Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

"DIE!"

While a surge of flames shot out from Evangeline, a shadowy wall met them before it could reach Adrian.

The darkness surged up from below, a living void reaching for Adrian with desperate intensity. For a moment, salvation seemed certain—

Until Kalin's laugh shattered the air.

"Dare to control darkness in my presence?" The words dripped with contempt. Evangeline's lips curved into an unnatural smile as shadows erupted from every direction, weaving themselves into chains that wrapped around Adrian's limbs with bruising force.

A silent battle commenced.

The darkness below pulled Adrian downward, trying to draw him into its protective embrace. Kalin's darkness chains yanked upward and outward, each tendril fighting for dominance. Adrian's body became the centerpiece of their violent tug-of-war, his muscles straining against forces that threatened to tear him apart.

A choked gasp escaped his lips as the pressure intensified. His joints screamed in protest, each pull threatening to dislocate his shoulders, his hips, everything—

The darkness below hesitated.

In that fraction of a second, Adrian felt its intent—its reluctance to cause him further pain. The void's grip loosened, not in submission, but in protection. As it released him, it lashed out at Kalin's chains, severing the shadowy bonds in a single, explosive moment.

The backlash sent Adrian hurtling through the air like a released arrow, his body spinning away from the ritual area at breathtaking speed. Wind whipped past his face as he sailed over broken ground and scattered debris, the distance between him and the Kalin growing with each heartbeat.

Years of training took over.

Adrian twisted in mid-flight, adjusting his position with practiced precision. His feet touched down more than a hundred meters away, boots skidding across stone as he fought to kill his momentum. Small rocks scattered from his landing, the impact sending shockwaves up his legs.

But before he could even straighten fully—

"Impressive recovery."

The voice came from behind him, soft and amused. Kalin had already closed the distance, Evangeline's possessed form standing mere a few meters away. The black eyes fixed on Adrian with predatory focus, drinking in his every movement.

The shadows around them writhed and surged, rising like walls between predator and prey. They were trying to shield Adrian, to buy him precious seconds. But Kalin's laugh only grew darker as the barriers rose.

"Damn it—" Adrian cursed, his body dissolving as Kalin's strike shattered the ground where he'd stood moments before. Phantom Step carried him through space, reforming several meters away just as fragments of stone pelted the air around him.

A wave of darkness rushed toward him like a tide of knives, each shadow-blade promising death. The shadows around Adrian twisted upward, meeting the assault while he danced backward, each step precise despite his racing heart. Shadow Glide let him slip between attacks with fluid grace, while more barriers of darkness rose to protect him.

Another strike—this one closer, forcing him to bend backwards at an impossible angle as dark-flamed energy crackled overhead. The heat from it singed his hair, left the taste of ozone on his tongue.

"Running like a rat?" Kalin sneered, Evangeline's features twisting unnaturally as darkness leaked from her eyes like tears. "This body... why does it resist so much?" Frustration colored the words as another attack went wide, Evangeline's arms moving just a fraction slower than Kalin intended. Enjoy new stories from empire

Adrian didn't waste breath responding.

His form flickered again—Phantom Step carrying him across the domain in erratic patterns. Left, right, forward, back—never staying still long enough to present a clear target. Each time Kalin's attacks came closer, shadows would surge up to deflect them, buying precious seconds.

Just a little longer...

But even Adrian could see the pattern changing. Kalin's movements were becoming smoother, more certain. Evangeline's power responding more readily to the entity's will. The attacks, though not yet at full strength, were growing more precise. Where before there had been hesitation in the possessed body's movements, now there was only deadly grace.

'He's adapting too quickly.'

A blast caught him mid-Step, reality bending around him as the attack disrupted his technique. Adrian tumbled through space, barely managing to turn the fall into a roll. He came up running, heart thundering in his chest, but Kalin was already there. A wall of pure force slammed into him, driving the air from his lungs.

He crashed through one barrier of protective shadows, then another, stone cracking beneath his impact.

Pain exploded across his back.

His vision swam, dark spots dancing at the edges. The shadows tried to cushion his fall, weaving themselves into a net to catch him, but Kalin was ready. Darkness wrapped around Adrian's limbs like steel cables, pinning him against the broken stone. Each tendril burned where it touched him, as if Kalin's hatred had given the shadows physical heat.

Evangeline's possessed form loomed over him, both eyes blazing with void-black triumph. The darkness around them writhed with malevolent glee, reflecting its master's satisfaction.

"Caught you," Kalin purred, raising a hand crackling with lethal power. Small arcs of dark energy danced between her fingers, each one promising a different kind of death. "Your little tricks end here."

Adrian's lips curved into a smile, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. His eyes, despite the pain, held nothing but confidence. "Oh, did you?"

Kalin's eyes narrowed—

The air itself rippled, and suddenly a foot materialized from nowhere, connecting with Evangeline's chest with devastating force. The possessed body went flying as Ceil's invisibility dropped, her form flickering into view mid-kick. She landed in a crouch, a cold expression playing across her features.

"Sorry we're late," she called to Adrian, her expression a bit worried.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"D-don't worry," Adrian replied with a weak smile.

The air itself seemed to tear open above them.

"Do it!"

Elara's voice rose in a battle cry as lightning crashed down from above, not the pale imitation of natural lightning but true power that turned night to day. The bolt was impossibly wide, impossibly bright, carrying enough force to vaporize everything.

Winds howled like a thousand storms compressed into a single point, creating a vortex that caught the lightning and amplified it, spinning it into a deadly spiral. The very air began to keen, a sound like the world being torn apart.

Cedric's powerful light spell joined the fray, purifying the darkness around Evangeline in a few seconds.

Flames roared to life next, turning the very air incandescent. Not the orange-red of normal fire, but blue-white plasma that seemed to devour reality itself. The heat was so intense that nearby stone began to melt, running like wax.

And behind it, all came the crystalline sound of ice forming at impossible speeds—layers of freezing power that would trap anything they touched in a prison of absolute zero.

The combined assault struck Kalin's position like the fist of an angry monarch. Stone didn't just break—it vaporized. Air didn't just move—it ignited. For a single, glorious moment, the night turned to day from the sheer power of their combined attack. The explosion that followed sent shockwaves rippling outward, strong enough to knock an ordinary person off their feet.

Through the chaos, Adrian could hear Kalin's scream of rage—not pain, not yet. But definitely rage. The sound held such fury that even the air seemed to tremble.

'Perfect.'

He struggled to his feet, the shadow bindings having dissolved in the wake of the assault. His body ached, but his eyes were sharp as they fixed on the point of impact. He knew better than to think this was over.

'Just a bit more...'