I AM EXTRA IN A SHONEN MANGA

The battlefield churned with smoke and fractured earth. Kaen's fists blazed as his Shinrei roared outward.

"Echo Art: Tornado Fire!!"

The spiral of flame shot through a cluster of Voidborn, scattering them like embers in a storm.

From behind, Lira's voice cracked.

"Kaen! Don't use too much Shinrei, your flow will collapse if you overdo it!"

Kaen grinned, reckless fire still crackling across his arms.

"No problem. My Shinrei is bigger than all of you combined."

A sharp tsk cut through the noise. Rael stepped forward, hand brushing over the Seireiken.

"Seraphis… grant me strength."

The air shifted instantly.

"Judicator Form—fifty percent."

The instant the words left his lips, Seraphis descended like a phantom. Its six wings wrapped into his frame, folding into plates of radiant sigils. Fractals of emerald light split across his irises, his entire presence sharpening into a blade of judgment.

Kaen's jaw tightened.

"Show-off."

Rael ignored him, leveling the Seireiken ahead. "Clear my path."

The Voidborn surged again but then the ground heaved. From the cracked surface, something crawled upward. The swarm scattered like frightened rats. A figure pulled itself free, cloaked in writhing mists. Its body was half-man, half-void a skeletal frame threaded with worms and eyes that blinked in places eyes should never be.

Lira's breath caught in her throat.

"…That's not a Voidborn."

Kaen's flame faltered for just a heartbeat. The creature straightened, the air thickening around it, and then its voice came, layered and broken, like many throats speaking at once.

"Jealousy… burns sweetest when young blood dares to shine…"

Rael's grip tightened on Seireiken.

"A Cursed Lord."

The battlefield itself groaned, Shinrei pressure folding in on them.

Kaen spat, forcing fire to his fists again.

"Tch. Doesn't matter who you are. I'll crush you."

Rael stepped in front of him.

"No, you'll only get in the way."

Kaen snarled, flames whipping hotter.

"Say that again, pretty boy!"

Before the clash between them could ignite, the Cursed Lord (?) moved, its body flickering like an afterimage, its worm-threaded hand cleaving through the ground where they had stood only moments before. The shockwave hurled both Kaen and Rael aside, and even Lira staggered under the pressure.

Captain Kaedros' voice rang from the far side of the line.

"Focus, damn it! That thing isn't a normal foe—fight together, or you'll all die here!"

Captain Kaedros wiped Voidborn blood from his blade, his breathing heavy but steady. His eyes scanned the shifting battlefield, keeping count of his Veinwalkers.

A voice called out from behind.

"Captain… I have something to say."

Kaedros turned. One of the Guardians, Kon, approached slowly. His tone was too calm, too quiet, but Kaedros didn't catch it in time.

"What is it, Kon?"

The instant Kon closed the distance, a spear of black Shinrei erupted from his palm, piercing straight into Kaedros' chest.

"Urgh—!!" Kaedros staggered, one knee crashing into the dirt, breath torn from him. His vision blurred as the venomous energy spread like tar through his veins.

He forced his eyes upward, Kon stood over him, smiling.

"You shouldn't lower your guard, Captain Kaedros."

That smile shifted, stretched, broke apart. The Guardian's skin rippled like shattered glass, peeling away to reveal something far older, far deadlier.

Her true form stepped free of the illusion, her hair cascading in strands of ink-black void, her eyes glimmering like shards of broken emerald glass, sharp enough to cut through the soul.

"I am Lady Sythen."

The cursed aura rolled out in waves, suffocating.

"Eclipse of Jealousy."

Kaedros' hand tightened on his blade, but his limbs felt like lead. His chest burned as the black Shinrei coiled inside him.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Rael, Kaen, and Lira fought desperately against the cloaked abomination. Worms writhed from its skeletal frame, its many eyes blinking in grotesque rhythm.

Lira gasped, her voice trembling as her blade met its inhuman strength.

"…It's too strong… is this really a Cursed Lord?"

Rael's teeth grit, sweat dripping from his chin.

"No… something's wrong. This thing, its movements are incomplete."

Kaen slammed a blazing fist into the creature's chest, only for it to reform like smoke and worms. He spat fire between clenched teeth.

"Damn it, it won't die!"

Back at Kaedros' side…

Lady Sythen bent low, emerald eyes gleaming with hunger.

"What they're fighting… is merely my right hand…"

Her whisper coiled like a serpent into Kaedros' ear.

"The real battle begins now."

Kaedros' breath was ragged, but his glare was unshaken. The black Shinrei in his chest pulsed like a curse, yet he forced his body to move.

His voice boomed, shaking the air.

"I will kill you here!!"

Shinrei exploded out of him, a storm of teal-white wind energy lashing in all directions. His wounds began closing as the gale wrapped around his frame.

He thrust his blade forward

"Echo Art—Wind: Slash!!"

A crescent of compressed gales shot like lightning toward Lady Sythen.

But she tilted her body, gliding past the attack. The slash shredded a ridge of trees and split boulders like parchment, but not a strand of her hair was touched.

Her lips curled into a smirk.

Lady Sythen's thoughts

(Tsk… as expected, it won't kill him. But look at him, his Shinrei is eating him alive. Weakening him… kukuku…)

Her emerald-glass eyes narrowed, glittering with memory.

(Back then, during that incident… Kaedros, you weren't there. I could not measure you. Only that old man… the one who fought Wraith's power…)

Her voice cut the air, sharp and final.

"Die!!"

She lunged, her body dissolving into a storm of black shards, each fragment brimming with Voidrot.

….

Author's Note

Here's where Kaedros' real danger shows:

He's trying to fight Sythen while suppressing Voidrot poisoning inside his veins.

His Shinrei affinity is Storm (Despair) mixed with Wind (Resolve) → meaning he's walking a razor's edge between control and collapse.

Lady Sythen's curse directly feeds on Jealousy & Despair, making Kaedros an ideal prey, his Shinrei is literally being eaten by hers.

That's why his "Echo Art—Wind: Slash" had destructive force… but already drained him

To be continue