The Extra's Transcension-Chapter 109: The Truth [1]
Rihana's voice dropped to a near whisper, each word carrying the weight of something she wished she didn't have to say.
"...Unless someone from the inside helped them."
The moment the words left her lips, silence fell over.
"...."
It wasn't the quiet of peace, it was heavy, suffocating, as if the air itself recoiled from what she had just revealed.
The truth lingered there, unspoken yet undeniable, like a curse that refused to fade.
Ren's brows furrowed, a deep line cutting across his forehead as his gaze sharpened.
"Inside the academy?"
He muttered, disbelief threading through his voice.
"That's impossible. Who would even—"
"Someone with high clearance,"
Rihana interjected before he could finish, her tone sharp enough to slice through his doubt.
"Someone who knows exactly how to slip past the internal seals without triggering a single alarm."
Ren's jaw tightened.
His fists curled until his knuckles whitened, the faint tremor in his hands betraying the storm building beneath his calm exterior.
"You think a student could pull that…"
But before he could finish, Rihana's gaze abruptly shifted toward the far end of the crater.
Her pupils contracted, narrowing to fine points as her breath hitched.
"Wait… no. That mana signature…"
A sharp, metallic hum reverberated through the air, clear and piercing.
The ground beneath them shuddered once more, thin fractures branching out from the crater's center, glowing faintly, like veins of molten light spreading through stone.
Ren reacted on instinct, his mana erupting around him as flames coiled in a defensive flare.
But this time, it wasn't only the heat that seared his skin, it was the crushing weight of the pressure pressing down on him, heavy and suffocating.
Something within the crater was pulsing, steady, rhythmic.
A single beat.
Like the echo of a massive heartbeat reverberating through the earth.
"Rihana… !"
"I know!"
In perfect sync, they flared their mana defenses, bracing themselves just as the crater exploded in a violent surge of raw, blinding blue light.
The force hurled Ren backward, sending him skidding across the ground before his back slammed against a broken column.
A sharp, jarring pain shot through his ribs, the shock stealing the air from his lungs.
For a moment, all he could do was gasp, the world spinning as he fought to steady his breath.
Through the haze that blurred his vision and dulled his senses, Ren could just barely make out Rihana's voice shouting something, urgent, desperate, but the words were lost to the ringing in his ears.
A moment later, everything fell silent again, leaving him alone in the stillness.
Only that sound remained, the pulse.
Boom—!
Boom—!
Boom—!
Each beat echoed through the air, slow and heavy, like the throb of a living heart buried deep within the crater, growing louder with every passing second.
Ren struggled to his feet, his body trembling as he coughed against the thick mix of dust and heat filling the air.
His vision cleared just enough for him to look toward the crater…
And then he saw it.
A lone figure stood at the heart of the mana storm.
It had no discernible face, only a silhouette, humanoid in form yet constantly warping, its outline flickering and twisting as if reality itself struggled to contain it.
Its presence radiated an overwhelming pressure, an aura so suffocating it felt almost divine.
Ren took a cautious step forward, his movements unsteady, every instinct screaming at him to stop.
"Wh-what the hell…"
He muttered under his breath, his voice trembling.
The figure slowly tilted its head, the motion eerie and deliberate, as though it had only just become aware of his presence.
And in that instant, a faint whisper drifted through the air, brushing past his ears like a cold breath.
"You again…"
Ren went completely still, his body locking in place as if the very air had turned to stone around him.
"...."
Then came the voice again, clearer this time, calm yet heavy with something ancient and knowing.
"How many times must you watch it burn, Ren Sullivan?"
The world around him fractured, splintering like glass struck by an unseen force.
Each fragment caught the light for a fleeting instant before dissolving into nothing.
And then…
in the blink of an eye…
He was somewhere else.
***
[Back To Present]
"And then… I was somewhere else."
Ren's voice trembled slightly as he spoke, his gaze shifting between everyone in the room.
His expression was conflicted, half disbelief, half confusion.
"...."
The room fell into a short silence.
Even the ticking of the wall clock seemed louder than usual.
Xiaolung finally broke it, raising a brow.
"Wait, wait, hold on. When you say somewhere else, do you mean your consciousness was pulled out… or that your entire body was teleported?"
Ren hesitated, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
"That's the thing… I don't know. It felt real. Like my entire body was there, but at the same time, it didn't feel like reality. It's hard to explain."
Emily leaned forward, folding her hands on the table, her tone calm but sharp.
"And the thing you saw there… was it the same elf you mentioned before?"
Ren shook his head slowly.
"No. It wasn't the elf. It was something else, someone else."
A pause followed before he continued, his eyes darkening as if replaying the memory.
"It was that same… being I saw back when I was in the library. Remember? The time Lyrium went unconscious? That day, I saw something."
His voice lowered, trembling slightly.
"And the same thing appeared again. Right before everything went dark, before I was pulled to that other place."
He continued, leaning forward slightly, his tone shifting from confusion to irritation.
"And also… Ms. Emily,"
He said, his brows furrowing,
"Please check the academy's security logs, every last one of them. I want to know who the hell was responsible for letting that elf inside the academy."
His voice carried a mix of anger and unease, the memory still fresh in his mind.
"No outsider should've been able to breach the mana barrier without clearance. Someone either opened it for them… or tampered with the system."
The room grew quiet again, tension thick in the air as Ren's words settled over everyone.
"...."
"Yes, I'll check it thoroughly this time,"
Emily replied, her voice steady but her expression tense.
Then she leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing in curiosity.
"But Ren, continue, when you said you were in that other place… what exactly do you mean? What does that place look like?"
It was the question everyone in the room had been holding back.
Even Xiaolung, who usually looked half-bored during debriefs, straightened up in his chair.
The air felt heavier, the flickering mana lamps casting long shadows as all eyes turned to Ren, waiting for his answer.
"Well… what I saw was—"
***
[Back to flashback]
Ren gasped, his breath catching in his throat as the world around him shifted in an instant.
The deafening chaos, the scent of burnt ozone, the collapsing walls, everything vanished.
He found himself standing in the same courtyard.
Except… it was untouched.
Unbroken.
The evening mana lamps glowed softly, casting golden reflections over the cobblestone path.
Students walked past, chatting, laughing as though nothing had ever happened.
Birds fluttered across the rooftops, their wings catching the fading light.
The air was calm. Too calm.
Ren blinked rapidly, his pulse pounding in his ears.
The academy that had just been torn apart by an explosion was now whole.
"Wha, what the hell…?"
He muttered under his breath, his voice trembling.
And then he froze.
A few steps ahead, he saw two figures walking side by side, familiar figures.
One of them was Lyrium.
And the other… was him.
Ren stared, disbelief tightening his throat. His own face, his own posture, his own way of walking.
It was like looking into a mirror that had learned how to breathe.
"…What the hell is this?"
He whispered again, his voice barely audible as the world seemed to distort around him.
The laughter of the students faded.
The color drained from the surroundings.
And the version of himself walking beside Lyrium slowly turned his head…
…Eyes locking directly onto Ren's.
Then it hit him…
The warmth on his skin.
The faint scent of lavender and ash mixed in the air.
The laughter that sounded just a bit too familiar.
It wasn't new.
It wasn't real.
It was a memory.
No… not a memory.
A loop.
Ren's pupils dilated as his breath quickened.
He could feel it, every detail of this place, every heartbeat of the moment that should've never existed again.
He'd been here before.
When the book open.
When the mana storm from the book swallowed both of them.
When Lyrium…
His throat closed up, and the words stumbled out in fragments.
"…You… you erased it, didn't you?"
It was entity, The holder of the Book of destiny, the being which Ash niclose met or Lyrium met.
The air grew heavier, colors twisting like ink bleeding into water.
And from behind him, the same distorted whisper seeped through the stillness, low, echoing, almost human.
"Some truths don't die just because time resets."
