Path of the Extra

Chapter 433: Sepulchral Wind

”Cough! Cough...!”

Pollux stood atop a bridge in a world that seemed half-ruined and half-forgotten.

The stone beneath his feet was slick with frost and age. The parapets were cracked, their edges feathered with ice. Far below, a black chasm split the mountains open, swallowing what little light this world’s moon still offered. Wind tore through the ravine—thin, glacial, and merciless—dragging with it the scent of snow, wet stone, and something older.

Something sepulchral.

As though the abyss itself had been left to rot in silence for centuries.

”To think his true form almost killed me...”

Ahead, the bridge stretched across the darkness in a pale, broken line, vanishing into cliffs burdened with ruins. Great walls and shattered pillars clung to the mountainsides like the bones of a dead kingdom, their jagged silhouettes carved against the sickly moonlight. Farther away, narrow towers rose from the rock like burial spires, black and severe, while beyond them the mountains gathered in layer after layer, immense and funereal beneath a sky bruised with cloud.

”Ugh...!”

All at once, the world began to spin.

Pollux’s expression twisted. A wave of lightheadedness struck him, sharp and nauseating, and his body gave out beneath him. He crumpled onto the broken stones of the bridge, landing on one knee as fresh blood slipped from his wound.

”What is wrong?” a voice asked. ”Have you managed to destroy the skill the Goddess of Death provided him with? And how did your talk with the girl go? Did you convince her to turn against him?”

Beside him stood another version of himself.

The Pollux created by the scenario.

The false Pollux wore a mask, with antler-like horns rising from his head, and watched him with quiet, unreadable eyes.

Pollux glanced at him, then looked behind.

The others were there as well.

The Second Authority.

And Lucifer.

All three still bore the dried blood of the recent battle upon them. The only difference was that while fresh red blood leaked from Pollux’s mouth, the blood staining the others was black and dried.

Because their blood had never been red to begin with.

”Ha... ha...”

Lucifer began to laugh.

”Ha... hahahahahahahahaha!”

Before Pollux could say a word, all eyes turned toward him.

Lucifer leaned toward the ground, clutching his stomach, an amused and knowing smirk spread across his face. Despite not being chained or restrained in any way, he no longer attacked. Nor did he attempt to flee after conceding the battle against the three of them.

Perhaps saying he had lost was not entirely accurate.

More precisely, after witnessing how hell-bent they were on seeing this through, he had simply given up.

”Yeah...” Lucifer said, wiping at the corner of his mouth. ”You saw it, didn’t you, Pollux!? I can recognize those eyes instantly! That fear you are trying to hide! You did not have that before! That existential dread eating you alive right now... it came after seeing it, didn’t it!? You saw its unsealed form, did you not, Pollux!?”

Pollux’s eyes shone faintly for a moment.

But he did not grow angry.

”...I did not see his unsealed self,” he murmured, his voice calm.

”Hm?”

Lucifer turned his head, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

Before he could say anything, Pollux continued.

”If I am to be honest... I cannot remember what I saw.”

”Ho? What are you talking about?” the Second Authority asked, stepping forward as he stroked his beard. His expression darkened with frustration.

Pollux sighed.

”I cannot remember. I think you are telling the truth. He did unseal himself, if only for a brief moment. But afterward, all I saw were the corpses of thirty-two human masters.”

The Second Authority’s eyes narrowed.

”...So you are saying that puny human killed them all and erased your memories?”

”No.”

Pollux shook his head.

”It seems I erased my own memories as a defense mechanism, so that I would not die.”

His words only deepened their confusion.

Pollux continued anyway.

”I did obtain and destroy [Soul’s Crucible]. I also spoke with the sister. But...” His gaze lowered slightly. ”I believe I underestimated him far too much.”

”And now you are scared?” the Second Authority asked.

His fingers tightened around his beard. His face twisted, veins beginning to bulge beneath his skin.

”I never said that,” Pollux replied coldly.

Then he looked at him.

His gaze was so terrifying that the Second Authority instinctively took a step back.

A brief silence fell between them.

The false Pollux said nothing.

He merely listened.

”Still,” the Second Authority said, forcing his composure back into place, ”how is it possible for him to unseal himself? You told us the human could only do so with Lord Lucifer’s powers.”

”...I warned all of you, did I not?”

Lucifer spoke quietly.

They all looked at him.

He had lowered his head, hiding his face beneath the fall of his hair.

”Just because I have a way to unseal it does not mean mine is the only way.” His voice trembled with fear ”Perhaps even my powers would not work on it. Stop presuming you know anything when it comes to that thing!”

”You are truly pathetic, Lord Lucifer,” the Second Authority said, his expression twisting with disgust.

Lucifer did not answer.

The Second Authority turned away from him.

”This is taking too long. That human is making me uneasy, and my patience is wearing thin. If we are not backing down, then we should go and retrieve him now. And if he truly is as dangerous as you claim, then we ought to kill him while we still can.”

”We cannot.”

The words came from Pollux.

”Why?” the Second Authority demanded.

Pollux slowly lifted his gaze.

”Everything we have done, everything I have instructed you to do, has not been on a whim. It is part of a plan constructed over more than a thousand years, designed to exploit every axiom, every loophole, every weakness there is. If killing him were that simple, it would have been done before either of us was born.”

The Second Authority stared at him.

Then his jaw clenched.

”I do not believe that anymore.”

Pollux said nothing.

”This plan does not feel as though it was constructed over a thousand years. If it were, it would be nearly as old as the legendary Ancient Holy War itself. So what exactly are you saying, hm? That there exists a plan so ancient and significant that even Lord Lucifer, someone so respected among our race, knows nothing of it?”

He stepped closer.

”You said that Mother told you to give me a message about how I can receive a name. And she visited me in my dreams, so I believed you, but... I’m starting to get skeptical about it all.”

Then, slowly, he lowered himself until he was kneeling at Pollux’s level.

When he spoke again, his voice was gelid.

”Are you perhaps playing with us, Emperor Pollux?”

”Careful.”

The false Pollux raised a hand toward the Second Authority, his eyes narrowing in warning.

A heavy tension settled between them, thick enough to suffocate. For a moment, it seemed as though the two would clash right there upon the bridge.

Then the real Pollux spoke again.

”If you were to kill him now, you would die immediately. Even while he is sealed.”

The Second Authority looked at him in silence.

”You know of the World’s Providences, correct?”

The Second Authority nodded.

”Guardian spirits of the so-called Divine Race. Beings that protect planets. Each planet possesses one.”

”The guardian spirit protecting the planet where the last remaining humans reside is not of the Divine Race.”

This time, even Lucifer looked intrigued.

”Then what is it?” the Second Authority asked.

Pollux lifted his gaze.

”The Demon Race.”

”!!”

”Impossible!”

Lucifer immediately rose to his feet and strode toward him.

”They... they are sealed away! And why would a demon protect a human planet!?”

Pollux looked at him coldly.

”You think you are the only one he made a soul vow with?”

Lucifer froze.

”T-that thing...” His voice faltered. ”It has a demon protecting the planet? H-how did it..?”

His eyes widened as realization struck him.

”Is that why the Zero Authority and the First Authority are struggling so much to destroy the veil around that world...!?”

Pollux nodded.

The Second Authority, however, seemed to have been ignorant of this fact.

”It appears to be a powerful creature of the Demon Race as well,” Pollux continued. ”You have felt it too, have you not? All of you. The gaze of someone watching us.”

He paused.

”Or, more precisely... something.”

”I have,” the Second Authority confirmed, glancing around.

His expression darkened even further.

”But it seems to be coming from very far away.”

”Realms away.”

They looked back at Pollux.

He continued his explanation, utterly unbothered by their unease while being at ease himself.

”The demon has been watching us from the mortal realm. If we were ever to succeed in killing the human, it would immediately hunt us down and take our souls.”

”!?”

Their eyes widened.

”This is the true reason I created the World of Eternity on that planet. Within it, all the participants’ minds are connected. They share a world the demon cannot observe.”

Pollux’s eyes lowered.

”And it cannot see what I do inside it either.”

That was what had given Pollux free rein.

That was what had allowed him to torture Azriel for so long.

Unfortunately, the demon had begun to grow suspicious.

Which meant time was running out.

”How do you even know of this demon?” the Second Authority asked.

”Because I met him when I visited the world where the human lived. The world the demon is protecting.”

”And the demon did not kill you, even though you are of the Divine Race?”

Lucifer sounded more baffled than anyone.

He understood the absurdity of it far better than the Second Authority ever could.

”It was difficult,” Pollux admitted. ”I had to tread with extreme caution. But because of that caution, and because it seemed less interested in me than amused, I was permitted to witness the human kill a void creature known as the Black Antlered King.”

”Oh?” The Second Authority’s expression shifted. He seemed almost impressed, nodding faintly in approval. ”Those are quite stubborn.”

”Yes. But something strange happened when I watched. Some sort of axiom seemed to break. It was as if time itself fractured for a moment.”

Pollux’s eyes narrowed.

”And yet, the demon managed to cover it up before I could discover the truth.”

”The demon can control time?” Lucifer asked. ”Or was it someone else?”

Before Pollux could answer, the Second Authority snapped.

”Enough of this.”

His voice cut across the bridge like a blade.

”You have shared much, Emperor, but it is not enough. You claim this plan has been carefully constructed, but that means you cannot be the only one working on it, can you?”

Pollux remained silent.

”And besides, if what you say is true, how are we supposed to reach the human if the demon is powerful enough to take our souls? I have never faced one before, but judging by Lord Lucifer’s reaction, I would rather avoid the experience. And what about the unique skill [Redo] he has? Wouldn’t it trigger before we get killed by the demon?”

”...Of course I am not the only one,” Pollux said.

The wind dragged itself across the bridge.

”There are a few who are involved. But the one who began all of this...”

He paused once more.

”...was the Goddess of Death.”

”Mother?”

Lucifer’s eyes widened in shock.

”You both mentioned her many times already,” Lucifer said, his voice suddenly strained. ”And yet, why has Mother not shown herself?”

”Because the time had not yet come for her to reveal herself. But we are now nearing the end of it all.”

Pollux’s expression remained unreadable.

”All that should be left is the demon. The Goddess of Death will deal with it. At least, that is what she assured me.”

The Second Authority did not seem much convinced anymore.

Pollux did not care.

Instead, he looked at Lucifer and noticed a strange expression in his eyes.

A hesitation.

As though he was holding something back.

”...Why would Mother...” Lucifer whispered.

Then, suddenly, a terrible pressure descended upon them.

Mana crashed down from above like the weight of heaven itself.

Every trace of mana in the air was forced downward, crushing the bridge beneath an invisible hand. Pollux and the false Pollux froze where they stood, their bodies locked in place.

”Father!?”

The Second Authority’s face twisted in horror, his eyes going wide.

In the next instant, when Pollux blinked, the Second Authority was already prostrated on the ground, his forehead pressed against the stone.

Lucifer had fallen to one knee, his head lowered in a dignified bow.

”It seems you were all having quite an interesting conversation.”

Pollux could not turn his head.

He could not move at all.

Yet he felt someone beside him.

A head leaned close to his ear.

That voice...

Pollux recognized it.

”Ah, but about your mother,” the voice continued softly, ”it seems she has gone somewhere. I have not seen her since. But she told me enough.”

Pollux’s eyes began to tremble violently.

Not merely from fear of the powerful creature that had appeared without warning and subdued him with mana alone.

No.

It was something worse than fear.

Then a low susurration slipped into his ear.

”Child. What was it you said to the Son of Death again? That I am insufferable? That he pulled one over on me? That he deceived me?”

Though Pollux could not look at him, he managed to grit his teeth.

His blood began to boil with pure rancor.

Beside his ear, he felt the unseen face smile viciously.

”That... you are not like... me?”

Finally, Pollux forced himself to speak through his trembling throat and clenched teeth.

”God... of... Time...!”

His voice shook with hatred.

”Aevor...!”