The Extra Wants Control

Neveah, his vision blurry, could only lift his head a fraction, meeting their gaze with a defiance that surprised even himself as he took deep breaths. "What is your judgement?" he rasped, his voice raw with subtle pain.

The figures held their gaze for a long moment, her expression unreadable. Then, she raised a hand, and the air crackled with unseen energy. "You, who craved power," she boomed, her voice echoing through the chamber, "shall be stripped of it."

A wave of searing white light erupted from her hand, engulfing Neveah. He groaned, a primal muffled sound ripped from the depths of his being, as the magic ripped through him. The very essence of his strength, the darkness that fueled him, was being torn away.

When the light subsided, Neveah lay still, his body wracked with tremors. The darkness was gone, replaced by a hollowness that echoed within him. He tried to conjure a simple ice spell, a feat he had performed effortlessly a thousand times before. But nothing happened. Frustration clawed at his throat. He was… empty.

Powerless.

The figure with the silver crown continued, her voice devoid of emotion. "Hmmm... So you shall walk Elnova," she declared, her words etching themselves onto the very fabric of reality, "without being able to wield strength. You won\'t be able to get stronger, your vessel shall be unable to store mana. The strength you boasted of and cherished will be taken away from you.

You will never rise through ranks. This is your punishment. You\'ve been cursed by god!"

" You should be grateful you are being kept alive. Be grateful of god\'s mercy!" Said another figure.

As the final words faded, the white chamber began to shimmer. The figures blurred, then dissolved into shimmering motes of light, disappearing completely. Neveah was left alone, in a cold, bright room that seemed to mock his misery.

"God\'s mercy ...huh? They stripped me of my strength and are sending me back in a dangerous world as a weak person. How merciful. Fuck. What now?" He gave a hollow chuckle.

*************

[Nev POV]

The world bled back into focus in a sickening rush. One moment I was sprawled on a cold, hard floor, the next I was lying face-first in the damp forest soil. Gone was the sterile white chamber, replaced by the familiar scent of pine and damp earth. My body, a moment ago racked with pain, ached anew, a dull throb spreading through every muscle. Stars, they were draining.

I could feel it, a siphon pulling on my very being, taking away \'my mana\'. With a gasp, I took a deep breath focusing on my current situation as my vision swam. I had attained level Lower 0 star. I was empty. They\'d taken everything.

My gaze fell upon the scene before me, a tableau frozen in time. Axl, sprawled on the ground a hair\'s breadth from my ice spear which disintegrated into dust, was mid-rant, a look of pure terror contorted on his face. So time hadn\'t passed here?

The dragon\'s face, initially pale with fear, was regaining some color, replaced by a sneer that twisted his features. "Heh," he rasped, his voice laced with a newfound arrogance. "I knew you couldn\'t do it." The stench of fear that had clung to him moments ago was replaced by something far more nauseating – the unmistakable odor of shit and urine. Disgusting.

"I told you right? This is the privilege of having a backer. You can feel their gaze correct. They are here, My father as well as the other race leaders. You are not getting out of this alive. You put your hands on blessed as well as the children of powerful people.

No one will let you live and no one is coming to save you. You are alone and I\'ll make sure to keep my earlier promise to you Neveah. Now get off of me you bastard." Said Axl.

"Am I going through the same conversation I had earlier but with different people? If I didn\'t know better I could swear they practiced it. And I\'m in no mood for this thing. But what\'s with this, he hasn\'t noticed I\'m weaker? Cause I can feel no mana in my body. And when I try to collect it it passes through me.

And what\'s even more strange is that I can still control gravity and the other elements though it\'s a bit troublesome because, I can\'t \'power\' it as mana is just going through me. Damn." I thought.

I then got out of my thoughts and replied to whatever bullshit Axl was saying and told him." Make me."

My words hung heavy in the air, a challenge thrown down despite the odds stacked against me(but he hadn\'t even noticed."Axl, his bravado momentarily shaken, stared at me, his eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth to retort, but before any words could escape his lips, a commotion erupted from the sky.

A figure materialized above us, his regal robes and air of authority unmistakable. Aethelred, the oh so High King of Dragons, his eyes blazing sapphire as they locked onto mine.

"I asked you to stop," his voice boomed, crackling with power, "And ...Get your foot off my son."

My gaze snapped down to find Axl\'s signature arrogant smirk. Smirking as if he won something. My foot, was still on his neck. Then his body suddenly disappeared.

I saw a figure wearing in an immaculate tuxedo, his hands glowing with a gentle light as he healed Axl\'s wounds. "Clean spell," he muttered as he cleaned him up.

Axl, his voice high-pitched and strained, launched into a flurry of accusations. "Father, he… he cowardly attacked us! He poisoned… me and the rest of the Dragons! And when the others tried to help me, he also attacked them with the intent to kill! I had to use drastic measures. I… I used the artefact you gave me."

Bjorn, the Dwarf King, materialized beside Aethelred, his beard bristling. "Is this true, Astrid?" he bellowed, his voice gravelly with concern. A groan came from behind him, and Astrid, her face pale but determined, gave a shaky nod.

The other Race Leaders had arrived as well. Kali, the lithe Beast Queen, her emerald eyes narrowed in my direction. Valeriana, the stoic Human Empress, her expression unreadable. And Ilyana, studied me with a gaze that seemed suspicious of me.

" Really... That\'s what you\'re going with? I cowardly attacked you?" I said to which Axl momentarily shut up before a smile formed on his face and he said,"that\'s what happened. If my friends weren\'t unconscious thanks to you they\'d say the exact same thing. I just wanted to protect them and when I couldn\'t, my fellow comrades tried to help me, but you overpowered us.

I just hoped things didn\'t get this far."

" Haahhh... And by your looks you believe that story, don\'t you." I said with a sigh, to which Ilyana and Kali raised their brows perhaps amused or confused, I didn\'t care.

Then Aethelred\'s voice boomed like a thunderclap, "Boy…you better give me a proper explanation of what you\'ve done… Or else." The threat hung heavy in the air, a storm cloud gathering above me. The other Race Leaders, with the exception of Valeriana, mirrored his murderous glare. Ilyana, stood apart, her gaze on me a mix of disinterest and suspicion.

It was then that my shadow flickered, a subtle shift that only I noticed. A genuine smile played on my lips. The racial leaders, however, didn\'t miss it. Aethelred\'s eyes narrowed into slits, a bolt of pure lightning crackling in his hand aimed straight at me.

"Does this seem amusing to you?" he roared, his voice laced with fury.

Before the attack could land, however, my shadow surged. It solidified into an intricate, beautiful wall of ice, shimmering with a cool blue light. The temperature plummeted, sending shivers down the spines of the students and even causing slight but visible discomfort amongst the Race Leaders. The playful mood vanished, replaced by a chilling tension.

As the clouds rolled in, obscuring the moon and plunging the area into a near total darkness, a voice echoed through the clearing, feminine and laced with frost.

"Or else what, King of Dragons? Tell me, what will you do to my son?" They looked for the source of the voice but couldn\'t find it. But I knew who it was.

Verona, she was here and she was not happy.