Path of the Extra

”Gluttony?” Yelena repeated the word quietly against her lips, as though savoring the shape of it, while Lumine looked rather flustered and red-faced.

”...Stupid blonde idiot.”

”What does it do?” Yelena leaned forward with open curiosity, while Celestina kept her gaze lowered, refusing to let either of them see her face.

”Would you rather spend our time with me teaching you how [Gluttony] works, or shall I simply leave?”

”Ah... Please leave.”

Yelena pressed her lips together and retreated slightly, feeling as though she may have overstepped.

A quiet sigh left Celestina then, followed by something that caught the two of them equally off guard.

”Are either of you familiar with the types of mana?”

Both Lumine’s and Yelena’s eyebrows rose in unison.

”We were actually discussing that just a few hours ago,” Lumine said. ”Orderly Mana and Chaotic Mana.”

Yelena nodded and added, ”Chaotic Mana is the type belonging to void creatures, and Orderly Mana the type belonging to us humans.”

She paused, on the verge of mentioning Azriel as an exception, but Celestina spoke before the words could form.

”Some would argue that Chaotic Mana could be regarded as something dark and corrupted, given that only creatures of the Void are said to possess it. Humans, by contrast, are considered to carry a pure mana. And I, who hold an affinity for light and bear silver hair, carry the most pure mana of any human alive.”

”Is that... not true?” Yelena asked carefully, sensing that Celestina was building toward a contradiction. Celestina looked at her then, and Yelena thought she caught something like sadness in her expression before she shook her head.

”No... well. There is likely some truth in it. Perhaps not in the sense that one is inherently good and the other evil, but simply that the two energies are each other’s opposites.”

There was one particular thing in those words that struck both of them, though neither said so aloud. Celestina had admitted, plainly and without artifice, that she possessed the most pure mana of any human. It may have always been obvious, but hearing her say it made it feel different somehow. More real.

”With the use of my unique skill, I intend to invert the purity of my Orderly Mana entirely into that of Chaotic Mana.”

Their eyes widened further at that.

”Your unique skill? But...” Yelena understood that Celestina had no desire to explain the skill itself, so she chose her words with care. ”How would that help break these chains?”

A soft breath left Celestina.

”Orderly Mana flows in a stable and predictable manner, which is precisely why we are more capable of shaping it into Aura or storing it within objects, objects we have constructed ourselves, such as Mana Artifacts.” Her gaze drifted to the chains binding her, and Yelena’s and Lumine’s eyes followed. ”Chaotic Mana, on the other hand, tends more toward disorder and destruction. Rather than flowing, it clashes, which is why it shatters imbued objects on contact. It cannot be stored in the same manner because its very nature resists all structure.”

Her explanation was coherent, and it was clear that Celestina’s understanding of mana ran considerably deeper than Instructor Ranni’s. Perhaps it was knowledge held privately within the great clans, information that had not yet been passed down to the academy or its instructors.

Yelena grasped her intent quickly, as did Lumine, who gave voice to it first.

”By somehow shifting the nature of your mana into its opposite through your unique skill and then channeling it into these chains, you disrupt the flow of mana within them, destabilizing and potentially destroying the structure entirely.”

Lumine looked enlightened, and so did Yelena. Celestina gave a single nod.

But then Lumine frowned, pinching his cheek in thought before murmuring almost to himself.

”...But then, could Azriel not have technically broken them as well?”

”...!”

”Lumine!”

Yelena exhaled a sharp and cold breath, staring at him in stunned disbelief, as Celestina went still for a moment before her eyes slowly widened. She turned them on Lumine, who had already clapped both hands over his mouth, though far too late to reclaim what he had said.

”What exactly did you mean by that?”

”I... I, um...”

”You already know about his type of mana, do you not? How? Who told you?”

Lumine swallowed beneath the weight of her hardened and scrutinizing gaze. Yelena, desperate to keep him from sinking any further, cut in quickly on his behalf.

”Anastasia did. She told us.”

”...That stupid brown-haired idiot.”

Celestina clicked her tongue in frustration before drawing a slow breath and fixing both of them with a grave, measured look.

”If we make it out of here alive, ensure that neither of you ever speak of this matter again. It could get you killed on the spot by the Crimson Clan, or by any number of others.”

Both of them swallowed, a heaviness settling in their throats.

Celestina sighed again.

”At the very least, you raised a valid point, Lumine.”

She let that land for only a moment before turning.

”Which is precisely where you come in, Yelena.”

She looked toward Yelena, who blinked and pointed at herself uncertainly.

”Me?”

”Yes, you. Even for me, consciously directing the flow of my mana outward into an external object is extraordinarily difficult unless the Mana Artifact in question was specifically constructed to receive it. Chaotic Mana will be even harder to guide outward, for reasons I will not go into now. What I need is some manner of conductor to help me channel the Chaotic Mana out of my body and into these chains, which are Mana Artifacts of this world.”

In truth, this was something Celestina had devised entirely on the spot. Had Yelena not been present, she would have resorted to brute force, activating the second slot of [Gluttony] in full, but the very last thing she wanted was to shift into her skinwalker form. With Yelena here, she might avoid that altogether, or at the very least avoid a complete transformation and draw only upon the skinwalker’s mana type.

It was the same principle as her fox form. She could isolate a single trait of whatever creature occupied her slot and make use of it without manifesting as a Silver Moon Fox in full.

”B-but how would I do that? Can I even manage it?”

Celestina gave a swift nod, acutely aware of how much time they were bleeding through, and pressed on without pause.

”You have not yet begun to truly capitalize on the extraordinary unique skill you carry. It is exceedingly rare, unheard of, in fact. Tell me, have you ever encountered anyone else with the unique skill [Greater Mana]?”

Yelena shook her head slowly. Celestina did not wait for the words to fully settle before continuing.

”You are already capable of shaping mana to conjure arrows for your bow. But is that truly the extent of what you can do? I believe you are capable of far more than simply accessing the Orderly Mana within your own body. I believe you can reach the mana drifting freely through the air itself, which is neither Chaotic nor Orderly, but something distinct entirely from both. It is called Neutral Mana.”

Neutral Mana. The new term, arriving on top of everything else Celestina had been driving into them at relentless speed, sent their already strained minds reeling as they struggled to keep pace.

”With your help, I should be able to guide the mana out of my body and into the chains, disrupting their internal flow sufficiently to destroy them entirely.”

”C-can I really do that?”

”It is either that, or we die. Again.”

Yelena pressed her lips together, left with precious little time to negotiate with whatever was warring inside her own head. Lumine, for his part, sat quietly, carrying the particular and uncomfortable weight of someone who did not quite belong to what was unfolding before him and had very little to contribute to it. He said nothing, and simply waited for the girls to do what needed to be done.