The Retired Hero is an Extra

***

After everything Bhairav had shown and done, Jash didn't know what to believe anymore.

As both their forms were blurring and wavering, the short time remaining became apparent.

Despite the situation, Bhairav remained unnerved as if it had nothing to do with him.

After all, he had already done his best. The decision was not his from the start.

'I won't force him to choose a specific path. I don't want him to end up like me...'

Bhairav didn't linger on his reminiscing thoughts, as his focus shifted to something else before turning to face Jash.

"We don't have much time."

Despite the unease coursing through Jash opposite him, Bhairav didn't have all the time in the world for Jash to accept the situation.

He needed to be fast, or he might regret it.

"You have already changed. Your memories—they are just continued—from my memories. They are entwined."

Bhairav explained cryptically, not wanting to waste time on another explanation.

'He will know when it is the right time...' Bhairav analyzed and went quiet.

On the other side, Jash had trouble forming coherent thoughts yet he yearned for more.

He wanted to hear more about those cryptic and mysterious circumstances Bhairav kept playing around.

'There is definitely something at play...' concluded Jash.

'Yet do I agree or do I not?'

His dilemma didn't end there, however.

'Will I truly be Jash Ramille? Or will I be him? Or just an amalgamation of us both?'

Realizing the urgency of the situation, he didn't waste time on analyzing anymore and directly chose what felt instinctively right.

'Master! I accept!' he thought with the idea of conveying it to Bhairav.

Noting the small smile on Bhairav's face and hearing his last words, Jash disappeared from the space.

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"Good luck."

...

Bhairav wasn't surprised by Jash's decision and bid him farewell before focusing on something else entirely.

Throughout the time Jash remained unresponsive, he felt a familiar eerie energy around him.

Naturally, it had been receding ever since he had woken up, trying to hide from him.

His mere presence mortified the eerie energy as if it stood in front of its mortal predator.

Yet all its efforts proved futile.

"Now, now, I wonder what you are?"

"Hiding far and low, creeping under the scars,"

"Where are ya hiding, oh lil' one?"

"Don't want to meet this nice ol' man, naughty one?"

"Hehe"

"Ready or not,"

"Here I come!"

Jash moved with impossible precision in the nothingness, his expression serene as if he hadn't just muttered some nonsensical, cringe gibberish.

Not even feeling ashamed, but rather proud of his words, he landed on the barrier of the soul.

His form was also sizzling in and out of existence like Jash, but he knew how to utilize it, so it wasn't much of a problem... for now.

Looking around the soul barrier, or what he assumed to be the soul barrier, Bhairav finally found the source of the familiar eerie energy.

Multiple red vines snaked around the barrier, trying to shatter it and ensnare the soul with their deadly thorns of crimson color.

Yet the pulsating moment of some dark-green viscous material visible through the thin red vine walls looked disgusting.

Not minding the weird appearance of the vibes, he inched closer to the barrier, and the vines retreated in response.

Minimizing their presence instinctively from his mere presence left him intrigued about their origin.

However, what intrigued him was something else.

'There is no way these vines couldn't break the soul barrier, given they envelop it entirely...'

'The System definitely listened to no damage, controlling, enslaving and whatnot request...'

'Still, they are disgusting and I don't want to leave behind any lingering problems.'

Without even leaving the barrier, Bhairav masterfully manipulated the weird golden power coursing within the barrier.

Despite the power being untameable by anyone, he did so with ease.

The encroaching vines sizzled with the slightest contact with the golden power, let alone now.

Bhairav released the golden strings of unknown energy outside the barrier, allowing the vines to almost shatter the soul barrier in an instant.

Fortunately, the golden strings shot out of the barrier, cutting down the number of vines and healing the barrier at the same time.

Unbothered by his actions of eliminating an unknown source of threat, maybe even alerting the perpetrator, Bhairav remained unperturbed.

Even his dimming spirit didn't scare him, let alone something like this.

Using the power definitely took a toll on his consciousness, or his spirit, yet he just looked at the remaining vines with wonder.

They had coalesced into one sphere, and tried piercing the barrier to enter from one place, leaving behind the others to fend off the golden energy.

But how could it fool Bhairav?

Less than a moment later, all the vines were done for, an abyssal black smoke sizzling out of the sphere.

Rest of the vines were sundered by the golden energy, leaving behind no evidence of their previous presence.

'Darkness?' Bhairav mused, looking at the blob of darkness right outside his barrier.

He could feel his soul pulse with liveliness, wishing to absorb the darkness.

However, he could also feel the golden energy keeping it at bay.

'Golden–Protective, can be attributed to the system.'

'Darkness–Destructive. Yet the soul craves it.'

In the end, he too made a decision based on his intuition alone, just like Jash.

Unfortunately or fortunately, both decisions would have a lingering impact throughout his second life.

Or if he hadn't ceased to exist by then...

Yet Bhairav appeared undeterred in the face of the implications his actions might cause.

He directly manipulated the golden energy to envelope and seal the darkness inside his soul barrier.

Not inside the soul.

It would linger close by, forever kept bay by the golden strings of energy, never to meet the ever-yearning soul.

He wasn't stupid enough to risk something the golden energy, he thought of as the system's protective mechanism, rejected and repelled.

However, his actions caused his spirit to almost wane and blink out of existence.

Or rather cease from all phases of life itself.

'I have already given Jash what he needs and the rest would be known at the appropriate time...'

In his potential last moments, he didn't have any evil thoughts but just considered if what he had done for Jash was enough or not.

He also had thoughts about his life, but not of regret or grievances.

Rather he thought back to what his mother or girlfriend told him in his hard times.

There are no strong men or women. You can be strong and weak to the same person at the same time.

I love you the most in this world. However, if you find someone surpassing my love, be with her.

A dry chuckle escaped his lips as he remembered the happy times and how the situation changed.

Shirking away the loving memories which did nothing but hurt him, he changed his line of thoughts back to Jash.

'It truly puzzles me how someone, who is supposed to die in the first academy arc, going to live? And why was he even cursed, in the first place?'

'Well, whatever. Nothing to do with me...'

'At least, not anymore.'

With that, Bhairav bid farewell to the world, ceasing to exist as he coalesced back into his soul, leaving everything behind to Jash, only to be unlocked after meeting the preset requirements.

***

{A/N}

Thanks to the support of everyone, this book finally got contracted!!

Yay~

Also, with this chapter, the prologue has ended, what does that mean?

The real thing starts now!!

I will release lots of chapters from tomorrow!!

I truly wish to win June WPC, so if you like the novel, at least leave a comment, it helps!!

Thank you, once again!