Path of the Extra

At first, the only sound was their breathing as they quietly leaned against the walls, waiting.

Waiting for Solomon to come... or perhaps someone else. Regardless, they waited, eyes on the dark corridor ahead.

And as they waited, boredom naturally crept in, leading them to talk.

Azriel spoke the most, explaining the attack of Neo Gesis, telling his own fabricated version of evts. Celestina and Vergil said little.

Food and water wer't an issue—they had plty in their storage rings—but conversation evtually ran dry.

Azriel sat in the middle, with Vergil on his right and Celestina on his left. Celestina glanced at him, eyes narrowed.

Azriel leaned against the wall, eyes closed, looking utterly exhausted.

His appearance was terrible, if she had to be honest.

Blood covered him from head to toe. His clothes were torn, hair disheveled, and his hand... missing.

At least his wounds were healing, albeit slowly.

She still hadn't fully processed that Azriel had fought—and won—against Bson and his m.

No, she realized, she knew nothing.

Nothing about what was happing today made sse to her anymore.

There was a sse that Azriel was holding something back, some vital pieces of information.

Her gaze traveled across his body, evtually stopping at a peculiar sight.

'What is that?'

Her brow furrowed as she fixated on his left arm.

His sleeve was torn, bloodied, and faded into the darkness.

But now that she was paying atttion, she noticed something else—bandages.

His left arm was wrapped in bandages, tightly wound, leaving almost no skin exposed.

The flickering torchlight illuminated the bandages, and she blinked, confused. She hadn't se him wrap those.

That meant the injury was from before his fight, but that didn't make sse either.

Azriel hadn't fought in the void dungeon until Bson attacked him, and there was no time for such careful bandaging in betwe.

'He's be wearing these the tire time?'

Before the void dungeon, ev.

That thought piqued her curiosity. Why was he covering his left arm?

She glanced at him again—still asleep, or so it seemed.

Vergil was in a similar state, eyes closed, barely moving. The boy seemed to sleep more oft than anyone she knew.

Her eyes darted back to Azriel's bandages.

'Wouldn't they be uncomfortable? Covered in blood and sticking to his skin like that?'

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Maybe she could get a closer look.

Maybe, just maybe, there was more to the bandages than a mere injury. Something he hadn't healed for some reason.

After another quick glance at his face, she leaned closer, her heart pounding.

For some reason, it felt wrong—like breaking an important rule or trying to hide something she shouldn't have touched.

The feeling made her pulse race as if she were a child caught red-handed after shattering her mother's favorite vase.

'They're just bandages. Why am I like this?'

Her hand inched closer to his arm, ready to touch the bandages—

Suddly, she froze.

A cold grip seized her wrist.

Her head snapped to the right, eyes widing as two crimson eyes stared back at her.

The same arm she had be about to uncover was now holding her tightly.

Azriel blinked, looking at her shocked expression.

They were close.

Too close.

Their noses nearly touched, and she could feel his breath on her face.

He glanced at his hand gripping her wrist.

"Oh…"

He gtly let go, and Celestina quickly pulled back, her heart still racing as she looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry… your bandages looked uncomfortable, so I thought I should change them."

She purposely left out her curiosity about why he wore them in the first place.

Azriel glanced at his arm, th back at her face before sighing softly.

"It's fine. They don't bother me. I'll wash them properly later."

Celestina's curiosity burned as she finally gave in and asked,

"Why are you wearing them?"

Azriel stared at her for a few seconds, his expression unreadable. She couldn't shake the feeling that something about those bandages was off.

Especially since he had already tak health potions, and she'd used her light affinity to heal him.

His eyes drifted toward his arm before he finally spoke, his voice low.

"…It's an injury."

Celestina frowned, her gaze shifting to the bandages again as he continued.

"An injury I got back in the void realm. Unfortunately, no potion or healer can fix it. So, I just cover it with these bandages."

Her eyes wided in shock.

'An injury that can't be healed? Just how severe is it?'

Looking at the bandages, a thought crossed her mind.

'Would becoming an advanced-ranked be ough to cure it?'

But she quickly dismissed the idea.

There was nothing she could do.

She didn't know any miracle that could heal something so severe, and Azriel belonged to one of the four great clans like her.

Whatever resources she had, he had as well.

She hadn't ev se the injury, and now her curiosity had turned into guilt.

Guilt for nearly crossing a line she might have regretted.

She didn't dare ask how he had received such a wound.

Lost in her thoughts, Celestina didn't notice Vergil had oped his eyes, watching Azriel with a deadpan expression as Azriel smiled wryly.

*****

"Brat, what did I tell you? She'd get curious."

Azriel glanced at Celestina, who was no longer sitting.

She was talking with Vergil, her eyes fixed on the dark passage ahead.

He couldn't blame them. Unlike him, they still had ergy and wer't injured.

Sitting idle for so long had to be exhausting for them.

Azriel shifted his gaze to the inferior version of the Crying Fog, Leo, who sat against the opposite wall, staring at Azriel with that familiar, unsettling smile.

Azriel sighed but remained silt.

He didn't want to look insane, talking to himself in front of Celestina and Vergil.

Instead, he just kept his eyes on Leo, knowing the insufferable figure could already guess most of his thoughts.

Leo's grin wided.

"Ah, now that I think of it, you're really going to die today, ar't you? The momt she sees you in this pathetic state, she might kill you herself."

Azriel's face darked.

Leo's taunt stirred thoughts of Jasmine—who by now had likely heard about everything from Nol.

If Jasmine saw him like this, bloodied, missing a hand...

He would rather face the Cradler again.

His gaze returned to Celestina's back, and he sighed quietly, disappointed.

One day, she'd master her light affinity so thoroughly that she could lose limbs and regerate them without a second thought... It was terrifying.

Imagine fighting someone who could heal every wound, no matter how severe, as long as they had the mana for it.

Leo noticed where his thoughts had gone and chuckled darkly.

"You're going to distance yourself from her, ar't you? Ev though that fool of an instructor died by your hand, you still list to him. Love. I wonder what that feels like."

Azriel's expression turned grim as he stared at the Crying Fog.

If someone like Leo ever felt love, Azriel thought, the world might truly go mad.

A sudd silce veloped the tunnel as Azriel closed his eyes.

It was peaceful.

No sound but the faint echoes of his own thoughts.

The pain in his missing hand had subsided, though the phantom ache lingered, strange but manageable.

And th...

Azriel furrowed his brow.

It was still quiet.

Too quiet.

Why was it quiet?

What happed to Celestina and Vergil's conversation?

Oping his eyes, he saw Leo, no longer grinning, but scowling as he stood, glancing a.

Azriel's pulse quicked, his breathing suddly heavy.

Sweat trickled down his face.

"Haa... Haaa..."

His breath came in ragged bursts. His vision trembled. Wh he looked at Celestina and Vergil again...

They were froz.

Their bodies completely still. It wasn't just them.

Azriel's eyes shot wide as he staggered to his feet.

A wave of nausea hit him as he pressed his hand against the cold stone wall to steady himself.

Goosebumps crawled up his arms.

The torches that lined the walls...

They wer't flickering.

No.

They were froz too.

"What is the meaning of this, brat?" Leo's voice was tight, unnatural.

Azriel's heart pounded in his chest.

It was just him and Leo now.

Time itself had stopped.

And th...

The unmistakable sound of metal scraping against stone echoed through the tunnel.