The Extra's Rise

Jack moved like a solitary inferno. A six-star thunder drake pinned a group of Starcrest novices, threatening to devour them. Jack strolled in, eyes half-lidded. The novices shouted for help, but he paid them no mind. He unleashed Nirvana Flames in a single wave that seared the drake's scaly hide to ash. It collapsed, leaving behind a shimmering token. The novices gawked. Jack merely plucked the token from the beast's remains, offered no words of comfort, and continued forward. The watchers gasped at the near-lack of empathy. He was unstoppable, caring only for first place.

Seol-ah discovered a hidden chamber brimming with captive serpents—five-star beasts coiled in a pit of swirling mud. She frowned, sliding her sword halfway out of its sheath. The serpents hissed in unison, spitting globs of caustic poison at her. She parted them with a single motion, conjuring a swirl of wind-laced water to wash the poison aside.

Then she invoked Blossom in Storm, arcs of lightning dancing along her blade, striking multiple serpents at once. Her synergy overshadowed them easily. She snatched the tokens from their sputtering forms, all in near silence, then advanced to the next corridor. Observers outside admired her methodical approach and unstoppable calm.

Ava faced a pair of twin sabertooth cats near an upper stairwell. She ducked a slash that might have disemboweled lesser fighters, responding with a gravity-laced elbow that caved in the first cat's shoulder. The second cat leaped from behind, but she pivoted, igniting a circle of flame around her fists.

The cat yelped as its fur caught fire. Then Ava followed with earthen fists, unstoppable in their directness, hammering it into submission. She retrieved the tokens, exhaling. She realized she was overshadowed in pure speed by Seol-ah or in raw destructive power by Jack, but she refused to let that slow her. She would keep punching her way upward.a

Seraphina found an entire nest of six-star frost dragons ironically perched in a sub-chamber layered with ice spikes. A synergy of wind, water, and her Jade Body meant she could combat them on near-equal terms. They roared, unleashing shards of ice breath, but she responded with her second movement, Fan of the Scattering Pearls, forming swirling pearls of half-frozen mist that battered the dragons out of the sky.

Her expression was pained, though. She wasn't unstoppable in the same sense as Jack or Seol-ah, but her White-rank power soared with each precise usage of her Grade 6 art. When she froze the last frost dragon, it tumbled to the ground, and she grabbed the token amid crackling shards. She pressed on, a swirl of violet frost trailing from her ankles.

Jack soon reached near the top, the second-to-last floor. A seven-headed hydra—obviously a six-star monstrous creation—guarded the stairway. The watchers collectively held their breath. He simply advanced, letting his Nirvana Flames burn bright. Each head spat acid or lightning or raw mana blasts, but he shredded them with swirling azure flame.

One by one, the heads fell. He marched on, unstoppable, not even glancing at the lesser challengers cowering behind pillars. They were overshadowed by his Integration aura, choking on the thick heat of his Gift.

Seol-ah arrived next. She found the hydra's battered remains still faintly twitching, lacking some tokens because Jack had presumably taken them. She frowned but pressed on. She discovered a hidden side door, slicing through a cluster of giant hawks that nested there. Their feathers crackled with electric arcs, a savage six-star breed, but her synergy overcame them. She claimed more tokens from the nest, each shimmering with primal mana.

Seraphina, panting from repeated fights, had to freeze a raging six-star minotaur that clutched a massive iron axe. She nearly took a blow that might have gutted her, but her Jade Body synergy manifested in a swirling shield of ice, letting her redirect the blow. Then she struck with Violet Sunset Genesis, conjuring mist that seeped into the minotaur's lungs, crystallizing it from within. It roared, collapsed, and dissolved. She felt near her limit but continued, eyes burning with quiet determination. She refused to let fatigue overshadow her.

Ava arrived behind them, battered but not broken. She forcefully suplexed a six-star thunder boar that tried to gore her, using gravity pulses to hold it in place, then hammered it with earthen fists. Blood trickled from a shallow cut in her side. She hissed, but unstoppable stubbornness drove her onward. Observers outside cheered. Even if she might end up overshadowed by the higher-tier synergy of others, her fists refused to quit.

Finally, each found themselves climbing to the top floor, or so they believed. The watchers outside saw four scry images converge on a giant, circular chamber open to the sky. A swirling miasma poured from runic circles in the floor, containing a caged six-star beast known as the Shadow Chimera, rumored to combine multiple elemental traits. In the center of that chamber, it roared at the approach of each unstoppable contender.

Jack arrived first. He didn't wait for others. He flung out Nirvana Flames in a blazing arc, scorching half the chimera's flank. The watchers gasped, certain it overshadowed typical six-star beasts. The chimera hissed, lashing out with a tail shaped like a serpent's head spitting acid. Jack side-stepped, letting a small wave of flame incinerate the acid spray mid-air.

Seol-ah arrived mid-fight. She saw an opening while Jack hammered the chimera from one side. She lunged in from behind, swirling her sword with wind-laced lightning. The watchers outside recognized the third Petal, Divine Gale, conjuring a vortex that slashed the chimera's hind legs. It shrieked, stumbling. She advanced, unyielding.

Seraphina emerged next. Her eyes widened at the half-collapsed chimera raging in the center. She summoned her swirling pearls of frost, unleashing them in a wide arc that battered the beast's front legs, already wounded by Jack's flame. Ava arrived last, fists crackling with flame or earth pulses. She hammered the chimera's midsection in a savage flurry. The watchers roared at the chaotic synergy, or lack thereof, as each tried to deal the finishing blow and grab the final tokens. Some minor challengers skulked near the edges, overshadowed by the swirling elemental chaos.

The chimera bellowed, thrashing in defiance. It spat lightning from a serpentine tail, breathed scorching wind from a lion's maw, slammed the ground with heavy paws. The tower's wards flickered from the havoc. Each unstoppable fighter took hits, battered or singed, but none buckled. Jack unleashed a final wave of Nirvana Flames, charring a flank. Seol-ah parted the blazing hide with a slicing wind-laced sword slash. Seraphina hammered its flank with a winter gale, freezing a layer of flesh. Ava pounded the head from below with earthen fists that cracked bone.

The watchers outside exploded in cheers. The shadow chimera roared its final protest, collapsing in a swirling pool of black ichor. A massive token, glowing with primal energy, emerged from its remains. All four lunged for it. In that swirl, Jack's flame overshadowed them, forcing them back slightly. He snatched the main token, letting smaller splinters scatter. Seol-ah claimed a chunk, Seraphina a chunk, Ava a chunk. The unstoppable tension soared. But time was up. The wards crackled, signifying the challenge's close. All participants found themselves forcibly teleported to the tower's base.

A hush. The watchers outside craned their necks, scanning for who might appear battered or triumphant. Sixty challengers reappeared in bursts of colored mana, most groaning or panting on the courtyard's cracked tiles. Then, after a moment, the scoreboard soared above them, listing final results in shimmering text.

1. Jack Blazespout.

2. Seol-ah Moyong.

3. Seraphina Zenith.

4. Ava Peng.

The watchers roared. Applause crashed like thunder. Each name glowed for an instant, overshadowing the rest.