The Unlimited Ascension: Reborn as an Extra

”Hehe... Good luck, little ones. Your time starts now!”

Both Lyris and Elyon became perfectly still after hearing those twisted words. They looked at the goddess with stunned gazes and panicked minds.

”What are you saying? Are you telling us to kill each other? Are you really even a goddess?” Lyris demanded, gripping her dress.

Goddess Virelia looked at her with an amused smile.

”Of course. Now, little ones, don’t waste your precious time in idle chit-chat. Start playing and entertain me. Hehe...”

Lyris felt a sudden sense of pure disgust at her words. She had always heard that goddesses were the supreme symbols of ’purity’ and ’goodness’. She had always believed that they were the embodiment of kindness, always thinking about the well-being of mortal people. That is exactly what most of the people in the empire thought.

They have blind faith in their deities, praying to them and thinking their good blessings will make their lives enriched.

But now, seeing the radiant figure in front of her—someone who called herself a goddess, who was commanding them to slaughter each other for nothing but cheap entertainment—she felt her worldview shifting. She was watching the world from a much darker perspective.

All of her faith and belief crumbled into dust. But she still stood upright. She refused to believe that just because this specific goddess in front of her was a bad figure, every other deity would be the same cruel monster.

Letting go of those nonessential thoughts, Lyris stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do next. There was no way she was going to kill Elyon just because a bored deity had conspired against them.

’What should I do? There is no other way to escape this place besides her. My power is not enough to shatter the space fabric to find the way to the staircase. The only way to find the exit is hers... And even then, I don’t trust that she will actually open the exit, not after seeing her twisted personality...’

After thinking for a few agonizing seconds, she finally came to a final decision.

’If she just wants to feel excited, then I will show her some excitement myself....’

Suddenly, a silver sword manifested in Lyris’s hand out of thin air. She pulled her right leg back and leaned down into a combat stance, angling the sharp blade toward the throne as she prepared to fight the deity.

Goddess Virelia, upon seeing the mortal girl taking a stance to fight her, couldn’t feel more excited.

”Haha... Are you seriously thinking that you can make me feel amazed by battling me? Hehe... It seems our little Saintess wants to impress me with a fight. That is quite unique, but for your knowledge, I have fought beings thousands of times stronger than you... Do you think you will make me feel a thrill when even those divine beings could not? Hehe...”

”But make sure to check your back before attacking me...”

Before Lyris could comprehend her ominous words, an enchanted dagger coated with volatile elemental magic was thrust violently into her back. The sharp blade passed straight through her stomach. The different elemental energies reacted instantly, trying to destroying her internal organs from the inside out.

”Ah—”

She clutched her stomach as warm blood started to flow over her hands. She glanced back over her shoulder to look at her attacker.

A girl with bright orange hair and orange eyes, wearing a bitter-sweet smile, looked back at her while twisting the dagger more thoroughly into the wound.

”You—! Elyon?...”

”Sorry, Lyr. But after learning that you hold the power of the Saintess, I can’t let such a golden opportunity slip away... If there is a sliver of a chance that I can gain your divine power and become a Saintess myself, then I definitely won’t let it go...”

Elyon’s eyes turned intense. She looked at Lyris with a flash of regret, but a manic smile of achieving her lifelong dream far surpassed any guilt.

Lyris looked at her in pure frustration as the blood continued to flow through her fingers.

”Y-you traitor...!”

Lyris stumbled forward, collapsing onto the crystal floor as her vision fluttered shut... As her life slipped away, her body started to disintegrate into glowing pieces of light.

As Elyon watched the light particles fade into the air, a triumphant, almost manic grin spread across her face.

The elemental dagger, now wiped clean of blood, vanished from her hand. She turned to Goddess Virelia, a hopeful glint shining in her orange eyes.

”Now, I have done your bidding. Will you open the space for me now?”

She asked the question, eagerly waiting for the divine power to manifest inside her body now that she had successfully killed Lyris.

The goddess stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. She clutched her stomach, unable to hold back her immense amusement.

”Hahaha... Hahaha... Hahaha...”

”Did you—did you really believe that I would open the gate? Hehe... I just wanted to see a little fun. I wanted to test if you humans would stoop to any level to gain power. But you, little one, make me feel disappointed. You are no different from any other greedy human.”

Elyon looked up at the throne. Her manic grin vanished, replaced by a conflicted expression.

”Wait—what are you saying?...”

She looked back at the empty spot where Lyris had stood just seconds ago. She couldn’t feel any divine power entering her body.

”Why can’t I feel anything different?...”

The goddess looked at her, feeling thoroughly amused by the girl’s ignorance.

”Of course you won’t be able to feel anything! Because she wasn’t actually the ’true’ Saintess in the first place, at least not yet. In order to become the Saintess, the ’Saintess Essence’ is the most essential thing that must be present in the body to make her true. Only after obtaining that, if someone kills her, will her essence fly over to another...”

”So, you killing her doesn’t change anything except sealing her loss. You just betrayed your only friend for nothing. Hehe...”

Goddess Virelia looked at her with a mocking smile.

Elyon’s heart tightened painfully as she heard those cruel words. Just then, she finally realized what she had actually done. She had just murdered her innocent companion because of a fleeting moment of greed, and that greed had gained her absolutely nothing.

She clenched her fists while hot tears started to fall from her eyes. Her knees grew weak, and she fell forward onto the crystal floor.

”Humans are truly pathetic creatures... They experience regret only after realizing the consequences of what they have done. It seems you are all corrupted by the illusion called ’greed’, not knowing that by doing such things, you are losing yourself completely...”

Elyon looked up at the goddess for a desperate moment and then bowed her head, pressing her forehead against the cold floor.

”Please... can you bring her back? I want to apologize to her... Please, I will do anything to make it right... Can you please... help me, please...”

Goddess Virelia looked down at the weeping girl with a bored, expressionless face.

”Your crying cannot call her back. What happened has already happened. You don’t possess anything valuable enough to give me to try it, and besides, even I don’t know where she has gone after her death...”

Elyon’s eyes shook as she heard those final words. Immense regret and crushing pain shot through her chest. She now realized that she had walked down the wrong path. She had forcibly tried to become the idol she dreamed of, but she hadn’t realized back then that becoming a Saintess meant walking a path of purity. Now, she had just bloodied her own hands for nothing. Her righteous path had shattered the exact moment she drew that dagger. Her reason to live had already faded into nothingness.

She summoned another enchanted dagger from her storage ring. Without hesitation, she thrust the blade directly into the center of her own heart.

”Ah—Cough!”

Warm blood flowed from her mouth as she coughed violently. She dropped fully to her knees as her life started to fade away. Her internal organs shattered as the elemental magic inside the blade took its lethal effect.

As her fading gaze fell on the empty place where Lyris had stood a minute ago, tears fell freely from her orange eyes.

”I am sorry...”

She fell onto the floor as her life gave way. Just a few seconds later, her lifeless body also started to disintegrate into light particles. Her body vanished from the throne room, and even the dark stains of her blood vanished along with it. No one was left alive.

The goddess sat alone on her crystal throne, looking out at the once again silent hall. Her beautiful face was expressionless as she stood up gracefully. She began to descend the steps, walking toward the spot where they had died. She passed right through the empty place and walked back toward her usual shimmering pond, where she rested most of her time.

”It seems life doesn’t wait for us to realize our mistakes; it simply moves on. Such a shame, their potential was truly wasted.”