The Extra's Odyssey

"His heartbeat is decreasing?!" A cry of surprise left Lark's mouth.

Miniature magic circles hovered above his fingers as he swiftly checked Nathan's condition. Knowing that he himself was about to die, he didn't hold back in saving as many as possible.

"What…? How is this possible…" Lark stared at Nathan in shock, the magic circles over his fingers disappearing. "…He lost his soul core?"

He bit his lips unconsciously. At the same time, Nathan's pulse had slowed to a halt. In a few minutes, he would die, physically too.

"It's impossible to save him." His head hung low in shame and regret, Lark moved to heal Susan. If Nathan had been injured physically – knowing what was to come in the future - Lark would've tried to save him by any means possible, but that was no longer feasible.

"er..hh"

Lark was walking toward Susan when he lost control of his body and abruptly fell. Gnashing his jaw, he couldn't help but lament in anger. "I… can't save Susan."

Susan might be healing at this very moment but she couldn't leave this floor. Suddenly, the roar of trees toppling echoed along with an angry howl.

"[Mass Blink]"

Vupp-

Lark's figure, along with Nathan and Susan, disappeared from the ground and reappeared higher in the sky.

"Found…you…"

The Abomination muttered causally, as the spikes jutting out of his body covered 100 meters each.

"I'm…sorry. I need to save my energy to stall the Abomination." Three magic circles appeared above and below Nathan and Susan. An invisible film wrapped around their bodies and they disappeared in the blink of an eye. "This is all I can do for you."

Covered in a special barrier, Susan and Nathan's corpse was teleported to a far corner of Floor 13. Lark could only hope that the barrier blocked the [Life Detection] of the Abomination and left Susan alone.

As for Nathan, before Lark teleported him, he confirmed his heart to have stopped beating.

"I'll eat that… grimoire and then…. Child of…. Destiny.."

The Abomination puckered its lips gleefully.

"I'm sorry…" Lark whispered to himself again. Saving Nathan was possible if Lark fought to take back the soul core – the rainbow-coloured flame that the Abomination absorbed- however stalling the Abomination to give extra time for Leon to escape was just as important.

On his last leg, Lark could not fight the Abomination at his full power while also stalling it. Only one among Nathan and Leon could be saved.

Fschk-

Spikes laced in a grey lightning shot to the jump, impaling Lark and killing him when, for the first time, Lark slowly opened his eyes.

Abomination retracted its attack instantly and jumped a hundred meters back. Around Lark, almost in a dozen-meter radius, chaotic pressure appeared and flattened everything to dust.

The show of might did not shake the Abomination as much as the color of the eye did.

His one eye was green, the same as the real Lark, but the other eye…

"Golden… eye…?"

Several books materialized around Lark. His golden eye shone brightly and the books fluttered open.

[Accessing record of character "Leon Barns"…..]

[Accessing record of character "Susan Warner"…..]

[Accessing record of character "Lilith Ashdown"…..]

[Accessing record of character "Anna Kenward"…..]

A giant skeleton appeared in the air. White flames covered the skeleton and formed a massive scythe.

Blood flew out of the corpses of cadets and spun violently. Radiating an alluring yet deadly dark red color.

Magic circles covered the sky, stretching endlessly into the horizon.

"Monarch…? No, you are…an…." The Abomination was startled, witnessing something just as great as the grimoire. "…Emmet of Babylon"

***

-(Present || Location: Floor 14)-

Leon's unconscious figure gently descended.

A 30-meter giant with four arms looked at him. The figure of the giant was becoming transparent, he was losing his conscious self again, so he decided to conserve his energy and tell an important message to his Lord, for the giant didn't know how long it might take to meet his lord again.

In a few minutes, Leon's eyes gently fluttered open. A golden status screen covered his vision.

[ [Full-Frame] is evolving…. 55.69%…. 56.42%....]

"You are awake, my lord."

The presence of the giant deterred any monster from coming near Leon. The monsters knew only chaos and destruction, yet they were afraid of approaching the giant.

"Where am I?"

"On Floor 14 of the Pagoda of Death, my lord."

Grabbing his head, Leon sat with a blank look on his face. He was recalling everything that transpired earlier, his face expressionless.

"The successor of Devil had died, my Lord. You should now not worry and focus on reaching the 3rd Trial to escape the Abomination." The giant had become almost transparent. He did not have much time left, thus he spoke without waiting for his lord's permission. "It might be difficult, but with me reaching Level 2, lord doe-"

Leon suddenly cut Raikou and posed a question.

"The one who saved me in Underworld… It wasn't you, was it?"

"My lord, this isn't th-"

"Answer me"

A chilling atmosphere surrounded Leon as he stared expressionlessly at the horizon.

"No, my lord"

"Who was it?" The giant tried to dodge the topic, but Leon didn't let him. "You've already lied to me once. Do not test my patience by lying again."

Raikou uncomfortably shifted back. Even combining the two lives, the number of times Leon acted like this could be counted on one hand.

"The successor of Mephi-"

"He has a name"

"…the human called Nathan Hunt, your friend my lord." Sensing something off about Leon, Raikou spoke hurriedly. "My Lord, you shouldn't make the same mistake as your previous life, the Devi-"

"Shut up." Leon slowly stood up and checked his katana. Making sure his weapon was in the best condition, he sat down to meditate. "He saved him me twice. He could've killed me the first time easily if he wanted. This time, too, he didn't need to put his life on the line and resist the Abomination. But all you can see is someone evil."

Nathan killed almost a hundred humans in the Underworld, Leon did not forget this. If Nathan was still alive, Leon would've made sure he paid for his sins, but that was no longer possible.

However, because Nathan killed someone did not mean his friendship was fake.

"He was desperately trying to save me, Susan, and everyone. But just because he has an artifact of the Devil, you only think of killing him."

Leon could recall it clearly. Even at the last second – when the Abomination copied his lightning and blew the surroundings to smithereens– the first thing Nathan did was to put up defenses for others, not save himself.

"Sure, he was trying to kill the Abomination, but he didn't let others go through the pain. He didn't even utter an ounce of cry when he was fighting that monstrosity with half of his body burned. Yet he didn't ask for help" Leon gritted his teethes.

If all Nathan cared about was killing the Abomination, he could've asked others to help him. But he didn't. Despite telling everyone to run after the Spear strikes, Nathan didn't and instead fought. Alone.

Clenching his fists, Raikou could only stay silent.

'You shouldn't trust him, my lord.'

There was a lot to say, but the time and place didn't give them the leeway.

"The Abomination will come any second, my lord. You need to start moving."

"I will fight it here." Leon's tone left no room for compromise. "I'm sick of running away. If I'm going to die, then I'll die facing my fears."

***

-(Present ||Location: Nathan's soul)-

Eth was standing in front of the dark veil with determination in his eyes.

Exhaling deeply, he stretched his hands and entered the veil.

He felt as if he was walking through a marsh, a deep, thick marsh. Coldness bit on his skin, digging its fangs deeper with each second, yet Eth did not stop walking.

This is the only way. Repeating the same sentence over and over in his mind, he braved through the endless darkness.

Stepping out of the black mist, he suddenly heard clunking of chains. A familiar clunking.

[??? has used his used his Authority [Chains of Order] ]

Before Eth could glimpse at his new surroundings, the chains covered everything. They meshed into each other, split, meshed again, and continued to do so until Eth was standing inside a tunnel made of chains. The chains were tightly interlocked and didn't leave an ounce of a gap to peek through.

[??? says you took a long time to make up your mind]

(But I'm ready now)

His steps held conviction as he marched forward. His green eyes peered through the tunnel, trying to see the person standing at the end.

[??? asks your reason for coming here]

Eth was the one who had told Nathan to never come here. It was because Eth could tell, coming here was a step one could not take back. It would not end well.

(Please help, Nathan) But for someone lost, even a speck of light at the end of the tunnel is as bright as the sun. (I'll pay any price. But please help him.)

At that moment, no system window answered but an actual voice.

"He is living through his own choices. This is not my place to intervene."

(I'll do anything, please….)

When did he grow so close to Nathan? Eth himself didn't know. What he did know was that he didn't want him to die. He wanted to support his dreams.

"No matter how much you beg, the answer won't change." A disapproving voice came back. "Even if I agree, saving him is something I cannot do, for it is impossible to go against the providence."