The six of them stormed towards the gates, and the guards charged right at the six intruders without hesitation. However, if one looked carefully, they would realise that one of the intruders among them was gone now. 

“Man, of all times it had to be raining now,” Haru sighed, feeling the small droplets of rain hitting his face. “I prefer using fire over magma, but whatever.” 

Haru shrugged, jumping right into the fray with a grin without utilising his sword as usual. Fighting with bare fists and legs was his way to go, unless he did not have a choice.

He preferred fire over magma, simply because it looked more cool fighting with fire.

Hana looked up at the rain, smiling to herself. 

It was an advantage for her. 

K’xug was defending Hana as she charged up her ice arrows, firing them with ease whether it was singular or multiple arrows. Her training completely paid off, and to say it was satisfying was an understatement.

Yun was standing behind all of them, staring up at the house and his eyes were fixed on a particular room in the house. 

The house which was a mixture of japanese and western architecture, was three floors high. The light was visible from the wooden windows, and Yun could clearly see one of them wasn't lit up compared to the rest. 

...maybe it is, but it is dim. 

“Strange, that is the only room with hardly any lights on,” Yun adjusted his glasses, turning to Cecil and Xue. “The two of you go on ahead to that--” 

He realised that Xue wasn’t standing beside Cecil anymore. 

“Where did he go?” Yun frowned. 

Cecil showed a helpless smile. 

The moment Xue muttered out the words of sensing “three of them”, he disappeared from their side without an explanation. Cecil did not even have the chance to call out to him. 

“I think he already went ahead,” Cecil answered Yun, still maintaining her smile, her hand on her chest. “I’ll look for him, and investigate the house at the same time.” 

“Just you alone?” 

“Yes, alone,” Cecil nodded, whispering her next words out loud. “...I am worried for Xue.” 

“What?” 

“N-no, nevermind,” Cecil shook her head hurriedly, making herself sound firm. “Like I said, I’ll be going in alone.” 

“At least--” 

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” 

Moreover, it would be a headache to explain to them if Xue were to absorb the souls of his soul fragments, if they were to witness it.

They were already trying their best to process that K’xug was not a mortal.  

It was better for her to move alone. 

Seeing Cecil’s confidence, Yun decided not to doubt her. 

“Be careful.”

“I will.” 

Cecil surged forward, hollering to the others. 

“I’ll be going on ahead first!” 

The others were quick to react to Cecil’s words, naturally making a path for her to go on ahead. The guards who interfered with Cecil were quickly shut down by them. 

Cecil was impressed at the flawless teamwork from all of them, her surprised face turning into a smile. 

However, there was a problem. 

How do I find Xue? 

It wasn’t like I had a Xue radar installed in my head. 

[ You need to find him? ]

“...yes.” 

[ Why did not say so~ ]

“What? I don’t remember you having a function like this before.”

[ We had another upgrade to our system!
This time, it has the tracking system of important characters in the world, suggested by many users of our system. ]

“How convenient--” 

[ It is at the cost of 1000 points. ]

“...” 

“I guess I should have expected that.” 

[ Would you like to use the tracking system for protagonist “Xue”? ]

“Yes.” 

[ Points spent!
Remaining points: 10,000 points ]

[ Tracking protagonist “Xue”... ]

Cecil burst through the sliding wooden doors at that moment, the two guards standing there were taken down by Haru. 

All of a sudden, Cecil felt a jolt in her mind and she instinctively knew where Xue was. She glanced down the hallway that led up to the stairs, up to the second floor where Xue would be. 

The guards inside the house were surprised by Cecil’s appearance, and wielded their weapons. 

“Cecil!” 

She turned behind, seeing Yun behind her as he held his fan in his hands and sent gusts of air towards her. 

“Go!” 

The gusts of air weren’t sharp in the slightest, and were simply used as a means of swift transportation. 

He has such good control of his elemental skills. 

Cecil smiled, nodding as she flew above the guards that watched helplessly. 

***

Meanwhile, the owner of this lavish house was currently facing another predicament. The intruders had already invaded his home, and moreover, it was a hooded man with claws made of a metallic material. 

His table, chair and documents were completely destroyed and scattered across the room. 

The moment the intruder broke into the room through the wooden window, their first move was to destroy the lights. The twins beside Goro were quick enough to stop him before he destroyed all the lights, and for once, Goro was relieved that he had told the twins to accompany him for today. 

The room was dim, but it was enough for Goro and the twins to identify the man. 

His hood was on the verge of falling off and they caught a glimpse of a young man with navy blue hair. 

“Who the hell are you?” Goro hissed out. “If you have the guts to invade us, at least identify yourself!”
 
“Invade? I am not one of them,” the hooded figure chuckled, his hand moving to his hood as he nudged his head at the twins. “I am only here for them, just call me Jehan.” 

The figure revealed himself, the remaining lights in the room along with the moonlight allowed his features to be seen clearly. 

Navy blue hair and eyes...and he completely resembled a certain handsome ash-blonde haired man. 

The moment the twins saw the man’s appearance, they flinched. It wouldn’t be surprising if people called them triplets, since the only difference between the mysterious man and the twins were their hair and eye colours. 

The twins both had cinnamon-coloured hair and eyes with the same exact attractive features. 

“You recognise me, don’t you?” Jehan grinned playfully. 

“Brother, it’s one of us.” 

“Yeah, it’s not our host.” 

The good-looking twins clutched their swords tightly, frowning at their opponent. 

Meanwhile, Goro was in complete confusion, staring between the three of them. 

Tr-triplets? 

What even is this?! 

Jehan started to laugh at the words of the twins. “Ho-host? The two of you are idiots, aren’t you?” 

The twins flinched, narrowing their eyes. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Shut up and talk.” 

Jehan grinned arrogantly, whipping out a familiar marble and he snickered. “With this, anyone of us could become the host.” 

“Wh-what?” 

“How is that possible?” 

“Of course, because I have it,” Jehan man smirked. “I’ll become the host now.” 

The twins glared at him. 

“If you want to absorb us…” 

“Beat the two of us if you can.” 

“It’s not if I can, I will--”

Just then, the three of them snapped their heads towards the door as their conversation halted abruptly. The doors burst open and the person behind the door brought his leg down, his ash-blonde hair and handsome features highlighted by the lights in the hallway. 

“It’s him.” 

“It’s definitely our host.” 

“...hah.” 

Xue did not bother to hide his intentions, immediately stepping into the room with a cold expression and whipping out his orb-like marble, his spear in his other hand. 

Goro who saw this gaped open in disbelief, he did not have the slightest clue as to what was happening. 

Moreover, he recognised Xue in an instant and he couldn’t help but exclaim. 

“The hell are you? Quadruplets with two long-lost brothers?!” 

The quadruplets turned to look at Goro standing beside the twins, all of them wearing disgusted expressions. 

“Yo, big buy, get out of my sight!” 

“Mister Goro, stop talking.” 

“Mister Goro, just stand behind us.” 

“...” 

Goro was still at a lost.

He wished someone would explain this baffling situation to him, and what was hovering above the palm of their hands. 

Nevertheless, he stood behind the twins obediently. He could tell that both men were dangerous people, especially Xue who he recognised as the valued queen’s guest. 

The “quadruplets” stood in a circle, glancing at one another. 

Kai: “Oh hey, that dude has it too!” 

Leonaut: “Isn’t it like Isleif?” 

Zasiok: “Looks like he can absorb the others as well.” 

Alric: “Is-isn’t it dangerous?” 

Sid: “What is that? Food?”

Alric laughed. 

Kai: “...” 

Zasiok: “...”

Leonaut: “When did you even wake up?” 

Isleif: “...he is giving it out to others.” 

Isleif recalled Zeau’s face, his expression darkening. 

Xue glanced at the marble in Jehan’s hands, furrowing his eyebrows. 

Zeau wants my soul fragments to harm each other greatly, even me. 

Xue reminisced about a short memory he had with Zeau, and he remembered Veau’s compliments about his kind and mild-mannered older brother. 

Xue even witnessed that part of Zeau for himself. 

However, whether it was genuine or a farce, he did not know though, he could not deny that was how Zeau originally was. 

In addition to that, he still had not forgotten the injuries he inflicted on Cecil. 

“It’s nice to see you all gathered here,” Jehan grinned, pointing his claws at the group. “I’ll absorb every one of you.” 

The twins and Xue were not happy at Jehan’s proud statement.

Jehan kept his marble and Xue did the same, before they all charged at one another, their figures disappearing in a flash. 

Goro found himself alone in the room as he heard clanging noises and he blanched. He knew himself that he was a great fighter, however, right now, he could not see any of them in the room. 

They were moving so swiftly, his eyes could not catch them. 

That only meant one thing. 

Goro did not stand a chance against any of them. 

With the twins not beside him anymore, along with the appearance of the exceptionally strong Xue, Goro grew uneasy. 

He gritted his teeth, reaching into his kimono and he clicked his tongue. 

“I’m escaping from here, back to master,” Goro exclaimed. “Find a way back on your own!” 

Goro procured an item from inside his kimono and it seemed like a tiny round object in complete black. He threw it onto the ground, the object clattering noisily and it exploded, creating smoke. 

“What the--” 

“That crazy bastard--” 

The twins were caught off guard by Goro’s actions, not expecting him to use a smoke bomb to blind his allies as well. They coughed harshly, tears welling up in their eyes.

The man clearly disregarded the lives of his allies, and he held too much confidence in the twins for making out of this alive. Without any hesitation, he ran towards the window and jumped out of it. 

“Heh, what a fool,” Jehan snickered to himself. “To think he would sabotage his own allies like that.” 

Jehan’s eyes started to turn demonic and there was a black, ominous mist coming from his claws. 

The twins who were near to Jehan noticed the eerie change in Jehan, and they widened their eyes in surprise. 

On the other hand, Xue was caught in the trap as well, but it did not faze him a single bit. 

Just then, he felt it. 

Dark magic? 

Xue snapped his head towards the direction and he saw it. 

Jehan was rushing at the twins at a speed greater than before, the twins were completely incapable of defending themselves from Jehan. His metallic claws were coated in dark magic, and they plunged right into the chest of both twins. 

The twins instantly coughed out blood, their eyes trembling as they looked down at their chests that had been impaled. 

Jehan turned to look at Xue at that moment, his demonic red eyes shining in glee. 

“I got them first, Xue.” 

The doors slammed opened at the same time, the impact of it blocking some of the smoke away. 

“Xue!” 

It was a familiar voice, making them pause as they looked towards the door. Even the twins raised their heads weakly, looking at the door. 

Something in them compelled them to. 

A beautiful raven-haired woman dressed in a kimono rushed into the room, panting lightly and she witnessed the gruesome scene. 

“Cecil?”

“What is…” her words trailed off, her eyes widening in horror. 

“It’s you,” Jehan smirked, flinging the twins across the floor. “I remember you.” 

The floor was stained their blood in an instant and they coughed out more blood. Their chest was surrounded in an ominous black aura. 

Cecil did not have to think twice to know the twins were the soul fragments. 

She did not remember being mentioned in the story, but the uncanny resemblance to Xue said everything. The miserable sight of them being hurled across the ground and blood flowing their mouth and chest, Cecil felt a sharp pain in her chest. 

She did not expect this. 

She did not expect to meet the next evil soul fragment here. 

Jehan revealed his marble again, activating it and Cecil gasped just as Xue rushed forward at the same time. 

“No!” Cecil cried out, running forward. 

Jehan continued smirking, turning around as he formed icicles out of nowhere that were coated in dark magic, aiming it at Cecil. 

Xue was quick to catch on, changing his direction towards Cecil instead. 

At the same time, Jehan decided to shoot the icicles at Xue instead. 

It was a feint. 

Xue clicked his tongue, easily shattering the icicles with one strong sweep of his spear along with the dark magic aura. 

Cecil reached Jehan at that moment, her sorrowful face in clear view for the twins on the ground to see. 

“...brother, she is...pretty.” 

“...yeah.” 

“Brother, I think...I would like her better...than Hana.” 

“...yeah.” 

Jehan raised his eyebrows at Cecil preparing to slash at him with her daggers. 

“You think I won’t hurt you?” Jehan smirked, raising his left claw. 

“Brother, before we...die…” 

“Yeah...let’s protect...her…” 

At that moment, Jehan felt something throbbing within his body and he felt the piercing pain right in his soul. He widened his eyes, coughing blood out involuntarily as it spilled out of his mouth. 

“Damnit, this damn useless body.” 

Despite that, he still did not falter, slashing down at Cecil. 

Nevertheless, Cecil did not care as her only thought was to help this pair of twins. 

“Cecil!” 

Xue was just right behind her, his tone panicked. 

The twins could feel the grip on their consciousness fading away, like their souls were being sucked out of their body. With their last remaining energy, they pushed themselves up despite the blood flowing out from their mouth profusely. 

Right before Jehan's claw landed on Cecil, they appeared right before her with their swords in their hands, deflecting Jehan's claw.

He stumbled back, his eyes wide in disbelief as he coughed out blood once again, grunting in pain.

Damnit! The souls...

He glanced at the marble, his pained eyes gleaming in delight. 

The marble was almost done absorbing the souls of the twins. 

"Ah…" Cecil gasped out, a stray tear escaping her eye. "Wh-why…"

The twins turned their heads to look at Cecil, their face cracking visibly. 

A sign they were going to turn into dust soon.

Xue arrived right behind Cecil, pulling her towards him. 

He stared at the twins, his tone lukewarm. 

"Thank you."

For protecting her instead. 

They smiled gently at Xue and Cecil, reaching their hands out towards her as they started crumbling away rapidly. 

"N-no, wait…"

Cecil reached out as well, her eyes welling up in tears. Alas, they crumbled right into dust before their hands could touch. 

[ Optional Mission #12: Triple Assimilation
Objective failed.
No reward will be given. ]

[ The soul fragments have died and have been absorbed by Jehan. ]

This was the first time a soul fragment had died right before her eyes like that. 

Cecil could feel her heart shattering completely, and she could not stop the tears that flowed out from her eyes. 

It was painful. 

So painful. 

To the point where it was unbearable.

It was so difficult to breathe.

To her, they weren't just soul fragments. 

To her, they were Xue. 

Even before their death, they used up their remaining time to protect her. 

Xue used up his remaining time just to protect her. 

Cecil sobbed. 

She never wanted this to happen again...not just because of the pain. 

...but because, she finally figured it out. 

So that's it. 

To me, Xue isn't just a good friend. 

To me, Xue...he…

I...towards him. 

I love him. 

Thus, she never wanted to lose him. 

Not like this. 

Not ever again.

***

《 start 》

The navy blue-haired man smirked at his victims. Blood splattered on his handsome face and his eyes glinted coldly. 

Finally. 

Two more souls. 

The twins laid on the ground, side by side. Their vision was blurry and they could feel their moist clothes. 

They were growing cold and numb. 

Brother… 

Yeah…?

Do...you think...anyone would cry...for us?

The older twin chuckled weakly. 

We...killed so...many…who would care...for us?

Too bad…

...what?

Just...before we died...I thought it would be nice...to see someone crying...over our deaths…

Hmm…

The twins closed their eyes at the same time. The bodies crumbled into dust. 

Jehan grinned happily, keeping his marble as he mumbled to himself in glee. 

After this, just a few more. 

Just a few more. 

Jehan clenched his fists. 

Just a little more and I'll have everything. 

-- Path to the Supreme God

《 stop 》