Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 37

Clarie’s essence flared slightly, not threatening but enough to make nearby students uncomfortable. William could see the curse influence in her eyes, but unlike Seraphina’s complete breakdown, Claire seemed to be fighting it with everything she had.

"Claire," William said firmly but not unkindly. "You’re exhausted from your matches. Your essence pathways are strained. You need to rest."

Something in his tone cut through her mind. Claire blinked, her grip on his wrist loosening slightly as confusion crossed her face.

"I... yes. I am tired." She released him completely and took a step back, pressing her hand to her forehead. "I don’t know what... I’m sorry. That was inappropriate."

The wildness in her eyes faded, replaced by genuine embarrassment and confusion. She looked around at the staring students and seemed to realize what she had just done.

"I need to go," she said quietly, then turned and walked away quickly before anyone could stop her.

The crowd dispersed slowly while students whispering among themselves.This had been brief enough, controlled enough, that most would probably write it off as competition stress or exhaustion.

Liam approached William with a raised eyebrow. "That was intense."

"She has been pushing herself too hard recently," William said, offering the simplest explanation.

"Yeah, probably." Liam didn’t seem inclined to dig deeper. "You heading out?"

"In a bit."

Liam nodded and left to rejoin his house group. Lyanna lingered nearby, looking like she wanted to say something, but ultimately just shook her head and walked away without pressing the issue.

William waited until the area cleared before pulling up the system interface.

---

[CATASTROPHIC ALLURE - STATUS UPDATE]

Claire Hivolt: 46% (+2% from brief activation, -1% from successful resistance)

Lyanna Stormweaver: 29% (+1% from witnessing incident)

Seraphina Ashenheart: 47% (No change)

Mira Ashford: 16% (+1% from earlier proximity)

Sara Whitlock: 9% (No change)

Elena Marsh: 6% (No change)

---

’How did Lyanna’s interest even go up because she saw that? Is she a...’

William dismissed the interface and the thought with a shake of his head. He also felt a small measure of relief. Claire had managed to pull herself back from the edge, which was better than a full activation in front of hundreds of witnesses. The percentage had even dropped slightly from her resistance, suggesting that fighting the curse’s influence actually helped reduce its hold.

He headed back to his dormitory as the afternoon wore on, deliberately taking quiet routes to avoid running into anyone who might want to discuss what had happened. By the time he reached his room, most students were probably already speculating about Claire’s behavior, but at least it hadn’t escalated into something that would require official intervention.

Kai was at his desk when William entered, reading as always. He glanced up briefly, took in William’s expression, and went back to his book without comment.

"Long day?" Kai asked after a few minutes.

"You could say that."

"I heard you made finals. Lost to Adrian I guess?."

"Yeah."

"Not surprising. He’s been house captain for two years." Kai turned a page. "Also heard there was some excitement at the Luminara demonstrations."

William sighed. "Word really does travel fast."

"It always does when something unusual happens." Kai finally looked up properly. "For what it’s worth, most people are just writing it off as competition stress. Students push themselves too hard, their essence gets unstable, they act weird for a bit. Happens every year."

"That’s... actually reassuring."

"Don’t mention it." Kai returned to his reading. "You should rest. Tomorrow’s the written exam, and you’ll want to be sharp for that."

"How come you’re always knowing all these stuff? I mean you literally never leave the room" William suddenly questioned out of the blue looking at Kai with a raised brow.

Kai didn’t say anything and just smiled.

"Whatever bro, just don’t be a stalker person it’s creepy "

William took the advice and spent the rest of the evening lying on his bed, trying not to think about curse percentages or potential activations or the fact that he still had to get through tomorrow’s exam and final rankings without another incident.

The next morning arrived with grey skies that matched William’s mood. He got dressed and headed to the examination hall where all twenty remaining competitors from the four houses would be taking their written theory exam.

The hall was large and quiet, with individual desks spaced far apart to prevent cheating. William found his assigned seat and noticed Lyanna already there several rows ahead, her violet hair unmistakable. She glanced back once, caught his eye, and then returned her attention to preparing her materials without any indication she wanted to discuss yesterday’s incident.

Liam sat in the Luminara section looking relaxed despite the upcoming exam. Adrian was present representing Ascendant’s top performer, along with Patricia and Mira. William didn’t see Seraphina anywhere, which meant she probably hadn’t advanced far enough in Arcturus’s preliminaries or was deliberately avoiding areas where she might run into him.

A faculty proctor entered and distributed exam booklets to each desk. "You have two hours to complete one hundred questions covering magical theory, essence cultivation principles, combat tactics, and academy history. Begin when ready."

William opened his booklet and scanned the first few questions. They were straightforward theory questions about essence affinity interactions and cultivation pathway development, material he’d covered extensively in Professor Ashcroft’s classes.

He worked through the exam methodically, finding most questions manageable even if some required careful thought. The combat tactics section was easier than expected, probably because he’d spent months actually fighting rather than just studying theory. The academy history questions were harder, testing knowledge of historical events and founder contributions that his transmigrated memories didn’t fully cover.

An hour passed and William was about halfway through the exam. He noticed Lyanna had finished early and was leaving, her booklet already submitted. She didn’t look back as she passed.

William continued working through the remaining questions, taking his time to ensure accuracy rather than rushing to finish early. Some questions were genuinely challenging, requiring him to synthesize multiple concepts rather than just recall facts. Others were straightforward but demanded precision in terminology.

With twenty minutes remaining, William completed the final question and reviewed his answers. He’d left a few questions partially blank where he genuinely didn’t know the answer, but overall he felt reasonably confident about his performance.

He submitted his booklet and left the examination hall, stepping out into the midday air. Students who had finished early were scattered around the courtyard, some looking relieved and others appearing stressed about their performance.

William found a bench away from the main groups and sat down to wait. The faculty would need several hours to grade all twenty exams and calculate final rankings based on combined combat performance, essence demonstrations, and written exam scores. Results would be posted by late afternoon, announcing the top five from each house who would advance to the inter-house competition.

"William."

He looked up and found Claire standing there, looking significantly more composed than yesterday but with visible uncertainty in her expression.

"Can we talk?" she asked quietly.

William gestured to the bench beside him, and Claire sat down while maintaining a careful distance between them.

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday," she began. "I don’t know what happened. One moment I was fine, and the next I was... not fine. And then it just stopped."

"You were exhausted," William said, offering her the same explanation everyone else seemed to accept. "It’s just competition stree and essence pathway strain. It happens to everyone."

"Does it?" Claire’s dark eyes studied him with uncomfortable intensity. "Because I’ve been pushing myself hard for years, and I’ve never lost control like that before."

William didn’t respond immediately because he knew Claire was smart enough to recognize when someone was lying to her.

"I know something’s wrong," Claire continued. "I don’t know what. But whatever it is, it’s affecting me badly that I can’t control it. And that terrifies me."

"Well I’m sorry," William said, and he meant it.

"Don’t apologize it’s not your fault. Just... be careful around me. I don’t trust myself right now." Claire stood to leave, then paused. "For what it’s worth, I’m glad you were there yesterday. Your voice was the only thing that got through to me."

She walked away before William could respond, leaving him sitting alone with his thoughts and the uncomfortable knowledge that Claire had come dangerously close to figuring out the truth.

The afternoon passed slowly as William waited for results to be posted. Other students gradually filtered into the courtyard as they finished their exams, creating small groups that discussed answers and speculated about rankings.

Finally, as the sun began setting, faculty members posted official results on boards outside the examination hall. Students rushed forward to check their rankings, creating a crowded mass around the displays.

William waited for the crowd to thin before approaching to check the Ascendant results.

HOUSE ASCENDANT - FINAL RANKINGS

1. Adrian Vex (4th Year)

2. Patricia Crane (4th Year)

3. William Cross (1st Year)

4. Mira Ashford (4th Year)

5. Devon Thorne (3rd Year)

William had placed third overall, which guaranteed his advancement to the inter-house competition. Adrian had taken first as expected, and Patricia had edged out Mira for second place. The fifth spot had gone to Devon Thorne, a third-year student William vaguely remembered from seeing around the house common areas.

The top five from each house would compete next week in the inter-house tournament, with the goal of selecting the final ten students who would represent Celestial Heights Academy at the inter-academy competition.

William checked the other house results out of curiosity. Liam had placed first in Luminara, unsurprisingly. Lyanna had placed third. Claire had placed fifth, just barely making the cut.

Seraphina’s name appeared in second place for Arcturus, which meant she would be competing in the inter-house tournament as well.

William felt his headache returning as he processed what this meant. Next week would put him in close proximity to Seraphina, Claire, and Lyanna simultaneously, and he wasn’t sure it would be a good idea.

This was going to be a problem.

He headed back to his dormitory as evening approached, trying to figure out how he was going to survive a week-long tournament with three curse targets all in the same venue without triggering multiple activations.

Kai looked up when William entered. "I saw the results. Third place is not bad."

"You’re kidding"

"What?"

"Never mind," William agreed while dropping onto his bed.

"Inter-house competition starts Monday," Kai observed. "Are you ready for that?"

"Probably not."

"That was an honest answer." Kai closed his book and turned to face William properly.

"I know."

William closed his eyes and tried to rest, knowing he’d need every bit of preparation he could manage for what was coming next week.

He just had to survive one more tournament without everything falling apart.

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Sorry for this Chapter being late but I’ve been so busy... Please your support is my motivation to push me everyday to keep writing! Enjoying!!

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