Episode 24: Genre Misunderstanding: An Extra's Survival Story

Episode 24: Shed the Cocoon

His physical enhancement disappeared. The ability that once let him wield his sword more flexibly was gone.

All that remained were two arms, two legs, and the sweat that remembered every bit of effort he had poured in.

Any other ability user would’ve despaired the moment the source of their title—“ability user”—was stripped away.

Without an ability, they could no longer call themselves that. They’d just be someone a little stronger than average—or not even that.

But Abel was different. From the beginning, he hadn’t faltered even after losing his ability.

He had wanted a power more than anyone else. He endured unimaginable hardship to awaken.

Every day was a battle to surpass his limits. Every moment brought pain as skin tore and bones broke.

He was like steel, beaten and refined. Though the shape might look crude, the strength was very real.

Everything he had built to survive in this world now served him in this very moment.

‘The opponent is also a physical enhancement-type like me. The good news is, he focuses more on his ability to seal powers than raw strength.’

Abel belonged to this world, yet in some ways, he didn’t.

In a world ruled by powers, a genre defined by ability users, he knew exactly what kind of reality one had to endure to seize the future.

Most ability users focused on honing their powers to the limit.

They valued endless growth—smashing opponents under overwhelming strength.

Abel didn’t walk a completely opposite path.

He too trained constantly to increase the efficiency and control of his powers.

But he had taken one more path—a different one.

That path asked: “What do you do when your powers are sealed or suddenly unusable?”

It was a common trope, wasn’t it?

Every story about ability users had it at least once—a broken ability, a power nullifier, some overpowered plot device.

‘Take the hit… take it… dodge this one.’

From a young age, he trained his body to the point of obsession to achieve awakening. That was the biggest reason.

But along the way, he gained secondary benefits—greater stamina, stronger tolerance, sharper situational judgment.

Julien was still just a person. Even with his ridiculous ability to seal powers, that didn’t change.

Every ability usage consumed stamina. There was no such thing as an infinitely maintained power.

And the stronger the ability, the faster that stamina drained.

Thud! Smash!

Julien’s fists struck Abel in the shoulder and chest.

For a brief moment, he lost feeling in his shoulder. His ribs might’ve cracked, and a choked groan nearly escaped his lips.

But Abel pretended to be fine.

He’d experienced cracked bones and broken limbs many times before.

He was used to pain so severe it numbed his nerves.

Right now, what mattered was making his opponent misjudge the situation—pushing him into desperation.

He hid the pain. Acted like he could take more.

He wanted Julien to stop throwing jabs and go for all-out, stamina-consuming heavy blows.

Force him to burn more stamina. Force him to use more power. That was Abel’s strategy.

The only way to narrow the gap between someone who could use abilities and someone who couldn’t.

Crack!

“Kgh!”

But Abel’s body was rapidly accumulating damage in return.

‘Almost there. This guy’s reaching his limit. His breathing’s rough, and his enhanced strength is half what it was at the start. He’s almost done… but…’

It seemed Abel's body might reach its limit first.

That first blow he took was too much. If not for that, he might’ve lasted longer.

He should’ve trained more. Spilled more sweat, more blood.

Even as defeat loomed, Abel couldn’t help but feel regret—and that regret made it hard to accept the outcome.

Fwoooosh!!

Flames erupted from all directions—but they were different from ordinary fire.

Fire is a phenomenon, not a living thing. It burns if there’s fuel—but once all is turned to ash, it naturally dies out.

That’s why fire-type abilities tend to be massive in scale—they need constant energy and surface area to keep burning.

And yet these flames—these weren’t large. Far from it.

Still, they blazed brilliantly.

Even more bizarre—these flames fluttered like wings.

They weren’t just burning. They took the form of butterflies. Dozens of them, covering the field and flying straight toward them!

“Abel!”

At Seria’s voice, Abel immediately pulled back from Julien to create distance.

He was disappointed he couldn’t end it himself—but he had no delusions of dying with honor or taking down the enemy alone.

The moment Abel retreated, dozens—no, hundreds—of butterflies surged toward Julien.

Naturally, his power-sealing aura was active around him.

Any ability that entered his range would become null and void.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

But what if the number of “nullified” attacks overwhelmed that space entirely?

What if each butterfly wasn’t just flame, but moved like it were alive—circling, probing, searching—and then all at once, dove into the weakest point?

“Gah!”

For the first time, a scream escaped from Julien’s mouth.

At the same time, his ability-nullification was disrupted, and even more butterflies surged toward him.

No matter what technique he used, no matter how powerful it was—it still existed within the bounds of “ability.”

But this… was different.

It didn’t feel like he was fighting against a power used by an ability user—it felt like he was facing a separate existence alongside the ability user.

“This is absurd…!”

He barely managed to regain his composure and restart his ability-nullification,

But from that moment on, Julien’s movements were completely sealed.

Meanwhile, Abel stepped back to catch his breath as Seria came running over to check on him.

“Are you alright?”

“…Those butterflies—was that you, Lady Seria?”

“I’m not really sure… I just kept thinking that I wanted to help you…”

“Incredible.”

No wonder the enemy felt so overwhelmingly strong—it was unreasonable from the start.

But if all of this was just to trigger an awakening event, then it made sense.

In that case, it wasn’t a development that should never happen—it just barely made it past the threshold of believability.

‘So this is what they call an awakening…’

It made sense.

This year’s freshmen, the so-called “Golden Generation,” had a truly insane lineup.

To not just stand out—but to dominate that lineup—you’d need something beyond just awakening your ability.

Still, one question arose:

Why Seria, of all people?

There was Flam. There was Portus. Even Caligo, for that matter.

Seria seemed destined to be just a supporting character. So why was she the one who suddenly awakened?

“Are we seriously still standing around here?! We need to get out, now!”

“Lord Caligo?!”

“While those two were causing all that chaos, I tossed Flam and Portus as far from here as possible. It’s just us now—so hurry!”

Abel instinctively turned around.

The fight wasn’t over.

If they didn’t finish this now, the enemy would return stronger and be a greater threat next time. He could feel it in his gut.

“Abel. Don’t even think about it. Your body’s a wreck, even putting it nicely.”

“…I admit it, Lord Caligo.”

“Then let’s go. There will be another chance. Surviving comes first.”

He was right.

Whatever happens, you have to survive first if you want to achieve anything.

Abel turned without hesitation.

And just then, Julien called out to him in a loud voice.

“Abel Rotensilt! I won’t forget your name!”

“…”

“And the girl beside you—my mistake. I thought you were like the rest of the discarded, useless ones… but to think you had the qualifications to ‘open the door’ and cross through!”

“Open the door”—so that’s what they call an awakening here.

More importantly, now Abel had learned something valuable.

Judging by how unsurprised Julien was, Seria likely wasn’t the only one who had experienced such an awakening.

“I’ll be seeing you again. Wait for it—both of you.”

Abel briefly considered ending it here after all.

But the many approaching presences around them made that impossible.

“Let’s go already!”

With Caligo and Seria supporting him on either side, Abel barely managed to escape from the annex building.

Coincidentally, the professors who had just finished a skirmish up ahead were approaching from the front.

“Your Highness! You even have two students with you—are you alright?!”

“We’re fine. But you must hurry to the annex. The one who appears to be the enemy leader is still in there.”

“Understood!”

At Caligo’s gesture, the professors immediately sprinted off.

The boy standing behind them—Rel—looked back and forth between Abel and Seria.

‘Who’s this guy now? Judging from how he’s with the professors, he must’ve done something impressive…’

Flam and Portus lay sprawled out.

Caligo was scolding everyone.

Rel kept glancing their way, clearly not ready to leave.

And Seria remained next to Abel, helping support him.

One girl. Four guys.

The moment Abel recognizes that fated combination—

‘…Oh, hell no.’

Abel passed out from the sheer shock.

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