The Unlimited Ascension: Reborn as an Extra

The Asterion Academy stood imposingly inside Vale City. On the very top of the academy building, a flag bearing the academy crest continued to sway gently in the evening breeze.

A long, paved path leading to the academy stretched wide. Beside the path lay beautiful, meticulously groomed gardens on both sides, containing different kinds of vibrant flowers and tall trees.

As the evening sky deepened and the sun set, the moon took the responsibility to illuminate the world with its moonlight. Everything was peaceful around the academy, save for the occasional voices from the students strolling around the gardens and those going in and out of the gates to depart around the city.

Just behind the academy was a small clearing where the sound of students mostly never came, as there was nothing attractive enough to draw them there.

A boy stood in the center of the clearing while wielding a sharp spear. His black hair was slightly tousled with soft, layered bangs. He stood deeply in focus. He didn’t move, just maintained his combat stance as his eyes were closed, his whole focus was on the sharp edge of his weapon. A brilliant blue flame lit on the edge of the blade as it flickered around in the dark.

As a breeze of air passed through, blowing his hair, he suddenly moved with incredible speed. He spun the spear in a rapid, vertical motion. The blue flame rotated fiercely around the whole length of the spear, and with a sudden blur of motion, he shot the rotating weapon straight toward a nearby tree. He put his balance perfectly on his front leg and shot a deep, powerful thrust at the thick trunk standing in front of him.

The spear didn’t touch the bark. It stopped just an inch away, but suddenly, the tree behind it cracked and shattered violently, acting exactly as if it had actually been hit by the spear.

The boy finally opened his golden eyes and pulled back his weapon as the blue flame died down into smoke. He looked at the shattered tree standing in front of him, cursing under his breath.

"Damn! It failed again! Curse my luck!"

He threw the spear down in frustration, and with a quick flick of his finger, he sent the weapon back into his storage ring.

"Sigh... It seems I have to work on that again and again. Why am I not able to do that like how I did last time during the final practical examination of the academy?... It seems it only happens when I am in a state of panic?..."

He looked highly frustrated that he wasn’t able to intentionally repeat the powerful skill which he had unconsciously learned in a moment of panic. Now, he had already forgotten how to trigger it properly.

He looked up toward the starry night sky.

"It seems I have gotten late while training. Let’s go back early. Tomorrow is a big day, after all. I am going to graduate tomorrow. Hehe... It seems there will be no more classes and no more pressure of learning that boring theory. I can now freely go to attend the trials on my own..."

He stretched his sore body and looked around. The atmosphere was silent—unnervingly silent. He stepped out of the clearing as he walked toward his dormitory. The path was dark and quiet, as he walked through the place calmly with practiced ease, as it was his daily route to travel. That hidden space was actually his favorite spot for training. The other students were not quite interested in training at the back of the academy when they had such a large, high-tech training ground filled with every available resource. Why would anyone come out here?

Only an introverted guy like him would prefer coming around this abandoned place, savoring a rare moment of peace for himself. It was the one place where he didn’t have to pretend to be someone else, the place where he could do anything he wanted without anyone’s pressure.

Suddenly, his footsteps halted. He sensed several hostile presences surrounding him in the dark. He slumped his shoulders in sheer defeat as he swept a tired hand through his black hair.

"Sigh... Not again."

...

Azrael’s POV:

Looking around the dark, shadowed area, I felt no fear at all. Several figures appeared from the gloom. Some had climbed up on the trees, while some were hidden just a second behind the trunks, and others were hiding behind the academy wall. All of them appeared at once, stepped forward to surround me.

They were none other than the usual goons who came here to kill me because someone may have offered them a hefty sum of pay. If some other normal person had been in my place, they would have either tried to run away screaming or frantically attempted to fight for their life.

On the other hand, I felt the urge to do neither of those things. Why wouldn’t I just stand here? If this had happened just once or twice, I would have been cautious, terrified, or intensely angry. But for me, it had just become a daily occasion to fight against these cheap goons.

A man in a dark cloak stepped forward along with two other guys behind him. Behind me, two other guys also stepped toward me imposingly, actively trying to box me in. I just let them. Why wouldn’t I? I had faced this exact tactic quite a lot of times by now.

Since day one of joining the academy, I have faced daily assassinations. Yeah, daily... Not a single day off since the academy began. It had turned out to be my daily routine to fight these thugs, much like how others do their daily morning training.

"Hehe... It’s an honor to meet you, Prince Azrael."

I couldn’t help but scoff at the front guy, who was calling me ’prince’ while pulling a poisoned dagger out from his pocket. I was not some royal prince in the first place; it was just a tedious tradition among the nobles to call the heirs of prestigious families with the grand title of ’Prince’ or ’Princess’. But I am not even the slightest bit interested in such political stuff.

’Sigh, is that a poison dagger again?... I am so tired of this.’

"Yeah, yeah. So I will ask again, who the hell sent you guys this time?..."

I asked him casually, already knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to get a straight answer. It was the strict protocol set by most of the assassination organizations to never reveal the identity of their customers. But even then, I already knew exactly who was kind enough to send me such daily assassins to make my leisure life a total living hell.

The other men also took their battle positions around me. They pulled out their own sharp daggers and took offensive stances, ready to attack me without any further discussion. I remained perfectly still and let them surround me. I didn’t even summon my spear for defense; there was absolutely no need to.

As the first man stepped forward to slash at me, I simply side-stepped lightly. His dagger slashed through the empty air. At the exact same time, I kicked him hard in the knee and leaned down as the second assassin slashed his dagger toward my face.

My bare hand glowed with a blue fire as I immediately grabbed the blade of the dagger. The intense flame passed straight through the dagger as it reached his grip and started burning his flesh.

"AHHHHH—!"

The man fell backward, screaming and trying to shake his hand wildly to prevent the fire from burning him further.

’Alas, that is not going to stop until his hand is entirely burned to a crisp. After all, it is my special ability, ’Crazy Fire’...’

Just as one assassin was down for the count, the two others behind me started to dash toward me, attacking from both sides simultaneously.

With a sudden burst of speed, I quickly vanished from my spot. Even they looked shocked after seeing my sudden disappearance. I appeared directly behind them in a blur, my hands already reaching out to grab the backs of their heads. I slammed their faces straight into the ground with enough force to crack a boulder.

*BOOOM!*

With three of them down, the other two looked at me with much more caution. But I didn’t give a damn. I directly appeared right in front of them. A blue flame was already coiling viciously around my fist as I punched one of them directly in the gut. The impact launched him backward; he skidded violently across the ground until his body slammed hard against a tall tree.

The final remaining assassin sliced his dagger aggressively toward my neck. I immediately leaned backward quickly, dodging the fatal swipe. My feet moved with a blurry motion as I kicked upward, landing a devastating blow right in the middle of his legs.

I stood back up, dusting myself off, and pulled back while looking down at him with a sad gaze as he dropped his weapon.

*CLATTER!*

"Oops... Sorry, that was a mistake. Wrong shot."

The man looked blankly at me. His body began to shake violently as he looked down at himself. For a single second, there was total silence. I quickly placed my hands over my ears, gave him a polite look of condolences, and started leaving the clearing without looking back at him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"KYAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

As I walked away toward my dormitory, the high-pitched screaming remained constant behind me. The academy guards were likely already running toward the terrible sound while I slipped away unnoticed. I reached my room on the very top floor and slumped heavily onto my comfortable bed without even bothering to sit up and wash away the dust clunged to my skin.

Sleep quickly claimed me after a long day of work. My final day in the academy was officially over, as tomorrow marked the day of my graduation.

But the constant assassinations? There was no way that was ever going to stop..