortal Eyepatch, standing beside another High Commander, one known as The Plague, both of them looking down at Jasmine, who lay unconscious on the ground before them. Lumine and Yelena were there as well, bound tightly in chains, slumped against the far wall.

’Oh, shit.’

But it was not the sight of any of them that struck Azriel with such force. It was another figure entirely, seated against the far wall, apparently dozing, dressed in a black robe with a blindfold wrapped over his eyes. A wave of panic and dread crashed through Azriel the instant he recognized him.

’...Corven...’

Celestina drew back, and Azriel did the same beside her, before she turned to him with an expression caught somewhere between grave and unmistakably victorious.

”I knew it! I was right! It is the Immortal Eyepatch!” She kept her voice to the barest whisper, though it could not quite hide how pleased she sounded with herself. Azriel’s expression had darkened by the time she leaned in close again, her voice dropping lower still.

”That other man is the Plague. He is the one who put Yelena into a coma.”

To reach Jasmine, Yelena, and Lumine, it seemed there would be no way around going through both of them first.

Celestina caught onto something else almost immediately. She nudged him and tilted her head, a silent question in her eyes.

Azriel pressed his dried lips together.

”...You saw the other man. The one sleeping?”

Celestina nodded.

”That man is Corven Draumirius Zevrak. The right hand of the former King of Dusk.”

Her eyes widened slowly. The color drained from her face, and then it darkened all over again.

”Oh, hell,” she breathed.

As though she needed to be certain, she leaned forward to look a second time. A few seconds later, Azriel watched her flinch and pull back sharply, her face flooding with panic as she yanked him closer and whispered urgently against his ear.

”L-look at the Immortal Eyepatch’s rank!”

Frowning, Azriel leaned out to see for himself, watching the man stride toward Lumine and Yelena, both of whom glared back at him and the Plague without flinching. For a moment, he could not understand what had provoked such a reaction in her. Then he saw it.

’W-what...’

He pulled back as well, staring at her in equal shock.

With an even sharper edge of panic than before, Azriel leaned in and whispered directly against her ear.

”Was he not simply an Advanced rank human?”

”He was! Or he was supposed to be! How is this even possible?”

Azriel gritted his teeth.

’This is absolute bullshit!’

He dragged a hand through his hair and gripped it tightly, his face twisting with frustration.

’How in the world did Pierre become a Master!?’

”It should not be possible to leap from Advanced to Master this quickly, should it? I-I mean, you have progressed remarkably fast yourself, but even so...”

Celestina was already working through the same dire realization on her own.

”It is as though he struck a deal with the devil.”

”A deal?”

Azriel’s eyes widened as a sharp and unwelcome suspicion took hold of him.

”...He used a Mana Contract.”

Celestina looked at him, confusion plain across her face.

”What is that?”

Azriel parted his lips, ready to explain, but before a single word could leave him, Yelena’s pained shriek tore through the chamber.

”Let go of her, you bastard!”

They both leaned forward to look and saw Pierre gripping Yelena by the hair, wrenching it cruelly, while Lumine glared at him with open hatred from where he sat bound.

”Honestly, neither of you has any value. Not even the count’s daughter, not really. Is that not so, Doc?”

The Plague shrugged.

”The Supreme Leader is a king now. A mere count will not make any difference to him anymore.”

”So I can do as I please with them, then?” Pierre asked, a horrifying grin spreading across his face, and the Plague gave a small nod.

”They are yours to play with.”

Pierre chuckled darkly.

”I said, let go, you bastard!”

”Huh!?”

Pierre’s remaining eye went wide as Lumine lunged forward and sank his teeth into the hand still fisted in Yelena’s hair. The bite did nothing to actually wound him, but Pierre released her anyway, purely on reflex.

”Piece of shit!”

He drove his boot into Lumine’s stomach.

”Gah!”

”Lumine!?”

The blow sent Lumine’s head snapping back against the wall with brutal force. Yelena stared at him in raw fear, tears already gathering and threatening to spill.

A knife appeared in Pierre’s hand, and he hauled Lumine upward by a fistful of hair, lifting his head higher.

”Lu-”

Celestina had very nearly shouted his name on pure instinct before Azriel clamped a hand over her mouth and shook his head, his own face twisted with pain and helpless frustration, even as she stared back at him with eyes full of desperation.

”A waste of garbage like you is not even worth the effort of playing with,” Pierre said, his voice gone entirely cold, the single eye fixed on Lumine utterly without warmth. Then, without a shred of hesitation or mercy, the Immortal Eyepatch drove the blade into his neck.

Yelena, Azriel, and Celestina could only watch in horror, every one of them too far away, and far too late, to stop what had already happened.

’No...’

Lumine’s eyes found Yelena in that final moment. He watched her, and some last instinct in him tried to move his arm toward her, but it remained bound fast at his side, unable to reach.

The last thing he saw, and the last thing he heard, was her weeping face, and then her scream, high and shattering with despair.

*****

”Lu-”

?

...?

”...ah?”

[The ??? Skill, [Redo], has successfully been activated.]

”A waste of garbage like you is not even worth the effort of playing with.”

*****

”Lu-”

?

...?

”Huh?”

[The ??? Skill, [Redo], has successfully been activated.]

”A waste of garbage like you is not even worth the effort of playing with.”