Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

For a brief moment, silence reigned.

The combined assault had left a crater in the domain's floor, smoke and debris still climbing skyward like a monument to their power. Ceil maintained her defensive stance in front of Adrian, while Elara and the others watched the impact zone with unwavering focus.

"Did we—" Cedric started to ask.

"No," Adrian cut him off, already pushing himself to his feet. His legs trembled with exhaustion, but his eyes remained sharp. "Everyone, be ready—"

The warning came too late.

The explosion they'd created suddenly roared back to life, but different now—darker, hungrier. What had been natural fire transformed into something else, something that seemed to devour the very air itself. The flames twisted into a massive serpentine shape, its maw opening wide enough to swallow them all.

"Shit!" Adrian cursed, recognizing Kalin's influence in how the flames moved. "Everyone, move!"

But the attack was too fast, too close. The heat alone was enough to make their skin blister, the inferno just meters away from consuming them all—

"Oris!" Elara's voice cut through the roar of flames. "Stop it!"

A massive shape descended from above, wings spanning longer than a man was tall. Azuris, one of Elara's most powerful tamed beasts, beat its crystalline wings once, twice—each movement precise and powerful. The air temperature plummeted as the beast opened its beak.

A wall of water materialized, not simply conjured but pulled from the very moisture in the air. It crashed against the oncoming flames like an ocean meeting a volcano. Steam exploded outward, forcing everyone to shield their eyes as the two forces battled for dominance.

"Back!" Ceil shouted, grabbing Adrian's arm. "Everyone, get back!"

They retreated as one, putting distance between themselves and the clash of elements. Through the steam and chaos, a figure rose—Evangeline's body floating above the devastation, completely unmarked by their earlier assault. The black eyes seemed to glow with amusement.

"Water and light, is it?" Kalin's voice emerged from Evangeline's lips, thoughtful. "How tactical of you. Choosing elements strong against darkness and fire..."

Elara didn't waste time with words. "Oris and Yamo! Luminar Rain!"

Suddenly, the beast's wings began to glow, each feather becoming a source of purifying light. Droplets of luminescent water began to fall, each one charged with power that could burn through darkness.

"Cedric!" Elara called out. "Pattern Three!"

Cedric's hands moved in complex patterns, light gathering between his palms. "Light Style: Celestial Chains!"

Beams of golden energy shot toward Evangeline's possessed form from multiple angles, trying to bind and purify. At the same time, Ceil disappeared from view, clearly preparing another invisible assault.

But Kalin just laughed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The possessed body moved with impossible grace, weaving between the attacks like they were moving in slow motion. Darkness rose to meet the light, not fighting it directly but redirecting it, using Evangeline's mastery of wind to create paths of least resistance. Every attack that should have landed found only void.

"Is this all?" Kalin taunted, deflecting another of Azuris's water strikes. "I expected more from the elite of the 'Academy'."

Adrian watched the fight unfold, his tactical mind racing. 'He's adapted to Evangeline's abilities too quickly. At this rate—'

Kalin suddenly frowned, looking at their coordinated attacks with annoyance. "Fighting with numbers, huh?"

Then, something changed in the possessed face. A smile spread across Evangeline's features, too wide, too knowing. As if seeing something they couldn't.

"Well then..."

The air crackled with power.

Massive bolts of lightning suddenly struck somewhere in the domain—not one or two, but dozens. The impacts were so powerful that the ground shook beneath their feet. For a moment, the night sky itself seemed to shatter with electricity.

Adrian's heart sank as he sensed what was coming. "No..."

Three figures materialized beside Kalin, each one radiating malevolent power. Evil Eye Ghoulz, its massive eye pulsing with sickly light. The Mad Mini Giant, tiny compared to a real giant but impossibly dense with muscle, its twisted grin promising violence. And the Phantom Lady, her form flickering like a bad dream.

"What about now?" Kalin's laugh echoed across the battlefield, genuine amusement in the sound. "Shall we make this more... interesting?"

The three abominations moved forward, their forms distorting reality around them. These weren't mere monsters—they were nightmares given flesh, each one powerful enough to require a team of elite fighters to handle.

"Kill them all," Kalin commanded, almost casual in its cruelty. "But leave 'darling' alive. I want him to watch my gift for him."

The abominations charged without a question.

They didn't know about Kalin and their master called Adrian 'darling'. She also just destroyed that human's domain and helped them to get back. So, they weren't suspicious that much.

Evil Eye Ghoulz's eye began to glow with deadly purpose, reality warping around its gaze. The Mad Mini Giant's muscles bulged impossibly as it launched itself forward with devastating speed. The Phantom Lady's form suddenly split into dozens of copies, each one equally real and equally deadly.

"Everyone!" Adrian called out, his mind already racing through strategies. "The Stalling Plan—"

But even as he barked orders, he could see Kalin watching him with that same amused expression. As if everything was going exactly according to plan.

Not to his, but Kalin's.

'What are you really after now?' Adrian wondered now they made Kalin use Evangeline's body, even as he prepared himself for the fight of his life. 'And what piece of this puzzle am I still missing?'

Adrian's strategic thoughts shattered as movement flickered in his peripheral vision. One of the Phantom Lady's copies materialized beside him, her grotesque form already mid-strike. Pure instinct took over.

'Phantom Step!'

The world blurred as he activated his technique, his body becoming nearly incorporeal. The copy's clawed hand passed through the space where his throat had been a fraction of a second earlier. For a brief moment, Adrian felt the familiar surge of adrenaline at avoiding death by mere millimeters—

Then he felt it.

A presence that made his blood run cold. His heart, still racing from the near-miss, suddenly seemed to slow to a crawl. Each beat echoed in his ears like thunder: thump... thump... thump...

Time stretched like molasses as his enhanced senses registered the new threat. A shadow darker than the night itself, moving with liquid grace. Muscles coiled with lethal purpose. Wings as fast as falcon's. Golden eyes that promised death.

The Arkot beast.

Abby.

Adrian's mind raced even as his body refused to respond fast enough. He was still completing his Phantom Step.

Defenseless.

The beast had timed its attack perfectly, striking in that split-second of vulnerability.

He could see every detail with horrifying clarity: the obsidian fur rippling like silk over corded muscle, razor-sharp claws extended, fangs bared in a silent snarl. The killing intent rolled off it in waves so tangible they seemed to distort the air. This wasn't just any Arkot—this was an apex predator, and it had chosen its moment with terrifying precision.

'Too fast,' Adrian realized with a detached sort of clarity. 'Even if I could move, I wouldn't make it.'

The beast's claws caught the battlelight, five gleaming arcs promising oblivion. Adrian could already feel pain where they would tear through him. In that stretched moment, he saw his own death reflected in those merciless golden eyes.

All his training, all his experience, all his measy power—and he was about to die because he'd forgotten the most basic rule: never assume you've spotted all the threats.

Time began to resume its normal flow, and the Arkot's claws descended toward his exposed throat—