Path of the Extra Chapter 399: Dystopian City

"Ugh..."

A brutal headache throbbed relentlessly in Jasmine’s skull. Her eyelids clung shut despite her efforts, as though her body rebelled against consciousness.

Feeling uneasy, she pried them open—only to have her sight blur chaotically. Instinctively, she shifted her head.

"O-ouch!"

Her brow collided with a jagged surface. She recoiled sharply and rolled away.

Jasmine groaned while gripping her forehead, the sharp external sting merging viciously with the internal skull-pounding ache. At last, it jolted her completely alert. Her vision cleared.

"W-why does a mere head bump sting so badly...?"

She hauled herself upright onto her feet.

The ground underfoot was smooth and flawlessly level, crafted from pristine obsidian—perhaps onyx—buffed to a mirror shine where her reflection gleamed. Her robes still clothed her.

Spotting the crimson welt on her forehead, Jasmine jerked her gaze toward the offending object, set to shoot it a fierce look—

—and went rigid.

It was merely a rugged stone wall. Plain. Unremarkable.

Puzzled, she approached and prodded a protruding rough edge. She drew back with a wince as its keenness nearly pierced her skin.

Her eyes narrowed.

Then flew wide.

"It’s... it’s filled with mana?"

The whole wall—fit for ornamenting an estate’s entrance—was drenched in mana. And not ordinary mana either.

"How dense..."

Jasmine struggled to grasp its purity. It overwhelmed her. Immense.

A tremor coursed through her frame. She retreated a step, and a fierce wind blast rushed over her, whipping her robes and locks. She squeezed her eyes closed and pinned down her hair.

She silently berated her own avarice.

Every instant she lingered felt like her body overloaded with power.

Her pulse quickened; she parted her eyelids and spun around.

The instant her gaze landed ahead, her breath fled her lungs.

Her eyes widened hugely.

All she could do was gape in sheer, awestruck amazement.

"Wow..."

A colossal city sprawled into view.

No—she stood within its bounds.

The metropolis didn’t expand solely horizontally but vertically too, layered in vast platforms and gravity-defying ringed megastructures. Its designs surpassed anything from history or tales she knew.

Moments later, thrill ignited in her gaze.

"So cool...!"

Enormous disc-like platforms floated—or perched—upon sturdy core pillars, each bearing full neighborhoods. Some topped with sleek domes. Others spiked with antenna towers and packed spires.

Jasmine’s sight shifted skyward.

"...The sun is blue?"

A dim blue sun bathed all in gentle azure glow, glinting off metallic rims and arched forms. Amid the levels, slender bridges and twisting paths wove airborne, linking areas like arteries in a gigantic organism. Deep below, the city persisted—compact, tiered, vibrant—yet motions far down blurred indistinctly.

Vegetation hugged balconies and outcrops: tiny trees, green swathes easing the constructed terrain.

"Wow..." Jasmine exhaled once more, as if those words exhausted her vocabulary.

"This place is beautiful... and dystopian..."

Right after uttering it, her face grew taut.

"Wait. ...?"

Her gaze scanned frantically—the heavens, the edifices, the city’s abyss below—then backward.

That’s when a glassy barrier and segmented entrance caught her notice.

She occupied a balcony of sorts, probably linked to a sheer-faced manor.

Jasmine peered inside the glass.

The interior chamber seemed far too immaculate to disturb.

Gentle azure illumination poured across snowy, unblemished tiling. A broad, low bed nestled in one corner, partly obscured by the space’s contours. Beyond it, a circular pane radiated cozy glow—like another miniature blue star. Overhead, foliage dangled via a ceiling gap, slender emerald tendrils hanging motionless.

A pristine table occupied the rear, chairs aligned precisely, suggesting recent departure—or utter vacancy. Occasionally, crude rock pierced the refined aesthetic, a stark foil to the polish.

"W-where the hell am I?!" Jasmine’s cry rang out sharper than intended. Terror surged abruptly, keenly, overwhelming her torso.

"Don’t—don’t tell me I’ve entered another scenario?!"

She clutched her hair in both fists, moaning.

"Gah! I really shouldn’t have pushed my luck! This is punishment, isn’t it?!"

"Not quite."

A gravelly voice emanated from behind—oddly tuneful, nearly entrancing.

Jasmine’s form stiffened as if petrified.

As if Medusa had met her stare.

Compelling motion, she pivoted gradually, limbs rigid, braced for combat—

—and stiffened anew.

"Wow..."

A striking man loomed there.

No... beyond striking.

Exquisitely, profoundly——gorgeous. Ethereally so. Like divinity incarnate.

Flowing robes of pristine white cloaked him, so flawless they appeared to spurn both shadow and radiance. His silver tresses, long and lustrous, captured the sun's azure tint as they trailed down to his feet. Pale and milky was his skin—doll-like nearly—save for the soft rosy tinges that affirmed his vibrant life.

That identical pure silver defined both.

Jasmine then turned her gaze to his eyes.

She hissed softly through her teeth.

Blackest of blacks—like an infinite chasm.

Yet in place of irises and pupils, silver rings encircled, pulsing and morphing, contracting and expanding in a manner that seemed... unnatural. Captivating.

His smile appeared.

Jasmine's heart raced wildly.

At once, her fists tightened fiercely, nails biting into flesh. Crimson welled up while she gnawed her lip, battling the intrusive, hazardous sensation.

Those eyes...

The figure before her felt utterly alien.

Still, Azriel's words resurfaced in her mind—concerning a specific entity and its baffling stare.

Jasmine gulped. Perspiration slid along her brow.

Summoning her steadiest tone possible, she uttered—

"...Pollux, I presume?"