Episode 20: Genre Misunderstanding: An Extra's Survival Story

Episode 20: Too Strong

Abel frowned.

Ever since a moment ago, he hadn’t been able to use any physical enhancement abilities.

It wasn’t like he made a mistake—since awakening, this had never happened before.

And that only left one conclusion, the worst possible one.

‘Don’t tell me they already sent in someone with a sealing ability. This is insane.’

As far as he knew, this was the first major incident since they entered the Continental Academy.

And right from the start, they were up against a top-tier opponent.

At this point, they couldn’t handle him.

The fact that even Flam and Portus looked completely shaken was proof enough.

“I heard you were talented. I suppose that includes being quick-witted.”

The man who introduced himself as Julien strolled toward them with a calm, relaxed demeanor.

“For the first and last time, I’ll make you an offer, young ability users. Don’t you want to use your abilities for ability users alone, rather than for those primitive non-ability users?”

The ones in front of him were clearly not going to cooperate.

It would be smarter to just eliminate them before they became an obstacle.

Still, Julien took it upon himself to offer them a choice.

It was sad that they didn’t share his ideals—but in the end, they were fellow ability users.

This uprising was for ability users, after all.

Killing their own kind like non-ability users would be going too far.

A single attempt at persuasion… at offering them a hand… was the least he could do.

“Why must you suffer four years of brainwashing in this prison? The Continental Academy? Nonsense about using power ‘the right way’? That ability users must serve non-ability users? It’s all nonsense.”

“There’s only one truth in this world: The strong, the more evolved, rule over and consume the weak—the regressed. Just like powerful nations survive, and the weak are crushed.”

That should be enough, Julien thought, as he held out his hand toward the five students.

“Open your eyes. Whatever you do here, in the end you’ll just be slaves to the non-ability users. Weapons for their wars. pawns to flaunt their power. Stop doing something you’ll regret and come with me.”

His words cut deep—right into the hearts of discontented ability users.

Yeah.

Why did they have to keep watching their words and actions when they had such overwhelming power?

Why did society demand that they go to some academy, that their powers be used for the country and for others, just to be considered a “real” ability user?

“…”

Suddenly, Flam stepped forward and walked right up to Julien.

Portus, Caligo, and Seria all looked stunned by the unexpected action.

Julien, on the other hand, smiled, satisfied.

“I knew the younger ones would understand faster. Once people get older, their thinking gets rigid. They get scared just because they’re given a little title or authority.”

Julien waited for Flam to say he would join them.

But what the Phoenix family’s heir said next was the complete opposite of what he expected.

“You’re full of shit. A murderer running around hurting people, acting like you’ve got some noble philosophy.”

“…What?”

“Don’t spew crap like you’re talking about some great ideology. You’re just a criminal. We came to this academy to get strong enough to take down trash like you.”

Then, right in front of Julien’s outstretched hand, Flam flipped him the middle finger.

After that, he proudly turned on his heel and walked back to his original spot.

“What do you think?”

“Think about what?”

“You all looked like you wanted to say the same thing but were hesitating, so I said it for you.”

And that’s what he said after acting on his own without any discussion.

But Portus was never the kind of person to hold back his thoughts in a situation like this.

“Are you stupid?”

“What?”

“Maybe someone did want to join him. We never agreed on anything, and you just went ahead and provoked him. What are you so proud of, you pyromaniac? Did you run out of things to burn and decide to fry your own brain instead?”

Tsk tsk—Portus clicked his tongue and completely shut Flam down with a single line.

Still, he didn’t exactly disagree with what he had said to Julien.

Because he felt the same.

That no matter what that man in front of them was blabbing on about, it wasn’t worth listening to.

“About that ability that seals powers—it’s not like he can use it however he wants, right?”

“I agree. It seems to only apply within a fixed radius around him.”

“And no ability is invincible. There’s always a gap.”

This was the plan that Flam and Portus came up with:

He was still human.

If they attacked from multiple directions, he’d lose focus.

They were five people—well, four if you didn’t count the “lady.”

Still, the numbers were in their favor, and they had to use that advantage.

“Caligo, your ability’s in the darkness category, right?”

“More or less, yes, Flam.”

“Use it to cover me and the water freak—ahem—Portus. Make sure he can’t see what we’re preparing. And you’re Abel, right? You can’t attack from range, so protect Lady Seria instead.”

Meanwhile, Julien—saying something about hawks being weak too—started to close the distance.

After the brief strategy meeting, the three boys immediately executed their plan.

Flam’s flames and Portus’s waves surged from opposite directions.

Caligo’s darkness concealed their movements almost perfectly.

It wasn’t a bad strategy.

Against a typical ability user, it might have worked.

But unfortunately, this opponent wasn’t typical.

As Abel had thought—

‘We ran into someone way too strong… right from the start.’

“Damn it!”

A perfect trajectory. A clean strike with no wasted movement.

But the moment it came near, everything was nullified.

The flames were instantly extinguished, and the surging waves collapsed into mere puddles.

Changing positions was useless.

No matter how or from where they launched the attack,

Julien’s ability flawlessly neutralized all of it.

‘So we’ve got no choice.’

Watching the situation unfold, Abel drew his sword and rushed at Julien.

His physical enhancements and sword techniques were rendered useless inside the man’s domain.

But that didn’t make his sword disappear.

Nor did it erase the hundreds of thousands of slashes and thrusts he had trained up until now.

Julien could seal abilities—but that was all.

In the end, the inability to use powers affected both sides equally.

“Flam! Portus! Just unload everything, whether it works or not!”

Caligo, realizing what Abel intended, immediately directed the two ability users to distract Julien with everything they had.

Flam and Portus caught on and unleashed their powers with full force.

Crossing the threshold of Julien’s domain—

At that moment, Abel’s physical enhancements vanished.

His speed dropped, and he clearly felt strength draining from his body.

But Abel didn’t care.

He had trained enough to compensate for this.

‘Got him.’

The moment Abel thought he had reached Julien and thrust his sword—

“Did you really think I was acting cocky just because of this one ability?”

With a paper-thin margin, Julien dodged the blade.

It wasn’t luck.

It wasn’t a near miss.

‘Son of a—’

He had intentionally dodged with just that narrow gap, using the least possible effort.

Nullifying powers wasn’t his only ability.

This man—he wasn’t overwhelmingly strong, but he clearly knew how to enhance himself physically.

Boom!!

“Abel!”

A spray of blood. Abel flew through the air before crashing into a wall.

The blow was so powerful that he didn’t stop even after breaking through the wall.

The structure collapsed completely where he had struck it.

“Abel-nim!”

“Lady Seria, wait!”

Seria tried to rush toward Abel, but Caligo held her back.

He had seen it. That hit had landed perfectly.

It would’ve caused major trauma even to a normal man, let alone one with physical enhancement powers.

There was at least a high chance of serious injury—

In the worst case, he could’ve been killed instantly.

There was no movement from the dust cloud.

They couldn’t even tell whether Abel had passed out or died.

“Let me go! Let go of me, Lord Caligo!”

“Calm yourself! Lady Seria, it would be better if you went and called for help.”

“But Abel-nim—!”

“That’s exactly why you need to go—to save him!”

Only when Abel was used as a reason did Seria finally nod and run in the opposite direction.

“Well done.”

Portus approached and praised Caligo.

He had picked up on Caligo’s intention to get at least Seria out of there, since their chances of victory were slim.

Julien only targeted ability users he deemed worth eliminating—

People like Portus, Flam, and Caligo.

Seria wasn’t even on his radar.

If she stuck around, she’d only risk her life needlessly.

Sending her away with a reason was the wisest move a man could make for a lady.

“Maybe I should just surrender now.”

Flam, ever sarcastic, joked as he joined the group again.

“If you go first, I’ll follow.”

“You’d be the first to mock me if I did.”

“Then don’t surrender.”

Delusional lunatics drunk on a twisted ideology, acting like gods among men.

The truth?

Without their powers, they’d just be loud-mouthed idiots.

Just thinking about it was enough to make them nauseous.

“So now it’s a matter of who runs out of stamina and loses their power first.”

“Lord Caligo, maybe it’s time to show your real skills?”

“I just want a quiet life, but no one ever lets me have it…”

Caligo sighed and adjusted his ability.

Dark shadows rose like vines or whips from the ground beneath his feet.

“Until one of us drops from exhaustion.”

Flames. Waves. Shadows.

Every technique they had rained down upon the arrogant man casually strolling toward them like a ghost.

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