Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 45

The assessments continued through the morning with each pair fighting while Reylan observed and identified specific areas needing improvement. When William’s turn came, he was paired against Marcus Reid, the third-ranked Arcturus student.

Marcus was a fourth-year with earth and lightning affinities, built solid and compact. He fought with a defensive style that used earth reinforcement to absorb attacks while looking for openings to counter with lightning-enhanced strikes.

"Begin."

William drew his sword and immediately channeled fire essence into the blade, flames flickering along the edge as he closed the distance. He opened with a horizontal slash aimed at Marcus’s midsection, testing his defense.

Marcus brought his sword up and blocked, his blade was reinforced with earth essence that created a visible layer of stone-like hardness across the metal. The impact sent sparks flying but Marcus’s defense held firm, absorbing the fire-enhanced strike without taking damage.

William followed with a downward strike toward Marcus’s shoulder. Marcus shifted his sword to intercept, the earth reinforcement again stopping the attack instantly. William could feel the solidity of the defense, it was like striking a stone wall rather than another sword.

He stepped back and circled, looking for openings in Marcus’s guard. Marcus maintained his defensive stance, patient and unmoving, waiting for William to commit to an attack he could counter.

"Cross, your fire enhancement is inconsistent," Reylan called out. "You’re fluctuating between fifty and seventy percent output. Stabilize it or you’re wasting essence."

William focused on his essence flow, smoothing out the fluctuations in his fire enhancement. The flames along his blade steadied, maintaining consistent intensity rather than spiking and fading with each strike.

Marcus saw the momentary distraction and moved. Lightning essence crackled across his sword as he thrust forward toward William’s chest, the strike coming faster than his previous defensive blocks suggested he could move.

William brought his sword down to deflect the thrust, but the lightning-enhanced strike hit with shocking force. The impact jarred his arms and sent an electric shock through the metal into his hands, making his fingers go numb for a brief second.

He barely maintained his grip, stepping back to create distance while his hands recovered from the numbness he was feeling. Marcus pressed forward with another lightning strike, this time it was a diagonal slash from high to low.

William sidestepped and let the strike pass, then countered with a fire-enhanced thrust toward Marcus’s exposed side. Marcus twisted and brought his earth-reinforced blade across to block, the stone-hard defense again absorbing the attack without difficulty.

William attacked again, this time with a series of rapid strikes—high, low, middle—trying to overwhelm Marcus’s defense through volume. Each strike met the earth-reinforced sword, and each impact confirmed that breaking through by force alone wasn’t going to work. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Marcus blocked the final strike and immediately countered, his sword sweeping toward William’s legs with lightning crackling along the blade. William jumped back, avoiding the sweep, then had to block as Marcus followed with an overhead strike.

The lightning-enhanced blow hit William’s blade and sent another shock through his hands, stronger this time. His fingers spasmed briefly and his grip loosened for just a moment before he forced his hands to tighten again.

Marcus didn’t give him time to recover. Another thrust came toward William’s midsection, lightning essence making the strike blindingly fast. William deflected it to the side with the flat of his blade, but the shock from contact made his left hand go completely numb.

He switched to a one-handed grip with his right hand and created distance, shaking his left hand to restore feeling. Marcus pursued with deliberate pressure, his earth defense still active as he launched another lightning strike toward William’s shoulder.

William blocked with his sword angled to deflect rather than meet the strike head-on, trying to minimize the shock transfer. It worked partially—the deflection sent Marcus’s blade past his shoulder, but the residual lightning essence still made his right arm tingle uncomfortably.

Feeling returned to his left hand and William resumed a two-handed grip. He attacked again with renewed focus, using fire enhancement in sustained pressure rather than powerful single strikes. His blade came in from multiple angles, a thrust toward the chest then a slash toward the side followed by a sweep toward the legs, maintaining constant offensive momentum.

Marcus defended each strike with his earth-reinforced blade, but the sustained assault forced him to commit more essence to maintaining the defense. The stone-like hardness across his sword began showing hairline cracks as William’s fire enhancement wore against it repeatedly.

Marcus saw his defense degrading and shifted tactics. He stopped trying to block every strike and instead started dodging, using his solid build to make quick lateral movements that took him out of William’s attack paths.

William pursued, keeping pressure on Marcus while looking for an opening to land a decisive strike. He feinted toward Marcus’s right side, then redirected mid-swing toward the left when Marcus moved to block.

The redirect worked partially—his fire-enhanced blade got past Marcus’s guard and came within inches of his ribs before Marcus threw himself backward, the strike missing by a narrow margin.

Marcus landed and immediately channeled lightning essence into his sword, the crackling energy intensifying as he prepared a powerful counter. William saw it coming and reinforced his guard with both fire enhancement and his base essence strengthening.

Marcus’s lightning strike came down like a hammer. William caught it on his blade with both hands gripping tight, but the impact drove him back three steps and sent a massive shock through the metal. His entire arms went numb from shoulder to fingertips, and his sword nearly fell from his grasp.

He stumbled backward, shaking his arms desperately to restore function while Marcus prepared another lightning strike. William’s fingers barely responded, his grip weak and unreliable.

Marcus thrust forward with lightning crackling along his blade. William managed to bring his sword up with numb hands, deflecting the thrust just enough that it passed by his side instead of hitting his chest.

"Enough," Reylan called.

Both students lowered their weapons. William’s hands were still tingling from the repeated lightning shocks, while Marcus was breathing harder from the sustained essence expenditure on his earth defense.

"Cross, your fire enhancement is inconsistent," Reylan repeated. "You’re fluctuating between fifty and seventy percent output. Stabilize it or you’re wasting essence. Reid, your lightning techniques are powerful but telegraphed. Work on reducing the charge time. Next pair."

’Just repeating the same thing I see’

William descended from the platform and grabbed water, his arms still tingling slightly from blocking that lightning strike.

’This is going to be tough’ William thought as she sat down to watch the other ongoing assessments.

----

The assessment continued with the remaining students, each match revealing specific weaknesses that Reylan documented with clinical precision.

By afternoon, all ten students had been evaluated. Reylan gathered them in the central building’s main training hall, a large open space with cushioned floors and various equipment along the walls.

"The individual assessments are complete," Reylan announced. "Now we will test your ability to function as a coordinated unit. You’ll be divided into two teams of five for tactical combat exercises."

He split them into groups—Team One was Liam, William, Lyanna, Marcus, and Kira. Team Two was Seraphina, Claire, Adrian, Patricia, and Devon.

"The exercise is straightforward," Reylan explained. "Each team will defend a designated zone while attempting to breach the opposing team’s zone. The first team to secure both zones wins. You have five minutes to discuss strategy, then we begin."

Team One gathered in a corner to plan. Liam naturally took the leadership role, his tactical mind immediately identifying the key considerations.

"We need to account for Seraphina’s aggressive pressure and Claire’s versatile techniques," Liam said. "William and I will handle primary combat engagement. Lyanna provides ranged support and control. Marcus holds our defensive zone with earth techniques. Kira, you’re fast—use that for zone disruption on their side."

Kira Stone was a wind and water specialist from Valoris, small and quick with excellent mobility. She nodded at the assignment without complaint.

"Their team has stronger individual fighters," Lyanna observed. "But our coordination should be better if we execute properly."

"Exactly," Liam agreed. "We don’t try to match their power. We outmaneuver them and force mistakes."

The five minutes ended and both teams took their starting positions at opposite ends of the training hall. Each team’s zone was marked by glowing boundary lines on the floor. The objective was to have a team member reach the center of the opposing zone and hold it for ten seconds while maintaining control of your own zone.

"Begin."

Seraphina moved immediately, her sword already enhanced as she charged directly toward Team One’s zone. Adrian and Devon split to her flanks, providing support as the three-person assault bore down on the defensive position.

Liam stepped forward to meet her, his blade coming up to intercept Seraphina’s opening strike. The impact sent a visible shockwave across the training hall, essence crackling where their weapons met. William moved to Liam’s right, his fire-enhanced sword blocking Seraphina’s follow-up strike that came in fast from a different angle.

Seraphina’s blade swept toward Liam’s midsection. He parried it aside and countered with a thrust toward her shoulder. She twisted away from the thrust and immediately attacked William, her sword coming down in a vertical slash aimed at his head.

William blocked overhead, the force of her strike driving him back a step. Before he could counter, she’d already disengaged and was attacking Liam again, her movements flowing seamlessly between targets without pause.

Behind the main engagement, Marcus slammed his hands on the ground. Earth essence rippled outward from his position, and thick stone barriers erupted around Team One’s zone. The barriers rose to waist height, creating obstacles that would slow anyone trying to breach their defensive area.

Lyanna positioned herself behind the barriers and extended her hands. Magical constructs materialized in the air—glowing spheres of condensed essence that shot forward toward Team Two’s advancing formation. The constructs weren’t powerful enough to cause serious damage, but they forced Adrian and Devon to dodge and disrupt their support patterns.

On Team Two’s side, Claire and Patricia held their zone. Patricia created a thin layer of water across the ground around their boundary, making the surface slick and difficult to traverse quickly. Claire stood ready with her sword drawn, eyes scanning for infiltration attempts.

Kira saw the main engagement was locked in stalemate and made her move. She enhanced her speed with wind essence and slipped to the left, using the chaos of the central fight as cover. Her small frame and quick movements made her difficult to track as she circled wide around the engagement.

Patricia noticed the movement. "Infiltrator left side!"

She sent a stream of water toward Kira, the liquid whipping through the air like a striking snake. Kira dodged right, her wind enhancement letting her change direction mid-stride, but the water redirected and caught her legs, the impact knocking her off balance.

Claire closed in immediately, her sword sweeping toward Kira’s midsection. Kira rolled backward, avoiding the strike, then had to block as Claire followed with a downward slash. The impact jarred Kira’s lighter frame, forcing her to give ground and abandon her infiltration attempt for now.