Extra To Protagonist

Nathan grinned, raising a dagger toward the crowd. Ethan shrugged, muttering, "Fine, fine," before wandering off.

The students applauded. Nathan's reckless energy always drew eyes, but even Merlin saw the cracks. His friend's control wasn't there yet. Not compared to what Merlin knew true strength looked like.

More duels followed, Adrian versus Dorian, Liliana against a nameless student, but Merlin's thoughts drifted as names were called. His turn hadn't come yet.

Until—

"The final duel of this stage: Merlin Everhart versus Dorian Graves."

The whispers that erupted this time were louder, sharper.

"Everhart?"

"He's fighting?"

"But his strength—"

"Against Dorian?"

Dorian stepped forward, white hair falling over his crimson eyes, daggers gleaming in his hands. His expression was as cold as ever, movements precise. He looked like a man already sharpening a knife against Merlin's throat.

Merlin walked forward calmly, boots striking stone with steady rhythm. His golden eyes never wavered.

The barrier sealed. Silence pressed down.

Dorian didn't wait, he vanished in a blur, daggers flashing, frost trailing his steps. His ice affinity surged, coating the floor in slick sheen, blades darting straight for Merlin's chest.

Merlin's body shifted almost lazily. His hand caught one dagger mid-strike, the other brushing past his ribs. Lightning sparked faintly across his fingers as he twisted, disarming Dorian in one motion.

Gasps rang out.

Dorian snarled, summoning more blades of ice, hurling them in rapid succession. Merlin stepped through them like water flowing through reeds. Each shard shattered against his bare hand, sparks crackling.

The crowd fell silent.

Merlin didn't strike back immediately. He let Dorian move, let him show everything, speed, precision, ferocity. Then, when the boy lunged again, Merlin moved.

A single kick.

It caught Dorian squarely in the chest, sending him sprawling across the arena floor, his daggers scattering.

The barrier flickered, signaling the end.

Merlin stood still, golden eyes calm, chest barely rising with breath.

"Winner: Merlin Everhart," Sophia declared, her voice measured, though her hand trembled faintly on the clipboard.

The silence from the students was deafening.

Merlin turned, walking out of the circle without a word. Whispers broke out instantly, frantic, disbelieving.

"That wasn't… that wasn't three stars."

"No one moves like that."

"He didn't even, he barely tried!"

But above the noise, Merlin felt a gaze cut into him.

Morgana.

She stood near the instructors, her dark eyes sharp, lips curved faintly, not in mockery, not in amusement. In recognition. She saw the truth.

Merlin didn't meet her gaze. He kept walking, each step deliberate.

He'd passed. But he knew this was only the beginning.

—

The air in the underground hall pulsed with mana.

Rows of capsule-like pods lined the walls, their surfaces gleaming with etched runes that glowed faintly blue. Helmets with woven silver circuits rested atop them, their inner crystals humming in rhythm with the room's enchantments. Instructors and assistants moved between them, checking gauges, whispering incantations, adjusting straps.

The atmosphere wasn't quiet. It buzzed, students whispering, some laughing nervously, others shifting their weight as though preparing for an execution. For many, this would be their first real fight that carried weight beyond sparring practice.

Merlin stood a step back from his group, his golden eyes flicking across the pods. His body felt light, not weak anymore, not like in the infirmary, but still not quite whole. The quiet burn of six stars pulsed beneath his skin, caged, veiled. If he let it flare, even for a moment, the entire hall would know.

'Hold it down. Don't give them a reason to look too closely.'

"Teams one through four, prepare," Vivienne's sharp voice cut across the hall. The fire instructor's long blond hair swayed as she strode along the row, her brown eyes glowing faintly with mana sight. "Names have been drawn. You'll fight until incapacitation or until your sigil shatters. You will not hold back. Do you understand?"

The hall answered with a chorus of "Yes, Instructor!"

Merlin's gaze shifted to the sigil etched faintly into his wrist, an instructor's seal tied to the simulation. If it broke inside, he'd be forcibly ejected, counted as "defeated."

"Team Seven." A clipboard flicked in Vivienne's hand. "Merlin Everhart, Elara Vaelith, Nathaniel Varen, Adrian Kain, Liliana Astralis."

Merlin's head tilted slightly. 'Convenient.'

Nathan cracked a grin beside him. His blond hair shimmered under the hall's light, green eyes sparking with the restless energy of a soldier eager to clash. "Heh. Guess we're all in this together."

Adrian, tall, broad-shouldered, axe slung lazily across his back, snorted. "Together or not, don't slow me down. I'm not here to babysit."

Liliana brushed a strand of long brown hair behind her ear, her blue eyes bright but steady. "We'll need coordination. If you charge first, you'll expose us."

"Coordination, sure." Adrian smirked. "As long as the coordination means 'follow me.'"

Nathan rolled his eyes. Elara said nothing, her violet gaze already fixed on Merlin as though silently reminding him not to collapse mid-exam.

Vivienne's voice carried again. "Team Seven, enter."

They moved. One by one they climbed into the pods, lying back against the cold padding. The helmets lowered, silver filaments brushing across their temples, threading faint warmth into their skulls. Merlin exhaled once, steady, before darkness swallowed his vision.

Then—

Light.

The world bloomed around him, fast and seamless, no disorientation. A wide battlefield stretched in every direction, rolling plains dotted with ruined stone structures, broken statues, and jagged outcrops. The sun blazed overhead, the air sharp and cool with wind.

Merlin flexed his fingers. The weight of his blade was there, sheathed against his back. The system whispered faintly at the edge of his vision, simulation tags, status calibrations, but nothing that mattered. It felt real. That was the point.

Nathan whistled low. "Damn. They went all out."

"Don't get distracted," Elara said. Her bow shimmered into being in her hand, string taut with latent mana.

Merlin's gaze swept the horizon. Across the plain, another group materialized, five figures blinking into existence, their uniforms marked with silver bands denoting their team number. He didn't know their names, but it didn't matter.

This was the exam.

Adrian hefted his axe onto his shoulder. "Finally. Let's end this fast."

"Formation," Elara snapped. "Nathan, left flank. Liliana, backline support. Adrian, with me front. Merlin—"

Her voice cut, hesitating for the barest heartbeat.

Merlin's golden eyes met hers. Calm. Waiting.

"…Center," she finished.

He inclined his head once. "Understood."

The enemy team began moving, two shield-bearers raising barriers of mana, a spearwoman flanking left, a mage chanting in the rear, and a swordsman at the point. Well-trained. Disciplined.

The ground trembled faintly under Adrian's steps as he surged forward. "Let's go!"

Nathan broke left, his longsword flashing as his aura ignited faint green. Liliana's hands swept outward, threads of water weaving into protective veils around her allies. Elara's bow thrummed, an arrow of condensed mana forming on the string.

Merlin moved with them, calm, measured strides. His presence was quieter than Adrian's roar, subtler than Nathan's energy, but it pressed out all the same. Not loud. Not boastful. Just there.

The clash erupted like thunder.

Adrian's axe smashed against a raised shield, sparks of mana bursting outward. Nathan's sword rang against the enemy spearman, their blades locking in a flurry of strikes. Arrows of violet light lanced past them, forcing the enemy mage to stagger back mid-chant.

Merlin stopped just short of the center clash. His hand brushed the hilt at his back. He drew, steel whispering free, golden eyes narrowing.

The enemy swordsman came for him, blade wreathed in flame. Fast, skilled, hungry.

Merlin's wrist flicked. One strike.

The clash rang out, clang! The swordsman's blade shattered in two.

Shock flooded the boy's face before a boot drove into his chest, sending him sprawling back into the dirt. The sigil on his wrist flickered.

Merlin exhaled once, lowering his blade.

'Too much. That was too much.'

He stepped back, letting Adrian and Nathan keep the pressure, his golden gaze sweeping for openings. Every instinct screamed to finish it in one breath, to burn through their defenses, to cut down the mage before her chant completed. But he clenched his teeth and forced his steps slower, lighter.

'Hold back. Stay within the lines.'

Elara's arrows pierced the mage's shield, staggering her long enough for Nathan to break through the flank. Liliana's water surged, catching the enemy spearman's foot, dragging him off balance. Adrian laughed, axe slamming down to crack a barrier wide open.

Merlin slid into the gap. A single pommel strike to the shield-bearer's helm, clean, efficient. The boy crumpled, his sigil flashing red before shattering.

Two down. Three left.

The fight was unraveling fast.

The enemy managed to release her wave of fire that roared across the field. Liliana's hands swept up, water exploding outward in a rushing dome. Steam hissed, swallowing sight.

Through the veil, Merlin moved. Quiet as breath. His blade struck once, twice, the flat catching ribs and wrists, not killing blows but enough to force the simulation to mark them as incapacitated. The mage fell.

The last spearman tried to flee, but Adrian's axe swept him from his feet.

Silence.

Then—

[Team Seven: Victory.]

The announcement rang through the simulated sky. The battlefield dissolved, the plains and ruins shattering into light. One by one, the students' bodies dissolved into motes before fading back into the pods.

Merlin's eyes snapped open in the real hall. The pod lid hissed upward. He exhaled, sitting upright, sweat beading faintly at his brow.

Across from him, Nathan whooped, slamming a fist against the pod's rim. "Ha! Easy!"

Adrian smirked, stretching his shoulders. "Not bad. For a warm-up."

Liliana offered a small, tired smile. "We actually worked well together."

Elara stepped out in silence, her gaze cutting to Merlin again. Her eyes lingered, sharp, as though gauging whether he'd slipped, whether his movements had betrayed just how much power he carried.

Merlin met her look evenly. Calm. Controlled.

But from the shadowed corner of the hall, another gaze pressed heavier.

Morgana leaned against the wall, her black robes pooling like spilled ink around her feet. Her silver eyes, colder than moonlight, never left him.

The faint curl of her lips wasn't amusement. It was understanding.

'Six stars,' her mind whispered. 'And he's caging it.'

No one else in the hall knew. Not Nathan, not Elara, not Vivienne pacing with her clipboard. But Morgana did. She could taste it in the air around him, like static before a storm.

Her smirk deepened. "Interesting."

Merlin turned his gaze away.

The exam had only just begun.