Reborn as an Extra Chapter 855: The Pilgrimage Begins! Part-1.

It’s not that Rio has any deep-seated feelings of sympathy for the demons; the reason he felt that the place was unpleasant was because this area itself represented the true nature of this world.

The world they all lived in was cruel; strong individuals exploited the weak and drove them to the point of utter despair, and even in death, the weak still could not rest in peace.

’Being weak is a sin...’

This was the most basic law of reality in this world, and this was also the main reason why Rio had always been pursuing strength above everything else.

’Stealing others’ chances, training like a maniac, and purposely throwing yourself in dangerous battles...’

’It’s all for the sake of improvement, even if that improvement is negligible in the grand scale of things... it’s still better than never improving...’

Shaking his head, Rio stopped himself from thinking too much about these things, as he had more important things to do right now.

"I thought you would come in person to greet me... This is your territory; you can move here unrestricted, and yet, you only sent an ’avatar’..."

For a moment, it seemed like Rio was talking to himself, but then he tilted his head to the right, and a blurry, dark, shadow-like figure materialized nearby.

"For someone as powerful as yourself... you are quite cautious."

Hearing Rio’s words, the shadowy figure shook for a bit, and a mental communication wave was transmitted to Rio, which seemed to contain miasmic influence in it.

If it was anyone else, they would have immediately increased their mental defenses to the max and tried their best to avoid this miasmic mental wave, but Rio did not choose to do so.

He simply let the miasmic wave enter his mind and established a stable mental link with the shadowy figure for communication.

Unlike everyone else, Rio was simply unafraid of miasmic corruption or mental manipulation.

In fact, Rio’s own ability to brainwash and mentally manipulate others was likely even more powerful than miasma itself because of how strong his soul manipulation skills were.

[It’s not about being cautious or anything... this is your ’Path’... I can’t interfere with it, or it would do me and the demon race more harm than good...]

[I am welcoming a walking universe ending disaster in my home... it’s fairly reasonable for me to be cautious, No?]

Hearing those words, Rio just smiled wryly.

’If others heard that the Demon King, who was considered the greatest threat by the world, was actually treating me like an even bigger disaster... they would freak out on the spot...’

To be honest, Rio himself was aware that due to his ability to control miasma, there were several organizations and nations that were secretly calling him an ’illegitimate child of the Demon King.’

Even Rio’s closest comrades like Ashtel Rex had already asked him the same question, so Rio wasn’t actually surprised that others were wary of him.

"All things aside... for you to be so wary of me proves that you know quite a lot about everything that’s going on and that is about to go on..."

"That ability to predict the future... it’s quite good. I must... good enough that I honestly feel like stealing it... by force..."

Rio dead-fish-like eyes made the shadowy figure go silent for a bit as if the person controlling it was a bit too speechless after hearing those words.

[Ahem... putting the matter of my powers aside, let’s talk about our main goal here.]

[As planned, you will journey across the Demon Continent with the Demon King Palace being the end goal of your journey.]

[I will wait for you for the final choice you would make... I hope for a better outcome for the Demon Race... and my greatest wish is the Destruction of the ’Heart of Miasma’...]

[If you have seen the memories from the crown... you know what I am talking about.]

Rio nodded his head lightly and agreed without bothering to think too much about all this.

His primary goal to visit the Demon Continent was not to cater to others’ wishes; it was for his own advancement.

The Demon Continent was a metaphor for his own inner wish to preserve his humanity.

From the very beginning, Rio has been struggling to prevent his inner human self from dying completely.

By now, his inner emotions, his feelings towards the world, and his humanity were

The last bits and traces that were left were equivalent to the dying sparks of heat left behind by a bonfire that had gone cold.

The demons living in the demon continent were either originally just normal creatures that went under demonification or were born from miasma itself.

Miasma represented the dual nature of all beings.

Only with Mana and Miasma working together was the world in perfect balance, and as long as a creature was sentient, good and bad thoughts would exist within them forever.

Now Rio only had two choices in front of him.

’Either choose to abandon the path of supremacy, choose to stay as a peak S ranker and never ascend to prevent the last bit of humanity inside my heart...’

’Or sacrifice this last piece of my inner self to gain the power of a Demi-God...’

This was the greatest ’choice’ that Rio had to make before he could complete his ascension.

Rio was standing in front of a ’Fork’ where his ’Path’ was dividing into two.

Either he could choose the path of ascension or the path of stagnation; this choice was only his to make.

If it was someone else, they would never have to worry this much about the ascension stripping away their inner humanity at all, but Rio was different.

Unlike Ashtel, Jin, Raji, etc. Rio lacked the base level of humanity and inner self from the very start.

From the day of his transmigration, Rio was inflicted with a never-healing curse, which kept stripping away bits and pieces of himself slowly over time.

And by now, this situation had escalated so much that ascending to rank SS would mark complete loss of humanity, complete loss of self-restraint, and complete erasure of feelings.

By becoming an SS ranker, Rio would instantly lose whatever feeling he has left in his heart, and