Path of the Extra

"What…?" Gavin's eyes widened in pure shock. Celestina and the red-eyed boy turned to Edge as well. The former's gaze widened, while the latter—though still composed—seemed slightly more interested now. 'Whether she is here on academy business or for that of the great clans does not matter... I need her to leave, or dying will be the least of my worries.' If any of the rumors were true, then King Ragnar Frost would make Edge experience true hell if anything were to happen to his daughter. With a dark expression, Edge turned toward Celestina and spoke a bit louder, trying to mask the tremble in his voice. "I apologize for the inconvenience, Your Highness. Since the director is no longer here, I am currently the only one available to assume the position. For now, I am acting as the temporary director. If you are comfortable, you may, of course, discuss your business with me instead, or you may return at another time when this internal matter is settled." Celestina placed one leg over the other, crossing her arms as she raised both eyebrows, scrutinizing him. "So you're saying that you—an assistant to a research chief—are the most competent person to take the director's place? And if we're not satisfied with that, we should just pack up and leave?" Edge's face visibly paled, his eyes widening in alarm. "N-no! I didn't mean any disrespect to you, Your Highness. It's just that we are extremely busy right now with the recent departure of our director and—" "—And the departure of all the Containment Commanders, their assistants, and the Research Chiefs," the red-eyed boy interrupted, flashing an uncanny smile. "Which leaves the position of director to the most competent research chief assistant—meaning you." "...E-excuse me?" Before Edge could process it, Celestina threw a file onto the desk. "Ever since we arrived, you've been extremely nervous, afraid, and uncomfortable. Clearly, someone who recently took over wouldn't have known about our visit in advance. I assume the one who filed a request for help must have been unhurried, careless—even bored. They provided no proper information, to the point that it ended up classified as a C-tier mission by the academy. The only reason it even reached C-tier was because of how suspiciously vague it was, and the fact that it came from one of the only five containment facilities in CASC, which helped boost its ranking." Edge looked down at the file, biting his lip as he scanned its contents. Celestina continued. "If this was truly an emergency, there are far better ways to request aid. Which means someone here deliberately filed this request, knowing it would be treated as a mission suitable for cadets. But judging by your face, it's obvious you had no idea. The one who did was trying to bait us to investigate. The academy only cares about the mission being completed, so if resources from the great clans are needed, I won't hesitate to use them." "...." "So you have a choice. Either help us with the investigation into what's happening in this facility, or prepare for the consequences—because neither the great clans nor the academy will be pleased to learn that a place as dangerous as this has lost its best personnel... and that the truth was buried, putting the lives of everyone in this sacred capital at risk." Tightening his grip on the file, creasing it, Edge's shoulders slumped as he looked at Celestina with tired eyes. "...I am truly sorry for lying and hiding the truth, Your Highness... It's just—I have no clue what to do. The more time passes, the more I feel like I'm next to die, and I have no idea how to avoid it." Edge then turned towards the red-eyed boy. "It was just as you said. Everyone in a higher position above me is dead. I am the only one left." At his words, the red-eyed boy's eyes widened slightly, as did Celestina's and Gavin's. None of them had expected all of them to be dead. "Everyone died...? E-even Jerad? I saw him just two days ago... Gods, what do I tell his family!?" Gavin's face grew paler by the second, his eyes unfocused as he seemed to sink deeper into his thoughts. The red-eyed boy quickly composed himself, as did Celestina, before speaking again. "Tell us everything that happened. Lie or hide anything, and—" He pointed his right index finger at Edge, and a mist of frost began to seep from its tip, swirling ominously in the air. At that exact moment, a sharp pain shot through Edge's left shoulder. His entire body trembled, the hairs on his arms standing on end. His teeth began to clatter uncontrollably. "—You will certainly be the next to die." With shivering arms, Edge hurriedly pulled at his shirt, exposing his left shoulder. His breath hitched as his eyes widened in horror. A thin patch of ice had formed, and veins of crystal spread from it, reaching down his forearm. "Lie, and the frost will slowly spread everywhere. Trust me—you don't want to know what happens then. But tell the truth..." Then the boy snapped his fingers. The veins of ice crystals shattered, turning into damp water before evaporating into mist, leaving only the thin patch of ice on Edge's shoulder. "I will make sure you live long enough to make more bad decisions after we solve all the issues here." 'W-what... No, he's lying. He must be! What kind of insane spell is this!? And for the ice to spread with every lie I tell... That would mean his ice has a will of its own!' Impossible. Such a thing was impossible. ...Right? Edge turned slowly to the boy, about to speak, but the boy beat him to it. "Ah, right. I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?" He straightened his posture and flashed that same uncanny smile from before. "My name is Azriel Crimson." "...What?" For a moment, Edge's brain froze. Gavin snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Azriel, disbelief written all over his face. Then, Edge's expression twisted into a ridiculous smile. 'Ah, yes... I can see it now. He looks like Her Highness.' Red eyes. Black hair. And... Someone who, for some odd and unexplainable reason, had more rumors surrounding him than all four Great Kings combined. '...I'm dead.' Perhaps if he had told the truth to Celestina, he might have been granted mercy, spared by her kindness. But if even half the rumors about Prince Azriel Crimson were true... He would not be as merciful. ***** Azriel did not turn his face toward Gavin, even though he could feel his gaze glued to him. Azriel kept smiling at Edge, whose body trembled slightly the entire time. 'He's scared to death...' But of what? Telling the truth to a prince and a princess? Or the truth itself? Or both? In all honesty, they had been sent here for an investigation. This mission was a mere C-tier assignment, but with what they had already learned, simply returning and reporting that all high-ranking personnel were dead would be suspicious enough to escalate this far beyond C-tier. But were they going to back off? Azriel glanced at Celestina. She had a sharp, determined look in her eyes as she gazed at Edge seriously. Clearly, she was too invested in this to let it go. 'It works better for me if she's invested.' "You would do best to speak now, Mister Edge. For it does not seem that Azriel will tell you again, nor do I feel inclined to either." And Celestina was right. Azriel's patience was running thin, and he was growing annoyed by this hesitant, fearful man. Azriel narrowed his eyes in irritation. 'Perhaps another threat would make him talk?' Luckily, Edge seemed to pick up on it and hurriedly opened his mouth. "Y-you see, it all happened six days ago. I don't know all the details, but apparently, the director was dealing with a shady organization from the underground world. They made a deal with him—selling him a void creature they had hunted and captured, promising it would revolutionize research by ten years. Because the thing is… that void creature is one they captured from The Hollow Eye." ""!!"" Azriel's eyes widened at Edge's words—just like the other two. The Hollow Eye was, like the void dungeon, one of the three great mysteries on Earth. But unlike the void dungeon, no human had ever willingly entered the Hollow Eye. No one wanted to. It resided between India and Antarctica—in Azriel's old world, back when oceans were still named properly, it would have been in the Southern Ocean. From above, it looked like a perfect black disc in the water—no ripples, no depth perception, just a hollow, ink-like stain on the world. Some sailors claimed it moved slightly, though no one had confirmed this. Despite being in the ocean, no water entered it. Waves crashed around its rim, but the surface inside remained a dark, unmoving void. Ships and debris that drifted too close simply vanished. Its depth? Unknown. It didn't reflect light, and no one had been able to measure its bottom. Sonar scans returned nothing, as if it didn't exist in three-dimensional space. Anyone crazy enough to enter… never returned. At least, almost no one. Only nineteen sailors on record had managed to return, experiencing nothing but missing time—strange gaps in their memories. Meanwhile, 298 people were still missing. At a certain distance from the Hollow Eye, compasses spun erratically. Some navigators claimed to have seen landmasses that shouldn't exist near its edge. Sometimes, voices whispered from within, mimicking people—something trying to lure them closer. But here was the terrifying part. There had been numerous reports that void creatures had come from the direction of the Hollow Eye—some even claiming they emerged directly from it. None of this had been confirmed. Yet, many strongly believed that void creatures could and did come out of it, with void rifts potentially merging inside. Though, again, nothing had been proven. Edge, knowing this just like everyone else, continued. "The director spent a lot of Velts on the void creature, buying it in secret and… placed it in the Black Zone. I don't know what it looks like, what it is, or anything for that matter—only the director did. And… everyone else who's d-dead." Edge swallowed hard before continuing. "On the fifth day, not even a full 24 hours passed before it all went to shit. The void creature broke free somehow. It killed all the other void creatures and every human inside the Black Zone. The director called a meeting with—well, as you might put it—all the competent people in the facility, including me. The entire floor was put on lockdown. We sent an extermination squad to take care of the void creature… only for us to believe that the entire squad was exterminated instead." Before he could continue, Celestina interrupted. "What do you mean by 'believe'? Are you not sure they are dead?" Edge shook his head. "I believe they are. The thing is… no tech works on that floor since the void creature broke free. There's no way to communicate or confirm what happened there. But it's obvious that they're gone." "Wait… now I understand why the entire facility kept getting locked down at strange hours, and why everyone kept being sent home much earlier this week," Gavin suddenly spoke, realization dawning on him. Edge nodded before speaking again, his breathing gradually calming. "Four days ago... the director himself went with some containment commanders. None returned. Then three days ago, the remaining containment commanders went... none returned. Two days ago, every damn remaining person decided to be some sort of hero..." Edge gritted his teeth, biting his lip until blood dripped down his chin. "None returned. And so, since yesterday, only I—the coward who was too afraid to die—remained. If only the director had never bought that damn devil... or given us some actual information instead of choosing death over revealing anything! If only they had cared about their lives more! Damn it! What's so wrong with being a coward? Why do they look down on actually trying to stay alive!?" Tears dripped down his face as he shouted in frustration. Celestina's eyes softened, and Gavin looked down in grief. Azriel, however, had a cold look on his face before he scoffed and spat, "You moron." "Huh?" All heads snapped to him. "You all might have had the heart of a hero, but you certainly didn't have any brains. Just to keep it a secret that your beloved director bought a void creature illegally, you decided to handle the problem yourselves—dying one by one like moths to a flame. Well, I can't even blame you. The moment your director revealed that he had acquired a void creature illegally, if any of you had asked for help, you would've had to reveal that to the government or the great clans... and it wouldn't have been pleasant. But at least you'd still be alive. Perhaps. So then... why did we still receive a request for help?" Pursing his bloodied lips, Edge shook his head slowly. "...I-I honestly have no idea who filed it. No one knows except us, Your Highness. Honestly, I'm just relieved—and terrified—that the void creature is still trapped there... or at least staying there for now. But it's been a while since it last fed... I fear what could happen." Azriel sighed tiredly before turning to Celestina. She met his gaze with an unreadable expression. "This is your call. With what we've learned, we can go back and let the academy handle the situation. This mission is as good as complete... and so is this man's life." Celestina's expression grew troubled as she glanced between Edge and Azriel. Then, suddenly, Gavin spoke behind her, his voice trembling. "W-We were all loyal to each other in the facility... no matter our positions, we cared for one another. Even if the director made a shady deal, he was a good person. For all of them to be s-slaughtered like pigs... it's not fair. Please, Your Highnesses, I know my words may not mean much to you both, but even if you decide to head back, at least get someone competent enough to bring justice..." Both turned around to see Gavin suddenly on the floor, prostrating himself. They both wore shocked expressions. "Sir Gavin, please rise," Celestina said hurriedly. But Gavin didn't move, keeping his head to the floor. Celestina bit her lip, staring at him for a few moments before looking at Azriel with a certain determination. Azriel flashed a helpless smile before sighing. "As I said, you're the boss. And... trust me, I have no intention of leaving this place like this either." Giving an embarrassed smile in return, Celestina scratched her cheek before silently mouthing, "Thank you." Then, she turned back to Edge with a serious expression. "What was the mana core rank of the director?" Edge, looking surprised, answered quickly. "He was a Grade 1 Advanced—the strongest in the facility. There was another director who was a Grade 2 expert, but he retired a few months ago. To be honest, most of us who died ranged from Dormant to Awakened, with only a few being Intermediate. Floor -1 has two demon-ranked void creatures that are heavily contained, but now that there's no manpower to handle them, it's only a matter of time before something happens. The Black Zone also only contains demon-ranked void creatures, just much deadlier ones... I was actually planning to evacuate all underground floors by tonight. This entire facility was doomed anyway. I guess I was just afraid to say it out loud, because then it would truly be over." Celestina nodded. "By evacuating the underground floors and leaving the void creatures behind, you could've let the void creature in the Black Zone break free and devour them... or let them all fight it out to the death. Smart. But a gamble. And just a temporary solution to an inevitable disaster. At least we can assume the void creature itself is a demon... or, at worst, an abyssal." Edge remained silent while Gavin rose to his knees. Celestina turned back to Azriel. "Sir Henrik is a Grade 2 Expert. If we explain everything to him and assemble a proper extermination squad with the guards here, we could deal with what's down there without ever revealing this to the public. If word got out, it would cause panic—something that will definitely happen if we report everything to the academy before resolving it." Azriel shrugged. "Sounds like a solid plan. Reckless, but solid. Let's go for it." Celestina didn't hesitate. She tapped her storage ring, pulled out her phone, and made the call. "Sir Henrik, please come to the director's office immediately. We need your help." She ended the call without waiting for a response. Edge looked ashamed but didn't shy away from asking, "...If I may not be rude... are both of you joining the extermination squad?" "That goes without saying," Celestina said. "B-But... I don't mean to belittle you, but even the Intermediates didn't stand a chance... I don't know how strong you both are, but... you're young." His voice grew quieter the more he spoke. Before Celestina could respond, Azriel spoke instead. "Then it's a good thing the two 'young ones' in front of you are royals... who already have experience killing void creatures."