The Cursed Extra: Twin Souls Against the World

After scratching the last bit of his sticky blood off the metal floor and collecting it in the empty boxes, Xane finally sat down.

The seemingly simple task took hours, as scratching the last bits of blood really required much effort.

The only good thing was that his blood did not spill outside the circle, so he did not have to rub off the rune lines.

Also, for some reason, all his blood had already dried up when he woke, which also seemed weird to him.

Xane thought about how, if he had formed the mark before the incident, both he and Zayn would have been jumping their asses off right now.

It's just that after that void experience, he now knew that forming the mark was just the very first step. It was nothing to celebrate.

Finally, as Xane looked around and, after seeing not a drop of blood remain on the floor, he took a long breath and calmly asked Zayn in his mind. [So now what next? Now that we have formed the mark, how can we mimic Liam?]

Zayn thought about his experience in the projection plane and said in irritation. [Actually, there is a problem with our plan, Xane.]

Xane didn't have to think much as he said, <Is it because of the purity of that world projection?>

[Yeah, I only realized it much later, but that world was actually a shade darker than our soul projection.]

Xane asked with interest. <Wait, does that mean there was something beyond mythic purity?>

Zayn said in an uncertain tone. [Ahh, I don't know. But even if that were possible, I don't think that's the case here. After all, the color difference was so minute that only when the world size became that big did I notice. I think it's more of a slightly purer version of mythic purity.]

Xane rubbed his chin as he realized why Zayn was concerned about that. <If we were to open the link, then instead of going out, chaos fog would first rush in, right?>

Zayn thought for a bit and nodded. [Yeah, but it could still work. I mean, sure, we will constantly have to deal with a bit of extra chaos in our minds, but still, that link would prevent the chaos fog from accumulating. It's not perfect, but hey, I don't think we could find anything better.]

Xane shrugged his shoulders. <I mean, it's not like we could change anything now. It is better to focus on the next step.>

[Yeah, it's time we meet Hex Master Xenor. Right now, our mark is more like a closed gate. To convert it into an open passage, we have to learn the half-summoning hex arts.]

Xane thought about Xenor, and a smile formed on his face. <That shouldn't be that difficult.>

Zayn also nodded. [Yup.]

After interacting with Xenor so far, Xane knew that, if anything, Xenor would be more than happy.

But then he paused, as there was a possibility that Xenor might realize the quality of the world they had left the mark on.

But then he just collected the last hex art paper and walked toward the platform. Ultimately, even if such a thing were possible, Xane knew there was nothing he could do about it.

As he got on the platform and looked at the portion of the rune, a wide smile formed on his face.

No matter how calm he was, at this moment, the scenes of their struggle flashed through his head.

The scene of Xelami looking at him like a beast, the scene of Xenor's manipulation, the scene of Samule's ridicule, then that attack, and finally the struggle.

Up until this point, he was like a kite that had its string cut off, which could only be at the mercy of the surrounding wind.

But it wouldn't be the same now. A wide smile formed on Xane's face as he said aloud. "It won't be the same."

Even Zayn, within his mind, was going through the same. He had started his journey in this world just as a voice in someone's head.

A weak, pathetic voice that, from time to time, gained control over the body.

From then on, he tried his best to avoid everyone, not attract any attention, but no matter how low he remained, trouble always seemed to chase him.

Both in this life and the past life, it was always him who got used by others as they saw fit.

But no more. It won't be the same anymore. He said with pride in his voice. [Xane, we really did it, man.]

Xane mentally nodded. <Yup, but it's just the start.>

Zayn nodded.

Both of them had too much going through their minds, so they chose not to say anything.

Just like that, the platform slowly moved up.

Not long after, Xane smelled that grassy scent as the platform finally rose to the office.

He saw Xenor immersed in his own work, scribbling something. As Xane walked closer, Xenor paused his work and looked up.

Xane was about to announce his success, but just then, he saw Xenor's eyes widen.

Before Xane could react, Xenor appeared right before him and grabbed both his shoulders.

He saw Xenor frantically scanning his face and mumbling, "Wait, what? How? When?"

Xane raised his eyes in confusion. "Teacher?"

Xenor completely ignored him and started mumbling something as a green light flashed through his eyes.

Xane tensed up, thinking he was about to experience some bizarre illusion, but the next moment Xenor actually turned toward the shelf.

Xane looked on with interest as he saw even the shelf begin to shine with a dim green light.

Zayn said in his mind. [He must be checking the observation rune.]

Xane mentally nodded, though Xenor's reaction still confused him.

With how much interest Xenor had shown in him before, it was already strange that he hadn't found him in the hall.

Zayn added. [From the looks of it, Xenor didn't know about our mark formation.]

Xane asked in confusion, <But then how could he instantly know we had formed the mark when I walked here?>

Xane touched his face, feeling if there was anything odd.

Then Zayn said in sudden realization. [Wait, it must be the tattoo.]

<Tattoo?>

Zayn frantically replied. [Shit, how could that thing skip past my mind? Xane, I remember all the summoning hex masters in the novel had weird tattoos on their bodies. While most had those tattoos under their clothes, some of them had them in visible places.]

Xane stared at Xenor before him, remembering how frantically he had looked at his face. An awful premonition surfaced in his mind.

The very next moment, Xenor's eyes stopped glowing as he looked at Xane with even more confusion. "There is no trace?"

Xane gulped down and decided to say it himself. "Teacher, I have succeeded in forming the mark."

But the very next moment, Xenor grabbed his chin.

The Hex Master forced him to look up and turned his head to the side.

Just then, Xane felt a cold touch on the left side of his neck as Xenor mumbled like a madman. "This integrity… the design… the element of chaos is so fascinating. How could I miss that?..."

Xane shouted to the Hex Master in pain. "Hex Master, my neck!"

Only then did Hex Master Xenor snap out of it as he realized that if he pushed any further, this student of his might die. The realization jolted him, and he took a step back.

Free of Xenor's grip, Xane rubbed his neck and asked in confusion, "Teacher, what's going on?"

Xenor took a deep breath and snapped his fingers.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a massive human-sized mirror appeared right before Xenor.

Before Xane could marvel at this scene, he looked up at his reflection and froze.

In the mirror, he saw his weak reflection covered in leftover blood clots. But as he focused on his neck, his mouth dropped to the floor, and he almost screamed. "What the..."

For a moment, Xane lost his voice as his entire being focused on the half-grey skull etched on his otherwise pale white skin.

It was just the top part of the skull, with the lower jaw missing.

Instead, there was a grey puddle below the skull, like the skull was melting into the puddle.

Or maybe the opposite. The skull could have been rising out of the puddle while the lower half remained submerged.

Not only that, but there were hundreds, if not thousands, of small runes etched all across the skull.

This bizarre upside-down hollow heart filled with veins encapsulated the entire skull.

Xane saw the bottom end of it stop an inch below his left ear, while the top part of the heart ended right above his collarbone.

But he could still see thousands of veins—tiny veins—stretching deep into his collarbone.

Xane wasted no time and pulled aside his robe as he traced the last bit of the veins running down his shoulder.

What was bizarre was that while the skull was inside the heart, the puddle had actually formed right around where the mess of veins started. Even though they overlapped, Xane could clearly make out both images.

At that moment, he heard a voice inside his mind. [What a bizarre eye.]

'What eye?' Zayn's words confused him for a moment, but then it struck him.

If he mixed the puddle and thousands of little veins, the mark actually formed this bizarre half-open eye, with the lower half of the eyeball peeking out at the world.

The intricacy of this tattoo made Xane gulp as he looked at Xenor for answers, only to see the hex master once again staring wide-eyed, as if he had made another discovery.

For his own safety, he quickly covered the veiny eyes, and sure enough, it snapped Xenor out of his stupor.