I AM EXTRA IN A SHONEN MANGA

Therys Nolemire stood still, whispering softly under his breath. His eyes were closed, his fingers tracing glowing glyphs across his pale skin seals of restraint, each one pulsing with quiet power.

Then his eyes snapped open sharp, glinting like a blade in moonlight.

"Sil. Execute Whisper Bloom."

Without a word, Sil Vorrun, the curly hair boy moved.

He didn't run.

He vanished his body unraveling into delicate strands of vine-shadow, flowing through the mist like threads of darkness. No sound. Not even a footstep. Just silence folding in on itself.

He appeared beside Li like a breeze brushing past her ear.

Li didn't flinch.

"I know this technique." she murmured, turning slightly.

The petals circling her instantly snapped inward, forming a spiral shield of slicing wind. The currents swirled tighter, edges sharpened with Shinrei precision.

Then came the strike.

SHHKK!

Sil's vine-shadow collided with her shield.

The petals bent then shrieked, grinding against the force.

But they held.

Elsewhere in the clearing, Braggen Mossvale let out a thunderous roar. Every step he took sounded like stone splitting beneath him.

"Let's see if that water can stop a boulder."

He charged straight at Ko massive arms raised, fists wrapped in stone-lined Shinrei armor. His movements were brute force incarnate. The ground trembled beneath each footfall.

Ko didn't move.

He focused. His stance narrowed. Both hands lifted calmly.

"Echo art: Pressure Coil!"

From the mist, two thick water tendrils surged up coiling tightly around Braggen's fists just as they came down.

BOOM!

The blow was caught but the shock still drove Ko back, feet skidding against wet stone.

The water cracked under pressure but didn't break. It reformed instantly, his vines working in real-time, adapting, reshaping redirecting Braggen's overwhelming strength like a living flow of resistance.

Back at the edge of the battle, Khael stood still, eyes narrow.

His pupils faintly shimmered his dragon knight system pulsing a warning beneath the skin, like static at the base of his neck.

"(These rebels… they can't beat those two. Not as they are. My system's not wrong—Ko and Li… they're carrying Shinrei that's dense. Stable. Evolved.)"

He turned slightly, his gaze falling on Raiquen—the ex-guardian, now rebel, wrapped in burning crimson threads. Something shimmered beneath Raiquen's skin, dancing along his arms like veins made of fire.

"(A Shinrei mark… so he's opened at least the Third Gate—Stabilization. Possibly the Fourth. Transcendence. He found his path… but how close did he come to the edge?)"

His jaw clenched.

"(That path… it nearly turned him Voidborn. But somehow, he stopped. Did Eliryn have something to do with that?)"

…

Meanwhile beyond the mist and roaring Echo Arts, in the shelter of thick vines and drifting smoke

Noah crouched low, wide-eyed, pulling Lin behind a fallen log. Her small frame trembled in his arms, her Shinrei aura nearly nonexistent faint as a whisper.

"Stay low," he whispered, voice barely steady.

"Don't speak—oh wait, right… just—just stay put."

He shielded her with his arms and tried to form a protective Vine barrier.

But it was weak. His aura flickered like a candle in the wind.

He winced.

(Come on. Work. Just hold together.)

And from a few feet away

Juno stood, watching the battlefield like a hawk.

He wasn't shaking.

He wasn't blinking.

His eyes narrowed as Braggen Mossvale stomped forward in the smoke, each step shaking the ground.

"(That guy… he's using Taishin. That's no Echo Art—that's muscle density, bone reinforcement, tendon shifting. He opened the Core Gate at least… maybe even the Iron Nerve Gate.)"

He gritted his teeth.

(Just how strong is that guy?)

Ceyla, blood already trailing from a scratch on her cheek, turned her head.

Her eyes locked onto Lin.

Huddled behind Noah. Eyes wide with blank fear. Flinching at every explosion. Trembling like a leaf in a storm.

Ceyla's gut twisted.

(That girl.)

Her gaze snapped back to the fight.

Kirell's blades shimmered.

Ko redirected flame with tidal force.

Sil Vorrun slipped between wind currents like a phantom.

And yet—

(No one's watching the civilians.)

(I can't just stand here.)

She stepped forward

But Khael caught her wrist.

"Wait."

"Let go of me—"

"I said wait. Damn it."

His voice wasn't loud.

But it hit like a blade drawn slow measured, heavy, sharp.

She froze. Eyes locked with his.

"I can feel it," he said. "Something isn't adding up."

Ceyla hesitated, breathing hard.

"They're trying to kill the rebels—

And the rebels… they're just stalling?"

Khael's gaze narrowed.

"No."

He looked at her in the eyes

"I don't think it's just a stall."

"I think…"

"It's to stop the ritual."

Across the battlefield, Eliryn stood still.

Her scythe pulsed with faint Shinrei light quiet, restrained.

She wasn't moving.

She wasn't attacking.

She was watching Raiquen.

And it wasn't with anger.

Not with hate.

But with something that shouldn't exist in a moment like this.

Worry.

Her grip on the scythe tightened knuckles white, shoulders tense.

For just a breath, Raiquen looked back.

Only a glance.

But in that single heartbeat—

beneath the flames, beneath the fury

there was something else in his eyes.

Recognition.

A shared memory. A tether not yet cut.

(We were both meant to protect the village.)

(You still wear the robes.)

(I burned mine.)

(But maybe... maybe we're both still trapped.)

Back to the fight

Ko struck again.

But he didn't aim for Raiquen.

His foot slammed into the ground

"Echo art: Rising Spray."

A geyser of twisting vines and water erupted beneath Sil Vorrun, catching him mid-cast.

The glowing sigils stuttered then warped under the deluge.

"Tch—!" Sil grunted, flung backward as the glyphs broke apart in a splash.

Then

Li appeared behind Braggen, daggers singing as she sliced through the air.

"Echo art: Splicing Gale!"

Razor-petals tore through the breeze, carving across Braggen's bark-like skin.

Thin lines opened shallow cuts but enough to draw blood.

Braggen grunted. "That all you got?"

He swung a wide, heavy arc

but Li was already gone.

From above

Ko dropped, both palms aimed at the rebel cluster.

"Echo art: Dual Spiral Bind!"

Two high-pressure spirals of vines and water launched forward—

targeting Kirell and Therys.

Kirell leapt but Ko was ready.

A second stream curved sharply, catching her mid-air.

She twisted, daggers flashing.

"Stormlash!"

Lightning cracked out but struck water.

The clash sizzled steam hissed and Kirell was hurled sideways, crashing into a tree with a grunt.

Therys, slower, held his ground.

The petals floating around him withered under the force

until water-vines wrapped tight around his limbs.

He didn't resist.

Not yet.

His eyes narrowed.

A breath.

A whisper.

"Return."

A soft glow

The vines shattered into mist.

To be continue