Extra's Guide to Surviving a Dark Fantasy World-Chapter 57: Betrayal

"That thing might have been following you for some time, spending time with you, talking with you. But you never looked at it once, did you?" I spoke, causing Tess to pause in her steps. Even Aria became still, staring at me with a dumbfounded look in her eyes.

Looking at her shocked expression, I couldn’t help but let out a breath.

So it was true after all, honestly I myself hadn’t been completely sure I was right about this thing.

Originally, I, too, had suspected Tess was being influenced by her reflection. Her walking away to sleep after seeing the both of us being swarmed by our reflections, deadly intuition going off while I was recovering from soul damage, not to mention her lying about not following me around the ancient city.

Then, I heard them chatting after we stepped out of the storm. The way the both of them were speaking, as if conversing with an old friend, that wasn’t how a reflection talked; in my experience they would break your mind and force you into submission.

Sure everyone’s experience of looking at their reflection was different, but for some reason I couldn’t shake this feeling. That’s when I began noticing things, despite her being allegedly affected she wasn’t showing any signs of soul damage, another thing I knew too well.

She was lying to me for some reason.

As for why? I didn’t have the remotest idea, but stealing my bloodline was one of my top guesses, which thankfully was confirmed by the reflection.

Still, at the end of the day, all my worrying had been driven by nothing more than blind curiosity.

After all, who cared if she was being controlled by the reflection or not? It wasn’t like it was going to change anything if she wanted to hurt me; the outcome was still going to be the same anyway.

"Is this true?" Aria asked, shocked, only to be met by silence.

"All this time, you have simply been acting as if you were under that thing’s influence? Lying to me so you could betray Zane in the end and present him to Mother? Why? Because of that stupid lotus, she promised you to complete your mission?"

Tess once again didn’t answer, instead averting her gaze to the side.

Aria might not have been able to see her motive due to being this emotionally involved, but I could.

My guess was that she would feel less guilty in front of Aria, who wouldn’t think she had done it on purpose. Besides, who would trust a knight who betrayed one of her own comrades? If such a thing got out in noble circles, no one would care that she did it to serve her master. In fact, people might accuse her of selling out a comrade for monetary benefits.

All of this was done without mentioning Aria’s mother herself, someone publicly regarded as the most cautious woman in the entire alliance; even she wouldn’t place her trust in someone like that, someone who might betray her comrades for monetary rewards.

It’s far better for everyone to believe she was acting under that thing’s influence. The Nyrith princess’s testimony would go a long way in supporting that.

"Aria... I am sorry, but I didn’t have a choice. Not only did we fail to find that... thing, but we also lost all of our team. Your mother will be very displeased with us if we return empty-handed. You should understand the consequences of that better than anyone else; it might even threaten your position as the heiress."

"The only way we can salvage this situation is through his bloodline. I don’t know what creature it belongs to or how he got it from, but you saw how powerful it is, didn’t you? If we present it to your mother, she will surely be pleased."

"I-" Aria hesitated.

"Think logically about this Aria, you have only known this man for a couple of months, and all this time he has been nothing but dishonest towards you. We don’t even know what his real name is.

Aria stopped, before turning to her side and looking at me with guilt overflowing in her eyes. Then shaking her head she closed her eyes and stepped away from between me and Tess.

I, too, let out a deep sigh; here, I had thought we had started to become friends.

"Why are you acting like you have already won," I spoke up, looking at Tess. "You think I would just give myself up that easy."

Tess paused before turning to face me. "You are collapsed on the ground, completely immobilized, not to mention I am absolutely certain you are dry as well after what you pulled here. Even if you had some plans, I highly doubt you’ll be able to go through them."

I simply gave her a confident smile and mentally sent out a signal. Suddenly, the figure of Duskwraith emerged out of the broken wall Tess had been lying on just moments ago; it lunged forward at full speed, its claws glowing in the air, aiming for Tess’s neck.

Looking at duskwraith emerge behind Tess, Aria’s eyes widened in shock. Tess, who would normally have noticed a sneak attack like this, was too exhausted to react properly. She was injured as well, slowing her reflexes and making it so that she did notice the ambush—but only a second too late.

She tried to dodge, but it was too late; the Duskwraith claws scraped through the side of her neck, missing her vitals by a hair’s breadth and instead clawing out the left side of her face.

"Argh." Tess took a step back while clutching her neck; at the same time, I summoned the third revenant, the demon I had just killed.

A giant, gaunt figure with two horns protruding out of his head materialized and stood behind me, further dwindling my last drops of mana.

Six seconds, I only had six seconds before I was going to run out. It wasn’t enough time to make the whole thing convincing, but-

The demon was just about to charge forward when a sudden wave explosion emerged with Tess in the center, throwing both of them in opposite directions.

Seeing how my assassination attempt had failed my expression changed from a smile into a frown. Not too far away from me Tess was standing while clutching her neck.

Oh no. My face transformed into straight up panic as I hurriedly dismissed Duskwraith, at the same time I ordered The demon to throw me towards the city gate.

Three more seconds, dismissing duskwraith gave me some extra time.

Listening to my command, the demon showed no hesitation whatsoever, picking me in his arm and throwing me far ahead in the air, before being dismissed himself.