Extra's POV: I am the Sixteenth Son

The freezing air of the Echovault hit Ares like a slap from an old enemy. His memory was still fresh from his encounter with the Gloomantula. He used everything he could and still lost yet he couldn't help it.

He was back.

Again.

Ares stared at the center of the Ring. The Gloomantula had almost turned him into spider food even though he knew it was merely a simulation, but instead of being scared, his chest felt tight with something that tasted like revenge.

He wanted that rematch.

He needed it.

Ethan looked up from his desk, spinning a piece of chalk between his fingers like he was bored out of his mind. When Ares walked in, Ethan's eyebrows shot up. "Well, well. Look who's still got all his limbs. I thought yesterday's little show would've scrambled your brains like eggs."

"I want to go again," Ares said straight up, not wasting time.

Ethan blinked hard, then let out a laugh that echoed off the walls. "Let me guess. You want to die twice in the same week? That's got to be some kind of record."

Ares dropped into the chair across from him, his eyes sharp as broken glass. "I learned more getting my butt kicked than I did in a whole week of boring drills. That spider doesn't fight like the others. It hides, waits, makes you starve for air. I want to learn how to make it starve."

Ethan leaned forward, putting his fingers together like he was praying, but his eyes showed he was interested now. "You're actually serious about this crazy plan."

"I want it to feel what I felt." Ares's voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of a promise.

That got a low whistle from Ethan. He stood up and stretched like a cat, then pointed toward the Ring with his thumb. "Alright, you obsessed lunatic. Go warm up. I'll get the core ready."

As Ares started walking away, Ethan called out, "Oh, and don't forget to pay up first."

Ares nodded quickly and headed to the preparation room. His mind was already picking apart the Gloomantula's moves like a puzzle. 'It jumped left, not straight at me. It waited before shooting webs first. That clicking sound... it was hunting me by sound, not sight. No eyes... just hearing?' He bit his lip, thinking hard.

---

Behind the Echovault's side wing, in a narrow hallway that was usually empty except for teachers and older students, Juno de Eisenklinge stood talking casually with Ethan like they were old friends.

"Thanks for keeping things quiet tonight," he said, his voice smooth as butter. "Us fourth years are getting busy with schedules. Just wanted to make sure the Vault won't be packed after hours."

Ethan raised one eyebrow like he smelled something fishy. "Last time I checked, you weren't the boss of night schedules."

Juno smiled. It was the kind of smile politicians wore, pretty but empty as a broken promise. "Just planning ahead. We've got our own tests coming up. Better to work when everyone else is sleeping, right?"

Ethan leaned back against the wall, chewing on a toothpick like it owed him money. "Fine. Just don't leave burn marks on my floor again like last time. I'm not your cleanup crew."

Juno gave a fancy bow that looked like something from a royal court and walked away. His white-trimmed uniform cloak fluttered behind him like wings.

---

Later that evening, Ares sat cross-legged in the Echovault's back room. Sweat poured down his face like he'd been caught in a rainstorm. His shirt stuck to his back like glue, and his skin burned with shallow cuts from spider webs that felt like paper cuts made of fire.

The Gloomantula had won again.

Not by much, but enough to make it count. Ethan hadn't even let the core run all the way before shutting it down. "You're not dead," he said in a voice dry as old bread, "but if you trip one more time trying that half-baked Static Bolt spinning move, I'll let the spider finish what it started."

Ares nodded, breathing hard like he'd run a marathon. His sword hand shook from too much use, trembling like a leaf in the wind. But inside his chest, that hungry feeling hadn't died. It had grown sharper. Angrier. It had grown 'teeth'.

He stood up slowly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked at the red burn mark on the far wall, the spot where his Fire Bolt had exploded again like a firecracker.

'Just a little faster,' he thought, clenching his fists. 'A little cleaner. And I'll win.'

The Gloomantula might have beaten him twice now, but Ares could feel something changing inside him. Each loss was teaching him something new. Each failure was sharpening him like a blade on a stone.

Tomorrow, he'd be back.

And the day after that.

However long it took.

---

Outside, in the courtyard between the Vault and the trainee dorms, Elyra stood silent as a grave. She was the mute maid everyone knew but nobody really saw, just a quiet girl who swept floors and cleaned windows. The moonlight touched her pale apron, making her look like a ghost.

Her hands were folded in front of her. Her face showed nothing, no anger, no sadness, no fear. Just empty calm.

But hidden inside her sleeve, tucked under the fabric where no one could see, her fingers wrapped around a small silver needle. The metal was cool to the touch and coated with fresh poison that would stop a heart in seconds.

She watched Ares walk by with tired, heavy steps. His breathing was steady but exhausted. He had no idea death was standing just a few feet away, watching him like a hawk watches a mouse.

She didn't blink.

She didn't move.

She just waited.

Because the real strike wouldn't come tonight. Tonight was just for watching. For learning his patterns. For finding the perfect moment.

But that moment was coming.

Very, very soon.

And when it did, Ares wouldn't see it coming until it was far too late.

The mute maid smiled in the darkness, a smile no one would ever see.

– – –

A/N – Was it fire or mid? Don't just vanish—powerstone, comment, review. Let me feel your presence.