Path of the Extra Chapter 438: The Most Propitious Time

"Lumine? Did you hear me?"

Looking at Celestina with a disoriented expression, Lumine unwittingly nodded.

"...Yeah."

’So even... even saying that I went back in time gets me killed?’

"You suddenly look pale," Celestina said, narrowing her eyes.

"As if you’ve seen a ghost."

Lumine swallowed, feeling the tongue in his mouth—still intact this time—and tried to offer her a reassuring smile.

"Ah, no. I’m fine. Truly."

’I feel sick.’

"If you say so..."

She did not look convinced. For a moment, the Frost Heiress slipped away, and Celestina looked at him with genuine concern. But before she could say anything else, Lumine forced a bright smile.

’I feel sick.’

"Now I’ll go and save Azriel, so just hang on, alright?"

’I feel sick.’

"Huh? Yeah, I guess, b-but—"

’I feel sick.’

Before she could say another word, Lumine leapt away and disappeared.

’I feel sick.’

*****

"Hey..." Yelena’s voice reached him almost immediately. "Is something wrong, Lumine? You look very pale."

"First Celestina, and now you?" Lumine said, forcing a laugh. "Seriously, don’t worry. I’m perfectly fine."

"But..."

"No buts. Trust me, okay?"

Yelena pinched the sleeve of his robe, her anxious gaze fixed on him. The sight made Lumine’s heart ache, but he still forced another gentle smile for her.

’I don’t know what to do...’

Pushing down the vomit rising in his throat, along with the anxiety clawing beneath his skin, Lumine looked at her.

"Didn’t you say you were going to check on something?"

"Ah."

Surprised by the reminder, Yelena gave a shy nod.

"Yes... but..." She hesitated. "I think it would be better if I went with you instead."

Lumine shook his head and suddenly gripped both of her shoulders firmly.

"No. You feel uneasy because your [Instinct] is telling you something, right? Then let’s go check what the problem is together."

Startled by his assertiveness, Yelena almost agreed on the spot. A faint redness colored her cheeks before she hurriedly shook her head.

"No, no, no! You need to go save Azriel! You promised Celestina. I’ll deal with whatever is wrong instead!"

"No."

Lumine refused her outright.

’I can’t save Azriel. I’m stuck in a loop. If I get there too fast, the void creature kills me. If I take too long, the void creature kills all of us here. And Azriel will either kill himself, or Prince Lioren will kill him. What I need right now is information. Clues. Anything that can help me understand how to get out of this mess...’

In other words...

In this loop, he had already decided to give up on saving anyone.

’There’s no other way. I need more information. Maybe Yelena’s [Instinct] can help. I also need to start timing when the angel arrives with his message about the challenge and the five-hour break.’

"Azriel can wait right now, Yelena," Lumine said quietly. "I’d rather deal with whatever your [Instinct] is warning us about before we’re taken by surprise."

Yelena stared into his eyes.

Almost instantly, she understood that there was no convincing him otherwise. Still, every part of her expression showed how deeply she hated the decision.

"I don’t support this, Lumine..."

Lumine smiled faintly, as if he had already known she would say that.

’I don’t either...’

"But fine," Yelena said at last. "I hope this is the right one."

"...Thank you, Yelena."

*****

With Yelena leading the way, relying solely on her [Instinct], they hardly spoke.

Lumine could tell she was displeased that he had followed her. Not angry, exactly. More unsettled. Troubled in a way she was trying very hard not to show.

They moved through corridor after corridor, passing open spaces where doors had once stood, each one leading into empty chambers swallowed by silence. They had crossed several more when both of them suddenly stopped.

Voices.

"Have you accidentally broken your mind, perhaps? How the fuck could you take this so far?"

The voice belonged to a woman they both recognized.

Lumine and Yelena exchanged a startled look. They were standing just beside a corner, hidden from view. Carefully, they peered around it.

At the far end of the corridor stood two figures.

"Isn’t that..."

"Anastasia," Yelena whispered.

"And..."

"Caleus."

Anastasia had her arms crossed, irritation written clearly across her face. One foot tapped against the ground again and again, sharp and impatient. Caleus, in contrast, leaned against the wall with a calm, almost lifeless expression, as if none of this concerned him.

"I had no choice," Caleus said. "Azriel and Lioren are involved now. And it seems that not only Lioren, but Azriel as well, is far more cunning and ruthless than I expected. Both of them will e for me. Since they have most likely saved Jasmine and Celestina by now, they know too. So I might as well go all in. One final effort."

Anastasia stared at him.

"Still... you realize you have just made an enemy out of everyone, right?"

"I suppose?"

He sounded utterly unbothered.

Anastasia’s expression twisted with frustration.

"Fuck. You are so stupid," she spat. "Not only did you work with the enemy, you contacted dozens of participants who are now roaming this underground maze, looking to kill Azriel or anyone else on the leaderboard. You contacted a high mander of the revolutionary army. And somehow, you even convinced Sir Felix to work with you." Her voice dropped, colder now. "You have made an enemy out of everyone. You would be lucky if I were the one to kill you here and now."

Lumine felt his eyes widen.

Yelena stiffened beside him.

Caleus merely shrugged.

"I told you. I decided to go all in. Azriel is a problem. This way, he will either be distracted or killed, which benefits me for the time being." His expression did not change. "The high mander is merely a distraction meant to buy me time, even if I dislike it myself, since he wants Jasmine dead. But Sir Felix and I both want Jasmine saved. Even though he is a Crimson Knight, he chose to trust me more than Azriel."

A faint, bitter amusement touched his voice.

"It shows just how much those knights despise their unworthy prince. And yet, they like their princess enough to betray their own clan."

At those words, something hot and violent rose inside Lumine.

Anger.

Panic.

His glare sharpened before he could stop himself.

In that same instant, Yelena grabbed him and pulled him back behind the corner.

At the end of the corridor, Anastasia and Caleus both snapped their heads toward them.

Their bodies tensed.

Their soul weapons appeared in their hands.

Lumine’s heart slammed against his ribs.

Yelena pressed her hand over his mouth, silencing him pletely. His face burned, half from shame at his mistake and half from the humiliating awareness of her soft palm against his lips.

"What do you think you’re doing, you idiot?" she whispered fiercely, her voice trembling on the edge of a shout. "Do you want us to get caught and killed? Stay still, all right?"

Lumine shrank back beneath her glare and nodded, fearfully and quickly.

Yelena kept staring at him for a moment, as if deciding whether he could be trusted not to ruin everything. Then, slowly, she removed her hand.

They listened.

"Fine," Anastasia said, clicking her tongue. "Do whatever the fuck you want. We shouldn’t stay here any longer. This place is crawling with people now. We might get spotted."

"I agree," Caleus replied. "So what will you do?"

"What are you trying to ask?"

"Stay with me, Ana."

"Don’t fucking call me that. And no. Shit, I want to puke. I’m leaving."

"...Very well."

There was a pause.

"I thought it was a cute nickname."

Even from where they hid, Lumine could hear the bitterness beneath Caleus’s calm tone.

Then came footsteps.

Both Lumine and Yelena flinched.

The steps grew louder for a moment.

Then, mercifully, they began to fade.

Only when the sound vanished pletely did the two of them release the breath they had been holding. The pair had gone in the opposite direction.

Lumine swallowed.

’I... I can’t believe this.’

No.

So this was why.

He should have listened more carefully to all those warnings about the great clans. He should have taken them seriously.

But still...

He looked at Yelena.

She looked back at him with a heavy, troubled expression, mirroring his own.

"We..." Yelena began hesitantly. "We should stop them, right?"

Lumine agreed.

Of course he agreed.

But—

’This has to be a joke, right? This can’t be real.’

Not only did he have to figure out everything else, but now this as well?

Participants hunting Azriel and everyone on the leaderboard.

A high mander of the revolutionary army moving through the maze.

Sir Felix, a Crimson Knight, betraying the Crimson Clan.

Jasmine and Celestina still in danger.

Azriel being targeted from every side.

’What am I supposed to do?’

The more he thought about it, the colder his body became.

This isn’t funny. This seriously isn’t funny.’

Was it not only Azriel?

Was no one safe?

His hands curled slowly into fists.

’No... I have to give this loop up.’

The thought made him sick.

’I just hope there isn’t a fixed number of times I can go back.’

Because right now, there was no way he could save anyone.

Not in this loop.

Not like this.

Lumine drew in a breath and forced himself to steady his expression before looking back at Yelena.

"Was this what your [Instinct] led us to?"

It was strange, but considering how unusual her Unique Skill was, not entirely impossible. In fact, Lumine was grateful. By following Yelena, he had uncovered another obstacle he would somehow need to overe.

Or so he thought.

"No."

Yelena shook her head.

Her face turned grim as she looked down the corridor, then pointed in another direction entirely.

"This... had nothing to do with where my [Instinct] is telling me to go."

Lumine’s face went pale.

For a moment, he closed his eyes and fought the urge to groan.

’I know what Yelena wants.’

They should go back.

They should somehow save Celestina and Jasmine.

They should warn Azriel.

They should stop Caleus.

They should stop Sir Felix.

They should stop the participants.

They should stop the high mander.

They should stop everything.

But there was too much.

Too much, and not enough time.

So Lumine opened his eyes.

"Can you trust me without asking too much this time, Yelena?"

Yelena looked at him with concern.

Then, softly, she smiled.

"Of course," she said.

The warmth in her voice melted away a little of his fear.

Lumine exhaled.

"Then please... lead me to wherever your [Instinct] is telling you to go."

Yelena nodded.

And so, she did.

They walked on.

But as they moved through the underground maze, one thought lingered between them...

...Who was Anastasia, really?

*****

The arena was a ruin of stakes.

Upon them hung the heads of the fallen Masters—those who had died here by Azriel’s own two hands. Blood ran black beneath them. Strips of flesh clung to splintered wood. The air was thick with the stench of guts, iron, and rot; a gory, wretched sight that would have driven most men to their knees before they even reached the center.

And yet, someone moved through it.

No.

Not someone.

A shadow of a person.

It walked along the path carved between the stakes, drifting through the carnage with an unnatural calm. It did not look at the severed heads on either side. It did not linger on the faces—some mangled beyond recognition, others frozen in the final, terrible instant of their lives, eyes stretched wide with pure terror.

The shadow reached the center of the arena.

Then, slowly, it continued toward the place where Azriel had first entered the colosseum.

The colossal gate stood there, sealed shut.

One glance at it brought a pain so humbling that the shadow lowered its head.

For a moment, it remained still.

Then, carefully, it lifted its gaze.

There was another stake before the gate.

One Azriel had missed.

It stood alone in the middle of the path, directly before the prodigious door covered in ancient runes.

And impaled upon it was the head of the child Azriel Crimson had shot.

The shadow stared at it in silence.

Then, in a voice hollowed by grief, it spoke.

"Dante... is now truly the most propitious time to do this?"

The shadowy figure’s voice was almost monotonous, yet something mournful lingered beneath it. A dim, heavy gloom that seemed to cling to every word.

Another voice answered from behind him, rankled by irritation.

"What better time, when the God of Time himself is about to make his move? Heh! You and I made a deal, remember? It has been more than half a year now, if we count the time we spent inside this scenario."

"..."

"And now it is time to collect."

For a moment, the shadow said nothing.

Then a soft sigh escaped his lips.

"...Okay."

An uncanny laugh rose from behind him.

"Don’t worry. I intend to honor it—as long as you do the same."

A brief silence followed.

Then Dante spoke his name.

"Nol."