Path of the Extra Chapter 406: Red Grass

Fifty-nine minutes after time had frozen, it finally began to move again.

Lia, confused by the fact that Nol was carrying her, was told that she had fallen asleep. The young girl accepted the explanation easily enough.

Azriel and Nol made their way back to the count’s estate, and when they arrived at the open adjacent gate, neither of them stepped any farther.

"Master... this smell..."

Nol’s face had gone pale with nausea as he stared toward the estate, where everything before him felt eerily empty and silent.

"...You should take her with you to [White Haven] until it’s safe again."

"...!"

Nol looked at Azriel in shock.

"What!? No, Master, there’s no way I’m doing that!"

Azriel stepped in front of him and placed a hand on Nol’s shoulder, offering him a warm smile while Nol held Lia in his arms.

"That smell behind me... is not something you should experience."

"No, that’s not it..." Nol said, his voice tightening. "You’re trying to push me away again, aren’t you, Master? Why!? I-I thought we made up, and that you would finally—"

"Nol."

Azriel cut him off, still looking at him with gentle eyes.

"They are coming for you and this child."

"..."

"They already took Celestina and Jasmine."

"...."

"I need to save them. But I cat do that if I have to protect the two of you at the same time."

Nol bit his lip hard enough to taste iron on his tongue.

"I’m not discarding you this time, Nol," Azriel said quietly. "I am simply too weak not to fear that you would get hurt while I try to bring Jasmine and Celestina back."

"No..." Nol whispered.

"You are not weak, Master... I am..."

"..."

"I-I don’t understand, Master... before, blood didn’t scare me. But now... even the smell of it, I-I..."

"It’s fine."

Nol looked up at Azriel, his eyes reddening by the second.

"The reason you’re feeling fear is not because you’ve become weak, Nol," Azriel said softly. "It’s because you’ve become more human."

"...Then I don’t like being human."

Azriel let out a short, quiet laugh.

"You thinking that is precisely what makes you human."

"Master..."

Azriel stepped back, letting go of Nol’s shoulder, then looked down at Lia.

"You’ll behave, alright?"

"Mhm."

Lia did not understand much, but she was smart enough to know this was serious. Nervous, she gave a small, weak nod.

Azriel’s smile widened just a little.

"Master, can I ask one last thing?"

Azriel looked back at Nol, silently urging him to continue.

"This scenario... this angel... you already knew about all of this beforehand, didn’t you?"

"..."

Azriel remained silent, saying nothing, while Lia looked between them in confusion.

"But you were acting strange even before that angel appeared. When that knight showed up... it felt more like you were..." Nol said, then steadied his voice with effort. "Master... are you tired?"

Azriel blinked a few times at the unexpected question, then broke into another tender smile.

"I guess I am... just a little."

"Oh..."

"Why do you ask?"

Nol shook his head and looked down at his feet.

"Just... I think we all want to leave this world now, huh..."

Hearing those words, Azriel placed a hand on his shoulder again and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Don’t worry. I will succeed and get us out of here."

"Right."

Nol looked up and forced an exuberant grin onto his face. Seeing how hard he was trying, Azriel chuckled, then let go and turned away without looking back.

He stepped through the gates—

just before he heard Nol’s small whisper behind him.

"Be safe... Master."

"...Idiot..."

Muttering the word under his breath, Azriel stepped through the gate, trying to keep his lips from curling any further upward.

"Is this really wise, human?"

Suddenly, the familiar proctor floated in front of him as Azriel made his way toward the estate doors.

"Why are you here?" Azriel asked without slowing his steps.

"There are no participants around, so you shouldn’t be allowed to stream me."

A faint, unnatural smile spread across the angel’s face.

"There will be plenty soon enough, so I thought we could have a little chat before you willingly walk into a den filled with murderous humans."

"There is nothing for us to talk about."

"That’s what you say, but come on... what is going on with this scenario? You know, don’t you, human?"

"..."

"We were allowed to stream, but not physically enter this world. It was almost as though they were trying to tell us that if we did, we might actually die."

"..."

"You see, all these strange terms I readily use – anyone else would surely be baffled, shocked, perhaps even overcome with fear. Yet you..." The celestial being narrowed his eyes. "Your expression hardly betrays any deep emotion. At least, not the kind befitting the circumstances."

"..."

"You truly are unyielding, aren't you?"

Having arrived at the doorway, Azriel drew a deep inhalation of air.

Something felt amiss.

The pieces didn't fit together.

A growing unease within Azriel's chest assured him that the abduction of Jasmine and Celestina, coinciding with the proctor's abrupt arrival, could not possibly be mere chance.

With a final, decisive movement, Azriel pushed open the imposing doors.

The instant he crossed the threshold, a new interface materialized before his vision.

[Time Limit: 4:47:16.81]

"That," the proctor stated, "is the duration humanity has to prove its worthiness as participants."

Azriel pressed his lips together, continuing his advance into the area.

The moment he stepped into the main hall, the stench assaulted him with its full intensity.

It was so potent it felt almost palpable, like a heavy mist.

Blood.

The overwhelming, nauseating warmth of recently spilled blood clung to the walls and pooled across the marble floor beneath his feet, momentarily causing Azriel's features to tighten.

His footsteps carried him onward across the crimson-stained floor, faint splashes of blood echoing with each stride.

Azriel ventured further into the sprawling estate.

Proceeding cautiously through the corridors, where the blood had spread with equal abandon, he finally encountered the deceased.

His gaze sharpened.

He paused, observing the lifeless form of a maid slumped against the wall, her uniform rent and saturated in red, her skull hideously fractured.

Azriel found himself contemplating which aspect was more disturbing—

that the participants had extinguished an innocent life,

or that they had ended a life that had no business being taken at all.

"In the grand scheme of things, some invariably get caught in the tumultuous events, regardless of their will," the angel commented suddenly. At some point, he had silently descended to perch upon Azriel's shoulder.

"Do you deities consider this... entertainment?" Azriel inquired softly, prompting the proctor to swivel his head.

"To bring discord into my world, to shatter this existence, only to rebuild it and subsequently claim more human lives... is this what you deem as amusement?"

"...This is not entertainment. This is a trial—"

"A trial for humans, certainly. But undeniably a spectacle for you."

"..."

"It is utterly reprehensible, your indulgence in such pointless bloodshed."

"Pointless?" the proctor echoed, his brow furrowing now, a flicker of anger igniting in his expression. "Are you not casting stones while residing in a glass house, human?"

Azriel remained silent.

"You yourself stood on the precipice of annihilating an entire human settlement. You issued threats to end a child's life. For what purpose? Merely because you desired the demise of someone you found displeasing? You only refrain from labeling those acts as needless killings because your power holds sway in this realm. Were you to find yourself facing saint-ranked individuals, you too would decry all such actions as needless slaughter—simply because you would then be the one occupying the position of weakness."

"...So, if I were to proceed down this very hallway and discover the fallen bodies of participants," Azriel stated in a low tone, "they met their end devoid of your amusement? Their deaths held some profound significance?"

"These orchestrated events are tests," the proctor elucidated. "They serve to ascertain if humankind possesses the fortitude to merit our aid and endure. The feeble perish. The strong prevail and harvest the benefits. Such is the fundamental law of nature. We cannot extend assistance to those incapable of first aiding themselves. Nor do we harbor any desire to do so."

Azriel's lips curved into a subtle, almost imperceptible smile.

"...How exceedingly magnanimous of you."

The proctor grimaced at his response.

"So, it is deemed acceptable as long as the killing is perpetrated by your own hand?" he questioned, as the pair resumed their progression down the corridor.

Azriel was poised to offer an immediate retort, but then he faltered.

A subtle shift occurred in his demeanor.

For a fleeting moment, a look of profound disquiet settled upon his features.

And when he finally spoke, his words delivered a surprising impact, even to the celestial being.

"...If it were I in your stead, then... yes."

"..."

That intangible sensation—

It was as if Azriel was meant to feel indignant over the actions this divine entity had undertaken.

"You are indeed a peculiar human," the angel remarked at length.

Subsequently, a heavy silence descended upon them as they continued their walk through the eerily hushed corridors of the estate, where blood stained the floors and the occasional corpse of a servant—or perhaps a participant—lay abandoned in the grim aftermath.

Verily, they had.

The perpetrators within this estate were none other than the participants—individuals who had likely never committed an act of killing before, persons already paralyzed by fear and incapable of properly fulfilling their designated roles within this grim scenario.

...They would possess no knowledge of how to render death a painless release.

At long last, Azriel navigated his way towards the garden, the presumed gathering place for the majority of the participants.

What awaited his gaze was a tableau of lifeless bodies strewn across what had once been verdant grounds.

Now, it was awash in crimson.

Red grass.

The spectacle nearly overwhelmed Azriel with revulsion.

"P-Please... I beg you... do not end my life...! I don't... I don't wish to perish...!"

One participant lay sprawled across another corpse, staring up in terror with one hand stretched forward. Standing over him was another young participant, clutching a spear with both trembling hands. Her entire body shook. She was covered in blood, crying so hard she could barely breathe.

And then she drove the spear into the man’s heart.

A second later, the red marker above her head flickered—

and turned green.

Other participants stood or sat among the blood with the same green markers above them, wearing exhausted, dull, hollow expressions.

Most of those who had been too weak to fight and win were dead.

Azriel could still hear screams from behind him and above him, from the upper floors of the estate.

Participants were hunting their own.

Azriel clenched his teeth.

...The worst part was that there was nothing he could do.

Even if he had come earlier and convinced them not to kill, they would have died anyway.

By now, some of them had noticed they were being watched. A few turned their heads toward him in surprise, and others quickly followed.

At first, their eyes recognized Azriel.

There was surprise in them.

Hope.

Relief.

Then those same eyes shifted to the white marker above his head—

and turned greedy.

Sighing inwardly, Azriel looked at them with a composed face and spoke a single cold word.

"Don’t."

"...!".

It was as though that one word dragged them back to their senses. They flinched and looked away in shame.

With that thought, Azriel was about to turn away—

when he suddenly felt the sharp tip of a weapon press against his back.

"This is quite the conundrum, is it not, Azriel?"

Recognizing the voice immediately, Azriel’s mood darkened.

Without turning around, he addressed the man behind him.

"Caleus."

"...You should have run while you had the chance."

"I don’t believe there is anyone here capable of making me run in fear."

"Bold words," Caleus said. "I wonder if you are saying them just to hide it."

"I don’t have time for this," Azriel muttered, his face growing colder.

"You don’t have time for this?" Caleus echoed. "That is interesting, considering the reward for killing you would buy me more than enough time. I would be able to solo this entire scenario... and instantly become one of humanity’s strongest."

"I suppose that is true."

Azriel said it calmly before beginning to turn around.

"Easy there."

Caleus pressed the tip of his spear harder into Azriel’s back.

Azriel stopped, his expression turning annoyed.

At the same time, the participants watching them began to grow fearful again—yet the greed in their eyes was returning.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you," Caleus said. "No... give me one good reason why you shouldn’t offer your life to me. Or to someone like Lioren. Your death would push humanity into a new era. Though I still don’t understand why it has to be you, or what exactly the deal is with this scenario or that angel... right now, your death is worth more than your life."

"You are right," Azriel said simply.

"Honestly, if your goal truly is humanity’s benefit, then letting a master kill me would probably serve humanity for a very long time. And if your goal is selfish instead, then you could kill me and remain one of the strongest for a very long time as well, ruling over humanity until we inevitably perish."

"You were always much smarter than you looked," Caleus said with a chuckle.

"But what makes you think I care about the benefit of you or humanity?"

Suddenly, Azriel turned sharply.

In one smooth motion, he tore the spear from Caleus’s grip and kicked him back, sending him skidding several meters across the blood-soaked ground.

It was not a heavy kick.

Azriel had only wanted the spear.

And now he had it.

He twirled the weapon once before leveling it at Caleus, who stared back at him with a tense expression, his face streaked with blood and a green marker floating above his head.

"Your petty greed, your wishes, your desires—they are of no concern to me."

Azriel’s voice was cold enough to make the air itself feel still.

"The reason such a great reward has been placed on my death is because I am the most valuable human in this scenario. Why? Because I am better than all of you."

His eyes locked onto Caleus.

"Yes, Caleus, I am smart. But understand this—I am not merely smart. I am smarter than you. Smarter than all of you. I have also survived more near-death experiences than all of you combined. The likes of you will never kill me, nor would I ever allow it."

He lowered the spear slightly, though the threat in his posture only deepened.

"And now I am already in a bad mood. Jasmine and Celestina have been kidnapped, and I need to get them back. So I am giving you two options."

Azriel pointed the spear directly at him.

"Either you tell me where Lioren is... or you back off."

His gaze swept over the others as well.

"Choose anything else, and I do not care whether you are an heir or a royal or whatever the fuck you are. I will murder you just the same as I will anyone else who stands in my way from this point onward."