The Extra Who Inherited Ragnarok

The forest went silent.

Noah and the Watcher had disappeared.

One second, crimson light filled the sky.

The next, both figures vanished beyond the trees, leaving behind a circular shockwave that flattened everything in its path.

Laura stared at the empty space.

"Noah?"

Nothing answered.

Sophia raised her hand, attempting to sense his mana.

Her expression immediately changed.

"I can’t feel him."

Eric looked toward the hooded stranger.

"Where did they go?"

The stranger remained motionless.

"Somewhere the forest cannot reach."

Damien frowned.

"That doesn’t make any sense."

"It doesn’t need to."

Above them, the three crimson eyes slowly rotated.

The Watcher had not disappeared.

It was watching.

Waiting.

Noah landed on his feet.

The forest was gone.

He stood in a colorless space, surrounded by endless darkness. There were no trees, no sky, and no ground beyond the faint crimson surface beneath him.

Across from him stood the Watcher.

Its enormous body had shrunk.

It now resembled a tall humanoid figure, though its limbs remained unnaturally long. Three crimson eyes floated where its face should have been.

Shadowfang rested in Noah’s hand.

The Dead Zone stood beside him.

"Interesting place."

Noah glanced around.

"Did it bring us here?"

"No."

The Dead Zone pointed toward the darkness.

"It removed everything that could interfere."

The Watcher raised its imitation sword.

Noah’s expression hardened.

"So this is a private arena."

The creature attacked.

No warning.

No sound.

Its blade cut toward Noah’s neck.

He ducked.

The sword passed above his head.

Noah countered with a horizontal slash.

The Watcher blocked.

CLANG!

The impact sent ripples across the crimson floor.

Noah stepped back.

The Watcher attacked again.

One strike became three.

Three became seven.

Every movement was precise.

The creature had learned his rhythm.

Noah blocked the first blow.

Deflected the second.

The third cut across his shoulder.

Blood splashed onto the colorless ground.

ANALYSIS: 61%

The Watcher’s eyes flashed.

Noah touched his wound.

"You’re getting faster."

The Dead Zone tilted its head.

"No. You’re getting predictable."

Noah’s jaw tightened.

I know.

"Then stop fighting like yourself."

The Watcher lunged.

Noah raised Shadowfang, preparing to block.

At the last moment, he released the sword.

The Watcher’s blade passed through the space where his defense should have been.

Noah stepped inside its reach and drove his fist into the creature’s chest.

BOOM!

Crimson cracks spread across its torso.

The Watcher stumbled.

Noah summoned Shadowfang back into his hand.

"I’m not giving you everything."

The Watcher’s body began changing.

Its long arms shortened.

Its stance lowered.

Its imitation sword dissolved into two curved blades.

The Dead Zone’s smile faded.

"It can change weapons too."

Noah stared at the creature.

"That’s inconvenient."

The Watcher attacked from both sides.

Noah blocked one blade.

The other cut through his ribs.

Pain exploded across his body.

He staggered backward.

The Watcher followed without hesitation.

Its three eyes glowed.

HOST PAIN RESPONSE IDENTIFIED.

HOST RECOVERY DELAY IDENTIFIED.

COUNTERMEASURE ADJUSTED.

Noah’s breathing grew heavier.

It wasn’t simply copying his attacks.

It was studying his weaknesses.

The Dead Zone stepped forward.

"Now may I?"

Noah tightened his grip.

Not yet.

"You’re bleeding."

I’m aware.

"You’re losing."

Noah looked at the Watcher.

Its blades were raised.

Its eyes were fixed on him.

The system flickered.

ANALYSIS: 63%

Noah slowly smiled.

"Then I’ll change the rules."

He drove Shadowfang into the crimson ground.

Dark energy spread outward.

The colorless space trembled.

The Watcher paused.

For the first time, its three eyes shifted toward the floor.

Noah’s voice became quiet.

"Ragnarok Dead Zone."

The Dead Zone looked at him.

"You’re opening the door?"

"No."

Noah pulled Shadowfang free.

"I’m letting it see the wrong one."

The darkness beneath the Watcher suddenly split open.

A massive crimson eye appeared below its feet.

The Watcher turned.

Its three eyes focused downward.

The system screamed across Noah’s vision.

UNKNOWN SIGNATURE DETECTED.

SECOND OBSERVER RESPONSE: INITIATED.

The Watcher froze.

And from beneath the crimson floor...

something began looking back.

The eye beneath the crimson floor opened completely.

Noah felt its gaze before he understood what he was seeing.

It wasn’t looking at his body.

It was looking through him.

The Watcher stood frozen, its three floating eyes focused on the enormous eye beneath its feet.

For the first time, its movements appeared uncertain.

The system flickered violently.

UNKNOWN SIGNATURE DETECTED.

IDENTIFICATION: FAILED.

ORIGIN: UNAVAILABLE.

THREAT ASSESSMENT: ERROR.

Noah’s grip tightened around Shadowfang.

"What did I summon?"

The Dead Zone stared downward.

Its usual grin had disappeared.

"You didn’t summon it."

You know what that is?

"I know what it isn’t."

The enormous eye blinked.

The entire space shuddered.

The Watcher suddenly stepped backward.

A crimson thread extended from its body, reaching toward the eye.

The moment it touched the darkness, it burned away.

The Watcher recoiled.

A sound emerged from its faceless head.

Not a scream.

Not a voice.

Something between the two.

Noah felt the vibration in his bones.

"It’s afraid."

The Dead Zone turned toward him.

"Don’t mistake fear for weakness."

The eye beneath them shifted.

Its pupil narrowed.

A voice echoed through the empty space.

"Still hiding behind borrowed flesh."

Noah froze.

The Dead Zone’s expression changed.

For the first time, genuine anger crossed its face.

"You."

Noah looked at it.

You know that voice?

The Dead Zone didn’t answer.

The eye beneath the floor widened.

"The discarded half."

The crimson markings across Noah’s arms began to burn.

His body jerked.

The Watcher suddenly attacked.

Its two curved blades descended toward Noah’s head.

He barely blocked them.

CLANG!

The impact drove him to one knee.

The Watcher had recovered.

Its three eyes flashed.

ANALYSIS: 64%

The Dead Zone stepped closer.

"Get up."

Noah pushed against the blades.

"I’m trying!"

"No. You’re listening."

The Watcher twisted its weapons.

Noah’s defense broke.

He was thrown across the crimson surface, rolling several times before crashing into an invisible wall.

Pain tore through his ribs.

The Watcher followed.

But before it could strike, the eye beneath the floor released a thin beam of darkness.

The Watcher leaped away.

The beam passed through the space where it had stood.

A vast section of the crimson floor vanished.

Noah stared.

"It’s attacking the Watcher."

"It’s correcting an intrusion."

Then why hasn’t it attacked us?

The Dead Zone slowly looked at him.

"Perhaps it hasn’t decided whether you’re an intrusion."

The eye beneath them turned toward Noah.

A pressure entered his mind.

Images flashed.

A battlefield covered in ash.

A black sword buried in the chest of an unknown warrior.

A figure standing behind Ragnarok.

And a younger version of himself, kneeling in the middle of a burning city.

Noah grabbed his head.

"Stop!"

The vision vanished.

His breathing became ragged.

The Watcher raised one hand.

Its crimson energy gathered into a spear.

ANALYSIS: 67%

The Dead Zone looked at the weapon.

"It’s using the memory."

Noah stood slowly.

"What?"

"It saw what the eye showed you."

The Watcher’s spear pointed toward his chest.

"Now it knows where to aim."

The weapon launched.

Noah moved instinctively.

The spear pierced his shoulder.

Blood sprayed across the empty space.

He stumbled.

The system flashed.

HOST VITALITY DECLINING.

ANALYSIS: 69%

The Watcher advanced.

Noah pulled the spear free and threw it aside.

His vision blurred.

The Dead Zone approached him.

"You’ve had your experiment."

Noah breathed through the pain.

And?

The Dead Zone reached for Shadowfang.

"Now let me show you what happens when we stop pretending this is your fight."

Noah’s fingers tightened around the sword.

For a moment, he resisted.

Across the empty space, the Watcher raised both blades.

Beneath them, the enormous eye began to close.

And from somewhere inside the darkness, the unknown voice whispered:

"Wake up, little catastrophe."

Noah’s crimson aura erupted.

RAGNAROK DEAD ZONE RESONANCE: 48.6%

The Dead Zone opened its eyes.

This time...

Noah didn’t stop it.