The Extra's Odyssey

---(While Nathan was fighting Mother Mash)---

In a room with dim lights, two people were conversing.

"You will be fighting against Mr.Pepe in the next match."

"Won't it create problems with the audience, da-…Sir?"

The old man wearing a monocle glared at Vile reaper at the word 'dad'.

"That's not for you to worry about. Take this. It's a mental barrier skill."

He threw a scroll to Vile reaper.

"You can't kill him. Miss wants him to join her unit."

"But that guy is too suspi-"

"You only need to do what is asked of you without questions. Do I need to remind you?"

"N-No"

The old man left.

Vile reaper exhaled deeply.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Bam-!

He kicked the table beside him.

"What makes you so great that makes you can give me orders? Just wait, I will eventually outgrow you and then I'll make you my bitch, 'young miss'. Then we'll see what you can, old man."

Vile reaper licked his lips.

-THE FIRST MATCH WILL BE BETWEEN VILE REAPER AND MR. PEPE!-

"That's my cue."

Vile Reaper walked out of the room. There was a malicious grin on his face.

"One inch from death is also alive."

*

--(Present)--

Nathan's spell was about to be completed.

Waiting for the last moment Vile reaper got ready to teleport.

He looked below to check the location of the magic circle.

"What?!"

However, what he saw shocked him to the core.

The entire ground of the arena had turned white!

The white color of the ground camouflaged the magic circle and Vile reaper couldn't find the spell's location!

Before he could find the circle, Nathan completed the spell.

"…drown the fields<Mud Spike>"

At this moment, when Vile reaper didn't know which area was safe to teleport to, his battle experience kicked in.

In that split second, Vile reaper understood that, with the location of the spell hidden, the ground wasn't safe anymore.

Vupp-

He instinctually teleported to the next safest and closest location to Nathan.

A few dozen meters away from Nathan mud spikes protruded from the ground. However, they only struck empty air.

"Too bad it didn't work!"

Whip-

Vile reaper teleported above Nathan and slashed his whip!

Nathan's trick might have worked if Vile reaper wasn't able to teleport in the air. If the ground wasn't safe, he only had to teleport to the air.

The whip tore the air and headed towards Nathan's head when-

"[Pierce]"

-the daggers stabbed in Vile reaper's body extended!

Puchi-!!

Bam-!

Vile reaper froze from pain and the whip missed, striking the ground.

He fell and rolled on the ground.

Vupp-

However, before Nathan could do something else, he teleported away.

He couldn't understand what happened in that split second. How did Mr. Pepe attack him?

'No, I should heal myself first.'

Vile reaper was at the edge of the arena while Mr. Pepe was at the center. It would take Mr. Pepe a dozen seconds to reach hi-

-Bam!

"Why are you running?"

Nathan figure suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of Vile reaper!

Vile reaper hurriedly tried to teleport again. But the pain from the daggers made him unable to focus, and he was slower by a second.

Swosh-

A reddish black orb levitated above Nathan's palm.

Before Vile reaper could react, he attacked him with it.

Thuck-!

His palm attack broke Vile reaper's bones, and the orb was absorbed into his body.

Vile reaper bent and coughed blood.

'I need to teleport.'

He tried to ignore the pain and teleport away. Only to get shocked.

"Huh?"

He couldn't use teleportation!

A few seconds later, he realized he couldn't use Aura at all!

"W-what did you do?"

He looked at himself but no longer felt the power coursing through his veins. He felt empty.

He felt weak.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Vile reaper suddenly went into a frenzy and pounced on Nathan.

Nathan easily dodged him.

Thwack-

Nathan kicked Vile reaper in the guts.

"Did you go insane the moment you lost your power?"

"GIVE IT BACK!"

Mr. Pepe's words made it clear he was responsible for his condition. He shouted and swung his fists at Nathan.

Nathan looked at Vile reaper and sighed.

"I guess words aren't working with you."

Puchi-! Puchi-! Puchi-! Puchi-!

One sword stabbed into each of Vile reaper's limbs and impaled him to the ground.

"ARghhh!!!!"

"How about now? Can we talk?"

*

--(Iris 3rd person POV)

Iris looked at the Vile reaper who was impaled with swords with unmoving eyes.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I will take full responsibility for this failure."

Iris denied the butler's claim.

"You aren't responsible for your son's mistake. He lost because he overrated himself. Besides,…."

Iris stared at Nathan.

"..he wasn't a mage with good physical stats but an aura-user who could use magic. He hid the fact till the end so he could catch Vile reaper by surprise and succeeded in winning."

The unnatural strong defense, the burst of speed at the end, everything was still fresh in her mind.

Although to most it looked like he had disappeared and reappeared at the edge of the arena, Iris was easily able to follow his movements.

"He can use any spell from a grimoire."

This would explain why Mr. Pepe was able to use support, as well as attack magic. The woman and the butler nodded.

The butler couldn't help but speak.

"If there aren't limits to the type of spell he can use. Then he will be the-"

"5th Irregular."

The butler didn't get angry at the woman for cutting him in between. The matter of Irregulars was that important.

This fact only made them apprehensive about the organization Mr. Pepe belonged to. Back when they met with Mr. Pepe, he had hinted that there were more people of his caliber in his organization.

This increased Nathan's evaluation in their mind by another level.

Just when they thought the match had ended, Nathan spoke to Vile reaper.

"How about now? Can we talk?"

*

--(Nathan's POV)--

It took a few minutes and a few more swords for Vile reaper to calm.

Fortunately, Vile reaper wasn't a 3-star Iota-rank Beginner Golem. The effect of the [Zero Orb] wasn't going to end anytime soon.

[Zero] was the name I had given to the fused energy formed by Nether and Ether.

In the meantime, I drank half the vial of an elixir to heal myself.

I swayed the remaining half in front of Vile reaper.

"It's an elixir. You can regain 'Aura' after drinking this."

Of course, this was bullshit. He would recover his ability to manipulate Aura in a few minutes by himself.

"Pl-lease.."

Vile reaper didn't have the prideful look on his face anymore. The dried tears on his mud-stricken face made him look ugly, not that he was handsome before.

Not being able to feel his 'Aura' anymore must have shaken to him the core.

It would be the same for anymore.

[Zero Orb] cuts the connection between the energy core of the user and them. Right now, Vile reaper must be feeling extreme weakness, like he was back to being a normal human.

For someone drunk on his power like him, losing that power is their biggest fear.

And he was currently experiencing it firsthand.

Too bad for him.

This was only the beginning. There is much to come.