Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 38

The weekend before the inter-house competition was supposed to be for rest and recovery, but William spent most of it trying to figure out how to manage the upcoming week without triggering another curse.

On Saturday morning he received a message from Adrian calling a meeting for all five Ascendant representatives. William showed up at the house common room and found the others already there—Adrian, Patricia, Mira, and Devon Thorne.

"We’ve got only a week to prepare," Adrian said once everyone had settled. "The inter-house competition format was just posted. And it’s way different from the preliminaries."

He pulled out a sheet with the official structure and spread it across the table.

"The competition lasts only for three days. Day one is for team battles, each house fields their top five in coordinated group fights. Day two is individual brackets, a standard elimination format. Day three is specialty challenges that test specific skills like essence control under pressure, tactical problem-solving, that sort of thing."

"How do they select the final ten?" Patricia asked.

"They take in the combined performance across all three days. Top two from each house are guaranteed spots, then the remaining two slots go to the highest-ranked students regardless of house affiliation." Adrian looked at each of them. "Which means we need to perform well as a team on day one, but days two and three are individual competitions where we’re competing against each other as much as the other houses."

Devon leaned back in his chair. "So we cooperate for one day, then it’s every person for themselves."

"Essentially, yes." Adrian didn’t seem bothered by this. "But doing well on day one establishes momentum and gives our house credibility. I don’t want Ascendant being seen as the weakest link again."

They spent the next hour discussing strategy for the team battles. Adrian wanted to establish roles that would work well during the competition—he’d take point as the primary striker, Patricia would handle defense and support with her water techniques, Devon would focus on disruption with his earth manipulation, and William and Mira would adapt based on opponent composition.

"William, your fire affinity gives us some offensive options that complement my lightning techniques," Adrian explained. "Mira, your shadow manipulation is perfect for creating openings the rest of us can exploit. We need to use those advantages."

The meeting concluded with plans to run practice drills Sunday afternoon. William left feeling more prepared for the team battle portion but still concerned about the individual days where he’d be in constant proximity to the curse targets.

He spent the rest of Saturday training alone, working on his fire control and trying to push his wind affinity closer to the fifty percent threshold. The gate was sitting at forty-nine percent according to his last check, which meant it was frustratingly close to opening but not quite there yet.

Sunday afternoon arrived and the Ascendant team gathered at training ground seven for practice drills. Adrian had set up scenarios that simulated coordinated group combat, forcing them to work together rather than fighting as individuals.

The first few attempts were messy. William was used to fighting alone or in simple pairs, not as part of a five-person unit with specific roles and coordination requirements. Patricia kept calling out positioning suggestions that conflicted with Devon’s earth techniques, and Mira’s shadow constructs occasionally interfered with Adrian’s lightning arcs.

"Stop," Adrian called helplessly after the third failed attempt. "We’re fighting like five separate people, not a team. William, when I set up a lightning barrier on the left, you need to pressure from the right with fire. That forces opponents into the middle where Devon can lock them down with earth techniques."

They tried again, and this time the coordination improved. William timed his fire attacks to complement Adrian’s positioning, creating pincer movements that were harder to defend against. Mira used shadows to obscure opponent sight lines, giving the team opportunities to strike from unexpected angles.

By the end of the session, they’d developed a basic rhythm that showed promise. It wasn’t flawless, but it was functional enough to give them a chance against the other house teams.

"Better," Adrian said while they were cooling down. "We’ll run one more practice session tomorrow evening, then that’s it. We don’t want to overtrain before the competition starts."

William headed back to his room feeling cautiously optimistic about the team battle portion. The individual days would still be complicated, but at least day one had a clear structure and plan.

Monday morning arrived with clear skies and the kind of crisp air that made William actually want to be outside for once. The inter-house competition would begin Tuesday, which meant today was the last day of relative calm before everything got chaotic.

He attended his regular classes and tried to maintain normal routines. Combat training with Valdris was lighter than usual, the instructor apparently recognizing that students competing tomorrow needed rest more than intense drills.

"Don’t overthink it," Valdris said during a break. "You’ve trained hard, your skills have improved significantly. Just execute what you know and adapt when things don’t go according to plan."

Magical Theory with Professor Ashcroft covered essence interaction principles that would be relevant for the team battles. William took notes while occasionally noticing Lyanna a few rows ahead. She hadn’t approached him since the written exam, and William was content to leave things that way for now.

After classes ended, William met with the Ascendant team for their final practice session. The coordination had improved noticeably from Sunday, and Adrian seemed satisfied with their performance level.

"That’s good enough," he said after they’d run through several scenarios successfully. "Rest tonight, eat well, be ready tomorrow morning. Team battles start at ten."

William headed to dinner and deliberately chose a quiet corner of the dining hall away from the main crowds. He was halfway through his meal when someone sat down across from him.

Liam.

"Mind if I join you?" Liam asked, though he’d already taken a seat.

"Go ahead."

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Liam spoke. "Are you u ready for tomorrow?"

"As ready as I can be."

"Your team looked good during the practice yesterday," Liam observed. "I was watching from the Luminara section. Adrian’s got you coordinating well."

"You were watching our practice?" William asked.

"Everyone was watching everyone’s practice," Liam said with a slight smile. "It’s a competition. People scout their opponents."

"Fair enough."

"Luminara’s team is strong," Liam continued. "Probably the strongest overall based on individual skill levels. But Ascendant has better coordination than I expected. That matters more than people think in team battles."

William appreciated the honest assessment. "What about Arcturus?"

"Aggressive and well-trained. Seraphina’s leading their team, and she’s good at keeping everyone focused on overwhelming opponents through pure combat pressure." Liam paused, then added carefully, "She seems to be avoiding you, by the way. I thought you should know."

"I noticed."

"Whatever happened at the Vale really shook her," Liam said. "I tried talking to her about it, but she just said she made a mistake and needs to focus on the competition."

William didn’t know how to respond to that without revealing too much information, so he just nodded and kept eating.

"Anyway," Liam continued, "I wanted to wish you luck. We’ll probably end up fighting at some point during the individual brackets, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much you’ve improved."

"Same."

They finished eating and parted ways. William headed back to his dormitory and found Kai packing a bag.

"Going somewhere?" William asked.

"Library retreat," Kai said. "Some of us prefer to spend competition week reading rather than getting hit repeatedly. I’ll be back Thursday after everything’s done."

"Must be nice."

"It is," Kai agreed while shouldering his bag. "Try not to die or whatever happens during these things. I’d hate to come back to a new roommate."

He left, and William found himself alone in the room with nothing to do except think about tomorrow. He pulled up the system interface to check curse percentages one more time before the competition began.

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[CATASTROPHIC ALLURE - STATUS CHECK]

Seraphina Ashenheart: 47%

Claire Hivolt: 46%

Lyanna Stormweaver: 29%

Mira Ashford: 16%

Sara Whitlock: 9%

Elena Marsh: 6%

Inter-House Competition begins in 14 hours. High-stress environment will accelerate percentage growth for all targets. Recommend maintaining emotional distance and minimizing extended interactions.

Warning: Multiple targets will be in close proximity simultaneously. Risk of activation increases significantly during group scenarios.

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William dismissed the interface and lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Two targets were sitting just below the activation threshold, one was climbing steadily, and three others were low but could spike quickly under the right conditions.

And he was about to spend three days competing in close quarters with all of them.

This was either going to be fine or it was going to be a complete disaster. William suspected it would be somewhere uncomfortably in between.

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Sorry for the long wait guys :(

My lectures took almost half of my day:(

The surprises are going to be at the weekend! Please support!