I AM EXTRA IN A SHONEN MANGA

The wind carried ash and petals across the clearing—

remnants of battle, caught in the breath of fate.

Elder Lao stood unmoving, robes fluttering gently, expression unreadable.

But his voice when it came was colder than stone.

"At the only cost we've ever known."

That sentence hung like a guillotine over everyone present.

No one moved. No one dared breathe.

Then—the rebels rose.

Bloodied. Shaking. But unyielding.

Raiquen, his hair wild, fists aflame, breathing hard through broken ribs.

Braggen, eyes burning beneath bark-split skin, his massive hand clenched so tightly it

trembled.

Sil, one eye swollen shut, glyphs flickering around his arms like dying stars refusing to fade.

Kirell, her mouth bloodied, defiance etched into the bruises on her face.

Therys, robes in tatters

Raiquen's voice cracked the silence.

"Eliryn!"

She didn't flinch. Not even a blink.

But her knuckles whitened around the shaft of her scythe.

"They're sacrificing a child's happiness her entire life just to keep this village safe. You still think this is worth protecting?!"

Her jaw tightened.

But she said nothing.

Then Elder Lao raised a hand.

"Enough. Noah—bring the girl."

Noah hesitated.

Lin whimpered—barely audible, like a wind through reeds as her fingers curled weakly into his cloak.

He muttered, voice gravel-soft:

"Sorry, child… I can't disobey. The alliance depends on it."

He took a step forward.

But a cry cut the air like a whip:

"Not on my watch, coward bitch!!"

Ceyla.

Her boots slammed the dirt, blade gleaming, fury in her eyes as she charged Noah—dagger raised in an arc of silver defiance.

Noah staggered back, nearly dropping Lin.

"Ceyla—?! What the hell are you doing?!"

Gasps echoed from every side.

Elder Mia stepped back, visibly shaken.

Elder Twe's eyes narrowed, immediately reaching for a protective charm.

Elder Loe's veil fluttered down, revealing her stunned expression.

Elder Lao's tone sharpened to a blade:

"Is this… a breach of our contract, Veinwalker?"

The question was for Juno.

But Juno said nothing.

He didn't need to.

His stance changed. One foot angled back. Shoulders squared.

Readiness. Declaration.

The Elders shifted uncomfortably. The truth in his silence rippled like thunder through their ranks.

Then—Khael stepped forward.

His voice wasn't loud. But it was clear.

"Well… maybe."

He looked to Lin.

Then to Noah.

Then to Lao.

"I can't let you sacrifice a child. Not for this."

The air thickened. The trees groaned like they, too, understood the weight of this decision.

From the flanks—Ko and Li stood still.

Watching.

Unmoving.

Until Ko's voice, hoarse with conflict:

"You don't understand what's at stake. If that Rift tears open—"

But Li interrupted.

Soft. Low.

Eyes fixed only on Lin.

"Ko. Look at her."

So Ko did.

Everyone did.

Lin, soot-streaked, cheeks wet, arms limp.

But her eyes—

They weren't pleading.

They weren't afraid.

They were… accepting.

Like she'd always known this moment would come.

Like it had been whispered to her in dreams and shadows.

Raiquen took a step.

"She's not a lock. She's not a weapon. She's a kid."

Braggen's fist slammed into the earth.

A thunderclap of soil and rage.

"So what now? We fight the whole damn council?!"

Sil, wiping blood from his lip, nodded once.

"...if we have to."

Kirell. Therys. They didn't speak.

They didn't need to.

Their eyes were their answer.

Then—

Juno turned to Khael.

A single question unspoken.

Khael's heart pounded as Lin's gaze met his.

Waiting.

Hoping.

Trusting.

And softly almost to himself he whispered:

"No more chains."

The wind shifted.

And so did the battlefield.

Old lines dissolved.

New ones were drawn.

The war wasn't over.

It was just beginning.

The silence after rebellion was never still.

It vibrated.

It screamed in the bones of those who knew—this was the moment everything would break.

And then—

"Then we don't have a choice! Ko! Li!!"

Elder Lao's voice cracked through the tension like a whip, sharp enough to sever any doubt still lingering in the air.

Ko's fists clenched, wind surging beneath his feet. Sweat rolled down his temple, catching the last of the twilight.

Li's blade shimmered at his side, but his gaze his mind lingered on the girl.

Lin.

For a moment, both warriors froze.

Their training told them to move.

Their hearts told them to wait.

But in the end, they both nodded.

For the village.

And they moved.

Twin blurs of grace and devastation, cutting across the broken field like strokes of divine ink. Ko swept low, boots cracking the earth as he launched toward Juno and Khael. Li took the air, spiraling with blade drawn—a meteor cloaked in discipline and thunder—his target: Ceyla.

Khael didn't flinch.

His feet dug into the soil, one step back, knees bent. Wind licked up his arms, coiling at his fingers. A low gale churned around his frame, and his breath came calm, deep.

I have to stop them. I have to protect—

But—

Something was wrong.

Behind him—

Lin trembled.

Her small body shook violently. Her arms clutched the hem of her tattered dress as if it could anchor her soul.

Her mouth opened—

No words came.

Her glyphs

were gone.

A panic bloomed in her chest, rising fast.

Too fast.

Like a scream she couldn't release.

Like a storm without clouds.

The ground cracked beneath her feet.

The wind stilled.

Then—

A soundless hum echoed through the world.

Like the space between heartbeats.

Like the pause before death.

And the air bent.

The Rift.

A shimmer tore behind her, barely visible at first. A thin line, like a rip in reality, quivering with pressure.

Ceyla's voice ripped through the chaos.

"...The rift—Khael—!"

Khael turned—eyes wide, blood draining from his face.

"LIN!!"

She staggered back, head shaking frantically, tears flicking like rain from her cheeks.

"I didn't mean to— I didn't—"

But the power didn't listen.

It didn't care what she wanted.

It surged forward, bursting from the girl's chest in a pulsing wave of dread.

The air howled.

A pillar of dark light erupted behind her, rising like a lance into the clouds and splitting the sky open like paper.

The world itself reeled.

Even the Elders staggered, shielding their eyes. Ko and Li froze mid-strike, spinning away, reflexes saving them from the pure force radiating from the child.

Juno's body tensed, his taishin glyphs glowing instinctively.

His voice came in a whisper of disbelief:

"No... she's breaking the seal!"

To be continue