Just Extra

From their high spot on the hill, Naviga and Minerva watched the fierce fight happening far below. A girl in the battle were locked in a desperate struggle just to stay alive. Every move she made was carefully planned, but their growing fear showed in every step and swing.

The young magus fighting for her life was someone Minerva knew right away. Her name was Selira Medure. She was only fourteen years old. She had special black hair that marked her as part of a rare bloodline in their family. Most Medure women had red hair, but Selira's dark hair meant she carried the unique Bloodfire Element. This power let her heal small wounds even while she fought. Her movements showed she was thoughtful—she planned each action, even in the middle of a wild fight.

But it was her enemy that held most of their attention. The creature was unlike anything Naviga had ever seen—not in this life, and not even in the memories from the book she had read as Joseph. It did not fit into any normal kind of beast. It seemed to hold two opposite elements at the same time.

The beast was huge—easily three times the size of a normal wolf. Its body was split right down the middle in a way that should not have been possible. The left side gave off strong cold energy. Its fur was bright blue, like ice crystals. Frost formed on the ground wherever that side stepped. The right side burned with inner fire. Its fur was deep red and moved like living flames. Heat made the air wavy around that half.

Where the two sides met along the wolf's back, the elements fought each other all the time. Steam rose from the line where they touched, making a cloud that never went away. The tail twisted behind it in a spiral of blue and red. The colors stayed separate even as they wound together.

The wolf's face was the most striking part. Its eyes glowed with raw power. The left eye was freezing blue—it looked like it could turn anything it saw into ice. The right eye burned red, full of fire that promised to destroy. A single horn stuck out from under its chin. It flashed with fire and ice, switching fast and creating a confusing light.

The wolf's face showed it had been in many fights before. An old, deep scar ran straight down between its eyes. The skin had healed long ago, but the mark stayed. Most disturbing was that it had no nose at all—only bone showed where the nose should have been. This injury was very old, meaning this beast had survived battles that would have killed others. That survival had made it both clever and cruel.

Selira fought with a red whip as her main weapon. The whip crackled with her Bloodfire Element. It matched her fighting style well. It let her stay at a distance while still hitting hard. Her movements showed training and discipline. Every crack of the whip aimed at weak spots on the wolf's body.

But she was losing. The proof was on her body—blood and torn clothes told the story. Deep claw marks covered her left arm. The wounds still bled, even though her power tried to heal them. A cut along her ribs had soaked her combat clothes. The dark blood stain grew with every hard breath. Her right leg had several holes where the wolf's teeth had bitten her during a close fight.

Yet, despite the pain and injuries, Selira's eyes showed determination, not panic. There was fear—anyone would be afraid facing such a monster—but she had not let fear break her spirit. She kept fighting with the stubborn will of someone who refused to give up, even when defeat seemed certain.

The battle had changed the land into a mess of hot and cold. Where the wolf's fire side touched, ice melted into water. Then, when the cold side passed over, the water froze again. The ground became a dangerous mix of solid ice, liquid water, and cracked parts where fast temperature changes had broken the surface. Steam rose in thick clouds wherever fire and ice met directly, making blind spots in the fight. Both fighters had learned to stay away from those misty zones.

Selira's fighting style showed how thoughtful she was. She was not just attacking wildly. She tested the beast's defenses, looking for weak points. Her storage ring gave her a steady supply of talismans. She used each one for a clear purpose.

Blast talismans exploded in careful timing. These blasts forced the wolf to dodge or take hits. The beast's thick skin took most of the damage, but Naviga saw small burns and tears building up on its body. Air talismans made sudden gusts of wind that broke the wolf's charges. This gave Selira a few precious seconds to move to a better spot. Vine talismans made plants shoot up from the ground, trying to trap the wolf's legs. The wolf tore through most of these easily.

The fire and ice talismans were the most interesting. Selira quickly learned that hitting the fire side with fire did nothing—the beast just soaked it up. Ice attacks on the cold side also failed. So instead, she aimed fire talismans at the blue half and ice talismans at the red half. This used the beast's own split nature against it. This trick clearly upset the wolf, breaking the balance between its two sides.

One well-aimed ice talisman hit the horn under the wolf's chin. It froze the horn solid in an instant. A quick whip strike right after broke the frozen horn, sending pieces flying across the battlefield. Losing the horn made the beast angrier, not weaker. But Naviga noticed its elemental attacks had become a little less sharp since it lost that focus point.

All through the fight, Selira stayed alive by using many potions. Healing drinks closed her worst wounds, though they could not fix all the damage. Universal essence restoration potions refilled her fading energy. This let her keep powering her whip and defenses. The large number of potions she had used showed either great planning or very bad luck—maybe both.

Her combat skill was at the foundation or early mastery level. The whip technique she used was called Crimson Serpent Lash. Each strike left trails of fire and life energy in the air. Her footwork art, Bloodflame Step, made quick afterimages as she dodged. The speed boost came at a cost—it burned her own life energy. It was a risky move for long fights, but it had saved her life more than once when the wolf's jaws snapped shut on empty air.

Naviga and Minerva stayed hidden on the hill, watching without joining the fight. To an outsider, this might seem cruel—letting a family member fight alone against such odds. But both knew the value of what they were seeing.

"We should watch her methods before deciding to help," Minerva said softly. Her voice was barely heard over the sounds of battle below. "Selira is the next generation of Medure talent. How she handles this will show us much about her future."

Naviga nodded. "This young lady is from our ancestral home. This might be her first real test. We need to see if she is worth the family's support. Her choices here will show if she can survive outside the family's protection."

They both knew Selira's cultivation level was at the first essence core—same as theirs. But her power felt weaker, less steady. Her age explained part of it—she was a year younger than them. More importantly, she had likely just broken through to this level, maybe only a few months ago. Her control over universal essence showed she was still getting used to her new strength.

In contrast, Naviga and Minerva had been at the first essence core for over a week. They had broken through after absorbing the Violet Inferno Flower and beast cores. That extra time let them steady their power, improve their skills, and grow comfortable with their stronger energy. The difference was small but mattered in a real fight. Even if Selira had broken through before them, they now had better control.

There was also the issue of their interrupted training during travel. Naviga remembered the three-year trip down from the seventh galaxy to the first. During that long journey, real cultivation was almost impossible. The spaceships used for travel between galaxies made the universal essence unstable and hard to absorb. They could still meditate and practice techniques, but core growth had basically stopped.

Those three years were a big delay in their progress. Without that break, both would have likely reached the first essence core at twelve or thirteen. The lost time was frustrating, but they had no choice—travel between galaxies meant accepting a pause in growth.

Below, the battle grew even more intense. The dual-element wolf seemed to realize its enemy was getting weaker, even though she kept fighting. It dropped its careful style and went all out, attacking with new fury.

The beast's fire side breathed a stream of flame that turned the air itself into a weapon. Selira barely dodged, feeling the heat burn past her left side. Before she could recover, the cold side blasted freezing wind that gave instant frostbite to any skin it touched. The young magus cried out in pain but stayed on her feet.

Her whip struck back fast. The Crimson Serpent Lash made three hits at once, seeming to come from different angles. It was a strong move, but the wolf's thick hide took two blows, and it dodged the third. Its counter was quick and harsh—a wide claw swing from the fire side. Selira blocked it with a fast-made Bloodfire barrier.

The hit sent her sliding back across the broken ice. Her barrier broke from the force. She used the slide to gain distance and drank another healing potion to treat fresh burns on her arms where the broken shield had let flames through.

Naviga's chip kept scanning the area, looking for hidden enemies besides the two fighters. So far, it found nothing, but she stayed alert. The Phantom Cult's presence in this dungeon made suspicion not just smart—it was needed. At any moment, assassins could appear and make the fight even deadlier.

She told the chip to search farther, pushing its range to the limit even though it strained her focus. If others were watching besides her and Minerva, she wanted to know before they showed themselves.

Meanwhile, Minerva kept her eyes on Selira's choices in battle. The girl made smart moves for her situation. She focused on staying alive, not on winning fast. She knew the wolf had more raw power and toughness. She used the land when she could—standing on solid ice while forcing the wolf onto shaky ground. Her talisman use showed she knew how to save her tools—she didn't waste good ones on attacks that wouldn't work.

But good thinking could only do so much against a stronger enemy. The wolf was learning her patterns, getting used to her tricks. Each round, it came closer to landing a killing blow. Selira's healing and potions kept her going, but the damage was adding up. Her steps slowed a little. Her reactions were not as sharp.

The ice under them kept changing. Fire melted solid ground into risky water. Cold froze it again into new shapes. The constant shift made the battlefield dangerous in new ways every second. Both fighters had to watch not just each other, but also the ground. One slip could mean death.

The wolf tried to use its horn blast again. Without the horn under its chin, the attack came out messy and wild. Fire and ice shot from its mouth in a wide spray instead of a tight beam. It was weaker, but the larger area made it harder to dodge. Selira dropped flat, feeling the energy burn over her head and freeze the spot where she had just stood.

She rolled up fast and made a desperate move. Her Bloodflame Step fired at full power, burning life energy without care to reach speed her level shouldn't allow. She became a blur, circling the wolf at impossible speed while her whip struck again and again at the line where fire and ice met on its spine.

It was a smart plan. That seam was the wolf's weakest point—the place where its two natures clashed and created weakness. Selira's hits forced fire and ice to mix, causing violent reactions that clearly hurt the beast.

The wolf howled in rage and pain, thrashing wildly. One huge paw caught Selira's leg as she tried to pull back. Claws tore through muscle and scraped bone. She screamed but broke free, using the last of her Bloodflame Step to get far from the angry beast.

She fell on the ice fifty meters away and grabbed another healing potion right away. Her hands shook as she drank. The liquid worked to close the bad leg wound. Healing was clear but slow—such deep injuries needed more time and stronger medicine than her basic potions.

The wolf did not rush in right away. It stood still, sides heaving with effort. The repeated hits on its spine had done real harm. Blood seeped from the line between fire and ice. The wounds would not heal well—fire tried to seal them while ice tried to freeze them. The very thing that gave the beast power also stopped it from healing where the two sides met.

Both fighters faced each other across the broken ice, gathering strength for what might be their last clash. Selira's leg could barely hold her. The wolf's spine injuries hurt its balance. Whoever made the first mistake next would likely die.

The wolf started gathering energy for a huge attack. Both elements swirled together as it readied to unleash its full power. Selira saw this and began her own final move, pouring the last of her universal essence into a last-ditch defense.