The Extra Who Inherited Ragnarok

Noah spent most of the morning avoiding everyone.

Unfortunately, that plan lasted less than twenty minutes.

"There he is."

Noah stopped in the academy corridor.

Sophia stood ahead of him with her arms crossed.

Luna was beside her.

Laura leaned against the wall nearby.

Noah looked behind himself.

There was nobody else.

"...Me?"

Sophia gave him a flat look.

"No, the invisible person standing behind you."

Noah frowned.

"Not funny."

"It wasn’t supposed to be."

Luna covered a small laugh.

Noah sighed.

"What do you want?"

Sophia walked closer.

"We want to know what happened yesterday."

"Nothing."

Sophia pointed at him.

"There. Again."

Noah rubbed his forehead.

"I woke up tired. That’s all."

Laura quietly studied him.

Noah noticed but said nothing.

Sophia wasn’t convinced either.

"You disappeared yesterday, collapsed near the Boundary Monument, and Damien said something strange was following you."

"Damien didn’t say that."

"He basically did."

"That’s not the same thing."

Sophia stared at him.

Noah stared back.

After several seconds, Luna stepped between them.

"Maybe we should give him some space."

Sophia exhaled.

"Fine."

She looked toward Noah.

"But you’re not getting rid of us that easily."

Noah gave a tired smile.

"I never expected to."

That softened Sophia’s expression slightly.

The three girls eventually walked away together.

Laura remained behind.

Noah looked toward her.

"Aren’t you going?"

"In a minute."

They stood silently in the corridor.

Students passed around them, their voices filling the otherwise ordinary morning.

Laura looked down at her hands.

"Do you remember when we first met?"

Noah blinked.

"That’s random."

"Do you?"

"Yeah."

Laura smiled faintly.

"You barely spoke to me."

"I barely spoke to anyone."

"True."

Noah leaned against the wall.

Laura’s expression slowly became distant.

"You trusted me eventually."

Noah looked at her.

"Of course."

"Why?"

He thought about it.

"Because you never gave me a reason not to."

Laura lowered her gaze.

For a moment, she looked as though she wanted to say something else.

Something important.

Instead, she shook her head.

"Never mind."

Noah immediately frowned.

"Laura."

She looked up.

"What?"

"You’ve been doing that a lot lately."

"Doing what?"

"Starting conversations and refusing to finish them."

Laura laughed quietly.

"Maybe I’m learning from you."

Noah had no response to that.

Laura smiled again and finally walked away.

Noah watched her leave.

Something was bothering her.

He knew that much.

But he wasn’t exactly in a position to demand honesty from anyone.

Not when he was hiding something far worse.

Across the academy district, Eric and Damien were sitting outside one of the training halls.

Eric was eating.

Damien was staring into space.

Eric glanced at him.

"You know, normal people usually blink."

Damien slowly turned his head.

"I blink."

"Not enough."

Damien ignored him.

Eric continued eating.

"So."

Damien said nothing.

Eric waited.

Nothing.

"Are you worried about Noah?"

Damien finally looked toward him.

Eric’s expression became more serious.

"You’ve been watching him since yesterday."

Damien remained quiet for several seconds.

"I don’t know what happened to him."

"That’s obvious."

"But I know something changed."

Eric stopped eating.

Damien looked toward the academy buildings.

"When I fought beside Noah during the tournament, his presence was unstable."

Eric frowned.

"Unstable?"

"Sometimes weak."

Damien’s eyes narrowed.

"Sometimes far stronger than it should have been."

Eric remembered the tournament.

The strange moments.

The power Noah had displayed.

Eric had questions too.

He simply hadn’t said them aloud.

"You think his power is the problem?"

Damien shook his head.

"No."

Eric looked at him.

"I think something is happening to Noah."

The words hung between them.

Neither knew how to answer that.

Far from the academy district, Alcris entered Milstrif Library.

The building was older than most structures in Hildgard.

Its enormous doors opened without a sound.

Inside, endless shelves stretched beneath a high circular ceiling.

Ancient books filled every level.

Alcris stood still.

His perception felt strange again.

Not because Noah was nearby.

Because something else was.

Something old.

His gaze moved toward the deeper sections of the library.

A restricted archive stood behind several locked gates.

Alcris slowly walked toward it.

For the first time since the tournament ended, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Let’s see what Hildgard has been hiding."

Milstrif Library was almost silent.

Alcris walked deeper into the building, passing shelves packed with centuries of Hildgardian history. Some books were protected behind glass. Others had chains wrapped around their covers, as though the library itself did not trust anyone to touch them.

His perception continued to react.

It was faint.

But present.

The same uncomfortable sensation he had experienced whenever Noah Blackwood used that strange power.

Alcris stopped.

His eyes moved toward a staircase leading underground.

"Interesting."

He descended.

The lower archive was darker and noticeably colder. Only a handful of lamps illuminated the narrow passages between the shelves.

At the end of one corridor stood a locked gate.

Alcris approached it.

A symbol had been carved into the metal.

Three circles.

Three moons.

His expression changed.

The symbol looked familiar.

He had seen similar markings during the tournament.

On the medallions.

Alcris raised his hand toward the gate.

His mana touched the lock.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then the gate clicked open.

Alcris smiled.

"That was easier than expected."

He stepped inside.

The archive beyond it was much smaller.

There were only a few shelves.

One table.

And a single book resting at its center.

Alcris walked toward it.

The cover was completely black.

No title.

No author’s name.

Nothing.

He placed his hand on it.

His perception suddenly screamed.

Alcris pulled back.

A sharp pain ran through his head.

For an instant, he saw Noah.

Standing beneath three moons.

But Noah wasn’t looking at him.

Someone else was standing behind Noah.

A tall figure.

Its eyes were red.

Alcris’s vision returned.

His breathing became heavier.

"What the hell was that?"

He stared at the book.

Slowly, carefully, he opened it.

The first pages contained old Hildgardian writing.

Most of it was difficult to understand.

But one word appeared repeatedly.

A word Alcris recognized.

Ragnarok.

His eyes narrowed.

"No..."

He turned another page.

There were drawings.

A figure surrounded by flames.

A sword.

Three medallions.

And beneath them, an illustration of a dark human-shaped figure.

Alcris stared at it.

The sensation was identical.

His perception began reacting again.

His hand slowly tightened around the page.

"Ragnarok..."

He remembered Noah.

The strange power.

The unstable presence.

The moment during the tournament when something had felt completely wrong.

Alcris’s eyes widened slightly.

"Could it be?"

He turned the page.

Most of the writing had been damaged.

Someone had deliberately removed entire sections.

Only a few lines remained.

The inheritor shall never remain alone.

When the seal weakens, the other will awaken.

Alcris stopped.

"The other?"

He read the line again.

Something cold moved down his spine.

Before he could continue, a voice came from behind him.

"You’re not supposed to be here."

Alcris immediately turned.

An elderly librarian stood at the entrance.

His expression was pale.

Alcris calmly closed the book.

"I got lost."

The old man looked at him.

Then at the book.

"Leave."

Alcris smiled.

"You’re hiding quite a lot."

"I said leave."

For several seconds, they stared at each other.

Alcris eventually placed the book back onto the table.

He walked past the librarian.

But before leaving, he stopped beside him.

"Tell me something."

The librarian remained silent.

Alcris looked over his shoulder.

"Who sealed this place?"

The old man’s face changed.

Only slightly.

But Alcris noticed.

He smiled.

That was enough.

Back at the academy district, Noah stood near the training grounds.

Eric was attempting to convince Sophia to spar with him.

"You lost the last time."

Sophia didn’t even look at him.

"I wasn’t serious."

Eric looked offended.

"That’s exactly what people say after losing."

Luna laughed.

Laura sat nearby, watching them.

Noah remained unusually quiet.

His hand was resting against his chest.

Something felt wrong.

Not painful.

Just strange.

As though someone was standing directly behind him.

A voice whispered inside his mind.

He knows.

Noah froze.

"What?"

Eric turned.

"What?"

Noah looked around.

"No, not you."

Eric frowned.

"That somehow makes it worse."

Noah ignored him.

Inside his mind, Dead Zone laughed quietly.

Someone has begun looking for answers.

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

"Who?"

But there was no answer.

The voice disappeared.

Noah looked toward the distant city.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, a cold feeling settled in his chest.

Something had changed.

And somewhere within Hildgard...

Alcris had finally found the first thread.

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