The Extra's Odyssey

"…childish"

Such word escapes Nathan's lips. Miller who is standing beside him is the only person who hears it.

Nathan walks to front and speaks something to the commenter.

'Some people simply like chaos.'

For some reason, these words enters Millers mind as he watches Nathan's back.

"It is correct that I cheated."

"But won't it create problems if I leave the tournament now? How about this…"

"All of you come at me. Whoever takes me down can take my place."

The jeering stops as everyone stares at Nathan, wide-eyed.

"Sir, this is not all-"

The commentator, about to dismiss Nathan's claims, suddenly stops. Pressing the intercom closer to his ear, he listens to the new instructions.

"WHOEVER CAN KILL SIR WITHIN 5 MINUTES CAN REPLACE HIM IN THE TOURNAMENT!"

A deathly silence prevails at the commentator's announcement. They couldn't believe what they heard.

Nathan pithily breaks the silence.

"Are you guys coming or not?"

One of the main reason why many awakeners don't enter the 1st round is because of only 16 can survive it. Nobody wants to enter and die when they know they aren't the strongest.

But now, Nathan gave them a way to enter the tournament without entering the 1st round.

It was obvious what was going to happen.

Oooooooooooo-

A war cry echoes, and someone jumps down from the rails.

Many more follow the suit and jump into the grounds. All of them race toward Nathan, who is standing in the center of the ground.

Aura-user brings their weapons out and rushes to him feverishly.

The ground shakes as they run on it with all their might.

Thump- Thump-

Everyone feels their heart tremble with excitement at this scene.

The number of awakeners rushing is so large that it looks like a tsunami itself. A disaster that destroys everything in its path.

Vrrrooooom-

While the aura users are running, the mages stand at the back and weaving spells.

With their capability to do range attacks, they know they can kill Nathan before anyone else reaches him.

Nobody believes that Nathan can survive. The only question is, who will be the one to kill him?

"B-boss.."

Miller calls out in a shaky voice.

The sight of so many awakeners rushing toward him is enough to overwhelm him. He wanted to run away.

He looks beside him and sees that none of the other 14 participants had run away.

Some look bored, some tense, and some even excited. But none of them are overwhelmed by the surreal sight presented to them.

'That right, boss always backs his words. He must have something to change the tides.'

Vrrrrroooooom-

Suddenly, mana around the area of the participants churns.

The battle slave girl raises her staff and begins chanting.

Slave traders admit their battle slaves in tournaments to show their prowess. This raises the slaves' price as people see their worth in battle.

For the battle slave mage killing Nathan with her strongest attack is the perfect opportunity to advertise herself.

Her two slave brothers also pull their swords out and dash toward Nathan.

Clang-!

Leon and Miller suddenly appear in front of them and block their attacks.

"What are you doing?"

"Only the onlookers were permitted to attack."

Leon is helping Nathan because Huntress told him that the person wearing black robe and white mask was the reason they passed 1st round alive.

Nathan ignores the squabble and wordlessly stares at the battle slave mage. Then he turns to Vile reaper who is looking at the scene expressionlessly.

Oooooo-

Only a few seconds are left until the first of the pack reaches him.

The crowd that is rushing to kill Nathan suddenly halts. With horrified eyes, they look at the magic circle in the air.

The magic circle shines brightly as the battle slave continues to weave more spell formulas into it.

She is sweating heavily, but it doesn't diminish the worth of the feat she is performing.

Shell-shocked, the entire stadium looks at that magic circle that is the size of half of the stadium.

"W..what is that magic circle? Why is it so big!?"

"Rank 4…It is a Rank 4 magic!"

Flicker-

Giant threads of fire erupt from the magic circle.

The fire threads are converging in the air and forming a massive fireball.

The participants, who had not bothered to move since the beginning, backs away in dread.

A rank 4 attack magic is something that can fatally damage Enma rank awakeners.

All of them are Iota rank. A rank 4 attack magic isn't something they can survive.

Being able to use rank 3 magic in Iota rank puts one in the category of genius. For the battle slave to use a Rank 4 spell at early Iota rank proved that she is a genius among geniuses.

Every buyer's eyes shines at this moment. They decide they have to buy this slave at any cost.

Although they are excited, they re-focus their attention on Nathan. How is that person going to dodge this attack that can even an Enma ranked can't overlook?

"Boss, let's run."

Miller tries to call out to Nathan, but Nathan only waves his hand, signaling him to get away.

Voooosh-

The aura users stops running, afraid of getting caught up in the spell's aftermath, but the mages doesn't.

Mana bullets, ice lance, fire bolts, Magic spells, and an uncountable number of spells are fired at Nathan.

At the same time, the rank 4 spell is complete.

"<Drowning Dawn>"

The enormous fireball falls over Nathan, along with the spells.

VOOOSH-!

BOOOOM-!

The entire stadium shakes from the impact.

The gigantic fireball explodes and one-fourth of the ground is covered in the explosion.

Amidst the scorching heat and subsequent magic attacks, curtains of dust rise.

The explosions finally stop, but no one tries to continue attacking. What was the point of attacking? It will be a miracle if even Nathan's bones remained intact.

As Leon and Miller are grieving Nathan's death, the fire starts to die down and-

"Is that all?"

"!!!!"

A familiar voice echoes.

Thump- Thump-

Is he alive? Even after taking on an attack of that magnitude? Everyone gulps as they watch in anticipation.

Finally, the dust settles and reveals a young man wearing black robes and a white mask.

His clothes aren't burned in the slightest, nor have a smudge of dust on them.

Deathly prevails as they witness Nathan's unharmed figure.

Not only has he survived the barrage of rank 1 and rank 2 spells and a rank 4 spell. But he came out unscathed?

Impossible. It was utterly impossible.

That magic barrage will even kill an early Enma ranked. This is what everyone believes.

But the truth is in front of their eyes to see.

Nathan has sustained zero damage.

The crowds can feel the adrenaline rushing through them. Thankfully for them, Nathan has only begun.

"Then it's my turn."

Nathan slowly walks to the dozens of aura users who were frozen in stupefaction by his feat.

A single word comes out of his mouth.

"Kneel"

An extremely vile pressure explodes outwards from his body.

The pressure sweeps through the entire stadium and wrings the air dry.

Fear grips the hearts of people and their bodies unconsciously listen to his words.

-Bam!-Bam! -Bam!

Against their wishes, their bodies forcibly kneel.

The awakeners closer to Nathan try to resist, but as he walks closer to them, the pressure only increases.

Tap-

Tap-

They didn't hear the slow steps of Nathan. But the steps of death coming to reap their lives.

The suffocating pressure makes them dizzy. Unable to handle the pressure, some outright collapse, frothing from their mouths.

Among the dozens of attackers, only a few handfuls remains unaffected. But even they don't move when they witness everyone kneeling to Nathan.

They don't understand why everyone is quivering and kneeling toward Nathan. But they fears that if they try to attack him, their fate might be worse than theirs.

"You want to evict me from the tournament?"

Nathan gazes around himself.

"Know your place."

The pressure suddenly intensifies manifolds and becomes almost intangible.

Those around him start dropping like flies.

Finally, Nathan pulls the number 7 from the lottery and walks away. Leaving dozens of awakeners collapsed in his wake.