Path of the Extra

"What I’m going to do now, huh..."

Azriel tilted his head.

Lioren nodded.

"If we go to the summit, I will have no choice but to give you up. At the same time, once the price for killing you truly sinks in, everyone will come hunting for you. And with your condition being irreversible... there are only a few paths left for you."

"So you’re saying..."

Azriel raised one finger.

"A: I give myself up to the brothers so you can strike a deal at the summit and try to get that wish."

He raised another.

"B: I let someone kill me. Mainly you. That way, you become one of the most powerful humans alive, if not the most powerful. Even I have to acknowledge that you would be able to protect humanity and perhaps give us a chance to survive."

Then Azriel looked down at the ocean.

"Or C..."

His voice softened.

"...I take my own life and let none of you win."

His vision flickered into darkness several times as he stared at the waters below.

Then it cleared.

And suddenly, the ocean was swallowed whole by fire.

A pure, radiant silver blaze consumed the water, shining so brightly that it illuminated everything around him. The sea had become an ocean of flame, stretching far beyond the horizon.

Fire.

So much fire.

Fire.

Azriel’s neck began to itch.

He brought his bloodied hand to it and scratched hard enough to open the skin. Then he drank from the flask again.

A moment later, everything returned to normal.

No more fire.

No more itch.

And yet, his body still burned.

"Azriel?"

Azriel turned his head when Lioren called out to him.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, Azriel felt the color of the world slowly drain away. Everything around him was swallowed by a dull grey, as if the world itself had withered. His heart hollowed from the inside.

Then he noticed something.

His emotions were gone.

A second later, like time resetting, it all looped back.

Color spread outward from him and returned to the world.

His emotions came back with it.

His heart, however, still felt hollow.

"Azriel?" Lioren called again.

Only then did Azriel’s attention snap back.

"Yeah?"

"What choice are you making?"

Azriel stared ahead.

"...Realistically, the best choice would be B. It has all the merits, aside from me dying."

He paused.

"Well, some people would consider that a merit too."

"That is true," Lioren agreed.

Then he turned back toward the ocean.

For a while, neither of them said anything.

At last, Lioren spoke.

"...And yet, I feel an annoying prickling sensation in my throat when we talk about this."

Azriel’s face contorted in disgust.

"Ugh. Don’t start gaining emotions now, Lioren. That’s just gross."

He looked back at the ocean.

He could not get enough of it.

It was so vast.

So terrifying.

And yet...

There was something about it that made Azriel unable to look away.

As though the water wanted to pull him in.

As though, if he jumped, he would simply—

Drown.

Drown.

Drown.

"You remember that bet we made two years ago?" Lioren suddenly asked.

Slowly, Azriel’s lips curled upward.

"Ah, yes. You mean the bet I won?"

Lioren narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly.

Before he could speak, Azriel continued.

"I did not die, remember? I was simply in the Void Realm while all of you presumed I was dead. So you and the Oracle were both wrong."

His smile widened.

"And thus, I won. As I always do."

"I believe I owe you a favor, then."

"Oh, you don’t owe me a favor."

Azriel lifted two fingers.

"As a matter of fact, you owe me two."

Lioren tilted his head quizzically.

Azriel explained,

"I gave you valuable information about Master Corven still being alive. His skills. His condition. And, most importantly, the opportunity to hunt him down yourself."

For a moment, Lioren’s eyes grew even more colder than it already was.

"You mean to say you lost to him, and now you are trying to use this as an opportunity to gain something anyway?"

"Does it matter?"

Azriel’s eyes became equally cold.

"It does."

"No. It doesn’t."

Azriel’s voice sharpened.

"I could have killed him, Lioren. Granted, it would have cost me a lot, but I had several opportunities to do it. Instead, I chose the outcome that benefited all of us the most. An outcome that did not require dozens more people to be sacrificed for his death."

Lioren said nothing.

Azriel’s gaze did not waver.

"I know you don’t want Master Corven dead, Lioren. And I know your relationship with your father. So take the opportunity. Say you owe me another favor, or I will hunt him down myself."

His voice lowered.

"And this time, I won’t let him get away."

Silence passed between them.

Then, somewhat surprisingly, Lioren relented.

"...Very well."

He looked up, his gaze almost absentminded.

"I would hurry up and cash in those favors, Azriel. It seems you will not have much time left to make use of them otherwise."

"Heh."

Azriel chuckled.

"I’ll hold on to them a little longer. I just wanted you to be aware that you are in my debt, my friend."

"What a cruel friend."

"Says you."

Out of nowhere, Lioren sighed.

For someone like him, that was rare.

"...A week after you were supposed to be dead, I visited Aunt Lyraelle. She found out about everything. The bet. The Oracle. All of it. She was quite upset. I have not visited her since."

Azriel’s face remained as casual as possible.

"I suspected as much."

"...Have you visited her since you returned?"

Azriel turned his head away.

"...No," he whispered.

His expression darkened slightly.

"I’ve been busy."

"Are you lying?"

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"F-fine. I’m lying. So what?" Azriel snapped, his face twisting. "I was afraid of seeing her. But you’re in no position to judge me, considering you’ve been avoiding her too."

"I never said I was afraid."

"Now you’re lying."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"...I give up."

Azriel dragged his dried, bloodied hand through his dried, blood-matted hair.

"I regret avoiding her. I do. But still..."

He exhaled.

"I guess it’s too late for that now. I suppose I’m a little sad that she respected my wishes and was probably waiting for me to visit her when I was ready."

"It seems so," Lioren agreed.

Then, after a moment, he added,

"But if it offers you any consolation, it seems she was extremely overjoyed when news of your return reached her."

"Huh?"

Azriel turned toward Lioren.

At once, he felt a terrible, foreboding sensation creep up his spine.

"After all, the proof is there. She is now pregnant with child. To be so happy that you were alive, she decided to give life by having se—"

"Ahhhh! Shut up! Shut up!"

Azriel lunged forward and tackled him.

Then he clamped both hands over Lioren’s mouth, his face suddenly beet red beneath the blood covering him like camouflage.

"Ah! Oh, God! Lioren, you really need to know when to keep your thoughts to yourself! Fuck! This is not good for my mental state to know!"

Lioren’s eyes betrayed his confusion.

Even with Azriel’s hands still covering his mouth, he tilted his head slightly.

Reluctantly, Azriel removed his hands.

The two of them were now in an awkward position on the ground.

"I thought humans were naturally happy at the prospect of bringing new life into the wor—"

"Not this time! At least not when I’m apparently a factor in making it happen!"

"...I don’t understand."

"...You’re hopeless."

Still flushed with embarrassment—an expression almost no one had ever seen on Azriel’s face—he sat properly again, his body trembling with mortification.

Lioren did the same.

Perhaps he had moved too much, because Azriel felt his nose begin to bleed again. Blood also started to drip from the cracks spreading across his body.

As if that were the trigger, the beautiful scenery before them suddenly felt heavier.

More solemn.

Despite the strange banter they had just shared, silence settled between them again.

Together, they looked toward the distant sun.

It seemed so close.

"...Thanks, Lioren," Azriel said softly.

"For what?"

"Too much has happened."

"..."

"So much that I’ve just stopped thinking. I don’t even want to think anymore. Everything I’ve found out... if I start properly thinking about it, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it. I’ll just break down."

He stared at the sea.

"But this..."

A faint smile touched his lips.

"You helped me feel distracted. A little normal. For the first time in a long while."

His gaze softened.

"For that, you have my thanks."

For a moment, Lioren was silent.

The gulls cried somewhere below them.

"...I wish this could have gone another way, Azriel."

Azriel pressed his lips together.

Then he closed his eyes.

"...Is that so?"

"Truly."

Azriel heard Lioren stand.

Then he heard him slowly make his way behind him.

"Then that is a pity, Lioren."

"I want you to understand that my choice here is not born from greed. I have simply decided that this is the most logical path. In return, I must bear the responsibility."

"Responsibility, huh..."

"I will not ask for your forgiveness. Despite giving you the chance to choose among your options, I was always going to be unable to honor them."

"It’s all right, Lioren."

Azriel smiled sadly.

"I understand how you think. Remember? I always know."

’This place isn’t a bad place to die, to be honest...’

It was strange, really.

Azriel had become the Apostle of Death by dying.

And yet, ever since that day, he had never truly thought about taking his own life again.

It was ironic.

The Apostle of Death, who took lives, yet could not take his own.

So what about now?

Could he let himself be killed?

"If it’s you, Lioren..."

His whisper was almost lost to the wind.

"Maybe I can let it happen."

"Yet I find the thought of betraying you painful."

Lioren’s voice remained calm, but there was something strange beneath it.

"How peculiar. The feeling is faint, yet disturbing. I am familiar with betrayal. Those who share my blood, those who are supposedly closest to me, those I should call family, have betrayed me many times."

"..."

"Is it because I am the one doing the betraying this time? Or is it because you are my friend?"

"Maybe both," Azriel said.

"Maybe."

Relaxed, Azriel opened his eyes and watched the sun.

At that same moment, a panel appeared before them.

And with it, the proctor of the scenario materialized, floating in midair with a beaming smile.

[Courageous participants, you have proven that you wish to live, and thus, you are worthy to be judged. Congratulations. You have reached the final hours of the scenario. Yet for there to be a final night, there must first be a final day. What trial awaits you in your last twenty-four hours in this world?]

That was what the panel said.

At the same time, Azriel heard footsteps.

Hurried footsteps.

They came from the tunnel behind him, approaching at a frantic pace.

Then came a desperate scream.

"Azriel!"

Without turning around, Azriel felt his eyes widen in surprise.

’Lumine..!?’

Then his sad smile changed into something wider. How stupid of him.

After all, this should have been foreseeable.

"...The two of you..."

He let out a quiet breath.

"No matter what life, you really are a pain in my ass."