Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me! Chapter 48

The sun had already set by the ti William finished his evening training session. The sky had turned a deep shade of purple, the last traces of orange disappearing behind the academy buildings as he made his way back toward the dormitories.

Most students had already retreated inside for dinner or rest. The grounds were quiet, footsteps echoing softly on the stone paths as William walked with his hands loose at his sides, his mind drifting between cultivation theory and whether he had the energy to cook anything before bed.

The evening air carried a slight chill that had been getting worse over the past few days. William pulled his clothes tighter and kept walking, his breath coming out in small clouds that vanished almost imdiately.

Behind him, about thirty feet back, Kai walked in perfect silence.

His hand rested calmly on his sword hilt, fingers wrapped loosely around the grip. His posture was relaxed, almost leisurely, but his eyes were fixed on William’s back with an intensity that looked nothing like the lazy, unbothered expression he wore every single day in their shared dormitory room. There was sothing else there—sothing focused, like a man who had been counting down to a specific mont for a very long ti.

William kept walking, completely unaware.

A shadow peeled itself away from the dark stretch between two buildings on William’s left side. It moved slowly at first, sliding across the ground in a way that didn’t match any light source nearby. The evening was dark enough that shadows pooled naturally between buildings, but this one moved with intent, creeping toward William’s path inch by inch, patient and deliberate.

Kai noticed it.

His grip tightened around the sword and his fingers curled around the sword hilt and squeezed, knuckles going white. The air around him shifted, a faint aura began radiating outward from his body, dark and heavy, almost blood-like in the way it clung to the space around him. It was calm and controlled, not the kind of thing that demanded attention but the kind that made the air feel heavier just by existing.

His eyes stayed locked on the shadow as it continued its slow crawl toward William.

The shadow moved faster now, closing the remaining distance quickly. William felt it before he saw it—a sudden coldness that shot up his spine and made every hair on his body stand on end. He stopped mid-step, his hand dropping instinctively to his sword.

Then a figure stepped out from behind the nearest building directly in front of him. Completely casual. Silver hair catching the faint moonlight. One hand resting loosely at her side.

William’s grip on his hilt tightened for a split second before his brain caught up.

"Seraphina?" He said with a raised brow, his hand relaxing.

She waved back with an easy smile. "Hey. Soone is tailing you, by the way."

William blinked. "What?"

"Behind you. About thirty feet back." Seraphina’s crimson eyes drifted past William’s shoulder, scanning the path he had just walked. Her expression stayed relaxed but sothing sharpened in her gaze for just a mont, not fear, more like curiosity mixed with alertness. "Or they were. Soone was definitely there."

William turned and followed her gaze.

The path behind him was completely empty.

He stood there for a mont, scanning the shadows between buildings, the darker stretches where the dim light didn’t quite reach. Nothing moved. No footsteps, no rustling, no shift in the air at all. Just the quiet evening and the faint sounds of the academy settling in for the night.

William frowned and turned back to Seraphina. "Are you sure?"

"I’m positive." Seraphina crossed her arms while still watching the empty path behind him. "They were following your exact pace the entire way back from the training facility. They stayed in the shadows the whole ti and kept their distance perfectly. Then the second I stepped out they just disappeared."

"Disappeared how?"

"Like they were never there." Seraphina tilted her head slightly, her expression thoughtful rather than concerned. "Whoever it was, they were really strong. That kind of disappearance can’t happen for just anyone. You don’t vanish like that without knowing exactly how to move without leaving any trace behind."

William considered that. Soone had followed him the entire walk back from the training facility without him noticing once.

Whoever this was had been watching him for a while.

"Did you see who it was?" William asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Seraphina uncrossed her arms and started walking, apparently deciding they should move rather than stand in one spot. William fell into step beside her without thinking about it. "But I felt their aura when they were close. It wasn’t normal—heavy, almost suffocating. The kind of thing you don’t pick up from soone who’s just curious or following out of habit."

"What kind of thing do you pick it up from?"

Seraphina was quiet for a mont, considering the question seriously. "Soone who’s been holding sothing back for a long ti," she said finally. "Like they’d been keeping it buried and it was finally starting to co through."

William turned that over in his mind as they walked. The academy was full of people he didn’t know well—upperclassn from every house, faculty mbers he’d never spoken to, students with backgrounds and histories he had no knowledge of. Adrian Vex had ntioned that House Ascendant had so of the most unique talents in the academy precisely because it collected people who didn’t fit anywhere else. Any number of them could have the kind of presence Seraphina was describing.

He thought about the Inter-Academy team mbers. Ten people he’d be training with intensively for the next six weeks. Most of them he knew only from competition matches—quick, focused interactions that didn’t reveal much about who they actually were outside of combat. Soone on that team could easily have been watching him without William paying attention.

Or it could be soone else entirely. Soone with a reason to keep their identity hidden.

"It could be anyone at this point," William said eventually.

"Could be," Seraphina agreed. "But not just anyone can disappear like that. That narrows it down more than you’d think."

They walked in silence after that, the path taking them back toward the main dormitory building. William kept his awareness sharp this ti, scanning every shadow and dark corner they passed. Nothing moved unnaturally or followed them. The evening was perfectly quiet and perfectly normal in every way except for the cold feeling that had settled sowhere behind William’s ribs and wasn’t going away.

Seraphina walked beside him without pressing for more conversation, seeming content to just be there. William appreciated that more than he would have appreciated questions or speculation. His mind was already working through possibilities and he didn’t need soone else’s theories complicating things.

They reached the entrance to the dormitory building and Seraphina stopped, turning to face William with an expression that was harder to read than usual.

"You should figure out who that was," she said. It wasn’t a suggestion.

"I will."

She studied him for a second longer, then nodded once and headed off toward the Arcturus wing without another word. William watched her go for a mont before turning and walking toward his own room.

The hallway was quiet. Most doors were closed, faint light spilling from underneath so of them. William reached his door and pushed it open.

Kai was sitting at his desk, reading a book. S

In the sa position as every other night—legs crossed, book held loosely in one hand, expression completely relaxed and unbothered. He glanced up when the door opened and offered a small nod before going back to his page.

"Welco back," Kai said without looking up. "How was training?"

"Fine," William said while moving to his bed and pulling off his boots.

"You look tired," Kai observed, turning a page. "Get so sleep."

William nodded and lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The room was quiet and comfortable. Kai turned another page, the soft sound of paper the only noise between them.

Sowhere out there, soone had been following him with an aura heavy enough to make Seraphina pause and take notice. Soone strong enough to vanish completely without leaving a single trace. Soone who had apparently been watching him long enough to know exactly which route he took back to the dormitory every evening.

William closed his eyes and tried to think through who it could be. The training facility wasn’t far from the main campus, and plenty of students walked these paths at night. Faculty mbers patrolled occasionally but rarely at this hour. The Inter-Academy team mbers knew his schedule well enough from training together, but most of them had no reason to follow him in secret.

It had to be soone with a specific reason. Soone who wanted sothing from William, or wanted to know sothing about him, without revealing themselves.

The question kept circling in his mind as the room grew darker and Kai’s breathing eventually evened out into sleep. William lay there listening to the quiet, the unease refusing to fade no matter how long he stared at the ceiling.

Soone was watching him. Soone patient and careful and strong enough that even Seraphina had taken notice of their presence.

He just had no idea who.

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I’m getting better thanks for asking;)

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