I AM EXTRA IN A SHONEN MANGA

The sun had long since clawed its way into the heavens. What began as a morning siege had stretched into afternoon, the golden light cutting sharp angles across broken docks and reefs torn apart by fury. Pearlbay was half-submerged now, its once-proud barricades reduced to driftwood and skeletons of timber that jutted out of the flood like bones.

And still, Thal'ryx roared.

Its cry was not of triumph anymore. It was not the victorious howl of a sea tyrant that had crushed armies and swallowed fleets. No what echoed across Pearlbay now was something primal, raw, and unyielding: a challenge. A refusal to die quietly.

The sea bent beneath that roar. Crimson-tinged waves lashed outward like living whips, tearing stone from seawalls and capsizing wrecked fishing boats. One sweep of the leviathan's tail shattered what remained of the southern pier; debris exploded outward, chunks of timber hurled into the air like flaming meteors.

Against that tide of fury, six figures still stood. Battered. Bloodied. Breathless. But unbroken.

Six against a legend.

Rael spat blood into the brine at his feet, his emerald blade humming with condensed Shinrei. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths, but his eyes burned with a fire that refused to be extinguished.

(Damn it… even after all this punishment, it's not slowing down. Just how much power does this monster still have?!)

Beside him, Ceyla's arms crackled with lightning, sparks racing feral across her skin. She tilted her head toward him, eyes wild.

"Stop thinking and keep swinging!" she shouted, her voice ragged but fierce. "We're not letting some overgrown fish-lizard write our graves!"

Juno staggered forward, veins bulging as he forced open another Taishin Gate. His roar tore through the storm, shaking the air itself.

"Let's go!!!"

Scarlet Shinrei exploded outward, engulfing his frame. His body shook under the strain, bones threatening to snap, but his fists still moved like battering rams, splitting air and water alike.

Kaen answered in kind. His flames surged, Echo Art swelling brighter and hotter until the air warped around him. His voice thundered across the bay.

"I'll burn a hole through its hide! ECHO ART: DRAGON FLARE BURST!"

A firestorm roared into existence, slamming into Thal'ryx's flank. The leviathan howled, the sound rattling every window left in Pearlbay and sending Guardians staggering to their knees.

Captain Roan stood at the frontlines, his shield split in two, his sword chipped nearly to the hilt. His armor was painted in blood, his own and others'. Still, he bellowed across the chaos.

"Guardians! Don't falter! Buy them space! Every heartbeat counts!"

The Pearl Guardians answered, spears flashing as they held back the tide beasts swarming the outskirts. For every man that fell, another stepped forward. They did not yield, not while the six still fought.

And through it all, Khael stood still.

His dragon-sense burned, a thunder in his marrow. Every pulse of the leviathan's body echoed inside his skull, every ripple in the tide sang to him like a drumbeat. His eyes narrowed not at the beast's size, nor its devastation, but at the rhythm buried beneath its frenzy.

(Its strength is waning. Each movement costs it more. Every roar bleeds power instead of giving it. This is it. This is the breaking point.)

His voice rose not loud, but absolute, like steel sinking into stone.

"All of you. With me."

The others turned. Bruised, bloody, half-broken. And yet, they listened. There was no command in his tone. Only inevitability.

Thal'ryx surged again, its maw splitting open into a vortex of water and blood. The sea rose behind it, towering into a tidal executioner's blade, ready to erase everything that still stood.

Rael's blade flared brighter, Shinrei screaming in his hands as he steadied his stance.

Ceyla's lightning twisted into a spear, her grin feral despite the exhaustion carved across her face.

Juno bellowed, fists cracking the very air.

Kaen's flames roared higher, forming a blazing dragon that mirrored the spirit of the knight beside him.

And then Khael stepped forward. His aura unfurled like wings of ancient light. Behind him, a shadow vast and endless stirred, the dragon within, finally awake.

His voice rolled across the bay, a vow that chained heaven to sea.

"Thal'ryx!"

The leviathan froze, the sound striking its ancient instincts like a rival's call.

"This is where your story ends."

The beast roared in answer, a sound that drowned the coast in thunder.

Both sides surged.

Light met tide.

Steel met scale.

Hope met legend.

The afternoon sun dipped lower, bleeding copper across the horizon. Half the harbor was already swallowed by the tide. Thal'ryx loomed above it all, obsidian scales jagged like volcanic glass, steam hissing from its gills like hell's vents.

It did not merely move, it convulsed with tidal fury. Every lash of its tail reduced stone to rubble, every strike of its claws shredded timber like paper.

And yet, six figures still stood.

Rael led the charge. His emerald blade streaked forward, cleaving water as he dove low. Thal'ryx snapped to intercept, teeth flashing like a fortress of spears—but lightning split the sky first.

Ceyla vaulted overhead, hurling a spear of current. It detonated against the beast's eye ridge, searing flesh, forcing its head to recoil just far enough.

Rael's strike landed. His sword plunged deep into the thinner plating beneath the beast's jaw. Blood geysered upward, hot and briny.

(Finally! The scales are weaker here. Don't stop! Don't stop now!)

But the retaliation was instant. Thal'ryx's throat convulsed, spewing a geyser of brine that struck like a cannon. Rael was hurled back, body tumbling across broken planks, blood flying from his mouth.

"Rael!" Ceyla screamed.

Before the torrent could crush him, Juno was there. His fists, wrapped in scarlet Shinrei, hammered into the wall of water. The surge split apart under his strikes, exploding into steam.

His roar shook the harbor.

"You're not drowning him while I still breathe!"

He vaulted straight into the beast's face, fists colliding with a scale. The impact cracked the air like cannonfire. The scale fractured, fragments shattering outward—but the backlash sent pain ripping through his arm. His veins bulged, trembling with strain.

Thal'ryx reeled back, abyssal breath glowing in its throat.

Kaen moved before it could fire. Flames wrapped him, brighter than the sun.

"ECHO ART:DRAGON FLARE BURST!"

A column of inferno roared into the abyssal charge. Fire met void. The collision detonated into a storm of steam that scalded the bay. Kaen staggered back, cloak in tatters, his lungs burning raw.

(Damn it… even that wasn't enough to pierce it. I'm only delaying it…)

"Hold the line! Don't falter!" Captain Roan's voice boomed from the seawall, though his body was failing. The Guardians' shields were broken, spears splintered, but their eyes widened not with despair, but awe.

"They're… fighting it evenly," one whispered, trembling. "By the stars, they're actually holding it back."

And then Khael moved.

His aura surged, ancient and radiant, shaking the ground beneath his steps.

Thal'ryx sensed it instantly. Its gills flared, chest rumbling with a guttural hiss. It lunged, maw opening wide to devour him whole.

Khael did not flinch. His sword sang, slashing upward in a luminous arc that split the seawater around him. The blade crashed into the roof of Thal'ryx's mouth, halting the bite mid-motion.

His voice was steady.

"Not here. Not today."

Rael was back on his feet, sprinting with everything left in him. His blade whirled with precision, striking the raw wounds Khael's cut had revealed.

"I'll keep carving the openings! Kaen, burn them raw!"

Kaen's flames surged into serpentine form, winding into Rael's slashes. Each strike detonated wider, deeper.

Juno bellowed, fists slamming into the fractured scales. One shattered completely, obsidian shards flying across the bay.

"NOW, CEYLA!"

Lightning bent the heavens. Ceyla raised both palms, her storm answering. A lance of current, thick as a mast, speared downward into the exposed flesh. The stench of burning hide filled the air.

Thal'ryx screamed, its body thrashing. The shockwave toppled Guardians like wheat before a gale.

But Khael did not move. His eyes glowed with draconic fire, the shadow of wings flaring behind him.

He raised his sword, his voice slicing through the storm.

"Together. With me!"

Rael plunged his blade into the opening.

Kaen's flames wrapped it in fire.

Juno's fists hammered in tandem, widening the wound.

Ceyla's lightning struck, guiding the strike home.

And Khael brought his sword down.

The impact was cataclysmic.

Water split apart. The docks shattered completely. Thal'ryx's roar turned into a gurgling scream that rattled every bone in Pearlbay.

From the seawall, a Guardian dropped to his knees, tears streaming.

"By the stars… we might live to see tomorrow…"

The people clutched one another, their cries piercing above the storm.

But the beast did not die. Not yet.

Even impaled, even bleeding oceans of crimson, Thal'ryx writhed. Its tail lifted once more, trembling but deadly, murder burning in its abyssal eyes.

Khael's grip tightened on his sword. His gaze locked with the beast's.

His voice was low, but the world seemed to bow before it.

"This ends now."

To be continued…