Extra's Descent

Brandon's head was a mess.

He was a mess.

Everything had grown numb to a certain point.

However, despite those feelings, there was an undeniable fact he had come to a conclusion.

Brandon Locke was his best–friend, even before the 263 regressions.

And ultimately, it was he who had cursed his own best–friend.

In the end, he had come into possession of his best–friend's body.

The former might've been out of his control, knowing how there was an error. But regardless, he had manipulated Brandon Locke.

Jin, or rather, Raven, wanted it all back.

A version of him before all the regressions.

A version of him that lived in a world without mana.

Despite all those efforts, it had all gone to naught.

He had seen it all. Visions he was never meant to see.

It truly was outstanding to see someone fall so low.

To see him give up, try, give up, and try again.

And when the opportunity presented itself, an opportunity to finally break the curse of immortality, he never took it.

But that begs the question.

If the book he had read was the 10,001st regression, then who kept record of the entire thing?

Of course, the answer was obvious in plain sight.

Amelia Constantine.

Or rather, Ciel.

Ciel's body language made sense the moment he had asked about Jin.

—My brother.

In the Sovereign aspects, she wasn't wrong.

It had given them a connection even more profound than blood ties.

'You meant to say your lover.'

Amelia was just another victim of his selfish whims.

"Haaa… I'm so tired."

He truly was exhausted.

His body felt light all over.

As if he was gradually descending, submerging in water.

He opened his eyes.

"Ah."

It was dark.

Utter darkness.

But the sensations.

It felt as if he was submerging deep underwater.

But regardless, he could breathe.

It was then when he saw it.

A fixed distance away stood a piano.

"A piano, huh?"

The thought was funny.

Why was there a piano underwater?

His thoughts were jumbled up, and so, setting all logic aside, he swam towards the piano.

The piano.

His only identity that made him himself.

The only thing that gave him solace, a piece that didn't come from either Brandon Locke, nor Raven Blackheart.

The piano was his, and his alone.

Extending his hand forward, he pressed the first key.

Num~

The melodic tune of the piano rang and he felt at peace.

It would be unfair to say Raven Blackheart had descended from righteousness.

From the start, he was already broken.

His mother took her own life right in front of him. For that reason, Raven Blackheart had sealed off his own heart.

Ultimately, the events led to him finding the Sovereign's Will.

And that was where it all started.

Things got progressively worse from then on.

He had tried to save her to the point where Brandon couldn't keep count.

But it all ended the same way.

As if his mother was fated to die.

That meant, that in his own timeline, the timeline before he was thrusted into this progression….

In the end, the two were similar in a way.

"Mom…."

He had his memories.

"Why….?"

He, in fact, was also Raven Blackheart.

"Why did you leave me alone….?"

He was unsure who was speaking.

Him?

"I missed you…. I hate being alone…."

Or the Raven Blackheart inside of him…?

"I wish… I wish you would have chosen me…!"

Ah, of course.

It was both of them.

He had been deluding himself.

Did he truly have a mother?

Or was everything a figment of his imagination, even the text before he died?

"I wish you would have lived… for me!"

He cried out in agony.

Num~

The fine tune of the piano continued to echo. By now, he was in the middle of the second movement.

The novels he had read.

It was all to distract himself from such a reality.

The reality that he had been living alone for half of his life.

Ah.

Then, it was not Raven Blackheart who was to blame for all this.

It was his mother.

All of this had stemmed from the trauma his mother's death had caused.

She was the one to blame.

She was the selfish one.

Not him, not Raven Blackheart.

"Why didn't you choose me!"

He screamed, gritting his teeth.

But no one heard him.

He was all alone.

Just like before.

Belle and Amelia were nowhere to be seen.

They had abandoned him as well.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say they might've killed themselves as well.

Yes, that must've been what happened.

He was always alone in the end.

Hee had never come to know the truth regarding his mother's death.

Just that, when he had arrived home from school, he found her hanging from the ceiling.

"Why?!"

He screamed as he continued tapping on the keys. It was the final movement. The fourth movement.

"Why didn't you live for me!?"

Path to Ascension.

A novel that closely followed Raven Blackheart's story.

The protagonist with the same name as him.

The protagonist that had an oddly similar childhood as him.

It was the ultimate self insert.

For that reason, it was his favorite novel.

Despite all the screaming, not once did the tears fall down.

He couldn't cry anymore. He couldn't plead anymore.

After all, he had been crying for over 10,000 regressions.

Num~

And soon after, his performance had ended.

A performance with no audience.

Just him and the voices in his head.

His sanity was gradually descending.

It truly was his descent.

All of a sudden….

"...."

There was light.

***

It was their exams for the preliminaries.

Particularly, the students of Imperial Academy.

And for the exams, they were given the task for a labyrinth raid.

Killing a monster would give them one point.

The labyrinth was in control of the rankers. For that reason, the entire labyrinth had been well supervised.

Most of the students in the class were in the C to B ranking, it was manageable.

All except for one person.

Raven Blackheart.

The only student in the class that had ascended to the A ranks. To be precise, an A- ranker.

He was exceptional.

For that reason, he was the only one who tackled the exams alone.

But regardless, he had accumulated the most points.

Slash—!

Wherever he went, a streak followed his trail and blood would splatter around.

"Come on, Raven! That was my hunt!"

One of the students voiced out in frustration.

"This is an exam. Do it faster."

Raven flashed him a smirk.

"Hngg…"

The student gritted his teeth in frustration.

And so, Raven continued to dive deeper into the labyrinth.

However, he soon halted.

"....?"

Ice bullets pierced right through the air, almost hitting him.

"Hey, what gives—Ah."

He turned around. There, he could see Rachel and Amy. After all, they were paired with each other.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Raven."

The one who spoke first was Amy.

"You guys. How many points do you have?"

"About 267."

Rachel answered.

"I see."

Raven pinched his chin.

The points were kind of close.

He had about 312.

He needed to keep up his pace.

The best part about the labyrinth were the chambers.

Though they could find monsters along the way as they travel the maze, if they were lucky, and breach the walls, they could find an entire colony of monsters hidden.

"You guys want to team up?"

"Hm…?"

"I think I can sense monsters nearby."

"So you've noticed too…."

Amy sighed.

It wasn't as if they were following Raven. But they too had sensed the colony of monsters from the wall across them.

Tzz—

And it wasn't just them.

"Oh?"

Claire had arrived along with Reinhard.

"You guys are here too?"

"Okay, this is too much."

Raven massaged his temples.

"What are you guys here for?"

He had to ask.

Maybe they hadn't sensed it.

"That."

Claire pointed at the exact wall where Raven could sense the colony of monsters.

"Okay."

Raven shook his head and pushed down his thoughts.

He could share.

"You guys want to distribute evenly—"

And he was soon cut off as students began pouring from all sides.

They too had sensed the colony of monsters coming from the other side of the wall.

"...."

His mouth hung agape. His plans had been thrown off.

But regardless it would be a waste to abandon the chamber. If distribution wasn't possible, then he should just kill them as fast as he can.

The students began discussing with each other.

Raven looked at Reinhard.

"Rein, can you do the honors?"

"Sure."

However, as Reinhard stepped forward, something went wrong.

They had all felt it.

The number of monsters inside the chamber dwindled rapidly.

Something was wrong. Raven had a bad feeling.

Raven and Reinhard exchanged looks with one another. Since they were the two strongest students in the class, they took charge of the situation.

"Everyone, stay back."

Raven waved his hand. The Imperial Academy students were more professional compared to Astrea Academy.

For that reason, listening to the leader wasn't so hard for them as they stepped back.

Then, Raven and Reinhard nodded their heads.

Reinhard extended his hand forward and an orange magic circle materialized soon after.

At that moment…

Boom—!

Flames shot out from the magic circle, destroying the wall and opening a large gaping hole.

They allowed the rock dust to fade as the labyrinth began to stabilize.

As soon as it stabilized, Raven and Reinhard exchanged looks with one another as well.

The hole was large, and for that reason, they had instructed their classmates to follow them closely.

Something was definitely wrong.

And if it turned out as he expected, it would need the combined efforts of the students to handle the situation.

Step—

They stepped inside the labyrinth.

However, what Raven had witnessed was out of expectations.

"....!"

His eyes widened and a chill ran down his spine.

The same went for the other students as they kept their guards up, wide eyed.

Raven scanned the room.

Bodies of monsters were sprawled all around as blood smeared the wall.

Their blood.

It was only a few minutes before their numbers dwindled. However, now that he realized it, there were no monsters left.

And as his gaze lingered at the center, there could see a man with mid–length ink–black hair and ink–black eyes.

He stood still. However, Raven could see the room was filled with a myriad of threads.

Familiar threads.

These threads.

Only one person was capable of such a thing.

However, that person was dead.

The man in front of him couldn't be him.

He looked entirely different.

For such a reason, Raven shook off such thoughts.

Swoosh—

The man's head flicked abruptly towards them and Raven met his ink–black gaze.

The man looked exhausted.

The entire air around him gave Raven a dreadful feeling, sending a chill down his spine.

Not just him, but everyone else had similar reactions.

Rachel herself looked stunned. Raven couldn't blame her.

All of a sudden, the man spoke.

"Hey."

His voice was indifferent, even monotonous.

"Can you kill me?"